Police on the T, an uncommon fire and Victoria Park condos. This is the Marshall Report

Crime down. Safety up 

The police like to park on my street. At the end of the street there is a T-intersection and they catch a lot of people running through the stop sign. I live in an urban residential neighbourhood (UpTown Waterloo) so I appreciate their effort.

Last Sunday morning they gave a guy on a bicycle a ticket, I assume for not stopping at the stop sign. I don’t know. He was not happy and as he rode away, ticket in hand he yelled back to the cop, “don’t you have anything better to do?”

“No, you’re it”, yelled the cop back.

Canadian cities already safe, are getting safer. And Waterloo Region is no different. StatsCanada released their annual report the other day. Compared to 2012, the crime rate dropped 4% in Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge. In terms of safety, we are in the top 1/3 of Canada communities. The severity of crime is down.

 

Victoria Common neighbourhood fire

Constructions sites never look very good. They are muddy and jumbled with equipment, materials and vehicles. On construction sites there are posts and pipes sticking out of the ground, scaffolding climbing the walls; they look like WW1 war zones without the war.

I was by the Victoria Common site just a couple of weeks ago. I drove through it trying to find a way from Victoria Street into UpTown Waterloo. My first impression was not great. This area of town is due for a resurgence and with the LRT and the intermodal transportation hub it will happen. Victoria Common was suppose to be the beginning of that. Now it has been set back by a construction fire, $5 million in damages. The fire is being treated as “suspicious”. The police are investigating.

The fire is the largest residential fire in Kitchener’s history.

 

Victoria Park Demolition

I smell a rat.

I think there is a story behind the story and it is revealed in one throw-away line in this article titled “First of two derelict Victoria Park-area homes demolished”.

The line?

“Revel is expected to build a 80-unit condo development on the site of the homes.”

Here’s the back story.

The two homes near Victoria Park were recently in the news when CAFKA (a local arts group) painted one entirely white and the other entirely black.

Previous to that, they had become derelict and had been home to temporary lodgers of dubious repute.

Duped by the developer 

Let’s say a developer wanted to tear down two houses and put up a 80-unit condo in my neighbourhood. If he applied through the city and held meetings, my neighbours and I would say “No, we don’t want you to tear down two perfectly good houses and put up a big condo. We like things the way they are.

But what if he allowed those two buildings to become derelict? What if they became dangerous? What if they lowered neighbourhood property values?

I think the neighbours have been duped by the developer.

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2 Comments

  1. says: Norman

    So what’s wrong with not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. Assuming drivers slow down and the way is clear, it would save gasoline, which should be a good thing. Yield signs should be resurrected.

    I think the developer thing happened on Frederick St also. They had a plan and bought properties but the neighbours complained. The developer went on to other things and now the neighbours complain that someone should do something with the run down properties.

    1. says: Keith

      Norman.
      People will always find something to complain about, especially when it comes to change.
      As for not coming to a complete stop, sure it seems like a waste of time. A rolling stop should be ok (most of the time) but the law is the law, amongst other things.

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