Shirt Tales

1. Sexton of the only Georgian Palladian round church in all of Canada gave Rambling Rose a personal tour of this historic structure (www.roundchurch.ca and also www.historicplaces.ca ). Apparently 3 boys got into the basement of the church to play with matches and created $6,000,000 worth of damage in 1994. Congregation set out to restore the church in its entirety and has done so with a variety of donations and fundraisers-- next weekend there will be another giant garage sale. Noteworthy is this: if the desire/will to preserve heritage is there, it will be preserved. RR was engrossed in photographing the remarkable cupola when a passerby pointed out the Halley's comet on top of it and issued the invite to visit the inside. Church has website www.roundchurch.ca and click on history for the story and images?
2. Halifax heritage works and RR found many streetscapes showing that it is possible to keep what is old and valued and blend it harmoniously with new. Finally determined what is so jarring about the Berlin streetscape in downtown Kitchener where the juxtaposition of Berlin Georgian/ High Victorian commercial architecture with post-modern glass curtain wall buildings reveals an unresolved conflict-- with the Berlin Georgian/High Victorian showing signs of a disdainful neglect! We do have the facade restoration program to help downtown merchants restore a pride of place-- two examples of restored facades include the Walper Hotel and the Weber Chambers housing the Casablanca bookstore. Why not more?
3. From the downhomer, a Newfoundland publication for those Newfies who have moved away to find work, these thoughts: " Many... in the province speak of the value of heritage, but few do actually anything to preserve it. Every day of the week another natural treasure is lost to the bulldozer of the developers, or a priceless historic building is torn down through ignorance or in the name of progress. Just as often an antique worth hundreds, or more, is tossed into the dump. The lesson is simple: If you don't value what you have, you will lose it. And once it's gone, you won't get it back." --- Source: www.downhomer.com
4. Discovered that the young travellers sharing this hostel with me overnight are taking part in an excursion of eastern canada mounted by salty bear adventure travel & appeared to be having such fun. More at www.saltybear.com
5. Today's challenge? issued by photographer Ruth Bernhard: "If you can't find something worthy to photograph within 40 feet of where you stand, you are not seeing... you must look with eyes that are awake to the extraordinary within the ordinary."
6. Next to see? the Halifax public gardens and the Citadel NHS

Labels: built heritage

# posted by ramblingrose @ 9:06 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Labels: adventures

# posted by ramblingrose @ 4:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Gentle readers, who can correctly caption this photo: what is it? where can it be found? more details please? Rambling Rose invites you to use the comment button below this post to offer up your insights.

RR continues spring-cleaning tasks & has posted the following blogs as papers are filed and/or deleted:

• how to manage change? draws comparisons with the Vancouver experience here: www.busyberlin.blogspot.com
• design your downtown & provide input to City of Kitchener urban design guidelines here: www.busyberlin.blogspot.com
• the Vancouver model suggests we save every heritage building : www.busyberlin.blogspot.com
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Labels: built heritage

# posted by ramblingrose @ 4:58 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

• Brownstone is a soft, sedimentary stone that, here in Connecticut's Central Valley, is found in horizontal beds close to the earth's surface. It was deposited about 200 million years ago, when Africa and North America were wrenching away from each other to form the Atlantic Ocean. A series of continental rift basins, known collectively as the Newark Supergroup, formed as long, narrow, sediment-filled valleys stretching from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. One of them, the Hartford Basin, consists of deposits of sand and mud with a high feldspar content. These deposits are cemented with ferric oxides that give the stone its characteristic reddish-brown or chocolate-brown color.
  http://www.oldhousejournal.com/magazine/2004/july/brownstone.shtml
• Used in middle-class neighborhoods of East Coast cities between 1820 and 1890, brownstone offered a handsome Italianate-style veneer as well as the prestige of stone--considered more sophisticated than the mundane brick structure it covered. It was also easy to quarry, inexpensive, plentiful, and soft enough for fine carving and honing, making it a favorite among 19th-century masons.
  http://www.oldhousejournal.com/magazine/2002/June/savingface.shtml
• Demolished in 1972 : CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY brownstone building in downtown Hamilton:Date Built: Pre-1883; rebuilt after fire in 1929. ARCHITECTURE/Size: Five-storey; Architect, Builder: Architect Richard Waite of New York; Design and Style: Gothic Construction Materials: Connecticut brown stone; Main Architectural Feature: Copper roof; display windows; charging horsemen clock. In memoriam: cybertour here
  http://collections.ic.gc.ca/hamilton_tour/canadalife.htm
• About to be demolished in Kitchener? 48 Ontario Street North/ the Bell Telephone Building (1914??) & most recently the Royal Canadian Legion from c. 1946 - c. 2001. Currently owned by city who has deferred reaffirming its listed status on the City's Heritage Register & hence, this heritage property has no protection under PPS05. Some key players of the Centre Block project steering committee made suggestions that it should be given away without conditions to the private developer. Irony upon irony here as the City proposes to drive downtown development by creating a knowledge/education cluster that focusses on innovation and.....and.....and .... is totally oblivious to the quantum leap in communications technology that funded this Classical Revival brownstone building!
  http://forsythkitchener.blogspot.com/2006/04/next-to-go-to-landfill-48-ontario.html
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Labels: built heritage

# posted by ramblingrose @ 3:38 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Labels: Forsyth

# posted by ramblingrose @ 7:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

• start assembling a block of land cf. above to be turned into a parking lot: Lyric & Sports Cafe @ $3, 950,000 + $450,000 to buy 114-120 King + $258,000 to buy 106 King W (Odyssey Night club) + $200,000 for 106 King W (JHS Sports International) = $4,453,000;
• demolish the block and pave it over into parking spots @ unknown total costs;
• for good measure, expropriate and demolish another city block all in the name of improving public morality;
• cut a deal with a private developer to build a new market building that vaguely looks like a barn but soon becomes a white elephant requiring more and more taxpayer $'s to try to make it work; forget while you are doing it, that location, location, location is everything and move the historic market from its central downtown location down the street
• at election time in 03, promise to build a new central library closer as part of the redevelopment project and then drive up the estimated building costs by including a new underground parking garage as part of building that library
• if all else fails and the final exam approaches i.e. the next municipal election 06 and the student still is failing to catch the spark, call for a public forum to have the taxpayers decide what you are to do next to justify such a large investment of taxpayer dollars that has yet to produce the desired return
• from the 2004 Downtown Monitoring Report, the following statistics re downtown parking facilities:

1. total 17 parking lots provide 1,466 monthly parking spaces: only 1,237 parking spaces were being used yielding an excess of 229 parking spaces per month
2. of the 240 monthly parking spaces in the Your Kitchener Market building, only 64 were being used yielding an excess of 176 parking spaces per month
3. there are some 725 hourly spaces available in the downtown

• Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray has this to say about parking lots:
  "When I moved to Winnipeg, I was in my late 20s, and I lived downtown in this cement block ugly building called Holiday Tower North. It’s really a tribute to utilitarianism. There is no sense of design or warmth. It was pretty awful. And I looked out at a sea of parking lots. But then I went and got lost trying to find my way home. And I walked around the historic warehouse district and banking district and looked at the old parks and the old buildings and said, "They used to think about this city differently." They used to build amazing architecture and they lined the trees with these magnificent elms and they have this great sense of public space. There was a time when this city thought itself a great place to live. And then I looked at the new construction and the utilitarian, boring, poured concrete formula of nowhere, at the sea of gravel parking lots that populated the central business district and I said "It’s been a long time since people took pride." And then I got to understand the discount mentality that pervades many Canadian cities. Build it cheap, build it ugly. There is no tolerance in government to do it differently, and part of that is driven by taxes. If you impoverish city governments, you impoverish the cultural values and the economic possibilities for change, you create a utilitarian set of values. Utilitarian is price-based...by saving 10 percent and building it ugly, it means you are not leaving a legacy that anyone is going to celebrate. And when you think of the cities in the world that you want to go to and live in, where you’d want to spend your money, where you want to participate in the creation of wealth and ideas, they’re the beautiful places. The idea of utilitarian values is that geography of nowhere. It’s the K-Marts, it’s the ‘everything looks the same’. And that is what city councils do to try and increase their tax base and because it’s easy, and how can you be anti-development? Especially when you’re poor."
• From a 2003 issue of Imprint: Downtown Kitchener on the upswing? by Cory Bluhm*- Special to Imprint
  Many UW students have a perception that downtown Kitchener is a dirty, run-down place, filled with freaks, crazies and lots of purple hair. Most students share the opinion that uptown Waterloo is the preferred location for shopping, entertainment and alcoholic consumption, as opposed to downtown Kitchener. ..the exciting development opportunities slated to commence within the next year. These include the Tricar luxury condo tower at Queen and Weber, the redevelopment of the centre block (currently home to the Lyric), and the reconstruction of the Metropolis night club (soon to be known as The Waxx night club).
  The city also showcased plans for the new Kitchener Market. Located at King and Scott Streets, this $26.4- million structure will house year-round vendors (farmers, butchers, bakers, florists and artisans), 60 luxury condominium units (similar to the Seagram's lofts), and an open-air piazza. Great efforts are being made to erase the negative perceptions that many have of downtown Kitchener. Through public-private partnerships and investment, the appeal of Kitchener's core is on the upswing. The 18,500 residents and 11,500 employees in downtown Kitchener are already aware of the character, vibrancy and excitement that encompasses the urban evolution that is underway. Within a few years, the perception held by many UW students may also see an evolution as downtown Kitchener becomes the preferred place to live, work, study, shop and be entertained in the region of Waterloo." =====> three years later, have U of W students changed their perception about downtown KItchener? Source: http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca/story.php?f=2&t=1331&i=&v=f&story=1331
• Editor's note: * Bluhm is now a planner with City of Kitchener working on intensification of the downtown.

Labels: land use, urban planning

# posted by ramblingrose @ 3:30 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

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• notes taken during this past week's ramblings:
• Photos L to R counterclockwise: carved tree stump found in Shingletown; La Joie's early spring flowers; urban sprawl strips bare the Waterloo Moraine's till layers; Bleans Road aggregate pit to be rehabilitated into housing subdivision. Sandamara Images 2004-6.
• Region of Waterloo unanimously approved the ROPP amendments required to create two Environmentally Sensitive Landscapes and to halt urban sprawl this week! A magnificent accomplishment and congratulations to Regional Staff who created an outstanding document based on landscape planning.
• As for the rest, Rambling Rose has been busy tilling her soil...tilling means digging with a spade into clay--that's right-- clay! the same yellow clay used to make the bricks in so many older Kitchener homes. When Rambling Rose acquired the property, it had two magnificent maple trees, two rather large tree stumps, and a lawn set in approximately two inches of top soil over rock hard impervious clay. Every fall and/or spring, RR digs into the clay, deposits approximately 6 inches of leaves, and then sifts the soil over in order to remove the rocks and the clay (aka sheet composting). The clay is composted with more leaves and grass in a large open pit beside the shed & the rich, crumbly harvest is used to topdress and mulch shrubs and other perennials. To speed up the composting cycle, Rambling Rose heads over to the Baden Feed Mill to purchase a) lime to balance the soil's acidity; b) urea (mmm? you guessed it .....granular p**s) which is pure nitrogen and fires up the compost quite quickly and combines quite nicely with the 17 nutrients found in decaying leaves that are essential to growing plants and shrubs. Rather proud of that rich, brown soil in the flowerbed with the crocuses above-- as I made it by my own toil. As to all that soil so recklessly being discarded in grading operations??? Rambling Rose continues aghast that man can so easily discard what it has taken Nature more than 12,000 years to provide! More in today's blog " Soil Basics ....For starters, this graph from left to right: Before European settlement, all of these lands were covered in dense forests and rain water either moved into the air (evapotranspiration) or into groundwater/interflow. As the forests were cleared, the amount of groundwater began to decrease significantly depending on land use-- posted to www.shirttails.blogspot.com

Labels: land use

# posted by ramblingrose @ 8:41 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Photos? to your left, may I introduce one of the most colourful characters in Canadian history? Dr. William ("Tiger") Dunlop (1792-1848) who surveyed & supervised the building of the Huron Road & finally settled in Goderich. Tiger never went into the wilderness without his twelve apostles. And to your right, the man of letters/Scottish novelist who founded the City of Guelph in 1827 by chopping down a maple tree & then hosting a wilderness party to celebrate--John Galt (1779-1839). John Galt was one of several Scottish visionaries who dreamed settlements in the wilderness of Upper Canada and made them happen!

today's mental ramblings:

• the cost of development can be measured in the loss of water volume according to Dr. Dean Fitzgerald, a delegate to Region of Waterloo Council. The cost works out to 1% loss of water volume per day @ $1,800,000 per year.
• the cost to our regional biodiversity? the rare Jefferson salamander (habitat vernal ponds) is used as bait and being sold at Home Depot in Waterloo-- outrageous predation!
• "I purchased my large Wilmot Twp estate as a hedge against inflation" -- delegate opposed to Laurel Creek Headwaters ESL designation at last night's council meet====> prompts this
• ground water table is already lowering & the region is running short of water -- per another delegate
• this community can take pride in all Regional Councillors who voted unanimously to support the amendments to the ROPP to create two Environmentally Sensitive Landscapes as noted by one Councillor "this is the right thing to do at the right time!" & Rambling Rose agrees and notes this wonderful good news story
• for those who can make it: public information session re the Bridgeport Bridge reconstruction/replacement tonight from 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. @ 59 Bridge Street West in the Bridgeport School Gym!

Labels: history, land use

# posted by ramblingrose @ 2:29 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. The Spin? this invitation received from City's Marketing & Communications department: "As you are aware, workers at the former Forsyth factory site got a bit of a surprise in recent days when they uncovered a time capsule behind the date stone of the 1937 Art Deco building which fronts Duke Street. The City's Corporate Records Management and Archives Services staff assisted in the removal of the tin box and have since ensured its proper handling and storage. The only question that really remains is...What's in it? Corporate Records Management and Archives Services staff has been working with Corporate Communications to plan the opening of the time capsule. It will be opened next Friday (May 12), beginning at 11 a.m. in the Council Chambers at Kitchener City Hall. If you are able to, please join us for what should be an interesting and fun Friday morning! Staff will open the capsule and extract its contents and, as they do so, their work will be projected up onto the large overhead screen via the chamber's ELMO projection system. Those viewing the opening will be asked to sit in the audience gallery. That way, audience members will be able to see what is happening (via the projection), but they will be distanced from staff working on the capsule - allowing staff to work comfortably and with the utmost care. I hope that you can join us."

the spin element? Thanks to the alertness and astuteness of the founder JDC Forsyth's grandson there actually is a time capsule to be opened on Friday. Tim cosied up to the firm dismantling the Art Deco facade and learned from them the time when the date stone would be removed & in all likelihood, alerted them to remove the bricks covering this capsule well in advance. RR alerted the planner, who alerted Corporate Services, who in turn alerted Marketing and Communications -- used to be called public relations with experties in turning bad news into good news. RR knows all about that having instructed Communications I and II students in the fine art of writing good news, bad news memoranda.

2. More spin? or a true democratic process?: today's notice from City Council announcing "We want to hear from you" -- now? after the decision to demolish the Forsyth building was made by one official and although it was within Council's mandate to request a second opinion re the safety issue none was requested????....but the drama continues to unfold with

a) Citizen's Town Hall Meeting Monday 23rd May, 6:30 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall & here is the promissory note to be cashed in by readers of this blog: "All citizens attending will have an opportunity to express their views."-- could we hold an all-night Town Hall meeting followed by a breakfast in the Rotunda as an exercise in collaborative decision-making and empowerment? what an idea!

b) Citizen's Panel Discussion, Tuesday 30 May 5:30 p.m. -- same promise to all citizens attending as in a) above but interesting lead: "Having listened to their fellow citizen's (spelling mistake, shame on you Marketing Department), members of the Citizens' (correct spelling this time) Panel will be discussing ......and on and on. Grammar here indicates that the it is the Citizens' Panel that will be doing the listening --- what about Council?

c) you can also comment at City's website: www.city.kitchener.on.ca or phone 519-741-2602

2. The counter-spin? another invite received via e-mail and now broadcast via this blog:
I Believe In Kitchener is hosting a rally to allow citizens an opportunity to commiserate with each other over the state of the City of Kitchener. It is the hope that all citizens and groups who are frustrated with the City will come to hear speakers and have an opportunity to share their thoughts as well. Concerned citizens throughout the region are also encouraged to stand by their Kitchener neighbours.

Voice Your Anger. Voice Your Vision.
Tuesday May 23, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Rally for Kitchener
Meet at CentreBlock
Hosted by I Believe In Kitchener

Please share this with your friends and neighbours, so we can illustrate that we as citizens believe in our home and its potential.

Questions: ikitchener@gmail.com or Steve at 745-5758

Labels: Forsyth

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

• to check urban sprawl
• to increase the viability of the public transit system
• to protect much of our drinking water
• to preserve a shared and irreplaceable natural heritage.
  
  I call on you to declare these two areas as environmentally sensitive landscapes and save them for all time, for all of our sakes.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  & send to these contacts or make a phone call? Contacts for Regional Council:
  Ken Sieling * - Chairman - sken@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4585
  Jane Brewer - Cambridge - bjane@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3402
  Mike Connolly - Waterloo - cmike@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3414
  Doug Craig * - Cambridge - cdoug@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3404
  Kim Denouden * -
  North Dumfries- dekim@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 307
  Herb Epp * - Waterloo - eherb@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3400
  Tom Galloway - Kitchener - gtom@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3401
  Jean Haalboom* - Kitchener - hjean@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3406
  Ross Kelterborn - Wellesley - kross@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3410
  Claudette Millar - Cambridge - mclaudette@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3408
  Jane Mitchell - Waterloo - mjane@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3411
  Wayne Roth * - Wilmot - rwayne@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3412
  Jake Smola - Kitchener - sjake@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3413
  Bill Strauss * - Woolwich - sbill@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3405
  Jim Wideman * - Kitchener - wjim@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3409
  Carl Zehr * - Kitchener - zcarl@region.waterloo.on.ca
  Phone: 575-4404 x 3403
  * Planning and Works Committee Member
  
  

Labels: land use, water

# posted by ramblingrose @ 12:11 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

• " a good way of thanking property owners for supporting the $110,000,000 economic development fund that was set up in 2004 [i.e. just after this Council was elected-- who, upon assuming office, had tried to vote themselves an outrageous pay increase]"
• "a good way to show some goodwill in the community"
• "good to get it to the taxpayers as quickly as possible"

however, there are clouds moving in on the sunny autumn election horizon as these asides from the main script reveal:

• "wanted to make it clear this was a one-time adjustment to bring the 2006 tax rate to zero"
• "the increased cost of natural gas and water" note: City sets these rates ==> another form of 'off-book' financing? giving with one hand and taking with another?

Who said what? Story online at this link:

• From the staff report, the following motion: "That a hearing be held under the authority of the Municipal Act, 2001, to determine whether or not to revoke, suspend or impose conditions as a requirement of continuing to hold Adult Entertainment Parlour (Class E) Licence 20 06 000286 01 L6, issued to 2027625 Ontario Ltd for The Doll House, 6 Bridge Street W.; and,....2027625 Ontario Ltd. was issued an Adult Entertainment Parlour Licence under Chapter 502 of the Municipal Code. The establishment is commonly referred to as a Strip Club and has been operated by 2027625 Ontario Ltd. for the past 2.5 years. The business was operated by
  previous owners at that location for 30 years without compliant or incident. Early in 2006 the Licensing Section received information from the Waterloo Regional Police Services (WRPS) that the business was not operating in compliance with the City’s Municipal Code. Subsequent inspections by Licensing staff verified non-compliance with respect to the business....The information received from the WRPS indicated that on December 8, 2005, officers observed improper touching and services being provided which were not in plain or unobstructed view of the main stage. The inspections undertaken by licensing staff also found evidence of an area that was obstructed from view... " http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/Files/Item/item8028_crps-06-076_-_doll_house_tribunal.pdf ====> coincidentally, the Doll House is the latest incarnation of the historic Grand Hotel in Brideport that is immediately adjacent to lands that could be required to reconstruct or demolish the historic Bridgeport Bridge over the Grand River
• A second staff report dealing with issues of public morality on last night's Council agenda: "That the letter from Mr. Bernard Verbanac (Morell Kelly Lawyers), dated May 1, 2006, advising that his client is withdrawing their business licence application for a Place of Refreshment (Class A) - The Red Lantern restaurant, 265 King Street E., be acknowledged, and further; That the licensing tribunal established by Council resolution on April 3, 2006, to hold a hearing into the said licence application, be dissolved.....Due to the volume of material submitted by the Waterloo Regional Police Services and a last minute witness, it was decided to adjourn the hearing to allow time for staff and the applicant to review the material and witness statement. On May 1, 2006, the City received correspondence from the lawyer representing the applicant advising that his client does not wish to proceed with the application for the business licences and is withdrawing the application." ===> nice to know City Staff and Regional Police are exercising due diligence ! Details at this link: http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/Files/Item/item8028_crps-06-075_-_licensing_tribunal_-_red_lantern_restaurant.pdf

The hole in the wall? cf. photos above showing the gaps in the King Street scape (north side) created by past actions of City Council thus:

• "the hole in the wall" was created by the demolition of the Lyric Theatre and adjacent buildings in 2002. The City had acquired this property and one adjacent for $3,750,000 + $200,000= $3,950,000 in order to stop "unfavourable uses" of this building.
• Council Minutes of 1 Feb 1999 provide more background information: "City has reached capacity in respect to liquor licensed bards land use,and nightclubs in the downtown"; "32 charges had recently been laid against same by the Waterloo Regional Police against bar establishments"; as well, there was a motion to refuse an application the adjacent Capitol Theatre's proposed entertainment facility intended to serve 1,200 patrons; the owner of the Capitol argued that with adequate police presence the liquor-related problems could be brought under control; one Councillor stated that he "more concerned with the image of the Downtown"; staff took the position that "enough is enough."

Seven years later, the "urban park" in the photos is being paved to create more parking with some fancy window-dressing of trees planted to shield the cars from view? More urban evolution Kitchener-style?

Labels: land use, urban planning

# posted by ramblingrose @ 6:08 PM 0 Comments Links to this post