WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Northdale committee set

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Northdale committee set

UW Daily Bulletin re: arrest in sex assault.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service announced yesterday morning that they've made an arrest in connection with the sexual assault earlier this week on Hazel Street, a stone's throw from the Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University campuses. "On December 1," said a police statement, "a 25 year old Kitchener man was arrested in relation to an investigation into a sexual assault on Hazel Street in Waterloo on November 30, 2010. He has been charged with sexual assault with a weapon and uttering threats. The accused is being held for a bail hearing. The investigators would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance in this investigation." As of yesterday, the name of the accused hadn't been made public.

Alarming warning posted by WLU - sad, but necessary.

Headlines (Notices)

WLU
Safety notice for Laurier community

Communications, Public Affairs & Marketing

Nov 30/10

Wilfrid Laurier University encourages all members of the Laurier community to exercise additional caution following the sexual assault of a university student near the Waterloo campus late Monday night.

Waterloo Regional Police are investigating an incident in which a 19-year-old female was approached by a male on Hazel Street at approximately midnight. Police say she was threatened with a knife and forced into a backyard where she was sexually assaulted.

Police are appealing to the public for assistance in identifying the male suspect, whose image was later captured by security cameras in a nearby coffee shop. Click here to view photos on the Waterloo Regional Police website.

The suspect is described as being in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5 foot 8 inches tall, approximately 200 pounds, with short black hair, tanned skin, facial stubble and a slight accent. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 519-650-8500 ext. 8672 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.

Laurier’s Special Constable Service has stepped up patrols of the campus and surrounding streets and will remain highly visible. The Special Constable Service also encourages all members of the Laurier community to walk with a buddy and stay in well-lit and well-travelled areas, and to use Laurier’s free Foot Patrol service, which provides escorted walks and van-rides home by male-female teams, from 6:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily. To contact Foot Patrol, call 519-886-FOOT (3668).

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: The stats don’t lie

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: The stats don’t lie

Excellent editorial - NARC applauds.

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Booze binge

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Booze binge

Resident speaks out on Northdale - Chronicle Letter

D'Ailly needs to answer for Northdale

Letters

Oct 20, 2010

I just wanted to let you know that Mayoral Candidate Jan d'Ailly made a difference in Northdale, too.

In fact, if I could place the blame for the disaster that Northdale has become on one person's shoulder's — it would be on Jan d'Ailly.

Jan d'Ailly was chair of the finance committee that failed to give the funds to implement the Student Accommodation Report that was meant to preserve Northdale as a mixed family and student neighbourhood. And as you probably know, Northdale went on to became an almost 100 per cent student-occupied ghetto with rampant crime.

Jan d'Ailly sat on Town and Gown while a policy of not charging students was in place from 2000 to 2007. Just to clarify — students were not being charged for breaking the law in Waterloo despite the fact that the residents of Northdale were promised proactive zero-tolerance bylaw enforcement in the Student Accommodation Report of 2004.

He tried to stop us from getting a land use study for Northdale to figure out how to fix the problems. We finally got one but only after Mayor Halloran and several councilors intervened.

And now Mr. D'Ailly's website says that he "championed a comprehensive land use study" for Northdale. That couldn't be further from the truth. He tried to prevent us from getting a Land Use Study.

Jan fought us every step of the way as we tried to get help for Northdale.

I believe Jan d'Ailly was the worst councilor that Northdale has had in the 14 years that I have lived in here.

Can you imagine what he could do with all of Waterloo to manage? I bet he could make a "big difference" in Waterloo too.

Christine Carmody
Waterloo

What's been tried besides enforcement. A reply to Erin Epp.

1) Make nice - residents take muffins, butter tarts to newly arrived student neighbours, welcoming them and offering to be available if they have questions about the city, or even about maintaining their homes. (garbage day, etc.)

2) Loan them snow shovels, garden tools, ladders, blue boxes, and more. (sometimes we never see these things again.

3) Residents take in student garbage cans, sweep up broken glass, hose down vomit to keep the neighbourhood looking good and safer.

4) Residents hand out welcome bags - again as a way to introduce themselves to the new neighbours.

5) Residents sit on student/resident interaction committee for years.

6) The door knocker program was done for years - to no avail.

7) Year after year residents hosted the commuity bbq for incoming students - even after it got ridiculous because the neighbourhood was over 80% student occupied and the bbqs led to no improvement in behaviour or quality of life.

8) One member of the neighbourhood sat on the Town and Gown committee until the T/G comm. reorganized and decided they didn't want residents on it anymore. So we lost our input into that committee.

9) The residents lobbied for safer streets for students - that went nowhere - we suggested improved lighting, security cameras (after the severe beatings - 2 of them - at the corner of Albert and University. Again - rejected.

10) Mediation - where permanent residents are asked to sit down with people who break the law to decide to what extend we will allow those people to destroy our quality of life and destroy our propety values. (lawn parking, trespassing, drumming at all hours of the day and night...)

Student tenants turn over way too often for them to care about forming any kind of friendly relationship with their perm. resident neighbours, plus, it must not be overlooked that a lot of the students who choose Northdale over other neighbourhoods do so simply because they believe that they can get away with the very kind of behaviour that makes them bad neighbours and they would never participate in the community building you have spoken of.
Jan D'ailly held 3 meetings that were supposed to be about community building - what came of that?
Nothing.
Plus, it is not absentee landlords screaming as they go though our neighbourhood, and fighting, and puking and breaking glass (all over the Northdale sidewalks) nor trespassing through seniors' properties to get out of crescents because they are too lazy to walk around, nor breaking down fences and hedges to cut through, nor burning mattresses on huge bonfires, nor ripping the doors off their properties to burn in bonfires, nor throwing empty bottles over our fences where they smash on our patios, nor building revolting headless female anatomically correct snow sculptures across from seniors (think grandparents), nor throwing keg parties with hundreds of drunk people at them...Landlords are not the biggest problem in Northdale.
NO amount of "community building" will solve this.

Female Jogger assaulted in Northdale (the Record)

Woman reports being assaulted while jogging in Waterloo

October 05, 2010

By Cherri Greeno, Record staff

WATERLOO — Police are looking for three men after an 18-year-old woman was assaulted while jogging in Waterloo early Tuesday.

Waterloo Regional Police say the teen was jogging in the area of Hickory and Hazel streets around 12:20 a.m. when she was assaulted by three unknown men.

She was able to fight off her attackers and run home, where she called police.

The teen was taken to hospital and treated for a sprained wrist and facial bruising.

“This is really shocking,” said Wilfrid Laurier University student Eleisha Salmon, after hearing the news. “I’ll definitely be taking foot patrol now.”

Salmon, 20, lives in the area where the assault happened and said she experienced a similar situation last summer when two men tried to grab her on the street. She was able to hit them with her keys and run away. Because it was dark, Salmon says she didn’t get a good look at the men. She never reported the incident to police.

Wilfrid Laurier student Leanne Metsa, 20, said she is also shocked by the incident.

“You don’t expect that from this area,” she said.

Katrina Weyer, 21, also a university student, said she makes sure to walk with a friend or use campus foot patrol when out late.

“It’s just not worth it. It just needs to happen once,” she said.

Police are continuing to investigate. No descriptions of the men are available.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 519-650-8500 ext. 3399 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or online.

How is this not a ghetto??? A week curbside on Albert.

Unpleasant site for a week's worth of passersby.

"Do Not Take - Bed Bugs" - but they were nearly picked up by a couple of guys in an SUV (after dark). Finally someone from the house told them not to take them. But they'd picked them up, and handled them, turning them over, checking for dampness first. Picking up mattresses curbside is a frequent occurrence in Northdale.

How about where you live????

Sunday morning surprises on Albert

The failures of Northdale

In 2004, the city's 2004 student accommodation study promised the Remaining Owner-Occupant Taxpayers of Northdale that the city would preserve the area, returning it to a balanced demographic from the 80% student area that it was.
Why? The city itself did not want a student ghetto such as that in Kingston
The city knew this would be a worst-case scenario.
To this end, the city recommended a variety of measures:
a) traffic study of Albert Street between Columbia and University - it was never undertaken
b) annual monitoring to see if anything was working to achieve this reversal of rental housing - the monitoring was done once in 6 years and presented to council in 2008.
Not annual, and not even remotely accurate in that they left out whole streets and failed to acknowledge the number of conversions of houses to rentals from owner-occupied, and didn't include in the report the hundreds of charges laid in the area in September of 2007.
c) Pro-active zero tolerance enforcement which was to calm the behaviour in the neighbourhood in order to retain the non-student (i.e. families, tech workers, etc.) population living there.
Instead, the Chronicle reported in 2007 that police and bylaw had actually implemented a policy of warning-only - even when called back to the same house in the same night.

Kind of makes you wonder whether anyone was actually trying to save the area, or whether there was another goal entirely.
Why spend all that money on an extensive study, only to ignore the very recommendations designed to help?

Building community...

Once again the drinking parties take over Northdale.
Sunday night on Larch.
Monday night - street unknown but noise unmistakable.
Tuesday night - 7:30 - Columbia Street - chanting, singing, yelling, cheering.
The chant unmistakable, signifying the start of the Drunk Semester.

What did CKCO say? Bylaw or police claimed it is the worst in the first week?

Uh-uh. This goes on until Oktoberfest ends.
Ask any of the few non-tenant residents of Northdale.
They'll tell you how it really is.

Cable boxes trashed and blue boxes dumped over again this week too.
Summer bliss has truly ended.

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Student housing horror

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Student housing horror

Anyone left pretending Northdale isn't a student precinct?

Temporary traffic redirection on Lester and Spruce streets

Category: Media Release Date Posted: August 23, 2010 Number of Views: 76

(Waterloo, ON – Aug. 23, 2010) The City of Waterloo will be redirecting traffic temporarily on Lester and Spruce streets, and the surrounding areas, during the busy move-in period for students. This initiative is a pilot program aimed at easing congestion, keeping traffic flowing and providing a safe atmosphere. “The streets around Wilfrid Laurier University are very busy with students – and their families – moving into apartments and residences in early September. This year, we’ve decided to redirect traffic in an attempt to keep it moving smoothly in that area,” said Jim Barry, the city’s director of bylaw enforcement. Traffic will be redirected from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 5, Monday, Sept. 6, Saturday, Sept. 11 and Sunday, Sept. 12. Additional police and bylaw officers will patrol this area on these dates to help keep the traffic moving. As well, signs will be posted along the roads to let people know where to go. Here is a list of the temporary changes: • No left turns onto Lester Street from University Avenue West • No left turns onto Lester Street from Columbia Street West • No left turns onto University Avenue West from Lester Street, and no through traffic • Lester Street will be one way from Seagram Drive to Columbia Street West • No left turns onto Spruce Street from Columbia Street West • Spruce Street will be one way from Hickory Street West to Columbia Street West “I’d like to thank everyone in advance for their patience and co-operation. Let’s all work together to keep traffic moving and people safe during the September move-in time,” Barry added. For more information about the temporary traffic redirections, please call 519-747-8785 or email bylaw@waterloo.ca. – 30 –

and yet more crime...Hickory Street

Suspect in hospital following break and enter

August 20, 2010

Record staff

WATERLOO — The suspect of a break and enter on Hickory Street early Friday morning remained in hospital late Friday night.

The 22-year-old male is accused of breaking into into a residence on the at 4:10 Friday morning.

He was discovered by one of the residents and was removed forcibly.

In the process, the suspect sustained head injuries and was taken to hospital, where he remained as of 9 p.m. Friday evening.

The suspect has since been charged with breaking and entering.

Waterloo Regional Police continue to investigate the incident.

The police warning for university district - ugh.

Alert for university students

June 23-2010 Police issue alert for residents of university district. The Waterloo Regional Police Service is investigating numerous reports of break and enters from residents in the area surrounding the universities. The majority of the break and enters occurred through unlocked doors and windows. In some cases the residents had been at home sleeping. The WRPS suggests the following: 1. Keep all doors locked, even when you are at home, day and night. 2. If you share a home with roommates who have different schedules, discuss a plan to carry keys and make an effort to lock the door each time you leave the residence. 3. If you are going to be away, let your roommates know so they are aware of who should and who shouldn’t be inside. 4. Introduce yourself to your neighbours. Knowing each other makes it easier to determine what behavior is suspicious so we (WRPS) can be alerted quickly to increase our chances of apprehending suspects. 5. If you see suspicious activity or someone enters your residence under questionable circumstances please call 911 immediately and stay on the line with the operator to provide as much detail as you can. This will assist the responding officers with locating suspects.

Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia | Video on TED.com

Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia Video on TED.com

Solutions for the mess that is Northdale with current urban design models.

Yahoo!!!!

Police blitz neighbourhood with warning...

Well, Northdale wins special visits by police warning residents to be sure and lock their houses due to the high incident of break-ins.

A shining example of what a city can achieve when they promise Neighbourhood Preservation and fail miserably to deliver.

How does anyone solve this disaster?

Well-dressed thief hits Northdale in middle of the night

June 18, 2010

Record staff

WATERLOO - Police are looking for a fashionable thief after three homes were broken into early Friday morning.

Waterloo Regional Police say a man, wearing a dress shirt and tie, entered the unlocked homes on Lester Street around 2:30 a.m. while people were inside. Some items were taken before the man took off.

He is described as white, in his mid-20s, six-feet tall, skinny, with short dark hair. He was wearing dark dress pants, a black dress shirt and a white or silver tie.

ghetto or slum? letter to editor

It looks like a slum

June 15, 2010

Re: Waterloo neighbourhood is not a ghetto — June 9

While letter writer Graham McCormick is correct that the normal usage of the word ghetto suggests socially deprived groups forced by poverty into a given area, he can hardly argue with the secondary meaning of “densely populated, poorly kept-up slum area.” The areas surrounding the two universities are just this. Many student houses are poorly maintained by landlords who don’t care or who have given up trying. The houses are often rented out to more than the legal number of students. The entire neighbourhood does indeed resemble a slum, with the occasional family home standing bravely out amongst the detritus around them.

McCormick suggests that humans should be allowed to behave like dogs. Would he be impressed, I wonder, once he becomes affluent, as he expects, to have his seven year-old daughter return from school in tears saying that a man had his “wee-wee” out and that he yelled at her. This actually happened in the quiet neighbourhood where I lived until recently. A child living close to us was accosted by a student, just waking up from the party that had kept us all awake the night before, urinating among the beer bottles on his lawn. This was only one of hundreds of incidents which occurred over the years I lived there until a landlord was forced to take some responsibility for the behaviour of his tenants.

When students learn that they are members of a society which tries to respect public and private property and the right of neighbours to enjoy their own homes in peace, they will be treated like everyone else, with respect, and be allowed to enjoy the peace of the small town McCormick mentions. Until then, in fairness to all those living around them, it is certainly better to “warehouse” them in high rises which, while they are ugly as McCormick says, are much neater and cleaner than the ramshackle houses with filthy front lawns and rubbish-strewn driveways that they replace.

Ann Dubé

Baden

Record editorial endorses council's vote for change

June 10, 2010

Editorial

A neighbourhood close to a university or college is often an area of conflicting views and values.

To some extent, this is understandable and natural. The young people who reside in the neighbourhood during the school year are going to feel differently about the area than the permanent residents.

The students’ prime interest is likely to be having a room where they can study in the daytime and sleep in the evening. They aren’t likely to be particularly interested in parks, schools, community groups or whether Waterloo council will raise or lower the tax rates.

Also, some students may want to live a more rambunctious and wilder life than, say, the average young family or senior citizens.

At some point, the different attitudes produce regular, serious conflicts as opposed to the occasional disruptive incident. This point appears to have been reached now in the Northdale area of Waterloo, north of Wilfrid Laurier University.

The strong feelings felt by both permanent residents and students in the Northdale area were apparent when they packed Waterloo’s council chambers on Monday. Many of the residents felt the neighbourhood had become noisy and filled with trouble. Indeed, Waterloo regional police records show that police are called to Albert Street, which is in the Northdale area, more than twice a day. In short, some permanent residents thought their neighbourhood was decaying.

Rightly, Ian Kasper, a University of Waterloo student, responded by saying, “Not all of us students are beer-swilling, street-peeing, fireworks-shooting deviants.”

There may well be truth in both perspectives: The area has more troublesome short-term residents than it once did, and many students are responsible, law-abiding residents.

Understanding this reality, however, doesn’t resolve the problem for either the permanent residents or the students.

Now, the dilemma is on Waterloo council’s agenda. The concerns expressed at the meeting certainly made an impression on the councillors. They voted 8-0 in favour of the city preparing a new land-use plan that will consider the possibility of permitting more low-rise apartment units in the area. If council does end up endorsing this concept, the theory would be that the owners of small apartments would better manage their properties than the absentee owners of houses converted into student accommodation.

Speaking about the vote, Coun. Mark Whaley said, “It endorses change. We’ll put the status quo behind us.”

He’s right. No one appears to be happy with the neighbourhood as it is.

If the area does spawn more apartment buildings, the neighbourhood might attract more nonstudent residents. Waterloo’s mushrooming high-tech industries employ a lot of workers who need accommodation.

The residents of the neighbourhood should be careful not to think that this concept will quickly solve their problems. It won’t. It would take years to change the area. Councils, however, are in the business of planning for the future, not the past.

A letter that hits the nail on the head

WaterlooChronicle.ca: Opinions & Letters: Article: A chance to create neighbourhood of the future

This councillor fought hard to help Northdale be saved.
Seven years later he has arrived at the only logical conclusion.

Congratulations to him for openly taking this stand.

crime season in the hood

Incident # 10-103382 Type : Break and Enter
HIGH ST, WATERLOO
Between May 21, 2010 to May 23, 2010 Waterloo Regional Police responded to numerous break and enter incidents in and around the vicinity of the universities.

A significant number of these incidents involved student residences and occurred overnight. During these incidents, the suspects took purses/wallets, lap top computers, digital cameras, video game systems and other electronic items.

Police continue to investigate and request anyone with information to contact the Break and Enter Enforcement Team (BEET) at 519 650 8500 ext. 3330/3306.

More crime

Driver charged, man stabbed, pedestrians hurt in Waterloo melee

May 23, 2010

Record staff

WATERLOO — A man was stabbed in the back and three men were struck by a car during a wild altercation on a Waterloo street early Saturday morning.

It happened just after 3 a.m. on Lester Street, between Seagram Drive and University Avenue West. Waterloo Regional Police allege a driver drove his car at three men, striking them.

The victims were treated at hospital and later released. The driver, an 18-year-old male from Brampton, is charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, and also dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

A 20-year-old man was stabbed in the back during the melee, police say. Injuries were minor.

another letter to the editor re: behaviour

Hold university students to a high standard TheRecord.com - LettertotheEditor - Hold university students to a high standard

Re: Trapped on Albert — May 1

Students at Waterloo’s two universities should be held to the highest of standards. Granting exemptions to noise bylaws (“party exemptions”) would mean that Waterloo is lowering its expectations of students.

Students, like any other member of the community, should be respected enough for the assumption to be made that they are capable of abiding by Waterloo’s bylaws. Failure to enforce these bylaws should be seen as an insult to the intelligence of our community’s students who are more than capable of following the city’s restrictions.

Waterloo must not lower its expectations of students. This is not fair to the community; nor is this fair to the student.

R.W.

Waterloo

This is the door knocker program going around in the Northdale Neighbourhood. Yes the three girls were dressed like this but a little more on top because of the cold. Now what has more appeal to the student population, this or the door knocker program that the city had done in the past. By the way they seem to have skipped the permanent residents houses. Amazing how they can pick out the student rentals. If you went to this neighbourhood and were to hand out these door hangers, how could you tell permanent vs student occupied residences? Lets hear your responses.

Letter to the editor - thank you Judy Pearce.

May 08, 2010

Re: Trapped on Albert — May 1

My heart goes out to Deb Easson and Christine Carmody who live on Albert Street in Waterloo, where university students are causing problems.

To the students who resent being stuck with five $300 excessive noise tickets, I’d like to suggest a good start to their university education is learning that if they choose to break the rules, they pay the consequences.

As for student Jackie Dobson, “who didn’t know the rules until they were broken,” am I to assume, when living in her parents’ home she had parties with hundreds of guests who left vomit, broken glass and urine on the neighbours’ lawns, shouted all night, set off fireworks, built bonfires using wood from nearby fences, and tossed cable boxes through windows? Did her parents not mention this behaviour was wrong? Did her neighbours tolerate it?

To student John Bagby, I would like to say the money he has invested in his education that generates huge economic benefits for the community does not buy him the right to cause distress, sleeplessness, fear, anxiety and utter frustration to the people who are forced to live near you.

Here is a possible solution to Easson and Carmody’s dilemma. How about Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran and Waterloo regional police Chief Matt Torigian purchase and live in their homes. Let’s wait and see how long it takes before Torigian no longer feels “the last thing we want to do is quell a young student’s memories of university by not having them enjoy their university life.”

We’ll see how many sleepless nights and how much property damage Halloran tolerates before she admits more bylaw officers are needed and more policing needs to be done to stop this insanity.

Judy Pearce

Kitchener

Michael Druker
Community Editorial Board

In the last half-century the Region of Waterloo has seen tremendous growth. We’ve built a university on farmland. Subdivisions upon subdivisions have sprung up at the outskirts of town.
Industry has been pushed out to “parks” accessible only by car.

We’ve put up office building wastelands and power centres galore. We’ve torn down parts of our downtowns to put up parking lots and inward-facing malls with blank walls facing the street. And
we’re still going strong, with plans to demolish industrial buildings in Kitchener’s warehouse district to turn it into a parking district.

At least we’ve decided to somewhat curtail the building of widely spaced houses on inaccessible crescents and cul-de-sacs, and new policies call for intensification and reurbanization. However, it
seems our thinking stops at a strange one-dimensional notion of density, one of condo towers, parking garages, and monster developments of all kinds.

Where are our lively new city streets? Where is our walkable city built for the street level? If we seem constitutionally incapable of building new urban space, one reason is that our planning policy makes it essentially impossible.

The late Jane Jacobs, renowned urban activist, wrote in The Death and Life of Great American Cities that, “There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality
is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.”

Northdale is a rapidly growing area in Waterloo adjacent to Wilfrid Laurier University and near the University of Waterloo, Research In Motion and the Research and Technology Park. Growth of
the universities has resulted in a student residential monoculture there, with its attendant problems of overcrowded houses and rowdy students.

Waterloo city planners recently completed a report to allow city council to decide between the staff vision for Northdale and an alternative vision brought forward by community members unsatisfied
with the current approach. That current approach forces high-demand land in the interior of the neighbourhood to remain as low-density detached housing (to attract hypothetical families) and allows for only residential use without provision for neighbourhood amenities.

There is no liveliness save for keg parties, no public space and nothing to attract outsiders in. The corridors chosen for higher density are growing duller and drearier with every new student housing building added — either parking-oriented barracks or stucco towers.

The alternative is to allow and encourage the built form of our streets to become urban, and this requires considerable changes to zoning: removing minimum parking requirements, setting minimum densities, limiting heights to street-scale (e.g. six or eight storeys), and — most mportantly — permitting mixed uses. The city of Kitchener is implementing new mixed-use zoning, and Waterloo’s planners should take note.

For all the housing sprouting up in Northdale, there is no grocery store in sight. City planners require parking so that we can all drive to the mall, but in their infinite wisdom they do not see fit to allow streets where we might have reason or desire to walk. (The only exceptions are grandfathered in.)

Northdale is within walking distance of two universities, many major tech companies, busy transit corridors, future light rail, as well as uptown Waterloo. Currently it is prime land for students
without much choice, but it could easily also be attractive for students with choice, for university faculty and staff, and for RIM employees.

Add commerce and a few academic and office buildings to a diverse mix of housing, and you have a great alternative to more suburbs.

We should plan for neighbourhoods in which people enjoy living and enjoy walking — where we not only live, but also work, shop and play.

Neighbourhoods where we have welcoming streetscapes, good transit routes and service, shops on our way, usable public spaces, and a built environment that supports community instead of hindering it.

Northdale is a perfect opportunity to create new urban space.

Waterloo should set up more ‘urban space’ in the Northdale area

Michael Druker is a graduate student at the
University of Waterloo. He is a member of
the Tri-Cities Transport Action Group and
of Help Urbanize the Ghetto in Waterloo.

Opinion on Northdale - Frank Etherington

Kitchener and Waterloo councillors ignore neighbourhoods TheRecord.com - EditorialOpinion - Kitchener and Waterloo councillors ignore neighbourhoods

Nurturing the health and vibrancy of urban neighbourhoods should always be a top priority for city councillors and planners.
But that didn’t seem to be the case in Kitchener and Waterloo this week as obsequious officials and councillors ignored interests of residents in two communities to placate a developer, avoid offending those running our universities and satisfy student-housing demands.
In the west end of Kitchener, it looks as though we’re preparing to bulldoze heritage buildings at Joseph and Victoria streets. The historic properties, part of the Lang Tannery development, are threatened with demolition to make way for yet another unnecessary surface parking lot.
Meanwhile, in Waterloo, officials who don’t want to ruffle academia feathers continue to look the other way and refuse to take meaningful action to address worsening problems created by a ghetto of rental, student housing that is destroying what used to be attractive Albert Street neighbourhoods.
It’s ironic that during a week where numerous events were held to honour the late urban activist Jane Jacobs, articles in this newspaper detailed troubling issues faced by the two Kitchener-Waterloo communities. Jacobs was a forceful defender of neighbourhoods and an outspoken critic of any urban renewal that put older buildings at risk.
I’ve written before about the disgraceful situation in Waterloo where besieged residents desperate for a little peace, quiet and quality living are being driven out of their homes by a minority of party-animal students who, based on their childish behaviour, should be sent back to kindergarten.
For years, little has been done about a situation where residents have tolerated drunken students vomiting and urinating on their property. They have watched their communities gutted by tacky rental-housing owned by irresponsible landlords while enduring rowdy parties and property damage.
Statistics show that between 2005 and 2008, police were called to Albert a staggering 2, 486 times. Many of those police responses — paid for by regional taxpayers — were to control student parties and babysit slobbering drunks. The complaints included 107 calls to report sick or injured people and 266 noise complaints.
Back in Kitchener, architect John MacDonald wants the city to stop Toronto-based developer, Cadan, from demolishing buildings to create additional parking in the warehouse district. He wants city officials to support the content of their own official plan which says heritage buildings should be preserved and surface parking lots discouraged.
MacDonald, who would rather see the heritage buildings used for galleries, restaurants or housing, says it’s unlikely public meetings will take place to debate the proposed demolitions because zoning on the tannery land already allows parking lots.
Cadan plans to eventually replace the surface lot with a multi-storey parking garage in a city that is already spending $70 million on other downtown parking complexes. The tannery proposal would negatively impact nearby homes the same way Joseph Street houses have already been degraded near Water Street South by another ugly parking garage.
Kitchener’s car-worshiping councillors and planners who just can’t get enough of those parking lots and care little about encouraging greater use of public transit will no doubt approve demolition of the tannery buildings in their ongoing scramble to justify millions of dollars they have spent on downtown revitalization.
A good example of this insatiable love of parking lots is the $15.5-million currently being spent to erect a 500-vehicle monstrosity at Charles and Benton streets where city council is squandering one of our most valuable piece of downtown real estate in order to build a multi-level parking eyesore.
For the sake of future generations, Kitchener-Waterloo councillors should make more effort to protect their neighbourhoods instead of kowtowing to the demands of developers, businesses and universities.
Kitchener journalist Frank Etherington writes on alternate Thursdays. He welcomes comments at fetherington@sympatico.ca

Albert Street - what does this mess cost the city?

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/704874

Trapped on Albert: ‘This street is an embarrassment to the city’ TheRecord.com - Local - Trapped on Albert: ‘This street is an embarrassment to the city’

By Jeff Outhit, Record staff

WATERLOO — A young woman in a short, tight dress teeters on high heels on the sidewalk. She turns to the street, pulls at her top, and exposes a breast to the passing traffic. A young man next to her pretends to stroke himself.

A giddy crowd surrounds them on the lawn of a student-rented house. Someone holds up a sign that says: “You Honk We Drink.” It’s early morning and the party already seems wild.

“That’s what’s wrong with Albert Street,” Deborah Easson sighs.

Albert Street is ground zero for university students behaving badly. Two permanent residents say they have endured all they can take.

“Behaviour has changed to something you can’t really appreciate unless you live here. It’s kind of a shock,” says Easson. “We are so marginalized at this point, we are the outsiders.”

Police records support her contention of a street under stress.

Between Nov. 18, 2005 and Nov. 17, 2008, Waterloo Regional Police were contacted about 2,486 incidents on Albert Street that were not 911 emergencies, according to an analysis by The Record. This averages more than two calls to police per day.

Some commercial streets were busier. But no other residential street in Waterloo generated as many non-emergency calls to police, according to records released under a freedom-of-information request.

Activities on Albert drew 266 noise complaints, the most for any street in Waterloo Region.

Residents called police 171 times for unknown reasons and 128 times to complain about illegal parking. They contacted police 107 times to report someone sick or injured. Other leading calls were to report traffic collisions, property damage, thefts, break-and-enters and disturbances.

Albert Street also generated 911 calls but the records released on emergencies are incomplete. On average, 911 calls account for only six per cent of calls to police.

Albert Street runs through student-dominated neighbourhoods where up to 72 per cent of dwellings are rented out. The street has 73 lodging houses, each licensed for four or more tenants. It passes by Wilfrid Laurier University, near the University of Waterloo.

Some students who reside on Albert admit they like to party. They can see how this might bother some neighbours. But they also resent armed police and unarmed bylaw officers showing up regularly at their doors and wonder: Shouldn’t neighbours expect parties on a student street?

“It’s not like we do it every single night,” says Pat McDonald, a recent Laurier graduate.

“We aren’t rude to neighbours. We keep the property clean. We throw a party here or there but who doesn’t?” Laurier student Tom Biec says.

Police records suggest a strong link between Albert Street stresses and the student lifestyle.

In September, when university students return to classes, calls to police peak to more than three per day, on average. Calls fall off by almost half when students are away in July and August.

Calls to police fall in December when many students go home for Christmas. But complaints spike again in March. Residents blame student parties that launch around St. Patrick’s Day.

On St. Patrick’s Day this year, police laid 70 liquor charges in campus neighbourhoods, arrested one person for public intoxication, and issued three noise fines. Waterloo bylaw officers issued seven tickets and visited 13 student houses, asking residents to clean up debris and broken bottles.

Friday, March 17, 2006. Waterloo Regional Police take their first complaint from Albert Street before 2:30 a.m. when someone reports an unwanted person. Another call comes in just after 4 a.m. to report property damage.

As St. Patrick’s Day unfolds, police are called seven more times. There’s a reported automobile collision, a complaint about illegal parking and a call about a bad driver. The first noise complaint arrives just before midnight. Police respond by 1 a.m. and spend 11 minutes at the scene sorting it out.

Residents call police four more times on Saturday, March 18. Someone is reported sick or injured at 1:36 a.m. There’s a hit-and-run called in just before 4 a.m. The second noise complaint of the weekend arrives at 10:22 p.m. Minutes later, police take a complaint about a disturbance.

A third noise complaint arrives at 12:26 a.m. Sunday, March 19. Police respond at 12:44 a.m. and stay 46 minutes at the scene. In the early afternoon, police are called to help someone who’s sick or injured. The weekend concludes with 15 incidents reported over three days.

Easson was raised in the house she now owns near Columbia Street. She remembers that families often boarded students, who brought energy to Albert Street.

But today, students rent out entire houses. The balance and diversity is gone. “They roam the neighbourhood in groups, drinking and throwing up on our lawns,” Easson says.

Sidewalks are littered with glass from broken bottles, she says. Passersby urinate on lawns and in backyards. They shout at night and wake people up. A student neighbour has yelled at Easson for complaining to police.

Tenants park on lawns and party in front yards. They light fireworks and bonfires in backyards, sometimes trashing fences for wood. This winter, students built and displayed an explicit snow sculpture of a naked, headless female body, legs splayed open. Student leaders and police asked tenants to demolish it after it sparked complaints.

“It’s just disgusting, vulgar behaviour,” says Christine Carmody, who’s raising two sons, aged five and two, in a charming house near University Avenue. “Unless they put a police officer outside my house 24 hours a day, my peace will be disturbed. It is impossible to stop the noise.”

Carmody cites many disruptions. Someone hurled a 12-kilogram cable box through her window. A strange man refused to stay away from her backyard, even after she yelled at him. Student neighbours held a pool party so noisy she later went over and read them the riot act. An intoxicated youth drank beer in her driveway, kicked at her garage door and then went into her backyard, while 400 people partied at the student house next door.

“We know it’s a tough situation,” Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran says. Last fall, she watched police bust up a giant, out-of-control party at the student house next door to Carmody.

Some students see tensions differently. Ten students who live next door to Carmody resent being stuck with five $300 noise tickets last fall, within two months.

They admit they can be loud. They even called police on themselves last Halloween, to help break up a giant party. Yet they also feel unfairly targeted and wonder if a way can be found to allow parties without the risk of costly fines.

“I’m feeling there’s a way there could be a middle ground,” Pat McDonald says. He wonders if neighbours and authorities could support eight party exemptions a year, for events like Homecoming and St. Patrick’s.

It bothers University of Waterloo student John Bagby that residents complain regularly about student behaviour, while universities generate huge economic benefits for the community. “They want all the benefits, but they don’t want the inconveniences of having students,” he said.

Some students would like to see residents talk more often to student neighbours before calling authorities on them.

“The permanent residents who were here before us should have to have some level of tolerance,” says Mike Oudyk, of Laurier.

“It’s not that students are not willing to talk,” says Laurier student Tim Elphick, who advises Halloran on student issues. “It’s just that you can’t start out of the gate by attacking the other player.”

Student leaders, police and politicians contend only a minority of students cause problems. Public education is part of the solution, they say.

“The university doesn’t do the best job, once you leave residence, educating (students about) what it’s like to live off-campus,” says Laurier student Jackie Dobson, who helps direct student government. “It’s one of those things that you don’t really know the rules until they’re broken.”

Dobson learned the hard way last year how things can get out of hand, when her off-campus house was slapped with a noise ticket she admits it deserved.

David McMurray, Laurier’s dean of students, cites several education campaigns aimed at persuading students to act responsibly. “I think the university’s doing its job,” McMurray said. “We don’t have any jurisdiction, legally, outside of our own boundaries.”

Waterloo Regional Police lead an off-campus crackdown called Safe Semester every September, to encourage proper conduct. Over three years it has resulted in more than 1,940 charges for criminal and bylaw offences.

“We need project Safe Semester practically all year if they’re going to maintain the peace here,” Carmody says.

Police don’t have the resources to do that, Insp. Dave Gerencser says.

Gerencser said a team of five officers pays special attention to student neighbourhoods, working with residents, student leaders, universities and city bylaw officers. They aim for a balance where students can have fun without bothering neighbours or putting themselves at risk.

“The last thing we want to do is quell a young student’s memories of university by not having them enjoy their university life,” Chief Matt Torigian said.

However, Torigian is not keen on a proposal to allow the City of Waterloo to purchase extra policing for student neighbourhoods. He worries, in part, that this would be unfair to other neighbourhoods that can’t afford to buy extra policing.

Police also want bylaw officers to handle more noise complaints. “If there’s a need, we do go,” Torigian said. “But we’re certainly not going all the time.”

Carmody figures police “do the absolutely best possible job they could do.”

But Carmody and Easson are outspoken critics of city hall. They accuse Waterloo council of failing to stabilize streets plagued by poor landlords and faltering property standards, of failing to crack down on bad behaviour and of failing to enforce planning rules intended to preserve family homes.

Halloran defends city bylaw officers, saying they handle complaints from Albert Street as best they can. “We have limited staff,” she said.

Friday, Feb. 5, 2010. Easson is drawn from her bed by yelling outside on Albert Street. Is there a fight, she wonders? She looks out the window to see young men running down the street.

More noise wakes her a few hours later. Saturday morning, she finds tracks in the snow showing that two people walked deep into a neighbour’s backyard from the street, likely to urinate.

Saturday night there’s more screaming and yelling. Easson is awakened three times, after midnight, shortly after 1:30 a.m. and again after 3 a.m. It adds up to five late-night disturbances over one weekend. She never calls police.

Many permanent residents have fled Albert Street. Carmody would too, if she could sell her house for the price she wants. Last year she had it on the market for four months and cleaned it three times a week.

But families are now scared by Albert Street, she says. The only interest in her five-bedroom home came from landlords who want to fill it with students. However, city hall refuses to license her house for more than three tenants, because council wants to preserve it for permanent residents. This diminishes its value to landlords.

“I would give anything not to live here,” she says. “Except for I can’t lose my life savings.”

A planning overhaul could point the way forward.

Easson and Carmody have joined with others to press Waterloo council to stop trying to preserve suburban-style homes in Northdale, the troubled neighbourhood north of the Laurier campus. They want council to help replace decaying houses with residential complexes that can be better managed and maintained.

“You could end the partying in Albert Street by eliminating big backyards, the big houses and the big front yards,” Carmody says.

Both universities have proposed working with city government and developers to replace some suburban houses with high-quality student housing. “The universities’ role would be to become involved in the management and supervision of those facilities,” Laurier’s McMurray said.

Halloran can see upsides, but wonders if aging water and sewer pipes can support the extra residents. A community-wide debate is expected to launch in June, based on a city planning report.

Easson says Albert Street should be a jewel, as it is located near two campuses, the downtown, and high-tech jobs. But that’s not what she sees, as students steadily take over the homes.

“This street is an embarrassment to the city,” she says.

jouthit@therecord.com

Excellent alternatives for Northdale

What if Waterloo council supported the vision?
See what the Brentwood design charettes has to offer to Northdale and Waterloo.
Waterloo could solve the problems of Northdale simply by following modern urban design principles and supporting sustainable development.
Intensification is Green!!!!

http://www.peopleandparticipation.net/display/Methods/Design+Charrettes

and

UBC design charette models we could emulate:

http://www.jtc.sala.ubc.ca/projects/Brentwood/HOUSING.html

Police Report on Student ghetto

Incident # 10-082939 Type : Liquor Offence
ERB ST W, WATERLOO
On Saturday April 24, 2010, Waterloo Regional Police in partnership with the City of Waterloo Bylaw Officers responded to calls for service that were related to Wilfrid Laurier University Student Year End Celebration and the activities that occurred in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

In the interest of community safety and ensuring public order, police were committed to maintaining a highly visible presence in the community.

Most incidents were alcohol related while many were minor in nature. Police responded to numerous house parties, reports of destruction of property and minor disturbances. The student population constituted a significant number of those celebrating and responsible for destruction of property that were minor in nature.

Police laid charges under the Liquor Licence Act including 22 charges for Open Liquor, 2 charges for Public Intoxication, 3 charges for Public Urination. Police further laid 8 charges under the Highway Traffic Act along with 4 charges under the Trespass to Property Act.

Two people were arrested for public intoxication.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service in conjunction with our partnering agencies is committed to an ongoing program of proactive community education as well as strict enforcement to ensure public safety and a high quality to life for all students.

Nice - what about the quality of life for the taxpaying homeowners??? I guess we don't matter anymore.

One of many...

There is no safe sidewalk in Northdale - broken bottles are everywhere - would you walk a toddler here? A dog? Ride your bike? Hemlock Street is the worst! The sidewalk is littered with broken glass. This bottle is on Albert.

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Race for Northdale heats up

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Race for Northdale heats up

Homeowners reject student housing plan - thestar.com

Homeowners reject student housing plan - thestar.com

Looks like HUG's solution is the only one that makes any sense!!!!!!!

Oshawa’s town-gown conflict rooted in growing pains - thestar.com

Oshawa’s town-gown conflict rooted in growing pains - thestar.com

Similarities between Oshawa's neighbourhood and Northdale.

Provincewide wins the 2010 International Edward R. Murrow Award. Watch Daiene Vernile's winning documentary "Student Ghettos."

http://contests.rtnda.org/entries/public_view/390

From the Toronto Star

Homeowners sue Oshawa over rowdy student renters
April 02, 2010

Carola Vyhnak


Emil Hanzelka is representing Oshawa homeowners in a lawsuit against the city over ongoing problems with students who rent houses in their neighbourhood.

CAROLA VYHNAK/TORONTO STAR

Cathy Provenzano’s two children can’t ride their bikes or go on their own to the park in their north Oshawa neighbourhood.

The hundreds of university and college students renting houses in their midst make it too risky, she says.

“Every Friday, every Saturday, there are parties. They offered booze to kids in the park once,” Provenzano fumes. “Now I have to tell my kids they’re not allowed to enjoy their neighbourhood.”

She’s one of numerous homeowners who are fed up with ongoing problems of noise, parking, parties, garbage and vandalism. Acting on their behalf, four members of the Cedar Valley Home Owners Association of north Oshawa are suing the city in a bid to reclaim their neighbourhood.

“We’re not asking for money,” says association president Emil Hanzelka. “We want this neighbourhood returned to single family homes, which is what it was built for.”

The city has failed to enforce the zoning bylaw, they contend, allowing absentee landlords to rent out as many as six or eight bedrooms, which is illegal in a single-family area.

The allegations have not been proven in court. City solicitor David Potts can’t comment because the matter is pending.

After years of complaining, suggesting solutions and meeting with officials and council — all to no avail — residents feel Oshawa Mayor John Gray has let them down and their only recourse is to take the city to court.

They cite broken glass, beer bottles and condoms strewn around, front lawns torn up by cars, eggs thrown at houses and garbage piled up. In one case, students retaliated against an older couple who complained about rowdy behaviour by sticking pieces of glass in their backyard to cut their dog’s feet, the homeowners charge.

“Every day I get complaints about bylaw infractions, parking, garbage, parties, you name it,” says councillor John Neal, who’s spent years trying to find a solution.

The homeowners’ fight is with landlords who they say collect between $2,400 and $4,000 by renting out as many as eight bedrooms in one house to students attending nearby Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).

When Hanzelka and his wife moved into their retirement home 10 years ago, there were no students renting in the neighbourhood. Now, of 430 homes, close to half are lodging houses, he says. Dalhousie Cres., where the trouble started in 2006, has only about a dozen families left.

While many families have fled the “streets of broken dreams,” Hanzelka says, “it just makes me mad to even think about selling.” Appraisals show his house has dropped at least $100,000 in value, he says.

Two years ago, the city introduced a licensing requirement for landlords, which imposed tougher housing standards and limited the number of bedrooms in a house. But the homeowners argue the move did nothing to eliminate multiple tenants.

Twenty-eight landlords taken to court by a developer in a nearby community were found guilty of running illegal rooming houses and ordered to close them last year, but the city has failed to follow up, the homeowners allege. In a ruling released Friday, Ontario Superior Court Justice P.D. Lauwers found two landlords in contempt for failing to stop operating lodging houses.

More than 13,000 full-time students attend the fast-growing college and university near Simcoe St. and Taunton Rd. About 1,600 residential units are available in on-campus housing with another 550 spaces to come this fall.

A city staff report on student housing will be discussed at a public meeting on April 8, 6:30 p.m. at the Oshawa and District Shrine Hall, 1626 Simcoe St. N.

Mark Rowley in Imprint

Thoughtful and well-written

article by Mark Rowley

from Imprint

(UW campus paper).

ReSHAPEing Waterloo

By now, many of you will have heard about the student group ReSHAPE — Redefining Student Housing Attitudes and Perceptions Everywhere.

Their goal is noble — to get people within the broader Waterloo community to reconceive student residences as something other than “ghettoes” to be avoided or a problem to be fixed.

This question is, to a certain degree, political — the rhetoric of local leaders has a huge effect on these perceptions. However, as I hate politics, I'd like to present an alternative.

Maybe it isn't the perceptions of residents that need to change first; perhaps the university needs to reconsider its approach to student housing before any inroads can be made.
Why should students be forced to choose between homogenous, carefully controlled environments on campus, and absentee landlords and unfriendly neighbours off campus?
Perhaps student residences need to be recast as something more. Perhaps the university should recognize that the number of students is not going to decline anytime soon, nor are housing prices in the city. Perhaps they should recognize that keeping students and residents apart will not dissolve tensions, but rather reinforce the idea of “two solitudes.”
Perhaps they should be thinking of new, innovative living spaces that are more integrated into communities.
What is needed is not necessarily a student residence, but a community residence. The demand for social housing in Waterloo is proven, but very few areas are willing to see it built in their backyards. Students, however, may feel differently. Couldn't our school involve planning, social work, and environment students in the creation of a new kind of living space which incorporates housing, public space, and small businesses?
One needn't look far to find a model for this sort of development. In Europe, university campuses have been dealing with space constraints for centuries.
Their solution is to build their residences away from their main faculty buildings, connecting them with dedicated, efficient public transit, and relying on local businesses to provide some of their services.
In Waterloo, we could take this one step further and create housing developments that incorporate space not only for students, but also for recent graduates, new Canadians, and the working poor.
This would provide a critical mass of people needed for effective delivery of mass transit and social services (such as English classes, provision of computers, and internet access).
It would also aid in the sustainable development of small businesses (such as pubs, cafés, school supply stores, etc.) and public spaces (reading rooms, study areas, and desk-shares).
The possibility of this kind of development is not in question; look at any major European city and you will see an agglomeration of these “hubs.” It is desirable not in question either. By mixing people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, and giving them a sense of common identity, strong, sustainable communities can be developed.
The idea that it would be profitable is not doubtful either. One need only plant the seeds of this development and allow other developers to get in on the game.
Buying up land around these sites would be a very shrewd investment, as these new community and cultural hubs would become sought-after places to live. Placing some of the burden of student services on outside companies would drive down prices (as firms compete) and absolve the university of some of its present costs.
These businesses would not just have access to students, as they presently do on campus, but a whole range of people living in the communities. So long as the school commits to keeping rent low, the problem of gentrification displacing residents need not enter into the picture.
The ultimate problem is that the university is applying old models to new problems. The suburban sprawl that has characterized Waterloo's development is beginning to show its weaknesses, but our leaders are reacting by trying to apply the same old models of building more residences and getting bogged down with higher support costs.
These developments isolate students from their communities and build walls between community members.
Perhaps the school's finances are not in the best shape presently, but times of economic uncertainty are often the ones in which it is most expedient to act. What is certain is that UW's present course is unsustainable, and that something needs to happen quickly.
A new kind of residence would provide a window of opportunity for Waterloo to separate itself again from the herd of other institutions, and perhaps provide a model for other communities looking to reshape themselves.

theCord.ca - The tie that binds Wilfrid Laurier University

theCord.ca - The tie that binds Wilfrid Laurier University

Posted using ShareThis

Excellent points made in this letter to the editor

Improvements needed

March 22, 2010

Re: Visions for Northdale's future are no answer for residents' real concerns — Feb. 19

As an urban planning student at the University of Waterloo, the City of Waterloo’s current vision for the Northdale neighbourhood seems extremely shortsighted. It states that the neighborhood must remain as low-rise and low-density residential area, while intensification must happen only in nodes and transit corridors.

In my opinion, both Columbia Street and University Avenue are extremely busy transit corridors that support mixed uses — but instead all we see now are four-storey student housing buildings and no mixed-use buildings that could provide services to the area. I also think the entire Northdale neighbourhood could support a more diverse and dense urban form, especially considering the extremely high demand for housing from students and young professionals.

The current situation in Northdale is simply terrible, as the quality of life for both students and long-term residents is only getting worse with crime, vandalism and many other negative situations. The current urban form of the neighbourhood simply does not support its inhabitants; it needs to be redeveloped.

Intensification in Northdale can only be positive for everyone: families, students, professionals, developers, the city, institutions and the environment. I really hope that the City of Waterloo has the vision to encourage a more livable neighborhood for everyone.

Diego Almaraz

Waterloo

Another robbery in the hood.

Students robbed at Albert/Hickory Streets - 4 a.m. Sunday March 14th.

http://news.therecord.com/news/local/article/684134

lawn furniture - LOL

A clever snow sculpture - and practical too!

Why????

Why can the city of Waterloo find money - nearly half a million dollars - to fund a skateboard park but not the money to keep the promises made to the residents of the Albert Street/Hickory Street area that were made in 2004?
Where there's no will...

Waterloo Student Ghetto Art

Record Editorial Friday February 19th 2010

Cari
Howard
Community
Editorial Board

Visions for Northdale’s future are no answer for residents’ real concerns

Residents of the Northdale neighbourhood
in Waterloo want their community to
be a place where students, families and
urban professionals all live in harmony.
There’s a new vision for the area, proposed
and supported by the group Help
Urbanize the Ghetto, or HUG, where cars
are not needed because there are lots of
trails and public transit, and where fiveand
six-storey condos are built to the highest
efficiency standards, featuring shops
and restaurants at ground level and rooftop
gardens above — a place where every morning,
Al Gore will greet passing cyclists and
pedestrians with a hearty rendition of
Won’t You Be My Neighbour?
The vision is definitely pleasant, and one
any community could be proud of. But the
recent decision by Waterloo city council to
clarify its Vision for Northdale and Help
Urbanize the Ghetto’s Green Solution for
Northdale surprised me. As a former homeowner
in that area (I owned and lived in a
house on Columbia Street for five years), I
never thought the problems in the area
stemmed from a lack of vision for the future,
but from the daily reality of noise,
Rezoning the land won’t make the vision a
reality, and it certainly won’t address the
issues that residents are dealing with today.
City of Waterloo staff have been asked to
report back to council in April to clarify the
vision for the Northdale neighbourhood.
They’ve been asked to provide information
on the planning, development and other
tools available to achieve the vision, and the
options, costs, and timeframes that will be
required. But I don’t see anyone being asked
to report on an ongoing strategy to deal
with the daily challenges still facing the
community.
I can’t help but feel that attention is focused
on the wrong letter in the Help Urbanize
the Ghetto acronym. The focus shouldn’t
be on U for urbanize, but on G for ghetto.
How will homeowners feel the day after
zoning changes are approved for their
neighbourhood, when the run-down, unkempt
rental properties that breed noise
and nuisance are still there? Probably not
much like HUG-ing.
Homeowners in Northdale aren’t
looking to the city for help because people
are driving cars down the streets and using
shingles for roofing instead of plants.
There’s obviously pedestrian traffic
through the neighbourhood; who else is
knocking over garbage cans and urinating
on the bushes? And are rooftop gardens in
an urban setting really better than the
green space of large yards and mature
trees? No, not unless the real issue with
those yards is the space they provide for
outdoor parties and lawn parking.
The residents in this neighbourhood
aren’t upset because their ghetto doesn’t
have a concrete vision for the future.
They’re upset because it’s a ghetto.
I’m not arguing with the goal of a green
Northdale. People living in such a pleasant
urban neighbourhood would not face the
same issues as this community. (They’d be
too busy complaining about the neighbourhood
square that someone is bound to
incorporate into the design.) But we’re not
talking about a wasteland of space just
waiting for the right planning solution to
come along before the shovels hit the dirt.
litter and property damage in an area sporting
overgrown lawns in summer and snowcovered
sidewalks in winter.
A quick glance through the student accommodation
study prepared by city staff
in 2004 shows that the long-term vision for
the Northdale neighbourhood back then
was not much different from the one now
proposed by Help Urbanize the Ghetto. The
words “urban,” “pedestrian,” “cyclist” and
“transit” are all featured in the 68 total
recommendations for this community.
But homeowners also had immediate
concerns about rental property upkeep and
tenant behaviour. These were addressed in
recommendations that included words like
“bylaw,” “police” and “enforcement.” So
why haven’t residents seen results in the
past six years? I can’t believe it’s because
the vision wasn’t clear enough.
Visions for Northdale’s future are no answer for residents’ real concerns
Cari Howard is a project manager with the Region of
Waterloo’s waste management division.
Cari
Howard
Community
Editorial Board

News columnist

Wikipedia - student ghetto

Here's a definition of Northdale

straight off Wikipedia:

A student ghetto is a residential neighbourhood, usually in proximity to a college or university, that houses mostly students. Due to the youth and relative poverty of the students, most of the the housing is rented, with some cooperatives. Landlords have little incentive to properly maintain the housing stock, since they know that they can always find tenants. Non-students tend to leave the area because of the noise and raucous behavior of the students. Most modern student ghettos arose from the rise in post-secondary enrollment after World War II. Many colleges and universities became unable to house all their students, while homeowners in adjacent neighborhoods fled from the influx of students. Such neighbourhoods often took over from faculty and other affluent (permanent) residents, as the housing stock in these areas deteriorated.

Markham plan could contain sprawl

Is this something we should be looking at?

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/748485--markham-plan-could-contain-sprawl-save-farms#article

Karen Eagle says student housing in the Northdale neighbourhood makes her work welcoming newcomers difficult.

Call getting louder for student neighbourhood makeover

Philip Walker, Record staff

Karen Eagle says student housing in the Northdale neighbourhood makes her work welcoming newcomers difficult.

By Terry Pender, Record staff

WATERLOO — As a relocation counsellor, Karen Eagle helps high-tech workers find a place to live. But the student neighbourhood called Northdale makes her job increasingly difficult.

“I am very proud of Kitchener-Waterloo — I love our Uptown, I love Waterloo Park, I show RIM Park and the Kitchener area and invariably I end up relocating them usually in Kitchener,” Eagle says.

Currently, the high-tech sector in this region, which is centred in Waterloo, has about 2,500 job vacancies. Many of the people filling those positions are young and want to live in condominiums within walking distance to work, Eagle says.

“These are people who have lived in other cities in the world, are used to rapid transit and they can’t get over that so close to the university and all these tech companies, there is no housing similar to what they’ve had in large cities around the world,” Eagle says.

Eagle says the problem is the large number of students renting houses and apartments in Northdale, which is roughly bounded by University Avenue, King Street North, Columbia Street and Lester Street.

“It is one of my biggest negatives when I give orientations of Kitchener-Waterloo because it isn’t a nice area and it has a bad reputation,” Eagle says.

There was a stabbing in Northdale on New Year’s Day. A few weeks before that, someone was injured by a stray bullet that pierced the wall of their apartment.

Properties are often not well-maintained. Litter, noisy parties and public urination are common. Several cars may be parked on front lawns.

Eagle has joined the ranks of environmentalists and residents calling for a complete makeover of the neighbourhood.

The group is called HUG Waterloo: for Help Urbanize the Ghetto in Waterloo. It has attracted members from the Northdale Residents Association and Waterloo residents, and most recently was involved in the Save the Moraine campaign.

It wants the neighbourhood given a special designation allowing Waterloo to provide incentives to developers to transform the area into a showcase for sustainable urban living where cars are not needed because there are lots of trails and public transit.

The group wants to see more housing and amenities geared to high-tech workers — five- and six-storey condominium buildings with one- and-two bedroom units. The ground floors should be filled with shops, services, cafes and restaurants.

Students would be welcome, but they would no longer dominate the neighbourhood as non-students move in to be close to the high-tech companies, the universities and the downtown. Pedestrians and cyclists would move among buildings capped with rooftop gardens. The buildings would be designed and built to the highest standards of energy efficiency.

Eagle says there is plenty of suburban housing for families in Waterloo and student housing around the universities. There is not enough housing for singles or couples working in high-tech who want urban living.

“Invariably we can’t find places in Waterloo, which is really sad because these are people who want to walk to work, and they are the up-and-comers with good incomes, they are young and they want new places, preferably condominiums,” Eagle says.

Coun. Jan d’Ailly, who represents the area on city council, is expected to file a motion next Monday that calls for changes to the area.

“It is not just a ward issue, it is a city-wide issue,” he says.

D’Ailly held two public meetings last year with Northdale residents.

D’Ailly wants city staff to prepare a detailed vision for the Northdale neighbourhood based on the input from citizens — more density, mixed uses, better walking and cycling and transit.

In short, more urban.

“I will let staff come up with the recommendations, but I think it’s pretty clear that what’s there now is not working,” d’Ailly says.

“Something has got to change — that’s what we are really looking for,” d’Ailly says.

D’Ailly wants city staff to list the tools they have available now to implement that new vision for the area and to detail how much it would cost.

“I am looking to council to put some resources behind solving the issues,” d’Ailly says.

Last year, provincial legislation was changed, allowing cities to license rental accommodations. Staff are preparing a report on that issue and d’Ailly believes that, too, will help.

Deborah Easson, who lives on Albert Street and is head of the Northdale Residents Association, says the few remaining homeowners in the neighbourhood feel betrayed.

“It is a ghetto, it is really ugly in here,” Easson says.

She can’t walk her dog because of broken glass. Easson and her husband heard a woman screaming one night, so they jumped out of bed and ran to the front window only to see a couple having sex on the sidewalk.

Another night, they watched as five young men urinated on their front lawn. A 78-year-old woman just home from surgery had five beer bottles smashed against her house. Another senior had the covering from a cable box thrown through a window. Large backyards provide the perfect habitat for rowdy outdoor parties.

“We had one young family move after a rock was thrown through the window of their three-year-old daughter’s bedroom,” Easson says. “It is a really dire situation.”

About five years ago, the city completed a study on student accommodation and adopted what was called The Neighbourhood Preservation Model. Under that model, more student housing was allowed while city bylaw officers and the Waterloo Regional Police were supposed to take a zero-tolerance approach to rowdy and illegal behaviour.

Zero tolerance enforcement of property standards and laws never happened, Easson says.

“Prior to 2004, there were about 300 houses in the neighbourhood and 75 were zoned as student-only apartments,” Easson says. “Now we have about 40 houses left that are owner-occupied and the vast majority of those owners are over 70.”

Now Easson is throwing her support behind the group Help Urbanize the Ghetto.

“It is the perfect neighbourhood to intensify,” Easson says.

Attractively designed mixed-use developments can create an urban village where everybody wants to live, Easson says, and the negative impact of students can be reduced if more non-students move in.

“We are really keen on that, too,” says Bud Walker, head of student services at the University of Waterloo.

Walker says the university would like to see better housing stock within walking distance of the campus for young faculty and other employees.

Ken Crowley, spokesperson for Wilfrid Laurier University, says the institution is keen to be a good neighbour and has a code of conduct for students.

“We do require them through the code of conduct to respect their neighbours on and off campus,” Crowley says.

Both universities say they cannot be directly responsible for the off-campus behaviour of students.

tpender@therecord.com