Placeline Hamilton

Those in and around the condominium market in Hamilton say these are tough, tough times. The units aren't selling and getting new ones built has become incredibly difficult. 
However, with tens of thousands of new residents expected to move to Hamilton in the coming years (and a firm urban boundary that prevents further sprawl) we're almost certainly going to need many more units.
What is leading to this stalemate and what is the solution?
On this episode of Placeline Hamilton, we talk to three stakeholders in the condo industry to get their perspective on the issues.

Hamilton has a unique culture.
There's a great music history (which carries on today), our restaurants have been getting more and more attention, the art gallery is expanding, TV and movie shoots are happening all the time in these parts ... and the list goes on. 
What isn't always easy, is knowing how to keep track of it all. Or figuring out how to see the shows you're interested in or catching the events that line up with your passions. 
The Spectator's Natalie Paddon has a new way to make that happen. It's called HamiltonLIVE. In this episode of Placeline Hamilton, she explains what it's all about and how it can help you.

Over the past few years, Hamiltonians have seen a number of high-profile and extremely expensive mistakes come out of city hall.
There was Sewergate, the Red Hill Creek asphalt situation and the cyber attack. Now we've seen the auditor general issue a scathing report about the tiny homes fiasco that saw the project go way over budget.
How is this happening again and again? What's going on at city hall that this could happen?
Fred Eisenberger was a city councillor and mayor. He's seen behind the curtain and knows how things work, what checks and balances are in place and how staff works with elected officials.
Cities are huge, complicated corporations and mistakes will happen, he says. It's inevitable. 
But when they do, how much of the weight of these costly errors should be carried by council?
"All of it," he says.
And in a strong-mayor-power world where the wearer of the chain of office has unique clout, should the buck ultimately stop with him or her?
"Absolutely."

A decade after the Tim Bosma trial, the story continues to horrify and fascinate those in Hamilton who lived through it and followed the case.
The tragedy is self-explanatory. A young husband and father took his truck for a test drive with a couple of guys who said they were interested in buying it. But he never came home - they murdered him instead.
When news of the other actions of the perpetrators came out, it  somehow made an already ghastly story even worse. 
Ten years after the trial, Hamilton Spectator columnist Susan Clairmont – who wrote a piece in the paper looking back at the tale and the participants – joins Placeline Hamilton to talk about the whole thing.
She also answers some questions about what's happened since that you probably haven't heard before.

The Art Gallery of Hamilton will soon be expanding to allow for more of its huge collection to be displayed regularly. Its collection is the third-largest in Ontario and worth more than $1 billion.
That will likely be a surprise to many around here.
Everyone is familiar with the McMichael Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Yet somehow the AGH in our own backyard has flown largely under the radar.
Shelley Falconer is CEO of the gallery. Why does she think getting Hamiltonians to become aware of their own gallery has been so challenging?
She talks about that, and more, on this episode of Placeline Hamilton.