Statement by Daniel Hamilton

My first experience taking Hamilton transit was in middle school when I took the 34 Upper Paradise to Chedoke Middle School. When I was a little older I used to take the 41 mohawk to my part time job on Upper James. As I moved to university I would hop on the 10, 51, 5a etc to get to McMaster University. As I've grown older and been able to explore larger cities from different provinces and countries I've learned even further the ways a transit system can connect a community. When you look along the proposed route of the first branch of the proposed BLAST network there are so many disparate communities and many that have been left behind. The building of this line represented a hope that the entire downtown Hamilton could feel connected; a trip to McMaster or Tim Hortons Field or Eastgate was only a short trip away. And given how disconnected different parts of this megacity can feel sometimes that sort of interconnectedness was much needed.

For all of us that lived in Hamilton through the 80s, 90s, 2000s, there was never a lot of hope. The steel factories left us, the NHL turned us down, the Ticats almost left us, and we became the butt of every joke for surrounding communities, we were just that ugly place you drove past on the skyway. But in the last decade that has started to change. People now travel to our beautiful city, they come to see the scenery, visit our restaurants, come to our art crawls, and they move here to be a part of a tight-knit and extremely proud community. Instead of getting made fun of when I say I'm from Hamilton, I know get questions and people tell me how much they enjoy it or want to visit. Its a major difference, but we still have a long way to go.

The LRT as it was designed was a major step forward in taking that next step to become a major city and destination. It was the start of a bold vision, it spurred new land developments and when added to all the rejuvenation that already happened it gave me that one thing so many of us in the city lacked for so many decades: hope. It was not a miracle cure or magic pill, but it was a good start.

When the announcement came that the LRT was being cancelled, I felt like all that hope had been taken away. I know that through this whole process we were our own worst enemy. But the best decisions are usually made when people from different backgrounds and different ideas come together to compromise. And with 3 months until the final bids were to be tendered, this was much too late for a unilateral top-down decision to be made after all we've invested into this process. Frankly we deserve better.

So Mr. Ford and Ms Mulroney, I ask you to come back to the table, open the books and talk about a compromise with this community, at the very least we deserve a seat at the table. If the shoe was on the other foot and your region of representation was given this same treatment you would both be outraged. This city has gone through too much to let this stop us now, all we're asking is for you to join us so we can all feel we're on the same team. We deserve a seat at the table, we deserve to have a provincial government that works with us and we deserve a transit system that fits the needs of our city.

Vote for this statement

Join Daniel Hamilton and 7099 others: