Waterloo Neighbourhood in Transition

The long-awaited MMM vision for Northdale exists.

2012-01-15T13:28:00.002-05:00

http://www.waterloo.ca/portals/57ad7180-c5e7-49f5-b282-c6475cdb7ee7/DS_COMMUNITYPOLICY_documents/Discussion_pper2012.pdf

Yowza.

When your eyes uncross come on back for comments.

The Cord: Northdale Visioning Exercise Report

2011-10-14T11:31:00.001-04:00

Well written article by Linda Givetash (as always)

thecord.ca/articles/48431

Break-ins from wrps on Oct. 11/2011

2011-10-12T13:17:00.001-04:00

Waterloo

Brentcliffe Drive

Lester Street

State Street

Hickory Street West

letter to editor - the Record - Sept. 13, 2011

2011-09-13T10:01:00.003-04:00

Re:

It is absurd to refuse to change the zoning of the small area in Waterloo bordered by Hazel, Hemlock, Hickory and Balsam streets from single family. There are no schools, nor children in the neighbourhood. The area has not been single family for years, and this has been acknowledged by the city in part by forcing the landlords to build parking lots in the yards of the houses. This has created a situation where the area is becoming less and less visually appealing.

In the areas surrounding these blocks, development has been rapid and constant. I am surprised that there is not more “alarm and uproar” in the city of Waterloo about the actions and inactions of the Waterloo city council.

It seems to me that by artificially manipulating the property values of this neighbourhood the city council is showing considerable bias in decisions.

Waterloo city council is not listening to the residents, nor considering the quality of life in the area, but is apparently intentionally forcing the devaluation of those properties.

This alarming whiff of bias has certainly undermined my trust in municipal politics. I think that it would behoove all of us in the area to pay close attention to the local elections and decision records of our local politicians, particularly since our attention has been on the national and provincial scene for the past couple of years.

Elizabeth Pratt

Kitchener
http://www.therecord.com/opinion/letters/article/593118--waterloo-showing-bias

TheRecord - More compact housing and basement apartments proposed...

2011-09-09T22:24:00.000-04:00

TheRecord - More compact housing and basement apartments proposed...

Did you get your supect ID chart from wrps?

2011-09-09T11:23:00.001-04:00

Incident # 11-206694	Type : Assault
LESTER ST, WATERLOO
Waterloo Regional Police are currently investigating a serious assault which took place in the area of Lester Street and University Ave, Waterloo at around 2:30 am. The victim was in the area when he observed a fight in which a lone male was being assaulted by a group of 10 to 15 dark-skinned males. The victim stepped in to help the lone male and was subsequently assaulted by the group of suspects. The victim suffered serious but non life threatening injuries and was taken to hospital where he was treated. Waterloo Regional Police are looking for any persons who may have witnessed the assault to contact North Division Detectives at 519-653-7700 Ext 3321 or Ext 3335 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

theCord.ca - The tie that binds Wilfrid Laurier University

2011-06-19T08:36:00.000-04:00

The city has forced Northdale seniors (and other homeowners) into a difficult spot.
This sign of desperation is the result.
Houses rendered worthless by the recent rental housing bylaw allowing only a limited number of tenants per house in a neighbourhood where nobody else will even buy a house, means seniors have no way out without financial destruction.

Thanks to the Cord for being the first on the scene of all Waterloo media in covering this story.
I wouldn't even have known about it if not for WLU's reporting.
Kudos to them.

www.thecord.ca/articles/46313

TheRecord - Waterloo resident startles prowler

2011-06-09T11:42:00.000-04:00

TheRecord - Waterloo resident startles prowler Not an uncommon summer incident in Northdale - year after year we have been warned about this sort of activity in Northdale. someone looking in window of house at 1:55 am.

Janes Walk of Northdale Area

2011-05-03T13:30:00.001-04:00

Phil Elsworthy is leading a walk in Northdale on Sunday:

http://janeswalk.net/walks/view/northdale_past_and_future/

1 pm Sunday May 8 at the statue in Veteran's Green.

St. Patrick's Day parties in the university district - 570News

2011-03-18T10:59:00.000-04:00

St. Patrick's Day parties in the university district - 570News

Northdale resident speaks to council: March 7, 2011

2011-03-08T11:48:00.002-05:00

Madam Mayor and Council members:

Thank you for the opportunity to submit some additional facts for your consideration.

As a permanent resident, I am concerned with the special impact upon the Northdale area.

It has been well covered that many land-lords will suffer significant losses with the 3 renter rule and that many houses have been bought with maximum mortgages and a default in payments can result in foreclosure and perhaps personal bankruptcy. Foreclosures will result in financial institutions black-listing the Northdale area for mortgage investment.

Most of the remaining permanent residents in Northdale are on fixed income and, when inflation is factored in, are on diminishing disposable income. They can’t afford to loss a significant (major) portion of their assets. It should be noted that devaluation of the property values of long time residents affects us to a much greater degree than that of the landlords. We have no claim for any capital losses and will bear the full impact of these changes.

We are not helped at-all by any grand-fathering clauses.

Our homes will be hard to sell at other than fire sale prices!

Who will buy these houses in the Northdale area?

· Not landlords for student homes!

· Not families for residential homes!

1. The ability to obtain a mortgage in the Northdale area from a financial institution would be nil.

2. The homes are no longer designed or suitable for families and it would be costly to modify them back from student accommodation to family style.

3. Young families could no longer rent a room or two during the first years to help them get started.

4. There are no junior schools, parks, stores, neighbours or other amenities for families.

5. The large number of temporary people passing through the area would not create a suitable environment for raising small children.

6. Heavy parking demand in the area is not compatible with raising small children.

7. Several thousand students will be displaced from the adjacent area that is only a short hike to WLU creating time and travel pressures on the students who will still pass through the area to and from school.

Please consider deferring

or excluding this by-law

action in the Northdale student residence area.

Please wait for the already approved land use study for Northdale, and only then, develop appropriate zoning for this special area that is so important to the life style of our VALUABLE student population. We are a University town. The City should openly welcome these students rather than putting severe restrictions and inconvenience on their accommodations. Education is our major industry. It should be nurtured not abused.

Once the by-law is passed the results can not be undone!

Respectfully submitted by longtime Northdale Resident Jim.

2011-03-01T15:02:00.000-05:00

Waterloo Planning Poll

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.metroline.ca%2Fsurveys%2Fwaterloo%2Fwebsurvey.htm&h=20f6b

2011-02-21T15:16:00.001-05:00

Northdale rates low walkability score!

2011-02-12T12:09:00.001-05:00

Walk Score

Out of 100

Somewhat Walkable

corner Albert/Columbia

from: walkscore.com

Considering how many people live in or very near to this corner (or work near it) this score is dismal.

Urban planning possibilities abound!

Oshawa's situation now

2011-02-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

Councillor suggests using square footage to determine bedrooms in student rentals

Feb 09, 2011 - 04:30 AM

Jillian Follert

OSHAWA -- Councillors have said no to a group of landlords asking to rezone three streets near Durham College and UOIT -- but the debate's not over yet.

On Feb. 7 council's development services committee unanimously shot down a proposal from Homeowners of North Oshawa that would see 133 houses on Dalhousie Crescent, Concordia Court and Niagara Drive rezoned to allow either five or six bedrooms.

"Letting us have five or six (bedrooms) makes things cheaper for the students, and it lets the landlords get the money we need to maintain the houses properly," said landlord Julie Liard.

A City bylaw limits rental homes near campus to four bedrooms, but a sunset clause allows houses on Dalhousie and Concordia to have five or six until April 30 of this year.

With time running out, landlords are trying to make the situation permanent. Council is expected to follow the committee's lead and vote down the rezoning request.

But Councillor Amy England says there is still a chance for the extra bedrooms to be allowed.

She wants to see a model that uses the square footage of a home to determine how many bedrooms are allowed and plans to raise the issue at council's finance and administration committee meeting on Feb. 10.

"It's not an arbitrary cap, it's based on the living space, which makes sense," she said. "I think that's the final piece of the puzzle, it's a compromise that can work for everyone."

Student Association president Anthony Boland told the committee his group is also in favour of using square footage.

A City report recommends denying the landlord's rezoning request, saying it contradicts plans to encourage new student housing along the Simcoe Street corridor.

"It could set an undesirable precedent, which could lead to the destabilization of other existing low density residential neighbourhoods," reads an excerpt.

Landlords say City officials are balking at the request because they're trying to "force" students out of single-family homes and into "purpose built" developments, such as the Dundurn student apartment complex.

"The City should not be promoting big business at the expense of students," said landlord Mareen Sooriyakumar, saying it's up to developers to make their prices competitive with that the landlords offer.

Tim Bird, president of the Cedar Valley Homeowners Association, told politicians this latest request represents a "crossroads" in the protracted debate over student housing in Oshawa.

He implored councillors to turn down the rezoning, saying more bedrooms available in single-family homes means less incentive for developers to build student housing projects along Simcoe Street.

"We believe it is finally time to say no to these landlords," Mr. Bird said. "For every year the status quo continues the City loses...because there's an incredible amount of tax revenue available if and when a student village is built."

Paul Vrana, president of the landlord group, said their proposal doesn't prevent development along the corridor.

He pointed out that in 2009 council opted not to impose a four-bedroom limit on rental homes across the city, because it could potentially disadvantage some families.

"Why then, is it OK to limit choice for students?" he asked.

Iron Warrior - students' take on the rhlr - dead on!

2011-02-05T15:21:00.001-05:00

http://iwarrior.uwaterloo.ca/2011/01/19/big-trouble-for-low-rise-housing-in-waterloo/

Great read, and sums it up very well.

Jeff Henry comment in Imprint on RHLR

2011-02-05T08:42:00.000-05:00

In regards to the rental housing license

Jeff Henry
Waterloo City Councillor

There has been a lot of dialogue about the new proposed rental housing licensing program and bylaw that was tabled before council in early January. As a member of council, I know we wanted an open discussion about the pros and cons surrounding this new program and bylaw as well as the opportunities for improvement. What we didn't want, and what we have been seeing, is the wrong information going out to those who will be impacted by the proposed changes.

I want to remind everyone, students in particular, that the goal of the proposed program is balancing the needs of property owners with the needs of Waterloo residents looking for safe, adequate and properly maintained rental accommodation.

As a city, we cannot proactively ensure renters have healthy and safe places to live under the current 25-year-old licensing bylaw.

A very provocative, anonymous ad ran last week announcing with great alarm that the City of Waterloo is considering implementing a new rental housing licensing bylaw that would potentially regulate all 5,000 residential rental units.

Releasing a first draft of the new bylaw was an important first step in bringing our licensing program out of the 1980s and into the 21st Century. The next step is a thorough community conversation, which the City is having with property owners, neighbours, and renters.

As the councillor who represents many of the areas near the University of Waterloo, I strongly believe that the voice of students is critical in developing the right solution. That is why city staff and I are working with the Federation of Students to hear the stories, ideas, and concerns of students on this important issue before coming back with the next draft on April 11.

Since there is still a lot of confusion and misinformation out there, I believe that you first need to have the facts:

Quality Housing - the goal of a new bylaw is to provide safer, healthier rental accommodations that are adequately maintained.

In the current draft, it means the property owner will have a parking, garbage, and property maintenance plan, kitchens, and bedrooms will be a reasonable size, and rental units will comply with fire codes.

Choice of Accommodation — the city has proactively encouraged a supply of rental units in Waterloo, including 5,000 low-density residential rental units and an increasing supply in apartments. Existing licensed lodging houses would be able to continue operating under the current draft bylaw as transitional lodging houses, and still be able to offer more than three-bedroom accommodations in a boarding house.

The city believes there will continue to be a sufficient and diverse supply of rental housing available.

Affordability - licensing fees for landlords already exist for lodging houses licensed under the old bylaw, and the new fee levels are not significantly different for these accommodations. The city also anticipates that a sufficient and diverse supply of rental housing will continue to exist in Waterloo.

While there will be some costs for currently unlicensed properties to be brought into compliance with the new rules, those costs are associated with making the property safe, and many of those costs will be one-time in nature.

As a former and relatively recent University of Waterloo student and renter, I can appreciate the need for better rental accommodations at a fair price. After all, I lived in many of the same places that you live in now. I look forward to a vigorous and thorough conversation on how we can balance the needs of property owners, neighbours, and renters in our community.

For more information on the proposal and the process, please visit waterloo.ca/rhlr.

Ward 6 councillor speaks up on RHLR

2011-02-05T08:41:00.000-05:00

Listening on Rental Housing Licensing

As an update on my last post, News in the New Year, I have spent the last week listening to the concerns of some of those involved in rental housing in our community.

On Monday, January 10, Council received a draft Rental Housing Licensing By-law and suspended the issuing of new lodging house licenses for several months in order to give the City and the community time to discuss and deliberate on how to improve the draft by-law and serve the entire community better.

Councillors and staff have heard hundreds of complaints from lodging house owners over the last week, which validates our decision last Monday to take the time necessary to listen, deliberate, and get this right. The rental market is an important part of our community, especially for those who do not currently have the means to own their own homes.

As someone who spent his first ten years in this community as a renter, I appreciate those landlords who were responsive and took their responsibilities to provide safe and adequate housing in exchange for a fair rent seriously. We need more of those in our community, not less.

I spent five months knocking on doors last year in all parts of Ward 6. I heard loud and clear from those residents who live in and near low-density rental housing that the status quo was not acceptable.

These voices have largely been absent over the last week. I do not forget that they are out there, and it is critical that all of those connected to rental housing participate in this consultative process, whether they own it, live in it, or live next to it.

I would like to encourage renters and their neighbours to join the landlords at an open house or at the Council meeting on April 11 when the next report from staff returns to Council.

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: A basic question

2011-01-11T17:22:00.000-05:00

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: A basic question

Northdale Residents' Letter to Council re: rhlr

2011-01-08T10:41:00.002-05:00

January 7, 2011

Re: Rental Housing Licensing Review:

Dear Mayor Halloran and Council Members

The residents of Northdale do not see any benefit to the Northdale area or to the city as a whole from a licensing policy that restricts the number of tenants in a residential rental property in the Northdale area to less than boarding houses or licenced houses or those owned by the universities or colleges are allowed to house.

We have repeatedly asked of our councilors (past and present) that Northdale be exempted from the incoming rental housing licensing bylaw and be considered a special policy area.

Driving those students who wish to live in detached housing out of the houses in Northdale will only lead to them seeking rental rooms farther out in other residential neighbourhoods.

Given that the homes in Northdale, even those on huge lots and those which have only ever been owner-occupied, do not attract non-rental interest, this bylaw is too late to help Northdale on any criteria.

At this point it will only serve to destroy property values for those seniors who cannot hang on to their homes waiting to see what the outcome of the Land Use Study might mean for them.

There is no correlation between the number of people in a house and the problems in Northdale.

A house of 3 can still cause disturbances with parties. A rental house is still a rental house and will never lead to neighbourhood stability or preservation.

With the Northdale area currently under a Land Use Study, the Northdale residents request that council consider that Northdale be exempt from this current document and that the future rental policy for Northdale be considered in the context of the official Northdale Land Use Study.

There is nowhere better for the fair rental policy for the currently unlicenced houses to be considered than in this context as it will be considered in depth on the Land Use Study committee by many community members, some from within and some from outside Northdale.

Please remove the Northdale area from the Rental Housing Licensing bylaw through a specific exemption, and include consideration of an appropriate and suitable rental policy for this area in the Northdale Land Use Studywhere it belongs.

Sincerely

Northdale Albert Residents' Coalition

TheRecord - Waterloo plans to be first to introduce rental...

2011-01-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

TheRecord - Waterloo plans to be first to introduce rental...

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Northdale committee set

2010-12-15T18:34:00.000-05:00

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Northdale committee set

UW Daily Bulletin re: arrest in sex assault.

2010-12-03T11:05:00.002-05:00

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.

2010-12-01T15:15:00.000-05:00

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

2010-11-24T09:42:00.000-05:00

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

Excellent editorial - NARC applauds.

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Booze binge

2010-11-24T09:29:00.000-05:00

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Booze binge

Resident speaks out on Northdale - Chronicle Letter

2010-10-21T15:26:00.000-04:00

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.

2010-10-10T10:31:00.005-04:00

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)

2010-10-05T15:31:00.001-04:00

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.

2010-10-03T10:55:00.003-04:00

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

2010-10-03T10:45:00.002-04:00

The failures of Northdale

2010-09-21T19:52:00.002-04:00

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...

2010-09-07T19:44:00.004-04:00

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

2010-08-25T14:01:00.000-04:00

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Student housing horror

Anyone left pretending Northdale isn't a student precinct?

2010-08-24T15:50:00.000-04:00

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

2010-08-21T08:47:00.001-04:00

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.

2010-07-10T09:54:00.000-04:00

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

2010-07-02T19:41:00.000-04:00

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...

2010-06-24T13:23:00.004-04:00

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

2010-06-18T08:30:00.002-04:00

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

2010-06-15T08:38:00.000-04:00

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

2010-06-10T08:25:00.000-04:00

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

2010-06-02T20:05:00.001-04:00

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

2010-05-26T11:56:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-23T10:14:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-18T06:43:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-10T14:53:00.000-04:00

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.

2010-05-08T10:38:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-07T15:40:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-06T11:32:00.001-04:00

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?

2010-05-06T10:46:00.003-04:00

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

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

2010-04-28T10:41:00.002-04:00

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

2010-04-27T15:17:00.001-04:00

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...

2010-04-25T07:26:00.002-04:00

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

2010-04-14T10:52:00.000-04:00

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

Homeowners reject student housing plan - thestar.com

2010-04-12T18:04:00.000-04:00

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

2010-04-12T17:36:00.000-04:00

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."

2010-04-07T19:58:00.001-04:00

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

From the Toronto Star

2010-04-06T09:00:00.002-04:00

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

2010-04-05T14:51:00.003-04:00

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

2010-03-31T14:48:00.001-04:00

theCord.ca - The tie that binds Wilfrid Laurier University

Posted using ShareThis

Excellent points made in this letter to the editor

2010-03-22T10:30:00.000-04:00

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.

2010-03-14T12:19:00.001-04:00

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

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

lawn furniture - LOL

2010-03-11T11:02:00.001-05:00

A clever snow sculpture - and practical too!

Why????

2010-03-06T15:30:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

2010-02-19T10:54:00.002-05:00

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

2010-01-18T08:44:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-10T16:01:00.002-05:00

Is this something we should be looking at?

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

2010-01-07T07:04:00.003-05:00

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

2010-01-06T18:42:00.003-05:00

A map put together by Northdale residents and compiled by Deborah Easson shows all the rental houses in red swamping the solely owner-occupied houses in green.

Expropriation an option

Everything is on the table as the city looks at the long-term future of Northdale

By Greg MacDonald, Chronicle Staff

News
Jan 06, 2010

No one knows what the Northdale neighbourhood will look like in 10 years, but everyone agrees it has to look different than it does now.
After three heated, debate-filled meetings in 2009, ward Coun. Jan d’Ailly will be opening council’s New Year seeking a new vision for the neighbourhood.

“I want staff to report back on what options we have in the neighbourhood,” d’Ailly said.

And when d’Ailly means options, he means every option available.

“It could be anything from doing nothing to the city expropriating the land,” he said. “I don’t think either will be acceptable, but it might end up somewhere in between.”

The Northdale neighbourhood, bounded by University Avenue and Columbia Street north to south and King Street and Lester Street east and west, has become a flash-point for the current incarnation of council.

The student-dominated neighbourhood has been dubbed a ghetto-in-the-making as families leave the area and more houses become rentals.

Property standards and housing safety have been issues, and recently a spat of crimes hit the neighbourhood, including a shooting in December and a stabbing on New Year’s Eve.

“We need to take the blinders off,” d’Ailly said. “We need to stop thinking about what we can’t do.

“We have to do something.”

One potential plan for the neighbourhood was presented at a community meeting in late November.

A new community group, called HUG — Help Urbanize the Ghetto in Waterloo — made up of Northdale residents as well as other citizens, presented its vision of an intensified community.

It included low-rise condominiums, shopping mews and more dense housing forms. Not only is the plan environmentally friendly, it will help diversify the neighbourhood, said Karen Earle, chair of HUG.

“We really want to see reurbanization through intensification,” she said. “Right now the neighbourhood does not work.

“It’s a blight on the city and it makes us look bad.”

Earle and her group have refined what residents have been saying for years into a coherent vision — upzone the neighbourhood. That would mean allowing for more dense building forms and removing the current restrictions around lodging house licenses.

Earle, a Waterloo resident, works as a re-locator. She helps high-tech families move into the area and find a place to live.

“I never recommend the Northdale area,” she said. “In fact, I have a hard time finding places in Waterloo. Laurelwood and Eastbridge are good for families, but there are only so many houses there.

“A lot of tech workers want to live in condos or rent. Frankly, a lot of them are in Kitchener.”

That irks Earle, because she believes the city has the potential to bring in more taxpayers with a more dense core.

HUG wants to see a special policy area instituted in Northdale focused solely on intensification.

“Forget the rest of the city in this instance and just focus on Northdale,” Earle said. “It might not be a ghetto yet, but it’s a ghetto in the making.”

HUG’s vision would mean a more diverse neighbourhood, but it would also mean fair property values, said Deborah Easson, chair of the Northdale Neighbourhood Association.

“It’s a huge issue for us,” she said.

Permanent residents in the area have often complained that lodging house licenses make some houses vastly more valuable than others. Those residents without licenses have trouble selling their homes, Easson said.

“You basically have to disclose what kind of neighbourhood this is when you’re trying to sell it,” Easson said.

She believes in the HUG plan and thinks it would quickly cure many of the ills in the neighbourhood.

“It would stop the partying, the random property damage, because it would bring in property managers,” she said. “It would change the climate and start bringing in tech workers.”

Easson wants council to adopt HUG’s vision. But she wants something else, too.

“I would like an admission that the neighbourhood is a failure,” she said. “There has to be a solution and council has to find it.”

D’Ailly agrees a solution is needed and hopes to have a report back in April on options for the neighbourhood.

“I also want to understand what tools we have in our toolbox that can help us,” he said.

Earle wants the situation addressed urgently since it’s an election year.

“We want it done soon,” she said. “We’ve worked hard on this council and if something doesn’t get done soon, we’ll have a whole new council to deal with.”

D’Ailly believes it has taken time for the vision to coalesce and said real progress was made during 2009.

He will bring forward a motion to explore the options on Jan. 11 and expects staff to report back in the spring if he finds support from other councillors.

But the Northdale issue isn’t likely to stay quiet until then. The city is also exploring a rental licensing bylaw that would require all landlords to be licensed.

The issue will come before council later in the winter.

For more information on HUG’s vision for Northdale, visit www.hugwaterloo.com

2009-12-07T16:43:00.003-05:00

From the Cord

City councillors to lead planning for 'student ghetto'

Nick Lachance
December 2, 2009 5:36 AM
Linda Givetash

On Nov. 26, a town meeting was hosted in St. Michael’s Church for the Northdale community to discuss the future of the area as the neighbouring universities continue to grow.
“We’re not a permanent resident and student neighborhood anymore, we’re a student neighborhood with a few remaining permanent residents,” said Christine Carmody, area resident and member of Help Urbanize the Ghetto in Waterloo (HUG Waterloo).
The population of Northdale – the area north of Wilfrid Laurier University between the University of Waterloo and King Street – has transformed from primarily long-term residing families to frequently moving students.
Before attendees broke into discussion groups to critique the community vision presented by councilor Jan d’Ailly and city staff, members of HUG Waterloo stepped in to present their alternate proposal.
“We don’t feel that our voice is being heard by our own councilor,” said Jim Flynn, member of HUG Waterloo.
“We’ve had meeting after meeting and we always seem like we’re starting but really ... it’s a failure to launch,” he added.
This town hall acted as a follow-up to the meeting held in April 2009 which addressed the major concerns of both permanent and student residents.
The vision proposed by the city encompassed those concerns and outlined the developments they would like to see in the future.
Having looked over both proposed visions, councilor d’Ailly said, “Actually if you take a close look at it they’re remarkably similar. There’s about 80 per cent overlap.”
This was not a view shared by HUG Waterloo members. “The one with the city, the one that Jan d’Ailly created, I don’t think represents all of the city, it’s completely unrealistic,” said Carmody.
The solution proposed by HUG Waterloo is to rezone the area to allow for higher density housing, such as apartment buildings, that are designed for the student lifestyle.
“Our houses just don’t suit the purpose [of residents] that actually live in our community, so why not build something that’s actually good for students,” said Carmody.
Regardless of the problems with the current measures in place for housing in the area, students should still be informed and engaged in order to help progress community development.
“I think the first step is not to be putting yourself in a bad situation,” said third-year Laurier student Jackie Dobson, who is chair of the Mayor’s Student Advisory Council (MSAC).
“Students [need to] become aware of these issues before they’re in these situations, because once you’re in these situations you’re bounded by a 12-month contract that you cant get out of,” added Dobson.
In addition to the physical faults of the area, the relationship between students and permanent residents, including behavioural concerns, were discussed.
“I regret that we’re constantly labeling the whole student group as a problem when they’re not,” said Mayor Brenda Halloran on the frustrated accusations made by some community members.
“There will be a few students that might act up but there are a thousand, tens of thousands that don’t,” said Halloran.
The next step for the community had originally included the creation of a small committee to develop a more concrete plan for the area. This was scrapped in favour of allowing city council to draw the options.
Laurier student Asif Bacchus was first to raise the idea of allowing city officials to develop a plan rather than place the burden on community members.
“What’s happened at the last few meetings and especially this meeting its been made really, really clear what the people in that area want,” said Bacchus.
“It’s time for city council to … put all those opinions together into a cohesive plan for the future to make what everyone wants a reality.”
According to d’Ailly, proposals should be completed in January of next year with a final vision ready for council in March.

Check out HUG's blog www.hugwaterloo.com

2009-11-27T18:35:00.022-05:00

The Green Solution for Northdale

Join Hugwaterloo and Help Urbanize the Ghetto

The taxpaying homeowners of Northdale invite you, students and taxpayers from the rest of Waterloo, and other interested parties, to resolve the unending struggle to “solve” the problems of a student ghetto by encouraging Waterloo City Council to move forward with a proactive 21st century design solution.

Re-urbanization through Intensification is the goal

The Problem: (www.universitiesneighbourhood.blogspot.com)
The current zoning (SR2) is not being used as it was originally intended: single family occupancy
The perception of the area as a “student zone” prevents homes from attracting owner-occupants
The large yards are not being used for any practical purpose, but instead encourage partying, lawn parking, garbage accumulation, fireworks, etc.
There are only 6 houses left used solely for owner-occupancy (no rentals) owned by people under 60.
The zoning is inappropriate for the natural evolution of the area and the city needs to find the will to rezone to MR zoning large enough for on-site property managers.
The city is stuck on defending a failed model and propping it up with your tax dollars.
The area between Lester, University, Columbia and King Streets is fast becoming a Kingston style embarrassment to the residents of the city and Region as the long-time owners leave their homes, unable to attract owner-occupants.
The city has rezoned WCI, St. David’s, and St. Michael’s church properties for apartment buildings, leaving nothing to attract families long-term.
Hundreds of charges are laid in a month (September) (seniors threatened, families vandalized)

The Vision:

Transit-oriented mixed-use development (bus is a 1 block walk and future LRT)
World class modern design replaces 1960’s inefficient housing stock
Green elements – LEEDS compliant
One-Neighbourhood context for housing, employment, education, retail, professional spaces, recreation, arts, culture (cars unnecessary)
First class team of architects and design professionals
Project that serves as a model of outstanding transit-oriented development
A neighbourhood of pride for all taxpayers of Waterloo City and Region.
Car-free neighbourhood
Intensification in the core to preserve the outlying green areas.
Showcase local energy efficient companies in the building form (eg. ARISE) for the world to see.
Reflects well on our close-proximity internationally renowned institutions and corporations
Reinforces “ intelligent community” label
Increased density supports Uptown Waterloo businesses (short walk away)

Benefits for the Community

Draws students back into an attractive, safe, urban neighbourhood and out of the suburbs freeing up housing stock for families.
Provides neighbourhood retail services for easy access.
Enhanced public environment and pedestrian experience through landscaping and streetscape improvements.
Carefully balanced layout and proposed design elements premised on Grow Up, Not Out
Provides modern managed condos/apartments for technology sector employees in close walking distance to work.
The neighbourhood can become an icon of modern urban design principles, building a community from the ground up, that the world coming to our streets (CIGI, Universities, RIM, etc.) can look on with respect – an ECOTOPIA.

Benefits for Taxpayers

Reduced cost of policing by creating a diverse neighbourhood that people take pride in
Free up policing resources for more significant crimes than managing noise and keg parties
Reduced demand on bylaw enforcement (lot maintenance, parties, property standards)
Avoid the proposed licensing costs ($800,000 hit for taxpayers) by eliminating the housing form that promotes partying, rundown housing, garbage, etc. (pg. 14 of the rental housing licensing review)
Increased tax revenue through rezoning for intensification
Preserve the moraine for Waterloo’s water resources
Exceeding the urban intensification guidelines of Places to Grow preserves limited green lands
Green design principles reduce the burden on water supplies, sewers, other infrastructure as Waterloo grows

Join Us - Be a Ghetto-Buster

Help turn Northdale into an energetic, urban neighbourhood, with a diverse population, environmentally progressive, a model of how a city can work together to turn a failed neighbourhood that pits resident against resident into a model of co-operation and pride. When Waterloo Intensifies Northdale we all WIN.

How you can help:

Sign the petition at hugwaterloo.com

Write letters to the paper.

Tell your friends they can help “green” Waterloo.

Tell your fellow taxpayers that Waterloo is wasting their taxes managing this when a better solution exists.

Next year is municipal election year: make sure that your councillor realizes you don’t want anymore of your tax dollars going to prop up a failure of policy and planning that has been unraveling for 20 years.
Make sure they know that you want Waterloo to move into the 21st century with Urban Design Principles that we can all be proud of.

Contact: hugwaterloo@gmail.com

Facebook: HUGWaterloo

2009-11-27T07:35:00.002-05:00

No clear future
established
for troubled
neighbourhood

By Jeff Outhit, Record staff

Waterloo:

People agree city council has
failed to stabilize a campus-area neighbourhood
dominated by students, stress and trouble.
They disagree on how to move forward in
Northdale.
Deborah Easson, who chairs a coalition of
residents, says council should abandon zoning
restrictions meant to preserve the dwindling
remains of its single-family character.
Instead, council should let permanent residents
sell their properties to apartment developers.
Large, managed properties would solve student
parking, garbage and partying problems,
and might attract technology workers back into
the neighbourhood, she contends.
“When you have a neighbourhood that’s this
big a mess, and this big a sinkhole for tax dollars,
why wouldn’t you want to move to a modern,
urban, green-design standard?” Easson asked.
Coun. Jan d’Ailly, who represents the ward, is
not persuaded intensification will work, saying
it’s unrealistic to expect developers to gobble up
the remaining homes any time soon.
“What’s in place now is not working,” he said.
But “I can look at lots of communities that have
high intensities that just do not work.”
Northdale is bounded by University Avenue
and Philip, Columbia and King streets. The area
is home to many students from Wilfrid Laurier
University and the University of Waterloo.
Permanent residents say problems with noise,
garbage, parties and bad behaviour are getting
worse.
Thursday night, more than 80 residents gathered
in a neighbourhood church to draft a new
vision for Northdale, following up on a similar
session held last April. The result will be used to
help guide city officials in drafting solutions.
Many residents applauded calls for intensification.
In an interview before the meeting, Easson
took aim at d’Ailly, accusing him of refusing to
make intensification part of the community
vision.
“Our councillor seems to have an agenda all
his own,” Easson said. “He will not listen.”
“I don’t think that’s fair,” d’Ailly said. “I am
probably the only one who’s pushing through an
agenda here, to try to address the issues in Northdale.”

jouthit@therecord.com

City drafts new noise bylaw

2009-11-11T14:23:00.000-05:00

City drafts new noise bylaw

By Greg MacDonald, Chronicle Staff
News
Nov 11, 2009

The City of Waterloo is drafting a new noise bylaw and officials say the updated rules will make it easier to determine violations.
The new bylaw isn’t just good for people concerned about noise in the city, but those who have received complaints, said Coun. Karen Scian.
She pointed to a situation where a neighbour complained about the noise from students at a school singing the national anthem as a downside to the current bylaw.
“I think this adds a level of reasonableness to the situation,” Scian said.
In the past, citing bylaw violations was more art than science, but thanks to a recently purchased decibel meter, infractions will be assessed based on the actual loudness of the noise rather than the perceived loudness, said Jim Barry, director of bylaw for the city.
“This sets clear limits on noise,” he said.
“Our intent is to make the bylaw more clear and easier to follow.”
Barry presented the draft bylaw at Monday afternoon’s council meeting. It will now go out to the public for input before facing approval from council in the new year.
The purpose of the bylaw is to make violations more black and white — as Coun. Mark Whaley put it, essentially to “take the element of complaint out of it.”
The new bylaw will act as a fair barometer of noise, Barry said.
“Under the current bylaw, if someone has an exemption and we receive a complaint, we can still go and ask them to turn it down,” he said. “But now you’ll have the exemption as long as you don’t exceed the decibel levels.”
The bylaw sets the acceptable amount of noise in residential areas at 50 db during the day and between 45 db and 47 db overnight.
The proposed bylaw also includes a measure that would require any event with more than 60 people in attendance to hire a bylaw officer.
That sparked some concern, as the city reported last month that festivals are leaving Waterloo Park because of the costs associated with noise violations.
The requirement of a bylaw officer will be at the discretion of the city, Barry said.
“It won’t be a requirement on new festivals,” he said. “But if we’ve had complaints in the past, we can say that the festival merits this extra level of enforcement.”
In addition to clarifying violations, the new bylaw consolidates the two existing bylaws that govern noise in the city.
One decibel meter has already been purchased — a used unit which cost $2,000. Officers are now training and the city plans to purchase another.
“We’re on the road to be in good place in the new year to enforce the new bylaw to give an added level of protection in the city,” Barry said.
The bylaw will be open for comment on the city’s website at www.waterloo.ca .

2009-11-07T05:48:00.005-05:00

Thursday November 26, 2009

6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
St. Michael Church
240 Hemlock Avenue, Waterloo
(at University Avenue)

Agenda

6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Meet You Councillor
7:00 to 7:30 p.m. Update on Ward and City Projects
7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Focus on Building a Community Vision in Northdale

For further information, contact:

Jan d'Ailly at 519-884-9170 (email: jan.dailly@waterloo.ca) or
Linda Vandenakker at 519-747-8788 (email: linda.vandenakker@waterloo.ca

2009-11-04T07:32:00.001-05:00

From the Waterloo Chronicle November 4th 2009

The city has not done a ‘good job’ in Northdale

Letters
Nov 04, 2009

As a long suffering permanent resident of Northdale, I can tell you that Councilor d'Ailly is simply wrong when he says, “There are no more keg parties and street parties usually. We’ve done a good job but we have to keep going.”
Keg parties, Hot Shot parties are alive and well in Waterloo's student ghetto.

And St. Patrick's Day's festivities last March included another street party.

This year the partying has actually gotten significantly worse.

I invite Waterloo to drive around our neighbourhood and look at all of the keg party cups.

The garbage situation isn’t great either.

So no Jan, the city has not done a good job.

Coun. Diane Freeman is right— it is time to accept that families will never move back in here.

It is simply time to build something else here before we have a 400-500 person riot like London experienced this past weekend.

Christine Carmody Waterloo

The Core Question

2009-10-29T17:39:00.002-04:00

The complexity of addressing student housing issues hitting home with council

By Greg MacDonald, Chronicle Staff

News
Oct 28, 2009

The city is set to re-examine its vision for Northdale and other core neighbourhoods after a workshop session Monday brought up serious concerns from several councillors.
The workshop began with staff listing off the successes and various policies the city uses to regulate the student-dominated neighbourhoods surrounding the city’s two universities.

Council’s official policy is to attract families back into the neighbourhoods — some of which have 95 per cent of homes being rented out.

But Coun. Diane Freeman sees a disconnect between the city’s plan and reality.

“If the idea is to reintegrate families into existing single family dwellings there is no support system for families, I don’t see how that can happen,” Freeman said.

With no elementary school in the vicinity of Northdale, which is bounded by University Avenue, Columbia Street, Albert Street and King Street, families have no incentives to move into the neighbourhood, she said.

“The only amenities available north of the university are for students,” Freeman said. “I don’t think what we have in place there is going to work because there is nothing for families.”

The afternoon workshop, held before Monday night’s council meeting, was an education session for councillors in response to a neighbourhood meeting held during the summer.

During that meeting, Coun. Jan d’Ailly and Mayor Brenda Halloran heard a multitude of concerns from the Northdale community association.

Those complaints included the usual — noisy parties, garbage-strewn properties and other behavioural issues.

But there were also calls for a special policy area to help the remaining permanent residents get the same price for their homes as licensed lodging houses demand.

The situation for seniors in the neighbourhood was especially disconcerting, Halloran said.

“What really struck me is what to do with seniors who feel stuck in these homes — they can’t sell them,” Halloran said. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to say it’s a zoning issue and that’s it.

“Our role as a council is to listen to the residents and find a strategy to help.”

It’s not just the seniors councillors should worry about, added Coun. Mark Whaley, who lived in one of the post-war homes that make up Northdale.

“Those houses were temporary and prefabricated,” Whaley said. “Sixty years later, they’re filled with students and sometimes unsafe.

“At the same time, developers who want to build something better in the neighbourhood have to go to the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) to get anything done.”

He believes the city needs to rezone the area to make it more student friendly and forget attracting families to the traditional homes.

“We’ve seen all the tools and successes that we’ve had over the years, but I think that we have a little way to go,” Whaley said.

Council didn’t commit to any rezoning or change in philosophy, but Jan d’Ailly, the ward councillor for the area, will hold a town hall meeting on Nov. 26 to gain feedback on the community about what they want to see in the area.

Following that meeting, council will hold another session to discuss the area. D’Ailly wants that to include a review of council’s vision for the university neighbourhoods.

And while he wants a review, d’Ailly was quick to tout the successes the city has had.

“Four years ago, there was garbage on the streets and it was a lot worse,” he said. “There are no more keg parties and street parties usually. We’ve done a good job but we have to keep going.

“We should making this a model neighbourhood, where students and residents can walk down the street on garbage day and at 3 a. m. on Saturday night and say they’re proud to live there.”

2009-10-16T15:31:00.003-04:00

Form the Record Friday October 16 2009

City to look at hiring extra police for student areas

By Liz Monteiro, Record staff

WATERLOO – Christine Carmody likes the idea of police officers
patrolling her neighbourhood. And the Waterloo woman has
no problem with the City of Waterloo paying the costs of hiring extra
police patrols in the Northdale neighbourhood adjacent to Wilfrid
Laurier University.

“Bylaw cannot control it. Police are the only ones who can stop it,’’
she said, referring to student rowdiness including late-night
parties, loud gatherings and public urination.

“It’s a stopgap measure but not a solution,’’ said Carmody, who
believes changing the zoning in the area to allow higher-density
apartments rather than singlehouse dwellings is the answer.

Coun. Ian McLean wants city staff to look at the potential costs
of hiring police officers to patrol streets near the two universities
during the months of September and October and March and April.

“Since I’ve been on council, student housing and behavioural
issues have been the No. 1issue on council,’’ he said. “I’ve finally got
to the point to say it’s time to say enough.’’

He wants to starts a pilot project in which the city hires paidduty
officers to walk the street near the universities.
“I’ve waited long enough,’’ he said.
McLean said city bylaw officers are not trained to deal with behavioural
issues and shouldn’t be expected to deal with unruly students.
He also says police have priority calls and public nuisance
calls won’t be responded to immediately if police are dealing with
domestic calls or car crashes.

Carmody said the city has created a “de facto student ghetto”
of her neighbourhood and they should pay the costs.
“Living here isn’t pleasant at all. I’d give anything to get out of
here,’’ she said. Carmody, has lived on Albert
Street for 12 years and has tried unsuccessfully to sell her house.

Police call special policing
a ‘dangerous concept’

“The City of Waterloo keeps downplaying the problem. They
keep saying it’s fine but it’s not fine,’’ said the mother of two
young children.

For homecoming weekend at Laurier earlier this month, Carmody
called Mayor Brenda Halloran and councillor, Jan d’Ailly
when a party next door to her house attracted nearly 400 people
on a Saturday morning.
She said that some students were smoking drugs and drinking
beer on her driveway.
Police responded, shut down the party and laid charges.

Coun. Mark Whaley said that asking citizens to pay extra for
more officers in a selected neighbourhood is a double-tax for
ratepayers.
Police say they, too, are also hesitant about a plan to pay for
extra officers.
“It’s a delicate issue,’’ said Staff Sgt. Mark Bullock.

He is the project co-ordinator for Project Safe Semester, an
enforcement strategy which has increased the police presence in
neighbourhoods surrounding the universities.
Bullock also said paying for extra officers is an “extra burden
on taxpayers.’’
He said if one area of the city gets paid officers, other neighbourhoods
who are experiencing drug activity or a rash of break
and enters will also want extra patrols.

“Other neighbourhoods have issues that are equally important
to them,’’ Bullock said. “Special policing is a dangerous concept.’’
He said that Project Safe Semester has been successful over
its three year lifespan. The fiveweek strategy, which ended after
Laurier’s homecoming weekend on Oct. 4, led to 650 charges this
year.

There were fewer large-scale house parties and this year’s
homecoming weekend was the quietest event in the last five
years, Bullock said.
He said that the Waterloo detachment dedicates one sergeant
and five officers to the neighbourhoods around the
universities year round.
Bullock said that he would like to see council support a police
staffing plan to meet the needs of the neighbourhoods.

Halloran said she’s willing to talk about hiring police officers,
but says that there will be a double cost to the taxpayer.
Halloran said Project Safe Semester had been successful in
enforcing rules and educating students on appropriate behaviour.
“There has been a strong concerted effort from our officers
and the police and there have been positive results,’’ she said.

Jim Barry, the city’s director of bylaw enforcement, said that a
report on the additional costs of hiring police for extra patrols
will come to council in December.
He said that the costs range from $50 to $80 an hour per officer.

David McMurray, dean of students at Laurier, said that the
university is hosting a meeting with councillors and the mayor to
talk about extra police patrols.
He said he wants to know more about how many officers would
patrol the neighbourhoods and when.

McMurray said the university is currently facing a budget crisis
and the institution needs to make cuts and is not looking at increasing
costs.

2009-10-15T18:40:00.003-04:00

Beef up police patrols in student area, says McLean

By Greg MacDonald, Chronicle Staff
News
Oct 14, 2009

A Waterloo city councillor wants to hire part-time police officers to patrol the city’s core neighbourhoods.

Coun. Ian McLean believes it’s time for the city to deal with issues in neighbourhoods such as Northdale that pop every spring and autumn.

Residents in the core neighbourhoods often complain about issues related to noise and public intoxication when students return to university. McLean believes a beefed-up enforcement strategy anchored by off-duty officers funded by the city and other partners could help.
“I’m not saying it’s any certain type of people causing the problems,” McLean said. “People can come to their own conclusions on that”
“But I think that this is something we’ve been dealing with for a number of years and we need another tool in our toolbox.”

The UpTown Business Improvement Area currently uses this strategy in the city’s core.
McLean believes that there is a gap in the enforcement in the area because city bylaw officers don’t have the power to charge for many infractions. At the same time, noise and alcohol-related offences are a lower priority for police, he added.

“If someone calls in a noise complaint and (the police) are also getting calls for two accidents in New Hamburg and a break and enter in Kitchener, then it might be three hours before they respond to the noise call — as well it should be,” McLean said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we need some presence in our neighbourhoods.”
McLean has asked city staff to review the plan in time for this year’s budget cycle. He’s not sure of what it would cost, but if it’s reasonable, McLean wants patrols Thursday to Saturday nights in April, May, September and October.

McLean also plans to ask the universities to kick in some funds to help cover the costs.
The extra patrols would be a welcome sight in Northdale, the neighbourhood between University and Columbia just north of WLU.
But it does not deal with some of the systemic issues plaguing the neighbourhood, said Deborah Easson, chair of the Northdale Residents Association.
Permanent residents and students will continue to butt heads, no matter how many police are around, she said.

“We have two groups of people with different beliefs and expectations,” she said. “The city should turn this into a student precinct.”
Additional officers would be a good stopgap measure to help quell some of the problems, she added.

2009-10-04T07:31:00.001-04:00

From the Record
Saturday October 3rd 2009

Help Northdale

Re: Party’s cancellation fails to
deter Queen’s alumni — Sept. 24

Waterloo’s Northdale neighbourhood is already experiencing
the beginnings of the same rowdiness issues as the residential
areas of Queen’s University in Kingston. I am embarrassed by
our own “ghetto”-in-the-making that tarnishes our region’s reputation.
How did this occur? Our supposedly intelligent community
allowed licensing of lodging houses (rent-by-the-room) along University
and Columbia streets to support the universities’ student
accommodation studies. Permanent residents are now outnumbered
10 to one. What remains are neglected properties, garbage, and
noisy keg parties. Why should people in Waterloo
care? Their city and regional tax dollars are paying for periodic
daily garbage collection, police response and bylaw enforcement.
The universities aren’t footing the costs as universities are tax exempt.
Now imagine Northdale Village with a vibrant streetscape
including attractive townhouses and low rise condos plus a bustling
shopping mews. Northdale Village could be a world class town
centre for those who work, study and live in the area — a diverse,
urban village that the Region of Waterloo could be proud of.

Karen Earle
Waterloo

Watch Province Wide this Sunday Sept.20/09

2009-09-18T18:56:00.002-04:00

On Province Wide this Sunday on CKCO TV at 6:30 pm

Many businesses are happy to see university students return in the fall. Tens of thousands of young people bring a great deal of money. But, in some neighbourhoods, they also bring problems. Windsor, London, Hamilton, Kingston, and Waterloo know all about this. But, the rowdiness and vandalism aren't the only problems, say some permanent residents. Hear their complaints, and community responses.

Welcome Back Students??

2009-09-13T19:17:00.002-04:00

The students are back in town. How do we know? Just go out late at night and early morning and you can hear the hooting and hollering as they return from the bars or parties. No consideration of anyone that may be sleeping. Why is it when they are fuelled with alcohol they have no consideration for anyone else. Have read in the newspaper that a number of students have to rely on the food bank at the Universities. There certainly does not seem to be a shortage of money for alcohol.

Lester St. Living

2009-08-29T09:03:00.002-04:00

Come on landlords do a better job of keeping your properties clean. Tell your tenants what is expected of them. It's more than just collecting the rent money

2009-08-26T20:22:00.003-04:00

New ideas needed for Northdale

By HILDA MASON, GUEST COLUMN
Aug 26, 2009

Of the 20 original homes on Batavia Place, only six remain in their original state. The other 14 are either student occupied with absentee landlords, or converted student homes with owner occupancy. This has forever changed the dynamics of the entire street. The same is true for all the streets in the Northdale neighbourhood.
Batavia Place, developed in the 1960s, was once a vibrant neighbourhood of large, well-kept homes, built on large lots. The residents would walk to work at the University of Waterloo or Wilfrid Laurier University.
Try if you can to comprehend that within a few short years this once prestigious community has been carved up and exploited solely for monetary gain as student rental accommodation and/or lodging houses.
To even consider that a young couple raising a small family would be interested, or feel safe, moving into a neighbourhood of partying, noisy, beer-sodden university students, is incomprehensible.
City staff is preparing a new rental licencing bylaw, or standardized citywide compliance bylaw, for presentation to council in the fall.
Council must realize that any bylaw applicable in other parts of the city will be impossible to implement in the Northdale neighbourhood.
The need here is a totally different one. A completely different approach is required!
Council must demand that planning staff do “due diligence” in analyzing the specific needs and potential of this particular neighbourhood and what future developments are pending.
Putting restrictions on remaining properties now, at this late date, will negatively impact our longtime residents still living in their homes.
Scott Nevin’s callous and cavalier attitude towards reducing the value of those homes is extremely worrisome.
How could he say publicly if a new city bylaw comes (in) at the cost of current residents’ property, so be it.
Such an attitude toward the remaining residents in the Northdale neighbourhood is unjustifiable and an insult!
Council needs to be informed, to search its conscience, and to do the right and honourable thing. Current residents must have the same rights and privileges as landlords who, in the last few years, have bought up all the properties as quickly as they become available and turned them into student housing.
They deserve the same rights as Laurier University had when it converted a home into a 10-student Hope House.
For council to ignore the remaining residents is blatant discrimination against the most vulnerable.
Unlike any other neighbourhood in Waterloo, the Northdale neighbourhood has an entirely unique problem. It has become a student precinct!
When considering a new bylaw this fall, every longtime Northdale resident whose future livelihood is invested in his or her home, expects that council will demand fairness and equality Northdale.
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
...
Hilda Mason is a longtime resident of Batavia Place in Northdale

Read the article below

2009-08-22T21:34:00.002-04:00

Read the article below that was published In October 2004. What recommendations do you see that were implemented? Has the MDS worked? Dedicated bylaw officers? Previous licensing rules did not work so the city just grandfathered in those already licensed. Now some five years later those licensing rules did not work and so a new set of licensing rules are to be brought in. Once again they are talking about grandfathering in those new licenses. The only ones that are not being grandfathered are the residents that have been here 20, 30, 40 years. They are the ones that cannot sell now because of no license while every other house that has sold is going for student rental leagally or illegaly. All we ask is that we be given a level playing field and designate this as a special policy area where any house can be a rental.

Published Oct. 4 2004

2009-08-22T21:26:00.001-04:00

Bylaw on top of things - proactive, proactive, proactive

2009-08-22T16:54:00.003-04:00

How long will these sofas sit out at the very public corner of Columbia and Albert - what happened to the promises of the council meeting a year ago to turn this area around?

To attract tech workers to buy houses here and stop the area from looking like a student slum?

What happened to the proactive bylaw enforcement?

Who is kidding whom?

The residents are not fooled.

The discussions are endless with nothing changing.

What is going on? Why are we not being supported?

More lawn parking on busy Albert Street.

2009-08-22T16:38:00.005-04:00

Proactive bylaw enforcment - NOT

2009-08-22T16:32:00.002-04:00

Where are the bylaw officers?
Out getting new glasses?
Post-party lawn parking at its finest - bylaw flat on their face!
Parking for how many?????
Only seen by hundreds on their way to church.
Looks like a fine upscale neighbourhood, right?
This doesn't look like a student housing area.
Much!

2009-08-12T19:14:00.001-04:00

Play fair

Northdale residents cry foul over city’s proposed rental licensing policy

By Greg MacDonald, Chronicle Staff
News
Aug 12, 2009

The city needs to reconsider a proposed rental housing bylaw to give fair value to all properties in Northdale, according to residents of the neighbourhood.
At a special meeting last Thursday, residents of the student-dominated community tore into city staff, the mayor and ward Coun. Jan d’Ailly about a plan that could require the owners of any rental units in the city to have a licence.
Staff is considering licensing landlords or properties, either in one section of Waterloo or the city as a whole.
One of the bylaw options the city is exploring is minimum separation — essentially limiting the number of rental units allowed on a block by requiring a certain distance between rentals.
But permanent residents in the neighbourhood fear that will mean that the houses that are already rentals will be given preference for licensing.
The city currently issues lodging house licences, which restrict the number of rental bedrooms allowed in a home.
That licence, however, does not prevent unlicensed homeowners from renting out their homes.
Ken Munson, who lives on Albert Street, said his house doesn’t have the same value as one that has a lodging house licence.
He feels that extending a new licensing program could only widen the gap in home values in Northdale.
“We need to create a level playing field for the small number of us who are still remaining,” Munson said, motioning to the 25 residents gathered in council chambers.
A better solution might be to upzone the neighbourhood, which would level property values since high-density developments could be built on any site, he said.
“I don’t know of any other neighbourhood in this situation that hasn’t been rezoned,” Munson said.
Residents have been calling for rezoning for upwards of two years and have been blocked out, said Paul Ellingham, who lives on Hemlock Street.
“These houses are about 1,000 square feet. They don’t work for families and they don’t work for students. Who are they for?” said Ellingham, who is a chaplain at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.
“Why does the city not want to rezone this area? There seems to be a wall.”
The city has different plans for the neighbourhood. Council has a vision for a diverse and low-density community in Northdale, said Scott Nevin, director of policy planning.
If it comes at the cost of current residents’ property values, so be it.
“The city is not in the business of providing someone value for their property,” Nevin said.
He cited the city’s height and density and nodes and corridors policies as pieces that would help solve the problem in Northdale.
The plan is to draw renters out of the neighbourhoods and into higher-density forms of housing, opening the neighbourhood back up for families, young professionals and seniors.
“We have a plan. We’re only four years in, so it’s hard to judge the progress,” he said.
That might be hard to do given the concentration of rental housing in the neighbourhood, said Dave Novis, a landlord who owns 14 properties in the neighbourhood.
He sees the licensing program as a cash grab and thinks the city should can the proposal.
Novis called the licence a tax that would only make renting less affordable.
“It’s kind of funny that the residents and landlords agree on something. Usually it’s landlords versus residents or vice versa,” Novis said.
D’Ailly said the concerns were heard loud and clear and stressed no decisions had been made yet.
“It’s a tough one, it really is tough. We need a solution,” he said. “We’re all frustrated but it’s time to move forward.”
Council will deliberate on implementing a bylaw in the fall. D’Ailly will host another meeting for Northdale residents in early October.

2009-06-30T07:58:00.004-04:00

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2009-05-12T06:53:00.002-04:00

From The Record

Poor urban planning

May 12, 2009 Hilda Mason

If she were alive today Jane Jacobs, the celebrated urban planner, would have a lot to say about Waterloo's current crop of "city fathers" and how they have betrayed the very citizens who elected them to serve.

For starters, she would suggest that they give their heads a shake. How could a city blessed with two universities provide through their bylaws the systematic ruin of streets formerly lined with beautiful, well-kept homes within walking distance of uptown, the Waterloo technologypark, and those same universities.

These were once proud, well-established neighbourhoods where professors, scholars, and other professionals once lived.

What they have allowed to happen under their watch is a Waterloo disgrace that defies all reason or logic.

Jane Jacobs where are you?

Hilda Mason
Waterloo

Welcome to Waterloo - too bad he ran out of paint...

2009-05-03T15:46:00.005-04:00

I wonder what he was going to write? Pullets - maybe this is about backyard chickens - I wish!

The charming outcome of the Neighbourhood Preservation Model.

And, of course, it's moving in day - all those out-of-town parents in the area too. Nice impression Waterloo leaves.

Just exactly who does anyone think houses in this area might sell to?

Another well-managed licenced property.

2009-04-25T13:35:00.003-04:00

Tenant - occupied house.

Garbage right up against the neighbour's fence.

Peeeee -ewwwww.

And it's what - 27 degrees or so?

Welcome to Waterloo's vibrant neighbourhood, filled with hope and vitality.

Hope for the maggots and raccooons, one supposes.

Ahhh, improved enforcement at work!!!

2009-04-25T13:29:00.005-04:00

Cleared up in short order by Waterloo's bylaw officers once a complaint was made. Congratulations for the efficient response. Kudos.

Saturday at noon: garbage day is Tuesday. Is this any way to encourage pedestrians?

Owner-occupants to buy the houses for sale on Albert?

What does the public think when they drive by this today???

Neighbourhood renters don't enjoy this anymore than the home-owners who live nearby.

2009-04-18T11:13:00.003-04:00

Now that the warmer weather is here

it brings out the best in this area.

How does this neighbourhood compare

to your neighbourhood ??

2009-04-10T07:27:00.001-04:00

Strategic Planning Public Input Session

Saturday April 18/09 1 to 4pm

St. Michael Church

University Ave.

2009-03-29T15:56:00.003-04:00

Battered Cable boxes

2009-03-20T11:48:00.000-04:00

Thanks to whoever had these people come along

and clean up the boulevards. It was a slow process

as there was lots of litter.