Elections
Is Hamilton doing enough to support and encourage new investment in our older neighbourhoods? If not, what should the City be doing?
Responses to the question: "Is Hamilton doing enough to support and encourage new investment in our older neighbourhoods? If not, what should the City be doing?"
In This Page:
4 Candidate Responses (top)
| Ward 13 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Powers, Russ | No | It's very easy to say no because there's never enough that can be done. The availability of limited and dedicated resources and the setting of priorities defines what and when issues are dealt with in neighbourhoods but never soon enough! The City's capital infrastructure budget is $159 million short of the dollars annually needed to carry out everything that's wanted in any given year but are all taxpayers prepared to accept a 2% surcharge on their tax bills to make this happen...I don't think so!
There are many positive things that the City is doing to assist neighbourhoods and the City as a whole that are very helpful but then red tape, cumbersome bureaucracy and antiquated legislation grinds everything to a halt. A review of rules and process was initiated a couple years ago but will legitimately take substantial time to correct...significant issues are receiving priority. |
| Robinson, Glenn | No | To encourage investment in older neighbourhoods, the city needs to focus its efforts in the following areas:
* Provision of efficient and affordable public transit * Transit oriented development in the downtown core and along public transit corridors * Creation of safe, clean and walkable neighbourhoods * Incentives to restore or maintain historic and heritage buildings * Brownfield development and remediation over greenfield development Focusing on these areas will attract talent, business and investment. |
| Scime, Danya | No | If by "investment" you are referring to small business and enterprise, I don't believe the city is doing enough...They do have start up and business resources at City Hall that can be accessed but I don't think it is of any huge use.
The problem is too much red tape, too much indecision, too many headaches. The average small business owner already has the skills to carry out her/his business, yet when they get to City hall to apply for the necessary permits, they quickly find out about by-laws and zoning restrictions etc. So to be brief, no, Hamilton is not doing enough to support nor encourage new investment. They do not do enough to maintain existing businesses either. The City needs to address each entity separately. I keep saying ~ "We cannot be painted with the same brush"...each Ward is different and we cannot apply the same by-law that works on Upper James to a rural road in Flamborough. The same applies for different areas within the core of Hamilton. Many of our older neighbourhoods need to be cleaned up. Start by charging full tax to the people that are letting abandoned warehouses rot away...Encourage investors to purchase and rejuvenate these buildings by giving them the tax break for revitalizing our streetscape. We need to have our Council think outside the box and look at the broader picture. It worries me that everyone keeps reading about the struggles that existing entrepreneurs have within our City, this will discourage anyone who was thinking of coming to Hamilton, it certainly is not going to "encourage" them to invest here. We need investment in our City to come from the small entrepreneurs all the way to the big manufacturers...when we get that right, the average family will also invest, by purchasing a home. |
| Tammer, Ron | No | No, the city is certainly not doing enough to encourage new investment in older neighbourhoods. As a matter of fact, if we consider the "Pearl" situation on Steven St., they seem to be striving to discourage this type of investment! Hamilton should be bending over backwards to help entrepreneurs to pursue ventures like this by loosening the antiquated zoning bylaws, and offering tax incentives to those that want to redevelop closed down and dilapidated buildings in older neighbourhoods, instead of kissing up to developers that want services handed to them when they build on prime farm land. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 0 | 0.0% |
| No | 4 | 100.0% |
| Maybe | 0 | 0.0% |
1 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Ward 13 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Zuliniak, Marty | ||
