RESTORE COOTES

Rezoning request denied TheSpec.com - Local - Rezoning request denied Owner says he's not giving up on Dundas storage plan Jackson Hayes , The Hamilton Spectator , (Feb 18, 2009) Doug Hammond's plans to build a self- storage facility in Dundas hit another speed bump yesterday as his rezoning application was denied by the economic development and planning committee. And though he anticipates another rejection when city council votes on the committee recommendation next week, he says the fight could be far from over. "This is going to fall on the taxpayer," Hammond said after the committee's unanimous vote. "The city is going to have to hire a planner ... but that...

Authority, city should swap land: Councillor TheSpec.com - BreakingNews - Authority, city should swap land: Councillor Eric McGuinness (Hamilton Spectator) Hamilton Mountain Councillor Tom Jackson suggests swapping city land for a vacant Dundas site that conservationists say is key to a potential urban eco-park that expands the Cootes Paradise nature sanctuary. He and five other directors of the Hamilton Conservation Authority voted unanimously Thursday night to oppose rezoning two hectares at King Street East and Olympic Drive for a self-storage warehouse. Their position now goes to city council’s economic development and planning committee, which will consider the rezoning application Feb. 17. The directors’ action supports a unanimous recommendation by c...

The Hamilton Naturalist Club is presenting a lecture by Stephen Bede Scharper, Monday, February 9, 2009, at the Royal Botanical Gardens, starting at 7:30pm . I include this short piece here, because it gives a taste of Scharper, but also because we need to re-examine our car habits, especially the way servicing cars destroy nature, as in Cootes Drive/Cootes Paradise. On Sacrifice, Spirituality and Silver Linings - Stephen Bede Scharper Reproduced from the Toronto Star Did you ever think of giving up your car? When I posed this question to my wife two years ago, she rolled her eyes and the bubbles above her head flashed the words “Ridiculous!” “Impossible!” “Recycling and composting are fine, Dear,” I heard her thoughts missile toward me, “but this is going way too far.” I felt like Galileo proposing a heliocentric universe to Pope Urban VIII. Suddenly, I was questioning a sacred tradition. After all, this was the way the world had been since the ancient Greeks. Wasn’t it Heraclitus w...