Welcome to London and how it’s run
Hello, London’s lovely leaders, and it must be lunchtime on a Wednesday again because here’s my CITY HALL NOTES column, now sponsored by some nice lawyers as indicated. And this is London, Ontario, where don’t worry, I’ll only be a minute, it’s not in anyone’s way, the flashers are on, no need to be like that every day is a baffling mix of traffic and trees and puzzling over how everybody can know everybody else somehow.
Our summer continues; in local government all eyes are on the October election, and I’m here as your comms consultant to write you a briefing about what’s taking us there. Events are moving fast - and about to speed up as next week’s City Hall committee papers drop online today - generating a whole fresh news cycle, oh my. And, despite a lack of committee meetings for the last two weeks, local government issues continue to appear in our public discourse, and I’ll share a few by way of an update.
So, let’s get busy with some of those muni (with added education) issues, starting downtown, where I spend a lot of my time1. Off we go, shall we?
We shall.
London’s Downtown core
Let’s start with some brown paper windows2 at the Jonathon Bancroft-Snell Gallery. That’s a creative protest about the need for more foot traffic and less, well, all the trouble we know about. Here’s the CBC London story from Michelle Both and Jack Sutton, which also quotes Councillor David Ferreira.
Meanwhile, the London Free Press has had a couple of relevant reports lately, with this story quoting Councillor Sam Trosow as he tries to get enforcement on empty buildings and this one saying the downtown office vacancy rate has improved.
As we know, the problems downtown are there. And, I love to point out that it’s possible to have A WHOLE LOT OF FUN TOGETHER when the community shows up. Take a look at these pics of the happy World Cup event on Saturday. Well done London3!
Time for this incredibly pleasing inclusion:
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Massive thanks to our sponsors, Spero Law and (tomorrow) Downtown London.
Now let’s steam through some issues.
Housing
Positive news here, with London meeting its targets and getting a bucketload of more cash as a result. One headline says: “$11.2M provincial boost for housing”.
LFP story here and also here is CTV.
Education
A trustee candidate has something to say about the school board financial troubles and their potential effect on class sizes. That’s Sherri Moore4, and you can read the story here.
Construction
This week I almost wrote a long piece about the various construction sites in London, but getting anywhere near them is hell on earth so photography and up-to-date info is hard to come by. If you’ve seen any particularly bad construction, and you can safely and legally take a pic, please send it to me and maybe we’ll do some PSA work. Otherwise please remain at a safe distance, at home with a nice cup of tea.
For now, I will simply warn that traffic5 is eating the universe in spots. Massive detail is available on the City site here, and I’ll keep simplifying that where I can. Here are three thoughts on construction this week:
Western Road is very very very bad. So chuffing bad. Pals at the university have been telling me dark tales of gridlock, even in the parking lot for the gas station at Western/Sarnia/Philip Aziz. I hear it’s pushing people to cycle on campus more, so there’s that. Here’s a CTV story with a map.
Highbury seems to move better than most construction spots. Just watch out for where lanes are - it’s not always clear, at least to my old eyes. There’s change here at various access points and it’s so important to keep your wits about you.
And in south London that Wellington Gateway continues with bridge works, per CTV London here. Relates to map above.
Hey, you did see Cedric’s guide to Ward 2, right? Boy, that’s a podcast - we had fun and made a series of errors while correctly identifying a helicopter. More next Tuesday! Come tour London with us!
And finally… where to go to learn to drive?
Of course, it’s vital to learn road sense and driving skills to survive in Canada, and especially in London, where lacking a car can leave you seriously challenged6.
So here’s an unusual story - the four London streets used for driving lessons, and why that’s vexing the neighbourhood. Again, CTV News - link. That quotes Councillor Elizabeth Peloza and is a weird, weird story.
Spoiler: the streets in question are Archer Crescent, Alayne Crescent, Piers Crescent and Stroud Crescent.
Enough
Goodness me, that was, as always, more than I intended. Thanks for following along and please do not be 300 strangers - feel free to interact and send me your thoughts. Comment below if you like - what issues are on your radar? Where should I be looking?
And watch out for more. I’ll be into those committee papers with everyone else soon, watching what local media pick up, and I’ll give a flavour of it all in the ROUNDUP on Friday.
Until then, I will return to my day-to-day experience of telling companies they should totally hire me to do their comms, while also helping The Loon reach a stage where it exists as a corporation that benefits the community. And later today I’m writing a book review, recommending this collection of 25 short graphic novels by Canadian creators from Nova Scotia publisher Conundrum Press.
Variety keeps the brain active, I say.
You may have noticed that our content is not yet paywalled, and we are continuing to provide it openly for the community. This feels right for now, and we are indeed planning subscriber perks. We want to keep building The Loon to a place of stability (which is mainly legal stuff right now), so thanks for both kinds of subscribing. We’re close to formalizing this outlet and will have more to report to subbers next week. Thank you!
That’s it for now. Back Friday. Pondering of soundtrack is under way.
- Mike
“Cooperation is not sedition.”
Billy Bragg
The Loon (London Ontario Online News) lineup
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Friday - Reflecting - with Steve Cordes
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.
Last night, Billy Bragg blew us away at London Music Hall. And, before he sang this wonderful song, he gave a shoutout to Canada Life for flying the Pride flag from its building downtown. These things matter. Protect trans kids.
Where I’m from, it’s the corrugated iron curtains that you want to avoid.
Shame it didn’t end better for Canada, but let’s all just be glad we don’t have babyman Donald tinkering with the rules and inspiring the world to negative opinions. FIFA: farcical.
Disclosure: Sherri is a subscriber and was the winner of Billy Bragg tickets in our giveaway. Thanks for subscribing!
I know: we are the traffic.
Unless you’re a superhuman cyclist like Cedric.