Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Waterloo's first ghetto ?
Posted with permission of the Waterloo Chronicle
Waterloo's first ghetto?
Longtime residents feel like they're being pushed out of their homes
By Greg MacDonald
News
Apr 16, 2008
This is the first in a three-part series looking at the issues with student housing in neighbourhoods surrounding the universities. Next week will look at the student demand for housing.
Deborah Easson is part of a dying breed.
She and her husband Ken live in a storey-and-a-half house near the intersection of Albert and Columbia streets, the same house she grew up in and where her mother lived until 2003.
But the Eassons are a rarity in the neighbourhood -- permanent residents living among a sea of students.
They bought the house from Easson's elderly mother, hoping to settle down in a diverse and vibrant neighbourhood.
But over the past five years, Easson, the chair of the Northdale Area Residents' Coalition, has seen the neighbourhood degenerate quickly, with absentee landlords buying up property and renting it to students.
The students become transient tenants who have little concern for the appearance of their residences or upkeep of their properties.
And now this neighbourhood and others like it in the city's core have reached critical mass -- according to Easson. There are now more student-occupied houses than permanent residences in the neighbourhood bounded by University Avenue, Columbia, Lester and King streets.
"The balance has shifted. Students are now telling us (permanent residents) that we shouldn't live here because it's a student neighbourhood," she said.
And they're partially right -- the area is predominantly made up of students.
Easson took a poll of more than 200 homes in neighbourhoods in close proximity to the universities, and found that more than 75 per cent are occupied by students.
"The neighbourhood has reached a tipping point. The perception of a neighbourhood changes when you get that kind of saturation. This is now seen as a student party zone," said Easson, who charted the results of her survey on a map.
She marked lots with permanent residents green and ones with rental tenants red.
What she found was a few sporadic areas of green in a sea of red -- and the number of red lots is steadily increasing.
Most of the permanent occupants in the area are seniors, who by their own admission will have to leave the neighbourhood for health or age-related reasons, Easson said.
The only way they're able to sell their houses for a reasonable price is to sell to landlords because families and young professionals have no interest in moving to the area due to its reputation as a party haven, she added.
It hasn't always been this way, said Terry Dorscht, who has lived on Lester Street for 42 years. There has always been a strong student contingent in this part of the city, but in the past five years Dorscht has seen students take over.
This has led to a general decline in residents' quality of life, he said.
"The general maintenance of properties is going down . . . there are parties and noise at night," Dorscht said. "There's also some theft, so we can't set much outside.
"It just feels like I'm being hemmed in by students."
Both Easson and Dorscht have horror stories about the behaviour of their student neighbours. They've seen their properties urinated on, been woken in the middle of the night by loud parties and have heard about neighbours being threatened when challenging these occurrences.
But they don't blame the students for the condition of the neighbourhood. They say the problem stems from lack of bylaw enforcement and poor zoning.
Easson was critical of bylaw's response to her and her neighbours' complaints. In her experience, students take a visit from the bylaw officer very lightly when they actually do get caught.
For many of the infractions, like public drinking, vandalism or urination, the offenders are long gone by the time the proper authorities arrive, leaving the residents helpless.
"It's not like I can go out and ask the guy peeing on my lawn for his name," Easson said.
But the real problem is the demographics, she said. The fact that the area is so heavily populated by students means that their lifestyle dominates.
Students take up so much of her street that once school is out, the neighbourhood is deserted. This imbalance is killing the community, Easson said.
"It's not much of a neighbourhood if you don't have neighbours," she said.
Easson, Dorscht and a slew of their neighbours went to city council on April 7 to ask the city to fix their neighbourhood.
They wanted the city to encourage diverse development in the area, which would allow families, young professionals, seniors and students to live together in a clean and vibrant neighbourhood.
"I don't think the city wants to make an area full of students," Dorscht said. "But that vision to allow other developments isn't there."
The city decided to stay the course with its current development plan, which came out of the student accommodation study during the last council.
But the residents believe without an innovative zoning strategy, the neighbourhood will fall into further disrepair, and soon become a dilapidated mess filled only with students.
Easson and her neighbours want the city to encourage different kinds of development in the area, such as high-end condominiums.
With the area's proximity to both uptown Waterloo and the technology park, the city could easily attract young professionals and high-tech workers, Dorscht said.
The city contends that they can only zone areas, not dictate what type of development is built there.
Easson believes there are ways to attract developers to the potentially lucrative area.
"Why not offer incentives? (The city) could waive development fees if the buildings were the type they want," Easson said.
And while council's decision to carry on with a 25-year development plan caused much consternation in the neighbourhood, one councillor's comments are causing outright panic, Easson said.
Coun. Jan d'Ailly said in his remarks at the council meeting that property values in the area could be driven down in order to attract non-landlord buyers.
This comment has made neighbours who were never thinking of selling before start to consider it, which will only make the problem worse, Easson said.
She wants to see the area saved from itself and made into something more than a Kingston, Ont.-style student ghetto.
Residents believe that the area can be more than temporary residences for undergrads, she said.
They believe that they can achieve a vibrant neighbourhood without lowering their property values.
But first the city will have to change the way it deals with the neighbourhood, Easson said.
"The dynamic of the neighbourhood is broken," she said.
Waterloo's first ghetto?
Longtime residents feel like they're being pushed out of their homes
By Greg MacDonald
News
Apr 16, 2008
This is the first in a three-part series looking at the issues with student housing in neighbourhoods surrounding the universities. Next week will look at the student demand for housing.
Deborah Easson is part of a dying breed.
She and her husband Ken live in a storey-and-a-half house near the intersection of Albert and Columbia streets, the same house she grew up in and where her mother lived until 2003.
But the Eassons are a rarity in the neighbourhood -- permanent residents living among a sea of students.
They bought the house from Easson's elderly mother, hoping to settle down in a diverse and vibrant neighbourhood.
But over the past five years, Easson, the chair of the Northdale Area Residents' Coalition, has seen the neighbourhood degenerate quickly, with absentee landlords buying up property and renting it to students.
The students become transient tenants who have little concern for the appearance of their residences or upkeep of their properties.
And now this neighbourhood and others like it in the city's core have reached critical mass -- according to Easson. There are now more student-occupied houses than permanent residences in the neighbourhood bounded by University Avenue, Columbia, Lester and King streets.
"The balance has shifted. Students are now telling us (permanent residents) that we shouldn't live here because it's a student neighbourhood," she said.
And they're partially right -- the area is predominantly made up of students.
Easson took a poll of more than 200 homes in neighbourhoods in close proximity to the universities, and found that more than 75 per cent are occupied by students.
"The neighbourhood has reached a tipping point. The perception of a neighbourhood changes when you get that kind of saturation. This is now seen as a student party zone," said Easson, who charted the results of her survey on a map.
She marked lots with permanent residents green and ones with rental tenants red.
What she found was a few sporadic areas of green in a sea of red -- and the number of red lots is steadily increasing.
Most of the permanent occupants in the area are seniors, who by their own admission will have to leave the neighbourhood for health or age-related reasons, Easson said.
The only way they're able to sell their houses for a reasonable price is to sell to landlords because families and young professionals have no interest in moving to the area due to its reputation as a party haven, she added.
It hasn't always been this way, said Terry Dorscht, who has lived on Lester Street for 42 years. There has always been a strong student contingent in this part of the city, but in the past five years Dorscht has seen students take over.
This has led to a general decline in residents' quality of life, he said.
"The general maintenance of properties is going down . . . there are parties and noise at night," Dorscht said. "There's also some theft, so we can't set much outside.
"It just feels like I'm being hemmed in by students."
Both Easson and Dorscht have horror stories about the behaviour of their student neighbours. They've seen their properties urinated on, been woken in the middle of the night by loud parties and have heard about neighbours being threatened when challenging these occurrences.
But they don't blame the students for the condition of the neighbourhood. They say the problem stems from lack of bylaw enforcement and poor zoning.
Easson was critical of bylaw's response to her and her neighbours' complaints. In her experience, students take a visit from the bylaw officer very lightly when they actually do get caught.
For many of the infractions, like public drinking, vandalism or urination, the offenders are long gone by the time the proper authorities arrive, leaving the residents helpless.
"It's not like I can go out and ask the guy peeing on my lawn for his name," Easson said.
But the real problem is the demographics, she said. The fact that the area is so heavily populated by students means that their lifestyle dominates.
Students take up so much of her street that once school is out, the neighbourhood is deserted. This imbalance is killing the community, Easson said.
"It's not much of a neighbourhood if you don't have neighbours," she said.
Easson, Dorscht and a slew of their neighbours went to city council on April 7 to ask the city to fix their neighbourhood.
They wanted the city to encourage diverse development in the area, which would allow families, young professionals, seniors and students to live together in a clean and vibrant neighbourhood.
"I don't think the city wants to make an area full of students," Dorscht said. "But that vision to allow other developments isn't there."
The city decided to stay the course with its current development plan, which came out of the student accommodation study during the last council.
But the residents believe without an innovative zoning strategy, the neighbourhood will fall into further disrepair, and soon become a dilapidated mess filled only with students.
Easson and her neighbours want the city to encourage different kinds of development in the area, such as high-end condominiums.
With the area's proximity to both uptown Waterloo and the technology park, the city could easily attract young professionals and high-tech workers, Dorscht said.
The city contends that they can only zone areas, not dictate what type of development is built there.
Easson believes there are ways to attract developers to the potentially lucrative area.
"Why not offer incentives? (The city) could waive development fees if the buildings were the type they want," Easson said.
And while council's decision to carry on with a 25-year development plan caused much consternation in the neighbourhood, one councillor's comments are causing outright panic, Easson said.
Coun. Jan d'Ailly said in his remarks at the council meeting that property values in the area could be driven down in order to attract non-landlord buyers.
This comment has made neighbours who were never thinking of selling before start to consider it, which will only make the problem worse, Easson said.
She wants to see the area saved from itself and made into something more than a Kingston, Ont.-style student ghetto.
Residents believe that the area can be more than temporary residences for undergrads, she said.
They believe that they can achieve a vibrant neighbourhood without lowering their property values.
But first the city will have to change the way it deals with the neighbourhood, Easson said.
"The dynamic of the neighbourhood is broken," she said.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Collecting bottles
.jpg)
One of our many bottle collectors.
At least the bottles get picked up
before being smashed on the sidewwalk
.jpg)
Friday, April 11, 2008
'Student ghetto' pleas rejected by council
Posted with the permission of
The Waterloo Regional Record
‘Student ghetto’ pleas
rejected by council
By Liz Monteiro, Record staff
WATERLOO— One after the other, residents
pleaded with Waterloo council last night to
rescue what some called their “dysfunctional
neighbourhood.”
The residents of a student-dominated area
want the neighbourhood turned into a vibrant
area, balanced with families, students, young
urban couples and nearby tech workers.
Each of the nine presentations asked
council to diversify the zoning by changing the
current single-residential zoning to multi-residential.
Council voted instead to keep the area —
bordered by University Avenue, King, Columbia
and Lester streets — as single-residential,
which was recommended by staff.
A staff report suggested keeping the area as
is and building student apartment buildings
on the city’s main corridors such as Columbia
and King streets.
“We were proposing something more radical,’’
a disappointed Michael Carmody said
after the vote.
Carmody, a tech worker, and his wife moved
to Albert Street 10 years so he could walk to
work and walk home for lunch.
“We reduced our carbon footprint before it
was fashionable,’’ he said.
Now he wants to move.
Coun. Jan d’Ailly supported the staff report
and took heat from residents who didn’t
like what he had to say.
Coun. Mark Whaley,who voted against
keeping the area single-residential, said the
neighbourhood has “lost its family soul.”
“No amount of land-use planning will bring
that back.’’
Coun. Scott Witmer also voted against the
staff recommendation.
Residents told council the area has become
a “student ghetto,” where transient student
populations move in each year and have no
connection to the neighbourhood. One Power-
Point presentation showed dilapidated student
houses, and photographs showed holes in the
drywall inside a house and empty bottles of
liquor on a coffee table.
Carmody wanted the city to allow the area
to have upscale condo developments by
changing the zoning and healing “a completely
dysfunctional neighbourhood.’’
Waterloo, which is running out of land, desperately
needs intensification and this neighbourhood
is a prime location, Carmody said.
Terry Dorscht, who’s lived on Lester Street
for 40 years, said every house that sells on his
street becomes a rental property.
“This neighbourhood is on the brink of a
total breakdown,’’ said Dorscht, adding it
should be a desirable location for young urbanites
and seniors.
Miroslaw Zalewski of Lester Street who
works at RIM said the neighbourhood is a community
in crisis.
“We need a new vision.We need to reshape
the neighbourhood for the betterment of all,’’
he told council last night. “This neighbourhood
is in peril.’’
lmonteiro@therecord.com
Thursday, April 10, 2008
.jpg)
Today these city workers were going down the street picking up garbage. The people in these properties (students/landlords) should be responsible for cleaning up. Once again it is falling on us the taxpayers to have this mess cleaned up. Garbage is just put out any old way and what is left behind just stays on the boulevard. Anything left in a blue box gets dumped on the boulevard. How about the Universtities organizing some clean up days around the neighbourhood?
Sunday, April 6, 2008
how about in this neighbourhood
are we looking to the near future
and building something like this for the tech
sector or are we building boxes to house
students only??
http://www.the42.ca/
Land use study
Concerning lands bounded by Columbia Street, University Avenue, King Street and Lester Street.
The purpose of the meeting is to present staff's report and their recommendations on the land use designation in the study area. All interested persons are invited to attend this meeting and make any presentation to council at this time.
Public meeting on Monday, April 7th no earlier than 6:30pm in council chambers, 3rd floor
http://www.city.waterloo.on.ca/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=2216
The purpose of the meeting is to present staff's report and their recommendations on the land use designation in the study area. All interested persons are invited to attend this meeting and make any presentation to council at this time.
Public meeting on Monday, April 7th no earlier than 6:30pm in council chambers, 3rd floor
http://www.city.waterloo.on.ca/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=2216
more student housing on the way
to be razed for student housing
Corner of Albert & Columbia
Corner of Lester
& Columbia
Lester St.
Corner of Albert & Columbia
Corner of Lester
& Columbia
Lester St.
the rites of spring
who will clean up
this garbage?
our next green
generation
electronic waste to
be cleaned up by
someone else
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