A very interesting article about a demographic I’ve never encountered. They use the Internet, yet feel more threatened by it’s dark sign than most? Or maybe they are just more open about it?
- Source: Nytimes
Yearly Archives: 2012
Possible CP strike will impact Hamilton trains
By GTD Aquitaine / via Wikimedia Commons
Hamilton GO train users will need to take the bus if Canadian Pacific Railway workers hit the picket lines.
The union representing 4,800 CP employees conductors, engineers, yard workers and rail traffic controllers served its 72-hour strike notice over the weekend, putting the workers in a legal strike position at 00:01 Wednesday morning.
Hamilton trains will not originate downtown. Instead they’ll originate at Aldershot station because tracks from Burlington Junction to Hamilton GO Centre are owned by CP.
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City Hall again releasing Council agendas on Fridays
City Council agendas are again being released to the public on Fridays. This follows two months during which the release was delayed three days until the Monday prior to the meeting.
Using the City definition, this is a rollback in transparency.
The withholding of public agendas was one of the weirder decisions at City Hall this spring during a period in which Council promised a new era of transparency after the Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin slammed them for improper in-camera meetings.
It seemed the definition of “transparency” used by Council was the same as their infamous “accountability and transparency” sub-committee.
The delay started Easter Weekend when City staff decided to withhold the agenda over the long weekend and only make it public the day prior to the Council meeting. I noted this here.
The response from City Hall? From that point forward, all releases would occur after weekends, not before as had been practice for as long as anyone could remember. I protested this blatantly anti-transparent move. I emailed Council on a regular basis and made a point of noting this blatantly conflicted with their promises of transparency.
It appears the message was received.
So, with Council agendas being released on-time again, I’ll turn my attention back to getting the “accountability and transparency” sub-committee to be both transparent and accountable. Wish me luck…. I’ll need it.
This week’s
Ban college football
From this week’s Intelligence Squared debate:
Ban College Football from Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates on FORA.tv
– JC –
CBC Music continues Hamilton playlist
It’s little surprise that CBC playlist for Hamilton music will continue.
CBC Hamilton’s is focusing upon the local cultural scene and they’ve been running daily stories about the local music scene.
CBC’s online music service, CBC Music, is facing a CRTC hearing and what online listeners are playing could be a major determinate for the CRTC’s eventual ruling. If CBC Music users are primarily playing music commonly found on commercial radio, the argument the service is unfair taxpayer-funded competition will enjoy greater merit. Whereas, if users are using the service to listen to music never found on commercial radio, the CRTC will be hard-pressed to rule again CBC.
It’s for these reasons that it should be no surprise the playlist beat goes on.
CBC move brings it into competition with TheSpec’s Jamilton
There’s an interesting twist in this decision, it puts CBC directly into competition with a commercial enterprise offering independent music at no charge - Metroland’s (TheSpec parent company) Jamilton website.
A screencap of Jamilton.ca
Launched in 2006, Jamilton allows for local artists to upload their music, share information with their fans, includes editorial content and is the site of The Spectator’s yearly local bands competition.
The Jamilton website has seen better days (it appears to be broken at present as it’s trying to direct data to spec.com instead of thespec.com) and doesn’t appear be receiving frequent updates.
It’s a good time for Hamilton artists
Could this example be used to advance the case against CBC Music? I’m no lawyer or CRTC expert, I cannot say.
There’s an inherent good of having more competition to provide exposure to independent artists. It’s a good time to be a Hamilton artist, especially with a national platform to perform on.
– JC –
TheSpec uses thinglink to create rich interactives
TheSpec.com War of 1812 map canvas
Thinglink is the “it thing” in journalism circles this month and TheSpec is putting it to good use today with a great interactive map of The War of 1812 in southwest Ontario.
Full credit to their web team for a very creative use of the service and a nice interactive (that I’m linking to again because I think you should check it out) feature.
Anyone can use thinglink, the service is free, and there is plenty of potential for local blogs to use the service.
A map of James Artcrawl with a point for each event? How about Supercrawl?
An explanation of an “art masterpiece” hanging in a gallery? (Looking at you AGH)
The possibilities are endless, and thanks to TheSpec for introducing the platform to a wider audience in Hamilton.
City of Hamilton’s new media policy
City councillors passed a new media policy today as GIC, bringing an end to a saga that began when the Mayor’s chief of staff declared she and the Mayor would only speak to “a journalist that has a boss that I can complain to.”
The new policy was widely condemned by almost all media outlets. City staff moved quickly to clarify that the Mayor’s office’s policy was not staff policy and a staff media policy review began.
I was consulted during the process and stated to staff that my priority was to see equatable access to public information for all.
The new policy achieves this, encourages city staff to engage online in communicating with citizens, and speaks to a need to provide access to city staff for all media outlets (both old and new) to clarify and explain city affairs.
Credit must be given to city staffers Debbie Spence and Mike Kirkopoulos for their work creating the updated policy and removing the review from the political firestorms that often engulf the relationship between media and City Hall.
“Accountability and Transparency” cmte releases agenda less than 24hr before mtg
The so-called “Accountability and Transparency” committee is moving towards accountability and transparency – which is not to say they are actually being accountable or transparent.
I just received from City Clerks a copy of the agenda for their meeting tomorrow morning. On the agenda, a presentation from Toronto’s lobbyist registar and continuing discussions about the terms of a new contract for Earl Basse, Hamilton’s integrity commissioner.
This will be the third meeting of debate about Basse’s new contract. The sub-committee attempted at their first meeting about renewal to create a new bylaw gagging citizens who file complaints. During their meeting last week, the committee rewrote the minutes of their first meeting and backtracked from the gag bylaw.
Hamilton’s current lobbyist registry is voluntary. There is discussion about creating a mandatory registry and possibly giving it teeth.
File under awesome: A federal judge learned to code
Stifling community voices at the HWDSB
Rick Cordeiro / via Wikipedia
Delta Secondary School
Where’s the community organization against school closures this time?
As public school trustees vote this month to close schools, the crowds attending the meetings can be counted by the dozen.
Regardless of one’s position on closures, this lack of community involvement is concerning. How did this happen?
The biggest reason is the decision of the school board to minimize community dissent.
A decade ago, school closures (now called “accommodation reviews” in Boardspeak) were contentious matters that brought overflow crowds to the earliest committee discussions.
As well-noted by Gord Bowes of the Mountain News , it seems the process was designed to prevent community mobilization. (They follow the Board consistently and have called things straight from the beginning.)
Part of preventing community opposition was stifling of school principals.
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The Candy Bombers
The Berlin Airlift is one of the great battles of the Cold War, and arguably one of the most misunderstood.
Andrei Cherny spent years researching his book The Candy Bombers and shared his insightful understanding of the conflict during a session at the Pritzker Military Library in 2008.
I listened to the podcast today and was fascinated by just how pivotal this conflict was to the eventual victory of the Western Powers in the Cold War.
Most interesting is the discussion of how the key players in the Airlift – Truman, Wedemeyer , Tunner, and Halvorsen – were all seen as second-stringers, unworthy of those those who came before them. They couldn’t compare with the great men of the WWII and the military men had not seen action during the war.
Prior to listening to this podcast, I lacked a true understanding of the political climate leading into the airlift and just how unlikely its success was. History can change on a dime, this is a great example of that.
Visit the Pritzker library page and enjoy this informative discussion.
Council makes the right decision: stands by our most vulnerable
Kudos to the Councillors on the emergency and community services community services committee for making the right decision and voting to absorb provincial cutbacks against Ontario Works recipients.
It will cost $1.8-million from the City budget, but helping the most marginalized in our society from losing more dignity is immeasurable.
Busy week before long weekend at City Hall
It will be a busy week at City Hall leading into the May 2-4 long weekend with four committee, two sub-committee meetings and the annual meeting of Council as the Hamilton Utilities Corp Shareholders.
Audit, Finance and Administration Committee
Monday’s AF&A meeting looks at the quarterly tendering, procurement and RFP reports, including emergency and non-competitive, and non-compliance with purchasing policies.
In the first three months of the year, the City made 17 purchases they classify as “emergency” for a total of $1,096,151, nearly 75% of the cost was for two projects: the emergency replacement of the Chedoke Radial Trail Bridge ($572,930) and restoring electrical power to a pumping station after a water leak above the transformers caused loss of electrical ($249,963).
There were 15 instances of non-compliance with purchasing policies for a total of $191,408. The general managers of the department is responsible for reviewing and issuing discipline in each instance and the results are not included in the report.
Also on the agenda: tax appeals and apportionment, changes to citizen appointments on the procurement sub committee, appointments to the LGBTQ advisory committee, and the Grants sub-committee report.
I won’t be attending any of the meetings. I’ll be watching the livestream when possible. Following Cable 14′s Doug Falloway (@c14DougFarraway), CBC Hamilton, CATCH, and TheSpec for updates. Doug Falloway’s twitter and blog are two great sources of coverage you may not be following.
– JC –
40 years after Dark Side of the Moon, Ivor Wynne may host concerts again
Pink Floyd's iconic Dark Side of the Moon cover
UPDATE: committee approved the concert proposal
The most interesting piece of City Hall business this week will likely be the debate about Ivor Wynne Stadium, home of the Tiger-Cats and not much else, holding two outdoor concerts in its final year.
The Tiger-Cats are requesting to hold two concerts and Council’s emergency and community services committee will debate the matter Monday afternoon.
If approved, Hamilton maybe could sorta likely see our first big concert at Ivor Wynne Stadium since RUSH played in 1979 as quarter-century long concert ban took effect.
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Which bands do you want to play at IWS this year?
Hamilton City Council is considering not one – but two! – concerts at IWS this yr. RUSH better be one of them, who should be the other?