Our Future Downtown: Hamilton’s 10-Year Downtown Revitalization Strategy

Improving the sense of safety in the core could attract more people. At night can feel dangerous and that's not food for small businesses. Also using empty buildings for small businesses as well as housing could improve the sense of community. Parks with more trees and shade for picnics likenthose in Toronto would be fantastic

For a short window, it really did feel like perhaps things were on the upswing for the downtown core but the last few years have really done a lot of damage. I know a lot of attention is paid to the streetscape, which is incredibly important but I feel like Jackson Square is one big problem sitting in the centre of everything. I know malls are a dying concept in the modern age but Jackson Square is beyond depressing. Vacancies galore have created a downward spiral that feels like its in freefall. The mall doesn't have proper signage, many chunks of it are poorly lit, it is incredibly disorienting to be in as there are few times you can even see the outside world, the roof is completely underutilized and could be a beautiful rooftop park/event space. I imagine the city doesn't have much control due to it being owned by a private company but force them to fix this eyesore already as it's ruining a huge chunk of your urban core. You're letting this massive mall rot away at the heart of the city. It could be a well lit, well connected mall with actual signage/wayfinding and a suite of businesses that operate at reasonable hours instead of closing everything at 5pm but instead you've let this continue to fester.

The neglect of buildings and demolition by neglect needs to be addressed.

Would like to see more done to preserve heritage buildings and unique architecture in Hamilton - more developments that include adaptive reuse

The downtown has a lot of unrealized potential - however, it is incredibly hostile with the open drug use, undesirable behaviours, and derelict buildings. In addition, it is presently not a walkable destination when stores/restaurants/bars are scattered along a very long stretch with many desolate buildings in between, which creates a very depressing environment and atmosphere of neglect. In order to feel lively, there needs to be more clustering of businesses and thought given to the "experience" of downtown. It needs to attract people to that area by investing in the arts, in business, and creating a safe and welcoming environment. As another poster has said, it cannot be a dumping ground for society's issues. When the only people walking around are precariously housed, it does not feel like an enjoyable place to spend time walking and people will inevitably drive elsewhere for experiences. Clustering businesses is the best way to encourage people to come downtown and walk from one place to another, while also simultaneously creating an atmosphere of scrutiny that should discourage some of the antisocial and undesirable behaviour seen. This should also extend to Barton street, which has many many new restaurants opening up near Emerald but there are still large stretches of the street closer to downtown/the general which are desolate and these are the pockets where these individuals cluster, and this prevents continuity from downtown to other areas. No one will walk if they don't feel safe. There needs to be sprawl and there needs to be some gentrification, desperately.

Look at Montreal's downtown and take some ideas. They have a mountain and a city with a port waterfront.

I moved to Hamilton and lived downtown for over a decade. I do like the downtown core, and I have always thought it has great potential. In the earlier years of the 20-teens, the downtown core seemed to be turning around. New businesses were opening, art crawl was growing and it felt like things were on the upswing. Then the pandemic happened. And since then it feels like the core has been slipping back into a state of disrepair. There feels like an ever growing number of destitute people hanging around Jackson Square and Gore Park, some obviously in a mentally unwell state. I have seen people openly shooting drugs in broad daylight on the corner of Hess street. Debris is left lying around on York Blvd, leftover from tents and other makeshift dwellings.

I know these are all symptoms of a much larger problem, and efforts are made to resolve the issues. But - it does feel like a losing battle, and that the powers that be have given up on helping the downtown core to shine. It feels like the core has become a containment zone for these societal issues that more wealthy parts of the city don't want to deal with. And it is really unfair to the people of the downtown core, who do try to make it a decent place to live and work.

I think the city needs to decide that it wants for downtown, especially the downtown core. You can't envision it be a safe, family-friendly, tourist/shopper/worker's paradise, AND use it as the dumping ground for things deemed undesirable in other Hamilton neighbourhoods. It is inevitable that a city core has challenges, and it is unrealistic to expect any city to totally eradicate it's issues. However, willpower & effort needs to be applied to lessen these barriers, if there is real intent on helping the core shine as a residential, commercial and societal success.

York Blvd East of Bay Street needs to be cleaned up. Too often it is filled with people openly using drugs, garbage and people slumped over outside the Salvation Army Shelter and beyond. This effectively disconnnects what should be two lively portions of the downtown core. The large abandoned school at Bay & York also needs to be sold or converted into something useful; at present it is an eyesore and creates similar issues with garbage, open drug use, etc.