When people ask me, “What’s it like living in Hamilton?” (and believe me, every time I return to Toronto, they ask me), I usually say that it’s great. Hamilton, I tell them, is a human-scale city. “But why would you leave Toronto?” they ask. “Because it’s full,” I say.
When we were considering the move (or I should say, when I was considering the move, along with my reticent family), I asked a friend who previously lived in Hamilton and Guelph which she preferred. “Guelph if you want to fit in, Hamilton if you want to make a difference,” she said.
Case closed, we moved to the Hammer.
This is a decision I have not regretted. Here, people and the city itself, seem a good mix of grit and kindness. The working-class ethos, the waterfalls and the casual conversations with just about anyone will have with you. This is a pre-war city.
But I’m not starry-eyed on Hamilton.
The car has supremacy here. Speeding is expected. Bike lanes are nominal and dangerous in almost all parts of the city. On Hamilton’s main drag, a red light is considered an affront, as the goal is to get the hell from one end of town to the other, tout suite. This is sometimes good for drivers, but for anyone thinking of starting a small business, opening a café or even living on these corridors, good luck. I see block after block of wasted opportunities.
I’m not a city planner or a traffic flow specialist, but I am a citizen who sees avenues of loneliness and disconnection. The unfettered five lane roadways, particularly Main Street, downtown and east end, keep us isolated. They make daredevils of those who want to ride bikes and strangle the creative energy of so many small businesspeople who could be welcoming us into their shops.
Whenever I mention turning these arteries into two-ways with parking and protected bike lanes, locals roll their eyes and say (like those once told that one day the Berlin Wall would fall) that this will never fly in Hamilton.
What does a former Torontonian like me know about such matters? Tribal war paint aside, I am a citizen with a lived experience that tells me that this city should have two thriving grand boulevards with treed pedestrian and cycling paths running through the middle of the streets. LRT, cafes, local grocers and specialty stores all the way from Dundurn to Gage Park.
So, I ask, do we need to get somewhere or be somewhere?
If we dare to move, I’m thinking that all that grit and kindness that we love so much here in Hamilton can find places to pollinate, and we might not be quite so big-city lonely.
About Ralph
Ralph Benmergui is a Canadian television and radio broadcasters, strategic communications professional and spiritual counselor. Read about his current work at http://newsabbathproject.com/
