Ward boundary alternatives go public

[thistleclub]

Ward boundary alternatives go public
(Hamilton Spectator, June 10 2016)

Options to rejig Hamilton's ward boundaries range from using a federal riding template to adding an extra ward on the fast-growing Mountain, a review has found.

The interim findings of the city's ongoing ward boundary review went public Thursday, kick-starting three weeks of public meetings for residents to digest the options.

Council narrowly voted to go ahead with the $270,000 review last spring to see if changes would better reflect a shifting population. Right now, populous Ward 7 has 62,000 residents while rural Ward 14 has closer to 17,000.

The consultant report does not recommend an alternative — but does call it "improbable" that the 15 ward status quo is good enough. The alternatives are grouped into four main categories:

• rearrange wards to fall within federal riding boundaries [i.e. Option 1];

• tweak versions of wards to preserve "pre-amalgamation balance" [i.e. Option 2A/B];

• reshape wards with greater emphasis on population fairness [i.e. Option 3A/B];

• add a 16th ward, likely on the Mountain [i.e. Option 4A/B/C].

The review doesn't include options like eliminating wards or carving up the map to ensure each ward has parts of the lower city, Mountain and suburbs.

The consultant says it weighed population with other council principles like preserving community identities. It also notes the old city-suburban model was "built on a deliberate balance" at amalgamation and "It is clear that many present-day Hamiltonians place significant importance on this balance."

If council wants to change ward boundaries in time for the 2018 election it will need to do so by early next year…

Check out preliminary findings of the ward boundary review. Upcoming dates:

•June 11, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Tim Hortons Field, 64 Melrose Ave. N;

•June 14, 6-9 p.m., Mountain Arena, 25 Hester St;

•June 16, 6-9 p.m., Ancaster Rotary Centre, 385 Jerseyville Rd;

•June 17, 6-9, Westdale Secondary school, 700 Main St. W.

For a full list, visit hamilton.ca.



Here’s Watson & Associates’ City of Hamilton Ward Boundary Review Interim Report and the associated maps:

[drpgq]

I don't mind 4C. I think adding a Mountain ward is probably the easiest compromise.

[thistleclub]

Shocker! Council & mayor appear to be nonplussed by the status quo:

Ward 7 Coun. Donna Skelly has the most constituents but says she's not concerned about disproportionate ward populations and doesn't think adding another ward and councillor is the solution.

"There are a lot of expenses with creating another ward," Skelly said. "I'm not so sure that's the best solution, strictly on the fact that it'll cost taxpayers more money."

Skelly is not bothered by rural wards that have appreciably fewer constituents because she says the agricultural community still needs a strong voice.

"Agriculture contributes in excess of a billion dollars to our economy … It's such a unique sector. It's not fair to lump them in with issues of the downtown or in my ward," she said.

"I have the largest ward by far, but we do need to have respect for different parts of the community."

She'd prefer, if there are to be changes, to see a tweaking of the wards.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger doesn't appear overly enthusiastic to tackle ward boundaries but says he's waiting to see what Hamiltonians have to say through public consultation.

"All I will concede is there is a population imbalance," Eisenberger said, adding that deciding what to do if anything is going to be tricky.

"I'm not convinced there'll be massive changes," he said, adding he doesn't think councillors or their constituents have much of an appetite to tackle ward boundaries now when there are so many larger issues at city hall.

"I suspect there'll be no changes this term and I'm doubtful it will happen in the next."

[bigguy1231]

Here's a good summary and assessment of the OMB hearings on this issue from Joey Coleman.

https://www.thepublicrecord.ca/2017/...gal-precedent/

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Here's a good summary and assessment of the OMB hearings on this issue from Joey Coleman.

https://www.thepublicrecord.ca/2017/...gal-precedent/

Thanks for sharing that.

The "amalgamation" city vs. suburb issue is clearly overcooked. It's time for new ingredients to be added to inform ward boundary definitions, and also time that we all look at them as being more fluid (all = residents AND politicians) and responsive to population and socio-demographic change. Respecting historical communities is still important, but should be less so than representation across several population metrics.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Wipe all the lines off the map. Councillors too.

Something tells me we'd manage just fine without them.

[thistleclub]

Going off nation-wide norms, Hamilton's council is overstocked. At minimum, amalgamation should have given us one Stoney Creek rep and one Flamborough rep. If you're superstitious, pare it back to 11 wards and we'll be doing just fine.

Toronto (2.81M) = 44 Wards
Montreal (1.71M) = 19 Boroughs
Calgary (1.24M) = 14 Wards
Edmonton (934K) = 12 Wards
Ottawa (883K) = 23 Wards
Mississauga (781K) = 11 Wards
Winnipeg (705K) = 15 Wards
Vancouver (631K) = 10 City-Wide Councillors
Brampton (594K) = 10 Wards with 5 bi-Ward Councillors
Hamilton (537K) = 15 Wards

[bigguy1231]

If you look at the federal and provincial levels of government we get 1 MP or MPP per 100,000 population, give or take, so I don't see why we would need 1 councilor per 40,000 people. We should reduce the number of councilors to 1 per 50,000 which would give us about 11, plus the mayor. There is absolutely no reason why the citizens can't be well represented by councilors who have constituencies of 50,000.

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

Wipe all the lines off the map. Councillors too.

Something tells me we'd manage just fine without them.

How would you suggest we run the city without councillors?

I hope to run for councillor one day in Hamilton, and I have a lot of ideas that would in my opinion, better the city. But I feel like right now, nobody of value wants to run in Hamilton because they see it as a waste of time. The councillors now are not that bad in my opinion, but I want to see harder working councillors. I am tired of old white men holding councillor positions and just sitting back and taking money. Being a politician sucks and I want to respect them for their effort, but I think more actual progress needs to be made.

Hamilton needs a council with real vision of a better Hamilton.

[SteelTown]

You can change the ward boundaries, however once a councillor has been elected they almost never get defeated. The race is only competitive if a councillor doesn't run for re-election. The whole annual area rating allotment money certainly didn't improve the situation.

A real positive change would be introducing term limits.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

You can change the ward boundaries, however once a councillor has been elected they almost never get defeated. The race is only competitive if a councillor doesn't run for re-election. The whole annual area rating allotment money certainly didn't improve the situation.

A real positive change would be introducing term limits.

Term limits will never happen. The province has already said that they will not allow it. Besides that there may be constitutional implications to prohibiting a citizen from running for office. It's undemocratic and unnecessary as far as I am concerned. If someone votes for the same person over and over again that is their right whether opponents like it or not. Punishing winners is not what we do in a democracy.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

@TheRitsman 'I hope to run for councillor one day in Hamilton...'

Don't do it!

Get a real job. Be productive. Do good things.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

If you look at the federal and provincial levels of government we get 1 MP or MPP per 100,000 population, give or take, so I don't see why we would need 1 councilor per 40,000 people. We should reduce the number of councilors to 1 per 50,000 which would give us about 11, plus the mayor. There is absolutely no reason why the citizens can't be well represented by councilors who have constituencies of 50,000.

If you treat Vancouver's councillors as surrogate wards, the above sample of Canada's nine largest cities works out to an average ward population of around 66,000.

If you factor in Brampton's bi-ward councillors, the above sample of Canada's nine largest cities works out to an average population of roughly 73,000 per councillor.

Hamilton, meanwhile, comes in at around half that.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

If you treat Vancouver's councillors as surrogate wards, the above sample of Canada's nine largest cities works out to an average ward population of around 66,000.

If you factor in Brampton's bi-ward councillors, the above sample of Canada's nine largest cities works out to an average population of roughly 73,000 per councillor.

Hamilton, meanwhile, comes in at around half that.

I picked 50k because it's a nice round number, that's all. As long as the wards are of equal size I don't really care what size they are.

[mattgrande]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

Going off nation-wide norms, Hamilton's council is overstocked. At minimum, amalgamation should have given us one Stoney Creek rep and one Flamborough rep. If you're superstitious, pare it back to 11 wards and we'll be doing just fine.

Toronto (2.81M) = 44 Wards
Montreal (1.71M) = 19 Boroughs
Calgary (1.24M) = 14 Wards
Edmonton (934K) = 12 Wards
Ottawa (883K) = 23 Wards
Mississauga (781K) = 11 Wards
Winnipeg (705K) = 15 Wards
Vancouver (631K) = 10 City-Wide Councillors
Brampton (594K) = 10 Wards with 5 bi-Ward Councillors
Hamilton (537K) = 15 Wards

I was in Belfast this summer and visited their City Hall. For a population of 333,871, they have sixty seats. I couldn't believe it!

[bigguy1231]

Here's the OMB decision.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...view-1.4445476

[SteelTown]

Good, the Mountain is way overdue for another ward.

9 inner city wards and 6 suburban/rural wards, that's A-okay with me

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Here's the OMB decision.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...view-1.4445476

Brenda Johnson, Ward 11 councillor, understands dividing her ward. But she's not happy with the loss of the rural Flamborough ward either.

"People in the rural area have very little voice to begin with," she said.

Uh, no. Actually their voice has been relatively larger than that of others in the city, Brenda. There's this concept called representation by population in our democratic system... perhaps you're familiar with it?

And I get that she's probably referring to the transfer of one council seat from the ring of original suburban municipalities to the area that was the pre-amalgamation City of Hamilton, but if you take "rural" literally there will now be FIVE councilors who have wards that cover large tracts of rural land, up one from before (or six, if you consider the new Ward 10 is still urbanizing between Fruitland and Fifty roads)... it's just that they all have an urban portion they must represent.

[drpgq]

I'm wondering if now area rating for the HSR can be changed.

[SteelTown]

Now that we got the ward boundary settled, can we start selecting names for each ward instead of just numbering each war, so uncreative.

Under the new ward boundary looks like I went from being in Ward 8 to now being part of Ward 14. Yet Ward 9 is way over on the other end as Stoney Creek Mountain.