General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[ac3r]

I think a lot of people still think that way

It still has that reputation...but I feel now it's more so because there is still just really no reason to go downtown. There are very few shops that offer anything you can't get elsewhere in the city. There isn't even a grocery store. There is a pretty meh farmers market once a week. There is no "nightlife". In fact there is almost no street activity past 8PM in the summer. It's like there is nothing to do but walk around without aim like the transient population does.

Granted, if you live downtown, then there is a bit more because that is your neighbourhood 365 days a week and so you make do. But what incentive is there for someone to drive from - say the areas around Stanley Park or Homer Watson? Nothing at all, unless they are running to the market or there is some one-off event going on.

I work as an architect in Waterloo Region but I just cannot live here, because for someone like me, there is very little to do. I stay in Toronto where I have more friends, where I can visit architecture conferences, I can go to art galleries, I can see music by the most obscure noise band that bangs on tin cans or pop music, I can go to a dozen niche, indie cinemas, I can go to a plethora of restaurants, bars, I can see the water, I can go to the bluffs. There is always something to do. Kitchener-Waterloo? I come here to work and once a month, check out the new art exhibits.

Waterloo Region has done almost nothing to improve the downtown cores here. You can't just plop down an expensive mass transit line and hope condo developers start making condos and that ground level shopping is going to be enough to make people care. There is more to a city than shopping, and easily getting from shop to shop.