General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[the_conestoga_guy]

This brings up my biggest issue with the LRT - "a trip downtown is a breeze away when the LRT is in place"  ... for who??  Maybe a few folks who happen to live around the line, but not for most residents of the city (and by most I mean everyone in Wards 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8).  I understand the planning rationale for creating a corridor that induces development (and a long-term shift in population from the suburbs to condos along that corridor), but I really wish the LRT as more useful for more existing residents - meaning it had lines that extended out into the existing suburbs to the east and west and made it easy for people to come downtown as a destination.  I get it - that was way out of the budget - but presently I have a hard time seeing how the LRT would help me get anywhere I want to go (have you ever found yourself on King street saying "gee, I really wish I could hope on a train and get to uptown waterloo?")  ... most of the city's residents (again, everyone in Ward 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8) live outside walking distance from the LRT, which means they will have to keep driving everywhere they want to go.   

Since the province is now providing 100% funding for this sort of thing we should be lobbying for a Phase II LRT that adds loops from the outer areas into the core to augment the main line!

That really does illustrate how gigantic 60 acres really is. Definitely unnecessary for just a hospital.

I think it would make sense on North Campus, but I doubt we'll see it. UW seems dedicated to extracting maximum value without regard for any social benefits from that land area.

Now if the province would Grant UW an actual Medical School then they would definitely build on the North Campus...

Considering that UW hired a new Dean with a background in medicine, I don't think it's a stretch to think that they'd be interested in forming a med school if given the opportunity. 

I know it would be a terrible place for a hospital, but I can't help but look at the land adjacent to the new Schlegel Village/UW Institute for Aging as a location that could be considered. The land is basically 50% parking lots in the area already, so they'd probably welcome a few more /s