Our city desperately needs…

Our city desperately needs housing. This site needs to be redeveloped because it is in a prime location. And it's current state is embarrassing, discouraging, and offensive; it represents the failure of our city to follow through on plans. If possible, I would like to see the creation of legislation that prevents situations like this from happening again: a requirement that developers have absolutely all permits (and funding) in hand before evictions and demolitions begin.

Although Hamilton needs housing, this site is in a low-rise neighbourhood with a rich history. I feel that high-rise developments, though they encourage density, are unsuitable in this location. Not only would the built form be incongruent with the rest of the neighbourhood, but usually high-rise units are too small for families--which the North End has a long history of hosting. Further, high-rises disconnect residents from their neighbourhood, come with high environmental and maintenance costs, and inflate the cost of land for everyone else. Mid-rise apartments would be much more suitable for this site (and for Hamilton in general).