[omro]

Rather than pollute the York Boulevard Thread with one of my tangents:

Proportionately, suburban residents have far more representation on council than urban residents.

Ryan's right, though. As long as suburban residents have more say, there's only so much lower city residents can do.

has this always been the case?

Since amalgamation in 2000.

So are things better or worse since?

If a mix, which areas is it better for and which worse?

[Millstone]

It was worse in 2000 and has pretty much stagnated. People who live in Flambasterdas et al don't associate themselves with Hamilton.

[SteelTown]

Before amalgamation you had Mountain and Lower Hamilton ridings at City Hall. But both ridings worked together for the City of Hamilton. Mountain residents consider themselves Hamiltonians. Suburbs like Ancaster, Dundas, Stoney Creek don't and each had their own City/Town Hall. But all worked under the Hamilton-Wentworth Region with a Regional Chair.

[omro]

Things which benefit the lower city, the downtown areas, were they better off under the old model of city government or the new?

To me it almost sounds like the lower city needs it's own subcouncil.

[coalminecanary]

I think they should completely redraw the old boundaries to minimize the leftover separation mentality. Councillors need to work together for the greater good of the city or we will never move forward - and the only way this can happen is if the public feels that they are part of the city. Keeping the old bounaries encourages people to dig their heels in and fight for only their own area.

As part of this, they can incorporate population numbers so that each councillor represents a similar number of citizens as any other. The huge differences now are causing problems for the city as a whole.

[astroblaster]

I think they should completely redraw the old boundaries to minimize the leftover separation mentality. Councillors need to work together for the greater good of the city or we will never move forward - and the only way this can happen is if the public feels that they are part of the city. Keeping the old bounaries encourages people to dig their heels in and fight for only their own area.

As part of this, they can incorporate population numbers so that each councillor represents a similar number of citizens as any other. The huge differences now are causing problems for the city as a whole.

suburbanites would probably see this as "divide and conquer"