| HARMONY/DISCORD |
| October 18/03 Letter to the Editor Hamilton Spectator I find all this hoopla surrounding property owner Ben Bull's imminent decision (threat?) to leave Hamilton and return to Toronto intensely amusing. Would anyone care if he were a welfare recipient (who might well have been paid by the feds to move to Hamilton in the first place)? I doubt it. I also find the proposed mottos (October 18/03) for Hamilton ("A City With a Heart" and "Hamilton: Steely Determination, Pioneering Healthcare, Social Justice") by Joyce Mongeon and Alan B. Eppel, respectively, to be downright absurd. I still haven't found a competent, compassionate family doctor here, after almost three years. As a person who commutes to Toronto on a daily basis, I am apparently considered an "untouchable", due to the recent SARS and West Nile Virus epidemics. Ellen McGrath says it all, after complaining about the state of affairs in Hamilton's downtown core, by proudly boasting that she will take possession of her new home on the West Mountain, as if that area were an entirely different city in itself, separate from the rest of Hamilton. I'd rather see her leave Hamilton (altogether), with her elitist attitude and ostrich-posturing, which, I believe, is exactly Mr. Bull's point. Hamilton, while not as atrociously expensive as Toronto, lacks a collective sense of "joie de vivre" amongst its citizens (oops - sorry - I'm confusing that with Montreal), not to mention the lack of job opportunities and woefully inadequate GO train service. David Colaccio, in his submission, states that "this is Hamilton, not Toronto". Vive la diff�rence. Toronto takes great pride in celebrating, or at least respecting, its diversity of cultures and even social classes. In Hamilton, it seems you are either poor and downtrodden or affluent and self-righteous. It appears that never the twain shall meet in this city. I am also a financial refugee from Toronto and have been residing here since June 2001. Regardless of a previously submitted diatribe about the first two years of an absolutely horrifying "welcome" to Hamilton, I still saw something here that showed a lot of promise - "a great, untapped resource", as my Hamiltonian partner mockingly refers to it. He just loves my joke that Hamilton should just be paved over and made into an extended parking lot for Toronto (which would give Hamilton's parking enforcers a valid reason to continue their over-zealousness). I fear now that both he and Mr. Bull have hit the nail on the head - this is a dying city, and perhaps a swift euthanasia is in order. As a post-script, I would like to add that the first person who gave me a chance to promote Hamilton's entertainment sector is now being "railroaded" because of a gambling addiction; the second one has washed his hands of Hamilton, having given up any hope for it. Why am I not surprised? My motto for Hamilton - "R.I.P." D.M. Wells |
| Ex-SPEC-ted Rejection (not #1, but who's counting?) |
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