The phrase “death by delay” has returned to Hamilton’s light rail transit debate.
Ward 7 Coun. Donna Skelly has withdrawn a motion that would have attempted to split next Wednesday’s LRT meeting in multiple parts over several weeks, after being accused of trying to derail the process.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger takes issue that “some of the very folks that have been trying to undo LRT,” are now “trying to manage the process in terms of how we get there.”
Ward 1 Coun. Aidan Johnson adds that he fears that the motion would hasten “death by delay,” telling colleagues, “Tick tock, let’s really get on with this.”
Skelly insists there was no “nefarious” intent, saying she was simply trying to “manage what has become a very unmanageable situation.”
General Manager of Planning and Economic Development Jason Thorne acknowledges that pushing approval of the project’s updated environmental assessment into May, “would be a concern” in terms of the overall timeline.
Approximately 30 members of the public are already registered to speak to council next Wednesday, with requests expected to continue pouring into the city clerk’s office through the weekend.
That level of interest is raising concerns that the meeting will be even longer than the last LRT-specific general issues committee meeting at which councillors heard from 36 delegates.
It’s a session that dragged on for almost 14 hours before councillors tabled the project’s updated environmental assessment until April 19.
There was some support for Skelly’s attempt to divide next week’s meeting over multiple days.
Glanbrook Coun. Brenda Johnson says she can remember driving home on a cold night after the recent marathon: “My windows were down,” and “I had showtunes blaring so I could stay awake to get home to Winona.”