(02-28-2023, 11:48 PM)ac3r Wrote: Any further, meaningful and useful transformation downtown will include cleaning up the shanty towns and providing the people living the with real, practical solutions. And not listening to NIMBYS who fight to prevent the redevelopment of literal unused parking lots and so on. By building more public spaces (be it bike lanes, paths parks, art and heck just stuff like trash cans, benches, water fountains, toilets) and so on.
The problems this city (and region) are so obvious. Clean it up, help the people and make it easier to live. Do they really need to crowdsource this shit? Lol we've been building cities for as long as humans have been around, it's not like there are still missing puzzle pieces. There's only a lack of ambition and funding.
Somehow many Western societies have shanty towns these days, not just Kitchener. And of course in other places there are informal settlements too. I mean, yes, with money we could solve it, but who is willing to pay the taxes? I am, but that's not how it works. I guess I'm just saying that, yes, it is a question of political will, but finding the will is not easy.
Some places are working on it, e.g. Wellington NZ just opened social housing with 74 2BR/3BR rentals: https://twitter.com/WgtnCC/status/1630743105161908224. Slow progress; better than negative progress but maybe not good enough yet.