Let us not forget the great Word on the Street this Sunday in Victoria Park. There are always many things to see and hear and read there. Many booths will be set up with deals on books, author signings and readings.
The park comes alive and it is a great place to stroll around. We go every year and buy a book and listen to a few people reading and talking about books. It is ALL GOOD.
For information about this year's 10th anniversary edition, click here.
9/21/11
NMW Meeting for tonight Cancelled
Our apologies for the late notice but our September NMA meeting scheduled for this evening will be cancelled.
As there are no pressing issues, we will resume our regular bi-monthly meeting Wednesday, November 16th at 7pm at City Hall, Conestoga Room main floor.
8/12/11
Cars, Bikes, People and getting around
As I posted in an earlier entry, Kitchener and Waterloo tried to work together on something called "Square2Square" which is also known, somewhat confusingly, as "car free Sunday". I call it confusing because I prefer when events have only one name and not two or three. This Sunday (Aug 14th, 2011) Waterloo is closing down their downtown to repeat their part of the event, but Kitchener has decided it costs too much and not enough people attended last time. So it's not really "square2square", it's just "square" but I guess they have to use the full name because that is their website's address.
Should Kitchener keep participating despite the costs involved? Jeff Outhit has written an excellent column on this issue that I encourage everyone to read. I agree with his opinion to "Soft-pedal the anti-car vibe. Promote the day more positively." As I rode my bike from Kitchener to Waterloo during the last event I was thinking "Car-free? There are cars everywhere, just no cars on parts of King street for a few hours". Of course this past weekend we had an excellent Blues Festival in Kitchener and we enjoyed three days of fabulous music and food with vendors all over King Street. In my opinion that was pretty much a "car free" weekend in Kitchener.
I started to write this Blog entry because of an article I read in the Record titled "Car, bike sharing programs motoring to new heights." It was reprinted from the Canadian Press and I found it online here. I was on vacation in July with my family in Toronto and we saw the Bixi bikes which looked very cool. But, as the article points out, it is easy for the Bixi rental to become very expensive if you do not read the fine print. I found it was handy if you lived in the city, but not so great for tourists wanting to ride around. My son and I wound up renting from a bike place at Harbourfront for our ride along the lake to the Humber river. The next day we were very impressed with a specific Bixi rider as we ate our (vegetarian) hot dogs on the University of Toronto campus. A young fellow with dress pants and jacket came up riding his Bixi bike onto the sidewalk and then rode it directly into its stall (!!) where it clanged into its spot. He nimbly hopped off and skipped up the stairs off to class. I thought "wow, is there going to be a new type of stunt riding for Bixi bikes?" I wonder if we will be at a bar or concert and ask some friend how they got there and they will respond, "Oh, I just Bixied it". Perhaps they will add "it's just so fast and convenient".
The article about the Zipcar sharing and Bixi bikes is meant for a national audience. The Record provided information in their article on our local programs which include Grand River Car Share and Community Access Bicycles, a pilot project of The Working Centre and the City of Kitchener. Our family has one car, which it used by my wife to get to herself and a couple of co-workers, to their jobs, so I am on my own for getting to work. I often work at home, or take the iExpress, or ride my bike into the office which makes me pretty lucky. I was looking at the Car Share plan and locations to see how much the program costs and how convenient it would be. In the Mt Hope -- Breithaupt Park neighbourhood there is just one Car Share location at present: the Tim Hortons at 730 King Street West. There are two more at Sun Life (King and Union), and the Tannery which are close as well. There are also two "future" locations at Kaufmann lofts and the Breithaupt Centre.
For now I don't think the Car Share is worth it because we manage well enough with one car. It helps that Central Fresh Market is so close and we can walk to it (or send our son!) if necessary. There are three simple things I want to commend Central Fresh Market for which really help our sustainable community in subtle ways: 1) They have a water fountain. It is great that after a hot walk to the store, you can just drink from a fountain that is so accessible. You can even refill your water bottle. 2) They put bike locking posts in front of the store to make it easy to lock your bike. I cannot believe how many places have either no bike posts, or those cheap stands where you risk wrecking your tire. 3) cardboard boxes to pack groceries. So many stores charge you for bags, but Central still gives them away but also gives you a huge selection of recyclable cardboard boxes for packing groceries.
Overall, living downtown with a variety of services nearby, and so much happening in Kitchener and Waterloo (with or without Square2Square), makes it easy to get by with only one car (or no car at all as a few people manage to do). Let's appreciate our neighbourhood for its convenience and location as well as its people.
Ted Parkinson
7/29/11
Great article on Kitchener-Waterloo
First off, the MHBPNA Blog apologizes for the lack of recent articles. We can only blame it on the heat which makes us slothful in all ways. Plus, there are always lots of events in Kitchener and Waterloo over the summer, so perhaps people are not as interested in Blog related items anyway.
The next Big Event will be the Kitchener Blues Festival, and this is an easy walk for most areas of our Neighbourhood.
There are some updates we've received from city hall on three "brownfields" in our area and information will be posted on those. Perhaps I will have some time on this beautiful long weekend for that.
In the meantime, we wanted to point out a great story about Kitchener and Waterloo published online by Macleans's magazine. Click here for the story. It is well written indeed, so enjoy.
The next Big Event will be the Kitchener Blues Festival, and this is an easy walk for most areas of our Neighbourhood.
There are some updates we've received from city hall on three "brownfields" in our area and information will be posted on those. Perhaps I will have some time on this beautiful long weekend for that.
In the meantime, we wanted to point out a great story about Kitchener and Waterloo published online by Macleans's magazine. Click here for the story. It is well written indeed, so enjoy.
7/18/11
Square2Square and "car free" on Sunday
The MHBPNA Blog attended this event in 34 degree heat (!!) to show total dedication for reporting about our community. In an effort to combine this with taking in the last concert at the Waterloo Jazz festival, I rode my bike from down town Kitchener to Waterloo starting at 2:20.
The event was from 11 to 3 so some folks were packing up. Not a lot of activity in either down town so most people probably passed through earlier in the day. Some nice items were for sale from independent craft people and artists.
It was fun riding on the reserved lane along King street between the two city cores but it did not really feel "car free" since three lanes were open, and cars were crossing at all intersections as well with police monitoring them. So there were plenty of cars on this "car free" Sunday.
The highlight for me was watching a few minutes of the "bike polo" game in front of the Bauer Lofts area. Who knew there is even a club with a website?
The event was from 11 to 3 so some folks were packing up. Not a lot of activity in either down town so most people probably passed through earlier in the day. Some nice items were for sale from independent craft people and artists.
It was fun riding on the reserved lane along King street between the two city cores but it did not really feel "car free" since three lanes were open, and cars were crossing at all intersections as well with police monitoring them. So there were plenty of cars on this "car free" Sunday.
The highlight for me was watching a few minutes of the "bike polo" game in front of the Bauer Lofts area. Who knew there is even a club with a website?
7/13/11
Square2Square, July 17, 2011
Full slate of ‘active’ planned for Square2Square
Square2Square is an opportunity to walk, bike, rollerblade, skateboard, hop, skip or run from downtown Kitchener to uptown Waterloo. The event promotes healthy, inviting and fun activities to engage both communities, while aiming to protect the local environment.
King Street will be closed in Kitchener from Gaukel to Victoria streets. Three of the four lanes of the main artery between the two cities -- two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane -- will remain open to traffic between Victoria and Union streets. The on-street fun will pick back up again from Union to Central streets in Waterloo, where visitors will enjoy plenty of family-friendly fun.
Join us downtown! In downtown Kitchener, two stages will be set up in the people-friendly street space, between Gaukel and Victoria streets, featuring musical and multicultural entertainment.
Solo musicians Mike Erb, Tyler Schwende, Alysha Brillinger and Alisha Nauth will perform on the stage at Civic Square. The second stage, located at the CHYM FM building, will celebrate African culture with a steel drum band and full costumes presented by LINK. Also, a South Asian Mela will feature dancers in full costumes.
Street activities include street scrabble, inflatables, an artist market, bike safety workshops, music and sidewalk art, and zumba class demos. The reflecting pool at Kitchener City Hall will be a microcosm of a marina as model boats sail around during the event.
Additional entertainment will be provided by our media partners, Rogers TV, CHYM/570, News/KIXFM, 91.5 The Beat/Dave FM and The Record.
Picture-perfect walking tour If that’s not enough, join City of Kitchener 2011 Artist-in-Residence, Sean M. Puckett, for a walking tour of downtown Kitchener to photographically explore an urban streetscape, fascinating local architecture and the natural splendour of Victoria Park. The workshop is on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Meet in the rotunda on the ground floor at Kitchener City Hall at 10 a.m. The 'crawl' begins at 10:15 a.m., rain or shine!
Tempt your tastebuds Also in downtown Kitchener, don’t forget to feed your stomach with barbecued ribs and chicken and craft-brewed beer at the Downtown Kitchener Ribfest & Craft Beer Show in Victoria Park, which runs from Friday 5-10 p.m., Saturday noon-10 p.m. and Sunday noon-6 p.m. There is also live entertainment and a children’s midway.
Admission is free but donations to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region will be accepted at the gate. Please note that due to the nature of the event, anyone under the age of 19 must be accompanied by an adult to be admitted.
All events and activities on Sunday will keep pedestrians busy and active. If you have to drive, please find an alternative route.
7/1/11
Happy Canada Day everyone!
It is a wonderful day to celebrate another birthday of our great country. This one marks 144 years and a bright future lies ahead. There are events in so many communities and in southern Ontario we are getting some excellent weather as well.
The Globe and Mail is producing a series on "great communities" and the MHBPNA Blog felt that was very relevant to what we are trying to do here on the web. You can read the article by clicking here.
Have a great weekend (the Blog will post some more neighbourhood news when its editor is back from vacation).
The Globe and Mail is producing a series on "great communities" and the MHBPNA Blog felt that was very relevant to what we are trying to do here on the web. You can read the article by clicking here.
Have a great weekend (the Blog will post some more neighbourhood news when its editor is back from vacation).
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