Welcome to 2012 everyone: things are buzzing along in the Mt Hope - Breithaupt Park neighbourhood! I thought I'd share some statistics with you because it is nice, at year end/beginning times, to reflect upon what has happened, and what is still to come.
This Blog began in 2008, but really took off in 2009, so that makes three years of posts. If you look on the right side you will see under Blog Archive that there were 50 posts in 2009, 58 in 2010 and 42 in 2011. Some are just to say "hey, there is something going on next week" and others are profound and important commentaries on the state of our neighbourhood universe.
It is often hard to know if anyone is out there although some of you readers have been kind enough to send emails about different topics. A couple of years ago I set up the site with "statcounter" to see how much traffic it was getting (or if anyone was reading it). It was nice to find out that we generally get 30 to 40 readers a week and that goes down to 10 to 20 if there are no posts for a while.
The total "views" went over 3,000 around Christmas which is great! Thanks for caring and you can check out the total number under the Blog Archive on the lower right.
I also started a mhbpna Facebook group which currently has 21 "friends". All the posts and information is on the Blog but when I add a new post I put the link on Facebook and this is a gentle notification to our friends and it drives up the views on the page. If I think the post is relevant to a wider group of readers, I will post the link on the City of Kitchener's Facebook wall and that drives up the hits even more. This is our modest attempt at social networking.
If you would like to "friend" MHBPNA on Facebook, please go ahead. We don't have anything on the wall except City of Kitchener posts and references to this Blog. Many people are not on Facebook and I would like information to be posted here, where it is available to all and easily searched, than on Facebook which is a bit more exclusive. I know that events and pages on Facebook can be made "public" but keeping everything on the Blog seems simpler than pushing information off to different sites.
The email address for the Blog (mhbpna@gmail.com) is at the top of the site, and it is gratifying when some of you folks send us an email with your thanks, comments, photos etc. PLEASE send more! I have included some people's comments and photos in the past. If you would like to write a "guest" Blog about some topic, please send an email and it can be arranged.
Thanks to everyone who reads the posts and even more thanks to those of you who comment, send emails etc. Let us all have a great 2012 as many exciting events are happening in our area. Kitchener is the place to be!
Ted Parkinson
(Communications Director, Mt Hope - Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association)
12/14/11
Brownfield Roundup in the MHBP 'hood
There are many exciting things happening to old industrial buildings in our neighbourhood. It seems that genuine urban renewal is underway and that is a great thing.
Before discussing the brownfield areas I wanted to summarize some of the general plans for the Victoria and King street area. As we all know, the University of Waterloo's School of Pharmacy has been located at the King/Victoria intersection for a few years, and next to it McMaster University has a satellite medical campus. These buildings are just across from the revitalized Tannery building and the pub there has become a popular hub.
I listened to several great bands at the Kitchener Blues Festival this summer and was walking back home along Charles St. and the pub's patio was full of people eating and drinking and many were inside as well, and the colourful signs of Google, Desire2Learn etc. adorned the old brick walls. It was easy to think that things were turning around for the downtown and, by osmosis, the MHBP area as well.
Future development in the Victoria Street area, from King to Duke, will include a transit hub described in articles here and here. GO trains traveling between Kitchener and Toronto on December 19 and the transit hub will only increase their ease of access. Of course there will also be an LRT stop in this area which will make it extremely easy to travel to here without a car. So we will have science and technology and transportation within a few blocks of each other. Awesome!
Right next to all this activity is The Breithaupt Block which is currently being renovated. There are some great photos of this work on the Breithaupt Block's Facebook page. The MHBPNA Blog has posted two articles on this development: the background to the buildings and a very special "inside" the Breithaupt Block tour.
Speaking of the Breithaupt Block and Facebook, there are rumours that Facebook is planning a "major presence" in Kitchener and will be renting space in this development. If this comes to fruition then it will be a real coup for the BB folks.
Another brownfield project is located on the opposite side of our neighbourhood at Louisa and St. Leger on the old Breithaupt Tannery/Pannill Veneer site. The buildings burned down a few years back and it was a great place to ride a mountain bike. For the past several months there have been environmental assessments and analysis and many big machines levelling the area. Wonderful Waterloo has posted this excellent series of photos. Be sure to read down to the bottom because there are some great "artist renderings" of the condos to be known as "1 Adam Street" and some good discussion. Pretty impressive.
Thanks to our Blog reader Ryan for drawing my attention to the above set of photos and discussion.
Finally, the third brownfield is at the corner of Shanley and Duke. Last year The Record published an article about this building and its long history of contamination and tax evasion. This summer I was part of a group that saw some tentative plans for the building and they looked fabulous. The latest news is that a developer is working on purchasing the building to develop into condos. There are many issues to deal with including legal wrangling, back taxes and environmental cleanup but there is room for optimism. We should know by next summer and the MHBPNA Blog promises to update all our faithful readers at that time.
Before discussing the brownfield areas I wanted to summarize some of the general plans for the Victoria and King street area. As we all know, the University of Waterloo's School of Pharmacy has been located at the King/Victoria intersection for a few years, and next to it McMaster University has a satellite medical campus. These buildings are just across from the revitalized Tannery building and the pub there has become a popular hub.
I listened to several great bands at the Kitchener Blues Festival this summer and was walking back home along Charles St. and the pub's patio was full of people eating and drinking and many were inside as well, and the colourful signs of Google, Desire2Learn etc. adorned the old brick walls. It was easy to think that things were turning around for the downtown and, by osmosis, the MHBP area as well.
Future development in the Victoria Street area, from King to Duke, will include a transit hub described in articles here and here. GO trains traveling between Kitchener and Toronto on December 19 and the transit hub will only increase their ease of access. Of course there will also be an LRT stop in this area which will make it extremely easy to travel to here without a car. So we will have science and technology and transportation within a few blocks of each other. Awesome!
Right next to all this activity is The Breithaupt Block which is currently being renovated. There are some great photos of this work on the Breithaupt Block's Facebook page. The MHBPNA Blog has posted two articles on this development: the background to the buildings and a very special "inside" the Breithaupt Block tour.
Speaking of the Breithaupt Block and Facebook, there are rumours that Facebook is planning a "major presence" in Kitchener and will be renting space in this development. If this comes to fruition then it will be a real coup for the BB folks.
Another brownfield project is located on the opposite side of our neighbourhood at Louisa and St. Leger on the old Breithaupt Tannery/Pannill Veneer site. The buildings burned down a few years back and it was a great place to ride a mountain bike. For the past several months there have been environmental assessments and analysis and many big machines levelling the area. Wonderful Waterloo has posted this excellent series of photos. Be sure to read down to the bottom because there are some great "artist renderings" of the condos to be known as "1 Adam Street" and some good discussion. Pretty impressive.
Thanks to our Blog reader Ryan for drawing my attention to the above set of photos and discussion.
Finally, the third brownfield is at the corner of Shanley and Duke. Last year The Record published an article about this building and its long history of contamination and tax evasion. This summer I was part of a group that saw some tentative plans for the building and they looked fabulous. The latest news is that a developer is working on purchasing the building to develop into condos. There are many issues to deal with including legal wrangling, back taxes and environmental cleanup but there is room for optimism. We should know by next summer and the MHBPNA Blog promises to update all our faithful readers at that time.
12/5/11
Christmas is coming
Blog updates are coming as well. Remember that you cannot park overnight on streets or tickets will accrue. Lots of great things happening in our neighbourhood including the apparent arrival of Facebook! Still no snow and the weather is balmy for this time of year. Of course rainy and grey doesn't help a lot, but it is still nice.
The next NMA meeting is in February. I will post at year end update at some point but the MHBPNA Blog wishes everyone a great holiday season.
The next NMA meeting is in February. I will post at year end update at some point but the MHBPNA Blog wishes everyone a great holiday season.
11/6/11
Spur Rail Line proposals
One of our Blog readers sent the following information which is very interesting. Thanks so much for the update!
The Region is proposing to create a multi-use trail along the Spur Rail Line (the one that cuts across Weber at George Lippert Park and runs all the way to uptown Waterloo).
Here are the draft plans from last week's public consultation open house at regional headquarters (I think this was the 2nd public consultation on the plans, with the first held sometime late summer). Starting on p. 12 are some maps/graphics of where the trail would run through the neighbourhood, and what they’re recommending for design of the trail.
I think this is a pretty cool project to formalize the use of the rail line as a path for cyclists, walkers, etc., and to connect neighbourhoods with one another. From a public health (i.e. encouraging active modes of transport/commuting/physical activity) standpoint trails like this are a great thing. From a neighbourhood building perspective (getting people out of their houses and talking to each other) trails like this are also a great thing.
The proposed designs so far seem pretty thoughtful from an accessibility and user safety perspective. After reading the plans what do you think? They’re still looking for public comment from people in the neighbourhood, so if you have any thoughts for or against the idea, or recommendations to the coordinators/designers for how to do ensure the end product is something we all want to use and are proud of, you can send an email to the project coordinator, Hanan Wahib HWahib@regionofwaterloo.ca.
I guess this whole thing is still in the "proposed" stage and that funds haven't been officially approved/allocated for the construction, so perhaps they are still waiting to make sure that there is public support for the idea. I guess it's been in the works for many years now. Some neighbourhood residents at the consultation last night talked about having used the trail (the informal worn path that's there now along the rail line) for 40 years!
On page 9 of the report it states they would like feedback by November 10.
11/3/11
Great neighbourhood pumpkin patch
In Duke Street Playground, on November 1st, we had the first "pumpkin patch" organized by the folks at Little City Farm. It was fun to see the people and their children out (swinging and playing on the equipment in the spooky evening).
The trek to the playground was made via cars, vans, feet and lots of wagons. Much conversation and fun was had and it is planned to be repeated next year. For more information, and better photos, click on this link.
10/17/11
Central Art Walk this weekend!
The annual Central Art Walk is coming to our neighbourhood this weekend (Oct 22 and 23, 2011). For a map of all artists who are participating, click on this link.
For a nice poster of the event, click here. Feel free to print the poster and advertise the walk.
The main website for the art walk is here and includes a brochure you can view or print out.
It is always an enjoyable activity to go for a weekend walk around the area and drop in on a few artists to see what they have been doing. See you there!
10/1/11
Survey for Waterloo Region NetSquared Group
Here is a link to a survey. NetSquared is a social networking organization interested in technology and social impact. They have groups in over 80 cities around the world and KW seems like a logical area for them start another.
OK, the above link was to the general posting about interest in a local NetSquared group. The actual survey is here.
OK, the above link was to the general posting about interest in a local NetSquared group. The actual survey is here.
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