Twitter: @inthehoodhamont
Facebook group: In The Neighbourhood With Matt Jelly and Gunner
E-mail: inthehoodmattgunner@gmail.com
Every tuesday and thursday morning, CFMU 93.3 FM.
Listen online: http://cfmu.msumcmaster.ca/
My apologies to followers of the blog for the lack of posts lately- things have been very busy. Here’s a few quick updates on some of the stuff that has been keeping me occupied.
Central Neighbourhood Association
I’m glad to report that the Central Neighbourhood, bounded by Main Street West, James Street North, Stuart Street and Queen Street North has re-established a new neighbourhood association. If you live within those boundaries, please feel free to visit our CNA website at www.centralneighbours.ca, or on facebook and/or twitter. There will be a lot of ways to get involved in the CNA over the next few months. Our next meeting will take place on May 28th at 7 pm at the Jamesville Community Centre at 209 MacNab Street North.
Food Drive at Art Crawl – Tonight from 7-10 pm.
In collaboration with the Welcome Inn Community Centre, at every art crawl from here on out, volunteers will be collecting donations for the Welcome Inn’s Emergency Food Pantry. We’ll be at the northeast corner of James and Cannon at tonight’s Art Crawl- accepting non-perishable food items, cash donations for Welcome Inn, as well as a number of non-food items that are also in high demand and definitely appreciated: toilet paper, razors, tampons and pads, infant and toddler food, and pet food. We’ll be at the corner of James and Cannon from 7-10. More generally, our local food banks are facing shortages across the entire City- if you’re not attending the Art Crawl tonight but would still like to help out, please visit www.hamiltonfoodshare.org, or welcomeinn.ca.
Central Park Litter Cleanup – This Sunday at 1 pm.
This Sunday afternoon, the Central Neighbourhood Association will be hosting a Litter pickup event at Central Park. Bags and gloves will be provided, thanks to the City of Hamilton Parks Office. Please meet at the park entrance at Mulberry and Bay Street North at 1 pm. Bring your mom!
In The Neighbourhood returning soon
For those of you who were listeners of my radio show, In The Neighbourhood, we recently made a decision to discontinue the show on INDI 101. I’m glad to report that my co-host Gunner and I will be back on the air within the next two weeks on CFMU 93.3, as well as in podcast form. I’ll post a more detailed update on that very soon.
Hamilton City Council voted 12-4 last night to uphold a “Radial Separation By-Law” which indicates that residential care facilities should not be located within 300 metres of one another. This by-law has existed since 2001. Supporters of the by-law feel that this blunt tool is needed to prevent the overconcentration of such facilities, particularly in the core.
The reason this issue came up pertains to the Lynwood Charlton Hall, which currently houses 8 girls who suffer from mental illnesses. The current facility on Charlton avenue, owned by the City of Hamilton, is in need of repairs which the organization cannot afford. Lynwood Charlton planned to move into a new facility in the Corktown neighbourhood, putting it at odds with the radial separation by-law. Lynwood Charlton has existed in it’s current location for over 50 years, where they have assisted 1000 residents over the decades. Lynwood Charlton has indicated that it will be challenging the City’s decision to the Ontario Municipal Board.
In January, Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Barbara Hall informed council that the by-law contravenes the Ontario Human Rights Code, stating “Zoning bylaws must be based on legitimate planning rationales, and not on the people who will live there.” In voting to uphold the by-law, Council has seemingly ignored this caution.
Overconcentration of social services has been a longstanding issue in the downtown core. Some feel that these facilities ought to be spread out, rather than concentrated in one area. There’s some merit to that notion, but I don’t believe we should use this kind of blunt planning tool to achieve that objective. There are definitely some residential care facilities which are poorly run. But for every bad facility, there are many more which adequately provide needed services. I believe the answer is in proper enforcement and oversight of the conditions of facilities, rather than a radial separation.
However, if City Council wishes to start down the slippery slope of enacting radial separation by-laws against land uses which some residents do not support, I’d like to forward a new set of Radial separation by-laws for council to enact immediately. I included these suggestions in a letter to council this morning.
Good morning councillors.
I went to public school in the Corktown neighbourhood, and my family has roots in the Corktown community dating back to the 1930′s.
Since the majority (I do realize four of you voted against) believes in the radial separation by-law as a blunt tool for determining land use, I’d like to make a few suggestions for some new radial separation bylaws.
A 300 metre separation between:
- Surface parking lots
- Cheque cashing places
- Smokestacks
- Contaminated properties
- Defunct malls
- One way, 4-lane highways
- Vacant buildings
- Trucking routes
- Stucco buildings
- Strip Malls
I find these things distasteful and I would like my distaste enshrined in law.
Thanks
Matt Jelly
Please send a polite message to:
President: Rob.MacIsaac@mohawkcollege.ca
Vice President: Cheryl.Jensen@mohawkcollege.ca
Dean: Piero.Cherubini@mohawkcollege.ca
http://facebook.com/savethebaldman
Yarn Jelly by Laura, Bobblehead Gunner by Kathy. HBS outro by Mike Jerome.
Yesterday, I toured the restored Lister Block during the very successful grand opening event organized by Tourism Hamilton. The Lister Block looks fantastic. I will give credit where credit is due- Labourers International Union of North America (LIUNA) did an astounding job on carefully restoring the Lister Block to it’s former glory. The heritage preservation specialists who delivered this quality job have every right to be proud of their good work. Hamiltonians have every right to feel proud of this successful renovation.
When I got back to my desk after visiting the Lister, I had a mix of feelings, and I wrote those feelings honestly in a blog post, pointing out that many of our civic leaders gave up on restoring the Lister at one point, and successfully urged Council to demolish the building and to build a replica, using very little of the original structure. The proposal was that the City would enable this development by leasing space in a new building. (I do wonder if there would have been as much of a celebration yesterday if this proposal had been successful.)
The primary motivation for writing the article was to suggest we need to consider the merits of preservation and adaptive reuse far more often- and to point out that the Lister is one lone exception to an otherwise bad track record. Reuse of materials and the preservation of built heritage should be a permanent culture, not something we do just this once.
In my article, I factually listed some of the civic leaders who spoke most passionately in favour of demolition, who are now in retrospect celebrating that the building was ultimately restored. Kathy Drewitt of the Downtown Business Improvement Association was one of those civic leaders.
Last night, I received this response to my article from Ms. Drewitt:
“You have that article about me all wrong Matt. LAURA BABCOCK AND I worked very hard to save the building from the wrecking ball with an on line petition that received over 2000 names of support. I hope you will print an apology and correction in an upcoming issue. Kathy Drewitt”
Following is my response to Kathy:
Good morning Kathy,
For your records, these are the minutes from the June 12th, 2006 Committee of the Whole meeting, where delegates presented to council, both in favour and against demolishing the Lister Block:
http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/468FF15F-5107-472B-ACFE-6100D5B67680/0/Jun12REPORT06013.pdf
In the minutes, it spells out clearly that the B.I.A. was in support of LIUNA’s stated plan to demolish the Lister Block and to replace it with a replica. You submitted a 1,266-signature petition (a bit lower than 2000 signatures as you suggest), and that day you and Tim Bullock spoke in favour of the demolition permit request. I was there.
Unless somehow you dispute the clerk’s record of this meeting, I will be printing no such apology or correction to my article “about you”.
At the time, Laura Babcock and Powergroup were working in a Public Relations capacity for LIUNA. They developed the campaign in support of LIUNA’s concept at the time: to demolish the Lister Block and replace it with a taller replicated version, and for the City to lease space at similar rates in a new building.
What you may disagree with me on is whether a demolition and replication would have been considered “restoring” the Lister. From a materials standpoint, what this would have meant is that the reinforced concrete and steel girder structure would have been demolished and a new structure would be built. Joe Mancinelli of LIUNA claimed in his delegation that day that much of the materials could not be reused, and would be demolished. Many of those assertions were proven to be untrue.
The BIA spoke in support of demolition that day. I cannot see how that can be disputed. I find it incredible that your recollection is that you and Laura Babcock ”worked very hard to save the building from the wrecking ball”. That is absolutely untrue. Perhaps what bothers you the most about the piece I wrote yesterday is that it runs counter to what you want to believe about what actually happened.
You can disagree with my personal opinions all you like. But the facts are supported by the official record. It was my honest reaction after I visited yesterday- a lot of back-patting was going on from a number of people who did everything in their power to destroy this heritage landmark. I am not the one who needs to issue an apology or a correction.
Thank you and keep up the great work.
Matt Jelly
The Lister Block is now open to the public- Tourism Hamilton’s new office is currently buzzing with people, and it will be open during tonight’s Art Crawl. As just one of many people who fought to make sure this building wasn’t demolished, I’m overjoyed that the Lister Block has been restored. We’ve shown that heritage restoration can work, and indeed become a unique local asset, when we actually give it some thought, effort and investment.
Bill Kelly and his council colleagues voted to demolish the Lister Block in 2006. Today, Bill did a live broadcast for CHML 900, singing the Lister’s praises. Tim McCabe, currently the GM of Planning and Economic Development advised Council to demolish the Lister Block. Today, he spoke about the value of this investment, flanked by two Ti-Cat cheerleaders, followed by a chant of “Oskee-wee-wee”, for whatever reason. Kathy Drewitt, Executive Director of the Downtown BIA led a petition in favour of demolition. Today, the BIA is very proud of the newest addition to the downtown core. Joe Mancinelli, Vice President of LIUNA, fought tooth and nail to convince council, local media and the general public that the Lister would be impossible to renovate, and would need to come down. In 2004 Mr. Mancinelli claimed that the Lister wouldn’t survive another winter. Today, Mr. Mancinelli considers the Lister as one of LIUNA’s proudest local achievements.
Tim McCabe, GM of Planning and Economic Development, who advised council in 2006 to demolish the Lister Block.
Bill Kelly of CHML, former Councillor, one of 11 councillors who voted in 2006 to demolish the Lister Block.
On June 14th, 2006, Mayor Di Ianni, Councillors Bruckler, Collins, Jackson, Kelly, Merulla, Morelli, Mitchell, Pearson, Samson and Whitehead voted to demolish the Lister Block. Councillors Bratina, Braden, McCarthy and McHattie voted against. The Provincial Minister of Culture of the time, Caroline Di Cocco stepped in and informed Council they would be expected to convene a working group to explore all the options first before making this irreversible mistake. Thankfully this process was successful.
I don’t point this out to say “I told you so”, but rather in hopes that we learn from this experience that any building can be feasibly restored with the right attention, investment, and creativity. I do hope the Lister Block is not used as an excuse not to save anything else. This isn’t about one building, it’s about doing what is right by our history and by our environment, every time we consider the option for any demolition.
It does seem that our civic leaders have no trouble in preserving and adapting their own revisionist histories- now let’s do the same for our built heritage. Before we knock down any building in this city, let’s make sure we have all of the information, and all of the options are fully explored before we give up.
There are many people who should be thanked for their dedication to this building, when all others claimed it was too far gone to save: Diane Dent, Michelle Stark, Kieran Dickson, Graham Crawford, Grant and Brenda Head, Bill Curran, Alissa Denham, Councillor Brian McHattie, Brian Henley, Tony Butler and more than 30 delegates who stepped up to tell City Council this building needed to be preserved. That’s just a short list.
For those who say, again and again, “Oh, well we can’t save every building”, I believe we now have a very prominent example of just one case where that statement was dead wrong.
Enjoy the new Lister Block, but let’s not rest on our laurels for too long: Let’s make sure we make the right decision more than just this once. In the next few months, we’ll very likely see the demolition of All Saints Church and the Education Centre. The Connaught still sits vacant and without a heritage designation. We still have a lot of work to do, and I hope our civic leaders have learned an important lesson from the Lister Block.
Our local food banks are low on donations. Next Art Crawl, Friday April 13th, bring a non-perishable food item (particularly baby formula) to the corner of James North and Cannon, for donation to the Welcome Inn Community Centre. Please share this.
