Giant geyser floated as way to market city

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Reproduced with the permission of The Hamilton Spectator.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007 | Updated at 8:54 AM EST


Giant geyser floated as way to market city
Nicole Macintyre
Imagine if the view from the Burlington Bay Skyway was a towering geyser shooting straight out of the harbour. Would it change how you felt about Hamilton?

Councillor Bob Bratina thinks so.

"It might give us a little more pride," he said of his 120-metre-high fountain idea inspired by the Jet d'eau in Geneva. "I saw it years ago and never got it out of my mind."

Councillor Brian McHattie wants to add wind turbines to Bratina's vision, while Sam Merulla sees video billboards along the Queen Elizabeth Way advertising what Hamilton has to offer.

Improving the city's image is a top priority for council, which sat down yesterday to brainstorm capital projects.

The towering fountain, an idea copied around the world, would be a memorable gateway, said Bratina, who imagines nightly light shows on the water stream that would be twice as tall as the bridge.

"It makes a statement about Hamilton and its relationship with water."

Mayor Fred Eisenberger said despite the cost of about $1 million, it is worth exploring.

"We have to invest in our image."

Share your ideas for the city's image at http://hallmarks.thespec.com

nmacintyre@thespec.com

905-526-3299

 

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Gushing over geysers, etc.

Reproduced with the permission of The Hamilton Spectator.

By Robert Howard
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 7, 2007)
The problem with thinking "outside the box", as people wiser than us have observed, is that the box is still in the picture. In other words, breaking out of our patterns of thinking can be more difficult than we realize.

That's why it's valuable to brainstorm -- to "blue sky" -- in order to bring new ideas and perspectives to the table.

It was a good idea to have Hamilton council gather at Liuna Station to throw around ideas for capital spending to improve the city. Several of the schemes that surfaced are intriguing and worth more discussion; some are worthy of serious consideration. (Although video billboards promoting Hamilton -- more visual clutter on highways -- doesn't grab us as something that would make this city more popular with motorists.)

We do have to say that some of the projects and priorities that council ended up with are not, frankly, original.

A pedestrian bridge over the Queen Elizabeth Way that would connect the Red Hill Valley trail system with the Beach Trail -- and that would be a signature entrance to the eastern approach to the city -- has been a serious, if unfunded, proposal for more than a year. Flower-planted road medians were championed years ago by then-mayor Bob Morrow, then allowed to slide into disrepair and gravel "beds" by subsequent councils.

The idea of a new city office to buy, invest, market and possibly develop brownfields -- abandoned industrial properties -- was approved by council. It's not new, but it's a smart, forward-thinking move.

There is also an issue of duplication. One of the ideas was to create an employment office to help new immigrants start businesses, but just such a program already exists through Hamilton's Settlement and Integration Services Organization and Centre for Civic Inclusion

There is some merit in championing good ideas, regardless of their origin. But the only truly original idea we see here is the one of a massive jet fountain in Hamilton Harbour, illuminated at night by coloured lights.

Would a giant geyser turn around the fortunes and public image of Hamilton? By itself, of course not. We suspect Councillor Bob Bratina, who floated the idea, would agree. But could it be something special that residents, visitors, even passersby on the Skyway bridges might come to identify with Hamilton? Could it be something that suggests this is a city that values art and aesthetics and even whimsy?

It's the kind of thinking that creates change. If Hamilton is going to break out of the outdated stereotype of a grey, grim industrial city and nothing much more, its council and its citizens must be willing to take risks -- think outside that box, do something unexpected.

Council should give its members "permission" to take their ideas to the next level of discussion, draft a business case and do some research to back a serious proposal. Hamilton needs council members who can think big and are willing to invest their energy and resources into developing their vision, not just fight for stop signs and snow-clearing in their ward.

There is lots of public interest in this, as evidenced on The Spectator's Hall Marks blog (http://hallmarks.thespec.com). But we should also remind councillors that no great idea was without its critics and naysayers.

 

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Readers not gushing over geyser

Reproduced with the permission of The Hamilton Spectator
Bob Bratina's idea to put a 120-metre fountain in the harbour to improve the city's image generated record hits on The Spectator's new City Hall blog, Hallmarks, yesterday. Here's what some readers had to say:
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 7, 2007)
So we would have a tower of polluted water spraying above a polluted harbour, with a backdrop of fire, steam and gas. Very Dante's Inferno-ish. When are these people going to wake up to the fact that Hamilton is a run-down scruffy little town that needs major restructuring and modernization. Geneva it is not!

-- Ken Martin

My suggestion is to put a giant mural in front of that ugly squalor which is high enough to block out the view. You could put just about any scene on it. My personal favourite would be some sort of pastoral scene with attractive people frolicking about. A logo could be at the top, something like "Hamilton -- A half million beautiful people can't be wrong."

-- Ben Nevis

It is time to stop thinking about "splashy" displays, and start planning a wholesale change that will make this city more livable for Hamiltonians. Do this and I believe the city will sell itself.

-- E. DeRushie

I think the mayor is on the right track, improving our image and all, but a geyser? I think it's a million-dollar waste of time and energy. Why not spend that money improving downtown?

-- Peter Gushie

If Hamilton is going to use a million or so dollars to "invest in our image," why wouldn't we do something a little more innovative than build a fountain? Give people somewhere to go and something to enjoy once they get here.

-- Ken Turner

The movie industry is using Hamilton more and more so just like with Hollywood, add huge block letters of our city's name on the side of the Mountain. At night, neon lights light up the name "Hamilton" on the side of the mountain.

-- Rick Cordeiro

Do you have a better idea than the fountain to improve the city's image? Tell us what it is, and we'll publish some of your ideas in the paper.

Go to http://hallmarks.thespec.com and tell us your idea.

Hamilton Spectator File Photo
The Jet d'Eau fountain in Geneva, Switzerland. Should Hamilton take the plunge?

 

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Hamilton: 'The Beautiful Harbour City of Canada'

Reproduced with the permission of The Hamilton Spectator
By Jessie Pettifer, Stoney Creek
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 9, 2007)
Re: 'Giant geyser floated as way to market city' (Mar. 6)

What an excellent idea -- a beautiful fountain on beautiful Hamilton Harbour!

Obviously those who scoff at this idea have never seen the Jet d'Eau and have probably never taken a cruise on our harbour either.

A cruise of Lake Geneva and the Jet d'Eau are listed as two main points of interest and attraction in Geneva and are included in the itinerary of many European tours.

Our harbour has far greater natural beauty than Lake Geneva and with an unusual fountain it would definitely be a strong drawing card for tourists to visit Hamilton.

A cruise to see the magnificent fall colours in the daytime and the lights of the city plus the fountain at night would be spectacular indeed and we would soon become known as "The Beautiful Harbour City of Canada."

With a distinctive name the fountain could definitely be included in "what makes Hamilton a great place."

 

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Does Hamilton need a 400-foot fountain in the harbour?

Kevin Werner, Stoney Creek News

(Mar 9, 2007)
What Hamilton needs is a 400-foot geyser in Hamilton Harbour. Or how about creating an industrial museum along Burlington Street? Or installing windmills along the harbour to generate energy and get rid of those pesky gulls?

These were only a few of the ideas politicians bounced around during a day-long budget priority session at LIUNA Station earlier this week.

Downtown councillor Bob Bratina had the most eye-catching idea: constructing a 400-foot water fountain - about the same height as the Burlington Skyway.

A similar-size fountain was built in Lake Geneva in Switzerland and attracts people from across Europe, he said, adding it has been copied with success in Arizona and South Korea.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger added that when he was chair of the Hamilton Port Authority, the organization considered, then rejected building a water fountain at a cost of about $1 million.

But the water fountain idea elicited a few smirks from councillors, including Stoney Creek councillor Brad Clark who was heard to murmur that it would make a great boat wash.

Ward 2 councillor Bernie Morelli suggested following Pittsburgh's lead and use lights to highlight Hamilton's waterfront lands. He also suggested looking at purchasing waterfront property to capitalize on the city's industrialized past to promote Hamilton as a steel town, creating a museum or offering tours of steel plants.

"We need to find the niche that no one else can do," he said.

Hamilton councillor Brian McHattie and Flamborough councillor Robert Pasuta suggested investing in wind turbines and installing windmills on the waterfront to harness the renewable energy source.

Mr. Pasuta said one of the benefits of the wind turbines on the harbour would be killing pigeons.

The Ward 14 councillor also suggested the city's social services department investigate how to get people receiving assistance working on the area's farms, which desperately need manual labour.

Other ideas included, from Mountain councillor Terry Whitehead, building an aquatic centre and boosting the city's profile by expanding its gateway projects at the entrances to the city; creating a new slogan for Hamilton; getting rid of the city's graffiti problem; expanding its flower and median beautification program; and filling in potholes along the city's streets.

Councillors did not suggest how to pay for the projects.

"We need to spend smartly," said Ward 6 councillor Tom Jackson.

Councillors re-committed to a set of priorities for the city they identified in 2005, including waterfront and downtown redevelopment, brownfield development, improving Hamilton's image, economic development, affordable housing, poverty reduction and immigration.

Politicians also identified increasing the city's property assessment as one of its key priorities.

They agreed to spend an additional $80,000 to hire an employee for its brownfield development office. One person already promotes the program and processes applications from prospective buyers.

Economic development proposals politicians held off approving until further information was available, were, creating a land bank program where the city purchases brownfields and improves the property for future business growth and constructing affordable housing units on brownfields, thereby redeveloping the downtown core.

The city already redeveloped City View and City Places, affordable housing units on downtown brownfields. The total cost for the programs would be more than $100,000.

Hamilton's assessment rate is about one per cent this year, said Joe Rinaldo, corporate services general manager. Most of the growth is in suburban areas, with growth almost stagnant in the old city at about 0.6 per cent, he said.

Flamborough councillor Margaret McCarthy said the city desperately needs to jump start its assessment base to take the tax pressure off the backs of homeowners.

"The one ingredient that is missing is our ability to generate revenue," she said.

Mr. Eisenberger concurred. "This is music to my ears," he said. "It's high time we did this. I really worry we are missing opportunities. I'd like to get started on this tomorrow."

Councillors continue budget deliberations this week and expect to approve the document by the end of the month.