Shirt Tales

1. Just do it.
2. Make mistakes and fail, but never give up.
3. Keep an open mind.
4. Explore the consequences of new ideas.
5. Seek the essential.
6. Understand the issue.
7. Understand simple things clearly.
8. Break a difficult problem into easier ones.
9. Examine issues from several points of view.
10. Look for patterns and similarities.

Labels: aboriginal, James Bay Lowlands

# posted by ramblingrose @ 8:53 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Turns out that our Danny boy (top portrait), the second youngest in a family of ten children, was a dreamer who dreamed big and saw what most of would class as impossible dreams beckoning on the horizen. He is credited with helping to locate the sugar beet industry locally (near Bridgeport) and he is said to have envisioned the St. Lawrence Seaway about five decades before it became a reality long after his death.

By about 1888, Daniel had become convinced that the electric power being generated by Americans on the other side of the border could replace the "white coal" used locally by manufacturers to power their steam engines. So, Daniel became a committee of one and hopped on his bicycle to persuade local businessmen that this source of power could be had by all and be much cheaper to boot! Local history sources tell the story of how Daniel called on Mr. Lang, owner of Lang Tannery in Kitchener, who was too busy to see him. Not to be stopped, Daniel climbed to the top floor of that building where Mr. Lang was supervising construction, persuaded him of the merit of the newfangled power supply, and sold him shares in one of his companies to cover his travelling expenses.

Soon he had persuaded EWB Snider (1842-1921), the owner of the Snider Mill in St. Jacob’s to join his cause. In Snider (next photo), he found a kindred spirit who in 1875 imported a roller system from Austria to produce high grade of flour for export to the United States and revolutionized the flour milling industry. After working at his father's flour mill at German Mills, Snider purchased a mill at St.Jacobs. He established the Snider Lumber Co. in Gravenhurst to provide lumber for barrels. He promoted the Berlin and Elmira Railway Co., and then bought a Waterloo foundry that led to the incorporation of the Waterloo Manufacturing Co., producing modern machinery to harvest more western wheat. He was elected to the Ontario legislature for North Waterloo in 1881 and served for thirteen years. It was said of him: "He was a combination of idealist and practical man of affairs. When one dream was achieved, he went on to the next."

• 11 Feb 1902 Elias Weber Bingeman Snider speaks to Berlin Board of Trade about
  electricity;
• June 1902 Snider and Daniel Detweiler organized public meeting at Walper of area
  politicians to rally support for idea;
• 11 Apr 1906 rally in Toronto with 1,500 delegates to persuade provincial government to
  assume government ownership of Ontario’s water power potential cf US had generators
  in Niagara Falls and Buffalo; rally was encouraged by Sir Adam Beck, cabinet minister;
• May 1906, prov govt sets up Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario with
  Beck as first chair;
• Oct 11, 1910 Berlin becomes first city to receive electricity from Niagara Falls.
• & today? Big Becky*, the largest hard-rock tunneling boring machine ever built, is boring through approx 15 metres of rock underneath the city of Niagara Falls and right past the Horseshoe Falls in order to create an added 1,600,000,000 kilowatt hours * Becky weighs 2,000 tons
  

• 1889 Berlin purchases water works;
• 1903 purchases Berlin Gas Co;
• 1906 Berlin takes over the street railway system.
  

Labels: Berlin/Kitchener history

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:06 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• Tender awarded to Triumph Aluminum & Sheet Metal Inc., Toronto, at their tendered price of $92,564., including G.S.T. & P.S.T. Source: http://www.kitchener.ca/Files/Item/item9416_council_agenda_-_2006-09-11.pdf

1. 48 Ontario: boiler, electrical service, roofing, fire alarm, environmental abatement @ $120,000
2. 11 Young: roofing @ $80,000
3. 156/158 King Street : flashing @ $20,000
4. Operating costs @ $5,000

Labels: built heritage, Forsyth

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:11 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Labels: built heritage

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:33 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• March 25, 2005 The Neptis Report (2004) sums up key points regarding The State of Greenlands Protection in Southwestern Ontario;
  
• April 5, 2005 two blogs: a poem as lovely as a tree lists the benefits of the urban forest; the vanishing Freeport Esker deals with urbanization process as threat to our urban forests.

Labels: land use

# posted by ramblingrose @ 7:15 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

1. "green lands and parks are among the City’s features most prized by residents”;
   
2. "that....whereas in some instances, natural lands worthy of conservation cannot be protected by planning policy alone, and as such the best guarantee for their conservation becomes public ownership....”;
   
3. “having natural areas in public ownership provides the most certainty that such lands will be appropriately managed to conserve the land’s valuable features and functions”;
   
4. significant natural lands can still be at risk of being developed; especially at risk are the “upland (high and dry) woodlands and tableland components of significant valleylands. Landowners consider them developable, and are far less likely to consider conveyance to the City without compensation as an attractive option.;
5. Even when privately owned lands are zoned as Park or Open Space, they are not truly protected, as the landowner may still legally alter the land by draining, grading, and/or removal of vegetation;
6. Previously zoned lands where zoning does not reflect current environmental values.***

• How many acres of natural lands currently in private ownership? Willmer: 800 acres in public ownership as result of 5% open space allocation and straight conveyance of creeks and wetlands.
• Do we have inventory of these natural areas?” Willmer response: subwatershed plans identify these natural lands; adds to definition: both upland and wetland that are remnant landscape unaffected by historical agricultural patterns.
• What is market value of the natural areas? -- no response
  

“Green infrastructure is source of pride in community” —
Jeff Willmer to Council, 19 Jan 06

Labels: greenlands, land use

# posted by ramblingrose @ 10:20 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

• At the federal level, our boy in Ottawa has begun marketing strategies developed by the Machiavellian Rove to install Daddy's boy in Washington: photo op featured Prime Minister Harper in front of a very large Maple Leaf pinned up behind him on the stage; perhaps an unfortunate association with a) Liberal red campaign signs? and b) the flag-draped coffins returning home from Afghanistan. Our boy in Ottawa has chosen to extend Canada's commitment there to defend U. S. "interests" which translates into providing security for a Unocal (U. S. oil giant) gas and oil pipeline from the Mideast to India. In the meantime, our vast Arctic shoreline remains undefended as there are no funds available to improve the icebreakers needed to maintain our presence there. Our northern resources have become lucrative for global companies prospecting for gas & oil as well as diamonds. By end of the week, our boy & Dubya's bosom buddy, had committed taxpayer dollars to arm border guards. For the second time, a small leaflet appeared in RR's mailbox proclaiming Harper's strong, decisive leadership. A fall election in the works?

• At the provincial level, our man at Queen's Park announced "Students to get a $6,000,000 funding boost/ Grants will help first in family to attend college," The Record 31 August 2006. Wonderful headline? Rambling Rose crunches some numbers: Kitchener taxpayers fund postsecondary education (a provincial responsibility) to the tune of $6,280,000 to University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy + $1,360,000 Wilfrid Laurier School of Social Work = $7,640,000 (spread across 79, 000 households who pay property taxes); Region of Waterloo taxpayers are funding Wilfrid Laurier University Medical School (another provincial responsibility) at cost of approx $30,000,000 ===> perhaps 1/3 of that amount hitting hard-working Kitchener taxpayer pocketbooks even deeper? Easy to see that the McGuinty government's promise of $6,000,000 spread across provincial taxpayers' income taxes pales in comparison to what City of Kitchener taxpayers are contributing towards postsecondary education ( RR repeats a provincial responsibility that has been shifted (aka downloading) to the municipal taxpayers courtesy of the backroom boys and their deals. Add to that the cost of acquiring in order to demolish the Forsyth building complex to supply WLU with a parking lot and subsidized parking spaces at approximately $100, 000 per annum out of Kitchener taxpayer dollars ====> over 10 years, another $1,000,000 --- what's another million among political friends?
  
• At the regional level, although the Regional Chair advised concerned citizens to deal with top staff on the City of Waterloo approved subdivisions in that city's northwest corner, Council did listen to three delegates express their concerns re the security of our regional water supply on Wednesday of this past week. Nonetheless, these delegates and other concerned citizens were admonished that Senior Staff would "make the decision" as to whether these subdivisions would be approved at the Regional level. Citizens were directed to send their questions directly to Rob Horne, Commissioner of Planning, who would prepare report to Council based on Region's technical review as to compliance with regional and provincial policy. However, in making its decision City of Waterloo Council stated that the question of the safety and integrity of our water supply was a responsibility of Region of Waterloo Council. Rambling Rose ponders these questions: Do staff report to the regional electorate or to regional Council? how can staff be held accountable? Council can and will be held accountable by means of the upcoming elections on 13 November 06.
  

• At the local City of Kitchener level, City of Kitchener Council banned double garages in front of semi-detached houses this past week as some Councillors averred they were "ugly" and others rendered such an housing option "unsafe." Why now? with an election around the corner? This Council approved the same subdivisions before the first shovel ever hit the ground. RR undertook a field trip to determine what all the sound and fury about garages was all about. The photos in the local rag told the tale --- partly, as what interested RR most was the layout of each building on the lot. No room for either a gardening shed or workshop behind each house as backyard space provides room enough for a picnic table and a few chairs. What about room for children to play in under parental supervision? Minimal at best. Homes like this are considered affordable at $217,000 + $13,020 GST payable on new homes. On the street where she lives, RR notes an older home (lot size approx 60' x 120' = twice that in the new subdivision) for sale at less than $200,000 (no GST payable) with parking for four cars (1 in garage, and 3 in driveway) and less than half a block from a bus stop with buses every half hour. --- Noted in passing were the swirls of dust from nearby fields being excavated for more subdivisions to support City of Kitchener assessment growth already approved by the current pro-development Council?

Labels: politics

# posted by ramblingrose @ 12:18 PM 0 Comments Links to this post