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Former Mayor Larry Di Ianni and Mr. Ecklund's daughter Erika
ARCHIVED POSTS:
- Aldershot: We Hardly Know You (September 23, 2009)
- 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 Revitalization 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
Aldershot: We Hardly Know You
By Larry Di Ianni
(posted September 23, 2009)
Isn’t it a nice change that Burlington is falling under the watchful eye of the local daily lately? First it was the ill-fated pier and the falling cranes and cost over-runs that the Spectator columnist Joan Little said might be an election issue next fall. As I read the opinions of that poorest of columnists for the Spectator who always seems to pick the insignificant to write about, I thought to myself how peaceful Burlington is to have a pier as its main election issue!
But lately, of course, we have been reading about the travails of the Aldershot neighbourhood. I know Aldershot well. It has an interesting issue and even a Hamilton park in its territory. You see, during my educational days, I was principal of Aldershot High School, nestled in the neighbourhood overlooking the Hamilton/Burlington Bay. I loved the drive up to the school each morning as I negotiated the curves along the mansions next to the water, leading up to the high school. The trees, the water, the view of the bay as well as the sight of Stelco spewing its steely fumes made the daily trip worthwhile.
Aldershot was a great neighbourhood which, at one time was meant to be part of Hamilton. In fact, when Regional government was set up, there was talk of Burlington being part of the Hamilton-Wentworth region. Imagine how different things would have been if that had actually happened. None other than the legendary George Kerr, at the time Cabinet minister in Mr. Davis’ Conservative provincial government, was reputed to have put a stop to that discussion. You see, Hamilton was a steel-town, gritty and made up of working people, some of whom were immigrants. Burlington was genteel, made up of professionals who hailed from across the pond, some of whom were indeed immigrants, but of the Anglo-Saxon variety as opposed to the Continental type. It was ensured that the two communities would remain separate. And yet Aldershot, in my estimation was very different. Unlike the rest of Burlington which had a distinct GTA flavour even in the 1980’s, Aldershot’s orientation was more Hamilton than any other part of the community. Many of the residents were professors at the University, for example; or were doctors in Hamilton’s medical system. The RBG straddles both communities and the high level bridge connects them as well. Also, Waterdown, part of Hamilton, is just a stone’s throw from Aldershot; and when I was at the local high school, students would be bussed down because of lack of facilities in their home community. I truly enjoyed my stay in that neighbourhood.
Now, as I read Aldershot’s ‘revolt’ aimed at their ‘pain’ clinic, I wonder just how disparate that community is from the city of Hamilton. You see, the pain clinic will apparently also dispense methadone. This means that recovering heroin addicts will walk along Plains Road to access the clinic. And Burlington apparently cannot deal with the reality that some of its citizens are addicts. Hamilton has methadone clinics. One of them is on John Street, across from some of our historic restaurants. It irked me to see it there, I must confess. However, I can’t say I ever heard of any problems arising out of this facility. We all must share in the efforts to rehabilitate those who are trying to change their lives.
I can tell the people of Aldershot, that as vice-principal and principal of their neighbourhood school, I ran into many children of well-to-do families who had problems with drugs. Some of them might have gone on to more serious addictions and may still live in the community. Are they to travel to John Street for assistance? What if Hamilton said no to these needy folks?
The stated objection to the ‘pain’ clinic is the proximity of Holy Rosary School. This is smoke and mirrors. The real objection is the thought of there being an underbelly to the gentrified lives of the citizens of this wonderful neighbourhood. What the good citizens of Aldershot need to understand is that methadone isn’t the problem. It is an attempt to be a solution to the problem of addiction. It is the non-methadone users who still live in the community, perhaps next to schools and churches that are the greatest danger.
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BLOGS

Read Chris Ecklund's Blog, Chris' Corner, right here! Chris makes frequent posts about issues of importance to Hamiltonians.
Larry's Corner- commentary and insights by former
Hamilton mayor Larry Di Ianni. Exclusive to this site!
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BOOKS
Chris
Ecklund has written two books about Hamilton waterfalls and their
remarkable history, and commissioned the creation of supporting
merchandise such as postcards and calendars. Read
more and place an order here.
COMPANIES
Chris Ecklund is President and CEO of two prestigious litigation
support companies and a search engine marketing firm. Read
more
CURRENT PROJECTS
Chris Ecklund has commissioned and sponsored websites for the community
causes and events that he supports. These include the City of
Waterfalls site, Bring the NHL to Hamilton, and Maddie's
Wish Project. Read
more
PAST PROJECTS
Learn about causes and projects that Chris Ecklund has supported
in the past, such as Ice Storm relief, Kosovo refugee sponsorship,
and Operation Clean Sweep. Read
more
PHOTO GALLERY
View photos of public events that Chris has sponsored or made an
appearance at. Read more
LINKS OF INTEREST
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