Hello, fellow Londoners! Join me now in our final crawl to the weekend, here in Canada’s London, where we’ve again experienced a week together. And, I’m so terribly excited to share news of our new additions to London Ontario Online News, which has been a real startup all along, y’know.
More on that below, along with all kinds of hijinks from the week we’ve had.
Hello, I’m Mike and I follow news really, really closely. And, every Friday, I present a selection of Good To Know items to subscribers, who are the community leaders behind London’s successes. You don’t need to read it all, but paying attention is good for the city, and I want to help you do that. These are communications principles applied to news in the public interest, and we will always support you and never use you for clicks and the like.
Sigh, I’ll admit I’m a little hungover, but you’re still getting your local news ROUNDUP for free, yay, go me. Pass the Tylenol and make me a bacon sandwich, please. Let’s go.
Soundtrack of the week
First, Happy Pride! Every week we have a music embed to aid our reading mood, and this one’s got some energy and strong links to the LGBTQ+ community. It’s Scottish, too.
Here’s Jimmy:
ANNOUNCEMENT: Meet our team of five
You saw that Diana Tamblyn is on the team now, right? Here’s her first column: the Forest City Arts and Culture Roundup. Make sure to take a look at the events in there, which are happening this weekend. Diana will be back with more on Thursday, excitingly.
I know you’ve become accustomed to updates from me, and I know I can only manage so much of that for so long, so I started gathering some friends and colleagues, with my mind on sustainability. This exercise is valuable, I feel, and should exist beyond me.
And now we are five. Everybody on the team shares values - the Values statement is here - and is driven to tell stories in the public interest. We’re here, with your help, to drive the best of London forward, to celebrate our city and to make good decisions together.
We’re having a bit of a moment, tbh.
The lineup - new content every day
From Monday, we’re teaming up to send you a new feature every weekday:
Monday - Buckle Up - podcast with Matt Brown and Mike Donachie
A weekly podcast to set you up for the week ahead. News – construction – weather – nonsense. Former mayor Matt Brown, our Executive Editor, leads this and will bring in more guests over time.
Tuesday - Cedric in the City - tour with Cedric Richards
Join City Editor Cedric Richards on a tour of London’s 14 wards by bicycle, beginning with Ward 1. I’m joining him for the political side and more.
Wednesday - City Hall Notes - news and more - by Mike Donachie
Your Executive Briefing For Informed Citizens, looking at the issues, decisions and discussions shaping local government.
Thursday - the Forest City Arts and Culture Roundup - by Diana Tamblyn
Our Culture Editor shares news, perspectives and stories from London’s creative community. First post: from yesterday.
Friday - Reflecting - with Steve Cordes
Opinions Editor Steve, retired non-profit leader and video blogger, offers views - his and others - on the week we’ve had.
And free on Fridays: the ROUNDUP, briefing you on the stories you need to know, gathered in one place. Regular analysis of the issues affecting London and the region. With footnotes1.
Coming June 15: look out for our paid subscriptions launch, supporting our daily local journalism. The ROUNDUP stays free and open to the public, while the rest of our content will be by subscription only.
This will be your moment to support. Please do.
Rounding up this week’s local news
And I’m still watching the news. Here’s your all-important information curation for this week. Follow along and you’re ready to lead.
Municipal issues
My City Hall Notes post from Wednesday has most of this, and here are some more media hits worth your time:
A massive initiative from the Big City Mayors, pitching for federal money for downtowns. Mayor Josh Morgan was front-and-centre at the event in Edmonton. CBC story is here, and here’s CTV.
And we’re talking about the rats2 again. This comes up at committee next week and Councillor Hadleigh McAlister, originator of the initiative, is quoted in this London Free Press story by Jack Moulton. It seems to come down to tougher penalties and better enforcement, which IIRC is what we’ve all been saying all along, but ok.
Meanwhile, the City of London is considering opening its own tree nursery. Story here from Daryl Newcome, CTV London.
Housing
Infill development continues to dominate the conversation in Planning issues, and this story is the latest. That’s folks pushing back against an eight-storey apartment block on Fanshawe Park Road East, and getting some traction as support in council crumbles. More on that at Planning next week.
Education
The Freeps spoke with Fanshawe College president Peter Devlin about job cuts and more. Worth noting this question was not answered:
Q. Are there any more programs or jobs being cut?
A. “We are at a full-time reduction target of 500 positions, and we permanently suspended 59 programs.”
Also in education and public services, this is an odd story about a northeast London playground that’s closed due to a shortage of mulch3, yes really. Mulch4.
Gadding around town
Diana is right - there is so much to do in London. This last week, I’ve enjoyed heavy metal with a strong anti-fascist edge:
That’s Napalm Death at London Music Hall, just a superb show, plus three support bands. Props to local band Yeti On Horseback5, who opened the night.
If you like music (and usually I prefer the kind of singing that isn’t throat-searing), you might check out the The Forest City London Music Awards on June 14 - and this Craig Needles podcast chat all about them.
And look out for a well-timed ep on The Matt Brown Podcast, all about Forest City Music Week. That’s dropping before 5 today, Friday. (Here’s background on that music week.)
Also this week, I also met a giant witch person at the Hunt Club:
It was a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of London and Area, themed on the movie Wicked, with characters and entertainment and more, to encourage folks to support the nonprofit’s important work. We heard passionate speeches about how mentoring supports young people and changes lives. There were tears.
You can visit that website and volunteer, y’know. They’ve had to close their waiting list to boys, due to a shortage of mentors. How about it, lads?
Just a bit more local news now.
And the Lightning Round
Get STAH-RUCK.
The Children’s Aid workers’ strike gets heated as the union calls out bosses’ pay. (LFP)
And there’s another tense strike at Community Living London. link
There’s a three-to-five-year restoration about to happen at St. Peter’s Basilica. CBC story.
We need rain. Please rain. I’m planting a garden. A CBC London weather story is here.
Meet the locals
I’ve enjoyed connecting with lots of local storytellers these last few months. Here are some you might visit:
Larry Cornies’ audio blog.
Sports: Gameday London.
Enough
I think we’ve set ourselves up well, don’t you? I mean, apart from the hangover.
We can call that a complete week, with a ROUNDUP worth a glance. Thanks for doing that, and sticking with me while I recruited local independent journalists for this frankly bonkers project. We’re all excited to showcase our work next week, before the paywall starts, and we have plans to develop beyond this first version.
New content every weekday, eh? We won’t spam you and we’ll make it valuable. Lmk what you think. And as usual, watch this space.
That’s me for now. Back with NEW things on Monday!
Always tell the truth. It’s the easiest thing to remember.
- Mike
Once, at Glasgow University’s School of Law, everyone lived in fear of Professor D.M. Walker, the toughest prof in town. Famously, he would set exam questions based on footnotes in his book. For this, however, there is no grading. Footnotes can be fun!
This always make me think about the H.P. Lovecraft story The Rats In The Walls, which is wonderfully creepy but includes 19 instances of the N-word, so I decided not to link to it. Howard was a great writer but a nasty piece of work.
I probably have some spare if they need it.
“Mulch” is one of those intrinsically-funny words, like “scrotum”, that support great comedy. This is from Groo the Wanderer, by Sergio Aragones and friends.
Seriously. Here’s the start of their set, already on the Yubtubs.
Napalm Death and Sergio Argones all in one place! That is why, even though I'm closer to the other London, I love this substack :)
Congrats on the expansion. And shut up and take my money.