Opinion: The Hamilton Spectator: The Lifeblood of our city

Hamilton was built by people who came from other places. But we need more of them — new Canadians who understand a new home is an opportunity for security and to realize dreams and ambitions, for themselves, for their children and for their children’s children.

Hamilton must attract immigrants to fuel the skilled workforce that is needed — needed even during these bad economic times — to maintain, let alone grow, our local economy.

Skilled workers — for manufacturing, health care, service industry, social services, the public sector or transportation and more will continue to be in demand. If Hamilton does not attract immigrants who can fill that need, employers will go elsewhere to find them, taking existing jobs and tax revenues with them.

Hamilton is in competition with other cities for the number — and kind — of immigrants we need. If places like London, Waterloo, Halton and Niagara are more attractive to new Canadians than Hamilton, this city is starved of the workers and the entrepreneurial capital a growing city needs. In that race, we have fallen behind.

This is all to say that Hamilton’s about-to-be-launched immigration strategy is a smart and badly needed initiative. The only knock against it is that we need it, as the saying goes, yesterday.

Vacant schools to be shared for public use; London Free Press

WOODSTOCK — Ontario’s education minister is ready to order school boards to share vacant space with other boards and community partners.

Kathleen Wynne said yesterday she would look to write regulations about sharing space in response to recommendations from a report she commissioned on declining enrolment at Ontario schools.

“Closing or consolidating schools is one response to declining enrolment — in some circumstances, the appropriate response,” the report states.

“However, many circumstances exist in which school closures are undesirable or even unworkable.”

Several of the report’s recommendations focus on encouraging and even mandating school boards to seek partnerships that would allow vacant space in schools to be used rather than remain empty and become a financial burden.

A turnaround plan to fix city economy: Alfie Morgan, Windsor Star

Clearly, we have to do it ourselves. But, what is “it” that we have to do? I would like to suggest a four-point economic turnaround plan for your consideration:

1. Holding on to businesses we have.

2. Incubating new businesses.

3. Attracting new outside investments.

4. Reinventing Windsor’s economy.

Meet our post-industrial Waterloo; Toronto Star

But the region hasn’t hitched its wagon to a single industry. Its strengths in financial services and post-secondary education – the region boasts two universities and a community college – have helped offset manufacturing declines.

And the region continues to show creativity and nimbleness, exemplified in a forward-looking plan to remake Kitchener’s frayed downtown that many think will help insulate it from the worst of the downturn and position it to flourish when Ontario’s economy recovers.

Kitchener, the old industrial heart of the region, started planning for the future long before the recession hit.

Seeking new life as the old Factories die: Toronto Star:

With industrial power fading, hard-hit Ontario communities grapple with what to do next:

Now, hard-hit communities are coming to the grim conclusion that many of those manufacturing jobs may never come back, and are grappling with what to do next.

In the Waterloo region, for example, local leaders saw the writing on the wall and started planning for the future before the downturn. Many manufacturing companies there have downsized or shut their operations altogether. But Kitchener, which bears the scars of the decline in heavy manufacturing, has been luring satellite university campuses to its downtown. And the region’s technology sector is still hiring, despite the recession.

But for some communities, such as Oshawa, the transition will be particularly difficult. That city’s economy is chained to the fortunes of the North American auto industry, the survival of which remains in doubt despite the prospect of government bailouts.

Helping Local Talent Build Global Enterprises: Daily Exchange Speech by Dalton McGuinty. Feb.3, 2009

“That belief is an integral part of Ontario’s Innovation Agenda, a plan – and a nearly $3-billion commitment — to make innovation a driving force of Ontario’s future economy.

It is also the driving force behind a formal review of the Ontario Commercialization Network (OCN). The goal of this review is to ensure that our province builds the kind of world-class innovation system needed to turn good ideas into the new industries, world-class companies and great jobs that will shape our future.

Today, that Review has reached an important milestone: the Steering Committee — a group of leaders from industry, academia and finance who guided the Review process — have submitted their key findings and recommendations to the province, outlining how to create an OCN that is more responsive to the needs of Ontario’s world-class researchers and innovators…”

Full report is posted: www.ontario.ca/INNOVATION

Community Power fund approves grants for six new community projects: Daily Exchange

The Community Power Fund announced the approval of six new grants to communities across Ontario. The projects represent a diverse group of initiatives including: a First Nation’s small-hydro project in the northwestern Ontario, a solar/wind project at a mosque in Maple, a co-operatively owned wind farm west of Kitchener, a solar/geothermal project at the Buckhorn Community Center, a Toronto housing co-operative solar thermal initiative, and a First Nations biomass cogeneration plant near North Bay. The Community Power Fund was founded in 2007 by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) with $3 million in seed money from the Government of Ontario. The Community Power Fund’s goal is to ensure communities wanting to develop and own local renewable energy projects have access to financial resources through all stages of project development.

Laurier Brantford University Centre construction to begin late spring 2009; Daily Exchange

BRANTFORD – Construction on Laurier Brantford’s University Centre will begin in late spring 2009, with a target completion date of fall 2010. The facility will be located on Dalhousie St. – a key piece of the Heritage Block – and will accommodate Laurier Brantford’s projected growth over the next few years.

In the first phase of the project, the 30,000 sq.ft. building will include an expanded community bookstore as well as academic and office space. Residence space and food services will be added through a public-private partnership at a later date.

“The University Centre is a key piece for the campus expansion, so we are excited to see the project take shape,” said Laurier Brantford acting vice-president, Dr. Bruce Arai. “This is the first phase of a larger project, which will continue to add amenities to the campus and improve the overall student experience.”

Editorial: London Free Press: Creative, quirky ideas fuel buzz in downtown

Revitalizing a downtown isn’t only about spending millions of tax dollars on programs, esthetics and incentives.

Sometimes it’s little things that can make a big difference.

On Jan. 30, a group of musicians performed on a Dundas Street rooftop to re-enact the last public performance by the Beatles on the roof of Apple Records in London, England.

The event drew hundreds of people for a trip down memory lane.

Tomorrow, Londoners will get a chance to celebrate another Beatles-inspired event when a young London couple holds a bed-in for peace in a display window at Kingsmill’s on Dundas Street. The event marks the 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s honeymoon and bed-in for peace at an Amsterdam hotel, repeated two months later at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

While this event is clearly intended to promote Legend, a John Lennon tribute concert at McManus Theatre on March 27, it’s the type of activity that goes a long way to make London’s downtown a vibrant, fun, interesting and desirable place to visit and live.

It’s this type of innovative, quirky and creative event that is going to help solidify the core’s revitalization.

Martin Prosperity Institute: The Place of Design: Exploring Ontario’s Design Economy: Working Paper Series: Ontario in the Creative age; March 2009

The cost of bottled water: London Free Press

Restaurant Trends for 2009, creatively speaking: Cooltownstudios

3. Local, local, local: “It’s the magic word for independent operators - diners want their ingredients locally sourced. The chains can’t compete on this point.“ That’s what this site is all about, in the name of authenticity. Read how local businesses give back 70% more than chains and how they can compete with chains.

Doll Houses: This is cool — the city of Seattle is expanding the option for homeowners to build “backyard cottages.”

New Canadians flock to better life in suburbs: Toronto Star

Recent immigrants in smaller suburban communities are faring better than those setting roots in big cities when it comes to jobs, incomes and homeownership, says a new study that measures newcomers’ life quality across Canada.

The report shows immigrants to the Greater Toronto Area are increasingly choosing the 905 regions as their destination over Toronto. Even those initially settling in the city are then moving on to the suburbs.

Water Threat: Bigger Than Financial Crisis: Planetizen

The Parable of the Shopping Mall: Alexander Cockburn; Information Clearing House

A walk through Gaelic history and culture:

Communities living on the Atlantic coasts of Ireland and Scotland must rediscover their shared Gaelic heritage to secure a peaceful and sustainable future, argues a new book by sustainability expert and walking enthusiast Joseph Murphy.

At the Edge: Walking the Atlantic Coast of Ireland and Scotland tells the story of a 1500 km walk from Kerry to Lewis along the dramatic west coast of Ireland and Scotland and combines Gaelic history, culture and language, with sustainable development and a passion for walking.

Over three months Joseph Murphy climbed mountains, traversed bogs and explored the communities and towns along the length of this coast. His book describes not just the stunning landscapes, but the warmth of the people he met, the challenges they face today, and the 2000 years of Gaelic history and culture that have shaped the region.

“People on this coastline live in different countries and follow different religions. I want to show that they have Gaelic history, culture and language in common and that this can inform and underpin a vision of sustainability for the region,” says Joseph Murphy, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leeds.

“Walking the coastline was also a chance to connect with part of my heritage that I knew almost nothing about. I think lots of people with Irish and Scottish heritage are in a similar position,” adds Murphy.

Gaelic ( Irish and Scottish ) is woven into the text throughout as the author rejoices in the cultural treasures of Ireland and Scotland, such as the illuminated manuscripts of Celtic Christianity and poetry of Aogán ó Rathaile and Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair. Murphy also describes breathtaking walks, including a ten hour hike along the Bangor trail through the Nephin Beg Mountains of Ballycroy National Park.

Imagine if we could walk, bicycle our coast in Windsor and Essex County!

Dream of regional rail transit nears reality: Detroit Free Press

After decades of missed chances, southeast Michigan appears closer than ever to getting what other major cities already enjoy — a true regional transportation system.

The first link in that potential system got a major boost last week when the Kresge Foundation and Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority pledged a combined $44 million to the proposed M1-RAIL light-rail line on Woodward in Detroit.

The potential is big. Beyond actually moving people from place to place, regional transit systems tend to spur nearby creation of residential, retail and other development. The regional transit plan being considered for southeast Michigan envisions 30,000 new jobs, $1.4 billion in annual payroll and almost 11,000 housing units built near the transit lines, as well as boosted retail sales and other benefits, all spurred by the year 2035 if a regional transit system is built.

Momentum is building. In addition to the big pledges last week, Congress approved a $950,000 earmark for a Detroit-Ann Arbor route, and regional leaders expressed hope late last week that some of the federal stimulus money could go toward a regional transit system.

Alas this doesn’t seem to be a real priority in Windsor and Essex, with so many egos and fiefdoms, whereas road building, road widening are all the rage! Heck, we can’t even build bike lanes anywhere! Or even build and maintain sidewalks!

Music on Main looking for musicians, Simcoe.com

The festival, which is part of the South Simcoe Arts Council Spring Festival of the Arts, is expected to feature more than 50 artists performing in venues across South Simcoe.

Watching a street become revitalized: Moncton N.B.

To me it appears, as if by accident or design, there is some of the original environment preserved, but also a thriving multi-use development area for residents being born simultaneously. It’s very resident friendly, and there are even some mixed-use developments where people obviously live over their work.

Walking through Moncton’s older, downtown neighbourhoods is an exercise for the body as well as the imagination as we see how things are changing and wonder what the future will bring.

Would Microloans work in Windsor? City entrepreneurship program makes sixth micoloan

STAUNTON — The Staunton Creative Community Fund announced its sixth microloan Wednesday to Studio C Recording and Production, located at West Beverley and North Lewis streets.

“Studio C is poised and ready to support the revitalization and growth of musical venues and talent in downtown Staunton,” says SCCF Interim Executive Director Meghan Williamson.

Studio C provides full service audio and visual recording services. This includes music production for regional and national producers and recording artists; recording, mastering, and manufacturing CDs for audio books in the publishing industry; and live, in studio and on-location video production for both television commercials and music videos.

Get us out of the car! Editorial, Mississauga.com March 18, 2009 

In its first three decades, the City of Mississauga has grown from a few small villages with a total population of 200,000 to become the sixth-largest city in Canada, with a population of over 700,000. There have been many accomplishments led by our mayor, public and private sector leaders, as well as the citizens, including improvements to the waterfront, building a golf course on a waste dump, an efficient network of public libraries, developing a healthy financial structure and many others. Unfortunately, sustainable transportation is not among them.
At this moment of economic crisis, it must be made clear that in a more globalized world, the best people can live anywhere. The creative artists, the most educated medical doctors, the skilled carpenters, the renowned scientists and others are sought after by cities across Canada and around the world. Why will they live in Mississauga and not somewhere else? Quality of life is not just a nice characteristic to embody; it is the most important tool of economic competitiveness and all efforts in that direction are essential to our advancement.

Walkable and bike-able communities are more than just about building sidewalks and painting lines on roads. It’s about creating a vibrant city with healthy communities where residents live happier, enjoying great public spaces.
A cultural change is needed; we have the highest obesity rates in history, traffic congestion is at its worst, global warming is showing effects everywhere and most recreation opportunities are limited to those who have physical and/or financial access to them. On top of all this, we’re in a deep economic slowdown.
Walking, bicycling, transit, parks and trails are part of the solution; to have great walking and bicycling infrastructure is not just something nice to do. Half of Mississauga residents do not drive. It is almost a human right, the right to mobility.
Walk & Bike for Life is a non-profit organization based in Port Credit and we’re doing a great deal of work on these topics across North America, Latin America and Europe. In following our commitment to contribute to the community where we live, work and play, we requested funding to Ontario’s Ministry of Health Promotion to work with 22 communities across the province and develop action plans based on citizen participation.
Residents are invited on March 12 and March 25 to community-led planning workshops. Participants will learn about successful active transportation planning from around the world and lay out priorities for action around walking, bicycling and active mobility in their community. Anyone with an interest in walking, bicycling and making Mississauga a great place is encouraged to attend the workshops.
The Mississauga South workshop takes place Thursday (March 12) from 6-9 p.m. at Chartwell Baptist Church (1880 Lakeshore Rd. W.). The City Centre workshop takes place March 25 from 6-9 p.m. at the Living Arts Centre.
While the event in Clarkson is focused on people who live south of the QEW, the City Centre workshop is for all residents.
Our goal is to not only look at the facilities that support walking and bicycling as a means of transportation and recreation, but also take it to the next level and get people thinking about how we can create healthier communities with happier residents.
A city is only a means to a way of life. So how do Mississauga citizens want to live? Through the CAP-for-Life project, Mississauga can begin to answer that question, and can identify the steps that need to be taken to get more people walking, bicycling and enjoying a greater quality of life.
For more information, call Sarah Rotz, project manager, Walk & Bike for Life, at 905-990-0198.

Gil Penalosa is Executive Director of Walk & Bike For Life in Canada as well as a successful international speaker and consultant. He lives in Ontario and enjoys outdoor activities with his wife and their three children.

One Lot at a Time: Ten tools for redesigning communities: Traditional Building

Economic Resilience in Rural America? Canada?

Lodging: Boutique Hostels: Cool. Urban. Cheap. Tim McKeough, The Globe and Mail

Solar energy giants discovering Ontario: Tyler Hamilton, Toronto Star

Canadians use water at “alarming” rate: via Windsor Star “Forget Oil! Got Water?” mb

The Super Sustainable City (?)

Books: The Man Who Loves Sprawl; Matthew Stadler’s New Anthology Tries to Ennoble Sprawl

100 Amazing Flickr Collections for Architecture Buffs! You can waste a lot of time here.

Business West Online: Town, Meet Gown: WSC Wants Its Students,or “Permanent Tourists.” to Help Revive Downtown Westfield

Could St. Catherines (ON) be the next Ciclovia?

Gil Penalosa knows the wonder a bike trail can work. As the former parks commissioner for Bogota,

Colombia, he’s seen how networks of car-free lanes can lead a community down a new path.”It’s almost like an exercise in social integration. It’s something fantastic,” Penalosa said.

Catastrophic Fall in 2009 Global Food Production

Time (magazine) gets on the “people over cars” bandwagon

By the way, here’s Time’s full 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now list, with the relevant topics in bold.

1. Jobs Are the New Assets
2. Recycling the Suburbs
3. The New Calvinism
4. Reinstating The Interstate - Not what it sounds like, but instead using all those expensive right-of-way acquisitions for mass transit and energy distribution.
5. Amortality - Living longer is in, and walkable cities help.
6. Africa: Open for Business
7. The Rent-a-Country
8. Biobanks
9. Survival Stores - Experience-oriented stores based on basic needs, whether it’s goods (food), services (computer repair) or transformation (yoga)… all at one address.
10. Ecological Intelligence - An accountability system (ie life-cycle assessment, LCA) measuring the true environmental costs of the products that are made.

High-Speed Rail-In-America Redux; Planetizen

Copenhagen Approach To “Traffic” Could Transform Your city!!!      A MUST READ!

Some key insights from Niels’ talk:

- Copenhagen has almost 40% of all their overall trips by bike, a staggering figure that is already the best in the world. And yet they’re not satisfied…. their goal is to raise that to 50%, and they’ve got aggressive strategies to do it. This is a lesson to cities that think it’s too hard to double their mode bike mode share, from, say, 2% to 4%.

- They calculate that a 10% increase in bike trips translates to a 10 million dollar per year cost savings!

- In Copenhagen, cycling has become “hip” and trendy. This is not accidental. A significant part of the traffic department’s work is to promote this trendiness, through awareness campaigns, promotions and branding/ marketing (you can picture the traffic director getting the Crown Prince of Denmark to be out seen more on his bike). They use the media and popular culture vigorously, feeling that “if the media is talking about cycling, then politicians are, and if politicians are, then the media is.”

- 60% of cyclists ride in winter as well, and the city removes snow from cycle tracks (as they call their paths) FIRST, not last (or never).

While all the time Windsor dithers and hires more lawyers! I can’t believe this city!

Forget corporate bailouts and train our workers for the future: Gywn Morgan, The Globe and Mail

Worst recyclers in Ontario live in small communities: report: Michael Oliviera; The Globe and Mail

Average Ontarian creates 385 kg of waste per year: Michael Oliviera, Toronto Star

Here’s one for Windsor! Think City: An Affordable Car you Won’t See Until 2010

Last April, we reported that a small, affordable electric car would finally be available in the U.S. in 2009. Like many predictions made about electric vehicles, this one was a little optimistic.

On March 12, Norweigian electric car manufactuer Think announced plans to open up a manufacturing plant in the United States. The plant would eventually employ up to 900 people and have the capacity to produce about 60,000 electric vehicles per year.

We see ourselves playing a small but potentially growing role in re-inventing the U.S. auto industry by bringing back new manufacturing jobs to the U.S. to replace internal combustion engine vehicles that are expensive to operate and maintain with clean, efficient electric vehicles.

-Richard Canny, CEO of Think

Think is currently meeting with representatives from 8 different states about the manufacturing plant, but these plans are dependent on securing a loan from the Department of Energy (which the company will apply for on March 31st).

CAN WINDSOR AND ONTARIO DO AN END RUN THE STATES???

The predicted ‘affordable electric car’, the Th!nk City EV, is a four-seater with 112 mile range and top speed of 65 mph, priced under $25,000, made from 95% recyclable materials, and originally estimated to be available in the U.S. in 2009. It’s now clear that this car will not be available until 2010, and then only as 2500 vehicles for pilot testing and demonstration fleets. The rest of us will have to wait until 2011 to get our hands on one, and by then it might be too late.

What we were most excited about back in April was the timing of this car’s release. While the Think City has ‘city driving appeal’, it’s unclear how well it will be received alongside the more mainstream plug-in hybrids that will be coming online around the same time.

Want to know what the car is actually like? Our friends at Popular Mechanics just took one for a test drive.

Opinion: Supporting local arts, culture key to livability: Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

Lingerie Business Keeps Brazilian Town Afloat During Financial Crisis

JURUAIA, Brazil — The highway that meanders through coffee country into this 8,000-person hamlet is to some extent like any country road in southern Minas Gerais state: rolling hills, flowering trees, grazing cattle, toiling workers. It is, in a word, picturesque.     

But the road to Juruaia is just a bit more picturesque than most, thanks to dozens of billboards featuring scantily-clad models posing in the town’s No. 1 product: lingerie.

Once a struggling agricultural town, Juruaia now bills itself as the intimate apparel capital of Brazil. And that title isn’t far-fetched. There are now 141 lingerie manufacturers in Juruaia, according to Joao Batista da Silva, the town’s secretary of commerce, industry and tourism (and the owner of two of the companies, Perlui and Sensual Lingerie).

“According to the book’s authors, ICF co-founders Robert Bell, John Jung and Louis Zacharilla, information and communications technology has become a powerful economic driver for those communities that realized that broadband was the next critical infrastructure, and moved to harness its capabilities and develop strategies to enable “a culture of use.” Broadband Economies tells the stories from towns, cities and regions on five continents that are using broadband and IT to battle stagnation, rebuild their economies and make their communities places where people can afford to live, raise families and provide opportunities to the next generation.

……..Markham was awarded first place in the “strategic plan” category. More than two years in the making, Markham 2020 is an economic blueprint that will help shape Markham’s future as one of Canada’s leading communities in the knowledge economy.“Our Markham 2020 plan strengthens Markham’s position as a leader and innovator in the global marketplace,” said Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti. “We are poised to face the challenges of the global economy, because we have the talent, the place and the connectivity to compete on the international stage.”    

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