By Councillor Cameron Kroetsch

I hope the spring weather is a welcome greeting after a very difficult winter for many in our city. I know I’m looking forward to spending more time outside this spring and to connecting with North Enders at events and while I’m out and about in Ward 2. I ran into many of you over the winter and it’s always great to stop and talk about the issues important to you. If you see me feel free to stop and say hello. I’d love to connect with as many of you as I can during this term of Council. In fact, we’ll be taking time this year to knock on doors and connect with people to hear from you directly. If you’d like us to knock on your door, please send a message to Ward2@hamilton.ca and we’ll do our best to get out to see you in person. 

Over the winter, especially in January and February, Ward 2 residents reached out to the Ward 2 Team during the recent snowstorms looking for assistance and asking questions, so I wanted to take some time to explain a bit about the ‘how and why’ of the City’s response, and the plan moving forward.

On February 26, the City of Hamilton ended its declaration of a Significant Weather Event (SWE) for January and February, declared in response to an unprecedented snowfall. For context, Hamilton received 58cm of snow in just over 10 days. By comparison, Hamilton’s monthly winter snowfall over the last 30 years averages less than half that amount. The last time Hamilton received even close to this much snow was in 2011 and the last time Hamilton received a similar amount of snow over a slightly longer period was in 2008. Simply put, the City wasn’t prepared to deal with this weather.

Here are some takeaways for me as a result –

  • Hamilton is geographically massive – Hamilton is about twice the size of the City of Toronto, which can make it difficult to address issues like this citywide
  • Sidewalk snow clearing is a large undertaking – the City clears about 850km of sidewalks with about 450km being cleared along major arterial roadways and all transit routes
  • Roads are cleared based on priority routing – each road across the City is given a “road class” which designates its priority status; residents can look at information about each road class on the City’s website

City staff have committed to bringing a report to Council to outline the challenges the City is currently facing. In the meantime, I’m grateful for all the feedback I’ve been provided by residents. I take it seriously and will do what I can to help improve City services as a decision maker and your elected representative.

As some of you may have heard, the City has had to close Eastwood Arena temporarily because staff discovered serious problems with the roof during a recent inspection. The arena may reopen but not until there’s a report from the engineers who are currently evaluating the safety of the structure. In the meantime, I remain concerned about the programming that has had to halt as a result and especially the impact on those who run indoor hockey, roller derby, and lacrosse. As many North Enders know, the ice operations at Eastwood Arena ceased in 2022, after the ice plant reached the end of its life. Another recent staff report indicated that the arena would not be a candidate for ice programming in the short term and that investments to keep it open for non-ice programming are needed while long term plans for the facility are made. Collaboration with the community on future plans will restart once the issues with the roof structure have been resolved. I’m hopeful things can get back on the right track soon and plans can move forward for revitalizing this important North End asset.”

If you need any help from the Ward 2 Team or I, please reach out at Ward2@hamilton.ca or through our office phone number at (905) 546-2197. The Ward 2 Team is in the office Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8:00am to 4:00pm; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00am to 8:00pm; and Saturdays from 10:00am to 2:00pm. If you want to reach me directly, send an email to Cameron.Kroetsch@hamilton.ca.