Councillors don't know their owns rules

RE: Respect good, distracting chatter bad (Aug. 10)

After reading Andrew Dreschel's column on council decorum I'm left wondering how many councillors have read their own Code of Conduct Bylaw and realize the public is watching thanks to numerous live-feeds available on the Internet?

Being retired has afforded me an opportunity to do in-depth research, and gather more information that would otherwise be unavailable to the hard working Hamiltonians struggling to pay the ever increasing costs of living here. Not a year goes by without increases in property taxes, sewer, water and electricity costs, despite residents owning the Hamilton Utilities Corporation.

At least my newly elected councillor, Donna Skelly, has been doing an excellent job so far, without all the inane, distracting side chatter, and asks the questions put to her constituents she represents.

Mark-Alan Whittle, Hamilton

Welfare recipients could work for food

What would you do in their shoes? (Column, May 9)

After reading Andrew Dreschel’s column about giving food vouchers to single people collecting welfare, I have a suggestion.

Why not have a program like meals on wheels, where fresh fruit and vegetables could be distributed to those who need them, without exposing them to ridicule and scorn by labelling them as poor and destitute.

Better yet, why not have people on welfare do a little work, like graffiti removal, in order to get something in return, like free fruits and vegetables, donated by local farmers’ markets. This will get people moving and used to doing something constructive, while collecting social assistance cheques.

Hamilton spends about $2 million a year having municipal staff and community volunteers clean up graffiti; why not use some of that budget to get able-bodied social service recipients back on their feet by doing a little work to pay back society for giving them a hand up.

Mark-Alan Whittle, Hamilton

Hamilton in the dark again

After watching Hamilton council recently, I was shocked at how many councillors claimed to be left in the dark regarding the velodrome and new replacement stadium.

The new stadium will not increase the contribution of the city, unlike the proposed velodrome, which will cost four times the $5-million investment Hamilton council originally slated for the project.

Most shocking is the fact that staff has finally admitted the West Harbour lands are fully toxified, which means the soil, up to 30 feet deep, will have to be removed and trucked to an off-site soil remediation facility. There’s only one in Ontario.

The motion that passed at council also stops all expropriation activity, leaving a $10-million hole in its wake. Homeowners still living in the area are surrounded by boarded up houses infested with rats.

Nothing can be constructed there without a huge premium cost, soil remediation.

All in all, I must say it seems the senior management team at city hall, and the associated staff helping them, have been moving in their own direction regarding the Games facilities, thereby keeping the councillors and public completely in the dark.

That’s Hamilton, get used to it.

Mark-Alan Whittle, Hamilton