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Former Mayor Larry Di Ianni and Mr. Ecklund's daughter Erika
ARCHIVED POSTS:
- The Affordable Connaught: Lessons Learned (September 21, 2009)
- Do Canadians Want A Federal Election? (September 17, 2009)
- Amalgamation Revisited (September 14, 2009)
- Whither or Should that be Wither the Connaught? (September 11, 2009)
- Hamilton- a City of Philanthropists (September 8, 2009)
- Who is Canada's Political Lion(August 31, 2009)
- Bloggers Beware: you are not as invisible as you think!(August 28, 2009)
- Redeemer College University: A Deserving Member of Hamilton’s Education City (August 24, 2009)
- What's New About the NDP? (August 19, 2009)
- Is Neighbourhood Planning the Art of the Possible?(August 12, 2009)
- Integrity Commissioner’s First Investigation: Much Ado About Nothing (August 10, 2009)
- Et Tu Hamilton? Did our city just throw Balsillie’s hopes under a bus?(August 5, 2009)
- A Fine Finesse or a Fine Mess? The Opening of the Financial Floodgates (July 31, 2009)
- The Politics of Floods (July 28, 2009)
- Sundry Summer Thoughts, 2009 (July 23, 2009)
- James Street Revitilization and Rev. Ron Burridge (July 21, 2009)
- A Review of My New Year’s Predictions (July 13, 2009)
- Transformers in Winona: Revenge of the Changelings (July 10, 2009)
- The Virtues of Tax Increases (Or Not!) (July 9, 2009)
- Council’s Plan for Future Development (July 2, 2009)
- Hamilton's Self-Esteem (June 26, 2009)
- Da Rally, Da Media and Di Manno (June 22, 2009)
- Balsillie Has Done the Heavy Lifting; It is Now Time for Hamilton to Act (June 15, 2009)
- Mady Development in Winona (June 5, 2009)
- NDP Impotence is Costing Hamilton Federal Support (June 2, 2009)
- Metrolinx Appoints New Board (May 29, 2009)
- Accountability and Transparency Committee Misses the Mark (May 27, 2009)
- Mourning Randy Steele (May 25, 2009)
- Success at Hess Village? (May 22, 2009)
- Boosterism or Realism: these should not be the options for the City of Hamilton! (May 20, 2009)
- Council's Role and
the NHL (May 14, 2009)
- Sundry Spring Thoughts (May 8, 2009)
- Is the City of Burlington Hamilton's Friend or Rival? (May 5, 2009)
- The Church of the Universe
and Hamilton Politics (April 29, 2009)
- Pandemic Response: Is Hamilton Ready? (April 27, 2009)
- Ambassador Robert Fowler’s Hamilton Connection (April 23, 2009)
- Healthcare and Hamilton Politics (April 21, 2009)
- Administrative Changes Continue in Hamilton (April 17, 2009)
- Devastating Earthquake in Central Italy (April 13, 2009)
- Waste Management and
the City Budget (April 7, 2009)
- GoTransit and Metrolinx Merger: Benefits and Implications (April 1, 2009)
- Ontario’s Budget: A Risky Proposition or a Sure Thing? (March 30, 2009)
- Environment Hamilton: Methinks the group doth protest too much? (March 26, 2009)
- Term Limits: Pros and Cons (March 23, 2009)
- Tim Hudak: Leader in Waiting? (March 18, 2009)
- The Winds of Change (March 9, 2009)
- Planning Matters: An Interesting Planning Committee Discussion (March 6, 2009)
- Mourning The Steel Company of Canada (March 4, 2009)
- Marketing Our City: Tourism Hamilton’s Excellent Adventure (March 3, 2009)
- Media Crisis Hits Hamilton Hard (February 27, 2009)
- King of NIMBY Fights City Hall (February 23, 2009)
- Impoverishing the Future (February 20, 2009)
- Of Roasts and Toasts And Politics And Such (February 17, 2009)
- Pan-Am Games: Should Hamilton Participate? (February 12, 2009)
- Governing in Tough Economic Times (February 9, 2009)
- Winter Blahs and Wow Factors (February 4, 2009)
- Municipal Service Centers: Unifying the City has a cost (February 2, 2009)
- The Federal Budget Deserves Support (January 28, 2009)
- NDP Hypocrisy Hurts
50,000 York U Students (January 26, 2009)
- Appearances Can Be Deceiving: the Case for the Elfrida Node (January 22, 2009)
- "Events, Dear Boy, Events" (January 19, 2009)
- The Burdens of Office
(January 13, 2009)
- Federal NDP Caucus Lets Hamilton Down (January 12, 2009)
- The South Pole and Anti-Business: A Relationship? (January 9, 2009)
- Hamilton's Future Fund: A Success Story (January 7, 2009)
- Forecasts for the Year 2009 (January 2, 2009)
- New Year's Resolutions for Local and World Leaders (December 30, 2008)
- NDP Convention May be a Barn-burner! (December 26, 2008)
- Peak Oil and Airport Lands Development in the City of Hamilton (December 23, 2008)
- A Christmas Story (December 19, 2008)
- Hamilton Economic Summit and Hamiltonians For Progressive Development: A Tale of Two Approaches To Hamilton's Economic Future (December 17, 2008)
- Hamilton Mourns Chester Waxman (December 15, 2008)
- The Politics of Division At City Hall (December 12, 2008)
- Sundry Thoughts: On Local, Provincial and Federal Issues (December 10, 2008)
- The Recurring City Hall Debate: And It's Not Even Ground Hog Day Yet! (December 8, 2008)
- On The Precipice (December 5, 2008)
- How to Slay the Budget Dragon in the City of Hamilton (December 2, 2008)
- Ottawa's Constitutional Crisis May Be Good News For Hamilton (December 1, 2008)
- It is Time to Consider Changes to How Council Meetings are Chaired (November 27, 2008)
- It's The Economy, Stupid (November 24, 2008)
- From Business to Drive-Thrus: Everything is Connected (November 17, 2008)
- Hamilton and the N.H.L: An Impossible Dream? (November 13, 2008)
- The Role of Media in the City of Hamilton (November 10, 2008) UPDATED NOVEMBER 18 2008
- Leadership Politics at the Municipal, Provincial and Federal Levels (November 5, 2008)
- The City Hall Dilemma (November 4, 2008)
- Ward Boundaries Revisited (October 30, 2008)
- Should the Province Bail Out Hamilton? Again? (October 23, 2008)
- Post Election Analysis (October 22, 2008)
- A $48M Dollar Bonanza For Hamilton (August 29, 2008)
- Branding the City of Hamilton (August 21, 2008)
- The Area Rating Debate (part 2) (August 14, 2008)
- Harmony or Fairness: The 'Area Rating' debate (Part One) (August 8, 2008)
- The Royal Connaught: Crucial to Downtown Redevelopment (August 1, 2008)
- Hamilton Politics and the Dark Side of the Internet (July 22, 2008)
- Oily Politics in the City of Hamilton (July 7, 2008)
- The Lister Re-Born? (July 2, 2008)
- Council Moves Hamilton Towards the Future (June 25, 2008)
- Soccer Fever As a Canadian Metaphor (June 23, 2008)
- Tolling roads in Ontario (June 18, 2008)
- Who Will Lead Downtown Renewal? (June 11, 2008)
- The Scourge of Cancer Among Us (June 4, 2008)
- Hamilton's Downtown Renewal (May 30, 2008)
- A Rapid Transit System for Hamilton (May 20, 2008)
- Hamilton's Economic Summit 2 (May 13, 2008)
- Hamilton's Economic Summit (May 5, 2008)
- The Flamborough Slot Revenue Debate (April 24, 2008)
- The Caledonia Dispute Reaches Hamilton (April 21, 2008)
- The Sad Saga of Lost Opportunities: How We Lost the Maple Leaf Pork Processing Plant (April 17, 2008)
- Hovercraft Services For Hamilton? (April 9, 2008)
- VIA Rail Part 2: We've Been Fooled Again! (April 3, 2008)
- VIA Rail: Easy Come, Easy GO!!! (March 31, 2008)
- Who Should Be Hamilton's Next City Manager (March 25, 2008)
- How Elusive is Council Consensus? (March 17, 2008)
- Glen Peace: A Man of Integrity (March 5, 2008)
- Sundry Winter Reflections (February 28, 2008)
- A Day and An Eternity: On Leaving the City for a Week (February 6, 2008)
- An Integrity Commissioner and Integrity: Both Are Needed (February 6, 2008)
- The Amalgamation Demon Raises Its Uncomfortable Head (February 1, 2008)
- The Groundhog Day Debate: What to do about City Hall (January 25, 2008)
- Hamilton Mourns Conrad Furey (January 24, 2008)
- For Whom the Bell Tolls: Should the Red Hill Valley Parkway be Tolled? (January 17, 2008)
- The Lister Saga Continues (January 8, 2008)
- Out with the Old, in with the New (December 31, 2007)
- Sprawl: Myth and Reality (December 18, 2007)
- Towards Sustainable Transportation (December 13, 2007)
- Assessment Growth and Job Creation (December 7, 2007)
- On Transit, Bag Limits and the Running of City Meetings (December 1 , 2007)
- The Importance of Public Transit (November 28, 2007)
- Some Pre-Christmas Thoughts (November 26, 2007)
- Airport Employment Growth District (November 15 , 2007)
- The Red Hill Parkway (November 5 , 2007)
- The Value of Mission Statements: the Impossible Dream or Doable Objectives? (November 2 , 2007)
- The Toronto Act, More Taxes and the City of Hamilton (October 30, 2007)
- Council Looking to Increase the Size of Council (October 23, 2007)
- Ontario's Election: An analysis of the Local Reaction (October 16, 2007)
- A New Stadium for the City of Hamilton? (October 7, 2007)
- The Mid Peninsula Corridor and the City of Hamilton (September 27, 2007)
- The Carpenter's Union And the City of Hamilton (September 21, 2007)
- Provincial Election: The Local Scene (September 17, 2007)
- Provincial Election: Some Early Observations (September 12, 2007)
- Philanthropy is Changing the Face of Capitalism (September 10, 2007)
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LARRY'S CORNER- Hamilton's Former Mayor Speaks
Transformers in Winona: Revenge of the Changelings
By Larry Di Ianni
(posted July 10, 2009)
As we head into the dog-days of summer, Council is dealing with some important issues. What I learned in the Mayor’s chair during my tenure is that the ebb and flow of municipal politics never stops and doesn’t really respect seasons or holidays. Every day is an important day.
Because of some changed votes, the expected cliff-hanger on the Penady proposal for commercial development along 50 Road and the Service road in Winona was actually a 10-6 solid victory for the proposed land use. Had Council turned this development down, it would have had to face an anti-business criticism. The criticism would have been deserved. In supporting the proposal, Council avoided that nasty label. This was only made possible because a couple of key members of Council (the Mayor and Councillor Whitehead notably) changed their votes. They did the right thing. Even though it was done awkwardly, Mayor Fred landed on the right side of the issue. Whether he damaged himself politically by seeming indecisive is another story; but kudos must to go to someone who, even belatedly, does the right thing.
As a whole, Council also did the right thing in supporting the contentious Winona commercial development. Those who didn’t support the development because of the change in zoning from employment industrial lands to commercial lands needed to face up to the reality that the change had occurred. Having lost that battle, which was a good one to fight at the time, the choice now was between leaving the lands empty and kissing goodbye to a multi million dollar investment with its concomitant jobs, or allowing a commercial use to follow a commercial zoning.
This issue may well end up at the OMB, but it will do so with Council being on the right side of the ledger. Staff can support Council’s actions at such a hearing on technical merits; and opponents will have a harder time supporting their stand without Council’s political support. In fact, the opposition should not waste their money and the city’s resources on a challenge that will likely be supported at the OMB. The only fly in the ointment at this stage might be a provincial intervention, but that isn’t likely given Council’s prerogative right on zoning issues, as well as the solid vote in support of the application.
BACK TO LARRY'S CORNER
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