Trash Talk, Hamilton Style!
November 28, 2007 · By Matthew
Emboldened by David Miller’s tenure as Mayor of the Centre of the Universe TM, many of Ontario’s other mayors and city councilors have recently gone on a spending binge, with budgets full of pet projects and good intentions.
On the latter note, we’ve seen such bright lights as a ban on two-garage houses and on pellet guns here in Kitchener recently (with another wise-guy idea to ban windows that open more than a foot wide to prevent saps like me from falling out of apartments on the way, although balconies are still perfectly legal…), now it’s Hamilton’s turn to show that they too can take their stupid pills with the best of them! Tonight, Hamilton city council is debating a motion to limit garbage to one bag per household. As my 16-year-old sister quickly pointed out, there’s some very nice fields around Hamilton (seriously, they exist!) that can and will become insta-landfills if this bylaw goes through — memo to councillors: Captain Planet would be proud!
But while Hamilton’s representatives are debating whether they should limit garbage to one or two bags, clear or black plastic, coffee, tea or Sega, might I also point out that we’re talking about Hamilton here guys! The poor performance of the local football team this year is only a reflection of the malaise that engrosses this city; that is why many, like yours truly, simply leave at the first opportunity! I did come back though to enjoy the expressway that the city finally managed to build, after only 50 years of trying too!
Back to the garbage issue, I ask what is stopping the limit from backfiring with, say, students at MacMaster University and Mohawk College who would see piling garbage on the street curbs regardless of whether it gets taken or not as part of their duty to add to Hamilton’s breathtaking (literally) charm? Are we really so certain that these young citizens, known for their loud house parties, poor house maintenance and minimal loyalty to the larger community will so giddily comply with such a restrictive law, especially when they live with 5-6 other adults typically?
What is also stopping someone from, say, dumping some trash in somebody else’s pile? Or just on the street as is. I know the environazis and eggheads down at City Hall have to think that this is sheer brilliance but as soon as you lower the limit to something ridiculously low unless you’re single or a very clean couple then grey areas will start to appear among the green. On that note, speaking of green that is, I must’ve missed council’s debate over the tax reductions 500,000 Hamiltonians will see next year now that they’re having a major service cut back!
I’m from Hamilton. If you use words with more than one syllable, they escort you to the city limits on your 18th birthday and point you towards Toronto.
The City cut down 100 year old trees in the main park downtown — but they planted “new” ones! What are you complaining about?
Ask me about the great interlocking brick sidewalk fiasco :-)
My high school boyfriend used to say that if the city ever got an NHL team, they’d hold a big contest and in the end, they’d end up calling them the Hamilton Hamiltonians.
Oh, and when the first artificial heart was put in, it coincided with the last episode of a popular sit com. The Spec’s over the fold front page headline was “Barney Miller Gets Artificial Heart.”
I hate Hamilton.
If you do not like what your government is doing, vote them out. It really is that simple.
I hear all of this complaining but I do not understand. Are you expecting people from outside of Hamilton to come over and solve your democratic problem???
Use your Almighty Power To Vote and solve the problem yourselves.
Refer to this thread: The Birth Of Whatever for further inspiration.
They are likely just trying to increase user fees by selling bag tags. That way, they can increase revenue without increasing taxes. My city has a bag limit and dumped garbage was a big problem for a while when the 4 bag limit was first introduced then again when it dropped to 3 per household. It has been a year since the local paper ran a story about tipping fees and illegal dumping.
http://www.northernlife.ca/new.....te_garbage
While the article was about tipping fees, many of the comments included the bag limit.
John M Reynolds
Some of us don’t have a choice to vote them out. We the town of Dundas, got screwed in a referendum. While 90% of us voted against this ridiculous supercity the the motion still passed. Now our unique voice counts for squat. They put up stop signs sighting that theres a school zone that needs one and then close the school down and leave the stop sign in place. Even though there was a crossing guard on duty and the sign wasn’t needed. I walked that route from the age of 4 onward. Now this one bag rule. Yeah,m in a perfect world we would all be able to make it fit, but some of us live in larger house holds or in our case smaller households with 4 adults. This one bag bylaw doesn’t work for us on most weeks. we try, we fill all three of our recycling bins, compost our own organics, and reuse what packaging we can. The math just doesn’t work out for us, and it seems the only math politicians know are how to count up dollar signs and not piling garbage bags. To me it seems the only politician speaking out the IDIOCRACY that takes place in the Hamilton council is Russ Powers. How bout we take our trash to the steps of city hall and leave it there? Would they even notice? Probably not because Its undergoing its multi million dollar face lift right now. At what expense? the pile of garbage at my front door.