It’s been another unpredictable week in London, Ontario, where we’re still talking about housing, homelessness, and just what on earth is going on with those arrests near Western University. Scroll down for your weekly issues-based roundup, which makes me feel like I’m nice, just for a little while. The idea is to provide a public service that makes our community more well-informed, generally better off, and occasionally rickrolled1.
Note: I’m bored with the Easter eggs and will limit them from here on in. I want this weekly roundup to be informative and trustworthy, not just a silly thing that amuses me. OK, well, you can let me have that one. I’ll try to keep the rest of the nonsense in the footnotes.
Housing
If you’ve been following along (and my astonishing email-open rate shows you have been), you will know that Mayor Josh Morgan is trying to get his housing incentive program through Full Council next week and it’s not looking like a done deal. This would be a gripping saga anywhere else but City Hall, which has a near-supernatural effect on the human brain, inducing a state I’d call “partial coma”. I’ll keep suffering so you don’t have to.
Meanwhile, home sales have fallen (XFM Fanshawe is hanging on and reports on this) and, amid so much reporting on this issue, you might read this superfresh piece on the real estate market from the CBC’s Andrew Lupton.
Homelessness
It pains me to connect public order issues with homelessness, but here we are. CTV offers this troubling report from Old East Village, where the BIA is calling for better public services.
Opinion alert: HELL YEAH. We all have stories: I witnessed at least two frightening crimes one day while trying to drop my kid off for a haircut. OEV deserves better and more from the City.
And down at the cheese factory, the first unhoused folks made it into the micro shelters. This media release came from the City and here’s some CBC reporting.
Municipal politics
Arguably, my entire blog is about municipal politics but I also want to touch on this. That earlier post counts, because the election remains a mystery wrapped inside an enigma2, and Mayor Josh Morgan and Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis have to get those vote-winning programs through Full Council on Tuesday.
Also, my post from earlier in the week rounds up Councillor Susan Stevenson’s frugal and direct approach from her spot on the horseshoe on Monday. In my opinion, she’s ready to tell the electorate she’s been tilting at windmills.
That meeting included an item on the Sunningdale Road oil pipeline, and I want to make sure I share this Jack-of-the-Freeps reporting of that, for completeness.
State of the City
This major event feels like a looooong time ago, but it was only last week. Here’s what I wrote, and now the analysis is in. If you like podcasts, you can listen to:
The Matt Brown Podcast, where Matt-of-Many-Hats continues his local journalism with his first panel discussion, featuring four prominent Londoners. It’s very good indeed. Matt’s previous episode is all about downtown and features Councillor David Ferreira, so is also worth a listen.
The London Free Press podcast, featuring discussion between journalists Jack Moulton and Rachel Gilbert. I very much appreciate our locally-based reporters, who work for Postmedia3.
That Chesham Ave. police investigation
Again, I have enough education to limit my commentary here. And, after watching the police presser live (the whole thing is here) I’m even more gripped by this one.
Lots of local media were at the event so you won’t have any difficulty finding coverage - I’d suggest starting with this London Free Press live feed that includes a bunch of links to more information. It’s clear this is a serious matter, and it’s still unclear how serious. Here’s a good backgrounder (from before the presser) from Kendra at CBC.
The lightning round
Also catching my eye this week:
Unclaimed bodies. My old mate Joe O’Neil told CBC that he sees dead people4, which is fair enough because he’s a funeral director. Please join me in begging Joe to get a Substack.
Education cuts. Thames Valley is warning of even tougher times ahead. Still no sign of any democracy in education, then? Am I the only taxpaying parent who’s pissed off about that?
Olympic hockey. Yes, local independent journalists do write great stories about the Olympics, and you can find from one Gameday London by tapping here.
Weather. Wrap up warm. Stay safe. JESUS WEPT.
Look at Rick’s sweater in this video. What a dreamboat!
This was Winston Churchill, but I’d rather remember Mary Maloney. Winston Churchill can kiss my Dundonian arse.
An American hedge fund holds the controlling interest in Postmedia.
I am enjoying these Roundups immensley! Thanks, Mike. Thanks for the mention too. It's a loooong podcast...but the panelists had a lot of smart things to say! Next time, I'll chop a panel like this into 4, more digestable episodes...one topic each. Please - keep this project going. Post Scriptum - I've recruited a new follower for you just now.
I don’t know think it is the city’s job to sell houses. Much (maybe most) of the reason houses aren’t selling is that prices are too high. The massive artificial price jump during the Pandemic was a great bonus for home builders and sellers. Now it’s over and time for prices to adjust downward substantially. That would sell houses, and relieve London taxpayers the burden of subsidizing a private sector that in the main does pretty well.