01-24-2018, 03:55 PM
(01-24-2018, 03:05 PM)DHLawrence Wrote: When the public board wanted to close a high school, Southwood and PHS were on the chopping block; no schools in Kitchener or Waterloo were threatened.
The region has been around since the 70s, but it took until about 15 years ago to get a bus from Cambridge to Kitchener; you had to walk from the top of Shantz Hill to Sportsworld.
We've been trying to get (CP at first but now) GO trains for forty years with little pressure put on CP from the region to make it happen; Kitchener asks once and they get two a day.
Can't imagine why people in Cambridge are a bit miffed.
(1) This mis information is why I have little sympathy for the "woe-is-us" crowd. In 2003 the WRDSB suggested closing Southwood and KCI (NOT Preston High). Because of the complaining, both schools survived. Kitchener residents fought due to the historical value of the building, and the fact a prime minister attended. Cambridge residents argued that Kitchener was being a bully. Lets look at the facts at the time. The public board had 5 High Schools in Cambridge (Jacob Hespeler, Preston, Glenview, Galt, Southwood) vs. 5 High Schools in Kitchener (KCI, Eastwood, Grand River, Cameron Heights, Forest Heights)... a city more than twice the size. Southwood has operated at less than capacity for a long time, and the decision was a no brainer. (I am Southwood alumni, so I do have skin in the game).
(2) The region didn't run transit. If Cambridge Transit could of run a bus to Kitchener, they should have. Don't blame the Region for city gov't decisions. [Provincial rules didn't allow them to cross boundries... its actually one of the reasons the REGION took over the CITY's buses is to provide better service to everyone!]
(3) K/W tech companies are the driving force that got GO trains after asking "once". Maybe when Cambridge lands the next Google campus they will get GO trains.
I'm not saying Cambridge is mis-treated, they are WELL-treated. They are our Quebec. Per capita, the City of Cambridge gets more Regional services than other cities in the region, and they still complain.