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Comment by 52-6F-62 | Hacker News Reader

Densification is absolutely not unpopular with municipal voters!

My current city, Hamilton, is currently fighting with the Ontario government over this matter. The mayor is a regular feature on the local news and speaks to that often.

Their major push is for more density and resources for urban development. The provincial government has pushed for developing in Ontario's green belt and watershed instead. They've faced massive backlash over that to the point where they had to capitulate in some cases.

The current provincial government is the one pushing for downtown to be filled with parking lots and low-density housing developed outward. They're also responsible for nixing various transit and green power initiatives in favour of highway expansion. It's infuriating.

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Everywhere is different. Hamilton may be in favour of densification - I wouldn’t know - but even in Toronto, where I’m from, there’s endless pushback against densifying the single family homes that dominate much of the city. Right now I live in Victoria, and although many people and groups (including the mayor and the province) are pro-development, there’s a loud contingent of busybodies here who oppose literally any change or construction project whatsoever.

That doesn't only exist in Victoria and that busy-body group isn't only about building and housing. They are active against many things. I live in California and they complain about people walking down the street, water restrictions, lifting water restrictions, cleaning your driveway with water, not being able to use water, it goes on and on.

It does touch on building, but it's mostly about, "NOT IN MY BACKYARD!"

There’s a certain street in SF across from a shopping mall where there are fatal accidents involving pedestrians every year. Consequently, the city planned on building a crosswalk. Well, the NIMBYS blocked it because it would ruin their view.

Fellow Hamiltonian here...

Council wasn't for intensification until they got the results of the poll back (and even then, the likes of Ferguson continue to be aghast at the idea of not being in the pockets of suburban developers).

We can see that with the kneejerk response to Bill 109, and the fact that only one Secondary Housing Unit has been approved by the city so far, the rest denied for what seem like vague reasons that won't hold up at OLT.

Man, that gets hard to swallow. Especially seeing old photos of Hamilton. I grew up nearby and for as long as I've been alive it's been large swathes of parking lots. There's still so much promise, but old downtown looked so much more alive before the sprawl took over.

Another displaced Hamiltonian here.

Back in the 90s they had a plan called "Vision 2020" that painted a dense, people-friendly Hamilton.

Now that 2020 has come and gone, the sprawl is crazy, downtown dead, transit gutted, and commuting by bike a near impossibility unless you're in the west end.

Some fun Hamilton transit facts: 1. There's an abandoned subway station underneath downtown. 2. There used to be a Funicular going up and down the escarpment. 3. When I was a kid many of the buses were electric, with overhead lines criss-crossing the streets like other cities have for trams.

I gave you an upvote for local info. But here in Toronto, we elected Rob Ford who canceled every transit project in flight, and anyone who wants to tear down a rotting house to put up a four-flex faces a 10 year fight.

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