Search: Type: Posts; User: plam

I was driving through Arthur today and noticed Union Burger, which wasn't there last time I looked. Seems to be a new 13-element burger chain which is also scheduled to open in downtown Kitchener...

A lot of hotelgoers don't have cars, though, when they're in town professionally and visiting the University, for instance, or better yet, the Perimeter Institute. Why would you need a car to visit...

An alternative is a free downtown transit system as they have in places like Seattle and Portland. ("Fareless Square"). I'm not sure that would be a good model for us though.

I find this handwringing about crime from anecdotal observations to be harmful. That's not reliable evidence and you will find what you are looking for, not what the facts are.

The Record reported...

MEC is probably rather unlikely, as we're surrounded by MECs in Brampton and London now.

I do miss Adventure Guide not being obnoxiously far out in the sticks. That's the kind of sports store that I care about, but it's inconvenient and I object to their location; I'm pretty indifferent...

I usually rarely find that the problem is having not enough food, but usually too much food. I was looking for exactly the opposite at The Works today. There didn't seem to be any ways to get less...

Almadina is also at the Kitchener market and has a location near the University of Waterloo just off Philip St ("Campus Court Plaza") too. Yes, I really like their hummus, as well as La Casbah's.

How do you know that there are more than before? Anecdotes aren't data.

That's why, in Canada, we have separate treatment and no naming for offenders who are not 18. They don't actually have judgment.

I think the point in the comments that eizenstreit posted and that you're getting at is that density ought not to be a goal in itself: it's got to be well-planned density. Actually, the comments sort...

Hmm. I don't benefit from GRT because I bike to work, and indeed I think my commute would be better if more people biked to work. On the other hand, it would be worse if more people drove to work....

That location is closed and they have a container collecting trash frorm it.

I don't think that there are technical reasons making sound insulation hard. I think a policy response would work quite well.

Somehow insulation is strangely difficult to get right. My townhouse is OK but I'm not sure whether it's because I have good neighbours or because the insulation is actually OK; other units do have...

Yep. I had an appointment in Cambridge last week and passed through Galt. I also think I'll try to bike down there this summer (avoiding Hespeler). I think it should be fun!

St. Hubert is a Quebec-based chain which unsuccessfully tried to expand a few years ago. A trip down the 401 will get you to a St. Hubert soon enough. The gravy is somehow different from anything...

It may help to use the Google DNS server, 8.8.8.8.

https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using

Strangely enough, I've never noticed the Montreal system. I also usually just jaywalk, and certainly did when I lived in Montreal. Sometimes the Montreal police try to give tickets for jaywalking.
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As others have said: it shouldn't happen that there's a green light and a no-walk signal. More generally, I think that police should only ticket clueless pedestrians who are not aware of their...

That's too easy, how about Noecker Street?

Also from Montreal and also moved here in 2008, but from Boston (more precisely: Cambridge, MA). I've only lived in Montreal for 1 year in my adult life, but it's somehow still more of an influence...

That's true. But would you want to be working in such a building? Buildings do need to serve present-day needs as well. I suppose it's hard to imagine that there could be nothing that one could do...

(Unfortunately Bearskin doesn't give qualifying miles. Not that it's a lot of miles anyway.)

That's another thing: I wonder if most people here are from elsewhere. Certainly the case in my peer...

Of course, why didn't I think of that?!

Yes, it's a factor of demographics as well as social groups I think. My demographic includes quite a few people without drivers' licenses in mid-30s. Some people eventually get one, others don't seem...

I think we're talking past each other. My post below listed the developers who appealed the Regional Official Plan to the OMB; Activa is one of those developers. But you're right. He asked about...

Yes, segregated cycle tracks are better than bike lanes, which don't really provide that much protection. Also lower speed limits would help. I'm not convinced that smaller car sizes would help. I...

The developers were the ones who opposed the plan, as you can see from the ruling. They claimed that the Region miscalculated future demand for single-family housing (ie more suburbs and sprawl).
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Not living in fear of crime helps, since crime rates have objectively been going down everywhere in Canada. More specifically, the neighbourhood association has been promoting community spirit:

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The decision is here: http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/e-decisions/pl110080-Jan-21-2013.pdf

There's a group of parties including Activa Holdings Inc, Stonefield Properties Corp, Northgate Land Corp,...

Come to think of it, most of my friends have 1 car per couple, not two. I wonder how much more common that's becoming these days. Not many people that I know have 0 cars.

When I travel, I try...

Wikipedia says that legal tender must be accepted to settle a debt; however, you don't have a debt yet if you are trying to make a transaction. It's not clear that this definition applies in Canada....

Yeah. I also saw boxes moving back from the Casablanca space across the street.

It shouldn't be: that place (Givral) posted a sign that it was moving away from the core, not towards Louisa. It's too bad, I liked getting the bánh mì after shopping at the market, and they're much...

I think we've seen that Wideman is fairly pro-LRT and I don't think that this effort to can LRT will succeed.

On a related note, I was on the iXpress today at around 1pm rescuing my bike, which...

I find this initiative, which will result in higher incarceration rates, to be a misallocation of resources, given that crime rates have been dropping in North America for the past few decades. It's...

Quebec doesn't have that much interurban transit either.

There could also be self-driving cars in 20 years. On the other hand, they don't do so great in snow at the moment, and there is sometimes...

Not really my thing. There are some decent cliffs to climb nearby. Blue Mountain is pretty disappointing as a place to ski. Not sure about the overall viability of vacation development these days...

I'm hoping that malls are becoming obsolete. They sort of are. Unfortunately, sometimes they're replaced by power centres, which is even worse. But other times, enclosed malls are getting replaced by...

It's possible. But if you're collecting points, sometimes that extra 1 segment and 500 miles helps. You also have to change terminals and the schedules may not line up as well. That may be more of an...

Unless you're collecting frequent flier points. YKF really has no way to collect Aeroplan status miles (Bearskin gives non-status miles), nor can you easily connect to Star Alliance flights in the US...

Kind of sad. Isn't Kitchener discouraging drive-throughs as well?

But it kind of goes together with the point that urban people may like chains less than independent stores. Populations who go to...

You're right. It seems to be doing very well, even on a Wednesday evening in January, which one would think would be quiet.

Well, I guess I'll just ignore you.

Pretty close to Gourmet Pizza in the mall, eh?

Sounds like a great idea. The relation between transit and development is important. I also wonder about King Street, especially comparing Kitchener King Street with Waterloo King Street.

This seems unnecessarily inflammatory to me. Also, I get this super anti-development vibe from you. Some of us would rather live in a larger and more vibrant city, not a forest. My spouse lived in a...

I agree. I think jaywalking is great. Cars shouldn't actually have primacy on prime Downtown real estate. But, yes, I saw this big pickup truck occupying two whole bays Downtown the other day.
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Yes, 425 is a huge class. Engineering classes top out at 156 (like the course I'm teaching next semester). At least upper-year classes don't tend to be that large.