Every time when i go to downtown hamilton, it gives me a uncomfortable feeling, like homeless people begging for money or low-class people talk shit to you etc, especially during the night. I was wondering is it because hamilton has relatively high poverty rate or something?

Oh dear.

Hamilton is a city that has been hit tremendously hard in the last twenty or so years due to a variety of factors (the value of the Canadian dollar and free trade to name two big ones) that caused most industrial plants in the north end to close their doors. This poverty was concentrated on the lower city, particularly the north end, and it dried up a lot of the options for people who didn't have an education to earn a decent living doing honest work. This caused a huge decrease in the standard of living for a lot of families all over the city, but especially in the lower city. It also pushed rents down in the lower city. People actually come here to collect Ontario Works.

The point is, yes, there is poverty in this city. It is not glamorous. The life expectancy down on Barton North is around 65 years... that's tied with Nepal and worse than India and Mongolia. Just above Pakistan. Living there is not easy for those "low class people" and some people don't have any option other than to beg.

Nobody in the downtown core is likely to harm you. It is a very well-patrolled area and if you don't invite trouble, you are unlikely to find it. As a female, I have never felt unsafe in the core walking alone at night or waiting for buses. There are drugs in this city, but that's true for anywhere. The difference is in what's kept behind closed doors. There are meth-heads downtown, sure. What about the oxy addicts in Ancaster? You probably sit next to them on the bus too... they just hide it better.

How dare those filthy plebs harass a veritable gift from god such as yourself?
Who would have thought that high taxes and socialist policies didn't facilitate a high rate of economic growth...

uh...drugs, too many crackers in hamilton

You definitely to take extra precaution when travelling across downtown Hamilton. Make sure you secure your wallet and have a tight grip on your cellular phone.

As Kudos has laid out, Hamilton unemployment rate is one of the lowest and people actually move here to collect benefits. People that are in poverty are uneducated and have nothing to live for, that is why crime is so high. In fact, last year TheSpec did a overview and ranked Hamilton second to Thunder Bay for violence crimes. On top of that, Hamilton has the second lowest solved rate for these crimes.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/22...st-in-ontario/

Hell just two weeks ago a man stabbed a pregnant woman near Jackson Square.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/44...regnant-woman/

In the same week, there was a mugging a bit east.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/44...st-end-attack/

The list just go on if you pay attention to the local news of Hamilton. Basically rule of thumb is this, downtown is sketchy. Be careful. Going a bit east of downtown is suicidal. You really shouldn't need to go in that direction unless you are picking up illicit goods.

http://www.thespec.com/hamilton-news/local/

Just read that daily and map out all the crimes TheSpec report. All in the downtown/east area.

None of that pertains to the core. The stabbing of the pregnant woman was nowhere near Jackson Square, it was at Main and Sanford which is quite a ways east (and it appeared to be domestic in nature, since it happened in an apartment building). The mugging happened at Barton and Gage, not exactly nearby either.

It is not suicidal to venture into the east end, and it's irresponsible to perpetuate these stereotypes. Use common sense and you won't run into problems. Most assaults and homicides in this city are specific in nature... either domestic or drug related. I only know one person who was randomly jumped/mugged in the entire city of Hamilton and that happened in Ancaster.

Its definitely not quite away like you describe, its basically the distance from one end of our campus to another. What you are doing is putting students at risk by downplaying the danger nature of Hamilton, especially around the downtown area.

That stuff happens around campus too - as one example, there used to be a guy on a bike on the rail trail near Fortinos who was armed (I can't remember if he had a knife or a gun, but it was one of the two) and he would mug people. There have also been several instances of sexual assaults over the years in the general area of campus. Your chances of being randomly attacked are probably about equal whether you're around campus or downtown. As was already mentioned, most of the incidents downtown and in the East end aren't random.

I think people simply tend to feel safer in areas they're more familiar with. As students, the majority of us are much more familiar with the area around the Mac campus than we are with downtown and the East end, so of course you're going to feel less safe in those areas. Heck, I feel less safe there than "sketchy" areas of downtown Toronto, just because I'm much more familiar with the downtown Toronto area. Realistically though, I don't think Toronto is actually any safer. It's just my perception.

I take issue with some of the replies stating that "no one is likely to harm you" or that such a thing would only occur if you invite trouble. I grew up in Hamilton, on the mountain but have seen a fair share of downtown Hamilton (in its many diverse areas) over the years in passing. Here's what you should know:
1) Strangers in the downtown core, the north end, as well as the east end are dangerous. It is DIRECTLY because these are poorer areas in general. When someone tells you that "those areas are well-patrolled", you should wonder why. Ladies are particularly at risk. It isn't the creepy old guy winking at you while you run into LCBO to get a mickey, and it isn't the small fraction of the disabled community that run over your toe with their scooters that you should be scared of, its the ones who appear completely normal, the ones who travel in groups, and the ones you can't see.
2) You feel safer in areas just beneath the escarpment i.e. Locke street and in Westdale as you head toward Dundas. Westdale is generally less poor, with a high concentration of McMaster students, and also young families/the elderly. But shit happens. Don't find yourself alone anywhere at night.

I'm not saying carry a knife, I'm saying use your judgment and don't listen to ANYONE who says that these areas are "safe".

I want to problematize the notions of 'safe' and poverty here. Everyplace is 'safe' until it isn't for people (and this includes ALL places) and it has nothing to do with class levels. By demonizing places and people living with poverty we only create classist ideology that is violent in its own way. Stop being classist. Just because people earn less does not make them more prone to violence.

Let's also complicate the notions of 'don't walk alone at night' that we consistently tell (specifically to women and non gender conforming folks). We need to start conversations about the perpetrators of violence - it is not monsters being violent, but people. So instead of telling people to not walk alone but instead tell people to stop attacking people. And on that note, people are more likely (4 times more likely) to be attacked by people they know - not strangers. Now, stranger-based violence does happen but not as common as violence perpetrated by people known to the victim.

I grew up in one of the world's most dangerous and violent cities (last time I checked it made it to #1), so I am finding this thread HIGHLY amusing.

Originally Posted by salvoem

1) Strangers in the downtown core, the north end, as well as the east end are dangerous. It is DIRECTLY because these are poorer areas in general. When someone tells you that "those areas are well-patrolled", you should wonder why. Ladies are particularly at risk. It isn't the creepy old guy winking at you while you run into LCBO to get a mickey, and it isn't the small fraction of the disabled community that run over your toe with their scooters that you should be scared of, its the ones who appear completely normal, the ones who travel in groups, and the ones you can't see.
2) You feel safer in areas just beneath the escarpment i.e. Locke street and in Westdale as you head toward Dundas. Westdale is generally less poor, with a high concentration of McMaster students, and also young families/the elderly. But shit happens. Don't find yourself alone anywhere at night.

I'm not saying carry a knife, I'm saying use your judgment and don't listen to ANYONE who says that these areas are "safe".

I'm sorry, but so much of this is so reactionary it's ridiculous. I grew up in Hamilton too, so I don't really see how your point of view is any more valid than mine. I know there are problems in this city because some of them have hit VERY close to home, but believing that every stranger is out to get you because there's a lot of poverty/drugs in an area is incredibly closed-minded and classist. Shit does happen, and it's important to be aware of your surroundings but the VAST majority of crime in this city is not random. Discouraging people from leaving the Mac bubble just leads to another cohort of students who are unengaged and out of touch with the city they live in.

As someone who grew up in Hamilton too, I agree wholeheartedly with Kudos. It's enough to hear people from outside the city talk trash about it, there's no need for hamilton-grown residents to perpetuate the fearmongering.

nevertheless, it's still safer than anywhere in MURICA