HSR has struggled for years with virtually no growth, but could look down the highway to the transit innovations of another older Ontario city that is making giant strides. By utilizing multiple methods Kingston has jumped its bus ridership by 80 percent in just five years.
also-in-hamilton
The provincial government has tossed another bombshell into municipal planning with the release last week of dozens of proposed changes to the rules governing how cities can grow. These are in addition to the controversial Bill 66 changes that lets municipal councils override the Greenbelt Act, Clean Water Act and other environmental and planning legislationRead more
Probing by a new councillor has highlighted a disturbing threat to the city’s financial future and overturned long standing claims that growth pays for itself. Ward one councillor Maureen Wilson’s pointed questions during discussion of the 2019 capital infrastructure budget led finance chief Mike Zegarac to explain that about a third of growth costs areRead more
The Ford government’s forced silencing of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) will have major impacts in Hamilton as well as across the province. It appears likely to also seriously undermine environmental rights that Ontarians have had for a quarter century. Source: Citizens at City Hall – CATCH – Environmental rights disappearing Read more
In the midst of a widely recognized rental housing crisis, the city is poised to approve conversion of more than 250 apartments to condominiums. The two conversion proposals are supported by staff because they meet city policies, and that makes it difficult to reject them because the owners will likely be able to successfully appeal.TheRead more
Another prominent voice is calling for stormwater fees to reduce the flooding that has plagued Hamilton and other cities. Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe also wants full protection of “green infrastructure” such as remaining wetlands and woodlands, but her watchdog office is now on the chopping block of the Doug Ford administration. Source: Citizens atRead more
