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

This episode of the Graham Crawford Show is all about Adaptive Reuse - the practice of re-imagining heritage buildings and breathing new life into them. Creating familiar, yet updated streetscapes.

Too many developers see an old building as just old. Past its prime. Better destroyed than developed. But some enlightened developers, like our guest Steve Kulakowsky of Core Urban, look at an old building and see history and opportunity. And every great developer knows he or she can’t do it alone and that one of their most important partners is a good architect - like our guest Rick Lintack of Lintack Architects. And every finished adaptive reuse project needs clients who are prepared to buy or to lease space in a building that has some heritage - like our guest James Lefebvre of FirstOntario Credit Union. Between them, they contribute to a very lively discussion about big changes with familiar faces.

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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.

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

Straight talk about the Councillor from Ward 8 and his so-called "report".

As you probably know, Ward 8 Councillor Terry Whitehead produced a 58 page ‘report’, and I use the term loosely, that was essentially a Googled grab bag of articles and documents related to LRT.

For me, what’s just as troubling as is the report’s content, is the report’s intent. Why would a Councillor choose to spend money from residents creating a report when we have professional staff and consultants who do that very thing for a living? Why did the Councillor choose not to ask staff to do this kind of anti-LRT research if he had misgivings about the validity of the data that was being used by staff, by Metrolinx, and by municipalities and higher levels of government throughout North America, Europe and most of the rest of the world?

I think we need to question Councillor Whitehead’s actions. Or, for that matter, any Councillor who would choose to do something similar.

In this edition of the Cityist, I list 10 things to question.

Click below and listen to the podcast.

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Graham Crawford Show with your host, Graham Crawford

Executive Producer: Alex Zafer

Produced and recorded by Dave Beatty at Q.E.D. Media in downtown Hamilton

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

There are many different types of public engagement in Hamilton. Sometimes, public engagement is part of a legislated requirement related to certain kinds of public projects where residents must be consulted in order for projects to meet provincially legislated requirements. Other kinds of public engagement are driven by a goal to understand what residents would like to see happen. Sometimes that goal is real. Sometimes, it feels more like theatre.

On this edition of The Graham Crawford Show, our regular Civic Panel, Maureen Wilson, Peter Graefe and Ryan McGreal, discuss public engagement. What’s working well. What isn’t. And what we could be doing better.

Link to the IAP2 Spectrum of Participation model as referenced in this episode.

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.iap2.org/resource/resmgr/imported/IAP2%20Spectrum_vertical.pdf

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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.

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

It’s still there. Just beyond the High Level Bridge off York Blvd. A secret garden that was part of the grand plan for Hamilton’s Western Gateway Project from the 1920’s. It’s a fascinating story shared by our regular guest, Paul Wilson.

If you haven’t seen it, chances are you’ll want to after listening to this engaging interview with one of the Spectator’s favourite columnists. Be sure to check out the historical photographs via this link that were part of Paul’s column from May 9, 2016.

http://www.thespec.com/living-story/6545580-paul-wilson-secret-garden-slumbers-at-city-s-front-door/

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.

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

We invited the 4 Councillors whose Wards the new B-Line LRT will run through to sit down to discuss why they supported LRT, which they all do. Each of them was quick to accept our invitation.

This edition of The Graham Crawford Show features Councillors Aidan Johnson, Jason Farr, Matthew Green and Sam Merulla in what can only be described as a lively discussion about all things LRT. Their comments and insights are most definitely worth a listen. Hope you enjoy the show.

Hamilton Light Rail Transit Committee for July 2016 [Live Video] Thanks to Joey Coleman and The Public Record

Click to Hamilton Light Rail Initiative for more about LRT

Click to the City of Hamilton website for more about LRT

Click here for a list of City of Hamilton Councillors Contact Information

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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.

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

If you think Cultural Planning is all about museums and art and concerts and theatre, please listen to this interview with Jeremy Freiburger of CoBALT Connects on this edition of The Graham Crawford Show.

Jeremy shares his expertise about the full meaning of culture in our community and how it impacts how we experience our neighbourhoods and our city. Whether you’re raising a child, or aging successfully, this is a discussion you won’t want to miss.

Click to visit CoBALT Connects

Click to visit Expressing Vibrancy

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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.

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

Welcome to The Graham Crawford Show.

This edition of the Cityist is called Lunch Bag Letdown.

It’s a show about expectations not being met.

About the disconnect between promise and reality.

About feeling disappointed.

“Lunch-bag letdown” is a term that refers to bringing lunch to school, or to work, that was made for you by someone else, perhaps a parent or a spouse, and to looking forward to opening up your lunch bag only to find something something less than what you expected. Lunch-bag letdown.

Too often our City let’s us down. Too often they hype average as great. Problem is, we can tell the difference.

Have a listen....

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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 studios in downtown Hamilton.

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

This episode of our ongoing Civic Panel series on the Graham Crawford Show we cover three separate, but linked, topics about Hamilton’s politicians, our Ward boundaries, and how we see our future as a City. Think of them as strategic underpinnings of a healthy and vibrant Hamilton. Perhaps even a city that is the “best place to raise a child and to age successfully”.

Listen as our regular panelists Maureen Wilson and Peter Graefe respond to three questions:

1. Why is Hamilton seemingly so politically balkanized and what impact is it having on our city?

2. Electoral Reform/Ward boundary review - what issues might they help us address?

3. What’s working well for us a City at the moment and why? Are we dreaming big enough?

All part of the smart, progressive talk we bring to you each week on The Graham Crawford Show.

Let’s keep talking Hamilton.

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 studios in downtown Hamilton.

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

This time on the Paul Wilson Edition of the Graham Crawford Show, we’re going into the Paul Wilson archives, although to the very recent archives.

We talk with Paul about a column he wrote that appeared in the Hamilton Spectator on October 27, 2015 called "A 10 Stop Trip Back in Time".

The column is centred around a Hamilton Spectator archival photograph taken in 1970 of a section of downtown Hamilton taken from the vantage point of the pedestrian bridge at the rear of City Hall looking north east toward Main and James.

Be sure to have a look at the photograph before and/or while you listen to the show. It’s a great slice of Hamilton’s past and our discussion mines the photograph for memories and stories about Hamilton’s downtown.

Let’s keep talking Hamilton.

A wealth of history in this 1970 photograph

This picture was taken in the spring of 1970 to show the excavation underway for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame next to City Hall. But there's lots more to look at in this snapshot of downtown past.

Click here to the original Spectator column by Paul Wilson for more photos

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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 studios in downtown Hamilton.

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

If you’re looking for direct, hard-hitting and powerful insights from experts about affordable housing in Hamilton, this is a Graham Crawford Show you simply must not miss.

Our three expert panelists share information and insights about what we’re doing well, what we could do better, and where we need to go in the future.

As challenging as providing affordable housing is, there is room for hope. And our guests provide it. One of the most thought-provoking shows we’ve done so far. Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks to our special guests:

Renee Wetselaar, Senior Planner, Social Planning and Research Council

Graham Cubitt, Director of Projects and Development, Indwell

Laura Cattari, Vice President, Canada Without Poverty & Campaign Coordinator, Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction

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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 studios in downtown Hamilton.