Opinion | Oct. 20: Bully developers not people, don’t lump local farmers in with factory farms, Clark’s op-ed an insult and other letters -…

Dont lump us in with factory farms

In response to the article by Jessica Scott-Reid, our local Ontario fall fairs are in fact supported by local farmers, junior farmer clubs and 4-H clubs. I take offence to being put into the huge factory farming industry category. We do in fact live on a six-generation farm, raising goats with the greatest of care, humane treatment, loving them. The animals you see at local fairs come from these types of farms, not factory farms.

Joanne Battersby, Frankies Goats, Smithville

Ministers op-ed was an insult

The op-ed you printed by Housing Minister Steve Clark was both an insult to the people of Hamilton and out of touch with anything resembling reality. Who is this guy to tell our city what we have to do, especially if nobody wants that ridiculous option that he is pushing? He states it would cause growth to be redirected into other areas. Good, we dont need more congestion in Hamilton. Tell Toronto to fill in its harbour and jam as many condos in there as greedily possible. Hes concerned it will drive up housing prices. Thats a joke. The only thing driving these prices through the roof are speculators, developers and real estate barons.

This genius hails from the boonies of eastern Ontario, Brockville to be specific. If he wants to start chewing up rural landscape to appease developers, I suggest he do it out on his own turf in Leeds-Grenville.

Bully the developers, not the people

There is land within the current Hamilton boundary already approved for houses, but the houses havent been built yet. If the Ford government is truly concerned about getting homes for people, then the Ford government needs to bully those developers to build that housing instead of bullying the people of Hamilton to pave over irreplaceable farmland and greenfields. Oh, and while theyre at it, provide housing for those living with homelessness. Thats what an open government For The People would do if the true intent of its disruptive land-use planning tactics was actually to provide homes for people.

Story was fine, headline not so much

In my opinion, the report filed by Teviah Moro on the Nanos survey appears factually correct. However, the headline reads like it was written by the survey sponsors. In summary, the survey revealed 266 respondents prefer expansion, while 224 preferred to freeze the present boundaries. The Nanos survey throws cold water on the survey conducted by the city that showed 90 per cent or 18,636 of respondents want to freeze Hamiltons boundaries.

Nanos appears to be the first in a long line to profit from the real estate industry attempting to buy government policy. I hope at least some read through the entire article and did not stop at the exaggerated headline.

Survey story wasnt newsworthy

After reading the story of the 700-participant boundary expansion survey sponsored by local developers and real estate interests on the front page Oct 14., contradicting the 18,000-participant survey sponsored by city hall by six per cent (or two per cent taking into account the 3.7 per cent margin of error), I have to wonder what motivates The Spec to even make this a story (let alone front page).

Think about rainfall run-off

I read 38 per cent prefer Hamilton boundary expansion. Then I read Early pace would make October the hottest on record for Hamilton which contained the following: Heavy rain on a grassy knoll takes eight hours to seep unto the water table. On a paved road? Eight minutes. With this decreased time, more damage follows, including flooding. Please think about that, councillors.

A letter to Coun. Farr

Greetings Councillor,

The problem with the hardline stance you are taking regarding homeless encampments is you seem to ignore the idea that we have no housing for these people. Where will they go?

I dont live in your ward so I cant affect you by voting, however, the good news is very few people agree with your heavy-handed approach. Most people in this city have empathy and compassion for the situation these people find themselves in.

Nobody likes the encampments, but instead of criminalizing them, do what you are paid to do and find solutions. Just as a hint, giving developers grants which they use to renovict tenants from affordable housing is not going to decrease homelessness.

Hatt Street is one big mess

The person who redesigned Hatt Street in Dundas obviously does not live in Dundas. Its a complete mess from the combination of York Road/Main Street/Hatt Street to John Street.

When one is driving on York Road toward Main/Hatt there used to be a straight lane and a left turn lane. Now, because of this stupid bike lane the lane for vehicles is only one lane. I see numerous traffic jams. Also, these bike lanes take up far too much of the road.

Who in their right mind let vehicles park in the middle of the road? Take parking off of Hatt Street altogether. It is now faster to take King than Hatt. This is obviously a make-work project for someone.

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Opinion | Oct. 20: Bully developers not people, don't lump local farmers in with factory farms, Clark's op-ed an insult and other letters -...