Hamilton meeting on tiny shelter project sparks tensions after cancellation

Описание: Tensions are still high, following a meeting about a tiny shelter project near Bayfront Park. The city ended up cancelling the meeting about half way through, saying there were safety concerns at the venue.

Residents who were at the meeting last night and they say the meeting was disorganized and that there was a lack of communication from the city.

The City of Hamilton promptly cancelled the meeting at around 8 p.m., frustrating many in the hundreds of people who were there.

“I feel very disappointed, because we were here to make a point,” said one resident.

The city says the cancellation was due to “serious health and safety concerns.”

“One of our staff was assaulted early on in the process, and we just felt that it was in the best interest in the health safety for the participants, for HATS staff, and for city staff that we made the decision to call it,” said Grace Mater from the city.

Joanne Patak was at the meeting last night and says most of the people there were peaceful.

“There were maybe four or five sort of like bro-guys who wanted to be loud and that type of thing, but beyond that, we had hundreds of north enders here last night and they were so respectful and kind,” said Patak.

Hamilton police told CHCH News on Tuesday that they are investigating two separate assault occurrences at the meeting Monday night.

The meeting was meant to provide information on a two-year pilot project that will see 21 tiny shelters placed on Strachan Street near the entrance to Bayfront Park. A project many people who live in the area say they were not consulted on.

“We haven’t been getting any response from our counsellor, I speak to a lot of people, they don’t get call backs,” an attendee said.

Lynda Gottlieb was also at the meeting and says she believes the city was unprepared.

“They were not prepared for the turnout, we are not accepting this. This was a tell, not an ask,” said Gottlieb.

The meeting was held in the gymnasium at the Bennetto Community Centre.

At around 7:30 p.m., the gymnasium reached its full capacity, which left a large group of people out trying to get in, but security eventually turned them away and locked the front door.

“How did they not know that we were going to have hundreds of north enders, and that we had hundreds of north enders stuck outside, again, not having their voice heard,” said Patak.

Ward 2 Councillor Cameron Kroetsch was not available for an interview on Tuesday. but tells CHCH News that he did not make it to the meeting because city staff told him it would be unsafe to attend.

“The city expected there to be a considerable turnout which is why we booked a larger space for this meeting than the last one. I recognize that it didn’t meet the capacity needs last night,” said Kroetsch.

Hamilton’s director of housing services division says the city is conducting a full review of what happened at the meeting Monday night.

“What happened at the meeting, what transpired, how do we do that better going forward. We also know that these are difficult conversations, but we want to have difficult conversations, and it is disappointing because there were lots of folks there that truly did come to listen, that wanted to have questions asked and answered,” said Michelle Baird.

Attendees say future meetings should be organized differently in terms of size and approach.

“It can’t be about what they want to tell us, we need to tell them what’s going on with us,” said Patak.

CHCH News reached out to Mayor Andrea Horwath’s office for an interview, but they said she was unavailable and pointed us to a statement released on social media.

The mayor said she is disappointed that the meeting could not proceed, adding that there is a need to discuss hard topics without threats and violence. The city says another meeting has not yet been scheduled.