MW Site

• Cybersecurity Incident Update
• Resumption of Property Taxes Pre-Authorized Payment Plans
• Upcoming Ward 1 Community Meetings
• In case you missed it
  • People Over Parking
  • City of Hamilton 2024 Budget
• Strathcona & Kirkendall Neighbourhoods Complete Safe Streets Study
• Kirkendall Neighbourhood Association Annual General Meeting
• Citizen Recruitment to the New Public Health Sub-Committee
• Earth Day - Spring into Action for the Climate
• Don't Toss Those Eclipse Glasses!
• 2024/2025 Recycling and Waste Information Guide
• Stories of Migration and Belonging Digital Exhibit
• Hamilton Water Protective Plumbing Program
• Lights Out
• Festivals and Events Ontario Municipality of the Year
• Practice Proper Petiquette
• Events

Cybersecurity Incident Update

Resumption of Property Taxes Pre-Authorized Payment (PAP) Plans

As a result of the cybersecurity incident, pre-authorized payment (PAP) withdrawals for taxes were put on hold temporarily to ensure the security of financial information and the accuracy of billing. The city is now able to resume pre-authorized withdrawals for the majority of taxpayers enrolled in PAP plans. However, some revisions have had to be made to scheduled withdrawal dates to minimize financial impacts to affected property owners and provide time for property owners to adjust and plan for the upcoming withdrawals.

Automatic withdrawals for most taxpayers will resume on April 15, with one group starting on April 30. They will be conducted at intervals on the first and 15th of each month until the regular schedule restarts in June. The revised schedules for payments are available on the City website.

The city continues to respond to the ongoing cybersecurity attack, prioritizing recovery efforts and rebuilding IT systems. While a timeline for recovery is not yet known, the City is committed to resolving the situation as quickly and effectively as possible.

Current service level updates: including information on the Child Care Fee Subsidy office, marriage licenses and weddings at City Hall, Recreation spring programming, summer student recruitment and other information 

The City will continue to provide updates about the cybersecurity incident response as new information becomes available. For the latest information, a full list of service disruptions, and answers to frequently asked questions, please visit hamilton.ca/cyberincident. 

During January's online Ward 1 meeting, Maureen announced that she would move to in-person meetings around the ward.  

These meetings are designed for residents to hear the latest information on neighbourhood and city-wide initiatives and an opportunity to ask questions of the councillor and meet your neighbours.

All residents are welcome regardless of location. Pre-registration is appreciated.  

• Westdale, April 30, 7:00 PM. Register Location: Churchill Clubhouse, 167 Cline Ave N 
  
  
• Strathcona, June 12, 7:00 PM. Register Location:  Victoria Park Field House, 500 King St W -
  
  
• Ainslie Wood, Fall 2024. Location: Alexander Park Field House, 201 Whitney Ave - Fall 2024
  
  
• Kirkendall, Late Fall 2024. Location: Kanétskare Recreation Centre, 251 Duke St

Previous Ward 1 Meeting Recordings

There are a few dozen videos located on Maureen's YouTube page. The most recent include a Q&A with the councillor, planning for major transit station areas and the Strathcona and Kirkendall Complete Safe Street Study kick-off. 

Strathcona & Kirkendall Neighbourhoods Complete Safe Streets Study

The Ward 1 Office has initiated a crucial review of designated neighbourhoods, focusing on implementing Traffic Calming Initiatives at problematic locations. This comprehensive assessment aims to establish guidelines for safety enhancements, considering various factors such as road width, classification, surrounding land use, proximity to schools/playgrounds, access roads from arterials, on-street parking, and other pertinent considerations.

Public Information Centres were held in December. However, the Engage Hamilton/Complete Streets Safety Report website still has the online mapping tool open for comments, along with more information about the project and a presentation video for those unable to attend the Centres.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

People over Parking

You may have read or heard that half of Hamilton's City Councillors were blocking the City's efforts to allow for affordable housing on city-owned parking lots in downtown Stoney Creek, requiring the Mayor to use Strong Mayor Powers to resolve the impasse. These lots offer free parking, have been declared surplus for many years, and have been zoned for multi-residential use for 30 years.

To borrow from Edmund Burke, elected representatives, more than anything else, owe the public their judgement and not just their obedience to public opinion.  Citizens’ trust in government is frustrated when actions don’t match words.  

Any decision on housing affects everyone across the City.  Hamilton City Council unanimously declared a housing crisis in April 2023, followed by unanimous support for an action plan to bring focus and urgency to this crisis.  All of Council committed to action, not just words.  Read Maureen's full essay. 

City of Hamilton 2024 Budget

Hamilton City Council passed its 2024 operating budget on February 15 with a tax increase of 1.64% for essential city services and 1.6% for housing/homelessness services.

An additional tax impact of 2.55% comes from the Government of Ontario's shift of infrastructure costs from land use developers to existing local property taxpayers. Premier Ford has promised to "make municipalities whole" and permanently alleviate the impact of this provincial policy decision, but this has yet to occur. 

The local and provincial impacts meant an increase of 5.79% overall.

The budget leverages the City's strong financial position to manage affordability while responding to the rapid legislative changes and insufficient funding to pay for the impacts of Provincial policy.

Read the full Budget recap.

Kirkendall Neighbourhood Association Annual General Meeting

Tuesday, April 23 at 7:00 PM. Location: Conference Room 1 @The Atrium of McMaster Innovation Park, 175 Longwood Rd S

Guest Speaker: Paul Scholl, Horticultural Greenhouse Supervisor, City of Hamilton

“Our Changing Garden – Flowers and Vegetables that Work Best in our Changing Climate”.

Paul will share information with us about new gardening trends and changes the City of Hamilton Horticulture department has been making.

In addition to our guest speaker, we’ll also hear from Councillor Maureen Wilson and Crime Manager A/Sgt. Kevin Jones with Ward 1 updates, plus we’ll hear about some of the activities the KNA has been hosting over the past year and in the next few months. The KNA AGM is also a time to elect the Executive and Member-at-Large positions, so now is your chance to get involved!

See the KNA's website for the draft minutes and a link for those who cannot attend in person.

Citizen Recruitment to the New Public Health Sub-Committee

Get on board! Get involved in the decisions being made– apply to serve as a citizen member on the Public Health Sub-committee. Recruitment starts April 19 and will be open until May 31 at 4:30 p.m. There are currently six (6) positions open for recruitment. Individuals can learn more and apply by:

• Going online at hamilton.ca/Committees
• Calling 905-546-2424 ext.2604
• Emailing [email protected]

This Earth Day, Spring into Action for the Climate!

Honestly, every day is Earth Day at the City of Hamilton’s Office of Climate Change Initiatives. That’s why the OCCI invites residents to join in going beyond the April 22^nd, Global Day of Recognition, and commit to taking climate action for our Earthly Mother who sustains us daily with the following suggestions:

Educate yourself about the climate change risks, such as extreme heat and flooding, and how to prepare yourself, loved ones, and neighbours for extreme weather events, then pull together your 72-hour emergency “Go” bag.

Abundance is in your hands. Activate your green thumb and plant a vegetable garden. Join a community garden or start growing fruits and vegetables in your yard or on your balcony. Plant a pollinator garden too!

Ride the bus, take public transit. This form of transportation helps cut greenhouse gas emissions significantly, and that’s what we aim to achieve: a zero-carbon community by 2050.

Take a hike! Get into the many natural areas, trails, and green spaces our community is gifted with and reconnect with the natural world. Learn about Hamilton’s incredible diverse species and what the City of Hamilton is doing to protect habitat with its Biodiversity Action Plan.

Hamilton’s got a Climate Action Strategy, and it’s community-oriented! With its two plans –Adaptation (decreasing impacts and preparing for unavoidable impacts of a changing climate) and Mitigation (reduction of greenhouse gases–the cause of climate change)—the Strategy has plenty of ideas for how you can step up your action for the climate.

Do your part to increase our City’s tree canopy. With our Urban Forest Strategy goal of planting 50,000 trees a year, you can do your part by planting a tree with the City of Hamilton’s free tree giveaway. 

Active transportation is healthy for you and helps cut carbon emissions. Start walking or riding your bike more for short and medium-distance travel. Take Bikeshare or use your own, it’s also a great way to get to know your city better.

Youth and young people! Get involved in youth-led climate action through The City of Hamilton’s Youth Strategy.

Check out Greener Ward 1

Let's do our part in Ward 1 to create healthy, biodiverse neighbourhoods for all living things. website

2024/25 Recycling and Waste Information Guide

The 2024/2025 Recycling and Waste Information Guide and trash tags were mailed out beginning Monday, March 4 and continued over the following two weeks. The current pink trash tags expired on March 30.

Canada Post considers the guides bulk mail and does not deliver to mailboxes with 'no flyer' signs. If you have a 'no flyer' sign on your mailbox or have not received your new guide and trash tags for any reason, please call the City at 905-546-CITY and a guide be mailed to you directly.

Yard waste collection resumed Monday, March 4, and will run until December 6 of this year.

Hamilton Water Protective Plumbing Program

With spring approaching, Hamilton Water is highlighting its Protective Plumbing Program. During heavy rainfall, the sewer system can reach capacity and become overloaded. This can lead to overflows into the environment and an increased risk of basement flooding. Installing a backwater valve in the private plumbing of the home allows wastewater to flow in only one direction - to the city sewer. Disconnecting downspouts reduces the overall amount of stormwater in the sewer system, decreasing the chance of an overflow event and potential basement flooding.

Check out the Protective Plumbing Program page to learn more about the grants and loans available to help with the cost of installing a backwater valve, disconnecting downspouts from city sewers, and completing other eligible works that can help to reduce the risks of basement flooding while lowering demand on our sewer systems.

Lights Out

Spring bird migration is just around the corner. Birds are migrating north. You can help them arrive safely this spring by turning off non-essential lighting and/or closing blinds at night in April and May between the hours of 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM. In addition to turning off non-essential lighting at night, you can help birds by keeping your cat(s) indoors and treating your windows with effective bird-window collision deterrent markers. Visit hamilton.ca/birdfriendlycity to learn more.

Festivals and Events Ontario Municipality of the Year

Hamilton was recently honoured with the Municipality of the Year Award (population 150,000 or more) at the Festivals and Events Ontario Awards, which were held in Niagara Falls last month.

The Award is intended for the festivals and events industry to encourage, support, learn from, and recognize provincially positive local environments for festivals and events. The award recognizes municipalities, towns, cities and markets that have worked to provide an atmosphere beneficial to successful festivals and events.

 Additionally, several Hamilton festivals were honoured with Achievements Awards and Top 100 Festivals and Events in Ontario designations for 2024. These include:  Hamilton Day, Supercrawl, Winterfest, the Re-enactment of the Battle of Stoney Creek, Because Beer, and the Dundas Cactus Festival.

Practice Proper Petiquette

Spring is here, and with it comes increased use of our public spaces. Dogs are welcome on walking trails and in parks, but owners are reminded to follow the Responsible Animal Ownership By-Law to ensure the health and safety of others.

Important Rules and Guidance: 

• With the exception of Dog Parks and Free-Running Areas, dogs must be kept on a leash that’s less than 2 m/6 ft long and under control at all times. Dogs on retractable leashes that are not under control are considered to be 'at large', and owners could be subject to fines.
• Please pick up after your dog.
  
  • Pet waste on or off walking trails and in parks is unpleasant and unwelcome. It gets into the water table, and a large percentage of the bacteria found in our urban waterways comes from dog feces.
  • Trees are not places to hang dog waste bags; garbage cans are located in strategic locations to dispose of waste.
• Make sure your dog stays on marked trails.
  
  • Staying on marked trails protects birds and animals that may live or nest on the ground, as well as the native understory plants that are critical to our biodiversity. Never let your dog chase, disturb, or harm wildlife.
    Be considerate of other visitors.
  • Some people are afraid of or allergic to dogs. Even the most well-behaved dog can frighten or injure another visitor. Don’t let your dog approach people or other dogs without their permission.
• Animal-related bylaw complaints can be filed by phone, email, or online at the following link 

Events

• Seniors Morning Connection. Beginning Tuesday, April 9, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Location: All Saints Church301 King St W, on the southeast corner of King St W and Queen St S
  
  All Saints Church host a free, weekly seniors' drop-in featuring coffee and refreshments, games, conversation and companionship, information, and seniors' resources.

• Highland Gardens Park "The Rez" Spring Clean Up: April 20, 9:00 AM—12:00 PM. The starting point is the corner of Hillcrest Ave and Mountain Ave.

Spring is here, and it's time for another park clean-up! Gloves, bags, and a collection bin will be provided. Volunteers will cover Highland Gardens Park, Bruce Trail, Dundurn Stairs, Radial Trail, and Beulah Park. For more information, please contact Mark Sorensen at [email protected].

• Henry Strong Trio,  April 20, 1:00-2:00 PM. Westdale Library, 955 King St W.

Many volunteers are needed both leading up to the Food Drive and on the day, beginning with posters hanging the week of April 15. There are many other volunteer opportunities, such as food bag and lawn sign prep, food bag delivery, and collecting and unloading food on the day. For more information and to sign up to volunteer, please contact [email protected].

• Spring Makers Market, Sunday, May 5, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Churchill Park Clubhouse, 167 Cline Ave N.

Drop in with your friends and family to the Churchill Park Clubhouse Spring Pop-Up Shop! Free admission. Family-friendly. $1 refreshments, fun activities, and a plant and seed swap to explore! Accepting donations for the McMaster Community Fridge. Any questions, please contact [email protected].

Resources

Infrastrucure Updates

Multiple projects are taking place across the Ward. We have tried to encapsulate the information on a single web page. Projects in every neighbourhood include park renewal and water chamber replacement. 

Development in Ward 1

List of large development projects in the ward with appropriate contact information

Signup for the Ward 1 Newsletter email