From My Bottom Step

Urban Design Pushback?

Is the urban design process causing problems?

SOHO Meeting

You are invited an important Neighbourhood Meeting:

Wednesday March 3, 2010
(7:00 pm – 9:00pm)

SoHo Neighbourhood Community Meeting

At the Wellington Street United Church
156 Wellington Street – southeast corner of Wellington & Grey Street

This is our fourth neighbourhood meeting leading to the development of a SoHo Community Improvement Plan. This meeting is dedicated to discussions on the presence of social services within SoHo. The SoHo (South of Horton) … Continue Reading

Road Congestion

Some innovative alternatives to road congestion are worth exploring.

Is London Ready For LRT?

Here’s some of the highlights from yesterday’s Edmonton Journal editorial about the decision of the City Council there to go ahead with a major LRT expansion:
“In relatively tough times such as these, far-sighted proposals usually fall victim to the penny-wise instincts of wary politicians, especially at the local level.”
“In fact, the downturn is exactly the right time to jump-start major construction projects, since costs are lower than they … Continue Reading

DMP Workshop #2

The 2nd Downtown Master Plan workshop has been scheduled for 7-9 p.m. on Nov. 24 at Museum London.

Your involvement is extremely important. Don’t leave the downtown’s future in the hands of somebody else. Have your say!

Public Meeting

Public meeting about planned improvements at McMahen Park and the Wolseley Skate Park, at the Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre, (CHOCC), 656 Elizabeth Street.

The purpose of this meeting is to provide the public with an opportunity to review and comment on upgrades being planned for McMahen Park and Wolseley Skate Park, located just west of CHOCC and east of McMahen Park in 2010. Improvements have been made possible through the … Continue Reading

LTC: Complaints/Requests = Service!

From the agenda for this Wednesday’s LTC meeting:

“The development of the annual service plan considers input from the following sources: (a) customer contacts associated with service performance issues and service requests, (b) service tracking information from the AVLC, (c) City’s Area Plan process (new growth areas), and (d) transportation employees via the Scheduling and Planning Committee… The majority of customer complaints relates to service performance, such as overcrowding and schedule adherence, indicating an overall decline in service quality… The nature and extent of many of the complaints and requests clearly illustrates that the current system is not meeting…customer needs and expectations.” Continue Reading

London’s 2009 Accessibility Plan

The Ontarians With Disabilities Act 2001 requires every municipality to have an Accessibility Committee. It further requires every city to create an accessibility plan for each new year, and to consult with it’s Accessibility Committee about that plan. Continue Reading

Strengthening Neighbourhoods #1

The first meeting of London’s Strengthening Neighbourhoods Resident Task Force was held yesterday.

The group is composed of +110 individuals representing 42 identified neighbourhoods within the city.

The purpose of the process that we are engaged in is to develop a strategy to increase the quality of life for all residents by strengthening all of our neighbourhoods, regardless of their need. In … Continue Reading

It’s Time for a Downtown Master Plan

Despite many reports and the expenditure of millions of dollars (public and private) towards revitalization of the core, the approach which has historically been taken in London is to deal with things on an “issues” basis, instead of having a larger vision. But now, “Council has identified a need for a new broadly based Downtown Master Plan … the time is right …”

So says R.W. Panzer, the city’s General Manager of Planning and Development. Continue Reading