Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Just when you didn’t think it was possible for Councillors to be more tone deaf, they prove us wrong.

I’m talking about the recent recommendation by Councillors at a Governance Review Subcommittee to spend $5000 for service rings for themselves.

Apparently, rings have been given in the past to Councillors who are either retiring or who have died. Now, we’re also adding Councillors who are defeated in an election. Yep, we reward the losers. And by we, I mean all of us. Instead of the other Councillors chipping in to buy a departing colleague a gift, like most people do in the real world, they want us to pay them to say thanks.

On this edition of The Cityist called Lords of the Rings.

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The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

This time, we talk to Paul about a column he called: Harmony’s proud, but sad, story to be unveiled that appeared in the Hamilton Spectator on September 2, 2014.

It’s about the Harmony Apartments at Bay and Barton.

If you haven’t been by the building, it’s worth taking a look if you’re in the area. Located on the west side of Bay Street, one building north of Barton, the building began life as an Italian banquet hall with a very impressive facade and was later converted to apartments after the war.

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The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

After one year, 55 episodes, and tens of thousands of downloads, host Graham Crawford sits down with Executive Producer Alex Zafer—the mastermind behind The Graham Crawford Show. Together, they reflect on the original vision, celebrate what the show has accomplished, and share where it goes from here. Plus, a special shoutout to Dave Beatty, owner of Hamilton’s QED Media, whose support makes the show possible.

Plus, we look back on memorable moments with our regular Civic Panel, former Hamilton Spectator columnist Paul Wilson, and featured guests from our Common Knowledge editions. This is a true behind-the-scenes, "inside baseball" episode dedicated to our loyal community of listeners.

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The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

I’m joined by an artist and satirist I’ve admired for years. I admire his wit. His artistry. His ability to boil oceans of issues to their essence and to present what he sees in ways that leave us smiling or even, dare I say, LOL’ing.

His name is Graeme MacKay and he’s the editorial cartoonist for the Hamilton Spectator. I think you’ll really enjoy this interview. I know I did.

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The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

We talk to Paul about a column he called: Storied House Amid Highrises Has a Future Again. It appeared in the Hamilton Spectator on May 17, 2016.

It’s a story about tenacity. In this case, the tenacity of a beautiful house and the tenacity of a dedicated owner.

The house was built in 1860, just 7 years after Central School was built on Hunter. Today, it sits surrounded by highrises. But, it also sits restored. That’s a major accomplishment in an already accomplished heritage neighbourhood. But it wasn’t easy. Listen to the story about an owner with a vision he wasn’t prepared to let go of in his quest to restore this amazing house.

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The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

This edition of the Cityist is called Dithering, Blithering & Slithering. It’s a three word summary of the last City Council meeting about LRT.

We may be relieved and thankful that the LRT Environmental Assessment 2.0 was approved in a 10 to 5 vote by Council. But, there’s more to this than simply getting enough votes to keep LRT moving. That meeting also said a lot about the state of leadership in this City and about how we got to where we find ourselves today.

Please have a listen to a review of the Council meeting and hear about all the dithering, blithering and slithering.

______________________________________________________

The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

We’re calling this edition of the Civic Panel Some Counsel for Council. If you're a regular watcher of Hamilton City Council, you’ll probably agree that Council’s behaviour is questionable at times. And, at other times, downright appalling.

Our panelists each provide some advice to Council based on problems they see happening. And they provide some true insights into why some of these problems exist in the first place.

Destination listening.

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The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

It was telling that Spectator columnist Andrew Dreschel began a recent column by saying, “City Manager Chris Murray’s face may not have been sickly green, but he has rarely looked as crestfallen and crushed.”

Chris Murray was down because an internal audit about how consulting dollars were spent had just been shared with Council. It was a damning report, to say the least. Aside from the shocking dollar numbers, such as overspending on consultants last year by over 100%, it was even more shocking that it was described as a surprise.

This kind of surprise screams poor fiscal management, poor supervision, and perhaps worst of all, poor senior management oversight.

______________________________________________________

The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

We talk to Paul Wilson about a column he called, “Hamilton is the Town Where Time Stands Still” that appeared in the Hamilton Spectator on March 15, 2016.

http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/6390115-paul-wilson-hamilton-is-the-town-where-time-stands-still/

It focuses on some of Hamilton’s public clocks that have stopped working. Clocks at Leon’s furs, Central School and Hendry’s Shoes. While these clocks may only tell the correct time twice a day, they still tell a great story about Hamilton.

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The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

This Cityist is about the most recent LRT meeting at City Hall. A marathon meeting for sure. 12 hours long. But not even nearly 12 hours worth of content. Although, that might be said about many of the meetings that take place at City Hall.

If one person was given a dollar for every 15 minutes of every meeting of Councillors and another person was given a dollar for every good question or every new idea heard from Councillors during those meetings, let’s just say there would be a fiscal imbalance.

I’m talking about this meeting because of what I think it represents about our City. And the state of our democracy. And about what our expectations should be. It ain’t pretty.

______________________________________________________

The Graham Crawford Show, with your host Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

All shows are produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton.

Visit the official Graham Crawford Show website