Sep
02
Students are coming back to town…. here’s some traffic redirection details from the City of Waterloo for the next couple weeks:
“Traffic will be redirected from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 5, Monday, Sept. 6, Saturday, Sept. 11 and Sunday, Sept. 12.
Additional police and bylaw officers will patrol this area on these dates to help keep the traffic moving. As well, signs will be posted along the roads to let people know where to go. ”
Here is a list of the temporary changes:
- No left turns onto Lester Street from University Avenue West
- No left turns onto Lester Street from Columbia Street West
- No left turns onto University Avenue West from Lester Street, and no through traffic
- Lester Street will be one way from Seagram Drive to Columbia Street West
- No left turns onto Spruce Street from Columbia Street West
- Spruce Street will be one way from Hickory Street West to Columbia Street West
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 1 Comment »
Aug
24
You can do that you know? change your mind.
I haven’t been a fan of it in the past, but in my wise old age, I’m coming around to it.
Which is why, I was happy to read this news last night:
The City of Waterloo will be providing a one-time grant to the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery following the organization’s release of its new sustainability plan.
“The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is a cultural cornerstone in our community. Investing in the gallery is an investment in arts and culture in Waterloo,” said David Smith, the city’s general manager of Community, Culture and Recreation Services.
“Not only does this national gallery attract visitors to the uptown, but it’s also increasingly becoming a destination that’s frequented by residents. With its new sustainability plan in hand, the gallery is positioned to continue to provide this service to our community.”
… The gallery had requested $70,000 in funding, but the city opted to provide a one-time grant of $51,150. City staff will continue to work with the gallery to ensure this funding is used to further its new sustainability plan. This plan includes reworking its board structure and governance model, demonstrating financial accountability and improving accessibility for the community.
This is your chance CCGG – You can do great things. You have amazing people on your side wanting to make you a popular, accessible and cool spot. Seize it.
H.
PS. I know this is a hot button for some of you readers – get typing and post a comment.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 6 Comments »
Jul
23
In the wake of the crazy Tannery fiasco, here’s another old factory being converted into something cool:
The Breithaupt Block
Located at King and Breithaupt, it’s aptly named, and the plans look sweet… saying that, maybe i’m a little more jaded on redevelopment than I was a year ago – so let’s see how this pans out before we start saying how great it all is.
Too cynical? I don’t know, i can’t tell anymore.
What do you think of the plans?
H.
PS. couple articles in the Record if you’d like to know more. By Melinda Dalton and an Editorial piece.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 3 Comments »
Jul
06
You can go to this link and donate some money to the cause.
Increments of $5 – $5000 … you get something in return.
AND… they’ll rebuild Mel’s.
And lemme tell you – i’ve been craving some late night french toast pretty much every weekend since that fateful day.
Please oh please, help rebuild Mels.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | No Comments »
06
Someone lit the new bridge on the iron horse trail (between lai lai and queen) on fire last night.
Dear trouble makers,
Go torch some corporate assholes stuff, not this lovely trail that gets used by the community.
Thanks,
H.
photo from The Record
PS. Thanks for posting @DaltonCityHall
Posted in News & Other Half Truths, Random | 1 Comment »
Jun
24
The city of Waterloo is currently looking into a streetscaping project for uptown, along King from Erb to Central.
I gotta say, i don’t have a lot of complaints around this area. Weird, huh? But i did have a couple suggestions ;)
If you’d like to have your say – fill out this survey before July 30th.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=dtlZexa6iFgGvSCIf8LrmOdpjiJ6iGqfQ5u08wLl9cE%3d&
(The “next” button is at the very bottom, you gotta scroll down.)
Apparently the budget is about 1.7M to get the job done, which is pretty pathetic compared to the Millions and Millions spent recently on downtown ktown… but i think we all know what that is… because there’s no place bitchener than kitchener? Or maybe it’s just because it had a lot further to go on being an acceptable place to hang out.
On that note -why is there so much fucking GARBAGE on the sidewalk and street in downtown…
Dear City, clean that shit up.
Dear Citizens, come on you jerks. put your matter of taste cups in the trash, or better yet, bring your OWN MUG.
H.
PS. Thanks for the heads up Graham W !)
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 2 Comments »
24
At the corner of Fredrick and Weber, you’ll notice a pretty huge hole in the ground.
Like, it’s HUGE.
In fact, it’s almost an entire city block. We snapped these pics last night on our way up to test out “The Cold Stone Creamery” inside the Tim Horton’s at Fredrick & Lancaster… which… is a massive rip-off and just plain wrong to see them so blatantly impersonating a small business ice cream shop… but ANYWAYSSSSSSS…..
The hole is going to become the new courthouse… and it’s going to eventually looks like this:
Impressive, huh? 420,000 square feet… ready in 2013.
Full article from the Record is HERE.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 2 Comments »
Jun
01
What is up with these sinkholes lately?
1 in Quebec killed a family last month …
And now this one in Guatemala City.
So scary.
Dear Global Warming Gods, please do not swallow me up.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 4 Comments »
May
11
There’s some drama going on in the Tannery Developments… they’ve been festering for a while now.
James writes a solid review of what’s happening HERE. I recommend you check it out.
And then I recommend you email Mayor Zehr and ask him to exercise his supreme powers of persuasion to fix the situation…
or not even fix, maybe just slow down the process so the enraged public can get all extra enraged about it and cause a stir.
(Forgive the bitterness, I am now on liquids only – and not the tasty kind – until my organ removal on the 18th)
BUT FUCK. Don’t screw up the Tannery people.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 1 Comment »
Apr
22
I’m almost positive you’ve heard that the University Plaza section with Sugar Mountain and Mel’s Diner had a massive fire this morning.
It’s so tragic, I don’t even know what to write.
The blaze looks huge, you can check out photos and some other people’s thoughts by checking out THIS search on Twitter (where Mels is a trending topic in Canada):
http://renjie.posterous.com/developing-story-university-of-waterloo-plaza
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100422/100422_waterloo_fire/20100422/?hub=CP24Home
http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/700674
Roads are closed around the plaza, so stay away.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 1 Comment »
22
Martin and I chat with Kevin Sutton about Poetry in Waterloo Region AND the Living Earth Festival!
Check it out!
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | No Comments »
Apr
01
I’m sure by now, you’ve heard that 2 chicks kissed in Cafe 188whatever and were kicked out by the infamous owner, Sonia Adlys. No Joke.
If you haven’t… you can read the article that ran in the Record today.
First of all – that chick Adlys is whacked. The Article above asks if people are trying to defame her character or whatever, and to that… I say that I have had several personal run-ins with her in her restie… once when i shamefully asked if they had a veggie burger option and was told i should “just get the veggie sandwich, do i SEE a veggie burger on the menu????” I was just asking, sheesh… In most cases, i would be pretty skeptical of how this recent debacle went down – but I personally know one of the kissers involved, and trust her recount of the story as she is a totally great, and honest, young woman. What does kind of sketch me out, is the fact that the facebook group wasn’t started by the two women involved… and i am hoping to ask Jenny about that next week when we chat.
Secondly – i am not even going to go into how ridiculous it is that 2 women would be kicked out of a cafe in Ontario. Saying that, i have a feeling that Adlys would be jonesing to kick out a couple that was of two different ethnic backgrounds, for kissing too… so…. i think you know where i’m going with that…. But i’m also going to say that this Region has some seriously hateful undertones… I just heard from a friend that a few of her students who are from Somalia and male, were recently not picked up by the bus… for no other reason than how they looked. Yep, seriously.
Thirdly – If you want more info on this… or you want to join the facebook group “taking action against homophobia in waterloo region” you can go HERE.
The facebook group reports there will be a kiss-in on Saturday April 10th at 2pm at the Cafe.
There was talk about a boycott – but i don’t think there’s a need to have an organized one personally. You and I are consumers… choose to vote with every dollar you spend AL THE TIME. Interestingly though – a similar situation happened in Ottawa in 2007… and the restaurant shut down shortly after giving an apology to the gay couple that was discriminated against.
H.
PS. Thanks to Mike for giving me the heads up on this.
PPS. Please weigh in if you’ve got a comment…
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 4 Comments »
Mar
25
Hey All – posted up at Ideas Transform:
THE 3rd EPISODE OF THE 100!
We talk about Car Culture and the transit system in Waterloo Region.
Darcy Casselman is our guest and as always, we cover events from last week and events comin up over the next 5 days or so.
Here’s a couple links to things we talk about:
Let us know what you think! We’re looking for feedback and you have an opinion, and ideas… i know you do.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 2 Comments »
Mar
18
For many many years, I’ve been fascinated by the North American correctional system. I don’t know why, but I think a lot of people are. (Hence shows like Oz and Prison Break.)
Anyways, Councilwoman Jane Mitchell recently took a tour of the Grand Valley Institute, the women’s penitentiary in Kitchener.
She has a detailed blog post that i recommend you read… here. She talks about the facility and some federal policy changes… do you know that even if an offender is considered a “grave risk” to the community, but they serve their FULL term, they have no supervision once they are released?
I’m not exactly sure where I stand on criminal punishment. I just don’t know enough about how it all works and growing up in whitebread middle class Canadian suburbia sheltered me from having to learn much about the system. (we watched Precious the other night… i have a completely renewed look at my upbringing.)
The recent reporting about 19-year-old inmate Ashley Smith made me start thinking about the Canadian system a little deeper… how did a girl who threw an apple at a postal worker end up in a place like this? And how was she overlooked and denied help until she took her own life? (read more about this important story here.)
This is a BIG issue. I think we’re better than this failing system… what do you think?
Looking forward to your comments, dear readers.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | No Comments »
Mar
16
Taking top prize for most ridiculous thing I’ve read all day – The Canadian Press Reports:
Rural Ontario MPP thinks Toronto (only the 416 area code) should become it’s own province.
OWEN SOUND — A Progressive Conservative member of the Ontario legislature says he thinks Toronto should become its own province.
The member for Bruce-Grey-Owen-Sound, Bill Murdoch, made the radical proposition at a meeting of the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture.
He said rural Ontario is fighting a losing battle against what he calls “a Toronto mentality.”
Murdoch said Toronto decision-makers ignore rural voices and create policies that hurt agriculture and hamper rural food processors.
He said the government’s lack of action on the coyote problem and red tape for food producers are just some of the hurdles that Toronto-based decisions create for farming and the rural economy.
Murdoch said making Toronto the 11th province is the only way rural Ontario will get a voice.
He noted Toronto’s population, at 2.5 million, tops that of Prince Edward Island at 140,000.
However he wants residents who live in the 905 area code region just outside Toronto to remain part of Ontario.
_________________________________
I PRAY I am taking this too literally.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 1 Comment »
Mar
08
Ok, so I haven’t really heard much out there in the world about this project that the City of Kitchener is working on, called Who Are You Kitchener?
Basically, it looks like
Compass Kitchener (who is a small group of citizens that advise council) is trying to figure out who lives here… the cumulative answer will supposedly shape the future of our city. And, since we’re heading towards a new council in 2011… you get the idea…
The program runs from March 5 to May 5 (study delivered to council in June) and there are many community consultations happening… there’s a schedule HERE.
They divide the population into 6 groups:
- Suburban Stability Seekers
- Community Activators
- Urban Promoters
- Small Town Stalwart
- Small Town Protector
- Fringe Dweller
Which one are you? Do the quick questionnaire HERE to find out.
I’m an urban promoter. hahahaha.
To get more involved check THIS link and work on the online workbook.
I’m doing it – so I’ll keep you posted, but, feel free to let me know how it’s going if you’re also doing it.
Maybe I’m naive to think this is going to count for anything, but hey, who doesn’t like the allure of having their voice heard?
(that’s what i thought)
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 1 Comment »
Mar
03
According to a couple tweets from the Cultural Mapping, Cultural Planning conference going on in Toronto this week…. the median artist in Canada makes less than $19,000 a year.
Ugh.
I say that this has nothing to do with government funding, working space, available grants or corporate sponsorship… but with the fact that people are not raised to be patrons of the arts.
The average person can’t equate art to value … and what it will bring to their lives, if they just spend a little bit of money to enjoy it. I am not sure how far back this goes… maybe since the first world war? Industrial Revolution? world war II? the Baby Boom? with the decline in religion in the “western” world?
Not sure.
What i do know: it is an easy to solve problem.
GO BUY SOMETHING.
It’s not really that often that I preach that, and I really am not trying to pull a George W Bush move (post 9-11 newscast) but really… you can affect local, national and global artists by just putting a bit of money out there, in the right places.
- Buy a photograph from a local photographer.
- Go out and pay the cover charge to see a band play.
- Check out a show at a small theatre show, even though you’re not sure what to expect.
- If you see someone busking, reward them monetarily for their contribution to our vibrant society.
- Appreciate and reward good design, in all aspects of our culture.
- TEACH YOUR KIDS TO VALUE THE ARTS.
I’m just sayin.
More Action can create Actual change in this area. Let’s take advantage of that.
I’m sure you’ve got an opinion on this one – lemme have it!
H.
PS> Thanks to
Emily Robson for letting me know about this event and keeping everyone updated through twitter. check it out.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 6 Comments »
Feb
26
Ok Waterloo – You’ve been off my radar for a little bit these days. But i just HAVE to bring this up:
This Saturday, to raise money for Haiti, City of Waterloo volunteers will be having a charity….
wait for it…
wait for it…
INDOOR CAR WASH.
I’m not gonna go all crazy on you or anything, because I’m still on a TED high and I am slightly worried that I’m over-reacting, BUT:
A) It’s Winter.
B) IT’S AN EXTREME WASTE OF WATER!!!!!!!!!!!
You’re using up natural resources to clean the first world’s SUVs while people in Haiti are forced to solicit the black market for the foreign aid that isn’t being properly managed into the hands of the needy???????????
Ok. Just sayin’.
Car washes should be $100 fucking dollars because they are so wasteful and unnecessary.
GAWD.
In other news, the City of Waterloo will be giving away Free Hot Chocolate and Chili tonight from 5-7 pm (while quantities last) at Waterloo Public Square to celebrate and thank the donors who made the frozen oval of clean water that we skate on, possible.
Almost positive this contributes to why the developing world hates North America.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 4 Comments »
Feb
23
Here’s a couple interesting things that have happened in the last 20 hours in KW.
And the Library thing happened today, but I gotta say, didn’t make it. Apparently, nothing to report, information-wise…. well, nothing other than the fact that the Library Board should obviously hire a PR company to advise on how to deal with the public. Just sayin.
Last night was great, but LATE. holy.
H.
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | 1 Comment »
Feb
21
Now THAT is a good deal!
Peak oil, what?
Corner of homer-watson and manitou.
H.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
Posted in News & Other Half Truths | No Comments »
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