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+--- Forum: Suburbs (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=7)
+--- Thread: General Suburban Updates and Rumours (/showthread.php?tid=4)
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - ijmorlan - 03-20-2023
(03-20-2023, 02:41 PM)Acitta Wrote:(03-20-2023, 05:49 AM)ac3r Wrote: Who has time in life to bike around to 10 different stores?
I do. Sometimes I go down to Fairway and then up to Waterloo on the same day. The e-bike really helps.
Who has enough life force to drive to 10 different stores in one day?
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - Acitta - 03-20-2023
(03-20-2023, 07:30 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:(03-20-2023, 02:41 PM)Acitta Wrote: I do. Sometimes I go down to Fairway and then up to Waterloo on the same day. The e-bike really helps.
Who has enough life force to drive to 10 different stores in one day?
I don't think that even car drivers go to 10 different stores on the same day, unless they drive to a mall and go to 10 stores in the same mall. Car drivers seem to exaggerate their actual needs or what they actually do and have never actually tried to live car-free even part of the time. I left home at 21 and have done fine without owning a car for the almost 49 years since, using a bicycle, public transit and my own two feet. I went to 5 stores today on my ebike, travelling 27.4 km while doing so.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - ac3r - 03-27-2023
Mixed use, multi-phased project proposed for 1950 Fischer Hallman Road. The first phase is proposed to start off with 1 floor commercial buildings. The latter phase proposes a series of residential buildings ranging from 4 to 9 floors. Will start a separate thread for the project if it ends up warranting it.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - ijmorlan - 03-27-2023
(03-27-2023, 05:47 PM)ac3r Wrote: Mixed use, multi-phased project proposed for 1950 Fischer Hallman Road. The first phase is proposed to start off with 1 floor commercial buildings. The latter phase proposes a series of residential buildings ranging from 4 to 9 floors. Will start a separate thread for the project if it ends up warranting it.
In other words, what is built first will just be standard suburban development. Wake me up when the commercial buildings are built with residential above from the start.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - Bytor - 03-29-2023
(03-20-2023, 05:49 AM)ac3r Wrote: Who has time in life to bike around to 10 different stores?
You don't need to go to 10 different stores in one day. The ones I listened each individually have a good variety of types of products.
Stop being so CarBrained™ and thinking that the only way to get groceries is to take your SUV once a month to a ginormous Zehrs and fill the back end with $500 worth of stuff.
People the world over have panniers or baskets on their bikes, and two of those reusable grocery bags (one per pannier or both in the basket) can hold a lot of food. Stop at one store on your way home on Wednesday and in 10-15 minutes you can easily fill those two bags with enough of the basics to feed two people for more than a week. It doesn't take very much planning to the point that it becomes second nature to get eggs and fresh veggies this week, 2x2L milk and fruits next week, and meat and a medium bag of potatoes every 4th week.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - SF22 - 03-30-2023
(03-29-2023, 02:47 PM)Bytor Wrote:I loosely agree in theory (ie: this works great for an individual or for two adults), but also I recognize that most of our stores reward you for buying in bulk across most products. It's significantly cheaper for me to buy the giant box of Pampers instead of the small, easy-to-transport one. Like, 24 cents per diaper instead of 41 cents apiece. And when you're trying to make ends meet, and your kid goes through 8 diapers a day, most people can't justify buying the smaller amount for more money, knowing they're going to burn through the product that much faster and be spending more money for the privilege. If costs were equal across all sizes, then sure, I probably would buy smaller amounts of things to just get me through to the next week, but that's just not our reality. All I'm saying is, it's easy to say "Just stop at the store on your way home," but there is a world of reasons why it's not so simple - maybe you live or work in a grocery desert where there is no grocery store on the way home.(03-20-2023, 05:49 AM)ac3r Wrote: Who has time in life to bike around to 10 different stores?
You don't need to go to 10 different stores in one day. The ones I listened each individually have a good variety of types of products.
Stop being so CarBrained™ and thinking that the only way to get groceries is to take your SUV once a month to a ginormous Zehrs and fill the back end with $500 worth of stuff.
People the world over have panniers or baskets on their bikes, and two of those reusable grocery bags (one per pannier or both in the basket) can hold a lot of food. Stop at one store on your way home on Wednesday and in 10-15 minutes you can easily fill those two bags with enough of the basics to feed two people for more than a week. It doesn't take very much planning to the point that it becomes second nature to get eggs and fresh veggies this week, 2x2L milk and fruits next week, and meat and a medium bag of potatoes every 4th week.
(I say all this as someone who does groceries on a weekly basis for a family of 3, where we walk to the Kitchener market to stock up on meats/cheese/fruits/veggies and absolutely load up the underneath of a stroller with our purchases, and still need to make a separate trip to the grocery store for a second, equally-sized load.)
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - Acitta - 03-30-2023
(03-30-2023, 09:48 AM)SF22 Wrote:(03-29-2023, 02:47 PM)Bytor Wrote: You don't need to go to 10 different stores in one day. The ones I listened each individually have a good variety of types of products.I loosely agree in theory (ie: this works great for an individual or for two adults), but also I recognize that most of our stores reward you for buying in bulk across most products. It's significantly cheaper for me to buy the giant box of Pampers instead of the small, easy-to-transport one. Like, 24 cents per diaper instead of 41 cents apiece. And when you're trying to make ends meet, and your kid goes through 8 diapers a day, most people can't justify buying the smaller amount for more money, knowing they're going to burn through the product that much faster and be spending more money for the privilege. If costs were equal across all sizes, then sure, I probably would buy smaller amounts of things to just get me through to the next week, but that's just not our reality. All I'm saying is, it's easy to say "Just stop at the store on your way home," but there is a world of reasons why it's not so simple - maybe you live or work in a grocery desert where there is no grocery store on the way home.
Stop being so CarBrained™ and thinking that the only way to get groceries is to take your SUV once a month to a ginormous Zehrs and fill the back end with $500 worth of stuff.
People the world over have panniers or baskets on their bikes, and two of those reusable grocery bags (one per pannier or both in the basket) can hold a lot of food. Stop at one store on your way home on Wednesday and in 10-15 minutes you can easily fill those two bags with enough of the basics to feed two people for more than a week. It doesn't take very much planning to the point that it becomes second nature to get eggs and fresh veggies this week, 2x2L milk and fruits next week, and meat and a medium bag of potatoes every 4th week.
(I say all this as someone who does groceries on a weekly basis for a family of 3, where we walk to the Kitchener market to stock up on meats/cheese/fruits/veggies and absolutely load up the underneath of a stroller with our purchases, and still need to make a separate trip to the grocery store for a second, equally-sized load.)
There are people in this city with children who do their grocery shopping with an ebike, so it is possible to make that choice. Of course, the more we design the city around active transport, the more it will be enticing for people to choose that lifestyle.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - dtkvictim - 03-30-2023
(03-29-2023, 02:47 PM)Bytor Wrote:(03-20-2023, 05:49 AM)ac3r Wrote: Who has time in life to bike around to 10 different stores?
You don't need to go to 10 different stores in one day. The ones I listened each individually have a good variety of types of products.
Stop being so CarBrained™ and thinking that the only way to get groceries is to take your SUV once a month to a ginormous Zehrs and fill the back end with $500 worth of stuff.
People the world over have panniers or baskets on their bikes, and two of those reusable grocery bags (one per pannier or both in the basket) can hold a lot of food. Stop at one store on your way home on Wednesday and in 10-15 minutes you can easily fill those two bags with enough of the basics to feed two people for more than a week. It doesn't take very much planning to the point that it becomes second nature to get eggs and fresh veggies this week, 2x2L milk and fruits next week, and meat and a medium bag of potatoes every 4th week.
Ac3r is clearly being hyperbolic and defeatist, but it's also not all sunshine and rainbows like you're describing. I've shopped at almost all of the stores you've listed (plus more), and no, most of them are not practical for daily needs between prices, lack of selection, and operating hours. They are mostly specialty shops and requires stops at multiple places to get what you need. Really curious - when you stop at multiple shops on a bike, do you leave loaded panniers with you locked bike, or haul them into every store? Neither sound like decent options to me.
Until Marche Leos opened I depended pretty heavily on grocery delivery services and eating out excessive amounts, despite living in the most central location possible. And Marche Leos has failed to deal with my complaints, having sold me spoiled meat at least 4 times, so I'm hesitant to even go back now.
Our current environment, both physical and social, means what are you suggesting is genuinely impractical for most of the city's residents. It's CarBrained to think it has to be that way, but it's not CarBrained to look at the current situation and see the alternatives as presently impractical.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - bravado - 03-30-2023
I am happy to announce that Cambridge City Council has saved us all from the scourge of 44 36 30 new units in an empty suburban lot.
Close call, but the housing crisis is saved!
https://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news/we-could-be-looking-at-more-cambridge-councillor-grapples-with-emotions-as-southeast-galt-development/article_7e8326fc-7eb2-5d9b-8b10-fef18c73eba5.html
Once again I have to hope and pray for the OLT to come through against my own elected leaders. What’s the science behind the current zoning of 40 units per hectare? Who decided that and what was their methodology?
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - plam - 03-30-2023
(03-30-2023, 03:57 PM)dtkvictim Wrote:(03-29-2023, 02:47 PM)Bytor Wrote: You don't need to go to 10 different stores in one day. The ones I listened each individually have a good variety of types of products.
Stop being so CarBrained™ and thinking that the only way to get groceries is to take your SUV once a month to a ginormous Zehrs and fill the back end with $500 worth of stuff.
People the world over have panniers or baskets on their bikes, and two of those reusable grocery bags (one per pannier or both in the basket) can hold a lot of food. Stop at one store on your way home on Wednesday and in 10-15 minutes you can easily fill those two bags with enough of the basics to feed two people for more than a week. It doesn't take very much planning to the point that it becomes second nature to get eggs and fresh veggies this week, 2x2L milk and fruits next week, and meat and a medium bag of potatoes every 4th week.
Ac3r is clearly being hyperbolic and defeatist, but it's also not all sunshine and rainbows like you're describing. I've shopped at almost all of the stores you've listed (plus more), and no, most of them are not practical for daily needs between prices, lack of selection, and operating hours. They are mostly specialty shops and requires stops at multiple places to get what you need. Really curious - when you stop at multiple shops on a bike, do you leave loaded panniers with you locked bike, or haul them into every store? Neither sound like decent options to me.
Until Marche Leos opened I depended pretty heavily on grocery delivery services and eating out excessive amounts, despite living in the most central location possible. And Marche Leos has failed to deal with my complaints, having sold me spoiled meat at least 4 times, so I'm hesitant to even go back now.
Our current environment, both physical and social, means what are you suggesting is genuinely impractical for most of the city's residents. It's CarBrained to think it has to be that way, but it's not CarBrained to look at the current situation and see the alternatives as presently impractical.
Usually I use a backpack and put my stuff in it. I also often get meat at the Kitchener Market, which does have limited hours but pretty good selection.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - Bytor - 03-31-2023
(03-30-2023, 03:57 PM)dtkvictim Wrote:(03-29-2023, 02:47 PM)Bytor Wrote: You don't need to go to 10 different stores in one day. The ones I listened each individually have a good variety of types of products.
Stop being so CarBrained™ and thinking that the only way to get groceries is to take your SUV once a month to a ginormous Zehrs and fill the back end with $500 worth of stuff.
People the world over have panniers or baskets on their bikes, and two of those reusable grocery bags (one per pannier or both in the basket) can hold a lot of food. Stop at one store on your way home on Wednesday and in 10-15 minutes you can easily fill those two bags with enough of the basics to feed two people for more than a week. It doesn't take very much planning to the point that it becomes second nature to get eggs and fresh veggies this week, 2x2L milk and fruits next week, and meat and a medium bag of potatoes every 4th week.
Ac3r is clearly being hyperbolic and defeatist, but it's also not all sunshine and rainbows like you're describing. I've shopped at almost all of the stores you've listed (plus more), and no, most of them are not practical for daily needs between prices, lack of selection, and operating hours. They are mostly specialty shops and requires stops at multiple places to get what you need. Really curious - when you stop at multiple shops on a bike, do you leave loaded panniers with you locked bike, or haul them into every store? Neither sound like decent options to me.
Until Marche Leos opened I depended pretty heavily on grocery delivery services and eating out excessive amounts, despite living in the most central location possible. And Marche Leos has failed to deal with my complaints, having sold me spoiled meat at least 4 times, so I'm hesitant to even go back now.
Our current environment, both physical and social, means what are you suggesting is genuinely impractical for most of the city's residents. It's CarBrained to think it has to be that way, but it's not CarBrained to look at the current situation and see the alternatives as presently impractical.
And before Marché Leo's, did you never go in New City? They have fruits and veggies, meat, seafood, dried goods, frozen stuff. It is what was originally described by the term "supermarket".
Also, just because stores are not hypermarkets like a ginormous Zehrs doesn't mean they are specialty shops.
Hasty Market has baked goods, dried goods, fridge stuff, and a butcher, for example.
Also, why do you, like Ac3r, assume that the only way to do things is making multiple stops? I mean come on, I even described a rotating cycle in my comment.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - dtkvictim - 03-31-2023
(03-31-2023, 01:38 PM)Bytor Wrote: And before Marché Leo's, did you never go in New City? They have fruits and veggies, meat, seafood, dried goods, frozen stuff. It is what was originally described by the term "supermarket".
Also, just because stores are not hypermarkets like a ginormous Zehrs doesn't mean they are specialty shops.
Hasty Market has baked goods, dried goods, fridge stuff, and a butcher, for example.
Also, why do you, like Ac3r, assume that the only way to do things is making multiple stops? I mean come on, I even described a rotating cycle in my comment.
I have been to New City a handful of times, years ago. Of course I could survive off it, but it's not my ideal place to be shopping... I also went to Central Fresh for quite a while, but deciding between the at least weekly 40 minute walk (half of it burdened with groceries, and no backpacks allowed!) or spending the money on transit and getting lucky with bus timing so that it's actually quicker than walking got old really fast.
As for the bolded part, I wasn't meaning to make assumptions about how you shop, though I clearly did. I was more so making a statement about how these shops work for me. Again, I shop at most of the places you have listed, and to me they are specialty shops in that I only pick up a couple specific items from each of them. If I don't make multiple stops in one trip, then I'm having to make daily trips just to meet my grocery needs. At that point it's easier and less time consuming to make a single larger trip to a supermarket.
I'm not sure why you always need to blame people for making the decisions that work best for them, or assume that people would make "better" decisions if they were just less ignorant, rather than listen to people to work towards a better system. It's unproductive.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - ac3r - 04-01-2023
(03-31-2023, 05:58 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: New City a handful of times, years ago. Of course I could survive off it, but it's not my ideal place to be shopping... I also went to Central Fresh for quite a while, but deciding between the at least weekly 40 minute walk (half of it burdened with groceries, and no backpacks allowed!) or spending the money on transit and getting lucky with bus timing so that it's actually quicker than walking got old really fast.
I called them out on this once. I can understand asking high school children and vagrants to leave their bags, but if I'm going in wearing a suit and happen do have a backpack, I'm obviously not there to shop lift stuff. I get the need for a policy and to make it broad rather than selective, but you should be able to tell who is and who is not likely going to steal. A guy in a suit or a nurse on her lunch break in scrubs is probably not there to shoplift.
(03-29-2023, 02:47 PM)Bytor Wrote:(03-20-2023, 05:49 AM)ac3r Wrote: Who has time in life to bike around to 10 different stores?
You don't need to go to 10 different stores in one day. The ones I listened each individually have a good variety of types of products.
Stop being so CarBrained™ and thinking that the only way to get groceries is to take your SUV once a month to a ginormous Zehrs and fill the back end with $500 worth of stuff.
People the world over have panniers or baskets on their bikes, and two of those reusable grocery bags (one per pannier or both in the basket) can hold a lot of food. Stop at one store on your way home on Wednesday and in 10-15 minutes you can easily fill those two bags with enough of the basics to feed two people for more than a week. It doesn't take very much planning to the point that it becomes second nature to get eggs and fresh veggies this week, 2x2L milk and fruits next week, and meat and a medium bag of potatoes every 4th week.
There are lots of shops, but far apart and usually very niche. Not everyone has the time to hop between stores. Meat (if I ate it) would be required to be purchased at Central or Marché Leo's. A good loaf of bread and there is no bakery still open? I guess I'm making a few blocks to Full Circle Foods (they sell nice breads, some from Golden Hearth). Oh but I need some chips and I'm in the mood for some plain Lay's. Better backtrack to Shoppers. Oh no I forgot the wine my wife wanted me to get, off to the LCBO now. No sorry, I don't carry change. Phew, all done. God damn the lock on my bike has been cut! Where is my bike! Ugh guess I'm walking to the LRT. It's standing room only as usual, 4 different people are playing music over a Bluetooth speaker and one guy keeps chewing on one of the holding straps.
It has nothing to do with being "car brained". Hypermarkets exist for a reason...convenience. I'm all for supporting small businesses but they alone cannot support high densities and needs of their populations. My home in Toronto is on Fort York Boulevard. There are 5 or 6 general grocery stores all within walking distance there, plus lots of specialty shops. My old place in Berlin was on Karl-Marx-Straße I don't know if you've ever been to Berlin, but its a dense city. I could always walk out my door and have a million large stores - Aldi, Netto, REWE, Penny, a million specialty shops or foreign grocery stores and of course, the Berlin staple, 24 hour spätis.
Shopping in Waterloo Region sucks, car or no car. And downtown needs a proper supermarket ASAP.
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - ijmorlan - 04-01-2023
(04-01-2023, 12:28 PM)ac3r Wrote:(03-31-2023, 05:58 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: New City a handful of times, years ago. Of course I could survive off it, but it's not my ideal place to be shopping... I also went to Central Fresh for quite a while, but deciding between the at least weekly 40 minute walk (half of it burdened with groceries, and no backpacks allowed!) or spending the money on transit and getting lucky with bus timing so that it's actually quicker than walking got old really fast.
I called them out on this once. I can understand asking high school children and vagrants to leave their bags, but if I'm going in wearing a suit and happen do have a backpack, I'm obviously not there to shop lift stuff. I get the need for a policy and to make it broad rather than selective, but you should be able to tell who is and who is not likely going to steal. A guy in a suit or a nurse on her lunch break in scrubs is probably not there to shoplift.
Accusations of racial profiling incoming in 3… 2… 1…
RE: General Suburban Updates and Rumours - KevinL - 04-01-2023
The backpack rule is almost certainly for the high school across the street - as an alumnus of that very school I know that shoplifting at Central is something of a pastime for some portion of its population.
When I shop there today I come by transit and have my bundle buggy with me, which stays closed in the cart until I check out. I've not received any grief about it.