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  #1  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2008, 4:43 PM
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2010 Mayoral Election

So who do you think will run for Mayor of Hamilton in 2010?

Mayor Fred
Bob Bratina
Brad Clark
Mark Chamberlain
Sheila Copps
Maria Bountrogianni
Larry Di Ianni
Terry Whitehead
Lloyd Ferguson
Brian McHattie
Reverend Brother Michael Baldasaro

Also what do you think of Mayor Fred's performance halfway through his mandate?
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  #2  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2008, 4:46 PM
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Mayor Fred has the right idea's but lacks the testicular fortitude to get the job done. Council has been awful in his term.

Isn't Chris Ecklund rumoured to be running?
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  #3  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2008, 4:51 PM
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I've complained about Mayor Fred's leadership skills for a long time now. More evidence is his latest move to let councilors chair the Committee of the Whole. He is basically demoting himself. Another classic example where Mayor Fred lacks leadership was when not one councilor would second his motion to create a pilot project on natural landscape for the Linc and Red Hill.

For me I want someone outside of council to run for Mayor, we need to start fresh and Mark Chamberlain would be great in my opinion.
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  #4  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2008, 4:54 PM
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There's only one certainty on that list and it's:

Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown View Post
Reverend Brother Michael Baldasaro
As for Mayor Fred's performance, this goes back to the strong mayor, weak mayor debate we had earlier in the year.

Fred Eisenberger certainly hasn't been as effective as Larry Di Ianni was at achieving his policy objectives, but Di Ianni's successes had a lot to do with convincing a majority of councillors to support the status quo policies they already supported.

Eisenberger, by contrast, has been trying to move council out of their policy comfort zone with such 'radical' ideas as pedestrianizing Gore Park, approving a light rail transit network, intensifying the built area and limiting greenfield development, banning pesticides, cutting down garbage collection, reducing the size of the "airport employment growth district" development (to meet Provincial guidelines, no less), and so on. It's not surprising he's running into sharper opposition on many of these issues.

Relative to his agenda, he has achieved less; but absolutely in terms of driving change, he has achieved more.

Last edited by ryan_mcgreal; Dec 18, 2008 at 9:30 PM.
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  #5  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 2:10 AM
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Former Alderman/Councillor (Ward 8) Don Ross says he will most likely run this time.
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  #6  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 4:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oldcoote View Post
Mayor Fred has the right idea's but lacks the testicular fortitude to get the job done. Council has been awful in his term.

Isn't Chris Ecklund rumoured to be running?
That's what I heard previously, and he and Di Ianni are close so I'm guessing if one runs, the other doesn't.
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Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 9:37 AM
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Perhaps the real emphasis should not be on changing who is Mayor. It seems to me that anyone who is a little forward thinking gets shouted down by the current council without real debate on what the public may or may not want.

Take the public's desire to have limestone rather than totally abandoning stone on City Hall. That should have provoked more debate, but didn't.

Take the suggestion of keeping staff in their current location and finding an alternative use for the current City Hall. That idea should have gotten more consideration than it did. No one seems to have considered buying the Mall, staying there, but continuing with the reno at City Hall because it's mostly promised and would cost to back out of and then finding an alternative use for the building and saving money by not moving back there and recouping money over time, possibly from the alternative use for City Hall.

So, to my point, the next council election emphasis should be upon having people campaign against the group of councillors who are entrenched in old ideas and thinking patterns and have consistently opposed the current Mayor and who may oppose any Mayor who's suggestions for a future direction don't fit in with their views. A reduction of bias.

As I understood it, you elected someone to put forward the opinions of the people and take these into consideration, not merely to set their own agendas. Ugh, have to stop now, having Gordon Brown rage and no body elected the bugger.
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Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 11:47 AM
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I'd venture that the city hall recladding issue didn't even get on most peoples' radar. The majority of people living in the suburbs on the mountain care more about the inconvenience of a couple potholes in the road over a building that represents the entire city.
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  #9  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 2:00 PM
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I would be suprised to see DiIanni return to municipal politics.
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  #10  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 2:21 PM
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I agree with Adam, and would hazard a guess that only a few supported citizens limestone (or marble) on City Hall, more wanted anything to save a buck, and an even greater number didn't care (or were totally unaware).

With only 30% of registered voters voting in Hamilton elections, not many care to get involved with any cause that doesn't directly impact their daily lives.
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  #11  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 2:28 PM
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Think Sheila Copps will ever run for Mayor?

In the last election she said she couldn't run for Mayor because of the pending lawsuit from the City regarding the Red Hill expressway.
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  #12  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 2:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FairHamilton View Post
more wanted anything to save a buck
All the more reason to look more closely at the City Mall proposal. 0_o
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  #13  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 3:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FairHamilton View Post
I agree with Adam, and would hazard a guess that only a few supported citizens limestone (or marble) on City Hall, more wanted anything to save a buck, and an even greater number didn't care (or were totally unaware).

With only 30% of registered voters voting in Hamilton elections, not many care to get involved with any cause that doesn't directly impact their daily lives.
The only poll conducted on the issue showed the most support for marble, limestone second, and concrete a distant third.

If you polled the entire city though, you would probably find opinion divided between people who wanted to do the cladding right, and people who just wanted to get rid of the building altogether. No one really wants concrete. Either they respect the design and heritage of the building and therefore want marble or limestone, or they hate it and couldn't care less if it's clad in straw and cow dung. (Guess we should be thankful Lloyd Ferguson didn't work for a livestock agricorp.)

I also found in casual conversations with people, that the people who were opposed to marble or limestone were generally cynical about government in general, and saw city hall as a monument to politicians, instead of a monument to the citizens of this city - a very disempowered and disempowering view of local government. That's why concrete is such a spectacularly shitty choice. It screams that not only do we not care about heritage or good design, but we feel powerless, disconnected, and apathetic about our civic government. So sad.
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  #14  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 3:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markbarbera View Post
I would be suprised to see DiIanni return to municipal politics.
Instead we'll get Zombie DiIanni - Chris Eklund.
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  #15  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 4:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryan_mcgreal View Post
All the more reason to look more closely at the City Mall proposal. 0_o
Exactly!!!
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  #16  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 4:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown View Post
Think Sheila Copps will ever run for Mayor?

In the last election she said she couldn't run for Mayor because of the pending lawsuit from the City regarding the Red Hill expressway.
I'm putting my money on Sheila returning to federal politics. I predict seat redistribution will see Hamilton Centre split into two ridings east/west, effectively restoring the old Hamilton East riding. Hamilton West will be the remainder of the old Hamilton Centre riding (west mountain), plus Westdale, and Dundas. Sheila will run in one of these, likely Hamilton East.
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  #17  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 10:06 PM
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I like scrappy politicans like Munro, Agostino, Christopherson and Copps. I respect Copps and I'd love to see her back in politics, she was pushed out of politics too early in my opinion.

I'm betting if politics is compeltely out of her life she might be Hamilton's rep for the 2015 Pan Am Games. She's a big supporter for International Games for Hamilton, Road World Cycling, 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games.
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  #18  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2008, 10:27 PM
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I'm with you on that. They represent the best of Hamilton politics. Unpretentious, but fiercely proud of their city. Not like the crop of bloodless squelchers currently dominating our council. Especially Sheila. Hope we haven't seen the last of her.
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  #19  
Old Posted Dec 20, 2008, 5:41 AM
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I would love to see someone like Bratina take a shot at the office, mostly because I think we need someone Hamiltonians can respect in the Mayor's chair...

Mayor Fred is weak simply because he needs practice, and doesn't warrant much respect from the city as a whole.

Then again, not many councillors do as can be seen by our voter turn-out in 2006. But one name that many people bring up when discussing councillors they can respect is Bratina.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jan 3, 2009, 5:56 PM
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What about Terry Cooke?

There's a lot that I agree with him on. He has the leadership skills too.
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