Statement by Michael Morgan

I live on the mountain, and yet I see the real advantages that the proposed LRT line will bring to our city. Working as I have in the technology sector for the better part of the last two decades, I can say with confidence that the world has moved on, the steel industry is not coming back, that this is absolutely okay, and the success of a city is not measured in how quickly people can leave it to work in other municipalities, but in how efficiently people can move through it to local jobs without requiring an automobile. We need the LRT to put in that foundation and attract those high-tech employers for whom this is a priority as well. I can only hope that our myopic councillors will be able to move beyond their petty and pathetic self interest to see this truth as well, and understand that by clinging to the past of Hamilton all they are succeeding in doing is sacrificing the prosperity of its future.

Whether it was the proposed mass transit system that eventually went to Vancouver or the debate of the location of the stadium, Hamilton City Council has developed a real reputation for dithering and an inability to deliver on long-term strategic goals. I am unsure if this is due to an extreme cowardice on the part of our council to make firm decisions, or if it relates to a tragic ineptitude amongst our council members to manage city affairs, however, regardless of the cause, Council appears to have done their best to make our city a laughingstock amongst Ontario municipalities. I don't hold out any hope that Council will do the right thing in this instance (i.e., confirm support for LRT, a much needed enhancement to our wretched public transportation service) and lay the groundwork for a successful future, but rather suspect that it will continue to waste time in pissing contests and continue to work to the detriment of the long-term success of our entire city and the people who call it home.

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