London Coffee Talk Thread

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

I’m surprised it’s the most unhappy out of 100 cities but not surprised it’s bad. London simply has a lot of negatives like a disgusting downtown, homelessness, ugly architecture, sprawl, no real attractions or much to do, no natural beauty, bad transit and roads, bad planning, no vision. The list could go on. I think the change starts with building an attractive downtown which will take a lot of vision and money, but most plans are shelved.

Our downtown would be twenty times better if they could move all the junkies and homeless out of the area. I realize that they need to go somewhere, but why does it have to be ground zero for the urban region? The single worst thing about downtown are the junkies, followed by the homeless, followed by the debris/etc. that accompanies them.

[jammer139]

LFP celebrates its 150 year anniversary as a professional fire service.




https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-fire-department-history-1.6841718

[jammer139]

Labatt Park to be location set for upcoming movie production.



https://london.ctvnews.ca/casting-call-e...partially-filmed-in-london-ont-1.6438096

[jammer139]

Newstalk 1290 AM closing down.


AM radio has been struggling across north america



https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bce-layoffs-radio-1.6876075

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by jammer139

Newstalk 1290 AM closing down.


AM radio has been struggling across north america



https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bce-layoffs-radio-1.6876075

Not really surprised. I hadn’t listened to CJBK in years, but last I’d heard they had a local morning show and otherwise rebroadcast CFRB in Toronto, with local news updates during the day and rebroadcasting the audio of CTV London news at 6.

I was surprised London had been supporting 3 stations of this format (980 and CBC 93.5 being the others). Kitchener only has its local CBC and 570 News.

AM radio has been suffering for a long time. Even in the US, AM news/talk stations have been migrating to FM, and the band has been abandoned in some other parts of the world.

[Djeffery]

Back around the time that 1410 went off the air due to needing a new transmitter, I ran into Mike Stubbs, who had recently moved from 1290 to 980 to keep doing the Knights games. We had a little conversation about the state of radio and I mentioned about 1410. He said "Yeah, don't be surprised if 1290 is next because their transmitter is pretty rough and there is no way they are justifying the spend on a new one". What is surprising is that Bell bothered to spend the money on a new studio for them when they moved the radio stations into the TV station last year.

Was kind of sad to hear this news today though. CJBK is literally why I came to London back in the 70's. My parents had split up and my mom and I moved into my uncle's place down in Dunnville. He ended up getting the sales managers job at CJBK/BX93 and we came with him to London until my mom got on her feet. Thank god he got that job first because he was quickly moved to their sister station CKOC 1150 in Hamilton. I can't imagine growing up there lol.

[jammer139]

I don't understand why downtown business owners do not install steel security shutters covering their doors and windows to stop these break-ins?




The insurance premiums must be going sky high and the business owners and landlords in some cases should be working together to install these steel shutters.



You see them in most urban areas.


https://london.ctvnews.ca/it-s-just-been...into-central-london-ont-bakery-1.6445417

[bolognium]

Steel security shutters are great for keeping a building secure, but they definitely have many drawbacks.

They're very expensive. Our shop downtown installed shutters on our two main windows and front door. Cost about $20k

No possibility for 24h display of merchandise. Soon as the shop closes up for the night your window display becomes a blank wall. On Richmond with hundreds of people walking by all evening into the night this is definitely a big downside.

This one might not affect all buildings equally but heritage designation. We had to install our shutters on the interior of the facade to get around heritage bylaws. The team that installed the shutters said while it may have been possible to get the proper permits and plead our case, it would be easier to just install them inside. I'm a little torn on this one because I really do appreciate the way our building looks without the shutters installed on the exterior. However, it does still leave our large windows completely vulnerable to vandalism.

[jammer139]

Sadly its seems that ISP Teksavvy has given up and putting itself up for sale.


https://archive.ph/qfn4r

[jammer139]

Cake Boss downtown business decides to leave downtown due to issues. The exodus of downtown business continues the death spiral for the downtown.





https://london.ctvnews.ca/chick-boss-cake-owner-to-relocate-due-to-increase-in-crime-1.6489641

[jammer139]

Looks like local reserve decides against casino proposal.


https://london.ctvnews.ca/no-casino-and-resort-coming-to-oneida-nation-of-the-thames-1.6516791

[jammer139]

London contractor filing for bankruptcy leaves clients in limbo.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/co...ys-his-company-is-now-bankrupt-1.6956239

[jammer139]

Sadly it looks like Home County Festival is ending.



https://lfpress.com/entertainment/local-...ival-appears-to-be-at-the-end-of-its-run

[Djeffery]

Bob Hayward Y is closing Nov 24 after 60 years in operation. They say declining memberships, rising maintenance and infrastructure costs and lower community use since the pandemic are the reasons. Seems like it wasn't that long ago they put a lot of money into the place. This will add to the big vacant hole in that area with Fairmont school next door now closed as well. Be interesting to see if a developer buys this whole chunk and has a use for the Y building as part of a broader plan. Or maybe the Y will be to expensive to refurb and face the wrecking ball as well.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/bob-hayward-y-closes-london-1.7008292

[jammer139]

Yeah the whole block including the school and Y has alot of potential for redevelopment. Hopefully it gets some higher density residential in the future.

[jammer139]

London Fire and Police investigating fire at renovation of old variety store at 203 Colborne. A few blocks away a city crew was busy sweeping up broken glass from multiple windows on the York Street side of the LFP building.







https://london.ctvnews.ca/police-investigate-suspicious-overnight-blaze-in-london-ont-1.6764513

[jammer139]

Rock the Park books Neil Young.


https://lfpress.com/entertainment/local-...ck-the-park-history-for-20th-anniversary

[MolsonExport]

Well I heard Mister Young sing about her. Well, I heard ol' Neil put her down. Well, I hope Neil Young will remember.

[Snark]

Originally Posted by jammer139

Rock the Park books Neil Young.

https://lfpress.com/entertainment/local-...ck-the-park-history-for-20th-anniversary

Bit odd the way they wrote this article. Many would read this and would think that this is the first time Young has played in London. He has however played at the Bud Centre several times over the past dozen or so years. Still a big score for the festival though. Tickets will go quickly, if only because this will almost certainly be the last opportunity to see him play.

[haljackey]

Visited Westmount mall for the first time in ages. Dollarama is there now and even has an exterior entrance so you don't need to enter the mall itself.

Visiting Superking, someone asked me why I was shopping there almost as if I didn't belong to the demographic. I visit Asian grocery stores maybe 2-3x a year as its a good place to stock up on cheap / Asian cooking stuff like sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, etc.

Not pictured is the old TD bank which is now a Church's Chicken. The drive thru ATM is now a pickup window. That must have been an expensive remodeling job... and I wonder how the ventilation works in the old bank vault- hopefully that's not where the kitchen is lol