I know that the changing seasons, especially at the end of the year, come with an opportunity to both reflect and think ahead. I hope you’re able to make plans to spend time with family and friends to celebrate 2024 and begin to start thinking ahead to 2025.
Since my last update, there have been questions about what will be happening with the temporary outdoor shelter in Ward 2 at the Barton-Tiffany lands. As a recap, the City is opening up 272 new shelter beds to help those deprived of housing. Approximately 30% of those beds, 80 in total, will be part of a temporary outdoor shelter at Barton-Tiffany.
I know residents wanted the details of the plan to be shared with them right away so they could provide feedback, but that wasn’t possible, for good reason. It’s important to give City staff the time they need to develop a detailed plan that works. As with almost all City projects, City staff need approval from Council for the basics like funding and a location before they can commit to contracts and detailed plans. It’s not possible to do one before the other.
Our city, like many others in Ontario, is dealing with a housing crisis. We want to do what we can to help before winter and we need to make sure we have carefully examined everything before releasing anything publicly. It matters to get this right. While I know it’s not ideal to have to wait, it’s similar to the process the City followed for the HATS pilot. Though it created some initial confusion and concern, most North Enders I’ve spoken to since that time have said they were happy with the outcome, even if they were unsure about the process at first.
I can assure you that I’m watching the process closely, will continue to listen to everyone who wants to provide feedback on this, and will be focused on the outcome. To that end, the City has set up a website to provide answers to frequently asked questions and get comments and feedback from residents. You can find it at http://www.hamilton.ca/TemporaryShelterExpansion.
For those who submitted responses to our Eastwood Arena and Strachan Linear Park surveys, we’ve taken time to analyze the results, have met with City staff, and look forward to sharing more information with you soon about the next steps. We had hundreds of responses to each survey and there was a lot of excellent feedback and suggestions. As I’m sure won’t surprise you, feedback about the future of Eastwood Arena was split between those wanting to see it kept as a place for non ice programming and those wishing to see it start ice programming again.
As for the recommendations for Strachan Linear Park, many of those who responded were supportive of a dog park, native pollinator and community gardens, additional garbage cans, new fencing, public art, and picnic tables and benches. I’m looking forward to seeing progress on these projects in 2025 and I’ll keep everyone updated on where things stand, how to further engage, and what to expect in the coming months and years.
In the meantime, if you’d like to reach out to us, for any reason, please email Ward2@hamilton.ca for the quickest response. You can also call us at (905) 546-2197. If you would like to reach me directly, send me an email at Cameron.Kroetsch@hamilton.ca. If you would like to sign up to read my regular newsletter, you can do so by visiting ward2hamilton.substack.com.
