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134 votes
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manny_santos
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An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I agree entirely. The City of London needs to start saying "no" to developers.
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108 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I think you've got it bang-on Nathan - birds fly in flocks. And I don't think there's much that can be done about it.
manny_santos
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An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I agree entirely with Jennifer. Although I was born and raised in London, I have traveled extensively across North and Central America, and I have consistently found London to be very unfriendly, even less so than Toronto. I have ever felt at home here, despite my best efforts to reach out to others, and I have made the decision to leave London once I am done my post-secondary education. It is almost impossible to break into any social group here. Indeed, all of my good friends are people who are not from London.
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12 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I already have made the decision to move elsewhere, I'm just saving up the money to do so. I was treated like garbage my whole life in London, but I have been treated very well in other places I have visited and spent extended periods of time in.
London is already a lost cause for me, but that doesn't mean it has to be that way for future generations.
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I have to admit, London's reputation outside of its own borders is not what it could be. When I was at Western, one of the complaints I heard from students from Toronto was the intolerance of others in this city. This came up after an alleged "hate crime" was committed in which a homosexual was attacked. Once students read about that in the Gazette, that kind of story makes its way back home with the students, and it's not something we should be known for.
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3 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
The houses along Highbury and Hamilton are not ugly.
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11 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
In all fairness GreatTallNorth2, you should explain your reasoning. Stephknows may be on to something.
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50 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
Not to mention teen moms swearing at their young kids, I see that all the time. That's the worst. Really great example they're setting.
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81 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I would have liked to have had the ability to shop in the neighbourhood in which I grew up in in Byron, but there was absolutely nothing within a 15-minute walk, just houses. About a 20-minute walk away there was a small plaza with a variety store, a restaurant, and a couple pizza places.
Our future developments need to be planned so that people can actually shop in the neighbourhoods in which they live. London is one of the few cities I've been to where you can't do this in many parts of the suburbs. Even in the suburban 905 areas outside Toronto, new developments are making it easier to walk to the store.
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
That's a really long walk to get to Westmount Mall. I commend you on walking that far - not all of us can be bothered to walk that far on a regular basis!
The neighbourhood I grew up in (near Boler Mountain) is absolutely dead. You can walk the entire length of Griffith Street and run into exactly one other person the entire way.
I personally prefer living in a place where you can walk down the street and buy fresh bread and produce and not have to either walk 25 minutes or drive 7 minutes and waste gas. In many parts of the world, even in suburbs, neighbourhoods were planned with commercial and residential development integrated. It's lively and gives the area a sense of place. Much of Byron could be mistaken for any other residential area in North America.
Byron is a nice area to visit, with Boler Mountain and Springbank Park being in the area, but it is not a place I would raise a family. Too isolated.
manny_santos
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39 votesmanny_santos
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40 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
Very well said. I found it very interesting that after I graduated from Western, the only job I was able to get was in a call centre, and a number of students from my program were working there. I only knew one person from my program who found a good job in London. Meanwhile my classmates from Toronto who went back to Toronto ended up in amazing jobs, stuff like marketing manager with one of the big five banks. That's stuff young Londoners can only dream of.
manny_santos
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16 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
Londres?
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20 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
Having attended both Western and Fanshawe, I would say Fanshawe is much more connected with local businesses and providing talent to businesses in London and area, compared with Western. Aside from the hospitals, I never really saw a relationship between Western and local businesses.
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63 votesmanny_santos
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35 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I agree with getting rid of all these rules, aside from any applicable health regulations. I have traveled to many cities in North and Central America and London's lack of sidewalk businesses is one thing that strikes me about London. It would go a long way to creating some identity for the city.
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86 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
Oh, there are people who can afford $1000 a month, not me personally. I was just downtown today and the massive gap between rich and poor in London is very evident there.
Ontario's sky-high minimum wage has taken away a lot of jobs. It is harder now than ever to find a minimum wage job, because the few jobs out there are taken by students trying to pay for sky-high tuition.
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106 votesmanny_santos
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An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
Yes yes yes!!!
I don't as much of a problem with low income people as the behaviour of many of them. The amount of screaming, swearing, and fighting among these people is disturbing. I have traveled to many cities in North and Central America, and London's downtown is one of the worst for this, worse than Toronto as far as I'm concerned.
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100 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
The 1973 transportation study I mentioned in another thread included such a proposal, and it should be re-visited. That proposal recommended making Wellington one-way northbound and Richmond one-way southbound from Grey to Oxford Street. Today this could be done as far north as Pall Mall. The original proposal had BRT running along Wellington into South London, along Springbank into West London, along Dundas into East London, and up to UWO. Something along those lines, also including Fanshawe College, should be looked at.
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63 votesmanny_santos
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An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I think we should be either renovating old buildings or at the worst building new buildings downtown, instead of paving over more farmland.
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19 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I didn't like the metal trees when they first were erected, but now I hardly notice them. If there's one thing I like about them, it is that it got Londoners in a critical discussion of public art, and there's nothing wrong with that.
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74 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment manny_santos
commented
I've seen this in action in Mexico (mostly with tacos but also with BBQ corn), and aside from the lack of health regulations in some locations there, it's a concept I really miss here in London. I see no reason why we can't have street vendors selling not only tacos, but schwarmas and other items. Beyond that, not just ready-cooked food, but how about fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, or nuts?
To those who are concerned about competition with existing restaurants, well this is a capitalist society and if someone can make a go of street vending in Downtown London, then why not? If the restaurants we have can't make it because of that, then obviously they don't provide enough value to their customers.
manny_santos
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9 votesmanny_santos
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Agreed with Nathan - when the Oxford-Hyde Park area was redeveloped around 2004, it was an opportunity to create a vibrant shopping area, but instead the developers created one of the worst neighbourhood shopping areas in the city. The section on the south side of Oxford lacks sidewalk access, and the stores there including Starbucks were turned away from the street, instead showcasing the drive-thru (something else that London needs to ban) to the street. That whole area has been an unmitigated disaster.