Statement by Jeff Jefferson

Dear Mr. Ford,
Hamilton of all the cities I’ve lived in has the most problems. These include:
1. Dangerous roadways (I’ve been hit by a car in the bike lane);
2. Violence;
3. Police brutality currently under review;
4. Lack of accepting outsiders (turnaround for people moving here is higher than 50%);
5. Covert pollution issues in the industrial areas that may be in the top five man-made disasters in the world and have gone unreported;
6. Poor public transit; emissions are a real problem as is air quality;
7. A downtown that is filled with vagrants due to failure of integrated housing;
8. Theft etc. etc. etc.

As the primer of Ontario, you need to be a man of your word and stand tall to address the significant issues of every major city in Ontario. Saying it was ruined by the socialists doesn’t allow you to evade accountability to take charge to improve conditions. Stripping away LRT and then concurrently handing it to another city, that may also need it, sets a bad image for your character and has been perceived as a slap in the face to the people of Hamilton, as it should. It is time to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you really want to be premier to help each and every member of this province unbiasedly. If the answer is yes, then you will find a way to get the LRT back on track. Not only that you will start working with different levels of government to address the issues I mentioned above, but that will also take billions in cleanup and lots of social infrastructures to support education, police services (and training to behave in keeping with a Canadian force), and moral support to champion the changes. With the billions in the cleanup, an entire waterfront that is viable could be built and a common lower-income housing area in areas that have been cleaned up could be developed. This would allow downtown to be free of the people that keep most citizens away. Time to clean up Hamilton and investment is the start of changing the way things work here, the culture, cooth, and morale of the city.

Jeff

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