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MARK-ALAN WHITTLE
Embrace change … make it work CONTACT MARK
DON'T PORTRAY HAMILTON AS 'BLACK SHEEP'
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Hamilton Spectator
As a hard-working taxpayer and life-long resident of Hamilton, I take exception to the wider communities' assertion that we are a smelly, dirty degenerating city.
Portraying us as "black sheep" to be avoided like the plague, adds insult to injury and gives me pause to question their motives. After all, each and every municipality, town and village within the boundaries of Hamilton-Wentworth is a creature of the province. As such, we are at the pleasure of the minister and his appointed amalgamation guru David O'Brien and their will to create change and make it work to our benefit. Further, the people are invited in on the decision-making process, strong evidence that we are empowered to shape our own future. How fitting and just that we will be given the opportunity to achieve what our 58 elected politicians were unable or unwilling to do on their own.
I am proud of the fact that we have been given another chance to embrace change and work together to a common cause.
What better way to celebrate our new beginning than with a grand celebration called Amalgamation Day 2000? This municipal holiday would be dedicated to reaching out to our neighbors and getting to know their unique lives and communities. Sharing each other's experiences would broaden our horizons and give us a better view of the big picture being drawn for us by the provincial government. We need first-hand experience to feel comfortable as one community without erasing our unique pasts in our rush to create our new future. The notion that "there should always be a Tapleytown," put forth by Harry Fleming, applies equally to all our communities, including Hamilton. By working together in a common cause, we can create a more economical government that will ensure future prosperity and a better quality of life through lower taxes and efficient unified services.
In a nutshell, what could be better than that?
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