Early this morning, fencing went up in front of the Salvation Army Booth Centre, the men’s emergency shelter on York Blvd which is across from Hamilton’s arena entertainment venue (formerly known as Copps Coliseum).
The first email asking me about it arrived in my inbox at 8:51 a.m., and I was asked about it twice during my morning walk to City Hall.
I was covering Council all day, and did not have an opportunity to pursue information.
At the end of the meeting, around 3:00 p.m., others asked both Mayor Andrea Horwath and City Manager Marnie Cluckie about it. They both separately answered they needed to gather more information before being able to respond.
I took the photos included in this blog post shortly after 4:00 p.m.
The City of Hamilton’s data portal states there is a temporary sidewalk occupancy permit (#02956) to permit “scaffolding/hoarding” in front of the Booth Centre. The permit is valid from November 18, 2025 until January 18, 2026 as part of masonry and facade improvement and repair work. [The City of Hamilton data portal includes permits with higher numbers, meaning this permit was filed a few weeks ago]
That’s the information that I have as of 7:00 p.m. tonight.
CHCH aired a news story on this during their 6:00 p.m. newscast, the story is now available online.
Production Details
v. 1.1.0
Published: November 19, 2025
Last updated: November 19, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version
v. 1.1.0 added link to CHCH story. Minor edit to one sentence to improve clarity.