GAS BALL: Will Hamilton vanish from the face of the Earth?

scotto

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Feb 15, 2004
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The Beach Strip
#1
Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator
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Hamilton Spectator
By Matthew Van Dongen


Hamilton's new council has a chance to change the world.

For decades, a painted eight-storey globe has reminded QEW motorists that Hamilton - not that other big-headed burgh up the highway - is, in fact, the centre of the world.

If that claim seems full of hot air, well, so is the big steel orb. It collects methane gas from the digestion of thousands of tonnes of sewage sludge at the city treatment plant.

But soon, the looming repository of truly natural gas will be moved to make room for new treatment facilities at the half-century-old Woodward Avenue plant.

"That would be the time to look at a new paint job, which we've been putting off," said water and sewer director Dan McKinnon. "I think most people would agree it's looking a little tired."

The question is whether Hamilton's geographical shout-out - in 1.2-metre-high capital letters, no less - is also a little tired.

Coun. Sam Merulla suggests overburdened taxpayers might appreciate a new source of city advertising revenue over a dubious geography lesson.

"You look at the proximity to a major highway, that visibility, it just speaks so loudly as a potential revenue source," said Merulla, who has pushed to monetize city infrastructure since 2002. "But it is a landmark ... It would have to be done with artistic integrity."

Merulla is typically unafraid to float controversial trial balloons, but in this case he is hesitant to pitch an off-the-cuff advertising idea for the globe. He recalls "taking a beating" for glibly suggesting renaming the Jolley Cut as "Pepsi-Cola Way" in a debate about naming rights for city property in 2012.

Merulla said he wants to "avoid going to extremes."

But he envisions working with local artists to create a "gateway project" doubling as a revenue-maker for a council struggling with a yearly $195-million infrastructure deficit.

Merulla added a spruced-up globe would complement a planned renaissance for now-closed Globe Park, part of which he is negotiating to turn into a dog park.

No company has ever pitched advertising to economic development head Neil Everson. But he laughingly suggested a "giant soccer ball" would fit the bill for a city preparing to welcome tens of thousands of rabid Pan Am soccer fans this July.

Oversized landmark marketing appears to be popular on the QEW corridor.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats, with city support, are trying to convince the province to allow a six-storey sign with an LED screen on sewage plant property. That electronic edifice would give the city free advertising and $500,000 for neighbourhood improvement.

A Burlington-based sign company also wants to set up a series of towering electronic ads nearby on Eastport Drive, but has so far struck out with city planners.

It's unclear how much the city could reap from an advertising campaign on the globe.

But McKinnon noted the globe already helps the city make money - $1.1 million a year - thanks to a pair of award-winning, high-tech projects that turn methane into electricity and natural gas that is then sold to local utilities.

Council still has time to think over its options.

The city initially planned major construction this year on $332 million in plant upgrades designed to improve the quality of treated sewage entering Red Hill Creek. But McKinnon said design work isn't complete, so builders won't have to rock Hamilton's world until next year at the earliest.

The director can't recall the last time the globe was touched up. In the distant past, intrepid sports fans and high school students were known to make freelance additions to the map, but beefed up plant security now keeps vandalism to a minimum.

McKinnon very carefully noted he doesn't have an opinion on the paint scheme.

"That's really up to council. From an operational perspective, how it looks physically is irrelevant to us," he said. "But it certainly is a sweet location."



mvandongen@thespec.com

905-526-3241 | [MENTION=650]matt[/MENTION]atthespec

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5274988-gas-ball-will-hamilton-vanish-from-the-face-of-the-earth-/
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
218
63
The Beach Strip
#3
Good info, I did not realize the globe was actually collecting methane...
The question I have is what do they do with the methane, heat the buildings? Anyway, in my younger days (a long time ago) the lady who lived upstairs from us (Helen Burgess was her name) sent in a suggestion to what could painted on the on the ball of steel and she won. She was quite proud of herself.

 

Sebastian

Registered User
May 1, 2014
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Beach Strip
#4
Nice photo, looks much bigger up close.

I think it says right there in the article what they do with methane: "But McKinnon noted the globe already helps the city make money - $1.1 million a year - thanks to a pair of award-winning, high-tech projects that turn methane into electricity and natural gas that is then sold to local utilities."
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
218
63
The Beach Strip
#5
Nice photo, looks much bigger up close.

I think it says right there in the article what they do with methane: "But McKinnon noted the globe already helps the city make money - $1.1 million a year - thanks to a pair of award-winning, high-tech projects that turn methane into electricity and natural gas that is then sold to local utilities."
Thanks and I read through the article twice, must look a better next time.


More from the Spec;
http://thespec-stories.com/2015/02/03/flashback-gas-ball/
 
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