Shirt Tales

• "Recently, Kitchener’s downtown has been experiencing a significant momentum in growth which staff believe the City should capitalize on by moving quickly to issue an RFP for the redevelopment of the Centre Block. Given that much of the background and detail work has already been completed, staff believe that the RFP can be completed in draft form for Council’s consideration by late summer 2006." ===> in time for pre-election campaign announcement by incumbent Mayor/Council?
• The Record confirmed this with a news report, " Book closing on library/Kitchener council set to abandon Centre Block proposal next week" by JEFF OUTHIT (Jun 27, 2006) & these interesting quotes: a) "We don't think we need the library as a major catalyst any more," said Hans Pottkamper, a retired banker who has helped direct a Centre Block advisory committee. ===> interesting word "to direct" as my understanding is that Council provides direction to Staff and a community unpaid volunteers serve to advise Council??? what exactly was Mr. Pottkamper's role in this particular process? ; and b) "It's a hot commodity, that piece of property," Lorentz said. "There's a lot of interest in it already." ===>Way back in the depth of winter, was it the retired banker or senior staff who informed Council that the value of the Forsyth land had risen as a result of the demolition? Who now is interested? and how valuable have the 2.5 acres of taxpayer-owned land on Centre Block become?
• The next day, the local rag assessed this rather predictable outcome of last winter's speedy demolition: "The dream of a shining new Kitchener public library rising above the city's Centre Block...will be buried by city politicians next week before a public that will not mourn its passing" and then thundered forth with this statement, " The people of Kitchener await a visionary plan from city hall." cf. "Give us a Vision for Kitchener core," lead editorial , The Record 28 June 06

Rambling Rose would be most relieved if a halt were called to the visioning process and some old-fashioned accounting were to take place to render our local politicians accountable for some of the "visinary" decisions they have made on our behalf:

1. What was the rationale for the acquisition of two blocks of real estate (Centre Block/ the Your Kitchener Market Block)? an attempt to enforce/regulate public morality that could have been achieved through zoning, by-laws, and police work? at what cost if the two are compared?
2. What were the actual costs incurred in those real estate transactions? inclusive of legal fees, studies, maintenance, demolition costs, etc.? what accounts have they been charged to? EDIF or past years' operating/capital budget lines?
3. How has the City's investment in real estate fared? Have the properties in question gained in value? Could the City realize revenue by disposing of the lands at current fair market value and get out of the development game?
4. Will the Request for Proposal staff are proposing to finalize for end of August continue as a P3 model i.e. public-private partnership? and offer "free" land as an incentive to the private developer to build a parking garage for Wilfrid Laurier Social Work students at Kitchener taxpayer expense? =====> so many questions & no one to ask them? as we are all caught up in dreaming that visionary dream of what perhaps might be? when? if ever?

Photos chosen as hooks to hang some random thoughts on:

• Approximately 50+ bikers were gathered in the public square surrounded by historical buildings beside Halifax harbour. Would bikers be encouraged in a future Centre Block redevelopment plan? -- not likely as RR noted how City Staff shooed off a roller-blading adolescent from the public area beside the Kitchener City Hall pool! How dare a kid be a kid in a public place?
• St. John's Newfoundland uses its historic harbourfront downtown to create its cultural identity & the older colourful rowhouses have become icons for its citizens and tourists alike. City of Kitchener keeps replacing its older built heritage stock and is constantly looking for its character and identity.
• Galt/Cambridge along waterfront has, according to R. Haldenby, Director of U of Waterloo School of Architecture, "a remarkable stock of public & private heritage buildings and is one of most beautiful ON landscapes." ====> this, in spite of the massive floods of the 1970's! --- which resulted in an impressive system of public walkways along the levee system & add much to the character of our next-door neighbour.
• Kitchener's historic downtown core? vanishing before our eyes?

"Culture is defined by its community and cannot be imported.

A community's unique identity is sourced in its authenticity and originality

and becomes the wellspring for civic pride." --Ken Dougherty, City of Peterborough Arts, Culture and Heritage Planner

Labels: built heritage, land use

# posted by ramblingrose @ 7:59 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. ON Municipal Act & Municipal Statute Law Amendment Act, 2006 provides overview of 06 provisions & note these sticky provisions:

• Ontario Heritage Act —— Municipalities would be authorized to determine the manner in which public notice is given when they intend to designate a property of cultural heritage value or interest.
• Open Meetings —— Municipal councils and local boards would be required to give public notice of upcoming meetings. Minutes would be recorded at all meetings including closed meetings. Municipalities would have the authority to appoint a person to investigate and provide a report when it is suspected that these requirements have not been fulfilled. The provincial Ombudsman would be able to undertake the investigation if a municipality has not appointed its own investigator. The current legislation would be clarified to clearly state that a meeting might be closed to the public if the meeting does not advance decision-making.
• Links:
  ON Municipal Act
  http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_27419_1.html
  http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_27419_1.html

2. City of Toronto Act provides Toronto with a general authority to levy taxes subject to certain restrictions (e.g. no income or sales tax, no payroll tax, no gas tax, etc.) These financial tools are noteworthy in three critical respects: First, they could be used by the City to support investments in local services, such as roads, parks, waste management and libraries. In addition, by diversifying the City's revenue sources, these financial tools would give Council the option of easing pressure on the property tax base. Access to these new tools will significantly improve Toronto's quality of life and economic competitiveness." Links:
http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_25869_1.html provides backgrounder; all 306 pages of the act can be found here: http://www.ontla.on.ca/documents/Bills/38_Parliament/session2/b053.pdf

& also amends OHA thus: to provide municipalities up to 60 days to process demolition applications under the Ontario Building Code for non designated property "listed" on the municipal heritageregister as being of cultural heritage value or interest.Currently municipalities have 10 working days to process such OBC applications. The extension to up to 60 days is meant to providemunicipalities and Council with the time needed to determine if the listed property merits being designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Summer reading?*** 2 more acts at approx 300+ pages will keep the legal profession busy and profitable. Rambling Rose tends to use this blog cum journal as a notebook wherein to cut and paste relevant links should they be needed come winter. The door has been opened for Ontario municipalities to access sources of revenue other than property and income taxes & this trend is troubling as it continues the downloading of the 90's and renders those downloads legitimated. When the GST was introduced, it was seen as a necessary measure to reduce the deficit; that national goal achieved, the federal government has been most reluctant to reduce such a profitable cash cow or to even share the national wealth in an equitable fashion.* So much so, that this past week Region of Waterloo Council refused a request to increase funding for day care** at a cost to the most vulnerable members of society of 300 spaces! Something is wrong here and increasing power to tax even deeper to City Councils is not addressing the Canadian social contract with its various levels of governments.

There are, of course, two+ more sides to every issue:

• to be expected: "The Association of Municipalities of Ontario(AMO) is applauding today's introduction of a new Municipal Act that would respect municipalities as a responsible order of government and provide them with broad, permissive powers and much less micro-management by the Province. The proposed Municipal Act would strengthen municipalities by providing greater authority and autonomy in key areas such as the design of governance structures within a municipality and local boards, economic development tools, by-law enforcement, user fees, licensing, and the promotion of accountability... The new Act stops short of offering municipalities broader taxationauthority. While more permissive taxation tools would not have begun to offset the high cost of providing downloaded community health and social services, it was viewed as a potential source of some relief for cash-strapped municipalities.
  http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2006/15/c9645.html
• however, a warning has been issued: "Ontario’s small business community... overwhelmingly rejects the ideas of new powers of taxation and regulation for municipalities that are being proposed by mayors and their supporters. These are the key findings of a new survey released today about proposed changes to Ontario’’s Municipal Act by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).....Andrew pointed out that many Mayors throughout the province, as well as other business groups have called for the new Act to provide cities with new revenue raising tools, in the form of different taxes. On that issue, when asked should the province grant municipalities the power to impose a variety of kinds of taxes, 93 per cent of respondents said no to the idea of a vehicle registration tax, 88 per cent opposed the notion of a land transfer tax, and 77 per cent and 74 per cent of small business respondents rejected the idea of either a hotel room tax or a plastic grocery bag tax respectively." Source: http://www.cfib.ca/mcentre/mwire/releases/on090705_e.asp
• 
  
  "City of Kitchener is at a crossroads in its history. It is about to make two momentous decisions that will determine the future not only of its struggling downtown but to a certain degree of the entire city itself." Source: Record editorial 20 May 06 " Have your say on Kitchener’s future," 20 May 06.
  
• More secrecy permitted for a Council with a record of closed meetings & who rejected a private member's bill for more transparency at City Hall? more money to spend by a Council who gambled $9.1 million + taxpayer-financed loans called "grants/free gifts" to two universities + Forsyth demolition costs in a "bold visionary move" to revitalize this City's downtown? Wonder what the small business owner who invested in that dream & recently relocated to Waterloo Square thinks? cf. photo above-- as store in city-owned Weber building is for lease again.
• * per 22 Jun 06 The Record, "Cities want gas-tax promise": "While cities struggle to pay all of the bills, the federal government is posting multibillion-dollar surpluses every year."
• ** per 21 Jun 06 The Record, " Child Care in Crossfire": "Councillors chose not to rescue the child-care program by making up for shortfalls in federal and provincial funding" ... and per Child Care Action Network of Waterloo Region: " The taxpayers have no choice but to rely on the local level." ====> no choice???
• *** Rambling Rose plans to read University of Waterloo Professor Eric Helleiner, Towards North American Monetary Union (2006) who says, " Money and politics are inseparable because money is produced by governments." & also, " A political scientist asks, 'Good for whom?'" Source: U of W Arts Alumni current publication.

Labels: built heritage, Forsyth, politics

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:05 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. Places to Grow Act 2005 was followed up by a more specific Growth Plan 2006 & indicates that our man Dalton at Queen’s Park is serious about tackling urban sprawl and its associated evils: environmental degradation, car-dependent communities with growing gridlock, a suburban mono-culture, excessive costs for infrastructure. The two documents identify urban growth centres (Cambridge, Kitchener-Waterloo) & mandates that 40% urban intensification increase in downtown core areas. Region of Waterloo planner notes there is a "25-block section of downtown Kitchener that has 246 people or jobs on each hectare of land (exceeds provincial target of 200) Source: T. Pender, Cities told to curb urban sprawl," in The Record 17 Jun 06

Rambling Rose has yet to read the revised Growth Plan but did read the draft 05 Places to Grow Act. She had two worries as to potential impacts. The first concerned the politics of it all. Noting that Places to Grow followed the passage of the Oak Ridges Moraine Act 05 and considerable political lobbying to stop growth in the Niagara Escarpment Region, she wondered whether shifting the growth beyond urban Toronto was passing a few political hot potatoes elsewhere. For starters, the Oak Ridges Moraine lands were being rapidly erased by urban sprawl even as the world-renowned Escarpment lands were being mined out by gravel extraction. Shifting that growth westward will be putting three other moraines at risk: the Galt and Paris Moraines as well as the Waterloo Moraine. Rambling Rose was particularly alarmed by one sentence in the Places to Grow 05 draft that spelled out unequivocally that the aggregate extraction industry was to be protected. Already there are indications that the gravel ribbon extending through the Aberfoyle Creek watershed to North Dumfries Township has been exhausted as she has learned from a reliable source that there are applications coming in to extract below the water table. In spite of the enhanced protection to the local landscape in the approved ROPP amendments creating two Environmentally Sensitive Landscapes, the Waterloo Moraine lands continue at risk as there are significant gravel desposits in Wilmot Township.

• In the same week, Queen's Park announced: "Ontario has 5-year plan for highways, bridges" @ $3.4billion in order to prepare for 2,000,000 more vehicles by 2,031– widening to six lanes 401 between Woodstock and Cambridge per CP release this past week.

When the ON Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal visited Kitchener following that announcement, he was asked to explain why the long-proposed improvements to Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph were not included in the 06 Growth Plan. His responses appeared to waffle as to maybe yes, we'll improve Highway 7 and maybe no, not now--later cf. The Record 21 Jun 06, " Minister grilled over Highway 7 expansion." What's going on here? No point working on that highway until the bridge over the Grand River issue has been resolved? This past winter we learned that the proposed Fairway Bridge over the Grand has been delayed pending consultations with the Six Nations In another news report, "Land dispute unites natives," Donna Dubie, executive director of Healing of the Seven Generations in Kitchener, pointed out "there are hundreds of outstanding land-claim issues with Six Nations, dating back to 1784." It is highly possible that we will have go back to the past and wait for Supreme Court of Canada rulings in order to move forward.

Last night's CTV newscast provided coverage of a bus trip by Caledonia residents to the legislature in Queen's Park to force a meeting with our man Dalton. Some of the placards pointed out that he appeared to have been avoiding the simmering issue that pits development rights versus land claims. Well, in the same week our man Dalton had garned favourable press by heading up to Attawapiskat for the DeBeer's announcement re the (industrial) diamond mine moving into production. Rambling Rose is left wondering whether he flew in on the First Nations-owned Air Creeebec airline? whether he was briefed on the genesis of that airline i.e. the successful lobbying by the East James Bay Moose Cree versus Quebec Hydro re loss of traditional hunting grounds? whether he then stayed long enough to fly farther up the coast to determine how the residents of Kashechewan are faring this summer? to meet with the Moose Cree and learn about the flawed Treaty 9 document that underpins that now-most profitable mining venture up in the Great Muskeg? or does the Premier just follow the money trail?

"Politics is the art of pursuing common interests through listening, advocacy, public persuasion, negotiation, compromise and ultimately decision."
~the politics of balance: "But if I am only for myself, what am I?"
~politics is our saving grace & is a way to achieve a balance between rival forces
Bob Rae, The Three Questions (1999)

Labels: James Bay Lowlands, land use, politics

# posted by ramblingrose @ 5:56 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

"Our cultural heritage is what we value from the past, and what we want to preserve for future generations. -- City of Kitchener Heritage planner

"Anyone can get old -- all you have to do is live long enough."-- attributed to Groucho Marx




Photos L to R: Historic Properties in Halifax: streetscape with statue by Nova Scotia School of Design, waterfront historic property with popular coffee shop at street level, and on the right, the Canadian Block, King and Ontario Streets, Kitchener ON. Sandamara Images 2006.

For an "old" or even newer building to be listed on the Municipal Register of Cultural Heritage Properties in Ontario, the following criteria are applied:

1. design or physical value: Kitchener's Canadian Block is a rare example of Georgian commercial brick building;
2. historical or associative value: built by A. Y. Shantz who 1) built many commercial and residential properties in Berlin and 2) was instrumental in resettling Russian Mennonites to Manitoba;
3. contextual value: one of the key buildings remaining of the Berlin commercial streetscape.

However, this historic building is at risk as it has yet to be listed on the Municipal Heritage Register or to receive designation under OHA Part IV. Council has yet to approve the process of adding non-designated properties of cultural heritage value. The entire process has been delayed for almost a year & puts at risk of premature demolition approximately 800 properties identified by LACAC as having possible cultural heritage value or interest.

The Canadian Block predates Confederation in 1867 and buildings of that particular age are particularly rare in Kitchener. This building is also interesting as it indicates the change in building construction from frame to brick as required by a Berlin by-law following a fire that razed a considerable portion of Berlin's main commercial street. To Rambling Rose's knowledge, only the Joseph Schneider House National Historic Site on Queen Street is of a pre-fire frame construction.

Per Ontario Minister of Culture and Heritage: "A Register of Cultural Heritage Properties is a central element of a municipal cultural plan that begins with mapping local cultural resources and then leverages these resources for economic development and community building."

Do write City of Kitchener Planner re Downtown Urban Design Survey cory.bluhm@city.kitchener.on.ca

to do more than "respect historic buildings" but rather to actively preserve and protect the Canadian Block?

Here our historic buildings languish in neglect or are even demolished as they are just another "old building" standing in the way of progress. Elsewhere, in communities such as Halifax, Nova Scotia, historic buildings become the building blocks for a thriving downtown. Rambling Rose took the above photos on a Monday evening when both the harbourfront and the downtown were filled with pedestrians out for a pleasurable stroll. Could have been tourists as well as that day was the start of a convention that drew 2,400 visitors to Halifax. Halifax appears to be thriving and its downtown is very much alive.

More on the Canadian Block and A. Y. Shantz? enter terms in the "search this blog" function on top left of this blog as I have blogged extensively about both previously. This blog had its genesis in an e-mail from a gentle reader concerned that two buildings on Weber Street (59 and 61) are about to be demolished to make room for a high-rise residential development. Although older and of Italianate design, these two buildings do not meet the criteria as defined above. The proposed Civic Centre Heritage District currently under study will, in all likelihood, protect a considerable number of Italianate structures.

From The Lazarus Effect by R. Shipley, one barrier to success in heritage development projects cited is "community heritage proponents with no appreciation for practical building concerns." ===> that's a morsel worth chewing on as there are always practicalities (money for one) to be considered as a fond emotional attachment rarely pays the freight.

" It's not enough for a building to be old or older than 50 years; the building in some way has to embody some of the main themes and key developments, and ...specific events, activities, people and circumstances that have shaped the community." --- Ontario Heritage Tool Kit ===> this requires learning a community's history and some good local history texts???

Labels: Berlin/Kitchener history, built heritage

# posted by ramblingrose @ 11:59 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. Photo above: post-modern Toronto-Dominion bank building King Street West, Kitchener to set the theme of the "new" city waiting to be born here: two 10+ storey residential towers on Weber Street near Scott, another 10+ storey apartment building on Queen Street South near the railroad tracks, another 15+ storey building at Charles Street and Sydney-- whose shade when it is erected will doom the Rockway naturalized garden into memory & possibly (if the developer and staff can get away with it) involve the closure of Delta Street, and in all likelihood, a 15-storey residential tower in the Centre Block redevelopment process -- as one Councillor indicated-- increasing the tax assessment base is tantamount. ===> what's new about skyscrapers, cars and pollution? apparently downtown Kitchener is one of the three worst air quality spots in all of Ontario.
2. Today's Record profiles the work of City of Kitchener's urban planner whose task is to "transform downtown Kitchener into a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented neighbourhood of handsome housing, cafes, restaurants and clubs." Rambling Rose continues in awe of the planner's considerable skills as demonstrated in a talk on downtown intensification -- until she sits in the next traffic jam at the Queen/Courtland intersection. There she has time to study the roads and think, "...but these roads were built during horse-and-buggy times and cannot be widened to deal with the gridlock inherent in the current round of planning --unless the City can afford to expropriate enough properties to widen and put in turn lanes (forget roundabouts as they require even more land). Do urban planners actually leave their desks to travel the streets and spaces they are redesigning?" cf. "Designing core challenges city" report by T. Pender, The Record, 14 June 06.
3. Same issue of The Record announces "Kitchener mayor is running again" and provides his track record: "helping" to bring School of Pharmacy, School of Social Work, and "the family teaching medicine centre" to the downtown* --- quite modest claim as the major help will be from City of Kitchener taxpayers as they work to whittle down the loans this Council has made on our behalf -- all charged to the Economic Investment Development (Fantasy) Fund.
4. Why a Fantasy Fund? Well, originally Rambling Rose trusted in the words and that this city actually had a fund comparable to the Alberta's Treasury Fund which holds vast sums of actual cash accrued from oil royalties and managed by the Province of Alberta on behalf of its citizens. Once upon a time Rambling Rose banked in Treasury Branches, took out loans financed by Treasury Branches, taught from books purchased by the Treasury Branches, and enjoyed living in a province that managed to provide top-notch services without a provincial sales tax! Meanwhile down East here ( spoken from a true Westerner's perspective), we have a mayor who prides himself on "a 2006 budget with a zero per cent tax increase" which translates into a "one-time reduction" of $10.34 or $17.23 or $24.12 depending on where your house fits on the tax-assessment social ladder. In actual fact, this City has only delayed providing services to the new subdivisions (arenas and branch libraries) but already utilized the 5% increase provided by these suburbs to this year's tax-assessment base to avoid any tax increase--in this-- a municipal election year!
5. However, there will be a 5% increase on your municipally-owned and operated utilities bill (gas**, water and sewer). How much? If you average $200 x 12 months or $2,400 per year = $120 tax increase by another name. Enter now Karl the magician who can give with one hand ($17.23) and take with the other ($120) -- considerable skills indeed as 0% tax increase plays well with the media and the gullible public?
6. or does it? as Kitchener citizens balked at paying $65 million for a new much-needed main branch library in the downtown-- so much so that the merry month of May was spent organizing and listening to citizen input. For now, even the powerful KPL/Centre Block Steering Committee continues in summer recess with all June meetings cancelled. KPL background documents available here: http://www.kpl.org/New_Central_Library/background.shtml
7. Also worth reading: last Saturday's Smart City report on importance of libraries provides an excllent, factual, well-researched report which counters many of the arguments used to put this library project on ice.
8. Political process continued this week per following e-mail: The first major public meeting of the I Believe In Kitchener coalition will be at the Kitchener Public Library in the Hamblin Room East, Wednesday, 14 June, 2006 from 7:00 to 8:30. About I Believe in Kitchener: "It is time for the citizens of Kitchener to take back control of their city hall and demand accountability from council. The logical place to start this process is to replace this council in the upcoming municipal elections."
9. here come the rants: * an enabling action that downloaded a provincial responsibility to fund post-secondary education to the municipal taxpayers & does nothing to ease the over-taxed taxpayer's burdens; ** the gas utility is owned by City of Kitchener taxpayers and has a record of excellent management-- including the past year; however, the current City Council saw fit to transfer a significant amount from last year's profits into a special fund -- in case it was needed down the road-- and hence, the tax utility's profit was less than in previous years. When a certain councillor trained as a chartered accountant and former CAO of this City challenged figures during this winter's budget-setting sessions, that piece of "creative financing" came to light. The same councillor has now been publicly chastised as a "maverick" for advocating change at the Council table by the local rag. Both the Councillor and the editorial writers have missed the much-larger issue: how do we get local citizens to participate in municipal elections? A 21% voter turnout is disappointing indeed! How can one hold a Council accountable if only 1 in 5 citizens bothers to vote?

"What puts people off politics is that everything is spun, everything is managed...What we have to do is answer people's questions as honestly as we can."

--- Bob Rae, fromer NDP premier of Ontario, currently running for the federal Liberal leadership.

"Politics is the art of the possible."

-- Juan Peron, Prime Minister of Argentina in Evita.

Labels: land use, politics

# posted by ramblingrose @ 9:26 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Photos clockwise L to R: 1. Lister Building, Hamilton; 2. Parking lot replacing first half of Forsyth demolished Jan 06; 3. King Street's Berlin era Victorian heritage buildings

The following call to action has been received. Although designated and supposedly protected from demolition under the Ontario Heritage Act, another fine historical building is about to be demolished. Easy enough to copy and paste the form letter provided by Hamilton Heritage supporters below & e-mail. Only cost to all of us is a bit of time.

1. Save the Lister Block in Hamilton
   Hamilton Heritage Activists are appealing for your help to save the Lister Block, a designated structure with fine terra cotta detailing on the façade. All signs are pointing to Mayor Larry di Iianni and Councillors giving permission to the current property owner to demolish and replace the building with a facsmile. The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, and local heritage activists have asked the Minister of Culture to intervene to issue a stop order if Council grants that permission. The hearing will be at the Committee of the Whole on June 12th at 2:00, but the matter may not be voted on until June 14th. A poll conducted in the local newspaper showed the majority of city residents support retention and restoration of this much loved block of downtown. Eb Zeidler and ERA architects have both written offering support for the structures retention.Local activists are appealing to colleagues across the province to contact their MPP’’s to ask the Minister of Culture to intervene.Below you can find a sample letter which you can email to your MPP.
   a. Information on the campaign to save the Lister Block can be found at:http://www.architecturehamilton.com/savethelister.html
2. Draft Letter Text BelowTo get contact information for your local MPP go to the web-site below and follow the links:
   http://olaap.ontla.on.ca/mpp/daCurMbr.do?locale=en

Re: The Lister Block 28-44 James Street North / 5-21 King William StreetHamilton, Ontario
Dear MPP ……………………………………………………, As a citizen and taxpayer of the Province of Ontario I am of the opinion that the adaptive reuse the Lister Block, Designated under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1996, is a positive initiative for Ontario’’s built heritage
However, the redevelopment proposal by L.I.U.N.A. and Hi-Rise Group means that we will witness the DEMOLITION of this designated heritage structure, as well as adjacent portions of the heritage streetscape, including the oldest surviving building on the block, dating back to 1855.

The Government of Ontario must ensure that City of Hamilton:

§§ Comply with Provincial Legislation under the Ontario Heritage Act, not make exceptions to this legislation;

§§ Enforce its own Downtown Secondary Plan (2004), and Heritage Design Guidelines (2006), and not merely dismiss them;

§§ Protect and preserve our Province’s Heritage, not encourage its demolition.

As my MPP, I encourage you to protect not only our Province’s heritage but the tax payers’ dollars by requesting that The Honourable Caroline Di Cocco, Minister of Culture, issue an immediate stop notice preventing the demolition the Lister Block, should the Hamilton City Council approve demolition at its meeting of June 12, 2006.
Sincerely,

Name………………………………………………………………..

Address…………………………………………………………..Phone……………………………………………………………….Email……………………………………………………………………
For More Information contact:
Rob Hamilton, Chair Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, Hamilton Region Branch at Robert Hamiltonrhamilton@woodbridge.com

• "The Lister building, although in need of renovations and improvements, remains quite faithful to its original design. It was designed in the style of architecture known as Classic Renaissance. The exterior has a series of terra cotta pilasters on the first floor with an entablature at the third floor level. The stores were located between the pilasters. The exterior, from the third floor to the sixth floor, is finished with tapestry brick having copper spandrels between the windows. At the top of the building there is an entablature in terra cotta with cartouches in the frieze. This is topped with a cheneau and terra cotta. All the store fronts are finished in copper and have wrought iron grills over the windows to the basement. The structure is made of reinforced concrete frame clad in brick, terra cotta, and sheet copper. The building has since remained vacant despite numerous proposals for reuse. In 1995, city council voted in favor of a special historical designation for the building. That same year, plans were put forth to turn the Lister building into student housing for McMaster University and Mohawk College students. These plans were never realized. In the latter part of the 1990s, the Lister Block became a home to transients living in the downtown core. Clothing and graffiti were found inside, indicating that as many as five youths had been staying in the building. In September 1996, three separate fires damaged the Lister building. The first broke out in an old third floor office. Paper streamers were added to aid in the spreading of the fire. Damage was estimated at $7,000. Later, two smaller fires were reported. They had been set in a mattress on the second floor. Damage was again estimated at $7,000. It was suspected that the fires were intended to destroy the building." per http://collections.ic.gc.ca/hamilton_tour/lister.htm
• Built Heritage Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter available free to subscribers available here:
• cnarchitect-heritage@list.web.net
• http://list.web.net/lists/listinfo/cnarchitect-heritage

Labels: built heritage

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:50 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

St. John's, Newfoundland Harbour looking toward the Narrows. Photo taken from The Rooms, provincial museum-- viewing deck was closed because of high winds.

Labels: politics, urban planning

# posted by ramblingrose @ 11:28 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• Journalists must be wary of the dangers inherent in treating journalism as a commodity, where sales figures and deadline pressures erode the quality of reporting: "As though the name of the game were to entertain at all costs--which is, after all, where the money is -- and to think as little as possible. The unfortunate conclusion is that thinking is too demanding while entertaining is far more profitable."
• Journalists have a responsibility to put the news of the day into context and called on reporters to "re-establish the freedom and means to think about the world-- even when that requires effort: " We must do away with ....one-track thinking and offer up new ways of seeing the world" in spite of the 24-hour news cycle, which enslaves journalists with never-ending deadlines [and can result in] reporting devoid of insight."

Later that week Geoffrey Stevens, who teaches political science at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph, picked up on the significance of her speech in an opinion piece, "Dazzling Jean gives news bosses a refresher," in The Record 29 May 2006:

• apparently the context of the speech was the annual dinner of the Canadian Press in Halifax where she addressed both journalists and newspaper proprietors and publishers who were taken aback by her comments; per G. Stevens: " newspaper bosses......[who] measure success less in terms of news reported. causes championed or wrongs made right than in circulation numbers, advertising sales, and sums on the bottom line" ....."weren't so happy....when the governor general challenged them and reminded them of their civic responsibility as the leaders of Canadian journalism."

Rambling Rose proceeded to apply this higher standard to her perusal of the local daily rag upon her return to the following news reports:

• Front page coverage of the thunderstorms that broke the heat wave was headlined, "Brutal downpour breaks the heat wave" & certainly the lead and brief sentences that covered the remaining 5w's and the how of basic journalism were covered before the reporter sequed into the popular response to the flash flooding of one intersection in Waterloo thus "Still, it was mostly people actually having fun. I remember a few people came in and tried the backstroke." The accompanying photo was headlined "Wading for the bus" and featured a woman approaching a bus with water at the height of the steps leading into the bus.
• Coverage of the weekend Nature Ontario conference locally was minimal and buried inside the local section with the ho-hum business as usual, "Working to keep green" headline & Professor Morgan's warning that " A changing atmosphere and a warming climte can be blamed at least in part on human activity and will have dire consequences."
• Today's Record again buries the issue of urban sprawl and its unfortunate consequences thus in an article headlined "Cities on hook for sprawl" profiling author John Lorinc, who will be reading from his book "The New City" (Tuesday 6 June 7:30 p.m. Knox United Church, Waterloo)

So what's the big deal? Precisely what Mme Jean warned journalists about cf. above: "Journalists have a responsibility to put the news of the day into context and called on reporters to "re-establish the freedom and means to think about the world-- even when that requires effort:" This past week's thunderstorm treated two aspects of that climatic event as routine and even as entertaining: a) the flash flooding in a suburban development; and b) the sighting of funnel clouds locally without bothering to establish the larger context and to explore the relevant questions:

1. Have we exceeded the development capacity of the Grand River watershed locally?
2. How effective are storm water management ponds if traffic flows and transportation systems are interrupted by one summer thunderstorm?
3. Can we afford to delay on implementing measures to deal with climate change? Easy enough to chalk up last week's thunderstorm to an unpredictable weather pattern and chant our childhood rhyme, "Rain, rain, go away. Come back again some other day." However, do read again Professor Morgan's warning re climate change and start joining the dots between urban sprawl, storm water management ponds (remember that proposed tax to pay for suburban sprawl?), and this week's weather. It takes time to think...to think deeply...to risk the discomfort of questions that have no easy answers, doesn't it?

Photo above of the St. John, Newfoundland skyline clockwise L to R: the post-modern glass curtain wall provincial museum, The Rooms (2005) shares the skyline with the Romanesque Catholic basilica; the large red brick structure set amongst the colourful row houses ranging up the hillside is a federal building dealing with marine issues, and in the foreground, there are ocean-going freighters en route to off-shore oil drilling rigs. Why this particular photo? My Metro transit bus driver drew my attention to the lack of bricks on the Island as too costly to transport and use as building material. I duly noted that only banks, insurance companies, government and university buildings were contructed of brick. Residential housing used siding which is manufactured on the Island. Over the weekend, I drove past the remainder of the Forsyth complex and sighed again at the extravagant waste of yellow bricks waiting to be trucked to the landfill site. Do we have to lose what we have of our built heritage before we can appreciate its value? and then live with regret?

Labels: built heritage, Grand watershed, politics

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