City of Hamilton General Discussion Thread
City of Hamilton General Discussion Thread
So after some discussion with one of the mods, SteelTown, it was agreed to make a general discussion thead. This would be a place to talk about recommendations for the downtown core, like if you see vacant lots, are unhappy about looks of specific parts of the city, have ideas for areas of the city etc. I mean who knows maybe developers will even read some of the ideas and get some of their own! Or heck if you just want to rant and it's just not appropriate to do so in any specific project thread :) Or I dunno.. just talk about yourself hehe.. introduce yourself, talk about projects you're working on that might tie into the city etc. Some advice from SteelTown though: "Try not to go over topic, especially if it should be posted on the specific project. We like to keep it in a chronological order, kinda neat to see how a project started and ended. " For all topics not appropriate for here feel free to also visit and post in the General Discussion sub-forum: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/forumdisplay.php?f=291 |
well.. I guess I'll start..
My name is shawn, I'm 33, I've lived in stoney creek most of my life - now live in the east end - I have computer and architectural background, and I do a lot of research on the history of the city. I am also an artist, and I have started a pattern of showcasing my artwork in the buildings that are being renovated downtown - the first being a jamaican restaurant on king william, which led to connections at the lister block, which led to connections at the james st general store. From there I branched off into toronto, showcasing my work in various places, notably the nuit events - first nuit rose and then 2 nuit blanche events. Then I took a year off to unwind, and now I am showcasing my work at the old Buttinskys/grapes & things/capitol theatre, which is being renovated to be the kings and queens gallery lounge. I am pretty knowledgeable about buildings and their locations in hamilton from the 1800s on, although my knowledge base is of course always growing :) you can find out more about me by going to my website in my signature and going to the about section - more links for my stuff there :) My vision for hamilton would be a sister city of sorts to toronto - not one to sit in its shadow but one to stand on its own - one with a vision of its own combining old architecture with the new, but keeping that small city vibe that toronto has lost. My current aim is to see the old Robinsons lot beside the CIBC downtown replaced with something impactful - now that the gore is getting the attention it needs I feel all the "teeth" in hamilton should be filled. Also there are many buildings downtown with the facades falling off - cornices, dormers, arches etc. It would be nice to see the city take initiative and either pressure the people who own these buildings to fix them, like they do in a heritage city like niagara on the lake, or fix them themselves. Also maintenance of finishes, cleaning buildings should also be a priority of the city - buildings like the lister block whose outside is already starting to become dirty - just simple city maintenance - heck the city OWNs that building, so no excuse on that one! Just my 2 cents. |
can anyone find a pic of this building in the archives? King william st is very elusive when it comes to trying to find old school pics.. I am curious as to what it used to look like in its prime..
I only found.. PART of it.. lol.. I want to see what the old baltimore house looked like.. https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2923/1...4cb66e6e_z.jpg |
Old Chinatown. Cool.
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Seems to be more Vietnamese influences downtown now, mostly in the northern half of the core. |
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also I have never seen this building before... https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...41db069b05.jpg |
Also found these great videos talking about the future of hamilton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4G0RBryd9M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybezbl4YJU |
So are we retiring the General Discussion sub-forum? Merging?
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/forumdisplay.php?f=291 |
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it makes more sense to have a general discussion thread in a forum that it pertains to though, as opposed to its own separate sub-forum imo.. |
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The "General Discussion" threads are still the place for everything that isn't about buildings, development, the subjects of the other subs... |
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and yeah we could rename it to that |
this is a VERY interesting article from europe that should be taken as a cautionary tale to hamilton - what happens when you gentrify to the point that nobody can afford to live there anymore - when the hipsters come in, raise prices, and then leave for the next "cool" place to live:
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/14/bu...ter/index.html also a little visual treat for you guys - Christ's church cathedral on james st N the way it was originally designed - with a tower that was ultimately never built: http://media.zuza.com/5/6/562b635b-4...AM1O3BPN.2.jpg |
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Really, we're relying on CNN to tell us anything worthwhile?? Lol When I was a kid I used to get a chuckle by flipping through the National Enquirer. CNN takes fake news to whole new level. Yea, Dalston is so expensive nobody lives there anymore. Population is up 20% in the last 30 years. Brooklyn, NY...I don't even know where to begin, so how about here: http://1981.nyc/killing-fields-willi...brooklyn-1981/ Oh, and again....so expensive, nobody lives there anymore...... http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...ticle-1.109050 |
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You know how you can tell a hipster? Hipsters never smile. Neither do most toronto people incidently, probably why toronto was labelled one of the most miserable cities to live in in canada. |
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I'm not sure we're reading the same articles... I think we're romanticizing the decades of fire-traps, plywood, needles and abject poverty through Hamilton's lower city. I'm sure there are some people complaining in Brooklyn today longing for the 'good old days' of gang shootings, ghettos and complete poverty. Don't take the bait. Hamilton's 'good old days' were back when we were a manufacturing, insurance, trading and banking capital in Canada. Not the decades since where we've been a lunch-bucket all boarded up with a shrinking population in the middle of Canada's hottest market. Don't forget the Pigott building was one of the tallest buildings in the British Commonwealth at one time. Today we have NIMBY whiners crying about a paltry 30 or 40 storey development happening here. Some people have become comfortable and accustomed to being a depressed city and want to keep it that way. Thankfully, the majority don't agree. |
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and don't forget- hamilton was mafia built - things got done back in the day - heck look at the amount of craftsmanship in older buildings - granted there were no unions back then so you could great the builders like crap and pay them nothing, but still hehe.. I see the pictures from that era, downtown hamilton being absolutely packed, and let me tell you - everyone dressed up - the poverty seen in the 90s was not reflected back then. No homeless people, no mental patients staggering around, no crack and meth addicts, no prostitots, no buggy people.. |
So I have an issue with the fact that hamilton seems hellbent on destroying every single entertainment area of hamilton - what exactly is there to do in the downtown other than eat and drink at this point? (And please don't say play ping pong lol..) What function is making more parks going to do tucked away when gore park is right around the corner?
It just doesn't seem like good foresight by the city.. I want to be able to go downtown and DO stuff - see shows, see bands, engage in mindless entertainment, be entertained.. not just eat and go to bars.. Let's go over what the city has demolished (or decommissioned): movie theatres opera houses horse race track roller rink ice rink strip joints vegas strip bowling alleys pool halls amusement park beach and escarpment lifts skihill and what have they replaced it with in the downtown core? NOTHING. Employment centers, cash marts, low income housing, the city has intentionally turned intself into a poverty city where nobody has any reason to come to it (except to live in because everywhere else is too expensive). Hamilton used to be called the entertainment city - with 50 theatres, and tons of entertainment. Now everything is in the outlying regions that hamilton absorbed - malls in the suburbs, casinos in neighbouring cities, race tracks in neighbouring cities, zoos in outlying regions, aquariums.. well the only one is in toronto.. no tourist landmark like the cn tower (our highest building is a friggen condo!), just a city without a vision of what it actually wants to be. Yes breweries are popping up, but not everyone drinks beer - I know I don't. Hamilton claims it's an art place, but I've seen half the stuff in the art crawl, and it's not exactly high quality, more arts and craftsy, and this city is now oversaturated with artists without the high paying art buyer base like places like toronto and new york and chicago has.. It does have theatre aquarius I will grant it that... boutiques are popping up but they are overpriced - too much money for too little food. there are clubs but not everyone just wants to go clubbing. golfing? Sure yes we have golf courses.. at least hamilton is still good for that.. There is ONE movie theatre left in jackson but it's the old seating and for a tall guy like me it's just uncomfortable to sit in those seats.. So what is there to do in the city to entertain the average person? That they can engage in to just unwind? Heck we don't even have a playdium in the downtown core - you have to go up on the escarpment to be entertained - you have an eatons center that is sitting empty , now beside a college campus that has moved into jackson that would make an awesome entertainment center, and it still remains empty. I know there were rumours to fill it with entertainment like that but it never materialized.. This city needs a gold saucer lol.. |
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https://image.ibb.co/kiLDjv/B8223884..._6_Gallery.jpg [url=https://imgbb.com/]up |
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