Jason Thorne's Tumblr Blog
Just in case you didn’t know new City of Hamilton General of Manager of Economic Development and Planning Jason Thorne isn’t like his predecessor, he is running a Tumblr page where he shares articles related to his portfolio. From what I can tell, from my own site logs,…
Hamilton City Council for August 15, 2014
Hamilton City Council meets today to ratify the decisions of the past week. There was only one contentious vote this week, that being the demolition of the Hermitage Ruins during the Planning Committee Live video starts at 930am…
Hamilton Board of Health for August 14, 2014
Hamilton Board of Health meets to discuss potential funding shortfalls for youth mental health services. Live video starts at 1:30pm.…
Councillors and Senior Staff to be Banned from Lobbying for Year after Tenure Ends
Updated Story A proposed “cooling down” policy for senior staff is being extended to cover former City Councillors after an amendment at Council’s Audit, Finance, and Administration Committee moved by Councillor Brenda Johnson. “We should be leading by example,” said Johnson. “If we are imposing this on employees,…
Only Four Permit Violators From 2013 Facing Legal Action
An internal City audit finds that only 4 of 154 outstanding building permit violators from 2013 were facing legal action from the City in February 2014. There was 354 projects, that the City found out about, that started work without a building or demolition permit in 2013 and…
Hamilton Audit, Finance, and Admin Committee for August 13, 2014
Councillors will debate a post-employment cooling off period for senior staff, Development Charge credits for The Centre on Barton, tax competitiveness, and upgrading the City’s online public mapping service. Live video starts at 9:30am. The [full agenda](http://hamilton.siretechnologies.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=648&doctype=AGENDA) is on the City’s website. (Warning: Not AODA complaint or mobile-friendly)…
RBG asks City Council to Waive Development Charges for Rock Garden Rejuvenation
Update: Council’s AF&A Cmte approved the waiver. Council must vote on any waiving of Development Charges for “new” developments. [](http://joeycoleman.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/800px-Rock_Gardens_B.jpg)RBG’s Rock Gardens The Royal Botanical Gardens is rejuvenating the famous [Rock Gardens](http://www.rbg.ca/rockgarden) and part of the plan includes a new building. The new building means the…
Centre on Barton Seeks Development Charge Credits Extension Worth $1.7m
Update: Council’s AF&A Cmte approved the extension. The Centre at Barton is asking City Council to extend its development charges credits for an additional five years, beyond the usual five-year limit for DC credits. [](http://joeycoleman.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/6834607146_764b7b9782_z.jpg)The Food Pavilion…
City Spent $440,551 to Dismantle Wireless, But Is Upgrading Online Mapping Service
City Hall hasn’t yet figured out how it is approaching the Internet. On one hand, we finally have a new website. On the other, we just spent $440,551 to dismantle the downtown public wireless network at a time that successful new economy cities expand public wireless. The quarterly…