London Construction - Development News Thread #1

[ldoto]

Development Planned for SOHO Neighbourhood

GOODWILL INDUSTRIES in partnership with SOHO London is inviting members of the public to a special meeting on Wednesday, October 29.
The meeting will outline Goodwill Industries' plans for a multi-use development on 2.8 acres at Horton and Wellington streets, SOHO's main intersection.

The public meeting will be held at Wellington Street United Church at 7 p.m. Although details are sketchy, the development is described as a "multi-purpose, diverse community and corporate centre."

Advance word is that Goodwill is proposing to build a 30-storey highrise complex which will include retails shops at ground level, several floors of office space and then apartments or condominiums.
The complex is expected to include some accessible housing to meet the mandate of Goodwill Industries.

This development will likely mean that several of the retail establishments along Wellington and Horton will have to relocate.

Anyone with questions is invited to contact Julie Watson at 519-850-9675, ext. 250 or by email at [email protected].

It is expected that the meeting will draw a large crowd since this is the first major development to be proposed for the neighborhood.

SOHO residents are already questioning how the planned upscale development will fit in with the nearby Center of Hope emergency housing complex, operated by the Salvation Army, and the geared-to-income highrise apartment building on Simcoe Street which is operated by the London Housing Authority.

Take a look of it cool!!!!!!!!
http://www.altlondon.org/article.php?story=20081021190318292

[ldoto]

Wed, November 26, 2008

The waiving of development fees has spurred residential growth in the city's core

Has London's downtown really turned a corner?

That's the broader question city controllers will have to answer today when they meet to decide if they should phase out a decade-old financial break to developers building condos downtown.

"(The exemption) has definitely spurred core-area growth," Controller Tom Gosnell said.

"If (phasing it out) would hinder that, I'd be in favour of keeping it."

Introduced in 1995, the exemption program has cost taxpayers about $6.6 million. In that time, more than 1,300 residential units have been built downtown, according to a report to board of control.




The exemption for residential development covers the downtown core and Old East Village.

City staff recommend phasing out the downtown exemption by 25 per cent in January 2011 and a further 25 per cent in January 2012.

The Old East Village exemption should be maintained and reconsidered by the end of 2011, staff recommends.

Postponing the phase-out for downtown further doesn't sit well with Controller Gina Barber.

"Every time we get closer to doing something fairer to the taxpayer, we back off," she said.

But phasing out the exemption, when downtown is still being revamped and at a time of economic crisis, may not be the right way to go either, said Controller Gord Hume.

"There's been a significant benefit to the municipality in terms of . . . more residents downtown," he said.

"The question is, if we give developers help upfront, are we going to see much more long-term benefit to the community?"

The exemptions have created a better downtown and removing them wouldn't be "wise," said Bob Usher, chairperson of the London Downtown Business Association.

"(Downtown builders) have said the exemption factored very heavily in the building downtown," he said.

Board of control will also look at deferring until next year a phased-in industrial development charge and a change to the commercial development charge rate policy.

[Snark]

Agreed! Why not let constructive ME comments speak for all instead:

heh, heh. I guess I am reluctant to do just that. It is no big deal anyway...I get my name in the papers relatively often given my career.

Speaking for myself, I feel eminently qualified to comment on such phenomena

I am quoted in the LFP today
I have appeared on A-Morning a couple of times (interviewed...I am in academia). Oh well, there is still the LFP

I have no idea what the cost would be.

<deleted>

Sorry, I was barely awake, and I just tune out of all the bad news of late, for the sake of my sanity.

Landmark? Looks like a pile of shit.

A mountain of locusts? Change the name. Likewise, would you want to live on Cheapside (major street in London).

Middlesex (what the hell is this, a hermaphrodite?)

Yeah, aren't they vile?

I am glad, then. So that I will not have to waste my time instructing such retarded deadbeats.

Take London (ON), multiply it by 10, and maybe then, you would have something that could, very possibly, be a candidate for world-class.

Not the Shriners thing again. Fer fvcksakes, when will it ever end?

It's the new building for West Park Baptist Church (currently near Wonderland & Hyde Park Rd.). Damn. Not another one.

London has long ceased being a head-office city, to being a back-office city.

Whats the news of the new Walfart that is supposed to go up at Sprawldale and unWonderland?

Man, the Galleria has gotta be one of the biggest urban disasters in Canada. I was there yesterday...unfuckingbelievable how empty the place is.

A veritable ghostown of a mall, with more than 40 vacant stores to better serve you!

overmalled....but Westmount will still be a mall? Sounds like the managers are lacking a solid strategy. If I were a tenant in the mall, I would be worried.

The "rebirth" of the Galleria is rather like a woman experiencing 72 months of gestation followed by 24 months of labour.

could this be the first signs of Masonville mall going the way of Westmount mall??

Nice, but I hear that they do not serve BEER at Labatt Park...extremely ironic and moronic.

allow Labatt park to serve beer...and I will go to see London Majors games.

Wharnecliffe is going down the toilet. At least half of it (from Oxford to Commissioners) sits at the bottom of the bowl, with the other turds. A charming slice of East London in western London.

YEAH! more commie-blocks!

I am getting pissed off at the so-called leaders of London.

Nostalgia for the status quo = today's london leadership = mediocrity

yup: london planners/council-->think small.

I have to agree that the current administration really comes up short in their 'vision' for what London ought to aspire to.

London busses are horrible. They smell, have no seats, and constantly lurch. Not to mention, the schedules, and the asinine amount of time it takes to get from point A to point B

very overdue. I can't understand why they rezone/develop areas prior to improving the infrastructure.

too bad that it will probably be years before it goes back up again for phase II

More bad news for London. The daily dose

For Gawd's sake, London has only 2 complete East-West and North-South roads:
East-West: Fanshawe Park Road and Oxford
North-South: Wonderland and Highbury.
That's it. Everything else does not go through all the way.

Council should wake up...given the lousy local economy, taxpayers are not feeling generous, and frankly, a little tired of property (et al.) tax increases that have long outstripped inflation

London has the third-busiest airport in Canada, after Toronto and Vancouver. Really? Ahead of Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, etc.? Must be freight. Would like to see the supporting statistics.

thats a tall proposal for a shitsville corner. Love to see it happen....but in this market?

Visonary. 30 years, I will be approaching 70. I can then look forward to a quick way to Fanshawe Park Road. Yay.

Any info on the proposed Walfart at Exeter and Wonderland Rd. South?

Does the Ash Borer also eat jobs? I ask because the London area has lost so many in the past 6 months.

Weird. Hope that it is better than the aborted pseudo-freeway blip that is Highbury Ave.

I think that London's city planners look towards the 905 area as an urban model, rather than say, more concise urban fabrics like those found in Europe.

Looks like a run-down 70's era Las Vegas motor inn.

Quite frankly, who gives two-shits what Jack Layton says?

And the commie-blocks keep-a-comin' in London, esp. in the Oxford-Wonderland area.
I'd rather have no construction, than more of those ugly commie-blocks. Parts of London could easily pass for Irkutsk or Dniepreprovetsk.

I am not too impressed, having bought a home in the neighborhood.

Not again.

Good, but if it happens, I will eat my shoes.
I refer to them as Dumbcentres.

Ultra 80s, Ultra Smell (Bell) Canada. Smell has a building like this in every single major city in Canada.

This actually looks pretty good. I was in the area this weekend past, and it currently is about as gritty and shitty as anywhere in the country.

Yeah, just what I expected, city council is totally in cahoots with the big box sprawl developers. Who gives a shit if inner London looks like shit,

Yeah, I live about 1 km from that shitty bridge. and cross it from time to time. It is the Marie-Anne de Cicco way: rezone, build, but do not expand the infrastructure.

More of Anne-Marie's "Best and Brightest" (aka, highest salaries and sick-days, and moreover, mediocre results

yep. exactly. anyone else, it would be front-page news. And you'd think, "wow, the mayor's husband...for sure the LFP will have something"...but it is buried like a skeleton in the closet.

And while we are at it, how on earth did Best get the exemption for that lousy deck/patio along Richmond? Fishy, fishy.

What do you all think about the Mayor's husband's little adventure last saturday? Must be pretty damned embarassing for Anne-Marie, to say the least.

Same shit they smoked when they decided to bury the drunk-driving adventure of Mr. A-M deC-Best.

No news on Mr. AMdeC-Best? Still got his drivers' license, I presume?

If he got drunk (and then drove) in his own bar...could he be at risk of losing his liquor license? Did you sit out on the cheapo patio at Friday Fright Nites?

Not because of, but despite the current administration on dufferin st.

[MolsonExport]

thats a tall proposal for a shitsville corner. Love to see it happen....but in this market?

[Snark]

Agreed! Why not let constructive ME comments speak for all instead:

heh, heh. I guess I am reluctant to do just that. It is no big deal anyway...I get my name in the papers relatively often given my career.

Speaking for myself, I feel eminently qualified to comment on such phenomena

I am quoted in the LFP today
I have appeared on A-Morning a couple of times (interviewed...I am in academia). Oh well, there is still the LFP

I have no idea what the cost would be.

<deleted>

Sorry, I was barely awake, and I just tune out of all the bad news of late, for the sake of my sanity.

Landmark? Looks like a pile of shit.

A mountain of locusts? Change the name. Likewise, would you want to live on Cheapside (major street in London).

Middlesex (what the hell is this, a hermaphrodite?)

Yeah, aren't they vile?

I am glad, then. So that I will not have to waste my time instructing such retarded deadbeats.

Take London (ON), multiply it by 10, and maybe then, you would have something that could, very possibly, be a candidate for world-class.

Not the Shriners thing again. Fer fvcksakes, when will it ever end?

It's the new building for West Park Baptist Church (currently near Wonderland & Hyde Park Rd.). Damn. Not another one.

London has long ceased being a head-office city, to being a back-office city.

Whats the news of the new Walfart that is supposed to go up at Sprawldale and unWonderland?

Man, the Galleria has gotta be one of the biggest urban disasters in Canada. I was there yesterday...unfuckingbelievable how empty the place is.

A veritable ghostown of a mall, with more than 40 vacant stores to better serve you!

overmalled....but Westmount will still be a mall? Sounds like the managers are lacking a solid strategy. If I were a tenant in the mall, I would be worried.

The "rebirth" of the Galleria is rather like a woman experiencing 72 months of gestation followed by 24 months of labour.

could this be the first signs of Masonville mall going the way of Westmount mall??

Nice, but I hear that they do not serve BEER at Labatt Park...extremely ironic and moronic.

allow Labatt park to serve beer...and I will go to see London Majors games.

Wharnecliffe is going down the toilet. At least half of it (from Oxford to Commissioners) sits at the bottom of the bowl, with the other turds. A charming slice of East London in western London.

YEAH! more commie-blocks!

I am getting pissed off at the so-called leaders of London.

Nostalgia for the status quo = today's london leadership = mediocrity

yup: london planners/council-->think small.

I have to agree that the current administration really comes up short in their 'vision' for what London ought to aspire to.

London busses are horrible. They smell, have no seats, and constantly lurch. Not to mention, the schedules, and the asinine amount of time it takes to get from point A to point B

very overdue. I can't understand why they rezone/develop areas prior to improving the infrastructure.

too bad that it will probably be years before it goes back up again for phase II

More bad news for London. The daily dose

For Gawd's sake, London has only 2 complete East-West and North-South roads:
East-West: Fanshawe Park Road and Oxford
North-South: Wonderland and Highbury.
That's it. Everything else does not go through all the way.

Council should wake up...given the lousy local economy, taxpayers are not feeling generous, and frankly, a little tired of property (et al.) tax increases that have long outstripped inflation

London has the third-busiest airport in Canada, after Toronto and Vancouver. Really? Ahead of Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, etc.? Must be freight. Would like to see the supporting statistics.

thats a tall proposal for a shitsville corner. Love to see it happen....but in this market?

Visonary. 30 years, I will be approaching 70. I can then look forward to a quick way to Fanshawe Park Road. Yay.

Any info on the proposed Walfart at Exeter and Wonderland Rd. South?

Does the Ash Borer also eat jobs? I ask because the London area has lost so many in the past 6 months.

Weird. Hope that it is better than the aborted pseudo-freeway blip that is Highbury Ave.

I think that London's city planners look towards the 905 area as an urban model, rather than say, more concise urban fabrics like those found in Europe.

Looks like a run-down 70's era Las Vegas motor inn.

Quite frankly, who gives two-shits what Jack Layton says?

And the commie-blocks keep-a-comin' in London, esp. in the Oxford-Wonderland area.
I'd rather have no construction, than more of those ugly commie-blocks. Parts of London could easily pass for Irkutsk or Dniepreprovetsk.

I am not too impressed, having bought a home in the neighborhood.

Not again.

Good, but if it happens, I will eat my shoes.
I refer to them as Dumbcentres.

Ultra 80s, Ultra Smell (Bell) Canada. Smell has a building like this in every single major city in Canada.

This actually looks pretty good. I was in the area this weekend past, and it currently is about as gritty and shitty as anywhere in the country.

Yeah, just what I expected, city council is totally in cahoots with the big box sprawl developers. Who gives a shit if inner London looks like shit,

Yeah, I live about 1 km from that shitty bridge. and cross it from time to time. It is the Marie-Anne de Cicco way: rezone, build, but do not expand the infrastructure.

More of Anne-Marie's "Best and Brightest" (aka, highest salaries and sick-days, and moreover, mediocre results

yep. exactly. anyone else, it would be front-page news. And you'd think, "wow, the mayor's husband...for sure the LFP will have something"...but it is buried like a skeleton in the closet.

And while we are at it, how on earth did Best get the exemption for that lousy deck/patio along Richmond? Fishy, fishy.

What do you all think about the Mayor's husband's little adventure last saturday? Must be pretty damned embarassing for Anne-Marie, to say the least.

Same shit they smoked when they decided to bury the drunk-driving adventure of Mr. A-M deC-Best.

No news on Mr. AMdeC-Best? Still got his drivers' license, I presume?

If he got drunk (and then drove) in his own bar...could he be at risk of losing his liquor license? Did you sit out on the cheapo patio at Friday Fright Nites?

Not because of, but despite the current administration on dufferin st.

[QuantumLeap]

London urged to lobby government for key role
Wed, November 26, 2008
Former London MPP Dianne Cunningham to address board of control today


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+ Help
By CHIP MARTIN

It's time for London to become a vital hub along the Ontario-Quebec international trade corridor, board of control will be told today.

With senior governments anxious to spend on public works to create jobs amid the economic downturn, spending on border and transportation improvements is logical and overdue, says former London MPP Dianne Cunningham.

Now director of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management at the Ivey Business School, Cunningham will lead a high-powered delegation pushing London to adopt an aggressive stance on a city role in the transportation corridor.

A report produced after consultation with transportation experts urges London to step up and promote its willingness to be a key player in improving the corridor.

Cunningham said much is at stake for London, and other communities may elbow it aside if the city doesn't meet the challenge.


"We won't be competitive if we don't speak about these things," she said.

Among the proposals her group is promoting:

- Dedicated, high-speed "bullet" trains for both passengers and freight, especially around the congested Toronto area.

- Improvements to the physical gateways to the United States at Windsor and Sarnia.

- Streamlining rules at border crossings.

- Promoting London as a logical stop along the corridor -- given its pivotal air, road and rail connections.

Cunningham said cities like London don't engage in enough long-term planning and if it doesn't step up, it may lose out to other cities like Guelph and Waterloo which are taking early steps to become hubs along the continental transportation corridor.

"We want London on the map," she said.

Her plan is to inspire London politicians to begin agitating for a piece of the pie as senior governments look at public works projects of national, provincial or regional interest.

"If London positions itself as assisting governments in the development of this corridor and tells governments what it is prepared to do, I think they will get a very welcoming response," she said.

Cunningham said a positive response from controllers today is important.

[QuantumLeap]

Controllers hear pitch to make London a duty-free zone
Wed, November 26, 2008

By KATE DUBINSKI, SUN MEDIA



Board of control mulls lower fee for strip clubs Don't come to us looking for cash, controllers warn city groups

London could become a unique duty-free zone for goods coming in and out of the country, board of control heard this morning.

“London has the right asset mix to position it as a major growth centre along the trade corridor,” said Dianne Cunningham, a former provincial cabinet minister and the director of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and and Management at the Ivey School of Business.

The London International Airport expects a decision by the end of December about whether London will become a federal distribution centre.

"As a federal export distribution centre, we would get international cargo coming to Canada, it would come to London, it would be re-packed and stored here, then shipped to Europe," said London International Aiprot president and CEO Steve Baker.

Cunningham was among several presenters who talked about a competitive transportation policy for the region.


Among the transportation facts presented to board of control:

- London has the third-busiest airport in Canada, after Toronto and Vancouver.

- 80 per cent of London’s exports go to the Greater Toronto Area. The remaining 20 per cent move beyond Toronto.

- London could position itself to become a hub for so-called long-combo vehicles, currently not allowed in Ontario. The Ontario Trucking Association is trying to get the province to allow one truck to pull two 50-foot trailers, as is done in Quebec.

- The city has to work hard now make sure the province and federal government know that if a high-speed train between Windsor and Quebec is built, London wants a stop here.

Presentations by representatives of the airport and trucking industry were made, as well as one by a champion of the high-speed train.

Check back for updates from board of control all day here at lfpress.com.

For the full story, read tomorrow’s Free Press on the web or in print.

To subscribe to The Free Press, click on our subscription page.

Kate Dubinski is a Free Press reporter.

[MolsonExport]

London Free Press (Nov 27/08)

Let's work together
By CHIP MARTIN



Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was in London yesterday to speak at the John Labatt Centre. (Mike Hensen, Sun Media)
A joint Canada-United States response to the current economic crisis will minimize its impact on Canada, former U.S. president Bill Clinton told a London audience yesterday.

"There is no animosity (in the U.S.) against Canada," he assured a crowd of 3,300. "I would be surprised if there is any significant protectionist movement in America."

But Clinton warned that the economies of the two countries are intertwined and "our purchases from you will go down."

And he predicted if General Motors goes bankrupt, it will cost two million jobs in the U.S. alone. He also said a failure by GM would "imperil Ford and Chrysler," all three of whom have significant investments in Canada.

"This is an interdependent world for good and for bad," he told the gathering at the John Labatt Centre.

The event was arranged by the Power Within motivational organization that provides inspirational messages and speakers.

Clinton warned the economic meltdown may get worse before it gets better.

He noted one in 75 homes in Nevada has been foreclosed and a Wal-Mart executive told him sales of home safes are up 30 per cent because even modest-income Americans have lost faith in banks that have lost faith in them.

Clinton urged the audience to see the economic glass as half full rather than half empty, perhaps even feel good, "because there is a vigorous response to this crisis."

President-elect Barack Obama "has put together a remarkable economic team."

Efforts by the U.S. government to turn things around will take time "because we have seen the disappearance of trillions of dollars of wealth," Clinton said.

"A lot of it is psychological," he said. "But psychology affects what bankers do."

Clinton, 62, served as president from 1993 to 2001. The audience paid from $125 to $199 to hear him in his third Canadian speaking engagement in two days.

"When we get through this, we will have a healthier economy in America," Clinton said. "This is bad, it will probably get worse, but help is on the way. We should try to do this together."

He said he hopes the downturn doesn't see wealthy nations curb support for developing nations that will provide future markets for the West and valuable friendships.

"We are going to make some good decisions from here on out," he said. "You should be optimistic. We had to flush some of this stuff out of our system."

Clinton said the Federal Reserve in the United States has pumped billions of dollars into financial institutions to good effect. "The fever has broken a bit," he said.

After his hour-long pep-talk, Clinton was interviewed by former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna.

Clinton noted the American Thanksgiving Day today was proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

Lincoln, he said, agreed with his advisers "that there is always something to be thankful for."

---

CLINTON QUOTES

- "We can work through this, but not overnight because so much wealth has disappeared."

- "We should not be blind to steps that are being taken to put sanity back in place."

- "We are facing the prospect of a real shutdown (of the economy)."

- "We should see this as an opportunity and see the glass as half full."

Anyone else go to this event?

[MolsonExport]

London has the third-busiest airport in Canada, after Toronto and Vancouver.

Really? Ahead of Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, etc.? Must be freight. Would like to see the supporting statistics.

[QuantumLeap]

I too, was extremely surprised by that stat. I wondered if that was a mistake - and if so, made by the journalist or the presented at BoC?

As for Goodwill, I would like to see what goes in there. Despite what many in the Planning Department think, most of the downtown growth is never going to occur in the 12-block area that the City calls downtown. SOHO is a prime candidate for redevelopment. It is disappointing that Toronto developers two or three years ago pitched a 200-unit development at South and Wellington that was never built. They opted for townhouses on the site, which as far as I know, haven't been built either.

[QuantumLeap]

Ivey among world's top business schools

By Communications Staff
Friday, November 21, 2008
BusinessWeek magazine ranks an MBA from The Richard Ivey School of Business as one of the top five in the world outside of the United States.

The annual ranking lists Ivey as the fourth best international business school offering MBA programs. Queen’s University topped the list of non-US business schools.

The 50-question survey was distributed to more than 16,700 class of 2008 MBA graduates at 98 schools in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Graduates were asked to evaluate several categories, including teaching quality and career services effectiveness.

Corporate MBA recruiters from 242 companies also filled out a similar online survey and 242 companies responded. The recruiters rated the schools based on the quality of graduates and the company’s history with the graduates.

As well, each school's intellectual-capital rating- the number of faculty members who have been published in academic journals in a select group of publications- was tallied.

For more information or to view the ranking, click here.

[QuantumLeap]

For Immediate Release
LONDON
11/13/2008
SOUTH KOREAN MANUFACTURER BRINGS NEW JOBS TO LONDON: McGuinty Government Investment Helps Secure New Plant

NEWS

About 120 people in London will have new jobs making kitchen countertops when Hanwha opens in 2009.

Hanwha L&C Canada Inc. is building a $70-million plant with the help of a $10-million loan under Ontario's Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy (AMIS). The factory produces a durable, high-quality countertop stone surface using a process that minimizes the impact on the environment.

Hanwha Group is a global Fortune 500 company and is the fifth-largest industrial conglomerate in South Korea. The company needs people with skills and experience in the areas of chemical engineering and automated manufacturing, and will be training workers to work safely in a fully automated, high-tech environment.

Helping manufacturers be more competitive is part of the government's five-point plan for the economy.

QUOTES

"We're very proud to welcome Hanwha to Ontario - their first-ever investment in Canada. Their decision helps reinforce Ontario's reputation as the number one manufacturer in North America, and it means 120 families now have hope for a brighter future," said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

"Hanwha is opening its doors in London because they know London is an incredible place to do business. Partnering with Hanwha will help to create jobs and prosperity for Ontarians," said Michael Bryant, Minister of Economic Development.

"Everyone on the Hanwha team is looking forward to beginning production at our new Canadian plant and supplying quality HanStone products to our North American customers. We are very gratified by the support shown from the City of London and the Ontario government and look forward to a being part of the local community and economy," said Hanwha L & C Canada President and CEO Daniel Yu.

QUICK FACTS

* The plant is being built at London's Innovation Park. The park was supported through an $11 million investment from Ontario's $450 million Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative.
* Quartz, the base material for the HanStone countertops, is one of the hardest components of natural granite. The only materials harder than quartz are diamonds, sapphires and topaz.
* The $500-million AMIS program provides repayable loans, interest free for up to five years, to encourage companies to invest in leading-edge technologies and processes.

[ssiguy]

Its great about the new plant & highrise for London but I have to say that the area just south of the Wellington subway kinda neat with some interesting shops.
Any pics of the area?

[ldoto]

Taxpayers to keep funding development

Mon, December 1, 2008

A slim majority of London city council has voted to keep millions of dollars flowing from taxpayers to developers as an incentive to draw new industry to the city.
By a vote of 10-8 tonight, council refused to even consider a call by its finance chief to slowly require new industry to pay some of the costs of servicing their factories with roads, pipes and other public works, work that is now paid by taxpayers.

To do otherwise, said Coun. Steve Orser, would make jobs even harder to come by in a time when unemployment is rising.

"It's not about a bailout . . . it's about a welfare check for somebody or an employment check," Orser said.

Council's defense of the status quo went against the advice of finance chief Vic Cote who has proposed developers pay 15 per cent for new industry beginning in 2011, with the change reviewed two years later.




Staff have estimated the current exemption for industry costs taxpayers $2 million a year.

While supporters of the exemption claim it creates jobs and new tax revenue, their claim has never been tested - too costly an assumption to go un-tested, Coun. Nancy Branscombe.

"I think we're doing a disservice to our citizens," she said. There was a greater consensus to maintain a subsidy for developers building residences downtown - only Branscombe, Controller Gina Barber and Coun. Joni Baechler supported considering a phase-out based.

The program was put in place in 1996 but was meant to be temporary, Cote said.

Other incentives and investments in downtown since by city hall have strengthened it enough that council should consider requiring developers to pay some of the costs now borne by taxpayers. But most on council disagreed.

There are about 5,000 people living downtown, only half, or even less, than what's needed for it to thrive, Controller Gord Hume said.

"We're not there yet," he said. But Coun. Joni Baechler argued that taxpayers, having already spent more than $100 million to revitalize downtown, had done their fair share.

"The taxpayers have done their part downtown.

They want some relief," Baechler said. The debate revealed a schism on council over whether the rules for development were a boon or an albatross for London taxpayers, a debate that will be repeated next year when staff are expected to propose a shift in the costs of development that would lighten the load of taxpayers.

For some it is a basic tenant that development, especially industrial development, always pays for itself - both Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best and Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell said they'd always want taxpayers paying to service new industry.

"I don't support ever bringing back a development charge for industrial land," the mayor said. The exemption for industry has proved critical in attracting new factories, she said.

[MolsonExport]

Council should wake up...given the lousy local economy, taxpayers are not feeling generous, and frankly, a little tired of property (et al.) tax increases that have long outstripped inflation.

[Ldotbyron]

longtime reader of this forum, never really post... I was just wondering if anyone has pics of the renaissance; last time I was home it was almost finished. Whats the status?

[Spicol]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Really? Ahead of Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, etc.? Must be freight. Would like to see the supporting statistics.

Seems to be a mistake to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_busiest_airport

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Ldotbyron

longtime reader of this forum, never really post... I was just wondering if anyone has pics of the renaissance; last time I was home it was almost finished. Whats the status?

Welcome.

I do believe that it is topped off (it appears so, walking past it this week).

[QuantumLeap]

Cargo program OK'd for airport
Thu, December 4, 2008
Change benefits London


By SHOBHITA SHARMA, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA

Cargo will now be allowed to move duty-free through London's airport from one country to another, a move that could create more jobs.

Federal Transport Minister John Baird yesterday said the London International Airport has been approved to take part in Ottawa's so-called cargo trans-shipment program.

The approval means freight carriers will now be able to fly goods into London from another country, store them temporarily and transport them to a third country without paying duty or taxes.

"This is something brand new for us -- to bring products and distribute them duty- free," said Steve Baker, the airport's president and chief executive.

The program began at Mirabel Airport in Montreal in 1982, as part of a wider effort to expand use of Montreal-area airports.


Baker said companies moving freight in and out of the airport under the program will be able to repackage and re-label cargo before it's reshipped.

That could mean more local jobs, especially in the freight logistics and transportation industry, he said.

London Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell, a longtime former airport board member, said the change "couldn't have come at a better time for the (local) economy."

Baker said airport officials they plan to take the game up a notch. "The next step will be to make London a completely free-trade zone," he said.

Under that system, goods that enter the market could be processed here -- adding to their value -- and be re-shipped to another country, again without any taxation.



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Citizens push for control of harbour
Thu, December 4, 2008

By CHIP MARTIN

Port Stanley residents gather tonight to consider how to break a long-standing political logjam and wrest its harbour from federal hands.

The Port Stanley Think Tank is pushing to end a source of local aggravation and get local control of the village's greatest asset.

Transport Canada wants to divest itself of the harbour it has allowed to clog with silt, making it unsuitable for anything except fishing tugs. But after years of high-level talks in secrecy, fed-up local residents are taking action.

"This is a huge issue locally," said Andrew Hibbert, a member of the think tank who organized the meeting. "It's a critical issue and it's been very frustrating to people in the village."

He said private interests are reluctant to make plans with the future of the port so uncertain. Investors on the American side of Lake Erie have talked about cross-lake ferries, but the state of the harbour is so bad and ownership issues so confused they've had to shelve their plans.


Retired Canadian rear admiral Dan McNeil, who has waged a battle to uncover federal plans and the physical state of the harbour, will address the meeting and suggest a path forward.

McNeil said he believes the current talks should be abandoned and a new course of consultation initiated among the Municipality of Central Elgin, Elgin County, Transport Canada and the province. Also needed is a viable plan to fix environmental contamination.

"We're going to develop some proposals," McNeil said, adding he hopes the community gathering will be the first step in a successful bid to resolve the issue of ownership. The alternative is to see the harbour decline further under federal control.

McNeil said he learned MP Joe Preston (C -- Elgin- Middlesex-London) had persuaded Transport Canada to dredge the harbour last spring, but enactment of the Clean Water Act by the Ontario government was one of the reasons that was scuttled. Ontario's new law would forbid the former practice of disposing contaminated harbour sediment offshore.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Snark

If you want to do a city ring road freeway, it would have to be a new road in the north and west - at grade. Even then it would be extremely expensive - perhaps $20 - $30 mil/km, depending on the number of interchanges, bridges, utility relocations, and land acquisition required. Where the VMP ends to the 402 is 35 km's. That equals at least $700 million. The city could not do it alone - provincial/federal cash would be necessary.

I think it would be wise for the province to take over the VMP, and eventually extend it to St. Marys and Stratford, and link it up with Highway 7/8. At the same time a freeway should be built from this route along the north edge of London out to the 402 between Komoka and Highway 81. The result would be a second major freeway route between Detroit and Toronto, as it would link with I-94/Hwy 402 and the proposed Highway 7 bypass between Kitchener and Guelph, which I understand would eventually be extended into York Region. There is going to come a time when another freeway will be needed along this corridor.