When I first moved to Hamilton in the fall of 2014, I’d visited the city once before, for a tour of McMaster. It was a bony, grey day in November, and most of what I remember is a confusing maze of campus parking and one-way streets. The trip culminated in an accidental voyage up the mountain, and although I didn’t know it at the time, it was my first bird’s eye view of the city I would come to love almost as much as the city where I grew up.

In the years that have followed, Hamilton truly has come to be a second home, one that has allowed me to try to be a grown up for the first time. And while so many intersections, shops and views of the city feel like places where I belong now, I still remember what they all looked like when they were new to me.

Do you know what I mean? That feeling where your surroundings look like the set from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? Everything seems a bit too big for itself. The angles are too sharp, the layout just abnormal enough to stick with you. Eventually those edges smooth and become familiar, but sometimes if you look closely, you can see where you used to think that corner or table or window was, superimposed on the reality of the space.

Hamilton’s unfamiliar edges were smoothed in a few ways. The first was through early — and lasting — friends I made in my first year. I went out with friends who were from out of town and wanted to explore different parts of our new home. And I became best friends with someone I met at my first meeting at the Silhouette, a person and a place that both became integral parts of my undergraduate experience.

But I also spent a lot of time alone in first year, and as an avid runner I made it a mission to map my newly expanded world. Every time I left campus for a morning run, I could feel the borders of what I knew about Hamilton expanding, and along with it, my sense of belonging. As I prepare to finish my undergraduate degree and potentially leave Hamilton, I’m left trying to link all these places together and preserve exactly how it came to feel like home.

I can’t claim to remember old school King William the way some of my older or more Hamiltonian friends do, but I do remember that the first few memorable outings I went on in Hamilton were treks to the downtown street. I went to Homegrown Hamilton with my parents after my tour of McMaster, and I later returned with a good friend to celebrate the completion of our first semester of university. Similarly, I remember figuring out how to bus downtown one night in September to make it to a show at Baltimore House. Both these Hamilton institutions disappeared over the course of my undergrad, but they remain some of my earliest familiar places in the city.

A short jaunt down James Street from King William lies one of my favourite places on earth: the Brain. My best friend and I became regulars there in second year, and it was love at first beer. I’ve written about my favourite bar and place to hang out in the Sil before, and if you know me, I’ve no doubt recommended you check it out (just maybe not for a first date). Nevertheless it bears repeating that feeling at home here made me feel at home in Hamilton unlike any other place in the city. I credit the Brain with so many relationships I have within the city, and I remain convinced that it exists outside of time. There’s probably a portal to its twin bar on the other side of the world somewhere in the basement, but that’s just a hunch.

In second year, I felt more secure in my understanding of the structure of the downtown core. I knew which buses went where (after making many mistaken trips on the 5/52 in first year and having to walk all the way to the end of north quad) and I was getting a bit tired of running the same downtown loops along King, Main and Aberdeen. I began to add the Waterfront and Princess Point Trails into my roster of routes, and during a confusing and emotionally taxing year, these quiet spots provided me with a space to breathe and take in my surroundings away from other people. I loved getting to see how the trails looked during each season, and figuring out that the Waterfront Trail was a quieter, albeit longer, route to some of my favourite parts of downtown made me feel like a bit more of an insider in the city.

After seeing the city’s northern edge, I wanted to find that bird’s eye view again, this time without my parents frantically checking a road map. One of my favourite discoveries in Hamilton was that I could literally run up the mountain via multiple staircases that clung to the side of its face. I loved scaling the metal stairs while it was still dark out and watching the city wake up below. It was — and remains — such a peaceful and rewarding start to a long day.

By the end of my second year, I could effectively navigate the city on my own, from main streets to quiet neighbourhoods to trails. And while I had people like my friends and housemates who made Hamilton feel like home, I didn’t have a place that made that same impression.

That changed when I toured the apartment I’ve now lived in for two years with two different roommates. The bright yellow front door immediately sold me, and seeing that the unit was my lucky number felt like a good omen. I remember how optimistic I felt when I crossed its threshold for the first time, and I wasn’t disappointed.

It was perfect; lots of natural light, with plenty of cozy, bright spaces and a kitchen that actually had a little bit of counter space. It was vacant at the time, but I could already see how my roommate and I were going to make it feel like home.

We signed the lease almost immediately, and in the months between the signing and moving in, I ran by the building almost every week. I learned where all the side streets went, figured out which coffee shops were closest and altered my old, favourite running routes to adapt to what would become my new start and finish point.

Over the past two years, that little apartment has smoothed unfamiliar edges in the city in a way no other place has. I cooked, like really cooked, for the first time in that kitchen. I hosted my first dinner parties there. I finally lived somewhere where I was happy to just spend time.

I could tell you about so many of my other favourite places; the otter stencil near James and Cannon, the ship-shaped play structure at the Bayfront, the always interesting area just outside Jackson Square. But Hamilton is also your city to find your way in, so go and find it.

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On 77 James Street North lies the entrance to a peculiar building.

Vintage lettering reading “City Centre” greet those who pass by from the top of a glass canopy supported by teal blue columns. Brick walls pose an ominous presence to anyone looking at it from the outside and the obsessively symmetrical architecture follows a strict pastel colour palette on the inside.

The building is known as the Hamilton City Centre, but I did not know that as I ran through its doors for the first time last September in an attempt to seek refuge from a sudden thunderstorm. As I passed white pillars, peach-coloured patio umbrellas and blue-stained glass, it felt more like walking through a Wes Anderson film than a shopping mall.

Tired faces resided behind vendors in the food court and many of the shops were either closed or boarded up. Yellow tape and caution signs signalled ongoing renovations on the lower level, but for how long? I couldn’t tell.

I left the building feeling a mix of astonishment and confusion.

Months later, I still think about the building that’s often forgotten. The three-story building spans several blocks along the busiest street in Hamilton, yet not many people know much about it.

A more deliberate look into the City Centre unveils stories of exciting beginnings, difficult times burdened by bankruptcies and new possibilities for a building shy of 30 years old.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Canada’s largest department store at the time, Eaton’s, had joint ventures with development companies in an ambitious effort that would ensure new shopping centres would contain or were within close proximity to an Eaton’s store.

During the same time, the provincial government launched a multi-million dollar Ontario Downtown Renewal Program in partnership with Eaton’s Retail Company to revive downtown retail areas, like Hamilton’s downtown core. In 1990, the Hamilton Eaton Centre, which we know today as the City Centre, officially opened.

At face value, the ODRP seemed to be the perfect opportunity for small cities. There were optimistic market projections and low vacancies across the province. While some malls benefited from funding, there was little to no consumer analysis done for the program.

Not to mention that boutiques and small businesses along the streets suffered from the development projects and many of the shopping centres themselves were inaccessible due to lack of free parking.

Soon enough, shopping centres became unstable all over the province as consumers continued to take their business to the suburbs and the economy entered the worst of the recession.

As the Hamilton Eaton Centre neared its 10-year anniversary, leasing contracts came to an end and most were not renewed. The Eaton Company was annexed by the Bay and they filed for bankruptcy in 1997, while most of their stores were liquidated by 1999.

The Hamilton Eaton Centre was sold for five per cent of its construction cost in 2000.

It’s important to note that other Eaton Centres around the province didn’t fail as badly as Hamilton’s. Whether it’s due to fierce competition from Limeridge Mall, the Bay’s refusal to take over the vacant space or the increased gang activity in the area, the City Centre’s demise is still a mystery waiting to be unravelled.

To this day, the City Centre has not fully recovered. It’s mostly used for offices and some discount retailing, but it’s undeniable that the space holds great potential.

The lower level is now home to Thunder Alley, a 40,000 square feet entertainment complex that currently has a few bowling lanes open. The $3.5 million project was originally proposed in 2014, but has been on a standstill until a new developer decided to take over last year.

Even though the project is still in the midst of figuring out licensing, the City Centre will hopefully soon see 20 bowling lanes, an arcade, restaurant, bar and stage for live music.

In many ways the City Centre is a metaphor for Hamilton’s struggle to revitalize downtown. Despite the bankruptcies, recession, a few notable crimes and rumours of shady developers, the City Centre is still standing.

And so is Hamilton. The city is changing at a remarkable rate every day.

What the future holds for the City Centre is unknown, yet I can’t help but feel that it’s on the brink of something exciting. Just like the future of Hamilton, I’m looking forward to embracing it.

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The Original Downtown Secondary Plan, “Putting People First: The New Land Use Plan for Downtown Hamilton”, was the first formal plan developed for the downtown core developed in 2001. This plan was intended to foster a dynamic mix of urban residential, commercial and institutional activities.

Downtown Hamilton has experienced significant changes since the plan’s initial draft 17 years ago. Signs of downtown Hamilton’s economic and cultural “renaissance” have become increasingly evident, and the plan has been drafted to ensure that downtown will continue to be a key destination within the city for business, entertainment and cultural activities.

Private sector investment has been leading the transformation with support from public investments, such as McMaster University, in infrastructure and the city’s urban renewal incentive programs. These developments have been reshaping the urban landscape of downtown, particularly in recent years.

These trends have encouraged a rise in tall building development and higher order transit, which led to the need to review the initial plan.

This review of the Downtown Secondary Plan has resulted in a renewed land use plan. Jason Farr, Ward 2 city councilor, argues that this review builds upon the vision and policies of the 2001 plan while providing a new direction for the city that will guide development and change over the next 20 to 30 years of planning.

“It sets the stage for the future growth of downtown Hamilton,” said Farr. “Making the downtown core as ‘development ready’ as possible with clear expectations in place with respect to design, protection of existing built heritage resources and the creation of a complete community.”

The reviewed plan presents an opportunity to address new provincial land use policy, updated land use directions as set out in the Urban Hamilton Official Plan, the expansion of the Plan’s boundaries to include the Downtown Urban Growth Centre and other city initiatives and studies underway that will impact the core.

“The updated plan ensures that the planning direction for the area responds to current needs and is appropriate to guide future growth and development, while ensuring that the people remain at the heart of the plan,” said Farr.

We're hoping that council will begin to take seriously things like sustainability, heritage and affordability, which frankly, has not been taken seriously up to this point as far as we can tell.

 

Shawn Selway
Media Contact
People's Plan for Downtown Hamilton

The Proposed Downtown Secondary

The Proposed Downtown Secondary Plan became public on March 19 and will be presented at the city’s planning committee next month.

Entering its third and expectedly final revision, the vision for the plan sees downtown to be a “vibrant focus of attraction where all ages, abilities and incomes can live, work, learn, shop and play… combining the best of heritage with new concepts and designs while linking together the Downtown, surrounding neighbourhoods, the Waterfront and the Escarpment.”

Bound by Cannon Street to the north, Wellington Street to the east, Hunter Street to the south and Queen Street to the west, the area for the proposed plan contains parts of four prominent downtown neighbourhoods, including Beasley, Central, Corktown and Durand.

The objectives within the plan, in addition to zoning by-law changes, will be accompanied by a set of guidelines that will be used to evaluate new development to ensure that the urban design objectives of the downtown are met. This includes how high structures can be built and the kind of design requirements they must meet, such as setbacks and shadow impacts.

Citizens will have a chance to review and critique the meeting on April 17 during a planning committee meeting before it goes to council the following week. There have previously been nearly 30 public consultations around the project.

Some major changes to the initial plan include requiring builders to include appropriate noise measures in the design of residential developments that are near live music venues to prevent issues with neighbours and allowing rental housing to be demolished or redeveloped, but only if those units can be replaced at the same site.

One of the biggest changes within the plan is the proposal to lift the current height limit on buildings, which stands at 12 storeys, to pre-approve the development of 30-storey buildings. A large area west of James Street could be home to these towers, with the exception of some land including the block surrounding City Hall and the Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School property.

The only sections that are guaranteed to stay under six storeys are Whitehern and a section of land bordered by Hunter Street West, Caroline Street North and Jackson Street West.

Many fear that increasing zoning bylaws and lifting the height restriction will result in major hikes in property tax for affected neighbourhoods. These 30-storey buildings are expected to be primarily residential units, which are hypothesized to be priced above what the average downtown resident could afford.

Thomas Allen, a Hamilton blogger behind Rebuild Hamilton and the Inlet, has participated in the conversation surrounding heritage properties and the DSP. Allen notes that lifting the current height limit would affect the city’s infrastructure.

“There are not enough guidelines covering tenant rights and inclusionary zoning or trade-offs for public amenities if developers do propose over 30 storeys,” said Allen.

“A sustainability practice we need to implement is limiting the amount of sprawl we continue to see throughout the periphery of the city. It’s spreading at an unchecked rate and greatly exhausting our infrastructure, while we’re all too busy bickering about height.”

Based on the feedback received and reviewed of the plan, the updated version incorporates revisions related to building heights to ensure that new development occurs in a sustainable manner, protecting and planning for a range of housing options, supporting a wide range of commercial uses and protecting the core’s rich architectural heritage.

The People's Plan for Downtown

In the proposed DSP’s current state, several citizens and organizing groups see the plan as a tactic to build financial relationships with developers, rather than with citizens who will be facing its effects.

On March 6, nearly 200 citizens arrived to the Central Branch of the Hamilton Public Library to listen to presentations about the proposed plan and its implications. Organized by the People’s Plan for Downtown Hamilton, the public event served as an opportunity for citizens to become active within the planning process and to discuss the City’s proposed plan.

The People’s Plan for Downtown Hamilton was organized by a small group who reached out to leaders who are involved in various sectors within the city. These sectors, ranging from social areas including the arts, heritage, environment, immigration, small business owners and building tenants, are directly impacted by the proposed plan.

After the presentations, the event merged into themed breakout sessions with themes aligning with various sectors within the city. Each group saw anywhere from 10 to 15 participants at each, who contributed their ideas and concerns to the PPDH position statement.

Shawn Selway, the media contact for the People’s Plan for Downtown, is hopeful that these concerns will be addressed by city council.

“The biggest takeaway was that people have a lot to say. There is a lot of interest from people who are wanting to participate in the planning that occurs in the downtown,” said Selway. “We’re hoping that council will begin to take seriously things like sustainability, heritage and affordability, which frankly, has not been taken seriously up to this point as far as we can tell.”

This position statement is attached to a petition that has, at the time of publication, 396 of 500 signatures. This further encourages the City to do broader consultation with communities that are impacted by the plan to ensure that their views are presented accurately.

Farr, however, noted that community input played an important part in shaping the proposed plan.

“As for very recent concerns heard from a community-led meeting, many of the issues highlighted at that meeting were already in the draft planning stage for the final draft that at the time was imminent and of which some of those organizers may have been aware of,” said Farr.

Planning Ahead

If the proposed Plan moves forward, the Downtown Secondary Plan will pave the way for development in the core through 2031.

Prior to the April 17 Planning Committee meeting, there will be an Open House with the final draft of the Downtown Secondary Plan, Downtown Zones and Utility Zone (Wards 2 and 3).

“We think that the planning department certainly has the capability of delivering something more balanced,” said Selway.

“What they bring forward is limited by what city council will accept and unless there’s some political pressure being exerted on council, you’re not going to get the best out of the Planning Department and you’re not going to get this balance that I think we need at this point.”

The People’s Plan for Downtown is hosting various workshops and gatherings to discuss the plan in its final form. On April 3, the group will be hosting a delegation and letter writing workshop to teach attendees successful delegation and tips on how to make an impactful presentation to the planning committee.

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Supercrawl 2017 was the first time in five years that I felt that the event wasn’t for me.

This came with the fairly obvious, but important realization that the festival is not for people like me — those who live, work and spend their free time in the downtown core.

Supercrawl 2017 did a lot of things really well this year.

There was a good balance of big Canadian acts while still emphasizing local performers. The event introduced live theatre performers for the first time. Local vendors were of even better quality and diversity this year. Circus Orange may have put on one of their best Saturday performances to date. But I still left the event with mixed feelings.

I’ve always enjoyed Supercrawl. I’ve been going to the festival since I was in Grade 11, back when journeys to Mulberry Street Café and Pho Dui Bo were still novelties tied into some newfound independence. Supercrawl was a fun way to finally explore a central part of my own city and to get away from the monotony of the West Mountain.

I’m 21 now. Supercrawl has lost some of that novelty, but it has always been an event that I consistently recommend to locals who have never been and McMaster first year students who are looking for an introduction to the city that they will call home for the next few years. But in 2017, Supercrawl has a rightfully harsher crowd.

Even those who wildly supported the city’s “revitalization” are now increasingly wary about their new neighbours. Toronto is moving in.

Although it has been happening for some time now, the sudden sight of many downtown buildings being torn down for condos was finally making an impression.

Stuart Berman’s now infamous Toronto Life article “The New Hamiltonians” was published in June, openly bashing the city’s working-class heritage while selling as a land of opportunity for young families who can’t afford Toronto anymore.

Toronto real estate agent Brad J. Lamb stated that Hamilton was a “dying city” unless it accepted its fate as the next Toronto suburb.

A two-day event in Toronto called the Hamilton Consulate featuring Mayor Fred Eisenberger himself tried to sell our “ambitious city” as the next big market for tech, fashion and real estate. The Hamilton Economic Development office was selling the success stories of James Street fashion boutiques and restaurateurs to Torontonians.

Then to end the consulate’s pitch, Supercrawl announced their music line up on Queen Street West.

While locals were a bit miffed by the mostly symbolic reinforcement of Hamilton’s subservience to a potentially larger Toronto audience, some sobering reminders are important.

Supercrawl has always been a festival that aims to attract outsiders. It is a tourist-oriented festival first, and growing the audience and the amount of sponsors is a necessary part of that expansion, especially if it is to continue as a free festival. And Supercrawl was selling itself to Toronto and other cities long before Hamilton got its problematic rebranding of “Toronto’s Brooklyn”.

But we all knew this was coming.

Yes, the Toyota product placement in front of the largest central street art installation titled “Sense First, Reflect Later” was unfortunate, but the arts community has always known that the commercialization of the original crawl event was going to lead to this.

For many that’s okay. They can tolerate the uncomfortable crowds and product placement in exchange for their largest audience of the year.

The festival has also never shut down dissonant voices that share the street. “Hamilton is Homeless” shirts drew lots of attention at this year’s crawl, and local concert venues proudly supported acts that didn’t make the big stages.

Supercrawl takes over one of Hamilton’s beloved neighbourhoods for a weekend. That is going to make James Street North residents critical about how the festival brands one street as a representation of the larger city.

I also know that as much as it is important to critique some of the unfortunate messaging of this year’s crawl, this is still how many first years and McMaster students get introduced to their new city. I still think the festival provides an exciting way to do that.

Our critique and disappointment with Supercrawl is another way we express our care for our city. And while Supercrawl may not be for me anymore, who am I to ruin others’ enjoyment of it?

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Lene Trunjer-Petersen
The Silhouette

When I heard about the new gallery, Artiques (artiquesgallery.ca), down at King Street East and Wellington Street, I was curious. Artiques is unique in that the owner, Amanda McIntyre, displays a unique combination of antique furniture alongside its selection of fine art.

I went down to talk to her about this idea of furniture and art. When I arrived, I immediately decided that the selection is absolutely worth seeing. “It is definitely something unique, and something Hamilton does not have, and we like being different,” McIntyre said. She also explained that some of the interesting things about having furniture in a gallery. “The way that you are able to display it and almost stage it makes it almost more tangible for the viewer to see,” she said.

McIntyre herself is an artist, and she has a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from York University, as well as a diploma in interior decorating. So her areas of expertise are directly related to the nature of this exhibit. Her opening the gallery is effectively a career dream come true. “I have always loved art and that has always been what my passion has been about,” she says.

She also emphasizes another reason for opening the gallery, which was to cultivate the relationship between artists and their communities. “It is such an important connection that you need to have between the artist and the community,” she said, “and we were very lucky to be able to display art from various artists from across Ontario, and make it accessible for local people.”

Before Artiques’ grand opening on Nov. 16, McIntyre reviewed 500 portfolios from artists. “We wanted talented, unique artists, who also had an interesting CV and work in general,” she said. “All their artwork is of unique quality. We like it to be different, just as well as we want a degree of elegance and authenticity in our furniture.”

“We have antique furniture from the 18th- and 19th-century,” says McIntyre. “There will also be custom-made greeting cards, prints and images made by the artists in a wide price range. Lots of unique things you would not be able to find anywhere else.”

Bushra Habib / Silhouette Staff

Experiential learning in the greater Hamilton community doesn’t just benefit students, it also creates the potential for long lasting community legacies. Mac H2OPE clinic, a proposed project by students in the graduate School of Rehabilitation Science, recently received funds from the Forward With Integrity initiative to do just that.

Sarah Wojkowski, Lori Letts, Vanina Dal Bello Haas, Genevieve Hladysh, Lorie Shimmel and Julie Richardson started the Helping Hamiltonians through Occupational and Physiotherapy Engagement (H2OPE) clinic. In partnership with the YMCA and other community organizations, it aims to provide occupational and physiotherapy services to Hamilton residents.

“As many of our clients will have chronic health conditions, our students will work with these individuals to help them manage their condition in the best way possible,” said Sarah Wojkowski, the Director of Clinical Education for the Masters of Physiotherapy program.

The Mac H2OPE clinic will be located at the YMCA downtown on James Street, encouraging a deeper engagement and commitment to residents well outside the McMaster bubble.

“Initially, our project will provide opportunities for graduate MSc (Physiotherapy) and MSc (Occupational Therapy) students,” said Wojkowski. She added that there could possibly be opportunities for undergraduates in the future.

Financial support is a key priority for any project, especially those with far-reaching aspirations such as H2OPE. The group received $5000 from the FWI Fund, but that will not be enough to cover all the costs.

Wojkowski said the funds will go toward “purchasing basic equipment like a height-adjustable assessment bed, which will support assessment and treatment of clients.”

The School of Rehabilitation Science is also supporting the development of Mac H2OPE. The YMCA on James Street has donated space, exercise equipment and access to the pool, allowing the clinic keep start up costs low.

Some obstacles still remain. The biggest is that individuals may not be able to afford physiotherapy or occupational therapy.

“We are still working to develop a plan for how our care will be delivered in a way that will allow as many individuals who cannot currently access services to have the opportunity at Mac H2OPE,” said Wojkowski.

“In general, we would like the McMaster community bring hope to Hamiltonians through providing health care that many would not have been able to receive without the Mac H2OPE clinic,” said Wojkowski.

While snow was flurrying outside, hundreds of Hamiltonians were packed into Council Chambers inside City Hall on Jan. 16 for public consultation on the proposal for a casino in downtown Hamilton.

The event became standing room only as a crowd gathered outside the chambers to peer into the proceedings.

Inside the Council Chambers there was a sea of black and red signs representing the “Say NO to Downtown Casino” campaign, with sparse pockets of the yellow and black signs of the casino supporters.

Several speakers opposed plans for a downtown casino, and they were met with loud applause.

Robert Murray from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health discussed how close proximity to a casino aggravates problem gambling habits.

Hannah Holmes, a professor in economics at Mac, conducted an economic analysis of a downtown casino and discussed the pros and cons at the event. Her ultimate conclusion, that the negative implications outweighed the positive economic benefits, was met with applause.

“A Hamilton casino could only be a success if it could become a destination casino, attracting tourists,” said Holmes.

“This is not likely to happen. I think local businesses stand a possibility of losing out if locals spend money at the casino instead of in their communities.”

Bruce Barbour, representing Flamborough Downs, Hamilton’s only current large-scale gaming operation, spoke about the 400 direct jobs provided by Flamborough Downs, and how slots and horse racing will cease to exist there as of March 31.

While Barbour sought to inform the audience about the issues facing Flamborough Downs and its staff, Paul Burns, from the Canadian Gaming Association, took a much clearer lobbying approach to address concerns over a downtown casino in Hamilton.

Despite heckling from the audience and clamour that erupted multiple times throughout Burns’ speech, he remained adamant that a casino would be profitable and not detrimental to the community.

“The question tonight isn’t ‘should casino gaming be allowed in the greater Hamilton area.’ That’s already been answered in the affirmative, with facilities in the Hamilton-area for the past decade … Gaming is an entertainment choice, a choice that is enjoyed responsibly by the overwhelming majority of people who choose to play.”

These remarks were met with open opposition from the audience, with one attendee exclaiming, “It’s more than a choice; you’re marketing to the poor.”

The Carmens Group, managed by the Mercanti family, has announced its interest in bidding for the casino development, and have said they are partnering with the Hard Rock Café.

The group plans to publicly announce their partners and plans on Feb. 6.

Miranda Babbitt

McMaster’s School of Nursing has helped to set the path towards significant developmental aid for Hamilton youth, but this initiative is at risk of losing funding by the New Year.

The program, called Primary Care for At-Risk Youth, has been providing nursing services in the local high schools of Hamilton. Once a week, a nurse practitioner along with several third-year Nursing students, offer their services for half a day at Sir John A. MacDonald and Cathedral Secondary School.

The results of such a program have been clear, with as many as 15 students seeking attention every hour. Larissa Glover, a third-year McMaster Nursing student involved with this initiative, has noted that the numbers are set to increase, “with more and more students learning about the centre.”

At Sir John A. MacDonald, one third of the student population is without family doctors, and 50 per cent of the students do not speak English as their first language.

Dyanne Semogas, an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and a project leader, stated, “ESL significantly influences access to healthcare, and the Hamilton Center for Newcomer Health, [a joint initiator of the program], is one of those places that sprung up with a grass roots approach to addressing gaps to health services for newcomers.”

The Primary Care for At-Risk Youth initiative attempts to forge bridges between immigrant students and healthcare resources within their own community. Semogas explained that in many families stricken by poverty, some students are still unable to fully benefit from their services if the link between their help and overall community resources remains vulnerable.

Because nutritious food is often unavailable in low-income communities, if students are prescribed antibiotics that need to be taken with food, they may take it with unhealthy food. As a result, the program can also provide supplementary nutritional resources that will benefit the students beyond their immediate concern.

The need for readily available access to healthcare within inner-city high schools is pressing, and this is precisely what drove McMaster’s School of Nursing and local Hamilton school boards to begin the talking about how to build a program that addresses youth health.

Semogas previously stated that, “Studies have shown that youth having access to health care in schools are more likely to stay in school.”

The benefits of the initiative extend beyond the scope of the high school students to the very students behind the desk – McMaster nursing students are able to gain valuable experience towards their future practice. “Any place where you can interact with the population is really beneficial,” says Glover.

First-year Nursing student Emma Carscadden re-iterated the program’s importance.

“In the past there were nurses in most schools, and it’s a shame that nurses have been taken out of these important roles. I hope that this initiative will be successful, as nurses have a vital role in promoting healthy lifestyles and choices to children who need it.”

Despite the program’s progress and its considerable role in providing youth health services, funding is set to end in December. Semogas and Glover remained hopeful about the potential fundraising opportunity offered through the Aviva Community Fund, which contributes $1 million to Canadian projects that enable positive change.

With several qualifying rounds, the Primary Care for At-Risk Youth initiative has made it to the semi-finals. However, the future still remains tentative. “Some programs have crazy numbers of votes, up in the thousands, and they may outbid us,” said Glover, “but I am really, really hopeful for it.”

Even as students have been breaching the barrier of the campus “bubble” in the past few years, many community social issues, both good and bad, remain under the average student’s radar.

The Vital Signs Report, released on Oct. 12 by the Hamilton Community Foundation, sought to shed light on community strengths and challenges through measuring the quality of life in Hamilton across 12 issue areas.

The report created three levels of concern through which community members could evaluate community issues. The Vital Signs Advisory Committee and several members of Hamilton Roundtable compiled the report for Poverty Reduction. Internet and telephone surveys randomly sampled various households across the city.

Across the board, survey responses noted that there was satisfaction with the community’s approach to addressing issues in “arts and culture,” “getting around (transportation)” and “the environment”.

The community was urged to take immediate action towards addressing the “gap between the rich and the poor” and “work-related issues.”

The most staggering and prominent finding in the report indicates the continued increase in number of people working full-time yet still living below the poverty line in Hamilton. The most recent data available, from 2006, shows that 6.7 per cent of Hamilton’s population is in this category. This average is a marked increase from both the Ontario average (5.5 per cent) and the Canadian average (5.8 per cent).

The gap between the rich and the poor, a major focal point for the Occupy movement, has persisted in Hamilton, mirroring larger national trends. In 2009, the poorest 20 per cent of Hamiltonians had 5 per cent of the total income, while the richest 20 per cent accounted for 41 per cent of the total income.

The report takes into account all the neighbourhoods across Hamilton, including the Westdale-Ainsley Wood area.

McMaster students were not specifically identified in the report. However, community engagement has been at the forefront of campus affairs. Community was a major part of McMaster president Patrick Deane’s visioning letter “Forward With Integrity.”

Siobhan Stewart, MSU President, emphasized the variety of ways in which students choose to engage in community affairs, especially through various MSU services and clubs.

“People find their own channel and have their own unique story about what community engagement means to them.”

Stewart also noted that there is increased mindfulness towards including both community and student opinion on Hamilton’s social issues.

Several McMaster professors and employees are actively involved in the Poverty Roundtable and have advocated for university involvement and projects to address social justice issues in Hamilton.

Gary Warner, former Director of the Arts & Science Program, past Chair of the Hamilton Community Foundation and Poverty Roundtable member, reflected on student knowledge of Hamilton’s inequalities.

“I think students are likely not aware of the impact of income disparity related to postal codes in Hamilton, which is reflected, for example, in vastly different life expectancy – 21-year gap – and in test results and gradation rates in Hamilton's secondary schools.”

The McMaster Poverty Initiative (MPI) is the most notable example of the call for collaboration between students, staff and faculty to examine Hamilton’s social justice issues.

Jeff Wingard, MPI Coordinator and a member of the Vital Signs Report team, remarked upon the increase in student awareness and engagement with the community, especially in exploring the community’s booming arts scene.

“[But] I think on the flip side ... there are deep pockets of poverty and real hardship that exist in Hamilton, which I think get a bit lost if you don’t see it [on campus]”

Wingard also spoke about the need for continued research on community inequalities and the equal importance of communicating this research to diverse audiences, including students and the populations being studied.

McMaster has a reputation of being both a research-intensive institution and school with a strong spirit of volunteerism and community engagement, most recently exemplified by events such as Open Streets McMaster and MacServe.

Warner suggested that in keeping with the recommendations made by the Forward With Integrity Community Engagement Task Force, McMaster should strive to assign higher value to community-engaged research.

As students get settled in Hamilton for the fall semester, the harvest season is ramping up at local farmers’ markets across the city. Farmers’ markets have sprouted up in communities in the area. The Downtown Hamilton, Locke Street and Dundas Farmers’ Markets are closest to campus, and the MSU Farmstand is on campus.

The influence of popular works such as The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating and The Omnivore’s Dilemmahave renewed interest in eating locally. Farmers’ markets have a rich history of promoting local food movements. The Downtown Hamilton Farmers’ Market was originally opened in 1837 and continues to enrich the community. Manager Donna Lee McDonald noted that students in particular have been a major force in ensuring the availability of local food.

The influence of popular works such as The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating and The Omnivore’s Dilemmahave renewed interest in eating locally. Farmers’ markets have a rich history of promoting local food movements. The Downtown Hamilton Farmers’ Market was originally opened in 1837 and continues to enrich the community. Manager Donna Lee McDonald noted that students in particular have been a major force in ensuring the availability of local food.

"Youth who are seeking regional local produce and who want to support small shop culture and independent business people are bringing a resurgence to markets.  This is clearly demonstrated by the number of pop up seasonal markets that are in this area and in any urban area in the country,” she said.

The MSU Farmstand was formed in Summer 2008, during Mary Koziol’s term as MSU President, as a result of an OPIRG working group. The Farmstand, in partnership with Hospitality Services and the Office of Sustainability, aims to provide local produce to students and staff during the summer and into the fall.

Alvand Mohtashami, Director of the Farmstand, noted that farmers’ markets strive to create an inclusive and open atmosphere for their customers.

He said, “The right atmosphere is fun for a customer to explore and learn about farming and local food. The [students] come back with something they feel they can connect to rather than the grocery store experience which is a bit more mechanical.”

McMaster has been part of a provincial campus trend, which has seen students ask for more local food options. Farmers’ markets or market stands now operate at Queens, Waterloo, UofT Scarborough, Guelph, Ryerson, Brock and McMaster. Mohtashami suggested that educating students about the positive environmental, economic and health implications of buying local produce is paramount to farmers’ markets broadening their scope and targeting young people.

Lisa Anderson, manager of the Dundas Farmers’ Market, reiterated how students and youth have embraced the movement.

Specific initiatives such as the Hamilton Food Charter and programs run by Environment Hamilton seek to leverage community input into food security and food systems issues.

At the Farmstand, students can be educated about local food systems, meet with farmers and learn more about the benefits of local produce. In upcoming weeks, the Farmstand will be bringing new products from the Earth to Table Bread Bar and launching local food workshops and a farmers’ market tour, in addition to running their regular market operations. The Farmstand will wrap up its operations on October 31 with a Harvest Festival that will feature art, music and games.

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