Ontario has a big problem with evictions. How big? No one knows for sure. While the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) is ramping up the assembly-line to pump out evictions, there is no means to measure the depth of the crisis. No government or agency is keeping count. An eviction crisis is occurring behind a …
Continue reading "Renoviction and the invisible eviction crisis"Commercial and long-haul freight trucks are like modern-day dinosaurs. They lumber along and dominate the road networks they share with smaller vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. But we’ve learned to depend on these massive beasts which deliver vegetables, fruit, appliances and other goods to every community across North America, 24-7. In our fulfillment economy, they’ve been …
Continue reading "Truck Route Master Plan a wrong turn?"
In Crown Point we’re fortunate to have a number of people, groups and organzations that engage in activities that enrich the community and build up social capital. Among them, the people behind and within New Hope Community Bikes (NHCB) stand out as leaders. The work and legacy of NHCB reaches beyond the confines of their …
Continue reading "Rolling along despite vandalism"Premier Doug Ford’s March 30th extension of the Declaration of Emergency included shutting down all “recreational amenities” including community gardens. The immediate response from some community activists, food security advocates, and gardeners was to lobby to keep community gardens open. These efforts are now meeting with backlash. It’s about land, class, and privilege. As an …
Continue reading "Community gardens provide food security"Donna Akrey’s comment on the vandalism against her installation on the Pipeline Trail was candid: “…the layers of meaning in a work to ‘replenish’ icebergs being vandalized is pretty poignant.” Akrey’s work contains many layers of meaning for anyone willing to contemplate it. The installation provides moulds in which the Hamilton artist invites viewers to …
Continue reading "‘Tip of the Iceberg’ vandalized at Andrew Warburton Memorial Park"It was re-assuring to know that I was part of a community that cared.
Continue reading "Seeding beauty in Crown Point"
Red Tree Collective, in collaboration with Hamilton Dialogues and Pipeline Trail Hamilton presents the 4th annual DeLight Festival February 1st to 29th, 2020 A multi disciplinary festival with installations of visual art, poetry, sound and community art along the Pipeline Trail between London Street North and Strathearne Avenue. Hamilton’s Pipeline Trail is an urban walking path with …
Continue reading "deLight Festival: Last Days of Ice and Snow"
As 2019 winds to an end, phone plans turn over, new devices are purchased, and the spirit of giving fills the air, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind is on a mission with its Phone It Forward program. The Phone It Forward program is a game-changing program that accepts any modern smartphone to help …
Continue reading "This Christmas, Phone It Forward"
Like many Canadian cities, Hamilton is beset with crises of poverty. From the steady erosion of affordable housing, to an increasingly visible homeless population, to addiction, mental health, and the stigmatization of entire neighbourhoods, Hamilton struggles with both the direct and indirect costs of poverty. Society relies upon volunteer organizations and underfunded social services to …
Continue reading "Review: When Poverty Mattered: Then and now"
Last week a neat little cafe opened up on Cannon at Kensington and then the very next day a beer hall opened next door. Neighbours alarmed by the idea of beer hall in the neighbourhood will be pleasantly surprised. It’s not that kind of beer hall. They do serve beer, and cocktails in the cafe, …
Continue reading "Shades of cool in Crown Point"
