City life is ‘going to look a little bit different’ as Hamilton gradually reopens

“Hamilton Reopens: A Road Map to Our New Reality” is the fitting title of a 58-page report that will be presented to city council on Wednesday.

The document outlines lasting changes to the delivery of municipal services because of COVID-19, including more people working from home, more services offered online and “enhanced health and safety guidelines” within facilities.

The Hamilton Reopens plan divides the return of services into three categories: the early stages, gradual recovery, and “our new reality.”

For the foreseeable future, the report says that will mean wearing masks to ride Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) buses, protective barriers and a limit on numbers of visitors in arenas and recreation centres and floor stickers and arrows to direct the flow of traffic in municipal buildings.

Paul Johnson, head of the city’s emergency operations centre, says releasing the report now gives residents a chance to see “the significant amount of work that it takes to make safe our environments.”

Johnson adds the bottom line is that “there will be different physical layouts of our facilities, there will be different expectations on people when they come, and so life is going to be a little bit different.”

Hamilton’s mayor, meanwhile, gives residents a passing grade for their attention to physical distancing this weekend.

Fred Eisenberger says the heat and sunshine haven’t resulted in a breakdown in virus prevention efforts.

Eisenberger says “so far, so good,” in that he “didn’t see any of the kinds of images that we saw in Toronto or in the United States and on the beaches.”

Re-openings this weekend in Hamilton included skate parks, tennis courts and pickleball courts as long as people stay two metres away from each other.

The city is also back on a regular leaf and yard waste pickup schedule this week.