Hamilton's politicians spew it, while Hamilton's residents are drinking it.
While city politicians have been blowing millions of tax dollars on fantasies like unused bike lanes with their own functioning, yet almost entirely symbolic stoplights(!), two-way street conversions, and other inane Thunbergian religious projects, real threats to the environment have been neglected for decades.
Another Hamilton sewage leak discovered to be spilling into Lake Ontario for 26 years
Fantasies may serve several psychological purposes and constitute a normal part of most people’s interior world, but a system of government that allows the fantasies of a few disturbed individuals to become the model for the design of a city, only leads to misery and waste.
I sent that sewage report to some of my Hamilton friends, on Monday. Here is one of the slightly edited, responses,
They have been wasting money on frivolous things like bike lanes and converting roads from one way to two-way. It's a joke.
The previous mayors and councillors should all forfeit their pensions, and be brought to trial for the damage they have done to this city.
Previous engineering staff associated with infrastructure integrity should also be made to account for their contributions to this misallocation of voter trust and taxes paid.
This is Bad Stuff, WHERE HAVE THE TAX DOLLARS BEEN GOING?
Another person commented,
Back in the 1980s, I worked at Dupont Research, in Kingston, Ontario. As I became acquainted with my new co-workers, they would ask me where I was from. When I told them, they would invariably scrunch up their noses and say, “Ewe! Hamilton!”
I would laugh and tell them, “That’s exactly how we like it. You folks only ever see the city from the Skyway Bridge when passing by. You think it’s all smokestacks, and slag and coal piles. Furthermore, you never see what is behind all of that. And that suits us just fine. Hamilton is actually a very nice city. We neither need nor want a huge influx of people crowding our streets and driving up rents and real estate prices. It’s our city, and we like it that way.”
Well, that was forty years ago.
Things have changed. City politicians have been “fixing” things ever since. Except for sewage disposal. That stinks and just isn't sexy. Saving the planet from fictional disaster gets so much more traction.
I was downtown on Monday for a meeting.
I still go downtown, from time to time, even if I don't have a specific reason for going. I always have my eyes wide open for all the damage the politicians, and their lobbyists have done to this city. Sometimes, I snap a few pictures.
The blame does not reside entirely with city politicians and “planners.” It emanates from every level of government.
On Monday, I took King St. to get to the meeting. I guess part of the reason that street is now so third-world is due to the expropriations for the LRT fantasy. But then, that doesn't explain, for example, why every business on the east side of John between Haymarket and Augusta are closed and boarded or papered up.
Then I noticed that most of the businesses in the Corktown Plaza were closed. The Double Double Pizza, where I used to go for a not bad pepperoni pizza, is gone. The Hasty Market convenience store is gone. The coin laundry just north of that is also gone, as well as a few other establishments. All that is left is a pharmacy, and a medical clinic.
Is another monstrous high-rise going up there? Of course it is! But where will the children play-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay? Small money out, big money in?
Wilson, from James to Sanford, hasn't changed much. It’s still the grungy stretch it always was. I grabbed a couple of coffees from the Tim's at Sanford and Cannon, then turned north toward Barton for the drive east to Parkdale.
Barton has always been a shithole street, but now it's even worse, if you can believe that’s possible. And it has ALWAYS been a two-way street!
Speaking of Barton St., I remember a guy who worked at the Pioneer gas bar at King and Ashley a few years back. He had emigrated from somewhere in the Middle East. I always enjoyed our short conversations while paying for my gas. He had a great sense of humour, and were I a scout for the talk show circuit, I would have signed this guy up. He had the perfect personality for money and fame. He could take any topic and make it funny and entertaining.
One night, while paying for gas, he told me how disappointed he was with Hamilton. He told me when he first came to Canada, with visions of shining cities in his head, he settled in Toronto. A friend of his, from the same place, told him Hamilton was much nicer than Toronto and urged him to move here.
So, I guess he moved here before seeing what he was getting himself into.
When he first saw Barton St., he said he couldn’t believe his eyes. He said something along the lines of, “I thought I had seen some shitty places in third-world shitholes, but nothing that prepared me for Barton St.” He finished by saying, “If I ever see that guy again, I am going to choke him.”
If you think I’m lying or exaggerating, ask yourself this, would YOU like to move to Barton St.?
A couple of weeks later, I was in there, paying for my gas. A guy came meandering in from King St. to buy some smokes. He was a short, bald, guy, maybe five-foot-five or so, muscular and covered in tattoos like some extra from a prison movie. Oh, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Upon seeing his new customer, my friend looked at me from behind the counter, raised his eyebrows, and said, speaking slowly and lowering his voice for effect, “Man of Hamilton.” We both had a good laugh.
Men of Hamilton are everywhere, now. As are shootings.
Years ago, the late Councillor, Marvin Caplan, in support of the two-way street conversion concept said, "I don't know of a successful downtown in the world that isn't congested." Twenty-five years later, perhaps it can be said, that no city can be successful without regular gun play. It certainly provides the city with some diversity. If I were still driving a taxi today, I would certainly invest in a Kevlar vest. Forget about surgical masks.
One night, I picked up a lady at the Go Station. She gave me an address near Cathcart and Cannon.
When we arrived at her destination, I saw that she was living in a brand-new condo complex on the southeast corner. As I pulled up to the main door, on Carthcart, two drug addicts approached the car from where they had been sheltering at the building entrance, and asked the lady if they could borrow a pen. It seemed extremely important to them.
I could see that they made her feel very uncomfortable. So, instead of letting her exit the cab there, I asked her if she would like me to drive around the block, with the hope that the two People of Hamilton would be gone by then. And NO, I DIDN’T CHARGE HER EXTRA for taking the “long way around.”
As we circled the block, I asked her, “You’re not originally from Hamilton, are you?” She wasn’t.
Next, I asked, “Would you have moved here if you knew what kind of neighbourhood you were moving into?” She said, “no.”
I reassured her. I told her not to worry because Hamilton’s politicians were going to “fix” it all. Like with the LRT. Instead of stopping at the front door, she asked me to take her into the underground parking area, where she got out. Poor woman. At least no one took a shot at us.
I didn't want to make her feel worse, so I didn't tell her that around half of the murders in Hamilton over the last thirty years occurred within about a six block radius of her new home. If memory serves, one victim was found in an alleyway close to that very corner. At least the geography of murder in Hamilton seems to be more equitable these days.
If Hamilton’s new mayor and politicians should “fix” the growing problem of mentally ill, homeless, drug addicts in the core, where are they going to put them? Ancaster?
Perhaps, they could award the ones deemed "racialized" honorary PhDs, and assist in placing them in some McMaster humanities departments. The subsequent output wouldn't differ much from the current product. Others could be recognized for their unhoused people's "climate knowledge" and hired on at Hamilton's new climate office. Who better to consult on weighty climate issues than those who live outdoors?
Or are they the intended residents of all those new skyscrapers we see springing up like weeds? Maybe it will end up that way after the real estate bubble collapses.
Part of my reconnaissance involved a walk through Jackson Square. The entire former Eaton Centre is completely shut down now, but there are still some businesses hobbling along in the rest of the place.
The upper food court near the library is completely vacant.
I remember occasionally bumping into acquaintances there back in the 1980s. The lower food court is still open, but traffic is sparse. My son had a Chinese pepper steak combo, mostly noodles. With pop and tax, it was over $15. This isn’t the sort of meal the People of Hamilton who live in the area, in between all the skyscrapers, can afford on a regular basis. I sure can't. Those stoplight median entrepreneurs we see all over the city might be able to afford it.
One store near the King William entrance had posters advertising up to 80% off. I saw some nice coats there for $59. The stickers said $275. I almost bought one but, I still have the ratty one I bought ten years ago, and who needs winter coats now that the planet is warming?
It's sad when I think back to all the time and money I spent in Jackson Square and places nearby back in the 1970s.
Remember, Thrify's Just Pants? Brushed denim? When the term "Wet Look" applied to fashion, instead of street people's sweatpants? Half of my record collection came from Star Records, above the UCS store, at King and James.
Augusta, always a two-way street, is still one-way between James and Hughson due to construction that's been going on forever. Also, Hughson, between King and King William is still blocked off. How many years has it been now?
The former Undermount Tavern on Younge St. is still sitting vacant. At least they cleaned up the trash outside.
Speaking of construction, all the parking lanes near the Jet Café, where I still like to go for a pretty good breakfast from time to time, were blocked off due to construction.
I've never paid much attention to city politics, but it seems to me that the politicians have been promising to fix the downtown since I first learned to walk and talk. Yet, just like the taxi business, the more they "fix" it, the worse it gets.
And, just like the taxi business, which once hosted quite a number and variety of small businesses, the rest of Hamilton’s small businesses appear to be suffering the same fate. Based on information I have recently received from a few contacts in the Hamilton taxi business, City Hall has finally achieved success in “fixing” the taxi industry beyond repair.
All those skyscrapers going up in the core are not from small businesses. Stack ‘em and pack ‘em is the new ideology at City Hall. Big money, and big business, is pushing everyone else out.
Perhaps, in the end, we will all own nothing, and be happy. And you WILL BE HAPPY. Anyone who says they are not happy will be accused of spreading harmful misinformation. Trudeau et al. are working hard to guarantee that.
I often wonder about how the local politicians see the city. They must see it as they make their way to the place where tax dollars are used to “fix” things.
I think there is something Freudian going on in the minds of city politicians. The idea comes to me from an essay I did in Mr. Wayne's health class back in Grade 11. It was one of the few times, maybe the only time, I really put some honest work into an assignment. It was about Freud's views on the sexual instinct.
Part of that essay dealt with toilet training. According to Freud, when a child is being potty-trained, you don't want to give them a guilt complex by scolding them when they have an accident. That could lead to problems like constipation. On the other hand, you must avoid going overboard with praise whenever they successfully complete a bowel movement, or they might mistakenly conclude that they have created something of great value.
That’s might explain why politicians see masterful accomplishments when everyone, not blinded by woke ideology, see nothing but a pile of poop.
Age is a factor. Most of the people I have known since we were kids tend to agree with me. The city has gone downhill. Even twenty-five or thirty years ago, when I told friends that the geniuses at city hall had cooked up the preposterous two-way street conversion idea, the common response from my peers was, “that’s just one more reason not to go downtown.”
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
Newer, and younger, Hamiltonians have nothing to compare it to. For example, the new two-way streets are just the way they found it. To them, it's just like weather—something that just is. They are blissfully unaware of what has been lost.
In addition, the entire culture has been thoroughly permeated with left-wing, anti-capitalist, anti-freedom sentiment over the last sixty-plus years.
Smokestacks and automobiles no longer represent the wealth and prosperity Westerners enjoyed, and took for granted. Musical lyrics, movies, school curriculums, “news” programs, and political discourse are completely dominated by collectivist ideology. Instead of learning science, public school students are exposed to Al Gore movies and Greta Thunberg. Climate anxiety is ruining many young lives. No wonder over two million Canadians rely on anti-depressants.
The intensity of the indoctrination is enough to cause a Pavlovian reaction to the sight of an automobile, or a smokestack in those who succumb.
Auto lanes: bad
Bike lanes: good
Given enough time, it will come down to
Bike lanes: bad
Pig and goat lanes: good
Then again, there’s that problem with meat consumption. Maybe it will be lanes for pushcarts laden with high protein insects.
As for you bicycle fanatics, your time will come. When everyone is so poor that only the well-off can afford bicycles, you will be demonized, just as the rich Kulaks were demonized because they owned more than one cow. How dare you own a bicycle when some people don’t even have legs? Where is the equity in that? And some subsidized university professors, recruited from homeless camps, will write theses declaring bicycles a relic of white supremacy.
Stationary bikes, equipped to generate electricity may become popular among the wealthy who wish to keep the light (sic) on when it gets dark. Larger families will become popular again. Instead of one more mouth to feed, it will be one more pair of legs to peddle. Big families will even be able to watch television.
Take a look around you, People of Hamilton. Where are we headed?
I just caught my middle child (the eldest) watching a film from the 1940’s. Panicked, I asked if zhe was watching for the purpose of deconstructing and spotting bigoted themes. Zhe said “no, I just really like this movie.”
Related
If you think Hamilton's politicians are bad, check out what has been going on in Oxford, in the U.K.
As I wrote above, the entire culture has been thoroughly permeated with left-wing, anti-Western, anti-capitalist, anti-freedom sentiment over the last sixty-plus years. The voting choices of too many people from my generation were cemented into their minds, while they were still teenagers, by popular music lyrics. Justin Trudeau's installation as Prime Minister was sealed as far back as 1970.
There are some ironies there. The Five Man Electrical Band's protest about property rights, working for a living, the proliferation of signs, and making small donations to churches could not foresee the world their utopian, collectivist dreams would create.
Superstar rock bands, like Pink Floyd and Chicago, wrote songs about the evils of money, while raking it in.
The Moody Blues condemned the practice of resource extraction,
Joni Mitchel sings of her hate for parking lots, preferring instead that humanity continue to live in a state of nature where life was nasty, brutish, and short.
And on and on and on it goes.
Here is Cat Steven's lament about the high, fossil-fuel driven standard of living that capitalism has made available to the masses. My question for Cat is, once everyone is stuffed into sardine-can-packed high-rise buildings, and they can no longer afford cars or fuel to take off to a beach or a park, where will the children play? Oh, right. They now have smartphones. Big Tech to the rescue.
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Joke of the Day
I first heard this joke about a half century ago. It can no longer be told in its original form, so I have modified it here.
A Hindu, a Jew, and an unvaccinated trucker are travelling on the Trans-Canada Highway when they have a breakdown in the middle of nowhere.
They see a farmhouse off in the distance and walk on up to it to seek shelter for the night.
The farmer says it will not be a problem, but he only has room for two in the house. The third man will have to sleep in the barn.
The Jew pipes up and says he has no problem sleeping in the barn, so he heads off, and the lights go out.
Fifteen minutes later, there is a knock at the door. It's the Jew. He tells the farmer he can't sleep in the barn because there is a pig there.
The Hindu immediately volunteers to sleep in the barn. "Pigs don't bother me," he says, so he heads off, and the lights go out.
Fifteen minutes later, there is a knock at the door. It's the Hindu. He tells the farmer he can't sleep in the barn because there is a cow there.
Finally, the unvaccinated trucker volunteers to sleep in the barn. "Pigs and cows don't bother me," he boasts, so he heads off, and the lights go out.
Fifteen minutes later, there is another knock at the door. It's the pig and the cow. And they’re fully vaccinated.
Bro, I was Downtown yesterday. The Roads are a Disgrace. In 45 years, nothing has been achieved.
I feel sick and angry and betrayed.
Men's mighty mine-machines digging in the ground
not knowing that you can't build electric cars without minerals, and without understanding that dumping food into oceans is a practice, not of capitalism, but of political intervention in mixed economies to keep agricultural prices high. It's difficult to imagine they would have been performing at anything more than the local hootenanny, after a long, hard day in the fields, if not for all the stolen resources that went into the production of vinyl records and stereo equipment.
Stealing rare minerals where they can be found
Concrete caves with iron doors bury it again
While a starving, frightened world fills the sea with grain
