We have made it to the Friday of an eventful week in Canada’s London, and here are the issues that have been vexing and inspiring Londoners this week.
And the idea of this roundup is to catch it all, like Pokemon except nobody’s putting city council members in their weird little ball things and making them fight. Yet. It’s a long way to October 26.
And I’m sending this roundup very late in the day, to let news events play out and because it’s garbage day here at Castle Donnachiadh and we need the time for disappointment, despair, and bringing the uncollected garbage back to the house to rot. In future, I may vary the time, depending on effectiveness. Certainly earlier than this.
And it’s issue-based from now. The topics that bubble up will be listed in easily-accessible form, so we can all be ready for another week next week, oh my.
Homelessness
Here in the snow belt, we have a tradition of waiting until it snows, and then saying, with some surprise, “It’s snowing!” For now, it’s justified. Cold enough to trouble a brass monkey.
Homelessness was not discussed at City Council, despite protests drawing attention to it, as I reported. However, CBC has this report about shelter funding coming to an end, and the London Free Press interviewed Chris Moss of London Cares about the crisis (yes, it is).
And there are calls to do better, and to open shelters earlier. There has been lots of discussion about how to support vulnerable neighbours, such as this Matt Brown podcast ep with Michael Oates, of St. Leonard’s Community Services.
Look out for more from City Hall on Monday at the Community and Protective Services Committee, when the issue will come up. Also there is a lot of discussion about Good Neighbour Agreements and I see some orgs that work with the homeless have made submissions. Steve Cordes, video blogger and local expert in this issue, talks about it here on his new blog Community Matters and this was also an episode on Matt’s podcast.
And I’m betting on more protestors. I’ll be there to see what happens!
Transit
This week’s big issue - it landed with a thump because BRT IS BACK, BABY! My post here gives you all the background your heart could desire, ugh, and here’s the direct link to the CBC story that broke the issue, kind of.
As I mentioned in my post, the City of London has been working on this file the entire time, despite past Council votes killing about half of it. And, further investigation shows the London Free Press has been talking about this, too, mainly in coverage of the 25-year transit master plan in late 2024, even calling it BRT 2.0. At that point, it was only just on paper and, incredibly, it was a proposal for the North and West routes to come back; as we now know, the current pitch is North only.
And I still need to listen, but Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis was part of the Craig Needles Round Table on his podcast, and it was all about BRT.
So, lots of content, lots of discussion, and little public awareness. Who wants to help me fix that? This is where journalism meets communications, and we can make a difference as citizens by participating and listening well.
The Lightning Round
Other stuff catching my eye:
City Hall approved a massive economic development strategy with nary a word at City Council, but here’s the chat from Matt Brown and chamber of commerce boss Graham Henderson in a podcast ep. That’s also about the need to revitalize downtown.
Housing starts are terrible, apparently.
In the auto sector, there’s been disappointment at the closure of Autoneum, a plant in the sector’s value chain, while some media were invited for a tour of Toyota in Woodstock to talk about the RAV4. That was written up by the CBC and LFP.
By the way, an off licence is not a pub but I’m still going to drink there.
And I keep an eye on London Inc Weekly for the business news.
What else have you seen that you think others should know about? Reply below or send me a thoughtmail, or whatever the hell thing Elon’s on about now.
Back next week with more. And if you’re at the State of the City, say hi! I’m at the media table because I have absolutely no shame and the folks at the Chamber are awfully kind.
Happy weekend!
- Mike
Note on A.I. use: I do not support use of generative A.I. to replace human creativity. I make use of A.I. support only where it can make me better or faster at a task I would already have undertaken. These reports were produced with help from an assistant created in ChatGPT, speeding the process while retaining editorial control in the hands of a human (me). I’m happy to discuss this.
Still pondering about your "...little public awareness. Who wants to help me fix that?" comment. I'd love to figure out how we at the Urban League can "help fix" that! Great notes as usual.
Happy to meet up sometime at Off License!