Welcome Guest!
In order to take advantage of all the great features that Waterloo Region Connected has to offer, including participating in the lively discussions below, you're going to have to register. The good news is that it'll take less than a minute and you can get started enjoying Waterloo Region's best online community right away.
or Create an Account




Thread Rating:
  • 13 Vote(s) - 3.85 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours
(01-09-2020, 12:46 PM)westwardloo Wrote:
(01-09-2020, 12:19 PM)ac3r Wrote: 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.
All great points. Kitchener needs to start reinvesting in arts and culture with a focus point downtown. It's great that we built a theatre 30 years ago. But what has been done since then? The museum is a great addition. I am hoping that there is a large expansion I  the works and possibly a completely new built space for it. I would love to see more small theatre spaces/ concert venue. Having said this. Getting people to luve and work downtown is step #1 and kitchener has been doing a good job for the last decade. There is still a lot of work to be done, but it is a step in the right direction. 
I lived and worked at an architectural firm in Toronto. Personally I wasn't in love with the city. There is lots to do, but by the time I finished paying for rent I had no disposable income to enjoy what the city had to offer. Kitchener isn't that far from Toronto, so if I really want to see a concert or sporting event it's not a far drive/train. Hopefully as 2-way all day go comes into effect it will feel even closer.
I will admit that Toronto has a plethora of amazing little nieghbourhood, each with so many unique restaurants. Its something kitchener never developed. We have the downtown's and maybe Belmont village then strip malls,  with generic Kelsey's and chucks roadhouse. Unfortunately I think People in the suburbs love stripmalls and big box stores for what ever reason. Those people are never going to shop downtown no matter what it has to offer. The main focus should be density. Keep adding condo towers and office towers. The downtown's will slowly shift to become a more urban centre. With that I believe the cultural scene will follow.
What have we done since then?  Well, The Registry, the KPL expansion, the Conrad Centre, and the Art District Gallery come to mind, along with various events/festivals.
Am I the only one who finds it rather pointless to compare K-W to Toronto?  London or Windsor would seem more comparable, or maybe Hamilton for the ambitious.
Reply


(01-08-2020, 09:00 PM)panamaniac Wrote: The condo corp has been up and running for years, no?

I found somebody on the KW Techs Slack who owns a unit in that building who said that is the case, but the info the selling realtor gave me said the condo was still unregistered and also had the condo fees for this unit wrong.
Reply
(01-09-2020, 12:38 PM)taylortbb Wrote: As for water or the bluffs, I think there's plenty of nature around. Have you taken some of the trails along the grand river? Or gone out into the townships?

Maybe Ontario is pretty good at water but I don't do that many water based activities. I don't feel like the land based activities are nationally or globally competitive (ie the landscape is too flat). KW is a bit better than Toronto for availability to nature but still underwhelming. You can just do better hikes and climbs in other parts of the world.
Reply
(01-09-2020, 12:19 PM)ac3r Wrote: Waterloo Region has done almost nothing to improve the downtown cores here.

I'm guessing that you're a relatively recent resident who lacks knowledge of the nadir of Downtown Kitchener in the mid 1990s?
Reply
I don't know how to start a new thread but could we get a thread for the development on Borden by the Aud?
Reply
(01-02-2020, 10:59 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(01-02-2020, 08:04 PM)white_brian Wrote: Don't forget the Howard Johnson on Weber. Maybe some movement on Ottawa across from Mount Trashmore

I figured that was a bit far to qualify as DTK.  Big Grin

With that attitude is. Gotta dream BIG!!! Tongue Tongue

How come the Schneider's remediation has ground to a halt? They were making progress hauling away and breaking down brick and rubble and all of a sudden, nada.
Reply
(01-07-2020, 10:52 AM)tomh009 Wrote: Yes. Perceptions will lag reality. But both are (slowly) moving in the right direction.

I've lived in DTK since 2008. The idea that the "bad people" are in DTK and all the good people live outside the DT core is a fallacy so many people continue to tell themselves. Our best friend is local WRP officer and says Activa is one of the worst areas for break-ins and domestics now. They are also starting to catch up in opioid addiction.

But as for meth heads and general tweakers, we still are #1 here on Cedar Hill. Woohoo!

Maybe trashing DTK makes some people living in overpriced, heavily mortgaged, heavily indebted houses in the leafy suburbs feel better, that they are "successful". All that house, all that debt and Canada's debt loads/credit card debt has never been higher. It's hard for most people in the current climate of growing Kitchener to accept that even though a huge amount of property in DTK is rental, and 95% of insolvencies involve people that rent, the fact of the matter is with current debt loads, more and more of people who currently own cannot tap the equity in their homes because they have been using their houses as piggy banks, and their income to debt ratio is now too high. Many many home owners run a real risk of becoming disgruntled renters themselves. The flavour of DTK has for too long been seen as "bad people live there, people who've made bad choices and have failed in life". I know many people who are but a few paycheques away from not being able to afford their homes themselves and being close to insolvency. Projection is toxic. Just imo.
Reply


(01-11-2020, 09:14 PM)CTGal101 Wrote: How come the Schneider's remediation has ground to a halt? They were making progress hauling away and breaking down brick and rubble and all of a sudden, nada.
Maybe they have stopped while they prepare a site plan for approval. The whole project is supposed to take 7 to 10 years and construction wasn't supposed to start before this year at the earliest. See the presentation that was presented in the public meeting on July 15 last. https://www.kitchener.ca/en/planning-and...evelopment
Reply
(01-11-2020, 12:51 PM)Bytor Wrote:
(01-09-2020, 12:19 PM)ac3r Wrote: Waterloo Region has done almost nothing to improve the downtown cores here.

I'm guessing that you're a relatively recent resident who lacks knowledge of the nadir of Downtown Kitchener in the mid 1990s?

I was born and raised here in the 1980s, so I remember the 1990s well. Yes, things have improved, but it's still severely lacking in anything interesting to see or do on a daily basis.
Reply
Exclamation 
(01-12-2020, 02:56 PM)ac3r Wrote:
(01-11-2020, 12:51 PM)Bytor Wrote: I'm guessing that you're a relatively recent resident who lacks knowledge of the nadir of Downtown Kitchener in the mid 1990s?

I was born and raised here in the 1980s, so I remember the 1990s well. Yes, things have improved, but it's still severely lacking in anything interesting to see or do on a daily basis.

Bingo Exclamation 

Need things to do, entertainment pure and simple. Places like Toronto benefit from having so much to do (I know their population supports it) and a spill-over effect is simply people watching/lounging around as a form of entertainment...a by-product of there being so much to do/places to go. 

I've said this before, we need an additional influx of 50+ businesses, 2500+ living units/5000+ jobs to start feeling like a real lively metro city/keep people local on the weekends. We are projected to be there within 3-5 years if memory serves me correct.
Reply
I guess the big question is: what have you done to contribute to the things to see and do here?

1. Have you attended any of the concerts that happen in the Region? They range in size from the Centre in the Square to medium theatres (eg the Registry) to house concerts (eg the KW Chamber Music Society) to porch parties. There are numerous bands and musical groups that create great music every day of the week in the Region if you know where to look.

2. Have you attended any of the theatre productions that range from professional to amateur? It's not Broadway or Mirvish but we're not New York.

3. Have you walked along the Grand River or along any of the other trails that are here?

4. Have you attended any of the festivals that happen here?

5. As an architect, have you contributed to creating great spaces that can host planned or impromptu gatherings and events?

6. Have you tried to find or create a community here that might have what you're looking for?

But frankly, there are some people in Waterloo Region who do appreciate that it isn't a bigger city like Toronto. We and those who lived here before us have built a community that more or less suits us.
Reply
Kitchener and Waterloo actually have some great festivals, pretty much each weekend in the summer you can find a festival or event in the core parks.
Reply
The difference between KW and many other cities is not really the events happening. It is the unplanned energy and vibrancy what makes other places more fun. We have no shortage of programming here at the public squares and parks, but all those are organized activities with a set schedule and specific audience. Everything seems a little bit over-regulated here. For example, food trucks need to go through a bunch of hoops so they can park in a spot that was designed for them! We need music, vendors, street food, patios that don't need 10 permits to operate where there is space for them, etc. Think about the best cities or neighbourhoods you've been in the world, what makes them attractive and interesting?
Reply


Which cities are you referring to, preferably in Canada?

For example, Toronto very much does require permits for food trucks:
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments...od-trucks/
Reply
(01-09-2020, 01:04 PM)ac3r Wrote: I think the old Charles Street Terminal offers some great land for something like this. (...) They could do amazing work there, so I really hope they don't just sell it off to the highest bidder to stick down a condo that few people will be able to afford to live in or shop at whatever trendy shops happen to be on the first floor.

They were doing the RFI for the transit hub using a beauty contest model so I would expect something similar here.
Reply
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »



Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 14 Guest(s)

About Waterloo Region Connected

Launched in August 2014, Waterloo Region Connected is an online community that brings together all the things that make Waterloo Region great. Waterloo Region Connected provides user-driven content fueled by a lively discussion forum covering topics like urban development, transportation projects, heritage issues, businesses and other issues of interest to those in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the four Townships - North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich.

              User Links