Hamilton, Ontario: A Foundation of ReGrowth

Yesterday, August 10, 2010 was quite possibly the most stressful day of the year in politics for Hamilton, Ontario. Not for just me, but the citizens, and mayor, and community council. We were on the National Spotlight. #hamont trending on Twitter, The Spec broadcasting live with upwards of 4000 people or more watching on UStream. It still might be archived on UStream, but be prepared to watch a 13 hour debate. I watched, listened, and almost had a heart attack while sitting in front of the computer listening to the whole debacle at throughout the day. I really wish I could have went downtown to City Hall. The City of Hamilton has been granted the Pan Am Stadium at the Municipal level with a 12-3 vote, a victory for West Harbour without tenants such as the Hamilton Tiger Cats. I’m hopeful it is enough for Federal and Provincial governments, and the Hostco Pan Am committee to agree for a go-ahead because the City of Hamilton will not have another chance in the next 80 years, or longer for an entertainment district that will get people to extenuate what we can have, and provide new business, and new local business strategy for the core.

The Mayor, and City Council need to patch up what relationship they have left with Bob Young and re-evaluate the West Harbour location in Hamilton, Ontario so the Tiger-Cats are left with great opportunity at West Harbour. There is room for re-mediation, and as much as the CFL is industry which brings both the City of Hamilton, and Bob Young money, we need both Professional Sport, and a West Harbour location to propagate what good we have at the Hamilton Harbour location. Even if Bob Young doesn’t agree with downtown renewal, there’s always Daryl Katz who could fulfill both Copps Coliseum, and the West Harbour location for entertainment. It’s obvious Hamilton has direction if visionary, and philanthropist and businessman Daryl Katz is interested in what venues the City of Hamilton has, and will have in the future.

Will Bob Young, and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats say yes to the viable stadium at the West Harbour? He and the Tiger-Cats only know until there is re-mediation with city council. And if there is no re-mediation, I think it’s time for Hamilton to move on, and get Daryl Katz into the picture so we’re not floating a boat in frozen water. City Council said yesterday that Federal, and Provincial governments and the Pan Am Committee still have over a month to decide on the West Harbour location and stadium.

I would love to say the decision was for the Hamilton Tiger Cats, but I really can’t. It’s for every one Hamiltonian out there. It’s a strategy for our city to propagate into doing something fundamentally better for industry in Hamilton, Ontario. The steel industry is gone, and brown-fields are here, and I don’t want them to stay. I want job re-growth in those brown-fields. Buildings erected, happy Hamiltonians that have prosperity for the jobs they will have and love. Different opportunities for different people, and industry not just for one person. Whether it be The Arts, Sports Entertainment, Concerts, we need a plethora of market at a foundational level to achieve what success we can achieve. We already have great educational institutions. How about keeping the people who are educated here? Let’s reclaim the legacy as an Ambitious City.

We, as Hamiltonians also have to realize that it’s not just about the West Harbour stadium. The velodrome, and multi-use purpose for both infrastructure initiatives. We could become a very large sports hub in Ontario if not North America since there is only one high performance velodrome in the United States. We can bring world class athletics to Southern Ontario, train athletes for what future we have and put ourselves on the road map for greater success. Healthly living standards, healthy institutions and organizations. We already have Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University, a vital educational foundation for doctors, nurses, and everything in-between. We will set Olympic standardization in what athletes look for.

I really think a professor at the McMaster DeGroote School of Business should really look hard into what Hamilton is doing, and come up with an analysis of what we will look like in the next 20 years. At 2015, when the Pan Am Games are here, five years, a quarterly mark for 20 year analysis. And a better analysis for a bigger analysis a century away.

A kickstart for revitalization has started, and it can only get better. Downtown renewal is brown-field clean-up, and sustainability, and a chance for Hamilton to once again create more industry in the core for foundation revitalization for healthy living. We don’t need Toronto business owners dumping, leaving toxic waste in our city only for us to clean it up. Hamilton is our city, it’s time to love what we have, what we will have and show what a community can be for the future.

The 80 good years were contingent of what Ivor Wynne Stadium (originally Civic Stadium) brought to the City of Hamilton since the Empire Games (Currently the Commonwealth Games) in the 1930s. Highlighting the success of Empire Games and current tenants, The Hamilton Tiger Cats a Canadian Football League team — Pink Floyd, and Rush also played there in the 1970s.

Here’s the UStream Archive of the meeting from The Spec.

With Love.
A Hamiltonian

Hamilton, Ontario: Revitalizing Core Foundations

WEST HARBOUR

Our City, Our Future

Here’s An Unofficial Biography Of Bob Young:
Ancaster Businessman, A CFL Team Owner, Ex-Red Hat CEO, Lulu CEO, Co-Founder of Linux Journal

Bob Young being from Ancaster Ontario, I’m not sure if he’s still around Hamilton, Ancaster, or South Ontario. I could only assume because he owns the Hamilton Tiger Cats much like a lot of people know, and there’s been a huge debacle on the whole stadium debate. A city full of diehard CFL fans, a mediocre team, and a pleasant city. What I don’t get is why Bob Young is trying to strategically place the Tiger-Cats on the East Mountain when this city, and the core is uprooted with job-loss, and a brownfield. I could, and will say that this city is a brownfield, but we’re finding ways to propate. Ever since the late 1970s many industries have changed, and still are currently changing. But, I think we are at our incline, and only going up.

From what I see in a city, I realize that everything, everyone, market, and most consumer industry is located within the core of a city. It represents what people define as the motivation to be downtown. The downtown area is where it all happens for most people, it’s the culture what people can represent, and see themselves living in. The city core in many facets should have a foundation before anything is build. Before anything is build there should be a plan in place to advertise what the community wants so marketing, and core foundations are the number one thing for a city to strive. A plan for what is worth is what a city needs.

Why does Bob Young need to pave over a cornfield, and get his way as a CFL team owner? The simple answer, he doesn’t hold that power to do so. He can wager his CFL team in any direction whether it be at the beach in Hamilton, East Mountain, or West Harbour. It’s up to the city council who SHOULD represent what the community wants. It’s not about the CFL team. It’s about the community, how the city can profit, THEN the CFL team. Wagering, holding your team hostage, holding the Pan AM Games hostage must be stressful for the CFL players, its members of organization that represent the Tiger-Cats and Pan Am Game representatives, and the community. It’s bad representation of business, and that’s not how it should be dealt with. We all see the greed in Bob Young. Perhaps this is why Jim Baisille didn’t get a NHL team in Hamilton, or was it Gary Bettman’s greed and administration?

From my perspective, I think we need to market our city, its fundamentals, the community and community leaders to be sucessful or as successful as Toronto. I’m not saying that we will be successful as our three hub cities in Canada, but what I can say is campaigning what we represent is what brings back the nostalgia, and what brings people to the city with or without a CFL team. I don’t want any part in greedy business. We need a green future, and equate what we really have into something better.

We all know with a new multi-purpose stadium at the west harbour it can represent a hub of enthusiasm for the core of the city, it could be Hamilton’s time to hit it big with plans to build for the future. We know it’ll raise taxes, have multi-purpose use for concerts, cultural events, soccer, equilibrium for the people of the City of Hamilton. Create employment, and get people to spend their money at the foundation of it all. I could see the core become more active with more small business, outsiders moving into the city with good intention and it would bring more people to the core to spend their money and build a community like others such as Toronto but cheaper. A lot cheaper. If you’re not a Hamiltonian, a business owner, or figuratively looking for a good business plan — it is a good time to invest into Hamilton and the core. It’s cheap to rent or buy, housing varies in areas of cost, it’s cheap to live, and love. Contribute to the core, build from the ground up, and propagate. Just don’t leave. Live it, and love it.

For a generalization: We don’t need multiple venues to create funding, we need one venue to do multiple things. By that, I mean a multi-purpose stadium at the West Harbour. We need one place for community to walk to, one place so people can spend their money, one place to have a good time in a fashion where community can get together to play soccer, football or have festivals or concerts. A place for sports to organize whether they’re amateur, or professional. Then, go to other select places within the core and end the day, or night well. All of these things bring fundamental good health, education, and will represent a better community for the people, and businesses in the core. If you’re going to build multiple venues in this city it’s going to increase taxation and put more of a stressor on our community, and it won’t work out. It’ll be detrimental to what our city COULD represent. A satirical cost, or fashion statement in which would do no good for what we COULD represent.

Community is what both you and I strive for, not a satirical business plan that won’t do the city any good at the core. Bob Young, I hope you read this and realize what you’re doing to this city. Greed isn’t the way to go.

The image is licensed under Creative Commons.

For the Love of Community

For a while I’ve been thinking, and trying to grab at an opportunity to participate in a community where I could discuss, and elaborate, collaborate, and make friends both on the internet, and in my community. Tribe.net is something of importance in getting in that right path to that subject which is called community. A community populace.

In a community, it’s all for the community members, thinking, doing, and helping each other. It only has a better outcome in what we represent as ourselves. Obviously there are subsets of categories, and what I want to do is find out what and where I really belong and be happy I’ve found what I’ve been looking for, for years. Friends.

Oil them rusty gates. meet people, clean your glasses, shakes hands: Take Part In Your Community

Governing the representation of a community means taking part in what needs it has. Whether it be public funding, upkeep, finding what the populace really represents, and strives for and living underneath it all so it becomes a daily part in the life of your own.

Since the wrath of politics in my city directly hit me square in the face, I feel the need to take part in the change and what the people really want. If a group of people want to do, or represent what is there, the group will show love for it. It’s the city, I love and I do not want it to sink deeper than it already has. Caring, loving, bringing together, living and loving it. Take part in events, community council meetings, and live for what we really have because just like you and I know, we’re only here for a short time.

Just like technology you hardly use, you see others using it, and you begin to ponder, then you start to tinker, then you start to use, and participate. I think it’s really my calling to be part of such a thing which propagates. Maybe I’ve always been a part of my community for a long time, but never realized it. It’s time for the correct motivation, and direction that really counts, and when it comes to what we really need, we find it. It’s the foundation that really counts. The grassroots campaigns and everything in-between.

I would like to indirectly thank Matt Jelly for his aspiration, and inspiration for the City of Hamilton and what community of people it has, speaking for the community. We need more alignment in what our community really represents. It’s the people with many different facets. It is the eccentric, smart, the poor, rich folk who love what our city is, and what it can bring.Hamilton needs more community participation, and because of this political nuisance of a stadium, the community will only get stronger and propagate into something better. I’m sure a lot more people are more aware in what we need for the city. Community.

Hamilton, Ontario: The Great Pan Am Stadium Debate

A Tiger-Cat proposition in how the future-fund will be spent on a East Mountain stadium? Merely asking for future-fund allocation for the East Mountain Location? The Tiger-Cats debating HOW the future fund is spent, then matching that for the ampitheatre, and velodrome? Athletics Canada in “suggestion” to pulling out Track And Field and moving it to Toronto?

We can’t let a billionaire and CFL team president push their way around in remarks to one-sided debates over televised yearnings. We need a multi-purpose stadium in the west harbour where revitalization is needed.

Downtown core revitalization depends on a stadium at the waterfront. If a stadium isn’t built at the west harbour front, I’m sure a lot of people will be moving. I sure as hell will be, and it’ll be out of Hamilton. Possibly out of Southern Ontario. Paving over a cornfield, some councillors not giving a hoot about core foundations or a greener future — it’s the opposite initiative on how a city should be built. Most don’t live, and work in suburbia.

People should realize that while pushing for a stadium at the west harbour, there are deadlines and other initiatives to be met and it goes with the August 12th deadline. Is there land allocation already in place for the harbour-front stadium? Will the CN marshalling yards need to be disrupted?

If Bob Young does get his way, I hope a contract is written with, and for the City of Hamilton, so he can’t sell or move his team OUT of Hamilton or the “proposed” Pan Am stadium to create another brown-field.

One another note, as an avid Linux user and advocate — I will not buy another Linux Journal Magazine, or buy anything from Lulu again.

Hamilton: The Only Option: West Harbour Stadium

As a Hamiltonian living in Central Hamilton close to Ivor Wynne since popping out of the womb, I’ve experienced many things at Ivor Wynne Stadium. From Hamilton Tiger Cat football games, St. Anthony’s Italian Festival gatherings that included local business and people in celebration with fireworks, performance, and talent shows of European influence. Other organizations participate in facilitating the stadium. Minor sports to fundraisers, marching band practice, food hand outs to help with hardship. University Championship Football games, and movie production.

Why not build a facility that brings community together? As a multipurpose facility at the West Harbour we can celebrate, enjoy, and reciprocate with others in more than a professional sport fashion? What does a community really represent?

Since it might be questionably subjective to Bob Bratina. Here’s one definition from http://dictionary.reference.com:

community – com·mu·ni·ty /kəˈmyunɪti/ [kuh-myoo-ni-tee]

“A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by the ): the business community; the community of scholars.”

Since I need to elaborate, and question what some councillors really don’t give a hoot about, I’ll write as a concerned citizen questioning what some city councillors want to push over, and out.

Collaborate Business Reciprocation: To align what we really need most. To get the populous involved as a community to support new economic infrastructure since old ones are dying out at a dissolving rate. Example of a dying out deficit: Unionized Steel Production.

Here’s a list of things that can and would support community infrastructure in a demeanour where people would be able to be happily involved in the community and support economic infrastructure by building a multipurpose stadium:

Communal Events:

Festivals — People come here from all over the world from all walks of life. Why do they come to Canada? Let’s have more festivals in support of why immigrants come to Canada, even to Hamilton. What does it mean to be a Hamiltonian? What multicultural customs are still represented? A celebration of arts and music, culturally aligned for people people who are of the citizen body.

Goods and services. A fee for both vendors, and people who want to participate in the stadium activity full of energy. (no brainer)

Vendors importing goods from said country, or hand made objects being sold. Imagine a directive initiative on where to go to a prospecting immigrant in another country? Hamilton comes up, it rings delight and ambition for the prospector.

Recreation — More Organizations and Recreational sports in a professional stadium to get younger generations flocking there. Professional fields set an example on what is mediocre and what is better. Having a professional facility provides better improvising from the get-go. Fundamental Foundations in divergence. A hub of active living and learning much like how any recreational institution is — It sets direction.

Open Air Concerts — Having a facility where people can go to watch concerts next to the waterfront projecting sound towards the harbour. The noise pollution would not be hovering the city. And even if it is, it’s a sports facility where events are held and people go to have fun. Just like any football game, or concert. I doubt there has been any complaints because the CFL is in town. With ticket prices today, it’ll get rid of deficit, and would be a place of interest for popular bands because of the harbour front. The waterfront allows a place to go after the concert. It’s yours to discover.

Other Professional Sports — Let’s provide a place for other sports to be of interest. A bigger following in professional sports such as Soccer or Lacrosse? Heck Canada might even make it into the World Cup someday! Hosting a couple outdoor ice hockey games during NHL season and leaving the rest for Copps Coliseum, and Daryl Katz’s future NHL hockey team in Hamilton.

And whatever else comes up as planned economic structure stimulating what we already have, and what other things that can be brought to the core. Our revitalization depends on the waterfront stadium.

Independent Business — Since there’s less business growth, and more people opening small business and more of a dying economic infrastructure with empty manufacturing buildings and regressive potential in waterfront stadiums, let’s provide a hub for economic stimulus. It all starts in a community where people want to be. If people don’t want to live in Hamilton, they can move and find other jobs in other parts of Canada to live happily.

Advertisement — Billboards are not hard to see. An advertisement program for organizations and festivals could also be of interest. Advertisement contracts for organizations who want to use the facility. Leasing adverts to co-locate sponsorship. Let’s talk about Google branding for a second. What really has made Google popular? The ads, marketing, and semantic search engine.

You want people to use public transportation so whoever doesn’t take public transportation to the game since it’s already $10-20 per parking spot at the games currently at Ivor Wynne. There’s nothing wrong with making a little money. Even for the cash strapped individual. By dismissing a waterfront plan to building the stadium because of that — you’re wrong in doing so. You can’t say, “there are not enough parking spots.” There are. Here’s a list of spots where people can go, and park downtown during an event: 600 spots on site, another 600-800 on recently acquired city property, 1200-1500 parking spots at Bayfront Park, and the rest of the parking in the Downtown core. It’s about the encouragement and easily available public transit that matters most. Which would be on plan with LRT, and revitalization of the downtown core.

Stop being whistle blowers. Are you really going to let down some of the most diehard CFL fans in the country by building an urban facility, or not building one at all? What happened to propagating a “CITY” of Hamilton? The core already needs improvement — rolling asphalt on sidewalks is an easy way to cover cement cracks, but where the hell is the foundation for the people and infrastructure? Let us buy more shoes and support our economic disaster. Let’s melt our souls away.

Whereby expressing my interest. I don’t even follow professional sports. I follow the good and strong will of people as a community. I want to be happy. I want to have sustainability. I want a good job, and good life. Let’s start with the core opportunity for Hamilton and its community of diverse people. Let’s allow more economic stimulus by building the west harbour stadium, and building the best community possible.

I would be just one more person going to that multipurpose waterfront stadium stimulating the economy going to concerts, festivals, hockey games, and whatever else is of interest.

Do the right thing.

Technorati Tags: Hamilton, Ontario, West, Harbour, Stadium, Ticats, Tiger, Cats, City, Council, Economic, Stimulus, Renewal, CFL, Waterfront

Scribefire: Hindsight into Google Chrome

Since the people running the Scribefire blog still have my post up to be moderated, I’ll reiterate the comment and discuss what I like, and don’t like about the new Scribefire beta for Google Chrome.

First off, I am completely happy that they’ve started to work on the plug-in for Chrome because it seems fitting that any browser should have a good, functional blog editor which makes a blog proliferate by the content the author has elaborated on.  In fact, I don’t really know why Chrome doesn’t come with a default editor.  That would come with its own setiments. Maybe I’ll get to them at the end of the blog post. Since this post is in review of Sribefire.

If Scribefire pans out well, I will probably switch from Firefox to Chrome. But Scribefire has stopped me from doing this yet again because I depend on Scribefire for blogging, and there isn’t anything out there that is better than it, and I commend them on releasing such a nice editor in Firefox. Not so much for the beta in Chrome.

I know it’s in beta, but I can’t configure different settings with the plugin, and I wish that Scribefire will have a similar expansive interface just like the one in Firefox does. I always used the half-page interface in scribefire while viewing pages in the other half of the browser. I love how it makes blogging a lot easier on subjects while viewing and interpreting more of a subject to where I can read, and write at the same time. It makes blogging a lot more reminiscent on the subject being typed about. The bar which allows Scribefire to increase, or decrease in size is also awesome in Firefox.

Theme and interface support — In linux, especially Firefox, when I expand scribefire another 2/3s of a size to incorporate a lengthy interface to read, the interface right sidebar, and top of editor will go white leaving translucency, or no buttons available. I then have to close, and reopen in hopes my post is still there and it is — most of the time. I hope that the sidebar will also be present, and be working right in Chrome once they’ve finished more of the editor in Chrome.

Icon — Bottom right icon has always been deemed useful in Firefox. It doesn’t clog up the top bar full of icons that I use it whether daily or not, it is in the way up top. Not entirely sure if I can configure Chrome to have a bottom bar or not.

Please, when you configure the editor, make it very similar to the one Scribefire for Firefox has. It’s great, and possibly one of the best in contrast with any other editor in Linux along with the sidebar. I’ve yet to configure Scribefire in Chrome, but I do not like how it is a full-page editor.

Now for the setiment. Now that web giants like Google are around and always expanding, which strives for the platform for all things. If Google dig code a blog editor for Chrome, I’m sure they would only allow for posting in BlogSpot, or Blogger, and whatever platforms they own because they want users only on their platform, they’re not making any money from WordPress. Google wants their customers to stay with Google, not go to another platform. But since Google has a plethora of extenuates — it’s really hard to not use what they have to offer since they’re so big and active. Creative? I don’t really think so. I think Mozilla is probably the most creative out of the bunch.

Thanks.

Technorati Tags: Scribefire, Linux, WordPress, Google, BlogSpot, Blogger, Chrome, Mozilla, Technology, beta

Byethost: Free Hosting Extravaganza

After desperately trying to achieve my web 2.0 standardization of a separate domain I bought a couple years ago with a WordPress.org implementation, it had ill-fated succession once again.

Ever since grabbing the domain to implement a website, I generally didn’t realize that hosting was also going to be another cost. A monthly cost in succession would have to be conjured. So, since I can’t really afford it, I’ve looked for free hosts every since. Finding a couple, I then checked out byethost which is generally quite nice, never really had any problems besides administrivia errors I’ve been accustomed to. But with limited options on security, and provisions on a free account, I don’t really want to use it.

Being familiar with Linux, a tech head, or what have you — I don’t want to put up with not having https as an opton. It should not be delimited to no prioritization on any host. I want to have a secure host which serves my content non-erroneously, without anything cracking my site and unleashing their fiery. Generally, I could use .htaccess files to protect directories and files, but it’s still a pain in the ass because my IP changes since I have a DSL provider and need to release my IP every so often to have a sub-standard flow of internet goodness. It’s just not worth the fooling around.

Another thing that really bothers me is that the free byethost implementation does not allow for twitter feed integration. I tried to get it working for a day, and to no success, and a bit of searching on their forums — it’s stated that people abused the function, and byethost made it out to disable the functions twitter uses.

As stated before, I use Linux, and mainly the Gnome Desktop Environment. It always has its perks and it really is a valuable set of tools which I could not live without anymore when using the computer. Right down to the connection manager in the Gnome Menu. Infact, I used it to connect via FTP to my host to upload, and remove files and directories from the hosting. It was a great thing. I loved the integration. But for some reason, I could not change permissions on the FTP files or folders from Nautilus, the file manager.

Nevertheless, I am without a host again after wasting four days of setting up almost everything. I’m questioning just going all out with HTML/ CSS, and possibly using a flatfile database since it wouldn’t be too big of a site, and it would be quite static unless I could find a way to post from a blog editor into a mess of HTML/CSS.

Your Extravaganza Extraordinaire.

Technorati Tags: Free, Web, Hosting, Internet, WordPress, Gnome, Debian, Linux, Database, MySQL, Hack