Mayor of Hamilton Jay Bluck, who died on Friday, did not have much time to put his mark on the city since his April election. But in that time, he accomplished a good deal and exceeded expectations.

Despite a reasonably long spell as an Alderman and Common Councillor, Mr. Bluck was a reasonably unknown quantity politically.

In a three-way race, Mr. Bluck won the post by just 21 votes, and narrowly missed being able to claim an absolute majority in an election marked by low turnout and concerns about registration figures.

He won the election because he recognised that crime was at the forefront of many voters? minds. Still, he did not enter office with an overwhelming mandate.

This newspaper said at the time of his election that he would have to move quickly to set a new course for the Corporation, which had lost its way. Mr. Bluck did not have enough time to complete that task, but he was quickly moving in the right direction.

He rightly backed away from the ludicrously over-ambitious plans for the Hamilton waterfront and instead launched review all of the development plans for the city.

He also moved quickly to ensure that the voters register was brought up to date after a period of neglect. This is important because the Corporation is based on a property tax franchise, and it must show it is at least representative of that class of voters if it is to have any kind of legitimacy.

Having won the election on a crime-fighting platform, Mr. Bluck rightly saved most of his thunder fire for this issue. And there were signs he was winning the fight, in spite of a number of public disappointments.

Officially, he was rebuffed by the Police on the question of increasing the number of officers walking the beat on the streets of Hamilton. But the reality is that the Police presence has been increased in Hamilton.

Nor could Mr. Bluck take credit for the installation of CCTV cameras ? finally ? on Court Street. But there is good reason to think that his drumbeat on crime hastened it.

Similarly, Government?s move to bringing the Service up to establishment cannot be credited to Mr. Bluck. Certainly the wave of shootings has been the main driver. But his voice, among others, will have increased the Government?s sense of urgency.

To be sure, crime in Hamilton has not gone away, and there have been serious incidents in just the last few weeks. But Mr. Bluck?s energetic approach to the issue, and his willingness to go to the public with his concerns, meant that attention was being drawn to the problem when before it seemed to be ignored.

Crime fighting is not simply a question of stopping people from being robbed or harassed. It is a quality of life issues that determines whether living, working and visiting a particular place is either a pleasure or a distasteful chore.

In the past decade or so, Hamilton has become dirtier, more congested and slightly more dangerous.

Mr. Bluck was tackling many of these problems, and worrying less about pipe dreams like the waterfront or the Par la Ville hotel, and it was making a difference. In a surprisingly short time he has left big shoes for his successor to fill.