News, Monday April 27, 2009
Drug-resistant E. coli found in harbour AND Detroit River
Antibiotic-resistant E. coli bacteria of the sort challenging hospitals have been found in Hamilton Harbour and the Detroit River with resistance at what researchers call breakpoint levels — high enough that the best available antibiotics might not kill them.
Young workers want a city they can love
If Hamilton is to position itself as a magnet for the next generation of workers, it has to face some realities about what those young people want.
Twenty years after it opened, the long transformation of Galleria London will soon be official with the unveiling of a new name — Citi Plaza.
With the completion of a $25-million facelift, the former elite retail mall will be reborn May 7 as a mixed-use of office, educational and retail tenants.
The allure of walking is simple.
“All you need is a good pair of shoes,” says Jerry Belan, a Toronto parks and recreation project officer.
For 18 months, Belan has been consulting dozens of city staff, environmentalists and walking groups to create a new parks and trails map highlighting the city’s 800 kilometres of hard-surface recreational trails.
“Toronto has some of the most fantastic walking opportunities of any major city, but this map will celebrate them in the way they should be,” Belan said.
“What we’re hoping to do with this new map is promote walking as a healthy, affordable recreational opportunity.”
Detroit Needs More Than Auto Industry Revival
As the automotive industry takes a deep hit during the current economic recession, many tie the Detroit’s hopes to those of the auto industry. But Richard Florida argues Detroit needs to think beyond the car business.
The shocking truth about the value of your home
New evidence shows that Canadian prices could go down, and stay down, for a decade
Surprise! The rise and fall of the Western exurb
Forty years of economic boom and bust have shattered the industrial foundation of Weston-Mount Dennis.
For decades, these neighbouring communities northwest of downtown Toronto flourished, with their Victorian and post-war homes, small shops and a major rail line that fed one of the most industrious parts of the city.
But what was once the manufacturing backbone of Toronto – a thriving working-class hub where everything from bricks and bicycles to stoves and steel was built in local factories – is now an industrial wasteland. Companies that produced iconic Canadian products like CCM skates, Moffat stoves and Dominion Bridge steel closed or moved off-shore while subdivisions, shopping centres and fast-food outlets moved in. Locals figure up to 20,000 jobs have been sucked out of the area over the years.
Today, the landscape is one of abandoned factories, derelict storefronts and high unemployment. Youth crime is on the rise. A rash of shooting deaths and a chronic lack of municipal services have put it on the list of the city’s 13 “priority neighbourhoods” in need of attention. The 2005 demise of Kodak Canada’s photographic film and paper factory – a victim of the digital age – was the final blow. In the plant’s heyday during the 1970s, it employed up to 3,000 people, most of whom lived a short stroll, streetcar or car-pool ride away. About 800 jobs were lost when the plant closed. To residents like 21-year-old Amanda Green, this is a “make or break” moment for Weston-Mount Dennis.
John Polk, an astute observer of the Cleveland political scene offered these comments about Economic Gardening, a set of strategies designed to nurture these high growth companies.
Bloomberg: Buildings Can Be Green and Full of Parking…HuH?
The city’s buried waterways are returned to the service; roads have becomes rivers; polluted byways are retrofitted into fishing grounds; former car parks find themselves walled off as reservoirs; canals have been reclaimed by the boats of floating markets; roundabouts are overgrown to form wetlands; and green roofs overlook it all.
The Central Asian Water Crisis
The deficit of water resources that may in the future be in greater demand than petroleum and natural gas has already become a reality for many districts of the inner Eurasia. Central Asia has not enjoyed the surplus of water for quite some time. The water problem is getting more and more charged with geopolitical meanings, directly affecting Russian interests
Great street design, and coming full-circle with our design heroes
“If we can develop and design streets so that they are wonderful, fulfilling places to be — community-building places, attractive for all people — then we will have successfully designed about one-third of the city.” Allan Jacobs
Bikes as Transit: New Study Envisions Possibilities for NYC
The Department of City Planning released a study this weekend about the possibilities for bike-share in New York City, and if you can spare the time to look it over, it’s a rewarding read. The best news: The city is thinking about bike-share on a scale that would successfully integrate cycling into the public transit system. The report recommends a phased implementation, starting with a 10,000-bike system and expanding to 49,000 bikes at stations in four boroughs.
Bicycling is an important factor in less carbon-intensive commuting
Economists calculate hidden price of tax relief..in Canada
One side of the story is easy to tell and appealing to hear: Vote for tax cuts and you’ll get to keep more of the money you earn.
The other side of the story is hard to quantify and easy to discount: Vote for tax cuts and you’ll get fewer – or worse – public services.
Urban Agriculture is maturing, and like any concerned parent, those of us with a vested interest are worried about the path she will take and the choices she will make in these crucial developmental years. She’s not quite ready to leave home, but she certainly isn’t interested in hanging with the ‘rents all weekend. That corporate bloke has been coming around a lot more lately, whispering sweet nothings in her ear and chumming it up with Dad in the den. With all this attention, she’s beginning to see that life exists outside of the small community in which she has grown up. The city offers so much opportunity, yet with it comes so much risk, and as for that corporate guy, word on the street is that he’s been into some pretty shady business. Meanwhile, there is a young guy around the block that Urban Ag has become friends with; he’s so sweet, and seems to be well-grounded. Sure, he’s a bit dorky, but we all know he’ll treat her better in the end than the corporate bloke looking for some arm candy and a quick buck.
Much of the debate about ways to create a landscape of green homes today has focused on the new tax credits for residential energy efficient windows, solar panels and geothermal options. Passive solar and other design methods which make more sense have yet to qualify for tax credits. If history is any guide, this is an error that may take us down the wrong path
But there’s another side to Istanbul, the world’s only city that straddles two continents, Europe and Asia, namely sprawl. It’s not suburban sprawl, the sort with which southern Ontario is now busy destroying itself. Here, the sprawl is urban; it takes the form of a swath of hideous low-rise concrete apartment buildings that stretches as far as the eye can see, certainly as far as the ferries that ply the Bosphorus can take you.
The trikes, as he calls them, are used as cargo vans, as well as pedicabs and even moving promotional billboards. With them, Revolution Rickshaw aims to bring more efficient and greener transport alternatives to city businesses and residents.
It features a living room, complete with hardwood floors, exposed stone walls and gas fireplace. Two outdoor patios as well. It has display shelves that actually show many of the covers of the books.
It’s one-floor design is spacious, accessible and inviting. With plenty of parking. And its colourful walls for the teen and children area give it a sense of fun. There are study rooms for class projects. And a program room for group meetings.
Add in the fact the place is bathed in natural lighting and there is no question Hamilton’s $8.7 million library branch is one for the books. But it’s one for Hamiltonians as well.
Does it matter how a city or neighborhood looks? Many would say it does, though much less than, say, health or safety. So if it matters to some extent, what makes a place visually attractive? Are there any common characteristics, or is it only in the eye of the beholder?
Maybe “looks” is the wrong word. How about the way a place feels? This would include all the senses — the different variables that make an area appealing. Of course, people have unique tastes and I don’t know if there are any qualities loved by everyone. However, there are places generally considered attractive. They are usually in wealthier districts, but should extend to poorer communities as well. If we work towards achieving this throughout our cities, without displacing low-income groups, we might look back some day and wonder how we ever lived in some of the neglected areas we know today.
REGIONAL: It’s the creative economy, stupid
Annapolis County business, science and culture leaders working together to build creative strategies for economic development
The source of growth: A view from Maine…and Cleveland
Here’s an interesting article out of Maine. A private sector leader sees the source of economic growth n the innovation of Maine’s companies. Read more.
He’s right, of course. Most job growth comes from smaller growth-oriented companies. The Edwartd Lowe Foundation has produced a really useful web site, YourEconomy, which enables you to see how these companies — Lowe calls them Second Stage entrepreneurs — generate jobs. Check out the data for your economy here.
Over on a local Cleveland blog, Brewed Fresh Daily, I posted some information on the Cleveland economy, oulled from YourEconomy.org. I was obliquely criticizing TeamNEO for touting its pitches to site selectors. You can read the post here.
New Geography contributor Richard Reep has written lately on the increasing activity of farmer’s markets and how the financial crisis may boost local markets.
Here’s a great interactive map at FortiusOne GeoCommons of a USDA database of national farmers markets.
Toronto Considers Mandatory Green Roofs for Some Building Types
The City of Toronto is considering a new green roof by-law that would make green roof installations mandatory on certain kinds of new developments with floor space more than 54,000 square feet. The proposal requires the greening of 30 to 60 percent of roofs, depending on building size. If passed, this would be the first green roof law in North America. According to the New York Times Green Inc blog, “similar requirements exist in Japan, Switzerland, Germany and France.” Steven Peck, President and founder of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, an industry association based in Toronto, thinks the measure will pass. “We have a very broad base of support for this,” he said to Green Inc.
Creating “Livable” Cities Requires An Open Mind
A recent article in the Washington Post by Roger K. Lewis highlights the challenges associated with changing anti-urban development mentalities in areas that wish to remain suburban – even when the area’s zip code is associated with a major city. Specifically, Lewis sheds light on some of the District’s residents in theTenleytown area who are “cling[ing] to a suburban mentality” by opting for low-density commercial development instead of transit-oriented development – an approach from which the area and surrounding neighborhoods could benefit.
Water Quality in Ontario: Report 2008
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London almost returns to Top 10 list
BEST PLACES TO LIVE IN CANADA: MoneySense magazine places the city in 11th place among 15
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2009/04/28/9272796-sun.html
It’s no surprise a lot of mid-sized cities are high on the list, he added.
“They tend to be the centre of their universe, centre of a region. They tend to have stable house prices and stable employment. They are not boom and bust.”
London has improved since the first survey, in 2006, when it finished 42nd. In 2007, the city cracked the top 10, coming in 8th, but fell to 14th in 2008.
This year, London beat out its traditional Southwestern Ontario rivals: Windsor (31), Hamilton (59), and Kitchener (63).
At the bottom of the 2009 list is New Glasgow, N.S.
London can use the ranking as another promotional tool, DeCicco-Best said.
“The quality of life and the cost of living are important to people. London has all the amenities of a big city without the challenges.”
THE TOP SPOTS
Top 11 places to live in Canada:
1. Victoria, B.C.
2. Ottawa
3. Kingston
4. Burlington
5. Vancouver, B.C.
6. Moncton, N.B.
7. Fredericton, N.B.
8. Winnipeg, Man.
9. Peterborough
10. Brandon, Man.
11. London
Also from MoneySense: 10 Best Places to retire in Canada: http://tiny.cc/2X5LP
Too…
much…
good…
reading…
Aaaaargh!
Ya! Ya! Want more? When I put the above together each week, I only select about a third of what I gather through the previous week! And a lot of it does relate to Scaledown, except maybe the story above about using fart power.
I love it, Mark! I also love giving you a hard time
Windsor Quilters’ Guild hold quilt sale this weekend
http://www.windsorstar.com/Windsor+Quilters+Guild+hold+quilt+sale+this+weekend/1555385/story.html
These are definitely not your grandmother’s quilts made out of scraps of old blankets and blue jeans.
The 280 quilts on display this weekend at the Windsor Quilters’ Guild bi-annual show and sale are intricate pieces of art.
“That’s exactly what they are, art,” notes guild member Vivian LaCroix.
The show opened Friday at the Novelletto Rosati Sports Complex and runs through today and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5.
Most of the work on display is not for sale.
“When you hand quilt a quilt it takes over 200 hours to do one,” LaCroix said.
She has several of her colourful covers on display at the show, including last year’s runner up at the Harrow Fair.
The information card pinned to LaCroix’s award winner notes there are 2,108 pieces of material on the top cover and 1,487.5 feet of thread used over the course of 268 hours.
LaCroix has been a member of the guild for 28 of the organization’s 31 years.
“It started with 12 women,” she said. “And now it’s the largest it’s ever been at 215.”
Several quilts will be raffled off, with the proceeds going to Windsor Regional Hospital’s rehabilitation centre at the western campus.