TODAY!!!

This is the 16th annual carnival run by the K-W Breithaupt Optimist’s Club. It is in our Blog’s calendar so you don’t forget and now here is a poster which details all the fun events they have planned. Come out and support the Optimists and the good work they do for our neighbourhood.

Click on the image below to see it “full size”:

As almost everyone knows, this weekend is the time for the Kitchener Blues Festival. I expect this is old news, except a co-worker to whom I mentioned this casually the other day had not heard of it! So it is always good to broadcast this event.

It is free, which is very nice (ok, nothing is “free”, we pay taxes, but still….). And it is within walking distance of the Mount Hope Breithaupt Park neighbourhood. It is easy to get to, and if you manage to get a coveted spot inside the beer cage and stay for a while, you can still get home.

The schedule is located here. My personal highlight will be Dr. John playing on Saturday at 7:20 on the Clock Tower Stage. David Wilcox was fabulous a couple of years back, and he’s back on Saturday afternoon as well.

There are many fantastic artists and the website is very well organized. If you go to the Performers page you will see there are great links to YouTube videos so you can listen to a specific musician which gives you a great idea if you’d like to see them for real.

Last year it rained most of the weekend, but this year the weather looks great! So the MHBPNA blog wishes everyone an excellent weekend and we hope to see you at the blues festival.

There is an election coming this fall for city council and the ward boundaries have been re-drawn. Some folks have been asking important questions like “what has changed”? I’m pretty sure that the city only had the new boundaries on their website but I just checked and they now have the old and new ward maps on this page.

In an effort to be of service to all inquiring residents, mhbpna.blogspot.com has done the hard work of combining old and new ward boundaries into one image. You can see exactly how things have changed by clicking on this image below for a larger view. On the left are the OLD boundaries with the current councilors and on the right are the NEW boundaries. Please post any of your observations as a comment. What do you thing this means for democracy?

Readers of this BLOG will be aware that a few weeks back the Neighbourhood Mobilization Alliance hosted Craig Beatty from Perimeter Development who talked about their plans for the renovation of what they are calling the “Breithaupt Block”.  There was an article in the BLOG about their plans with “before and after” photos.

Recently The Record caught up to us here at mhbpna.blogspot.com and printed their own story. For those who missed it, the online version is here.

The Record reports “The developer added a slick wrap advertising the space on the face of old factory last week and has already seen significant interest.” I rode my bike past the buildings only this afternoon and can report the huge orange wrap brings a kind of edgy sophistication to that corner. It does announce the buildings in a big way.

We wish the developers the best because their plans are optimistic and will renovate a really nice space that has been, for the past few years, noticeable mainly for all the broken windows visible to those passing by.

A friend on Facebook recently asked for recommendations for moving companies because he was moving his family from this area to London (Ontario, not England). His request reminded me of our last couple of moves. Since the last one was to this great neighbourhood I thought I’d write a short entry about them.

We lived in Hamilton for several years and after spending time in the west end, near the university I attended, we bought a house downtown on Wentworth street. It was really cheap and pretty decent. So we decided to hire movers instead of roping in all our friends. I looked through all the ads and listened to horror stories told by friends (one friend had hired a large “reputable” company who arrived several days late with their truck, somewhat inconveniencing his family who had no furniture, dishes etc. in their Ottawa apartment). So we hired “Father and son” movers because it sounded like we’d get that genuine family attention. Ha! When they arrived I asked if they were part of this “family” and the head moving guy said “well, I’m a father, and I’m a son, but I don’t have any relationship to the owners”.

We’d hired three movers and it was a good thing I was the fourth because they were not exactly professional. They were guys who got hired to move things rather than “movers”. They complained about the weight of some things and I had to show them how to get one of our bookcases over the back balcony. The “lead” guy spent all his time taking things apart to fit into their one trailer. I was really surprised they did not have a big 26 foot truck like this one:

I was able to continue carrying boxes when they had their smoke and coffee breaks. So that was a pretty frustrating move and it was only from one end of town to the downtown area!

When we moved to Kitchener we got some good advice from the agent who would rent out our Hamilton house after we left. She said to pack up everything in the basement first and take it as a separate load because we’d never miss it, and that was true. A friend and I moved the stuff in a cube van and it wasn’t too hard (and we are still friends on Facebook!). And she said that instead of getting “movers” she knew some guys who needed money and would move things for us. In fact, I found out that “guys who need money” are far better than many so-called “movers”! They didn’t complain and were fairly energetic. The most polite and mature member of our 3-man crew had just been released from jail and seemed to be a decent guy.

I rented a 26 foot truck and drove it from Hamilton to Kitchener which was pretty interesting since it took up the entire lane. The final move took about 8 hours (the time frame for which I’d rented the truck) and we are still here after 12 years! I hope we don’t have to move again because, as everyone knows, it just gets harder and more complicated.

On Saturday July 10th, from noon until three, Lippert Park was filled with neighbours large and small. Actually, the smaller neighbours edged out the larger ones by a two to one ratio. Ken and Helen Lippert have gotten together many volunteers to organize this event ten times now and we all appreciate the effort that goes into it.

There was a fire truck and, as we can see in this photo, a police car as well.

There were many games and prizes for the kids, a karaoke machine with DJ, portable skateboard park, burgers and hot dogs and drinks to purchase. Local city council candidates were there to meet their voters.

Several dozen people attended over the three hours and many put up pins on a map to show where they lived. There were also a few pins from outside the “hood”.

As one attendee was heard to say, “I didn’t realize there is so much in this park because you can’t see a lot from the street”. Indeed, there is a great community garden, new play equipment, a tennis court and benches upon which you can sit in the shade.

We appreciate the work everyone involved put into the organization and cleanup afterwards.

Here is a photo from the “candy toss” event. Kind of like Halloween in summer!

The 10th annual Lippert Park picnic is happening TODAY, July 10th!

The event has been organized, posters delivered, it is up to YOU to attend and have fun!

Where is it located? Why, in Lippert Park of course! This has become a great annual event with many different activities. Please drop by, bring the kids, say hello to friends and make new friends.

For more information, here is the official poster (you might see it displayed around the neighbourhood). Click on the image to expand to a larger size.

The June 16 meeting of the NMA (Neighbourhood Mobilization Alliance) was packed full of excitement and intrigue. We had a guest speaker, Craig Beatty from Perimeter Development Corp (a Toronto company). Mr. Beatty had worked for First Gulf who have transformed the downtown (or “uptown”) Waterloo area and Perimeter Development was created by a group of former First Gulf executives.

Perimeter Development have purchased several former industrial properties in Galt (Cambridge) and have also acquired the former Collins and Aikman building at Breithaupt and King Street in Kitchener (beside the train tracks). This is what the building currently looks like (click on image to enlarge):

For a short introduction to its recent history, click here to read an interesting article from the Guelph Mercury. At the end of that article a real estate agent calls it a “challenge property”.

Apparently, Perimeter Development likes a challenge because they have bought it and have been cleaning it up for the past few months. Mr. Beatty explained they have great plans for turning it into a valuable office space they are calling the “Breithaupt Block”. It sits on about four acres of land and the total space is about 250,000 square feet including the basement.

There are actually several core buildings and many additional structures that have been built on. After clearing out tons of old equipment Mr. Beatty said they will tear down some of the “tin shed additions” and “adaptively reuse” the main buildings. He said they have uncovered some “fabulous spaces” in these brick and beam concrete buildings.

In a brochure presented to the NMA Mr. Beatty presented an elegant vision that is a considerable upgrade from the existing facility (click on image to enlarge):

Mr. Beatty indicated this was a minimum three year project composed of a large “King Street building” with a glassy facade (as a counterpart to the School of Pharmacy across the street) and then five other buildings with two shared courtyards, glass enclosed elevators, sandblasted brick etc.

This is a very exciting project for those of us in the area who are used to walking past the semi-derelict buildings full of smashed windows. Mr. Beatty had asked to address the NMA to keep us aware of their plans and, we imagine, to generate a bit of excitement over the development plans.

Some residents posed questions. For example, “are there any historic photos inside?” and the answer is “no”. What about equipment that might be re-used as historic structures throughout Kitchener? Mr. Beatty said there was one wheel they were going to use as a centre piece in one of their courtyards. And that they were in contact with the city over zoning and other regulations, but no one had mentioned artifacts. John Smola was present and it was arranged that the city administrator in charge of historic artifacts would contact Perimeter Development.

Another resident asked about the standards that would be applied during the tear down of some structures and the renovation of others. Mr. Beatty said all contractors they hire adhere to provincial and municipal standards and the city regularly conducts inspections. The resident made the point that the site may be zoned commercial, but it is very close to residences and people are worried about asbestos and other contaminants.

The NMA asked to be kept in the loop as this development goes forward. There are a few issues about the safety of residents during construction, but overall it seems very positive and we appreciate the time Mr. Beatty took to speak to all of us.

We will post more information as this project takes shape.

On Wednesday, June 16th, Ken Carmichael (Supervisor of Traffic and Parking Engineering-Transportation Planning at the City of Kitchener), attended our Neighbourhood Mobilization Alliance meeting at city hall. He told us about some plans for “traffic calming” on Margaret Avenue between Victoria and Guelph streets.

As a reminder, Margaret street looks like this between Wellington and Breithaupt, just before the bridge over the railway tracks. Residents have complained for many years about the excessive speeds of cars in that area.

The city is introducing two initiatives to slow down traffic. The first is that Margaret Street is being designated a bike lane so a bike path will be marked and parking will be more restricted. The city will eventually introduce “speed humps” along the street to slow traffic as well.

Ken stated that it is impossible to slow drivers who insist on driving poorly and too fast, but studies show that if you have more restricted parking, and if the bike lanes are drawn in, there is less space on the street for the cars. Therefore, the drivers slow down because they have to pay more attention to the markings. So over the next couple of years we hope some calm will come to this area of the city.

Just a reminder that tonight at the regular meeting of the Neighbourhood Mobilization Alliance, we will have a special guest talking about development plans for the Collins & Aikman industrial facility at Breithaupt and Moore Street. As usual, the meeting will be in the Conestogo Room at Kitchener City Hall, beginning at 7 pm. After this presentation, we will return to the regular meeting business.

All area residents are welcome at this meeting.

Some folks may not be familiar with the Collins & Aikman building, so I went to Google street view, and got this picture.