What you're saying on how Hamilton is changing

For these last two weeks of September, CBC Hamilton is digging into questions about Hamilton's changing identity, and what that means for workers, renters, retirees, commuters, homeowners, students and others who call the city home.

Many of you have shared your thoughts with us through Facebook, Twitter and our [email protected] email address. 

Here are some highlights of what you've shared. Do you have a perspective you don't see here? We'd love to hear from you. 

Maria Antelo: The Mountain needs affordable housing

Hamilton is my home. Hamilton is where I found refuge coming from Bolivia in 1992. Hamilton is where my children were born. Hamilton is the place where I have worked for over 25 years to make it a better place for people like me, a single mom, an immigrant. 

We have a HUGE waiting list for community housing and this list is growing. All the plans, surveys, strategies are B.S.

We need decent affordable housing now, not hipsters who have ruined our housing stock with lattes and tacos. I know this won't stop, but displacement is not the answer.

I live on the Mountain. My neighbourhood is poor, lots of hidden poverty, what I have seen is folks who can't afford downtown are coming to neighbourhoods like mine and sharing a townhome.

Claire Francis: Don't just focus on Toronto

I'm not a Hamiltonian. But I have friends who live there, and I enjoy visiting your city. 

Sometimes it feels like Hamilton's representatives are obsessed with courting Torontonians. However I don't live in the GTA. I wonder if they realize that Canadians who are outside of The Big City could contribute something valuable to the Hammer – given the opportunity.

I'm in Paris, Ontario. Overall I think your city should feel free to make itself known in places that are occasionally overlooked. 

Nick Vassov: Hamilton is a proud industrial town

I was a transplant from not too far Oakville about 14 years ago.

Hamilton is the proud industrial town that tries to show its true colours in the way they live and celebrate the town. They are huge Tiger Cat fans! 

But Hamilton is changing. The steel industry is shrinking tremendously and has been for 30 years.

Maryanne Lemieux: Respect not just for 'ambitious' people

I don't believe Hamiltonians are experiencing an identity crisis. Hamiltonians know who they are and what their home is. It is a place to enjoy life without too much pressure to have a big income. 

Now is the time to continue to be creative, considerate and respectful to our city and include everyone, not just those 'ambitious' people with a vision of expensive shops, restaurants, crowds, high rents and expensive real estate.

Now that money is coming into the city, we can all enjoy those benefits by improving life for everyone including those who are poor. This means new mixed income housing and facilities, rec centres that include pottery clubs, more facilities for mixed age groups young and old, lots of green space. Low-income and medium-income people should continue to live in beautiful areas such as the Bayfront Park area. 

Martin Bate: Hamilton needs a chip on its shoulder

What Hamilton needs for it's identity crisis is a big chip on its shoulder. I am a relatively new Hamiltonian, only ten years, but one of the most irritating things about Hamilton is the way people here allow it to be denigrated by outsiders.

Let me give you an example; I was at a church dinner (yes, a church dinner) and a young woman attending was wearing a shirt that said "She told me to kiss her somewhere dirty, so I took her to Hamilton." IN Hamilton.

And no one said anything. This would not happen in Regina or Winnipeg, or Moncton, places that are similarly maligned by outsiders.

More of your comments, from Facebook and Twitter:

Hamilton is ...

On affordable housing

On changing work

Last week, a father and son, both Stelco workers, sat down with CBC Hamilton to talk about the changing workforce in Hamilton from different generational perspectives.

On commuting

We talked with five people who've moved here in the last few years and who spend hours every day commuting about how they feel about their new lives, their new city and building community.

Your meaningful places

As part of our series, we asked five Hamilton residents to show us places that are meaningful to them in the city. And we've begun to hear from you: Where is your meaningful place?