Eisenberger wants his old job back

Four years ago, Fred Eisenberger was the mayor of Hamilton. And now, he wants his old job back.

In our third profile of leading candidates for the mayor’s chair we’re focusing on Eisenberger’s attempted come-back.

From the waterfront, to filling in the blanks and spaces in the central core, Fred Eisenberger is keenly interested in infrastructure, and how to improve it in Hamilton. According to some, he’s leading the pack right now. But the man who would be mayor once more, in the city of Hamilton, isn’t listening.

When Fred Eisenberger lost his bid for re-election, the shock was visible. This time around, he appears to be leading the race to return to the mayor’s office. So what’s changed over the last four years?: “We’re on a pretty good up-cycle, and we need to push hard to make sure we keep moving in that direction.”

It was a rough landing for Eisenberger in 2010. The bitter stadium debate leading up to the election may have cast him as the perfect scapegoat, for the wrath of fans and voters alike: “Oh look, I don’t know. The stadium issue’s history. You know it’s behind us, it’s done the stadium’s up now, and whatever the hiccups were we’ll get that past us and we’ll move on.”

Although the debate may be over, the lamentable legacy lingers on. Just a few hundred meters from the waterfront site that he championed, Eisenberger can see the empty lots the bulldozers left behind: “I’m going to suggest that we do a waterfront development corporation that really starts talking about how we can put focus on that development opportunity, and then start working with our CN partners and other levels of government to put it together.”

And there is also a bit of unfinished business, from his last stint on council. A Corporate Service Delivery Review — undertaken to show council where the city could save some money. Eisenberger says some of the 34 recommendations were adopted — but many of them were not. He intends to revisit the report: “My commitment is that we’re going to follow through on those very important savings and efficiencies, and make sure we translate that into infrastructure investments.”

But first, Eisenberger has to win. And although it’s been suggested that he is currently leading the mayor’s race, he’s ignoring the hype: “You know what? It was suggested that I was leading last time too, and I didn’t quite cross the finish line.”

During his hiatus from the mayor’s office, Eisenberger served as the CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute — a non-profit organization studying and promoting urban issues.
He says the time spent with that organization allowed him to view a number of issues common to many cities, and a variety of solutions — that are working in other communities. that experience he says, has provided new, and valuable insight into urban living — something he hopes to bring to the mayor’s office, later this year.