Carol Priamo

Nominated for the ACO Public Education and Engagement Award for her outstanding leadership of the community led Beasley Heritage Inventory in Hamilton

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Carol Priamo’s heritage volunteer work in Hamilton has had particular focus on her home turf of Beasley, one of the four oldest neighbourhoods in Hamilton’s downtown core. In 2014, the City retained consultants to inventory South Beasley but North Beasley was not done. With Bill 108 threatening the current listing process and surprise demolitions on the rise, the need for Beasley’s buildings to be documented, evaluated and afforded some level of protection was more pressing. Carol focused her attention on completing the heritage inventory of Beasley properties, surveying 22 blocks of North Beasley and identifying candidates for listing. 

The 2020-2022 project was the first community-led volunteer inventory undertaken in Hamilton. Carol, as project creator and lead, proposed the project to the Beasley Neighbourhood Association (BNA), ACO Hamilton and the Ward 2 Councillor. It was enthusiastically supported and councillor-endorsed. She began by assembling a small team of volunteers, produced a volunteer Inventory Training Package and arranged a training session with City staff to educate and prepare the team. She also created PowerPoint presentations for the Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee (HMHC) review. To explain to owners the purpose, benefits and effect of ‘listing’ on their property, 500 specially crafted BNA brochures were distributed door-to-door by a councillor candidate’s team. 

In total, five batches of Beasley properties were completed and sent to the HMHC in March 2022, with Council approving 428 properties to be added to the Municipal Heritage Register in June. The Beasley Heritage Inventory was the first community-led volunteer inventory in Hamilton and paved the way for other communities to undertake their own utilizing this model – Ancaster in 2020 and the Lansdowne Neighbourhood in 2023.

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