Repairs to Void at King and James Streets Start this Spring
In early February, City staff informed me that there was an unusual situation unfolding under the sidewalk near King Street and James Street South - a void, as they called it, was starting to cave in and posed a serious danger to pedestrians. Large metal supports, and other infrastructure, were holding up the sidewalk and a portion of the parking lot to the east, but had crumbled, rusted through, and needed immediate attention.
Staff quickly shared some Lidar photos of the void as well as some close ups that showed the deteriorating infrastructure and then began a plan to address the issue.
For those who don’t know, this was unplanned work and mostly a surprise to the City and residents, many of whom were not aware that this void even existed. At this point, it’s not entirely clear why it’s here and why it wasn’t back filled when the parking lot and sidewalk were constructed.
But this seemingly innocuous hole introduced a series of problems for folks trying to get around downtown. As anyone who has ever walked through the core can tell you, our sidewalks and streets are often very narrow. When this happened, it was important, in the immediate term, to close off the sidewalk, access to the adjacent parking lot, and block off a lane of traffic to ensure that everyone was safe while travelling through the area. That meant pushing pedestrian traffic to the sidewalk across James Street South, while still allowing some access to local residences and businesses.
That didn’t really work as planned. Many pedestrians simply walked around the barricades, into live traffic, which created dangers to pedestrians, some with disabilities who said they found it very unsafe to cross in the middle of the block but also very difficult to go back to an intersection to cross.
City staff worked to address this concern, as quickly as they could, and as of April 26, a temporary pedestrian walkway, with an asphalt ramp, was installed to help people navigate the area safely. I’m thankful to the folks on social media who kept pushing to get a better solution in place, the Ward 2 Team who responded to questions and helped to keep things organized, and to City staff in Public Works, especially Director Jackie Kennedy, for making this happen.
This has been an ongoing learning experience for me and, I think, a chance for everyone at the City to reflect on how our priorities have to shift to focus on those who are most impacted. It’s going to take a big culture change, but I’m confident that we’re heading in the right direction.
Repairs to the void are expected to start soon and will hopefully be wrapped up in the coming weeks so that everyone can have access to the sidewalk, parking lot, and road. I appreciate everyone’s patience with this unique situation and I’ll keep you posted if there are any developments, delays, or other important information to share.
Consultation Coming on Changes to the Board of Health
The City Council meeting on April 12, 2023 was an important milestone in what has been a years long saga to make meaningful changes to the City’s Board of Health structure.
Community members, health professionals, and some politicians have been pushing for more participation from the community as part of the Board of Health structure since 2021.
For those who don’t know, Hamilton, like Halton Hills, is an anomaly in Ontario - our Board of Health is entirely comprised of all 16 members of Council.
In an even stranger twist, our Board of Health Standing Committee, the legislative body that’s supposed to give advice and recommendations to Council as the Board of Health, is also just the 16 members of Council.
It’s clear, just from the duplication in our governance structure, that we need to do more to include community voices when it comes to matters of public health. Many Hamiltonians are directly and disproportionately impacted by public health decisions, especially people with disabilities; Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC); and members of Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities. The movement to make these changes to our Board of Health is rooted in community inclusion, much like the setup of Boards of Health in Ottawa and Toronto.
Boards of Health in Toronto and Ottawa are called “semi-autonomous” meaning that both members of City Council and representatives from the community have voting privileges. The current proposal being put forward for consultation in Hamilton could see this very same structure, immediately, at the advisory level (we need to wait for the Province to approve any changes to the Board of Health itself) -
6 members of City Council
6 members of the community
1 member from either of 2 boards of education
In the meantime, on April 12, Council voted on a staff recommendation to finally rename the advisory Board of Health Standing Committee to the Public Health Committee. This much simpler name makes it clearer that it is an advisory body distinct from, and reporting to, the Board of Health and will get rid of quite a bit of confusion, some of which has kept us from moving forward with these important legislative and governance changes.
Consultations with the public on a new structure will start this summer and Council will receive a report back from City staff with recommendations later this year.
Celebrating Ramadan at the Downtown Mosque
The holy month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, is an important time of year for the many Muslims that call Hamilton home. It’s a month of reflection, fasting, and connecting to community.
The dates change slightly each year, similar to how the date for Easter is determined in the Christian calendar. This year, Ramadan was held from March 22 to April 21 and I was lucky to be able to celebrate with Muslims in Ward 2.
As part of the celebration, and in acknowledgement of the many changes to political representation in Ward 2, the Downtown Mosque (located in the Central neighbourhood) hosted an Iftar meal on April 1 welcoming every elected official representing Ward 2 to join them as they broke their daily fast.
It was not only a chance to meet and celebrate with members of the Muslim community, but also a joyous occasion for everyone to connect with newly elected MPP Sarah Jama.
It was wonderful to watch, with pride, as people spoke about how much it mattered for Sarah, a fellow Muslim, to be elected to represent them. I joined in the now familiar chant, led by members of the community who cheered, “How do you spell Sarah?”, and loudly replied to their own question with, “M-P-P!”.
As I learned when I was talking to folks during the meal and before the prayer, this was the first time that anyone remembers seeing every level of government - the Ward 2 HWDSB Trustee, Ward 2 City Councillor, Hamilton Centre MPP, and Hamilton Centre MP all come together at the downtown mosque to break fast together with the community.
The Mayor also hosted another first this year, an Iftar meal at City Hall on April 3. I attended to represent Ward 2 and got a chance to connect with representatives from more than a dozen mosques across the city. She plans to make it an annual event and I look forward to joining in again next year.
The big takeaway for me after joining in celebrations this month for both Easter and Ramadan, was how important it is for the community to see their elected representatives participating in important community moments.
While I can’t make it to everything, I will continue to do my best to show up to offer my support. If you’d like to invite me to an event that you’re holding, reach out to me directly at Cameron.Kroetsch@hamilton.ca.
Prioritizing Traffic Calming on our Neighbourhood Streets
After the dangerous late night crash that happened on April 25 in Ward 2 on MacNab Street North, I have been hearing from concerned residents, and rightfully so, about the precarious state of our downtown streets.
Many people feel like our streets are not safe for them to walk around, do their daily errands, or even cross to visit a neighbour. Downtown has, for many years, been a sacrifice zone - a place where motor vehicle drivers have treated our neighbourhood streets like nothing more than the quickest way to get across the city.
Almost a year to the date, on May 11, 2022, I attended a rally organized by local cycling advocate Chris Ritsma at which community members spoke to a motivated crowd about the importance of street safety in the wake, at that time, of a series of injuries and deaths caused by motor vehicles.
Not enough has changed since then, there’s a lot more work for us to do as a City, and I’m committed to continuing to push for major improvements.
That rally inspired a unanimous vote by City Council to make changes to all one way streets in Hamilton, starting with Main Street. On that note, Councillors Maureen Wilson (Ward 1), Nrinder Nann (Ward 3), and I will be holding public information and engagement sessions with City staff in the month of May to talk about the progress on a two way Main Street as well as get resident feedback about next steps.
The decision to make a large portion of Main Street two ways was made in concert with big changes to the City’s Truck Route Master Plan, which are being implemented in April and May. These long overdue changes will see a significant number of non-local trucks rerouted off of downtown neighbourhood streets to the City’s ring road and industrial through streets.
But there’s a lot more to do, including carrying out the plan to address all dangerous one way streets in the core and improving the truck route by diverting all non-local truck traffic to the City’s ring road system.
The next big conversion project in Ward 2 will be on Queen Street North in the Central neighbourhood. Ward 1 City Councillor Maureen Wilson and I have been meeting with staff to get moving on major improvements to this borderline between Wards 1 and 2 and will hopefully have more to share as part of the 2024 budget.
At the neighbourhood level, I’ll be working with staff to hopefully close part of James Street North during the 3 busiest art crawls of the season and will be meeting with staff in May to go through a priority list for neighbourhood speed cushion enhancements. It’s taking longer than I’d like to get this work underway, but we’ve had to start from scratch to come up with a list and needed to wait until the 2023 budget had concluded before asking for commitments in the 2024 budget.
In the meantime, staff have identified a significant number of sidewalks across Ward 2 that need improvement over the summer. The work to repair them will happen this spring and summer.
I’ll keep you updated on the progress of these enhancements and ask that you please keep in touch with us about safety improvements you’d like to see in your neighbourhoods so we can bring them to staff to assess the safest possible implementations and continue to create a growing list of priorities. The best way to do that is to email the Ward 2 Team directly at Ward2@hamilton.ca.
Upcoming Events and City Notices
For a list of City Notices directly impacting Ward 2, including encroachment applications, temporary road closures, and watermain repairs, visit our website.
Hamilton and District Labour Council May Day - The HDLC will be holding a May Day event in Gage Park this coming Monday, May 1, 2023 from 3:00pm to 7:00pm - a celebration of this year’s International Workers’ Day. There will be live music with tents and activities set up by union locals and community groups from around the city.
Doors Open Hamilton - This year’s program, the 22nd anniversary of Doors Open Ontario, will run from 10:00am to 4:00pm on both Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7 at locations across the city. There will be 38 locations to choose from including Ward 2 attractions like the Collective Arts Brewery, Central Presbyterian Church, Lister Building, and Mystic Ramen.
Maggie at Theatre Aquarius - Now in its second week, the new musical Maggie is playing at Theatre Aquarius until Sunday, May 7, 2023. The musical is written and directed by theatre’s own Artistic Director Mary Francis Moore and tells the inspirational tale of a fiery school cleaner living in the mining town of Lanarkshire in Scotland.
Hamilton Black Film Festival - In its third year in Hamilton, the Hamilton Black Film Festival will be running from Friday, May 26 through Tuesday, May 30 at the Westdale Theatre and virtually through the festival’s event website. The festival will showcase cultural and traditional films of African, Caribbean, Native, Asian, and Middle Eastern filmmakers.
Ward 2 Neighbourhood Town Hall #2 - Our second Town Hall of 2023 will take place on Tuesday, May 30 at 7:00pm at Bridgeworks - located at 200 Caroline Street North. We will be livestreaming the event so you can watch along if you cannot attend in person. More information, and an event poster, closer to the event date.
Updates from the Last Issue of the Ward 2 Newsletter
This section provides updates on things I wrote about in the last issue of the newsletter. The article names are the same, including links, so it’s easier to keep track of what’s new.
CityHousing Hamilton to Repair 476 Housing Units
Following the motion put forward by Councillor Nrinder Nann in March that was ratified by City Council, Councillor Nann tabled a second motion this month, seconded by Councillor Maureen Wilson, to move this project forward by outlining a path for allocating the nearly $6m in funds. Her motion passed unanimously at the General Issues Committee on April 19, 2023. All 476 units are scheduled to be available for occupancy no later than December 2024, but will come online as soon as they are available. CityHousing Hamilton continues to face a backlog of units that need to be turned over after they are vacated as is working on a plan to ensure that this work can happen more proactively in the future.
Hamilton Waterfront Trust will begin Winding Down
After the recent vote to begin to investigate the wind down, the Hamilton Waterfront Trust (HWT) posted a job for an Interim Executive Director. The posting closes on Sunday, April 30 and all applications are due before Monday, May 1. Now that the HWT has arrived at a new direction, and as I stated publicly as HWT Chair, it’s my intention for decisions around the HWT to be made in public going forward - our most recent meeting on April 13 was entirely open to the public without holding a closed session (in camera). I will continue to keep as many meetings fully open as possible so that the public can have as much direct access to the HWT as possible.