Statement by Mark Rejhon

Hamiltonians know the depressed state of Main/King/Barton. There are many who don't think those streets will ever revitalize, with speeding cars and shuttered businesses.

However, I see great potential, living on Proctor Boulvard near Main/King, especially with improved rapid transit including LRT and improved bus service:

- Aging pensioners will make way for a new wave of Hamiltonians, such as new workforce people, people from Toronto
- Parking lots replaced with businesses
- Houses between storefronts on Main/King converted to patio restaurants and cafes
- Strip malls revitalized
- There are many small businesses with large parking lots, leading to development opportunities.

I also propose a recommendation to make Main Street a 2-way street, with nearby King street for the LRT.

Currently, people don't even bother to park at the parking meters even when parking is allowed because cars zoom by at 60-70mph, often having to change lanes to avoid parked cars. Cars will slow down and park more often, revitalizing businesses greatly. Transit users walk from the nearby LRT and/or connecting buses.

To make a big revitalization happen, a combined package needs to happen.

- LRT to make transit really convenient
- Traffic calming of Main-King by turning King into the LRT route and Main into a 2-way street.
- It should be cheaper to rent-out a storefront (earn rent) than to keep it shuttered (earn tax credit). Right now, a strange situation is occuring where several old Barton business owners earn more by keeping storefronts shuttered.
- Time, as old retirees that are a drain on the tax base, get gradually replaced by working people who move to Hamilton

I see Hamilton City Council having mixed feelings on LRT but I can assure you that Hamilton City Council is more unified than Scarborough (as all of us know -- Scarborough subway was first approved in 2005). We have to satisfy the 416-and-905 situation by satisfying both Hamilton Lower City and Hamilton Mountain so please seriously consider approving both the LRT and BRT funds as a pleasant surprise. Find some funding mechanisms to slightly increase the budget beyond $811M if possible, so our 905 (Mountain) doesn't get jealous of 416, and Mountain will get the A-Line LRT (all the way to the airport) sooner when B-Line gets built, and maybe our B.L.A.S.T network of LRT may become a reality within our lifetimes.

Let's get started with both B-Line and bus funding, please.

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