Shirt Tales

OTTAWA - Health Canada is advising the Canadian public that children's metal necklaces and zipper pulls manufactured by Stravina Operating Company of California have been recalled. The items, sold between March 2002 and September 2005, pose a risk of lead poisoning to children if mouthed or swallowed and should be removed from children's reach. Stravina Operating Company is recalling about six million items, which are manufactured in China. Approximately 781,000 of the recalled items were sold in Canada at discount, toy, party, grocery and drug stores for between $2 and $5. These items are no longer being sold in Canada.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/2005/2005_136_e.html

Yes, Rambling Rose, does know this has nothing to do with Forsyth but is just the type of information that would have been included in the original Shirt Tales newsletter with its focus on the overall well-beng of its workforce. RR thought she had banished lead to history when she replaced a crib many years ago! However, even RR could be tempted to purchase the trinkets above as gifts for the next generation. Caveat Emptor!

# posted by ramblingrose @ 2:59 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

to market, to market...

Photos: City of Waterloo's first market building on L & the same building today copyright Gary Will. Do visit Gary's cyber walking tour of Waterloo here:
http://www.garywill.com/waterloo/tour.htm

In 1917, the John Forsyth Company purchased the old Market Hotel to convert it to a pajama and underwear factory. It was used a manufacturing plant for nearly 60 years, and then as a warehouse for another 13 years. In 1991, the old Forsyth buildings were purchased by Bill Weber who renovated the complex, creating a mixed residential and commercial development.

"Heritage preservation is an important component of sustainable development, and provides significant economic, social, and quality of life benefits. It also serves to alleviate some of the demands placed on our diminishing natural resources. Through adaptive re-use and regeneration, heritage preservation can help to accommodate the type of growth that is anticipated for major Canadian cities, towns and settlements in the decades ahead." --overview of Canadian Professional Heritage Planners May 06 Annual Conference http://www.caphc.ca/conference2006/overview.htm

Our challenge now is to find ways to preserve Kitchener's significant historic resources in a dynamic and challenging context of increasing land prices, limited legislation and escalating land development pressures.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 1:29 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

hazardous materials primer

City has issued tender call for Hazardous Material Abatement - Forsyth Bldg with deadline of Apr 13, 2006 - 12:00 noon "to supply all labour, materials & equipment for the removal & disposal of hazardous materials from the Forsyth Building. This includes, but is not limitted to, asbestos, lead, mercury, silica, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's), mould and other miscellaneous waste. This abatement is to allow for full demolition." contact info etc are available on City's website: ===> link to follow shortly

Rambling Rose begins this primer as it should prove most useful as urban intensification will require remediation of brownfield sites (land used previously for industrial uses). This blog continues a previous post "unseen hazards" of 24 Mar06 to be found in the weekly archives. As well, this particular tender call re hazardous material abatement follows normal demolition procedures as required by law and overseen by two ministries, the Ministry of the Environment (Environmental Spill Reporting 1 800 268 6060 and the Ministry of Labour (Occupational Health and Safety enforcement). Never hurts to learn what the law requires !

Designated as hazardous materials by legislation are:

1. asbestos usually found in structures, equipment, pipes insulated or wrapped with asbestos,
2. lead (usually in paint) cf. previous post "lead paint & yellow bricks" ===> use search this blog at top of this screen?
3. mould (microbial contamination and water-damaged building materials)
4. mercury (usually in fluorescent light tubes and a thermostats)
5. silica
6. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) found in electricalequipment including, but not limited to, light ballasts, transformers,capacitors, etc.
7. CFC's *chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) bearingrefrigerant equipment
8. "controlled products", as defined by WHMIS as for example, past land uses that might indicate
   the presence of radioactive materials include testing laboratories,dentist offices or veterinary clinics. Other indications could be pipes containing chemicals, oils or solvents.
9. on-site processing of concrete or asphalt for use as fill
10. volatile** gases (fluorescent tubes and HVAC equipment) ====> subject to further research as RR admits to complete ignorance (lack of knowledge) on this subject
11. fluid storage tanks, above or below grade, or other wastes or chemicals stored on the site
12. hydrocarbons (in the water in the boiler room)
    * per Jan06 demolition update from Building Watcher: "Some of you may have observed that a large roof top unit was allowed to fall and in the process may have shed some CFC gases, this was deemed acceptable to the MOE as workers could not safely affix slings to the unit to allow it to be removed by crane; also the units were abandoned 15 years ago and if there was any CFC still present there would be very little pressure remaining. An air quality station was set up on Young Street to measure the effects of demolition, and additional portable air quality units will be used throughout the course of demolition. "
13. dust control plan for the demolition in order to minimize to avoid causing adverse effects as defined under the Environmental Protection Act
14. source separate the following materials for recycling: brick and Portland cement concrete, steel and wood.

Photo: contaminated rubble pile resulting from the demolition of the three Forsyth building portions deemed to be unsafe and hence, exempt from normal demolition procedures requiring hazardous materials abatement prior to demolition. The rubble pile in the photo will be taken to the regional landfill site for use as road bed material at the landfill site with this proviso attached: "The problem is not so much with the lead paint on the brick rubble and wood as with the mixture of debris which has wood, metal, wiring, etc. intermixed...In negotiations with the contractor it was determined that the cost of labour to sort the rubble would exceed the cost of tipping fees."

This post has been culled from a variety of e-mails educating Rambling Rose on demolition procedures and sent by sources more qualified than the writer who wish to remain anonymous. With my thanks to the larger community who care about both built and natural heritage. This post is subject to change as these same sources fact check my work.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 9:35 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• "For a long time the vicinity of Berlin was known as the sand hills. In the locality where the hospital and [KCI] now stand were hills over which loaded wagons could hardly be drawn. On a windy day the sand would form ridges. There was a troublesome sand hill from Queen Street eastward on Church and another one at the corner of King and Frederick Streets. This latter was cut down about eight or nine feet to the level of the cellar floors, some time after the first buildings had been erected...
• Almost the whole of the [Ontario to Queen Street] block was a spongy swamp with willow trees along the edge. Cattle could scarcely go into it as it would sink. Up to 1850 there was no building up to Gaukel's Hotel [ the present Walper Hotel] at the corner of Queen Street. Along the street front there was an elevated sidewalk erected on cedar posts with stringers. The sidewalk was six feet wide and high enough to enable boys to explore underneath, as, of course, they used to do...
• East of the Grand Trunk [Railway] there was a swampy section which, in wet weather, became almost impassable. It was not unusual for farmers' wagons to become stuck in the mud of the road." source "Reminiscences of Berlin" by Jacob Stroh published by Waterloo Historical Society

That was then. What about now?

• Contrary to the opinion of all those writing letters to the editor to suggest building on top of the present main library, it just can't be done. KPL already had studies done to explore those possibilities. Because of the sand underneath, creating the necessary foundations to support a larger structure is just not financially feasible.
• Ditto the corner of Young and Duke as remember there is a drop of 17 feet from the Duke St to the King St elevations. This drop allows for a 3 levels underground parking garage at Young and Duke but only 2 levels at the King Street elevation. Some of the shoring work required can prove to be quite expensive --quoted in that bungled staff report that confused saving the Forsyth remnnants with building a parage garage. =========> Why, asks Rambling Rose, do we need to put a municipal garage on this particular block when the land available at corner Queen and Charles Street would likely serve the purpose and is only a few blocks away? Does Council even remember approving a Pedestrian Charter in 2005 --- reputedly the first in all of Canada? why not translate that vision into reality by asking folks to walk a block or two downtown? might even encourage some shopping!

Labels: Berlin/Kitchener history

# posted by ramblingrose @ 12:38 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. time to update EDIF line 3 @ $29,350.10 ===> does Rambling Rose really need to track the pennies? Not really. More interesting is to draw the comparison between $29,350 tendered versus the high-balled estimate presented to Council @$42,390 = 44.5% higher than the actual bid! par for the course as staff present reports to a cost-conscious Council in an election year. First, this option to just save the panels and thereby, "honour heritage concerns" was a pittance compared to the highballed cost to save these two buildings for future adaptive re-use @ $9M+ and certainly would play well in the media. Or does it? There are some citizens who still laugh with derision when Council chose to pay $70,000 for remnant/rejected scraps of lumber from the Schoerg barn-- which too was demolished because of public/safety liability issues.
2. time to check on wording "failure of one or more of the panels is possible, though not necessarily imminent" ====> what actually is being said here? comparable too this statement, " my house could burn down though not necessarily right now" ===> that's a valid statement but I am not going to rush to have the entire house demolished based on that possibility am I?
3. ' no guarantee that the panels can be removed intact" raises a more likely possibility that these panels may crumble as they are removed. A very high possibility indeed as I compare the age of these panels (installed 1937) to the crumbling concrete at the Waterloo Rexplex (built approx 1993 or so) cf. photo.
4. 'no certainty as to the lifespan of existing pre-cast if re-bars.....have started to rust" ====> highly likely as under City's ownership water was allowed to leak into the building and its envelope from 2001 to date cf. photo
5. staff started moving "pro-actively....and positively to protect a piece [yes! sic] of our heritage" in order to "minimize the time frame in which the facade may collapse and the material get damaged" ===> pushing the fear button again, were we? that was early Feb 06 and as of yesterday, the panels had not moved from the building envelope
6. "Kappeler Masonry also provided an estimate of work required to close the existing openings left
   as a result of the demolition and this has been estimated at a minimum of $6,925. plus
   additional materials and site work as required." ====> most sensible and cost-effective of all the options if staff wanted to move "pro-actively and positively to protect not just a piece but a big chunk of our heritage. Did it happen?
7. " the remaining buildings will [interesting verb tense as someone already knows the planned redevelopment of CB? before the RFP has been issued?] compromise the development options of CB" ===> Rambling Rose learns a) underground parking garage will be required where these buildings currently stand; b) that the Art Deco facade interferes with the widening of the Duke Street right of way===> will we need turn lane(s) here? to accommodate what volume of traffic?
8. will the private developer's architectural team honour historical architecture by using salvaged Forsyth materials & create a patchwork quilt assembled from various scraps of heritage stored in the Guelph Street storage yards? Only time will tell.

Sandamara Images L to R: Art Deco building portion exposed to the elements; Art Deco interior under City's pro-active heritage stewardship; crumbling concrete on modern Waterloo Recplex building.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 12:38 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Work should be in progress as I write for the following tender awarded yesterday: Q06-019 Title: Precast Facade Removal G & A Masonry Breslau,ON @ $29,350.10 Mar 29, 2006: To supply all labour, equipment and materials for the removal of precast panels, sills and copings at the North East & South elevations in order to save for future installation; set panels, sills and copings on pallets and prepare for shipping; transport to City storage facility on Guelph Street with removal from vehicle by City forces; number precast units and catalog for future use.
http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/tenders/tenderDetail.asp?tid=7412

Kappeler Masonry, in consultation with the City’s engineering consultant [Sze Straka], evaluated the
structural integrity of the Art Deco façade, specifically the pre-cast concrete panels, sills and
copings at the north-east and south elevations. It was determined that the fasteners and ties
holding these units in place had eroded to the point where failure of one or more of the panels is
possible, though not necessarily imminent. The following estimates have been obtained in the
event Council wishes to remove / retain the façade: · Removal $42,390. (PST incl / GST extra); and [possible future] re-setting of existing pre-cast panels, sills and copings and installation of new ties -
additional $64,780. Note the caveat emptor (buyer beware clause): It should be noted that the contractor providing this estimate does not guarantee that the pre-cast panels already damaged or deteriorated can be removed intact, and this estimate does not include any cost to repair or replace. In addition, there is no certainty as to the lifespan of the existing pre-cast if re-bars embedded in these units have started to rust.

Per Director of Purchasing:
"In recent weeks the City has been accused of not moving quick enough to protect our heritage. This is a case where we are moving pro-actively to ensure we have everything in order to move quickly and positively to protect a piece of our heritage - the Forsyth facade. At a recent meeting of the City's Finance and Corporate Services Committee, Kitchener City Councillors received a report indicating that the fasteners and ties holding the precast facade on the building are at a point of failure and risk breaking apart and collapsing. ..
In the interest of acting as quickly as possible to minimize the time frame in which the facade may collapse and the material get damaged, city staff acted on that direction from the Finance and Corporate Services Committee and issued the tender on February 10...Knowing what we do about the state of the fasteners holding the facade onto the building, we are not willing to delay the process when we know that at the end of the day that the facade will need to come down for one reason or another."

Per Centre Block project committee cf. report: "....concerned that the two remaining buildings [Smyth office/Art Deco factory]will compromise the development options of CB*....recommends that the two buildings not remain in situ but that their history be honoured by having the architecture reflected in any new development...through the use of salvaged and retained materials from all Forsyth buildings."

# posted by ramblingrose @ 11:24 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• "We know that urban redevelopment is a specialty for your agency. When and why did you identify this as a growth market?
  Three major forces caused us to look at reurbanization as a growing market place.
  a) About 3 years ago we began to recognize the lack of available development land inside the urban envelope;
  b) We were already recognizing municipalities like the City of Kitchener's commitment to revitalize their downtown core and surrounding neighbourhoods;
  c) The Region of Waterloo in 2001 initiated a Regional Growth Management Strategy which was approved by council in June of 2003. This strategy is the framework which identifies where, when and how future residential and employment lands will be accommodated. Among other things the key elements of this strategy are reurbanization, transportation, a firm country side line and targeted green field development.
• We expect both national and international interest in locating near the new School of Pharmacy in downtown Kitchener." Source:http://www.coldwellbankerpbr.com/news.aspx?article=businesstimes1227.html

# posted by ramblingrose @ 9:55 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. fully reported by the intrepid man in black for the local rag "Centre Block land to be paved" online here: http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1143499814943&call_pageid=1024322085509&col=1024322199564
2. presented to council as CSD-06-041 and available online here:
   http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/Files/Item/item7835_csd-06-041_.pdf

and now to the chewable morsels....easy does it, one at a time:

• how much is it all going to cost? a) to backfill the hole left by the demolition @ $200,000 + b) to grade and pave it @ $320,000 = $520,000 to be added to the Economic Development Fantasy Fund!
• when? as follows " Tendering/Demolition/Material removal completion – May 5
  with Parking lot completion – May 26, pending demolition completion, less than 2 weeks ===> just in time for the Mayor's forum & all traces that Forsyth ever existed will have been erased & all will be whitewashed-asphalted clean!
• why now? well, turns out city cut a deal with WLU "to provide 175 parking spaces within three or four blocks of the university's Duke Street campus and to provide a subsidy for each parking space to the tune of $50 to $55 a month" how much? 175 x $50 x 12 = $105,000 per year! any limit to this contract? ===> has U of W extracted same promise from this Council?
• elsewhere, Rambling Rose notes that the Duke/Ontario garage requires $1,225,000 in repairs to be paid for by a 15 year debenture (translation -- a loan + interest costs added on to your future tax bills & we are giving subsidized parking to WLU?? which is also provincially funded out of our tax $'s ! ====> somehow the tax collector always wins & has hands in both pockets in this re-urbanization project
• how does this make sense? as it is a temporary solution to a perceived parking shortage until the underground parking is built when the Centre Block lands are redeveloped--- when? if? how?....stay tuned for the dribble of information ever so gradually released to an unsuspecting public

# posted by ramblingrose @ 9:37 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. proceed with P3 partnership to develop the taxpayer-owned lands on Centre Block?
2. delay with P3 partnership until KPL submit a revised proposal to Council?
3. proceed with P3 partnership to develop these lands without a library?

Where? Council Chambers When? evening of 23 May 06

How?

• information presentations;
• half-hour dinner break;
• a citizens' panel will discuss pre-determined questions developed by staff;
• audience feedback.

Who?

1. six citizens to represent the six population segments defined by the Who are you Kitchener research & "as best as possible to include a citizen from each ward"

• up to 8 sector specific citizens to represent: 1) real estate; 2) university and college; 3) labour; 4) downtown business; 5) multicultural; 6) development; 7) high technology; 8) education.

Source: CAO-06-021 presented to 27 Mar 06 Finance and Corporate Services Committee http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/Files/Item/item7835_cao-06-021_.pdf

& noted in passing various comments by your elected representatives during the at times heated discussion:

• "politics is wonderful during an election year"
• "didn't we already have a citizen's forum last November?"
• "forum format to Council by 10 April 06 FCS meet' as concern with timing was expressed
• "will someone please explain KPL needs in an era of high technology?"
• "want to hear more from the public--every Tom, Dick, and Harry @ 5 minutes per"
• "wanted an independent review, not one directed by marketing staff with a) set of pre-canned questions"
• "marketing is about turning wants into needs"
• "we listen to the public....I'm hearing both sides"
• "have been keeping survey ....most are concerned why the costs re KPL are so high"
• "would welcome more public input as sources of information (Record, radio talk shows) are limited"

# posted by ramblingrose @ 4:39 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

any dream will do

I wore my coat, with golden lining, Bright colours shining, wonderful and new. And in the east, the dawn was breaking, And the world was waking.

This Centre Block fiasco all began with a report written by KPMG, a Toronto consulting company that specializes in downtown renewal, said "the city can't afford to ignore urban blight and take no action on its ailing core...and urged the city to avoid financial risks involved in a mega-project and instead use the block to retrofit properties and promote infill development that will mix residential development with retail and institutional uses. ... the report recommended to develop the block as follows:

1. The first phase would be residential and retail development of the old Mayfair Hotel and John Forsyth shirt factory on Young Street between King and Duke streets.
2. The second phase would be development of retail uses along King that could include a public plaza and park area where the Lyric currently stands that would open up the interior of the block to pedestrians.
3. The third phase could be institutional, government or higher-density development for students or seniors along Duke Street toward Ontario street.
4. KPMG urged the city to tear down and relocate the bus centre owned by the regional government and turn that site -- and the one occupied by the old post office on Gaukel -- into residential development leading down to Victoria Park.
   
5. EDIF update line 3 to KPMG study @ $95,000
   Source: "Price tag on council's campaign to clean up downtown is growing" Tuesday January 15, 2002 by Frank Etherington and Stacey Ash & lyrics byTim Rice.Show: "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (1968/69) http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/othercds/sbalw06.html

Photo Forsyth office in the Smyth Residence, courtesy Forsyth family archives.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 1:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. cost to demolish phases 1, 2, and 4 @ $193,000
2. hazardous materials cost to date @ $20,890*
3. tipping fees @ $66/tonne to Regional landfill @ $92,500 **
4. further abatement @ $36, 610
5. still to come? costs to backfill and regrade site ...." for alternate short term use of the site" ***
6. T06-042 Tender to hazardous material abatement --Forsyth Building, pe-bid meeting Thurs 30 Mar 06 & tenders due 13 Apr 06

& total charges to EDIF this post 1 to 4 inclusive = $343,000

" ...some hazardous materials were combined with demolition debris...the contamination for the worst part originated with the lead paint**** used on the bricks and on some wood materials." & note also: "Incidentally, the total of these costs will be less than the costs the City would have incurred*** **had we had the opportunity to do the abatement in the normal fashion, in advance of demolition according to our environmental consultant******."

# posted by ramblingrose @ 12:50 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. status-quo types @ 53% includes: a) the suburban stability seeker (open to development but need to be sure they will not be on losing end) @22%; b) the small town stalwart (who are "generally leery of development which they see as potentially harmful to them personally" @ 16%; c) the small town protector ( who "[dislikes] taxes" and "do not support increase in muncipal expenditures") @ 15%;
2. agents of change @ 38% includes: a) the community activator ( who "have a low level of confidence in government") @ 22%; b) the urban promoter ("who want Kitchener to be known as a city that provides a higher level of services than other municipalities even if it means higher taxes") @ 16%;
3. the disenfranchised @ 9% describes: the fringe dweller ( who prefers "that the government taxes the rich to help the poor....but do not support the City spending more money on City services...and are ready to disobey laws and engage in civil disobedience if they find the rules irrelevant."

Extrapolated from quiz booklet distributed in last week's The Record and available online www.who-are-you.kitchener.ca

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:31 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

north by east side the Great Road, originally uploaded by ramblingrose.

The first settlers in Sand Hills also known as Ebytown cut a road south to Preston and from there to ship their grain out via Dundas & then extended the road north to Abraham Erb's grist mill on Laurel Creek. That was the Great Road. Decades later the sand hills were used to fill in the swampy land to create a crossroads shopping area near the intersection of the Great Road with Schneider's Road. By the time, these buildings were erected the tiny Sand Hills hamlet had become Busy Berlin and the main streets were now renamed King and Queen Streets. To print out the Georgian streetscape of Berlin's main street, right click on the image above & save. After that use your photo software to print the Nicholas Hall sketch above? and then you are the designer and can colour in King Street as it might be now. Have fun!

# posted by ramblingrose @ 8:42 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

north by west side the Great Road, originally uploaded by ramblingrose.

Once upon a time, there would be line-ups right here as there were only three movie theatres locally: one up in Waterloo and then two side by side in the downtown. Until....the City decided it had to take a turn at playing vice cop & called in the lawyers to expropriate & then the wreckers to demolish. Talk about misusing sledgehammers and wrecker's claws!-- How can one city take an old floozy like the Kent Hotel and turn it into an upscale establishment like the Huether? ditto the old riotous Circus Room housed in the Waterloo Hotel ---cleaned up becomes a classy tea parlour? and the other twin city impose the death penalty on its downtown without an appeal?

Gentle Reader, have you finished your two halves? Join them together -- I did leave a clue as to where.

That done, cover up your photo and see how many cars you can fit into the streetscape as that is what we will have there by May 26, 2006 as Council has spoken: Let there be more parking lots downtown!

Image courtesy Nicholas Hill Facade Study 1987. The facade improvement loan program is still in effect ---for those buildings that have survived fire, inclement weather, and/or the wrecker's ball! --- and Council's self-righteous wrath at libidinous behaviours? Ironically, Rambling Rose has noted Council has approved a few adult entertainment parlours. Pray do not explain what they are to this Heritage Nostalgia Rose. :o)

# posted by ramblingrose @ 8:40 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. Finance & Corporate Services Committee 2:00 - 3:30 pm Council Chamber. On the agenda:
   a)CSD-06-041 - Interim Parking Options - Centre Block Property::
   Area 1 – Existing buildings/former Forsyth factory
   · Tendering/Demolition/Material removal completion – May 5
   · Parking lot completion – May 26, pending demolition completion, less than 2 weeks
   · Parking lot completion – May 26 (at the same time as area 1).
   If both areas are approved for the development of interim surface parking, it is anticipated that all
   works will commence concurrently with a tentative completion date of May 26.In order to meet the short-term demand for monthly parking (345 spaces), capital funds in the amount of approximately $320,000 are required for the development of interim parking on the entire Forsyth lands. This will be funded from the Economic Development Investment Fund (EDIF). Total net revenue expected per year from the operation of the additional parking spaces will be approximately $140,000. These revenues will be returned to EDIF until the capital investment is repaid or Centre Block is redeveloped. & It is estimated that approximately $200,000 additional funds will be required to backfill area one (1) in order to create a safe condition and to provide a level base for the parking area. This work will be completed in association with the demolition and will be funded from the Centre Block EDIF account.
   http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/Files/Item/item7835_csd-06-041_.pdf
2. Citizen Forum Objectives: The objective of the citizens’ forum is to develop a recommendation which can be made to City Council in June 2006 on how to proceed with the Centre Block redevelopment and the central library projects. Based on preliminary, informal feedback received to date, three potential
   outcomes of the forum include, but are not limited to:
   1. Proceed with the current proposal and process.
   2. Hold off on redeveloping Centre Block until the library proposal is reworked and
   approved by Council.
   3. Take more time to rework the library proposal and proceed with the redevelopment of
   the Centre Block without a new central library.
   http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/Files/Item/item7835_cao-06-021_.pdf
3. Special Council Meet @ 5:30 p.m. same date, same place to pass resolution to demolish Forsyth remnants as follows:
   Councillor J. Smola has given notice that he will introduce the following motion to confirm
   Council’s actions with respect to Heritage Permit Application HPA 2006-IV-001 regarding the
   Forsyth buildings:
   "Whereas Council at its meeting of March 20, 2006 adopted a resolution not to retain the
   two remaining buildings on the Forsyth property, being the 1937 Art Deco addition and the
   Smyth residence; and,
   Whereas pursuant to Section 34 of the Ontario Heritage Act, the City of Kitchener had
   submitted Heritage Permit Application HPA 2006-IV-001 to demolish the said buildings.
   Now therefore it is resolved that by virtue of the resolution adopted on March 20, 2006
   regarding the Forsyth buildings, Council as the approval authority consented to Heritage
   Permit Application HPA 2006-IV-001 in order to facilitate the demolition of the remaining
   buildings located on the Forsyth property."
   http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/Files/Item/item7834_2006-03-27_sp_council_ag.pdf

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:43 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

• "Reinvestment in historic places not only ensures that the legacy of the buildings, spaces and places that we have inherited is retained and maintained for the benefit of future generations, but also allows us the
  opportunity to add a new layer of history, reflecting the aspirations, talents and creativity of our own time, and adding to the legacy we leave for the future." fromhttp://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Heritage_Works.pdf
• Centre above: etched glass windows in Art Deco factory portion/Sandamara Images ====>possibly already demolished? R above: detail of cherry woodwork and lamp inside Smyth residence main floor/Sandamara Images.
  ‘There is a huge amount of waste generated by the construction and demolition of buildings. Something like 24 per cent of all waste is generated by demolition and construction. It is simply better in sustainability terms to use and recycle old buildings than to demolish them and to build new ones.’
  http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Heritage_Works.pdf

• Photos above: R image of interior of Smyth Residence/Sandamara Images: this room is still there behind the boarded up windows. L image of exterior of Smyth Residence subject now to demolition application.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 11:26 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

1. Built heritage advocates should be aware that
   "The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is moving to increase standards for energy performance in buildings through the Ontario Building Code. Energy efficiency is clearly a very important public objective, but such standards can wreak havoc on conservation of older buildings where the older windows or other exterior details are an important part of the building’s heritage character. It is very important that there be sufficient flexibility to allow for retention of existing windows in particular, not just for designated buildings but for many older properties. As architect Andrew Powter recently noted at the ACO dinner,"the greenest building is the one that already exists", because of the resources tied up in those buildings...Windows, often finely crafted with many years of useful service left in them are being junked in favour of energy efficient windows that will need much more frequent replacement. Architect Phillip Carter often jokes, "These [replacements] are no maintenance windows because they can’t be maintained, only discarded." --per Catherine Nasmith, Built Heritage Newsletter, who advises her readers "If you want more information on this situation, contact William Gerrard, William.Gerrard@mcl.gov.on.ca who is handling the Ministry of Culture’s response to the Ontario Building Code Changes. Unfortunately the time for comment is very short, the consultation period ends on March 27."
2. Further to energy conservation, Heritage Works notes that "The scope for saving energy by conserving the existing fabric of our built environment is an important aspect of sustainable development especially in a world facing mounting energy crises. Re-using historic buildings contributes to the achievement of sustainable development targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also has positive benefits, such as the use of aggregates and landfill demand that contribute to sustainable development indicators for resource use and waste." Source: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Heritage_Works.pdf

Photo: Detail of front facade of Governor's House (1853, City of Kitchener OHA Part IV designated property. Sandamara Images 0211-16

# posted by ramblingrose @ 5:23 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Old and new: Governor's Gaol and Provincial Courthouse, Kitchener, ON Photo Sandamara Images 0211-14

'Preservationists often talk about the 'value' of historic properties: the social value, cultural value, aesthetic value, urban context value, architectural value, historical value and sense of place. In fact, one of the strongest arguments for preservation ought to be that a historic building has multiple layers of 'value' to its community.'-- Rypkema (1992) quoted in Heritage Works link http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Heritage_Works.pdf

1. City Council frequently refers to this community's heritage successes and in particular, to its crowning jewel: the successful restoration of the Governor's House and Gaol above. This Region of Waterloo owned property was built in 1853 and finally closed in 1973. After that time, it was "mothballed" by the Region of Waterloo until enough funds had been secured for its restoration and adaptive re-use into offices. The building is a OHA Part IV designated property and a most popular site during the annual Doors Open tour. Not so the fate of the Forsyth factory complex, also designated by the City of Kitchener under OHA Part IV -- as in spite of its designation, the complex has already been partly demolished and the remainder waits pending approval of the demolition application made by the property owner (City of Kitchener) and subject to the approval of the municipal legislative body (City of Kitchener).
2. This complex state of affairs was the subject of an editorial this week by The Record, "City Hall must heed the people": "The biggest decision facing Kitchener today is what to do with that forlorn, 2.9 acres of bricks, smashed concrete and soon-to-be demolished factory buildings known as Centre Block. For $65 million -- or more -- it could be transformed into a glittering new main public library, an information centre for an information age and a engine driving downtown revival. First, while its overall intentions are commendable, city hall's management of the project leaves it open to serious criticism. City council began inauspiciously enough by spending $9.1 million to buy the property** -- without having the slightest idea of what it could practically do with the site. Then council declared the old Forsyth factory and other buildings on the site as heritage landmarks worthy of preservation -- and sat back and let the buildings decay.That neglect forced the city to tear down most of the Forsyth building in January and contributed to its decision Monday to raze the remaining sections of the factory. Who knows if the Forsyth factory could have been turned into a library the city would have been proud of? The point is, the city's poor stewardship of a valuable, publicly owned property robbed it of a choice, perhaps the best choice, for redeveloping Centre Block."more here: http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1142981416326
3. Still unanswered is this question: "Why did city continue to defer and delay minimum repairs required to 'mothball' the building to keep all future options open?" Contrast the various stewardship options displayed by two different cultural heritage properties -- the Region of Waterloo (Governor's Gaol and House) and the City of Kitchener (Forsyth factory/Smyth Residence) & draw your own conclusions.
4. In the end, actions do tell the ale.
5. ** Editor's note: $9.1 M was spent to all Centre Block land purchases totalling 2.5 acres and including the Forsyth complex.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 3:53 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

sifting through the rubble pile

This is one post that Rambling Rose would rather not write as it exposes so much she has yet to learn. This week

• Ontario's Commissioner of the Environment released his annual report
• Today's Record focuses on this Region's contaminated groundwater supplies with the headline "well-aimed worries"
• City is to begin clean up of the coal tar contamination near Victoria Park

So many issues to track? does get tiring-- all that Rambling Rose is trying to do is clean up & make sense of the Forsyth-related files on her harddrive as spring has arrived-- snowdrops bloomed this week.

So, what's in the rubble pile being trucked to the landfill? We won't ever know for sure as the Ontario Building Code (OBC) gave exceptional powers to the Chief Building Official (CBO) if a building was declared a threat to public safety. Under normal circumstances, demolition would have required a list of Designated Substances for the site and buildings as required under s. 18(a) of the Occupational Health and SafetyAct:

1. an inventory of any asbestos present on the property (Examples: structures, equipment, pipes insulated or wrapped with asbestos, etc. ) & its management and disposal in accordance with Regulation 347 made under the Environmental Protection Act.
2. contact with the Ministry immediately regarding storage and approval re polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) as defined under the Environmental Protection Act, Regulation 362? PCB's may be located in various electrical equipment including, but not limited to, light ballasts, transformers, capacitors, etc.
3. determining the presence of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) bearing refrigerant equipment, which requires proper handling according to Ontario Regulation 356.
4. proper disposal practices of hazardous or "controlled products,"** as defined by WHMIS, on site? For example, past land uses that might indicate the presence of radioactive materials include testing laboratories, dentist offices or veterinary clinics. Other indications could be pipes containing chemicals, oils or solvents.
5. approval & proper management requirements for on-site processing of concrete or asphalt for use as fill? and/or the transportation of same from the site according to Ministry guidelines
6. a dust control plan for the demolition in order to be minimized to avoid causing adverse effects as defined under the Environmental Protection Act.
7. arrangements to separate the following materials for recycling: brick and Portland cement concrete, steel and wood.
8. if any of the above substances are present, "the [demolition] applicant may need to contact an environmental consultant to perform an environmental audit PRIOR to the submission of the demolition permit application. "
9. If there are any questions on this procedures, the applicant may contact the Environmental Health Services Section of the Public Health Department at 150 Main Street, Cambridge, Ontario N1R 6P9 – (519) 621-6110.
10. For further information on environmental or energy matters, contact the Cambridge District Office of the Ministry of Environment and Energy by calling (519) 622-8150, Fax (519) 622-3119.

** Rambling Rose has yet to locate an itemized list of hazardous/controlled products but notes lead cf. lead paint is bound to appear on this list when she finds it.

Photo: taken Saturday 14 January 06 before demolition was halted at noon because of strong north winds (notice the dust?). Note also the ballasts containing PCB's still in place cf. #2 above. Sandamara Images 0604-17

(taken from Cambridge sources ===> links to follow)

# posted by ramblingrose @ 9:27 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. John Claude Derby Forsyth 1885-1948 , son of John Forsyth 1850-1916 & Elizabeth Brook, is seated with his wife Georgina Mary Herteis 1893-1964 beside the fireplace. On the mantel, these words are inscribed: "A friend is one who knows all about you and loves you just the same."
2. Sons and heirs to the Forsyth Co. on the left, John Edward Claude Forsyth 1925-2003, who became president when JDC died in 1948; on the right, James Robert Eugene Forsyth 1929-1976.
3. JDC's grandchildren posted a tribute to their father James' lasting legacy and influence on their lives thirty years after his death and tallied the lessons they learned from their father thus:

You taught us to take care of each other and gave us this advice:

• be nice
• treat people the way you would like to be treated
• live life to the fullest and make it last
• don't dwell on the negatives or live in the past
• enjoy all life has to offer, sunset and sunrise
• be forgiving, humble, kind, honest, loving and wise

With thanks to grandson Tim who has so generously shared these photos and memorabilia with Rambling Rose and this community. God Bless!

# posted by ramblingrose @ 1:44 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

a matter of provincial interest?

The Ontario Heritage Trust wrote two letters to support preserving the remaining buildings
"I am pleased to write in support of the preservation and adaptive reuse of the remaining buildings at 31 Young Street....Already one of these buildings protected by heritage designation ...has been lost. The two remaining structures on the property are also associated with the development of the textile industry in Kitchener. Architecturally, the buildings reflect their respective eras -- High Victorian/Queen Anne Revival for the Smyth House and pre-WWII industrial Art Deco for the factory. They add to the architectural character and historic diversity of the City's downtown. ....I urge you to carefully review and take into consideration the impact that a decision to demolish these buildings will have. Retention of these heritage buildings is consistent with the policies for land use planning and development articulated in the Provincial Policy Statement and Kitchener's Official Plan. .... In considering the various options for the site it is important to keep in mind that demolition has a financial cost as does new construction. Has it been demonstrated with any certainty that it is too expensive to retain these buildings and incorporate them into a redeveloped Centre Block? It is a popular misconception that a site unencumbered by heritage buildings makes for a simpler and therefore better project. It is important that, prior to making any decisions about the fate of these irreplaceable culturally significant heritage buildings, the City needs to obtain well researched and thoroughly reasoned recommendations on the feasibility of preserving and adapting the remaining buildings at 32 Young Street. ...This is an opportunity to incorporate these heritage buildings into a sophisticated downtown urban renewal project that reflects pride of place, visual interest, and architectural richness."

# posted by ramblingrose @ 1:16 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

• disposal of lead-based bricks and wood @$20,890 previously spent + $92,500 to dispose of demolition debris + upset amount of $36,610 = $150,000 + $10,943,000= $11,093,000 ====> still to come, the actual Jan06 demolition contract
• Nov 28/05 Council decision to install fire alarm & stop water damage at $30,000. Of the 30,000 allocated, only $9,000 spent to secure some drain pipes. Fire alarm was never installed as Buildings Manager had determined that a demolition would take place prior to the building's being declared unsafe in Jan 06. = $30,000 +$11,093,000= $11,123,000
• costs of Phase 1 and II environmental assessments by Naylor @ $22,150 + $11,123,000= $11,145,150 ==========> still outstanding further assessments by Frontline Environmental
• EDIF total all lines bal fwd $131,583,000 + $150,000+ $30,000+ $22,150 = $131,785,150 cf. $110 M original cap = 19.9% over worst-case scenario estimated in 2004
  

# posted by ramblingrose @ 12:59 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

• indicated that there are elevated levels of lead, petroleum hydrocarbon, and benzo(a)pyrene at various depths in the soil on the site, but that none of those concentrations exceeded the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) guidelines for commercial/industrial/community land use. The concentrations do exceed MOE criteria for residential/parkland/institutional land uses however.
• There is an exceedance of the groundwater criteria for benzo(a)pyrene - a byproduct of coal residue - for all land uses however, this is not uncommon in downtown Kitchener as, historically, coal was the primary source for heating.
• The tests on the groundwater below the former Legion site yielded concentrations of tetracholoroethylene, a chemical used in dry cleaning, and benzopyrene, which exceeded the MOE criteria for all land uses
• There is more than 20 feet of soil cover on top of the groundwater source on this site, and historically, absolutely no one has been drinking or using water directly from that source
• Due to the location of the soil contamination, it is expected that the construction of foundations for the underground parking structure will resolve the issue of soil contamination.
• Still unanswered as the complete report has yet to be posted to the City's website:
  Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in Phase II–– present in Forsythe building?
  Volatile organic compounds (VOC) in Phase II–– present in Forsythe building?
• "Due to the soil contamination, it is expected that the construction of foundations for the underground parking structure will resolve the issue of soil contamination." per 10 Nov City Kit press release
• from the earlier geotechnical study:
  "Significant site preparation will be required to prepare the property for construction of the proposed development. The existing Forsythe shirt factory at the northwest end of the site will have to be demolished and the construction debris removed. As well, the pavement structure from the parking lots will have to be removed." P. 6
• The costs of the audit completed by Naylor Engineering were $3,500 for the Phase I assessment, and $18,650 for the Phase II assessment, for a total of $22,150 for both phases. www.city.kitchener.on.ca/committee/kpl_centre_block.html
• Legal Beagle advises re clearing the rubble pile: Region has clarified the circumstances under which debris from Forsyth canbe accepted for use as road bed material at the landfill site (at no cost tothe City) as opposed to sending directly to landfill in which case tippingfees apply. FCS committee had asked for clarification as to whether there wasa cheaper alternative to disposal directly to landfill. The problem is not somuch with the lead paint on the brick rubble and wood as with the mixture ofdebris which has wood, metal, wiring etc. intermixed. Laurier has advised thatin negotiations with the contractor it was determined that the cost of labourto sort the rubble would exceed the cost of tipping fees."

# posted by ramblingrose @ 12:16 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

spalling bricks?

Two cents' worth has e-mailed the Heritage Canada Foundation:
"I just read that Kitchener is planning to demolish the rest of the Forsyth buildings. This is a real shame. When I was a teenager I worked at Forsyth, and it was a solid building with lots of old character. I later became a mason and have worked on restoration of many old buildings. When I read that they recently deemed the building unsafe, I couldn't believe it. I drove down to the building and did a walk around and couldn't see any serious unsafe condition. But I am not an engineer. I read about bricks "falling off." The only "falling off" I could see was spalling in areas which was not serious and could have been easily repaired. I believe it was a city engineer that deemed the building unsafe which I find a bit self serving. The city purchased it years ago and I believe they did very little to preserve it and just let it deteriorate. " & posted to this blog as comment to "legal loopholes" post.

Further research reveals:

"Spalling is the deterioration of a brick's surface brought on by moisture. Brick is porous and when the water it absorbs expands due to freezing temperatures, it causes the brick to break apart, or spall. Damaged bricks have to be cut out and replaced. It's an expensive, slow and tedious process. But there are a few things you can do to help prevent spalling. A masonry sealant can help prevent the problem as long as it allows the brick to breathe. Keep moisture away from brick foundations by providing proper drainage away from the house. And if spalling is confined to just a few bricks, leave them alone. They won't compromise the stability of a wall or a chimney." Source with links to historic restoration projects here:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_walls_maintenance/article/0,1797,HGTV_3803_2541032,00.html

When asked about number of fallen bricks retrieved, city staff replied, "None." Who was responsible for the leaky roof membrane on the Phase 1 1900 building structure? The property owner who had delayed repairs for the entire period when the Forsyth building was under its stewardship. Photos: clockwise L to R: 1) detail of spalled bricks; 2) detail of majority of bricks as revealed by demolition of this building portion; 3) detail of corner of Phase 1 building where "the brick failure" and "falling bricks scenario" was said to be symptomatic of "impending building collapse" and reason to order its demolition to ensure "public safety"; 4) detail of the missing bricks that had been removed by City Staff during December building inspection. Sandamara Images 0606-04;0606-07;0603-08;0606-12.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 11:09 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

parking garage surcharge

• costs of the "approved" non-existent Council resolution to demolish the Forsyth remnant buildings @ $450,000 are now applied to
• EDIF line 3/Centre Block land purchases bal fwd @$10,493,000 + 450,000 = $10,943,000 (do remember the "official" budget line indicates $9.1M)
• EDIF total all lines bal fwd @131,133,0000 + $450,000 = $131,583,000 (to remember here: EDIF was "capped" at $110,000, 000 as worst case scenario & now @ + $21.6M??)
• still to be tallied: a) previous Forsyth demolition associated costs; b) ongoing costs to improve the developer project driven Your Kitchener Market & gentle reader, do be patient... as the Market initiative went on the books before EDIF saw the light of day after the 2003 election & will appear on the books somewhere as a capital item.
• Rambling Rose is beginning to suspect EDIF just might be the "off-book financing" issue that created the breech between the current mayor/council and a previous CAO ===> more research & fact checking?

Photo: demolition of Phase 4 Forsyth complex with the structurally "weakened" wall that was to create the impending building colapse aka the "domino effect" still standing. Sandamara Images 0607-02A

# posted by ramblingrose @ 7:42 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Paradise lost for a parking lot?

Sure looks that way as Kitchener Council opted for demolition @$450,000 over the "more costly" protect and maintain for future adaptive re-use @$550,000 on Monday night.

Rambling Rose finds the quoted $450,000 figure most interesting. Council was apprised that this figure included the cost of removing the Art Deco facade seen in the photo right as well as dealing with environmental contamination issues such as lead paint....resulting from the previous hasty demolition? lead paint? windborne asbestos? and other hazards yet to be revealed in the outstanding Phase II and III Centre Block environmental reports?

But back to the numbers: $450,000 was the cost to demolish the entire complex to create 180 parking spaces for KPL quoted in the 2004 KPL Business Plan approved in May 2005 and available online. That same $450,000 was the cost to demolish Forsyth quoted one year later in the three development scenarios study prepared by the Walter Fedy Partnership in September 2005 & also available online. It might be necessary to check both the Centre Block webpage or the KPL website. Both studies are there and gentle reader, do not be confused if the KPL Business Case shows as a 2005 document all dressed up with a 2005 report cover page! It is indeed the 2004 Business Case that was used to present the argument that KPL needs for a central library could be just the catalyst required to rejuvenate the downtown core re-urbanization process.

While Rambling Rose is at citing background documents, there is another one worth reading from both a layman's point of view and that of a structural engineer's: the geotechnical report prepared by Naylor Engineering in February 2004 begins with this preamble:

" Naylor Engineering Associates Ltd. was retained by the City of Kitchener to carry out a geotechnical investigation for the proposed Kitchener Center Block Project at the site shown on Drawing 1, appended. The work was authorized by Mr. Laurier Proulx of the City of Kitchener on December 19, 2003. It is understood that the city block bounded by Duke Street West, Ontario Street North, King Street West, and Young Street is being considered for a new municipal building. The building would be a multi-storey structure with one or two levels of underground parking. The report does not address site environmental issues or concerns unless otherwise noted. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the subsoil and groundwater conditions at the site and, based on that information, prepare this report with geotechnical recommendations for site preparation, excavations and shoring, building foundations, concrete floor slabs, and underground parking."http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/pdf/kpl_centreblock/geotechnical_report.pdf

Was there ever a "hidden agenda" or a deception here? If the ordinary taxpayer cared to read all the reports available and question the assumptions therein, perhaps there might have been another outcome to the "Forsyth Saga" now appearing as subject header on staff e-mails. Of interest now is the press release regarding this sad tale as follows:

''After seeing the state of the buildings for myself earlier today, after hearing from Heritage Kitchener and after carefully reviewing our options on how to proceed, I have all the information I needed to make a decision,'' noted Ward 1 CouncillorJohn Smola. ''While I can appreciate the need to protect sites of heritage value, in the end, the reality is that we cannot save every building. I simply cannot justify spending close to an extra $7 million to save these two buildings.'' & '' I understand that the development community has clearly indicated to staff that these buildings would be a hindrance to getting the Centre Block redeveloped,'' added Mayor Zehr. ''I have even spoken to Mitch Fasken who is behind the development of the Kaufman Lofts and he indicated to me personally that in his professional opinion, the Forsyth Building should not be left on the site.''
Council Calls for Citizens' Forum on Centre Block, Central Library go to http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/

Will there be any point in preparing input into the promised public forum re the Centre Block re-development process as it is very clear as to who controls how our tax dollars are spent and who informs the decision-making process at the Council horseshoe? Will this Council elected in 2003 by 21% of eligible voters be re-elected come November 2006? and when election day comes who will remember how this corner looked before it was paved over for a parking lot?

Photo top right: Electrohome mural painted on the wall of the Duke/Ontario Street parking garage only one block to the east. That mural is symptomatic of a belief that heritage constitutes a sepia-toned nostalgia and belongs best in dusty City archives!

# posted by ramblingrose @ 3:04 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Projected cost of this structure @ $14,000,000 to be funded thus:

1. $5.5 M identified in the Economic Development Investment Fund = a mix of future tax increases 1.65% in 2006 and special levy cap @ 3.0% to 2014 + debentures (loans + interest)over 15 years to cover the balance; with a shortfall of $8,500,000 to be funded by EITHER
2. the City Parking Operation fund an $8.5M debenture = loan + interest payments OR this creative, innovative option
3. the developer fund the shortfall of $8.5M ===> How does the Committee propose that the developer pay for the $8.5M + interest payments? two options are provided here:
4. be reimbursed through the receipt of net revenue over a 20-year period including a lump-sum payout at the end of the 20-year period to cover any shortfall; in this scenario, the City would
   own and operate the parking structure OR
5. be reimbursed through operation of the parking over a 20-year period; after the 20-year period, the City would take over the parking operation and provide a lump-sum payout to cover
   any shortfall; the City would own the parking structure in this scenario.' ==========> options 4 and 5 beg the question: "How likely is it that the developer's banker will approve a loan without a) solid collateral in the form of real estate (land + buildings) and a proven revenue stream?

Based on her experience with bankers, Rambling Rose concludes that EDIF is due now for another update:

EDIF line 5 bal fwd @ $5.5M + $8.5M = $14.0 M re CB parking solutions* & total $110 M budgeted EDIF 20 Mar 06 bal fwd. $110,793,000 + $8,500,000 = $119,293,000 =======> $9.3 M over the worst-case scenario when the fund was set up in 2004?

**DTS 05-160 recommended two garages @ 380 spaces each be built @ $25,840,000 total cost LESS $14,000,000 cost for the Centre Block parking garage above = $11,840,000 for the garage to be built at Charles and Francis. However, even this garage represents a capital expenditure required for the economic development of the downtown core. Accordingly, EDIF @ $119,293,000 PLUS $11,840,000 = a revised EDIF balance of $131,133,000 ====> $21 M over worst-case scenario?

No wonder then that one Councillor during Monday night's meeting insisted "we need assessment[=tax revenues] on the site." That prompted a discussion of how many parking spaces would be required to get that assessment at the rate of one parking space per residential unit = 500 spaces residential + 350 municipal requirement **= a total of 850 spaces required on Centre Block. Council was informed because of the drop in elevation from Duke to King Street, 800 underground spaces could be provided in an underground garage with 3 levels at Duke Street and 2 levels at King Street. If the Smyth residence & Art Deco factory portions are to remain on site, 130 spaces are neutralized. If, however, the entire site is cleared by demolishing the Forsyth remnants, 300 underground parking spaces can be provided for.

** How much parking do we need on this site? The figures keep changing. Per 20 Mar 06 Council meet, 350 municipal requirement allowed for 180 spaces to KPL needs + 170 public needs. However, DTS 05-160 report determined 350 spaces were required to meet current downtown demand and appears to not have included KPL demand.

another blogpost that goes on and on and on? posted without apologies as Rambling Rose is merely trying to untangle a tangled web that she did not weave. No wonder there are many who feel outraged and "furious over Forsyth's fate" link to Record http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1142981416146

Photo courtesy Forsyth Family Archives: JDC Forsyth takes son for ride in one horse power vehicle when gridlock was unheard of locally.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 11:18 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• "City Hall has been on a spending spree"
• "we can't save evrything"
• "the public process costs more than a P3 partnership?"
• "this 5 week deferral until June, followed by the summer recess, then September/October priorities, with pause for November elections is just an election ploy with end result, this entire issue will be deferred until after the election"
• "leadership requires 1) public engagement; 2) fiscal accountability; 3) vision for the downtown"
• "[the action of] putting Centre Block [decisions] on hold takes the heat off the politicians"
• for the record, the Mayor has promised that "no people will be thrown out on the street" re Mayfair tenants
• "to give away land paid for with taxpayer $'s is not a good partnership but is treasonous; a grand mistake is being made"
• "spend our money on us to make us proud"
• "the taxpayer should be [Council's] first concern"
• " wasted $13,000 to remove Kaufmann Old Steam Engine from the building as this engine should never have left the building" ========> EDIF update due?

# posted by ramblingrose @ 2:56 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

On the agenda for the Monday 20 March 06 Council meeting were two motions:

1. Kitchener Heritage Advisory Committee's re the remaining Forsyth buildings:
   "That pursuant to Section 34 of the Ontario Heritage Act, Heritage Permit Application HPA 2006-IV- 001 (31 Young Street West) be refused, as it is considered premature at this time given no site plan application has been submitted for the redevelopment of the Centre Block properties; and,
   That the remaining 2 phases of the Forsyth Building designated under the Ontario Heritage Act,
   being the 1937 Art Deco Addition and Smyth Residence, be retained and included as a part of the City’s Request For Proposals (RFP) to facilitate their incorporation into any future
   redevelopment that is to occur on the Centre Block' and
2. The Centre Block Project Committee's: " That the two remaining buildings associated with the Forsyth building complex, being the c. 1880 Smyth Residence and the 1937 Art Deco addition, not be retained in situ on the property on the basis that they would seriously compromise the ability to achieve maximum development on the property through the upcoming Request for Expression of Interest proposal process,
3. but that the history of the buildings and property be honoured by having the architecture of the buildings reflected in the new development on the Centre Block through the use of salvaged and retained materials from all of the Forsyth buildings. & That staff arrange for the removal of the Duke Street Art Deco façade of the 1937 Forsyth factory addition to ensure the building remains in a safe condition with final disposition of the materials being subject to further Council direction and consultation with Heritage Kitchener. ==> Rambling Rose is not surprised that this pro-development Council decided in favour of demolition and accepted Centre Block's motion of "maximum development on the property" as one Councillor noted that it was necessary to create an assessment base to generate tax revenue to the City. However, in their rush to finish off a rather lengthy televised Council meeting with no less than 13 delegations, 90 members in the audience, full media attention, the same Councillors omitted passing the resolution required to approve the demolition application. A question of procedure here as surely Council is required to deal with each motion before it and leave nothing to supposition or inferral by implication? An interesting conundrum indeed! & then there is the usual sop to someone's conscience--- that the use of salvaged materials imbedded in a post-modern structure represents heritage preservation?????? Unbelievable and outrageous, at the very least!
   

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:19 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

EDIF line 3 update from Record Archives:

Housing set for Forsyth site; Kitchener teams up with non-profit development firm; [Final Edition] Jeff Outhit. The Record. Kitchener, Ont.: Jun 13, 2000. pg. B.01 Full article can be purchase from The Record for $3.95 plus GST.

1. Kitchener taxpayers will spend at least $225,000 on a plan to convert a decaying downtown factory into a private housing complex. CIRCA Development is a local, non-profit company that aims to build affordable housing in the Kitchener core. This is the firm's first project. City hall will buy the factory property from CIRCA for $640,000 if the housing project fails.
   http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/therecord/433240421.html?did=433240421&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Jun+13%2C+2000&author=Jeff+Outhit&pub=The+Record&desc=Housing+set+for+Forsyth+site%3B+Kitchener+teams+up+with+non-profit+development+firm
2. From minutes of Special Council meeting held 12 June 2000:"...the planned sale of the Forsyth property to Circa Developments....proposed conversion to residential housing... into a 15 unit apartment co-operative and 45 unit loft-style condominium, with renovations to begin in 2001...also...proposed purchse by the City of two small parcels of the former Forsyth property for use as a parking lot and open space...." and provision to acquire the Forsyth property for $640,000 in the event that [Circa} defaults as per Council minutes
   http://webdocs.city.kitchener.on.ca/weblink/index.asp?DocumentID=12464&FolderID=12383&SearchHandle=0&DocViewType=ShowImage&LeftPaneType=Hidden&dbid=0&page=1

line 3 Centre Block land purchases $10,268,000 fwd. + $225,000 = $10,493,000 inclusive of the above;

EDIF $110 M fund @ $110,568,000 fwd. + $225,000 = $110, 793,000 inclusive of the above.

Rambling Rose does not include the $640,000 spent to acquire the factory property from CIRCA as she is assuming it was included in the amount allocated to CB land purchases when the fund was set up cf. below.

EDIF is +$793,000 over worst-case scenario cap========> what's a million among friends? as RR has no millionaire friends

Photo courtesy Circa Archives : model loft suite constructed by CIRCA in Forsyth Phase 1 building & demolished January 2006.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 12:09 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

City of Kitchener Press Release Monday, March 06, 2006: "the City's Finance and Corporate Services Committee.The Committee approved $225,000 for the cost of repairs and maintenance for three buildings on the Centre Block site:

• a) new roof, boiler, fire alarm system, electrical servicing and environmental abatement for the former Legion building @ $120,000;
• b) a new roof for the Mayfair Hotel building at 11 Young Street @$80,000;
• c) new flashing along the edges of the roof of 156-158 King Street @$20,000;
• d) provision of a minimal amount of heat to the Legion building to maintain building stability@ $5,000;
• e) disposal of demolition debris - at the Region's landfill site - of wood and bricks (covered in lead-based paint) from the interior of the Forsyth buildings @ $92,500;
• f) already spent on abatement work @20,890;
• g) further abatement that may be required @ $36,610;
• h) contract to tear down two-thirds of the historic factory in January@ $193,000.
• Total costs charged to EDIF line 3 allocation: $568,000 + 04 line 3 allocation @ $9.7 M = $ 10, 268, 000; but note, this figure does not include previous demolition costs and other charges.
• EDIF fund tally $110,568,000 and do remember $110 M allocation was for the "worst-scenario" cf. previous EDIF post with link
• Why this rush to spend future taxpayer dollars now? why the sudden change of heart ? as noted in report by T. Pender:
  "For the past four months, councillors have deferred decisions on protecting the historic buildings on that block. Heritage Kitchener, a city advisory committee, urged councillors to protect the buildings in November 2005. The only action taken by the city since then was to demolish most of the Forsyth factory, a designated landmark under the Ontario Heritage Act." Link to:
• Cf. also this statement in the press release:
  "Interest has been expressed in preserving some or all of these buildings within Centre Block and these repairs allow us to keep them heated and dry until such time as we determine what their long-term future use will be.'' ===> raises the question, "Who has expressed interest in heritage preservation?" as the recommendation to add these properties to the City's Heritage Register was deferred by Council for the past four months. However, the decision to add these properties to the Register is on tonight's Council agenda. ====> we have spent approx $10.5M plus interest charges in tax increase over the next 15 years for a parking garage (remember KPL has been put on ice) and to give 2.5 acres of land away? to whom?
• Cf. this report from The Record archives:
  " Councillors on the finance committee supported a call yesterday to hold initial discussions of potential partnerships with the private sector behind closed doors. The deliberations at these in- camera meetings would remain confidential." = lead paragraph of article available for purchase @ $3.95 +GST:
  City supports more secrecy; [Final Edition] TERRY PENDER. The Record. Kitchener, Ont.: Nov 22, 2005. pg. B.1 available here:
  http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/therecord/929793751.html?did=929793751&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Nov+22%2C+2005&author=TERRY+PENDER&pub=The+Record&desc=City+supports+more+secrecy

Photo: beams and rubble adjacent to the Forsyth Phase 4 building being demolished during January 06.
"Maybe we should just leave the bricks there to remind us never to do it again," Gazzola said of the rubble pile.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 8:57 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Gowlings/ former Bank of Montreal building (1928-1972), Hamilton, ON: designed by Montreal architect Kenneth G. Rea. The building's steel skeleton is faced with Queenston limestone on a granite base. Arch 0507-10

"We will hear a great deal about progress. Progress does not consist of starting over at every sunrise. Progress consists of the accumulation of achievements. This building is a great achievement, not only historically but as a present living work of art. Progress, truly understood, will find a way to preserve this and other achievements."-- Thomas Stauffer, expert witness advocating preservation of the Chicago's Old Stock Exchange, quoted by Richard Cahen in They All Fall Down (1994).

1. Funding for this program was initially set at $20,000,000 with a subsequent increase to a maximum of $26,000,000 provided total monies lent do not exceed $20 million at any one time.
2. Thus far, fourteen (14) development projects have been approved with a total $18,607,000 loaned to build 952 residential units with a total construction value of $117,380,000.
3. Monies are to be repaid as follows:
   The maximum loan term is five (5) years (subject to prior termination on default). No extension or renewal shall be granted. The loan interest rate will be at 0% interest.. Interest arrears of 15% per annum or such tax arrears
   interest rate as may be established by Council from time to time. The City’s funding will be advanced in three (3) stages, upon completion of sixty percent (60%), eighty percent (80%) and final completion of the proposed development.Principal is repayable in annual amounts of ten percent (10%), in twelve (12) equal monthly payments of the original loan amount. Payments will commence one (1) year following completion of
   construction. The balance outstanding will be paid by a balloon payment at the end of the five (5) year term.
4. Interesting to note in the listing of approved projects are the 9 projects involving heritage building structures of which one is a National Historic Site: Victoria Hall (66-68 King Street East) "Purchased over a year ago, these buildings are of great historic significance and are known as Victoria Hall (1887) and the Foster McKay buildings. The current owners have submitted drawings for a mixed-use building consisting of retail, office and live-work condominiums within the existing building envelopes. The applicant has also submitted, with the assistance of Downtown Renewal staff, an application for federal heritage funding as Victoria Hall is nationally recognized as a heritage building."
5. Further research of Hamilton's Heritage Buildings database, Rambling Rose that Victoria Hall was originally built for a local barrister, is Hamilton's only example of an applied metal facade dating from the 1880's, and is part of a "robustly decorative High Victorian commercial block" and belongs to "a row of seven pre-modern structures which together from a sizeable heritage nucleus that exerts a considerable impact on the Gore stretscape."
6. For more information on this program go to:
   http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/exeres/8E432A8B-CD44-47B0-9BBB-9CD74AE854AC.htm
7. Thus far, Council's initial purchase of Centre Block properties at a cost to the taxpayer of $9.1 milllion plus the costs of the Forsyth demolition (total costs still unknown as of date) has resulted in a pile of rubble adjacent to City Hall with no payback to the city's taxpayers. Elsewhere an investment of $20 million in the form of repayable loans has managed to save heritage structures from demolition even as adaptive re-use options and residential housing are promoted. Rather unbelievable the sheer waste of resources (built heritage and taxpayer dollars) that is happening closer to home !!
8. To think about: "There is a growing need for a new principle of urban continuity so that the connective tissue of architectural design...can be saved in order to remove the raw edges, heal over scar tissue, and link the present to the past and to the future. To save what is best and salvageable from the past is not only an economic, but a strong aesthetic necessity."-- Edward W. Parlee, city attorney pleading for retention of Chicago's Garrick Theatre as quoted by Richard Cahan, They All Fall Down (1994).

# posted by ramblingrose @ 7:04 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

3 days until D-day on Monday 20 March 2006 at 7:00 p.m. City of Kitchener Council Chambers at 7:00 p.m. second floor to the left of the rotunda! Be there!

The 30 days that city council has set aside before granting any kind of approval for the project has almost run out. The banker, the real estate broker, and the condo lawyer, who sit on the Centre Block project steering committee although they do not live in Kitchener or pay taxes here, have already indicated that they see Monday evening's Council deliberations as a 'D-day' event of significance cf. their opinion piece to be found here
http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1142463016048

Rambling Rose ponders a variety of "d's" that will be involved in Monday night's deliberations and decision-making process thus:

1. d as in demolish the Smyth Residence & Art Deco Forsyth factory portion to create another parking lot?

"The pressure for demolition is coming from the project committee trying to redevelop Centre Block, which is bounded by King, Young, Duke and Ontario streets. The committee wants the buildings down to make it easier for the construction of an underground parking garage. If the redevelopment doesn't proceed as planned Proulx said city staff will ask councillors for more money to turn the site into a surface parking lot. 'We have an urgent need to develop parking in that area,' Proulx said. '
http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1141733238862

2. d as in defer/delay building the new main branch library? or rather -- as another political diversion?

"Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr has called for a delay so the city can organize what he calls a citizens' summit to talk about a new 130,000-square-foot central library on the block of land just east of City Hall. Zehr is expected to easily win support for that move because councillors are all too aware of the increasing opposition to the proposed new library just months before councillors must face voters in November's municipal elections." More here: http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1142635825105

3. d as in defer building the main branch library?
"The group overseeing the redevelopment, the Kitchener Public Library-Centre Block Project Committee, wants to see a new library, housing, restaurants, retail and public places included in the makeover. The city has already spent $9.1 million on buying up several buildings and businesses on that block. The total cost of the project would approach $100 million, making it one of the most expensive redevelopments in the province's history outside of Toronto. So far, the city has committed $32.5 million for a special fund, $3.5 million from the sale of the existing Queen Street library and $5 million to help pay for an underground-parking garage. The library board is to raise $5 million. This leaves the city short by at least $10 million. That's why the project committee wants to find a private-sector partner to invest. In exchange, the city will transfer ownership of city-owned land and buildings to the private-sector partner." & note this: the CB steering committee has yet to release the land valuation study with an indication of how valuable the city-owned land has become since purchase. The Queen Street KPL site previously valued at $2.5 million is apparently worth $4.0 million on the current real estate market = + 60% appreciation. If that 60% increase in land value were applied to the Centre Block real estate, those lands + buildings should be factored in at a market value $14.56 million + the premium for prime location beside City Hall and on Kitchener's main street. KPL cost including 180 space underground parking garage for KPL uses @ $58.7 million** but minus the 350 space municipal parking garage less $41.5 commitment from Council as noted above = $41.5 million EDIF (taxpayer funded financing) would leave KPL with a shortfall of $17.2 million -- almost covered if a portion of the taxpayer-owned lands were sold to finance the library. Has anyone yet considered this option as a means of securing the KPL main branch that we need?
http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1142463016048

** $58.7 Million was cost estimage provided Sept 04 by Adventus Research/Impact Analysis and Due Diligence Review of a New Main Kitchener Library
4. d as in decision day?

"March 20 is an important date for Centre Block and the Kitchener Public Library. It may well be the date that a decision is made about including a library on Centre Block. The Centre Block steering committee advocates this:
Stay within the budget allocation of $32.5 million for the library, plus the sale proceeds of the current library and an additional $5.5 million for underground parking. We believe the cost figures provided by the library board consultants can be reduced without compromising the library's final design. The desired library can be provided without compromising the library board requirements or budget."

but here comes the catch:
"If the library cannot be produced on budget, it should not proceed...The contract will require the successful developer to produce the library within budget and to develop the balance of the site in accordance with its approved proposal." Per Record Opinion piece:

http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1142463016048

Rambling Rose has yet to see the plans for developing the balance of the site other than rumours that it will involve achieving maximum density for housing. Another half vacant Regency Towers at the corner of Queen and Weber Streets? This project committee has already indicated it will advise Council to issue a Request for Proposal without a library component -- to build what on 2.5 acres of taxpayer-owned land purchased at cost of $9.1 million from Economic Development Fantasy Fund*? a parking garage? in exchange for the land? at no cost? with no recovery by City of Kitchener taxpayers?

* see EDIF report card below

4. d as in decision to list and protect the remaining city-owned Heritage properties: Mayfair Hotel, Hymmen Hardware, and Bell Telephone Building?

You can still have your say as to what happens with your hard-earned tax dollars:

a) sign the on-line petition found here
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?kitc2006

" Lousley started a petition that calls for big changes to the way the city is handling the project. A copy of the petition will be filed with city council on Monday nightFirst off, Lousley wants city councillors to protect the historic properties on that block. Some of the properties date back to the mid-1800s and were part of the original main street in then-Berlin.For the past four months, councillors have deferred decisions on protecting the historic buildings on that block. Heritage Kitchener, a city advisory committee, urged councillors to protect the buildings in November 2005. The only action taken by the city since then was to demolish most of the Forsyth factory, a designated landmark under the Ontario Heritage Act." More about the petition here: http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1142635825105&call_pageid=1024321927354&col=1024322421753

b) provide comment on the entire Centre Block process here:
www.who-are-you.kitchener.ca

c) phone and e-mail City Council

to ask for 1.)an independent, informed, professional review of the entire plan; 2)a full financial accounting of all EDIF transactions to date.

Contact information is available here:
http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/city_hall/mayor_council/council.html

d) write letters to the editor here:

for Record subscribers, using online form
http://www.therecord.com/opinion/letters/write_letter.html

or via e-mail: letters@therecord.com

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:14 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• EDIF acronym refers to the Economic Development Investment Fund* to $110 M**"created to support investment in the Downtown and to provide opportunity for the growth of the City's manufacturing sector" was approved by Council with recorded vote of 6 in favour, one contra*** per 8 March 2004 council minutes cf below.
• Allocation of monies thus:

1. U of W School of Pharmacy $30 M
2. WLU School of Social Work $6.5 M
3. Land Purchases Centre Block $9.7M
4. Downtown Community Centre $1.7M
5. Gaukel Street/Victoria Park Entrance $0.4 M
6. East side lands/Hwy 7 industrial lands development $12.0M
7. KPL main branch development * $32.5 M
8. Parking solutions $5.5 M
9. Victoria Park Improvements $2.7 M
10. Streetscape Improvements $3.3 M
11. Residential Intensification Incentives $1.0 M
12. Small/Medium Enterprise Development $1.0 M
13. Other $3.7 M

Total thus allocated $110,000,000. * exact wording of clause c) "32.5M be reserved for the potential development of a new main branch library on the clear understanding that this does not indicate a commitment to the project at this time."

* this particular fund is to be financed by a) tax increase i.e. special levy from 2004 to 2014 up to 3%; this year set at 1.65% and b) balance to be raised through debentures ( city takes out loans) to be paid over the next 15 years.

** $110M allocation was for the "worst-case scenario" ====> already there appear to be overruns on this amount? how can the taxpaying public know without full disclosure?

*** the one contra councillor "raise concerns with respect to the public process and the piecemeal approach toward discussion of capital projects. He stated he was not prepared to support any capital expenditures that would require going into debt without more detailed study, consultation and participation by other funding partners." cf. p. 98 of * 8 March 04 Council minutes to be found at this link:

http://webdocs.city.kitchener.on.ca/weblink/index.asp?DocumentID=149030&FolderID=130910&SearchHandle=0&DocViewType=ShowImage&LeftPaneType=Hidden&dbid=0&page=1

# posted by ramblingrose @ 8:09 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Basically the shirts were almost of the same style; what distinguished one shirt style from another was the collar design.Berlin shirtmaker Harry Hagen counselled the young J. D. C. Forsyth to never sacrifice quality. During the years of the Great Depression, marketing staff dreamed up the slogans (see left): "It pays to buy good shirts" and "No one ever regretted buying quality."

80% of shirts produced by Forsyth were the classic white men's dress shirt; the remaining 20% of production captured niche markets and custom orders by the rich, famous, and the hard to fit.

That 20/80 mix perfectly illustrates Pareto's law -- basically that 20% of effort produces 80% of outcome. In the Forsyth story, the personal attention paid to the 20% special order customers established the brand name across the North American continent & provided genuine sincere testimonials for future marketing campaigns.

The focus on quality was shared by all: owners, management, and employees. Rambling Rose remembers teaching the laid-off seamstresses and cutters when the local factories were shut down. What most appalled her students was the loss of quality as in the end they were reduced to stitching "Made in Canada" labels onto shirts that had been entirely produced in Mexico (thanks to NAFTA). They were furious at the cheaper quality of thread used and the fewer number of stitches now being used to attach buttons. In the about-to-be-demolished Smyth Residence --- as note this, although the heritage advisory committee has refused the demolition application by the property owner, that advice can still be overruled at the Council Meeting this Monday 20 March 2006, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers......unlesss? concerned citizens speak up --- well, in that neglected, abandoned, boarded-up Smyth Residence Rambling Rose discerned the founder's vision engraved on his office wall thus:

This meditation on shirts was intended to introduce two related news items from last week's Record:first, the front page story when this writer blurted words she had intended to censor " stink...." and quoted correctly here:
http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1141771816913

as well as the Emperor's promise to call forth a May citizen's summit in an effort to wash the Forsyth shirt clean of any offending odours to be found here (called damage control):
http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1142031020529

& let us not forget the lady lured by similar promises and now jilted in front of the altar: KPL main branch library, one of this city's major assets---

as decked out in a new Easter shirt for Monday's Council session, the Emperor has promised to devote some attention and a few dollars to the remainder of Kitchener's Heritage Block as detailed here:
http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1141733238862

Why not head over to the Mall to look for a Forsyth shirt to wear on Monday night? In remembrance of real quality?

# posted by ramblingrose @ 7:38 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

The January 2006 demolition of the Forsyth factory buildings constituted the "single worst heritage loss in all of Canada" according to the Heritage Foundation of Canada. Photo: Sanamara Images 0604-09

" Elsewhere, these yellow bricks would have been salvaged: "The Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation is looking for approximately 105,000 "old" bricks for an expansion to Government House National Historic Site in Regina. If you know of any vacant or about-to-be demolished yellow brick buildings which may be faced with this kind of brick, please contact the Foundation. In light of the large volume of bricks required, unless a number of houses with the same brick are available, they are probably looking for a two or three storey building, such as a school, hospital, prison, power plant, flour mill, church, business block, etc."-- 2002 request issued by Saskatchewan's Heritage Preservation Planner

1. "Many homes/apartments [factories] built before 1960 have heavily leaded paint...As it peels, paint chips are loosened and can be ingested by children. Another contamination source from lead is lead dust particles. Painted surface friction points, such as window frames and sills, create paint dust...When a lead–based paint surface is broken, sanded or scraped, it breaks into tiny, sometimes invisible, pieces that children can swallow or inhale...Ingesting lead paint and breathing in lead dust is the #1 contributor to lead poisoning, which causes brain damage...Lead poisoning limits a child’s ability to learn, even after a short term exposure. It is estimated that a child’s I.Q. drops 3 points for every 10 micrograms per decileter of lead in their blood. If the child receives prompt medical attention, chances for recovery are very good. However, if the exposure goes undetected, it can bring about permanent damage, causing anything from learning disabilities to severe mental retardation and even death. Children under the age of 7 are much more susceptible to lead poisoining because their developing bodies absorb the lead at 4 times the rate of an adult. http://prolabinc.com/products.asp?kit=leadinpaint
2. Per Mortar: " He [ Facilities Manager] explained the fact that since they were in such a hurry to demolish the building, they didn't do what normally would be done, remove all contamination or environmentally sensitive materials from building first. Now they have to do it while dealing with the rubble, or in this case, the salvaged material...At this stage is would be hard to separate the exterior brick from the interior brick which is not meant to be exposed to the elements. The question came up regarding the cost per brick, which was reported as $1...It is a painstaking job, since they have to be hand picked, each hand vacuumed due to contamination found on them, and then stacked on skids and stored...removing lead paint alone would cost $250,000."
3. Per Trowel: "The most expensive solution is a removal, usually we do repainting or drywalling.
   Sealing the material in, to prevent the creation of lead dust by future abrasion, is considered a perfectly acceptable solution. To be most effective, this would mean drywalling wherever possible. Where not possible (or desirable), remediation would involve repainting with a higher than average quality alkyd enamel (or even latex) paint...Sealing is far less costly, but it avoids the creation of airborne lead particles that is invariably part of the removal process. Once the lead is airborne, getting rid of it ranges from impractical to mpossible."
4. Rambling Rose invites the gentle reader to examine the yellow bricks in the photo above and to note there is no lead paint on them. She continues appalled by the rush to demolish without the benefit of a second opinions by a qualified brick restoration expert and structural engineers as to the instability of the brick facade on the 1900 factory portion and the bowed east wall. She herself noted that the brickwork on two bays of the oldest factory portion would require repointing and parging of the stone foundation. The bowed east wall had previously been secured by tie rods that needed tightening in order to realign the wall. As well, this particular section of the Forsyth needed replacement of the roof membrane. None of these maintenance options were considered by the owner of this designated heritage property purchased with public money for $690,000 and then left to rot and decay. The sheer waste of valuable resources continues to dismay and confound! All done in the name of public safety? that exposed our children to unseen risks? when all that wa required was scaffolding, mortar and a trowel?

Photo of single yellow brick has been taken from the Fernie Historical Society's webpage. The quality of the Forsyth bricks crushed into rubble was much superior. For more about bricks and brickmaking, why not take a cybertour of the Don Valley Brickworks at this url? http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/Brickmaking.htm

Rambling Rose unearths more historical trivia: "It is of interest to note that the while the buff-coloured glacial clays produced yellow bricks, the blue shale produced red bricks." and remembers the proud owner of the Damascus Emporium telling her that it was the expansion of the railways that brought brick to the hinterland & led to the interesting yellow/red brick facade cf. top left photo: Sanamara Images 0402-10.

Locally? Read about the construction of the blacksmith shop at Doon Heritage Crossroads using 18,000 reclaimed yellow bricks: www.region.waterloo.on.ca/WEB/Region.nsf/c56e308f49bfeb7885256abc0071ec9a/5256c38c7a4b74b585256b0b005eb2ee!OpenDocument

One final thought: as development continues to scrape the Waterloo Moraine's glacial clays and sands, yellow bricks will become even more scarce and valuable. Can we continue to waste our built and natural heritage resources?

# posted by ramblingrose @ 7:29 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Forsyth demolition as of 14 January 06 exposes older portions of the factory complex. Demolition proceeded until noon in spite of high north winds and non-removal of environmental hazards as building had been ordered unsafe by CBO. The Forsyth demolition was condemned by the Heritage Foundation of Canada as the single-worst loss of built heritage in Canada in the previous 12 months.Photo: Sanamara Images 0604-25

• What has been salvaged to date? 4 beams, 6 columns, and 6 capitals at a cost of $7,450 & 5 Art Deco bottom-lit lighting fixtures
• Council amended an earlier direction to indicate that bricks from the current demolition would not be required as the City already has approximately 10,000 bricks in storage from a previous demolition;
  10,000 bricks with6 bricks per sq. ft. = about 1,666 sq ft not the 5,000 sq. ft.= saving 30,000 bricks/5,000 sq ft promised earlier cf. the press release
• What has been wasted so far?
• approximately 1,000,000 yellow bricks have been crushed and covered now with environmental hazards (lead paint, asbestos, ) ==> yellow bricks constitute a valuable, scarce restoration materials resource and are in high demand in Japan.
• the 6/6 windows
• maple hardwood flooring as not all of the hardwood had been penetrated by water and could have been salvaged;
• unknown hardwood mill floors used as deck planking i.e. subfloor to the 1x4 maple hardwood flooring above--- 2x4's on edge in the 1900 building phase and demolished; 2 x 6's still present in Smythe Residence and Art Deco portion;
• structural beams both wood and steel.
• painted signage band
• What can still be wasted when the remaining Smyth Residence/Art Deco portions are demolished? == => as Council is not bound by the recommendation of its Heritage Advisory Committee? cherry staircase and cherry millwork in the Smythe residence;
• etched glass windows in the Art Deco factory portion;
• glass block windows in factory;
• round-headed windows: one with 90 panes, two with 46 panes in Smyth residence;
• large rectangular window with 48 panes;
• sash windows: 12/12, 15/15/ and 18/18;
• already missing: Art Deco lighting fixtures attached to columns in non-demolished factory portion;
• decorative chimney stack. Although the painted signage band has been crushed and lies in the rubble pile soon to be removed, Rambling Rose notes the writing on the wall:
  

  "If city councillors vote to demolish the remaining sections of the factory, the 1886-era Smyth residence and the 1937 Art Deco addition, that will further increase the costs of the demolition. The pressure for demolition is coming from the project committee trying to redevelop Centre Block, which is bounded by King, Young, Duke and Ontario streets. The committee wants the buildings down to make it easier for the construction of an underground parking garage. If the redevelopment doesn't proceed as planned Proulx said city staff will ask councillors for more money to turn the site into a surface parking lot. "We have an urgent need to develop parking in that area," Proulx said. Go to: http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1024322398726&c=Article&cid=1141733238862

# posted by ramblingrose @ 3:05 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Electrohome mural on concrete wall of the city-owned parking garage at Duke and Ontario Street -- less than one block away from the soon to be demolished Forsyth Smyth/Art Deco remnants.....for surface parking? Photo: Sanamara Images 0307-20

• Jeff Speck, Urban Planner and co-Author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream has provided City Mayors with a list of ten City Design Resolutions to "make better places....that will make our hearts sing" cf. http://www.planetizen.com/node/138
  Let us begin with Jeff Speck's resolution #2:
  "Overrule the Specialists surrounding you, Your Worship Mayor Carl Zehr. The modern world is full of experts who are paid to ignore criteria beyond their profession. But the specialist is the enemy of the city, which is by definition a general enterprise...Cities need generalists like mayors to weigh the advice of specialists against the common good."
• Followed now by "resolution #4: Hide the Parking Lots."
  The goal of this entire reurbanization project is to bring people not cars back to the downtown. We already have a downtown littered with six parking lots and yet, Council recently approved Parking Feasibility Study DTS 05-160 as discussed in my previous post. Just coming back to that report briefly to look at the most important sentence which I overlooked: "a shortage of parking...especially during the day on a typical weekday when employees are parking in public parking..."
• Who then is creating this parking shortage? I am still mulling these numbers:
  There are approximately 1,800 people living in the King Street area;
  There are approximately 5,619 people working in the downtown core who already have parking provided to them:
  572 are City Kitchener employees with subsidized parking provided at City Hall
  1,036 Manulife employees with access to the King Centre parking lot
  300 Record and 268 Stantec employees have access to the Market Square parking lot.
• City Council needs to disregard the consultant's advice that "...although other sites may be less costly...., it does not make sense to construct parking in areas of the Downtown where there is no demand for such a facility."-- per 26 Sept 05 DTS minutes. The Tyler Study of Downtowns which found that convenient parking was the characteristic least correlated with the downtown health index.as there is no evidence that the amount or quality of parking contributes to downtown health in any significant way. To read the entire study go to: http://www.emich.edu/public/geo/557book/e110.tyler.html
• There is still time to speak up for people downtown and not more boring parking lots!
  Go to http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/ and scroll down to the link Tell us what you think about parking in Downtown Kitchener.
• However, as with most surveys this particular one avoids the discussion as to whether building more garages downtown is the best use of city-owned land at this time.
  To e-mail our Mayor and your City Councillor go to this link: http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/city_hall/mayor_council/council.html

# posted by ramblingrose @ 9:31 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

More buttons to digest?

Rambling Rose, who once purchased her buttons at the Ritchie Button Co, threads a needle and offers up a button card of Forsyth trivia

• photo on right is of Edward Smyth, Berlin dry goods merchant, whose residence is now subject to a demolition application to be reviewed by City of Kitchener Heritage Advisory Committee Tuesday 7 February 06, 4:00 p.m. Council Chambers. Please attend? Source: Berlin, Canada : a self-portrait of Kitchener, Ontario before World War One : being a printing of the complete text of Berlin, celebration of cityhood, a volume published in 1912 by the German Printing & Publishing Co. of Berlin, Limited, and of various other documents & available online at
  http://www.nosracines.ca/e/toc.asp?ID=4278
• Photo top left is button sales sample card, ca. 1945 Sales sample cards like this one were distributed to current and prospective customers. This sample card showcased the coloured plastic buttons the company began manufacturing in the 1940s. The symbol of the beaver, crowning the center arrangement, is taken from the City of Kitchener's emblem. Full story of Dominion Button Co available at
  http://archeion-aao.fis.utoronto.ca/ArcheionVirtualExhibit/button15.html
• elsewhere but have forgotten source, rambling rose learns that Emil Vogelsang (same man who built what is now the Bread and Roses co-op) arrived in Berlin with skills in buttonmaking and an innovative idea to manufacture buttons out of ivory & received loan to do so from another Berlin manufacturer & started the buttonmaking industry locally
• decades later Harry A. Hagen learned how to cut shirts under Horace Messett employed by the Williams, Greene & Rome Co. Messett went on to patent a new improved & with Hagen produced to manufacture in these in Galt. That venture was soon bought out by the Berlin Shirt & Collar Co, where Hagen was appointed manager who finally bought the machinery to make shirts for Aaron Erb on a jobbing basis. These same shirts were sold by John Forsyth (father) and John Claude Derby Forsyth (son) as part of their jobbing business as detailed below. Hagen went on to found the Hagen Shirt & Collar Company whose interests were eventually acquired by J. D. C. Forsyth. Until Hagen arrived on the scene, shirts were made without collars; however, Hagen patented the technology to attach collars to shirts. It was this convenience of a shirt with a collar attached that became the platform for the Forsyth business success over the next century.
• Is it the collar that makes the shirt? It would appear so from the latest Forsyth 05 press release:
  PremiumWear, Inc. ( acquired by Forsyth in 2005) is proud to introduce the innovative No-Curl Collar®® Pique Polo to the promotional products and golf apparel industries. Guaranteed not to curl, a thin, undetectable stay is inserted into the end of the shirt's collar to eliminate curling and help the collar maintain its original, fashionable shape. "This is great technology that keeps your shirt looking its best while on or off the golf course", says Jim Murphy, Vice President of PremiumWear's Golf Division. "The range of available colors and its fabulous price point are sure to make this pique a new favorite in the golf world."
• The company albeit under different ownership is still going strong after more than 100 years. Rambling Rose offers up this profile of the current company's operations & below a link to the company's online catalogue:
  The John Forsyth Shirt Company, Ltd., based in Toronto, Canada, manufactures and imports dress shirts, sport shirts, knitwear, and other apparel, and has been manufacturing men’s dress shirts in Canada since 1903. In the Canadian marketplace, Forsyth markets apparel under license from Pierre Cardin, Dockers, and Daniel Hechter labels, among others, as well as its own Forsyth of Canada label. Forsyth presently supplies product to six of Canada’s top 10 Canadian men’s shirt retailers, and its stable of brands commands a leading Canadian market share of the men’s dress and sport shirt segment. In the US, Forsyth markets neckwear and dress and sport shirts to more than 800 specialty stores and select better department stores. For more information on Forsyth, visit www.forsythshirt.com
• mmm? it all started with buttons made in Berlin & a company slogan/commitment to quality, i.e. "no one ever regretted purchasing quality." Time has proven the wisdom of that vision!

# posted by ramblingrose @ 11:45 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• joined the company in 1908 and soon became vice-president and managing director;
• was Forsyth's longest-serving employee;
• became interim chief when J. D. C. died in 1948
• worked for 55 years. Source: Record 18 June 1983 & 11 August 1956.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 5:13 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Neo-classical portico of Galt Carnegie Library, Cambridge ON. Photo: Sanamara Images 023-16

1. A new main library in the downtown should be a centre of information in the heart of Canada's technology triangle to tap into the cultural infrastructure that's been built in this region in the past 45 years. The infrastructure includes the University of Waterloo, UW's research and technology park, Wilfrid Laurier University, the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics, UW's school of pharmacy and satellite medical school, WLU's graduate school of social work and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).
2. A centre of information should include labs where the public can use software that's otherwise unavailable, and where people can hone their skills to land jobs in the digital economy
3. With the opening of downtown satellite campuses, a lot of brain power and talent will move into the core and there should be a forum that brings the public into that sector of the economy. Books will be important, but a centre for information should be much more than a warehouse for rows of stacks.
4. the centre for information he envisions would provide opportunities for partnerships with high-tech firms in the region that would lower those costs.
5. Can Kitchener afford this? Well, when you add the money earmarked by the city for the project to the funds set aside for parking, cash from the economic development investment fund, the dollars that could flow from fundraising and the proceeds from the sale of the old library, you have a pot of $50 million the city could draw upon.This money could be spent without pushing the tax rate above the rate of inflation for the next 10 years. Meanwhile, Phillip H. Carter, a Toronto-based architect who has worked on 50 libraries, has said that $50 million could give Kitchener a building of which generations to come could be proud.
6. Story at:
   http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1141339817404&call_pageid=1024322645917
7. Editorial at:
   http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1140824438615&call_pageid=1024322398726&col=1024322199505
8. "Let's forgo thinking about a traditional library, a brick or concrete box that serves as a repository for words on paper. Let's free our imaginations and envision an information institute tied to the new technology and linked, in some kind of partnership, with our local, cutting-edge industries and places of higher earning." .... aha! yes, indeed! Rambling Rose ponders a different P3 as in public-public partnership with the universities and CIGI to create the knowledge cluster in downtown Kitchener and so to keep the mental wheels constantly turning? an entirely new paradigm & we are so close...walking distance from the new library to Wilfrid Laurier School of Social Work, the Children's Museum, the School of Pharmacy....now why did it take a ray of Sunshine to make the connection? Thank you, Sunshine!
   

# posted by ramblingrose @ 11:02 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Art Deco 1937 rooftop restaurant, Forsyth Factory, Kitchener ON. Photo courtesy Forsyth family archives.

Forsyth, the family-owned and operated manufacturing company, was sold in 1973 to Dylex, a conglomerate; both sons John and James stayed on as directors.

• 1976 James R. E. Forsyth ( 1931-1976), sales manager and vice-president and member of company's 20 yar club
• 1983 Forsyth workers members of Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers vote to accept contract giving them wage increases to $$5.96 the first year, $6.24 the second plus benefits worth about $1.25
• 1992 Forsyth moves from Kitchener & Waterloo to Cambridge location to work at the Penmans sportswear subsidiary. In all 340 workers from K-W were asked to apply for jobs in Cambridge.Company offered a day-care allowance ($100 per month per child) and subsidized transportation to the Cambridge plant. Forsyth had previously purchased Penmans out of bankruptcy. At this time, Forsyth is importing approximately 60% of the shirts it sells. ==> Industrial properties empty or vacated as a result of the recession in K-W include: Deilcraft, Greb, Seagram, Sunar-Hauserman, Uniroyal Goodrich.
• 1999 Forsyth applies to demolish the Kitchener plant but is blocked by City of Kitchener Council Part IV heritage designation. According to Councillor Ziegler, "Everybody who was born in Kitchener has a relative who lived there." Mayor Carl Zehr believes the designation is a "misguided gesture." Forsyth says it can no longer spend more than $100,000 per year for maintenance and has been unable to find a buyer for the property. The factory complex is for sale for $1,000,000. The Record 2 November 1999
• 2001 Forsyth purchases rights to Arrow brand shirts and plans to shut down the Arrow plant in Kitchener employing 250 workers and becomes engaged in labour dispute over transferring employees to Cambridge plant.
• 2003 John Edward Claude Forsyth (1925-2003) was president of John Forsyth Co. Ltd. from 1948 to 1973. During that time, the family business grew from a modest distributing company to one of the top shirt manufacturing businesses in Canada. John was a reserved man who liked to read books and take long walks. His wife Sheila described him as "very serious, very quiet." An employee remembers that "he always had time for people." -- Record, 21 Jan 2003

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:48 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Detail of front facade of Galt Carnegie Library, Cambridge ON. Photo: Sanamara Images 0252-20

1. the library needs to retain control over the design of the new main branch because library buildings are much more complex than most people realize
2. "we are the people who bring expertise to the table about how libraries function, but we are also the people who at the end of theconstruction, at the end of this project, have to live with the building and make it work"
3. "We don't want to have the same kind of experience the city has had with themarket," Lewis said. The King Street East market was a design-build deal with a private-sector partner. And before the market has seen its second birthday, city staff have compiled a list of improvements worth more than $800,000 they believe themarket needs. The way the market is designed makes it difficult to bring large trucks onto the public square for unloading into the second floor. There is no freight elevator either, and outdoor vendors are stashed inside the parking garage during the winter.
4. The new library must have a "wow" factor to attract people to that part of the core and have a meaningful economic impact. That won't happen if it is stocked with obsolete computer equipment and stacks that have many items beyond the reach of most people, Lewis said.
5. Lewis is supported by Phillip Carter, a Toronto-based architect who workedon the preliminary plans for the Centre Block library and who has worked onabout 50 library projects across the country.Carter said none of the library projects he worked on turned over the designof the building to a private-sector developer. Normally, a library board hires an architect who plans and designs the building. Then the library board issues a tender and selects a winningbuilder from among the competing bids, Carter said."That's the standard way of doing it," Carter said. Carter said this is a fair way of doing public work by all.
6. Source:
   http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1139611817663&call_pageid=1024322645917

# posted by ramblingrose @ 9:16 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Forsyth building corner Duke and Young Streets. Photo credit: Forsyth family archives

• 1903 John Forsyth and son J. D. C. start jobbing pins, thread, sweat pads, buckles, hat pins, combs, beads, celluloid collars and buttons. Shirts manufactured by Berlin Shirt and Collar Company are added to the line. Later Hagen Shirt and Collar Company manufactures shirts exclusively for Forsyth. Eventually Forsyth purchases Hagen's equipment and begins national distribution.
• 1914 Forsyth purchases William Kress Co in Waterloo to expand the underwear and pajama department & the Star Whitwear Co cor Duke and Young in Kitchener. Firm now has 80 employees and salesmen travelling across Canada.
• 1916 Forsyth purchases Market building in Waterloo to produce pajamas and athletic underwear; the building's floor space was doubled two years later.
• 1928 Forsyth adds new warehouse and modern laundry to Kitchener plant; 500 employees and 26 salesmen.
• 1931 Forsyth adds to product line: cravats, scarves and handkerchiefs; expands with 4 storey addition to Kitchener plant with dining room and roof garden for employees.
• 1939-45 further expansion adds 3,600 sq ft to manufacture products other than shirts. Sport shirts become increasingly popular. Purchase 8,000 sq ft building in St. Mary's.
• 1948 JDC Forsyth dies and oldest son John Edward Forsyth becomes president; son James R. E. Forsyth becomes sales manager. Wellesley plant opens to manufacture pajamas and boxer shorts; Waterloo plant manufactures sport and leisure shirts.
• 1953 Waterloo plant adds 11,000 and is largest sport shirt plant in Canada.
• 1956 Forsyth employs 600 in Kitchener-Waterloo & has total 140,000 sq ft of manufacturing space.
• By 1956, Forsyth has become one of Canada's big three in shirt manufacturing (chief rival is Cluett Peabody Co of Canada) and is also one of Kitchener's dwindling family-owned businesses & the last privately owned manufacturer of shirts. All shirts are basically the same construction with the exception of the collar, which gives each shirt individuality. Almost 80% of production is taken up with white shirts; custom orders are prepared for statesmen, boxers with large neck sizes, and shirt for oilmen with dome fasteners.
• 1961 Lady Forsyth shirts ($3.95 - $11.95) and ladies pajamas ($4.95 to $11.00) are added to the product line.
• 1963 Forsyth Co signs licensing agreements to produce shirts in Trinidad for export to West Indies, Great Britain, Ghana and Nigeria.
• 1964 starts exporting shirts to Hong Kong and Hawaii as its export markets in Britain and Europe are smothered by there by imports from Japan and Hong Kong. "We've found that our Canadian reputation for impressive, immaculate white shirts follows us around the globe. We're out-competing and outstyling our British competitors and we'e giving our American competitors a darn good run for their money."---- James Forsyth, vice-president.
• 1965 Forsyth forms Quebec company St. Jean Forsyth Co with plants in St. Jean and Napierville, PQ. This is the first time a shirt company in central Canada has expanded into Quebec. Now employs more than 800 in Kitchener, Waterloo, and Wellesley.
• 1966 Forsyth completes franchise agreements with firm in Panama.
• 1968 $100,000 fire in Wellesley plant in old two-storey Reiner brick building dating to 1863 as a knitting factory.
• 1973 Dylex Ltd. of Toronto purchases the family-owned Forsyth Co as well as Mylord Shirt Mfg and Bluestone Shirt Co, both of Toronto ending 70 years as family-owned and operated manufacturer (1903-1973).
• Source: K-W Record, 11 August 1956; Financial Post, 2 May 1964.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 7:40 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

Galt (Carnegie) Public Library in Cambridge ON. Photo: Sanamara Images 0235-14

• 129,000 gsf (current 82,850 gsf = + 55.7% )to provide for 100,000 additional population and expansion for toal population of 500,000 to provide adult services (71,680 gsf), children's library (25,600 gsf), and young adult services (5,120 gsf).
• Basic components: adult collections and services 44,020 gsf + popular reading library 3,500 gsf =47,520 gsf to adults; children's 25,600 gsf + young adults 5,120 gsf=30,720 gsf===> 78,240 gsf requiring stacks
• Administrative: technical services 3,200 gsf + operations/maintenance 1,700 gsf+ circulation 1,830 gsf + administration 1,800 gsf + staff amenities 1,200 gsf +storage 500gsf = 10.230 gsf
• Specialized functions: rare books/local history 5,000 gsf; newspapers and current periodicals 2,255 gsf; reference centre 1,200 gsf; information centre 975 gsf;
• meeting room and auditorium complex @ 4,500 gsf.
• Estimated library cost ranged from $43.75 M to $51.05 M
• Cf. Beckman & Levitt Goodman
  http://www.kpl.org/New_Central_Library/Assessment.pdf
• Public perception of the role of the public library is remarkably consistent across gender,
  age, location of residence, and which KPL location, if any, was used. Kitchener residents
  value the library as a source of timely, accurate and useful information, as a place to
  borrow current high-demand, high-interest materials in a variety of formats for persons of all ages, and for its contribution to learning and education. Eighty percent (80%) of survey respondents feel it is very important that the public library helps people learn by providing resources and assistance.
  http://www.kpl.org/New_Central_Library/SOLS%20Report_KPL%20Survey%20Results2.pdf
• Do we need a larger, improved basic library? In 2006, main branch serves 203,417 with 81,850 gsf = 40.2 gsf per capita but recommended standard at .55 gsf per capita would require 111,879 gsf space to meet current needs. Hence, the present main library is only 73% on target for the space required as of 2006. The proposed expansion to 129,000 less 111,879 recommended standard = 17,121 gsf or 15% increase in space to meet population growth by 2016 & less than the 23 % population increase projected above. cf. project update at http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/pdf/kpl_centreblock/kpl_information_report_feb_6.pdf

# posted by ramblingrose @ 6:03 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Who is JDC?

• J. D. Claude Forsyth (1885 - 1948) was the son of John Forsyth and Elizabeth Brock. As young man, he worked for A. O.Boehmer and was in charge of men's wear departement. Later he entered into business with his father under firm name of Forsyth-Kimmel, wholesale dealers in buttons and tailor supplies. He added a shirt jobbing department and finally started a plant of his own. The business expanded rapidly and in 1917 he took over Star White Wear on Young Street. He married Georgina Herteis with whom he had 5 children: John, James, June, Joy, and Jane.
• When Harry Hagen was head of Berlin Shirt & Collar Co., [John Forsyth], manufacturers' agent for tailors' trimmings and buttons, sold some of his shirts. In 1906, Mr. Forsyth began the manufacture of shirts and engaged Mr. Hagen to make them. From that seed has sprung the ntarionally known house of John Forsyth Ltd., makers of shirts, collars, neckwear, pajamas, and underwear, of which the founder's son, J. D. C. Forsyth is president.
• John Forsyth & Co. Wholesale Dealers in buttons, Smallwares, and Novelties: "Few wholesale businesses are increasing more rapidly than theirs, the first six months of 1906 nearly doubling the same period in 1905... they may be justly termed the button house of Canada. They deal not only in all domestic lines of buttons but also import heavily of the foreign article. Within the past six months they have branched out by taking over the business of the Berlin Shirt and Collar Co. and the well known "Favorite" brand of shirts, collars, and cuffs, is now carried by their travellers. The firm gives special attention to mail orders and pay all express charges. Mr. John Forsyth, the head of the firm, has associated with him his son Claude as an active partner." -- Source Berlin Today
• From K-W Record 8 Sept1977 more historical trivia: in 1929, full-time pay was $6 a week during the depths of the Depression when "lucky to get a job. People were lining up at the Salvation Army soup kitchen and many rode the freight trains from city to city looking for work.... approximately 500 employees in 1927.... most of shirt material then was cotton imported from England....company was sold in 1973 to Dylex Ltd. of Toronto
• "We used to feel like we were part of a big family with J. D. C. Forsyth as the father. But times change everything and most of the family businesses in this area are now gone. ... [long-time employee] remembered "J. D. C. as a kind man who lent him one of his cars for special occasions. [J. D. C.] was also one of the instigators of the Rotary Club here and did a lot of work for children who had club feet."

# posted by ramblingrose @ 4:39 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Carnegie library in historical Galt downtown, Cambridge ON. Photo: Sanamara Images 0252-13

• According to the Mayor, it would be difficult to turn around the lack of public support for a library in time for 20 March 06 Council meeting. Accordingly the Centre Block committee intends to proceed with Plan B to issue Request for Proposal for redevelopment of Centre Block without a library --- possibly a high-density residential buildings for the 2.5 acres of city-owned land the block.
• However, KPL CEO argues that the apparent lack of support for a main library in that location results from comments regarding the Forsyth demolition and the Centre Block redevelopment process are being misinterpreted as opposition to a new library. "Because the library is the only known project destined for that site I think a lot of the feelings about the site itself, and what's happening, the demolition of the Forsyth, the Centre Block process, are being directed at the library," she said.
• More at:
  http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1141339817404&call_pageid=1024321927354&col=1024322421753

# posted by ramblingrose @ 1:54 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

• online? www.who-are-you.kitchener.ca
• public meeting: Thursday 9 March 06, 7 to 9 p.m. @ St. Timothy's Catholic School, 18 bechtel Drive
• public meeting: Tuesday 28 March 06, 7 to 9 p.m. @ Forest Heights Community Centre
• sign petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/kitc2006/petition.html
• online vote for library: http://www.davesturgeon.com/ Note when Rambling Rose voted: 82.3% wanted library on Centre Block vs 17.3% who said No to the question

Interesting statistics to ponder:

• 53% of Kitchener residents describe themselves as a) suburban stability seekers @ 22%; b) small town stalwarts @ 16%; or c) small town protectors @ 15%;
• 47% of residents see themselves as a) community activators @ 22%; b) urban promoters @ 16%; and c) fringt dwellers @ 9%.
• city is equally divided between a) community activators+urban promoters; and b) suburban stability seekers + small town stalwarts;
• most interesting imbalance @ 6% is the dynamic that pits a) small town protectors against b) fringe dwellers.
• Source who are you Kitchener study 06.

# posted by ramblingrose @ 1:39 PM 0 Comments Links to this post