Hamilton's need to look beyond the car

September 25-26 was James Street North's "Super Weekend". With over 20,000 people coming out to the street for Supercrawl (Saturday) and almost fifty groups coming out to celebrate Open Streets Hamilton (Sunday), local James Street North businesses and residents successfully spread the word: downtown Hamilton is the place to be.

Earlier that week, on World Car Free Day (September 22), Hamilton had already joined an international celebration of pedestrians and active transportation users reclaiming their rights to the road.

After the hype and hysteria subside and the high hopes hung on votes begin to sink, it becomes increasingly clear how voting, in and of itself, will not solve our city's problems.

"You've cut your hair as a kid before," says Sean Gibson knowingly. "Its something that we like as kids. I can't really explain it. It's your personality; it's the closest thing to your face. It's a way to identify and a way to be different."

Gibson, a barber and a self-made businessman began teaching young people how to cut hair back in 2006 when he started Canada's first training course aimed specifically at would-be barbers.

Knowing the Land is Resistance VII

On a crisp fall evening, under huge streetlights that blot out the sky, we're standing in the parking lot of University Plaza, at the edge of Dundas. Tonight, the urge to escape the city has become irresistible, and behind this plaza runs the hamilton-brantford rail trail. The trees that surround it are already in sight.

With another election season drawing near, many of us have been gazing at the list of candidates with feelings of dread and apprehension. It's old news that the candidates are virtually identical. It's old news that the system is fundamentally flawed. These statements are hardly even controversial anymore.

And yet voting is still held up as being a fundamental sign of a free and successful society. Every election season, activists put their systemic critiques aside and plead with people to care about the process. Many of those who still bother to vote do not do so because they genuinely support any of the candidates. Rather, it's out of fear that someone truly horrible will get into power if they don't vote for the lesser evil.

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