Consultation on the Two Way Conversion of Main Street
The City of Hamilton is embarking on the two way conversion of Main Street from Dundurn Street South in the west to the delta intersection (Kensington Avenue) in the east, stretching across Wards 1, 2, and 3. This work is the result of a Council motion passed on May 11, 2022 by Ward 1 Councillor Maureen Wilson and Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann that directed staff to look at the design of all one way streets and consider implementing a two way conversion, starting with Main Street.
In essence, the work of converting Main Street to two ways will improve the overall experience for pedestrians and people using bikes considerably, but we’ll need to wait on some major construction work to complete the vision entirely. It will involve considering things like the impact of Light Rail Transit (LRT), already planned and approved development projects, and connected road work being done on York Boulevard and Queen Street North.
For those who may not know, the City has uploaded materials to the project page on the City’s website for the public to use to provide feedback (including the video of the Main Street public engagement session that was held on May 18 that was attended by more than 300 participants) until June 5. During that presentation, Director Mike Field discussed some really important statistics that shed light on why Main Street is being prioritized. In sum, when data from Main Street collisions was analyzed over the 5 year period from 2017-22, it was discovered that there were 2,065 collisions. Of those, 1,517 occurred at intersections, 548 in the middle of blocks, 84 involved pedestrians (seriously injured 90% of the time), and 37 involved cyclists (seriously injured 77% of the time).
It’s clear that continuing to prioritize road use to protect the most vulnerable users, who have the potential to be seriously injured or lose their life just trying to get around, must be the goal - Vision Zero means getting to zero collisions resulting in serious injury or death, and I’m committed to doing everything I can during this term of Council to get us there.
I’m deeply grateful for the leadership of my Ward 1 and 3 colleagues on this project and look forward to seeing the completion of this conversion. I think this an incredible opportunity to leave behind a destructive legacy that misunderstood Hamilton’s “competitive advantage” as the ability for drivers to get to their destinations as quickly and easily as possible and instead envisions a future where neighbourhoods, no matter where they’re located, can all have the same opportunity to thrive. We deserve it.
Delayed Implementation of a new Encampment Protocol
Like many Ward 2 residents, I was hoping that April would see the recommendation of a new encampment protocol. When it was pushed back to the May 17 meeting of the General Issues Committee, I was anxious, but still hopeful that the additional time spent might mean coming up with something innovative and responsive to the original direction from Council.
Unfortunately, we’re not there yet. Council will now receive an updated protocol from staff in August of this year. That doesn’t leave us with the right tools to adequately assist our unhoused and dehoused neighbours while they wait for safe and affordable housing - a very long wait at this point - Council recently learned that there’s about a 2,000 person backlog to get added to the housing wait list (currently at 6,110 households).
For those who may not know, I moved the motion to have City staff conduct at least 2 stakeholder sessions with housing advocates across Hamilton with the hope that the feedback they received would allow them to come back with a protocol -
“… rooted in an approach that upholds the human rights of residents living encamped, and reflects the concerns shared by the delegates who presented on January 18, 2023 …” - General Issues Committee; February 1, 2023
We didn’t get there on May 17 and that’s why it was sent back. In my reading, and in the view of the majority on Council, the protocol that came forward didn’t work. It was based on an enforcement model, rather than a human rights approach, and did not adequately reflect the concerns of the delegates who presented on January 18.
This isn’t just my opinion. Some of the delegates who spoke on January 18 returned on May 17 to let Council know that the suggested protocol wasn’t rooted in a human rights apprach, that it was too restrictive, and that it still didn’t give any direction about where exactly people were supposed to go.
If the City doesn’t have the housing or shelter space available, where are we really sending people when we ask them to “move along”?
That, for many, is the biggest issue. And everyone agrees - there is nowhere for the vast majority of our unhoused and dehoused neighbours to go. In that context, it’s nothing short of cruel to displace them, take or trash their belongings, and otherwise push them farther to the margins and out of sight.
As the City’s Chief Paramedic, Michael Sanderson, has said on more than one occasion - we need to ensure that we can see everyone in our community, that they’re visible, especially those staying in encampments. Making the problem invisible will make things worse, increase precarity, and lead to more death, as a recent study has made clear.
That was one of the arguments made by members of about a dozen organizations and individuals on May 26 on the City Hall forecourt, including the Hamilton Encampment Support Network, Hamilton ACORN, HCCI, 541 Eatery & Exchange, SACHA, and MPP Sarah Jama. They asked for an end to encampment evictions and for Council to repeal its misguided attempt to enrol residents in a housing registry (I voted against the registry).
For those of you who have not been following this closely, a call for an approach rooted in human rights has been made by hundreds of local, national, and international organizations - they have written about this, provided guides for communities to understand the issues, and offered solutions to address the overlapping crises that Hamilton is facing.
The thing I hear the most from these experts, and something I’ve learned and carry with me, is that this isn’t something that will be solved quickly. Every level of government, and every member of our community, must work together to make this happen. That’s going to mean, at times, being compassionate despite our discomfort and centring the experiences of those who are most at risk of harm and have no place else to go.
I’m committed to this work, will do my part, and ask for your help to ensure, as we continue to go through a massive transition in the core, no one in our community is left behind.
Renoviction and Maximum Heat Bylaws Moving Forward
In April and May, City Council moved forward with its plans to implement renoviction and maximum heat bylaws to protect the many tenants who live in Hamilton.
On April 20, at the Emergency and Community Services Committee, Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann put forward 2 motions, that I gladly seconded, for staff to report back on a suite of services to support tenants facing renovictions including the implementation of renovictions bylaws and a significant expansion to the tenant defence fund.
I spoke at a rally with Ward 13 Councillor Alex Wilson in support of Hamilton ACORN, just ahead of the meeting where this motion was passed, and several members of the organization delegated to make their points clear to Council.
And on May 15, at a special meeting of the newly renamed Public Health Committee (it used to be called the Board of Health Standing Committee), in a motion that I moved, seconded by Ward 4 Councillor Tammy Hwang, Council directed City staff to draft a plan for the 2024 budget that would include the implementation of a maximum heat bylaw for summer 2024.
In short, it would require landlords to provide cooling, like they provide heating, to tenants.
At present, the City has an Adequate Heat Bylaw that requires landlords to keep a minimum temperature in all rental units of 20°C during colder months. An Adequate Temperature Bylaw would ensure that there was a threshold for heat impacts as well. Other jurisdictions with similar bylaws have mandated temperatures in the warmer months to be set at a maximum of 26°C, including the City of Mississauga.
Organizations, like Hamilton ACORN, have been asking the City to implement a maximum heat bylaw for years, especially in light of the heat-related deaths reported in other municipalities across North America including Chicago (1995), Quebec (2018), British Columbia (2021), and Paris (2003, 2022).
I’m thankful not only to Hamilton ACORN but also to the BNA, who first introduced me to this subject through their meetings a few years back, and neighbourhood legend Matt Thompson, who pointed me in the direction of the amazing work done by Eric Klinenberg who documented the disastrous 1995 Chicago heat wave in his book Heat Wave.
This is timely, and very relevant to what’s happening in Hamilton. Our City was recently ranked second for future heat stress impacts in a study from the University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation.
I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Public Health Committee, who supported the motion by Councillor Hwang and I, unanimously, in a vote of 10-0 that was ratified at City Council on May 24.
Appeal of Jamesville Affordable Housing Project Lingers
One of the things I’m asked about most by residents, across the city, is what’s happening at the Jamesville development in Ward 2’s North End neighbourhood. And since I haven’t written about it in the Ward 2 Newsletter, I thought I should provide some context, and an update, for readers who are interested to learn more.
Without getting into the entire history of this project, and without completely restating what I’ve said about this in Twitter threads on January 4 and January 18 of this year, I think it’s important to provide a bit more background about how we ended up where we are today and where we’re headed next.
This project was first envisioned about 13 years ago, just as former Ward 2 City Councillor Bob Bratina was leaving office to take over as Mayor. Since then, over several iterations, it has been slowly moving toward development as an affordable housing project and started being emptied of existing residents about 6 years ago.
At that time, there were promises made to evicted residents that they should be able to return in about 18 months to 2 years, but as it stands today the development is still not complete. In a recent turn of events, on the heels of a letter from CN Railway in 2021, there has been an appeal by CN on the grounds that the development is too close to its shunting operations.
CN has objected to other projects in the area - the nearby Witton Lofts at 50 Murray Street West and during the approval of the West Harbour (Setting Sail) Secondary Plan. In both of those instances, a settlement or agreement was reached that allowed the projects to continue, but it made for a bit of a waiting game.
That’s where we’re at now. As this is a CityHousing Hamilton (CHH) project, the negotiations between CN, CHH, and the developer are at the heart of a resolution and, from what I can share, a date has been set with the Ontario Land Tribunal for a case management conference and there’s hope that there may be a settlement before the need for a hearing.
It’s not great. Downtown residents, myself included, have been watching, in slow motion, as the buildings have been gutted and windows and doors removed right in the middle of a housing crisis. The juxtaposition is not lost on anyone who has walked down Strachan Street in the past 3 years where, right across from this development, it’s common to see tents pitched by our neighbours who have nowhere else to go.
As the plans stand now, and as it was approved in the last term of Council, this site will be home to a 7 storey affordable housing building owned by CHH, another by Indwell, and hundreds of market townhouses - a huge uptick in density (originally only 96 townhouse units) and a welcome addition to the neighbourhood.
That doesn’t mean everyone is completely satisfied with the outcome, apart from the CN appeal. While the density is much better, with close to 500 units on site, there’s been a dramatic shift in unit mix. Where there were townhouses with 3, 4, and even 5 bedrooms in the site’s previous mix, most of those have been eliminated in favour of smaller units which has reduced the overall number of bedrooms considerably. Some of the initial plans have shifted as well, removing much needed greenspace and include the removal of many mature trees due to contamination because of the site’s former industrial use.
Despite the push back from neighbours about the removal of the trees, including my own discussions with the developer when I was first elected, any change of that nature would require starting from scratch and would still only save a small number of exterior trees. In short, it would delay the project by years and cost the City millions of dollars. Instead, CityHousing Hamilton will work on a mitigation program to ensure that trees are replaced elsewhere to make up for this loss - not good, at all, but something that’s been baked into this project for many years and long before I took office as Ward 2 City Councillor.
It’s an important reminder, for all future projects, to prioritize the urban tree canopy and ensure that we mitigate any losses elsewhere, from the start. I’m grateful for one thing, however, that the developer has not yet removed the trees and is letting them stay in place until they absolutely must be removed. The only benefit of these delays is that the neighbourhood gets a bit more time to benefit from the mature trees surrounding the development.
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.
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.
Bike Day Hamilton - The 15th annual Bike Day Hamilton event will take place on Thursday, June 1. It will kick off with rides from around the City starting at 7:30am, heading downtown, and culminate in a bike fair in front of City Hall that will be running until 9:30am. Arrive early to snag a Bike Day t-shirt, have a coffee, or get a tune up from New Hope Community Bikes.
Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters Open House - On June 3 from 1:00pm to 3:00pm, at the First Unitarian Church of Hamilton at 170 Dundurn Street South, the Hamilton Alliance of Tiny Shelters (HATS) will hold an open house. There will be food, a tiny home open in the church parking lot, renderings of what a HATS village will look like, and updates will be provided on HATS’ progress.
City of Hamilton Arts Awards - Join award recipients and nominees at the Arts Award Celebration at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on Thursday, June 8 from 6:00pm to 11:00pm. There will be art installations and performances and free entry to the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s exhibits. The event will be emceed by Karma Kameleon and I’ll be on hand to present an award to one of the recipients.
Ward 2 Neighbourhood Town Hall #3 - Our third Town Hall of 2023 will take place on Wednesday, June 28 at 7:00pm at the Church of the Ascension - located at 64 Forest Avenue. There will be the ability to connect to the event virtually so you can watch along and ask questions 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.
Repairs to Void at King and James Streets Start this Spring
This has been a turbulent situation, and one that has required a fair amount of dialogue between myself and City staff. We were able to ensure pedestrian access in the westbound lane of James Street South and King Street until a date for the construction work was set to begin. That date has come, as of May 29, and the contractor has been on site to begin the work. It is scheduled to take place over a 2 week period, though it may be extended once the excavation process has been undertaken. In short, the contractor’s first step, upon removing the sidewalk surface, will be to assess whether or not removing existing materials and replacing them with new fill will solve the problem. I’ll keep everyone posted if there are changes expected.
Prioritizing Traffic Calming on our Neighbourhood Streets
As many have likely read or heard about, James Street North will be closed for monthly art crawls in June, July, and August of this year as part of a pilot to increase pedestrian safety. At present, the pilot will include the closure of James Street North from the south side of Barton Street to the north side of Cannon Street and, separately, from the south side of Cannon Street to the north side of York Boulevard / Wilson Street. This means that the block from Barton Street to Murray Street will not be included in the pilot for June. This is largely due to timing, as there was not enough time between the motion passing at Council and the early June 9 date, for staff to complete the steps necessary for the additional closure. I am hopeful that this can be revisited for July and will keep everyone posted about the progress.