Bratina didn’t fulfil two major promises

Having lived in Hamilton my whole life, I’ve seen many mayors come and go. None of them have been elected to two terms, in recent memory.
Back in 2010, Bob Bratina put out a single flyer that listed what he planned to do during his time in office.
Although much of it was platitudes and blue sky dreaming, it was his promise to evaluate amalgamation that won him the mayor’s chair, with the extra votes the suburbs contributed, thinking that the egg could be unscrambled.
Bob promised to “confront the divisions created by forced amalgamation through a full review of municipal structure.”
Well, we are still waiting for this to happen.
He also promised to “demonstrate fiscal responsibility by ensuring that the city lives within its needs and makes smart and strategic financial decisions.”
According to my tax bill, which was raised every single year of his mandate, we are worse off than we were before he was elected. Roads and sidewalks are crumbling, and poverty has increased to 18.7 per cent of our population.
I guess spending $1.6 million on a fancy bike share was a smart investment, or four kilometres of bike lanes on Cannon for another $1.6 million?
Welcome to Hamilton, get used to it.

Mark-Alan Whittle
Hamilton Mountain

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