Northern Ontario developments!

[vid]

JESUS H MURPHY!!

[vid]

^ We might see that, look at the cover story of this month's NOB:

Fresh blood, new talent seeks to replenish Kenora’s economy
By Ian Ross | September, 2007 issue of Northern Ontario Business News

Keric Funk had a few trepidations about establishing an upscale, chic salon in blue collar Kenora.

After working five years as a stylist at Winnipeg’s avant garde Edward Carriere Salon, the entrepreneurial bug got into the Steinbach, Man. native. He needed to escape the city and find someplace to tap into the “positive energy” of the rocks, trees and water of the Canadian Shield.

Looking to establish his own place, he became sold on the community of 15,000 on Lake of the Woods from the van-load of teachers and other clientele who regularly came into Winnipeg to get their hair done.

“We used to call Saturday, Kenora Day,” says Funk. “There were so many people that drove up, it was sort of a niche thing.”

They convinced him to bring his urbane talents and settle in northwestern Ontario. Funk quickly liquidated his assets and made the leap, moving two hours east in the fall of 2002.

These days, his trendy downtown salon, spa and boutique is a popular place.

Funk has imported some big city personal amenities offering high-end beauty products, designer accessories and body treatments like Thai massage. With a staff of 16, some appointments are booked three months in advance.

“Our generation is all about lifestyle,” says Funk, 30. “I could do business in Winnipeg, but I wanted to be five minutes from the lake.”

His cherished 21-foot power boat is moored only a few minutes walk from his Second Street shop.

Like many small town business people, he serves on the local chamber of commerce and he’s fully involved in efforts to revitalize Kenora’s postcard downtown.

Funk is part of an entrepreneurial youth movement of 20 and 30-somethings, both homegrown and from afar, who are opting for the easier pace of small town life in one of the most stunningly beautiful locations in Northern Ontario.

For this hard-luck forestry town seeking to re-brand itself as a retirement/cottage capital and a good place to do business, the municipality is only too eager to promote them.

Their innovative ‘Choose Kenora’ youth retention campaign, encouraging young people to come home and open a small business, is starting to bear fruit.

On a tour of the historic downtown core, City of Kenora economic development officer Jennifer Rasmussen gives a block-by-block commentary of some of the hip new specialty shops that have sprung up.

She talks about the city’s grandiose $25 million improvement strategy to rejuvenate the harbourfront and downtown, while offering incentives to restore many century-old heritage buildings back to its original Victorian-era character.

“Typically people who are moving here,” says Rasmussen, “grew up cottaging here, went away to university, started their career, and thought, I spent every weekend and vacation at the lake, why wouldn’t I live here?”

Since 80 per cent of Kenora’s growth will come from the within, says Rasmussen, creating a business-friendly environment, promoting a lifestyle change and accentuating the cottage country charm, will make people want to move there.

Part of that process will soon begin with a $9 million big dig on Main Street to replace aging wooden sewers, install new sidewalks and angle parking and better promotional signage on the Trans-Canada Highway bypass.

The city’s consultants say Kenora has all the natural and historic components to be a vacation destination if the enthusiasm and willingness is there.

Newcomers like Funk believe Kenora has a “ton of potential” and wants to put almost two years of community planning into action.

Forestry has always been the mainstay of the local economic engine, he says, even after the 2005 closure of the Abitibi-Consolidated pulp and paper mill and the 320 jobs lost.

“When that crumbled it really convinced the whole town to come together and work toward a new future,” says Funk. “I think we’ve just started unleashing the potential now.

“I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in the next five to 10 years.”

For other entrepreneurs like Taras Manzie, moving to Kenora to enter the hospitality business is a whole new experience.

The part-owner and chef of the Southview Inn & Bistro has expanded twice in two years and is refurbishing a 122-year-old downtown building.

Manzie is spending $100,000 on the three-storey former grocery store, gutting the interior and peeling back layers of sub-ceiling and plaster down to exposed brick.

“We’re restoring the building to its former glory,” says Manzie, in drawing on inspiration from historic photos to create a trendy groceria-type store.

The building features 14-foot ceilings and old growth Douglas-fir floor joists spanning almost 25 feet.

“There’s nothing structurally wrong with it,” says Manzie. “It’s stood the test of time.”

His new venture –Southview on Second –will be an extension of the bistro’s very successful catering business with a main floor bakery, deli, gelato and specialty coffee shop.

Upstairs will be converted into a business meeting space with fully-wired boardroom and lounge.

Manzie, who started an Ottawa-based IT company and got out just before the dot-com bust, tried the candy business with the Sugar Mountain chain before moving to Kenora, his wife and business partner Audrey’s hometown, to start their family.

He’s delved into Rotary functions, while Audrey devotes her Mondays to a local school lunch program.

While working as a commercial lender, he found the inn property in nearby Keewatin.

The couple knocked down some lakeview cabins to build a boutique-style inn. This summer, a contractor was finishing an eight-unit, motel-style addition with vaulted ceilings and exposed timbers.

Despite recent hard times in forestry, Manzie has great faith in Kenora.

“The forestry industry will always be a major player,” says Manzie, “but this is the Muskokas of the North. With the infrastructure (the city is) putting in to revitalize the downtown, there’s definite opportunity here, no doubt.”

www.kericfunk.com
www.southviewinn.ca
www.kenora.ca

Kenora has a fantastic downtown, they weren't as "Let's build factories everywhere!!"-happy at Lakeheadders. (We don't have a water front because we sold the entire thing to industrialists for economic growth in the early 1900s

Kenora's doing pretty good. Kenora District grew by a couple thousand between 2001 and 2006, and some communities there more than doubled their population.

Also:

Mill crucial step closer
By Sarah Elizabeth Brown | Tuesday, September 4, 2007
http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories.php?id=62806

The former Thunder Bay Cascades mill is to reopen, putting 340 people to work full-time when it is fully operational, say officials with to-be owner Thunder Bay Fine Papers.
Millions of dollars from local investors, the provincial government and even former mill operator, Cascades Inc., contributed to the purchase deal, which could be finalized by the end of the month, said Andre Nicol, who speaks for Thunder Bay Fine Papers.
“It‘s a good news story for Thunder Bay, because the Thunder Bay people helped to make it go,” Nicol said at a news conference Tuesday.
Between 25 and 30 local business owners have committed almost $5 million.
The province increased a previous loan guarantee by about $6 million to a total $12.7 million, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay told the gathering.
The province is also kicking in a $1.5-million grant, also from the Forest Sector Prosperity Fund.
The money has been approved and Oct. 10 election results won‘t change that, said Ramsay.
Cascades is contributing $4 million to Thunder Bay Fine Papers, and is covering environmental clean-up from its 40 years as the mill‘s owner.
“Now the ball is for the employees,” said Hubert Bolduc, vice-president of communications for Cascades. “You are good employees – you can make this mill work again.”
Before the announcement was made, Mayor Lynn Peterson did a little dance after reading through the news release provided to reporters.
“Woo hoo!” she said when addressing the audience, many of whom were the local investors.
“We cannot understate the power of 340 new jobs in our community,” Peterson said.
Nicol said once the work to finalize the sale is done, building repairs and finding paper buyers will follow.
“I suppose there‘s always something that could happen, but it looks very, very positive,” Nicol said of whether the sale will in fact go through.
The company will make high-end coated paper for colour, glossy advertising and sales promotion materials, along with digital printing paper.
“The market has turned to the point where it hasn‘t been better in years for the kind of paper that this mill makes,” Nicol said.
Market prices have improved about 15 per cent, and the new company plans to make different kinds of paper than Cascades did, said Bolduc.
Cascades closed the plant in February 2006.
Bolduc said he doesn‘t see any obstacles to the mill‘s sale to Thunder Bay Fine Papers.

With its business plan in hand last fall, Thunder Bay Fine Papers found three interested investor organizations.
“The one investor we decided to go with of the three, basically what they did was they dragged their feet. They strung us out until the end of March and then they said they weren‘t going forward,” said Nicol.
Ernst and Young‘s corporate finance division went back over the group‘s business plan, thought the numbers looked good and took the plan to market, Nicol said.
“I guess old paper mills weren‘t the flavour of the month, because there wasn‘t great support for that.”
While the group started fundraising locally, one U.S. fund looked interested, but the sub-prime mortgage meltdown led it to pass, Nicol explained.
“So it was the local investors who made the difference.”
Much of the group‘s capital program of $14 million will go to things like roof repairs and moving equipment, Nicol said.
Thunder Bay Fine Papers will have two operations – the former Cascades paper mill and a plant to be bought at Keefer Terminal for a finishing and distributing centre, said John Hitchman, vice-president of operations.
The paper mill will employ 320 people by the time it‘s going full tilt in June, while the finishing building will employ 25, Hitchman said.
A further 160 jobs will be created in the harvesting, transportation and service industries.
Hitchman said he plans to have the No. 8 paper machine running by December, followed by No. 6 machine in March and No. 5 in June.
By July 1, Thunder Bay Fine Papers plans to produce 200,000 tons per year at full capacity.
The machines will start up one at a time because they‘ve been idle almost 22 months, said Hitchman.
Cascades shut the mill down in good order, but this past winter‘s hard freeze caused some damage, he said.
Thunder Bay Fine Papers has $1 million allocated to fix known damage, though more may be found.
In year one, Thunder Bay Fine Papers will spend $16 million to modernize the plant, Hitchman said.
The goal is to turn a profit 10 months in.
The new owners will make nine grades of paper, a 50-per cent reduction from Cascades‘ grade structure, Hitchman said.
Limiting the types of paper made will make the mill more efficient, he said.
A change in marketing will see Thunder Bay Fine Papers sell to Toronto, Chicago, Minneapolis and Nashville, all major printing centres, said Hitchman.
“They‘re all within 24 hours of Thunder Bay, so we can deliver rather quickly.
“We believe our strength is going to be in service,” he said.
At the Keefer Terminal plant, several thousand tonnes of inventory will be kept on hand.
If a Chicago customer places an order, paper will be cut from master rolls, trucked out the next day and delivered on day three, Hitchman said.
“Our competitors in the United States cannot service within those kinds of parameters, and that‘s going to be very key to the success of this mill.”

[Only The Lonely..]

Vid, this article showed up in the Winnipeg Free Press editorial section. Thought you might find it interesting.

I wish I could post it in the Manitoba sub-forum.

Thunder Bay's decay
City looks healthy, but hard times in forestry are hammering region

Mon Sep 17 2007 | Tom Ford | Winnipeg Free Press



THUNDER BAY -- I'm sitting on the deck of a handsome restaurant toying with my chicken Szechuan and trying my darndest to figure out the problems of this community and the northwest.
It's not an easy task. Thousands of people have been affected by layoffs in the forestry industry in the Thunder Bay region, yet the city has never looked better. The restaurant in which I'm sitting is part of a handsome, stone, near-century-old converted train station.

It's surrounded by Marina Park, a pleasant place with green lawns, gardens, a marina full of boats and a fantastic view of Lake Superior, Canada's inland sea. The city has a good symphony orchestra, a 1,500-seat performing arts centre, an art gallery and some live theatre companies.


* * *


But Thunder Bay, Eastern Canada's largest producer of forest products, has been thrown off balance by a wobbly forest industry. High energy costs and a declining U.S. market have forced some mills to close. You see them many nights on the local TV news, backdrops for politicians to blather on about why voters should pick them in the province's Oct. 10 election.

Abitibi recently closed its mill in Kenora, throwing 400 people out of work. It's estimated the forestry industry had 40,000 direct and indirect job losses in the last five years because of mill closings or cutbacks. Last April, the mayors of North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Timmins said northern Ontario, which had a gross domestic product of $24.2 billion in 2005 (more than New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island combined), doesn't get a fair amount back from the province -- a complaint I first heard when I was 12.

Strangely, though, all is not desolation. After being closed for about a year, the mill in Terrace Bay, a tidy model town overlooking Lake Superior, has re-opened.

Then there's the resurrection in August of St. Mary's Paper in Sault Ste. Marie. The mill was closed after going bankrupt. Now, its three papermaking machines are running and about 370 people are back at work.

At a ceremony to celebrate the mill's new life, Ontario Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay got quite carried away and announced: "Ontario is going to be the most competitive sawmilling and forestry area in this country."

Apparently, Ramsay has not shared this insight with the province's premier, Dalton McGuinty, who has been bellyaching that unless it gets more help from Ottawa, Ontario is going to hell in a handbasket. Ramsay also seems to have a different definition of "competitive" than most of us.

The Sault Ste. Marie mill was helped back to life by a bewildering network of provincial programs -- the Pulp and Paper Energy Rebate Program, the Forest Sector Prosperity Fund and the Paper Electricity Transition Program.

Ontario will have to be careful with its subsidies, as wonderful as they may be. It and other Canadian provinces are being watched by the eagle-eyed U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, which represents American producers. As a result of the coalition's pushing, Washington last month launched the first major test of the Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement. The U.S. argues Canada is violating the year-old agreement because we are selling too much B.C. and Alberta lumber into the U.S. market and Ontario and Quebec have forest industry support programs.

The London Court of International Arbitration, a non-profit company, will hold hearings on the complaint in North America. The coalition says US$116 million is at stake.

Ontario has taken a Byzantine approach to the forestry industry's problems because it doesn't want to tackle directly one of the province's major problems: high electricity rates.

The digital clock was blinking in nearly every hotel room my family and I entered on our trip around Ontario, indicating that power had recently been interrupted. Sir Adam Beck, the tough, wily politician who made the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario the world's largest publicly owned power authority, will be spinning like a turbine in his grave.

In 1992, though, Ontario Hydro had a $34-billion debt, largely because it overbuilt costly nuclear plants. Seven years later, then-premier Mike Harris privatized it.

The subsequent years were not happy ones for many hydro consumers. A report by the Ontario Power Authority in August said Ontario needs $60 billion to rebuild its system. The province doesn't have that kind of money. Many entrepreneurs are unwilling to step up to the plate because they fear (with good reason) government meddling with the power business.

But government does get some things right. In Thunder Bay, it has invested heavily in Lakehead University and its Northern Ontario School of Medicine, a fine hospital and other science centres. These investments have helped put Thunder Bay in the front ranks of medical research and have established a sound platform for the "New North."

Moving to the economy of the New North will take time and for some it will be painful. But at least Thunder Bay has a future.

And I conclude it looks good, as I sit in lovely Marina Park, nibbling on chicken Szechuan.

Tom Ford is managing editor of The Issues Network.


This is Part 2 of a two-part report.

See Part 1 at www.winnipegfreepress.com

[vid]

Interesting read. The restaurant in the train station, btw, one of the best in town. Went there on Canada Day, even after closing it was standing room only! A local brewer wants to move into the station as well, but there are some zoning and building code issues to get past, as well as lack of space in the building. It is home to a café, lounge, model train club and children's museum.

Latest development news from Thunder Bay:

Re-opening of Cascades mill is closer to becoming a reality

Buchanan Forest Products has purchased the Smurfit-Stone building (Not this one. Which is ok, because it's ugly as fuck.)

An off-leash dog park is being located in the trestle right-of-way. This conflicts with the extension of Carrick Street, though that was a near-dead project anyway.

The sale of McKeller Hospital for redevelopment is in it's final stages. The hospital may be demolished and replaced by retail, anchored by a Shoppers Drug Mart which has outgrown it's Centennial Square location three blocks away.

City Council has approved the sale of land at Marina Park to private developers of the Hotel and Condo. The land owned will include just the footprint of the buildings and any plans will be subject to the Prince Arthur's Landing master plan.

Flying J's OMB hearing has been delayed again, it will be on October 1 at city hall. This is either the fourth or fifth time it was delayed, and has been continually delayed since May. There is strong opposition to this project.

[Only The Lonely..]

I was curious, Lakehead University promotes itself quite heavily on Winnipeg Transit Buses, does the U of M, U of W, or Red River College run similiar campaigns in Thunder Bay?

[vid]

No, I've never seen advertisements for universities or colleges in Manitoba, but representatives from them visit the high schools every fall.

Latest Thunder Bay Development News:

• Seaway street off Main Street is under construction. It is supposed to be the centre of a new light industrial business park on the waterfront, probably for companies that move as Intercity moves from light industrial to office complex/large retail.

• The re-location of Broadway is complete, it opens at 10am tomorrow. The old Broadway is now a road wholly owned by AbitibiBowater Inc, and Neebing Avenue will end in a cul-de-sac about 100m south of the new Broadway.

• There is reclamation work being done along the Kam River side of McKellar Island. The tank farms have been torn down and the earth is being turned and ventilated. Docks have also been removed from the shoreline as well, opposite Kam Heritage Park. The land will likely be reclaimed by bush. Similar reclamations have taken place in the East End and on Mission Island as the oil tanks are no longer needed.

• There appears to be a large work shop being built near the river at LU just off Oliver Road.

• A hotel has been proposed at the base of the Main Street Overpass. This is the second hotel to be proposed along [Main Street/Harbour Expressway/Shabaqua Highway] Road in the past year or so. The land will likely be built on the ~6 acres on the SE side of the intersection.

• Balsam School has been demolished. Construction will begin soon on the new high school, which opens in September, 2009.

• The Husky Truck Stop opens in a couple weeks. The new facility is shinier and more expensive than ever. Look for: Different overweight pervert truckers than before!

• The access road at Lakehead University is complete. Students now have two ways to get to school, instead of just one! You still have to go through Central Avenue to get to the dorms, though.

• ManShield has the contract to demolish the old McKeller Hospital, and will begin soon. The hospital will be replaced by retail on the northern half of the site. The southern half has no proposals that I know of thus far.

• The city is in the process of renaming the portion of 11/17 that has been decommissioned as Arthur Street.


In other news:

Thunder Bay City Council has voted 6-5 in favour of appointing Robert Tuchenhagen to replace Andy Savela. Trevor Giertuga was absent from council, however, and has supported a by-election instead. Should he be present next week for the decisions confirmation, it will result in a tie, which will result in a by-election for McKeller Ward. Councillors whom voted against a by-election include Linda Rydholm and Mark Bentz, who were both acclaimed in the last election. There are 1,107 days until the next election. This term will be the longest ever served by a municipal council in the Lakehead.

=========================================================

Now, onto the fun things.

I made a map of a possible LRT/BRT system in Thunder Bay. Should CN ever give up it's line running through Intercity (And considering how it almost killed me a few months ago, I would applaud their decision to do so!) this would be entirely possible.



The red, orange and yellow lines are light rail, running along the old CN right of way, with the exception of the part that turns east from Chapple Park. (I just realised that the Westfort station is impossible. Oh well.) The eastern branch going into the core would have to be underground, as there is too much built up stuff on Victoria. It could run down the centre line, or in regular lanes, but then it wouldn't be light rail.

The light green between Fort William and Intercity would be a tram, along Simpson Street. The tracks are already there, they just have to remove the two or three layers of asphalt to get at them.

All other lines are either BRT (Purple, pink, light blue) or express bus (dark green and dark blue). Local buses, 8 to 16 routes, would branch off from the stations, with each station having a bus route.

Something like this would probably be an economic disaster in such a small city, but as a plan for the future, it is pretty viable. The travel time from Port Arthur downtown to the Airport with this LRT system would be cut by 60%. For the trip from Fort William, it would be cut by about 45%. The trip from Current River to the airport with BRT and LRT would be cut by almost 75%.

And below is an actual route location map superimposed on a satellite image. It does not include local buses.

[shreddog]

Wow, so much to see when next back in town.

Originally Posted by vid

• The Husky Truck Stop opens in a couple weeks. The new facility is shinier and more expensive than ever. Look for: Different overweight pervert truckers than before!

Possibly the most exciting news this year!

Originally Posted by vid

Sweet. Did something similiar way back when in HS (I went to Selkirk so that gives you an idea of when!) for an urban geography class when LRT was just taking off. Too bad the population density, desire or intelligence isn't there. Plus Roach's wouldn't like the airport lrt too much!

BTW, ever been the museum to see the old street car map? Kinda cool - and very depressing.

Cheers man.

PS. I can't help but piss myself when I read "Mini-Queens Park", though wouldn't that name really be more appropriate for the gov't buildings at Arthur and Brunswick? A better name for that station would be "Mini-Downsview" since it's basically MTO there.

[vid]

My mom went to Selkirk, in the early-mid 80s. She dropped out before she had me. (So that gives you an idea of our income bracket.)

I've never seen the street car map, but I'm thinking of going to the museum sometime in the next month. They're putting all the architectural features back on, part of the May Street/Donald Street reconstruction project. It's looking pretty good and it isn't even finished. I can't wait until they put up the new main cornice on the top of the building. It'll look grand.

This is the map for the trolley buses: http://www.trolleybuses.net/pta/htm/...ftw1969_ss.htm

Mini-Queens Park has more than MTO. The MTO is in the three storey building with the straight drive way. The four storey one with the loopy driveway has a bunch of government offices in it, I went there to update my health card a couple weeks ago. There is another one story building north of there, I can't remember what's in it though. I think it's just records storage or something?

The Arthur and Brunswick building is the Provincial Courts, and it will be closing soon. The province has already designed a building, and will be looking for a lot soon. (That's right: They designed something without knowing where it's going! Government actions at its finest!! ) One group wants to rip off the front of the court house in PA and put it there, I think it should go at the corner of Victoria and North where the St Louis was, and incorporate the façade of the old bank, which is still standing. (thank god and knock on wood.)

Another idea I had was about the new stadium. There is a pretty good chance it'll be approved, as there has been some recent voices of displeasure with FWG. The block bounded by Miles, Simpson and Cumming isn't occupied by anything important other than Diamond-Laceys Taxi. All of those buildings are now vacant. (The site with that trolly map has some pictures of Simpson Ogden from the 30s to 70s, it's so sad. The area is improving, though. Murder free for 22 months now! Fatal fire free for almost four years, iirc!) The site is slightly bigger than the area taken up by London's arena, so it would be a good choice. A new court house and a new arena would do a lot of redevelop the Simpson-Victoria area.

Google Maps was updated the other day as well, the image is from May 2007. You can see a lot of construction going on, that's when the Catholic Board started all of it's expansion projects.

Another thing I just noticed on that map: Aside from the Waterloo-Walsh station being off, the Chapple Park station would probably be better on Brunswick Street, as building there wouldn't require demolition of anything. Getting to it would be hard, though. The Waterloo station would have been in the parking lot behind Tim Hortons. Or where the Tim Horton's is. No loss, really.The street cars sitting there (if they're still there) could add a bit of a theme.

In other news: House listings are down, which means house prices may go up in the future, as demand is also increasing. The city of Thunder Bay received an A+ credit rating last week from Standard and Poors. It looks like they will be appointing Tuchenhagen to McKeller Ward. He will sit for 1,101 days if appointed. The average appointed councillors in Thunder Bay in the past sat for about 250 days.

Also: I've been working on Thunder Bay Transit's wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder_Bay_Transit) lately, I expanded the history section a lot last night. It's quite interesting.

[shreddog]

^^ Thanks for the update. Not sure when I'll be there next (sometime in the next 6 weeks) but I'll have to check some of that out.

I spent a good chunk of my childhood growing up at Dease and Simpson (had a family relationship to the old Simpson hotel) so I know exactly what that area was like in the late 60's early 70's. (Yep, that old). Really sad to see it now and remember what it used to be like. Basically I can walk down that street and - for the buildings that are still standing - have a memory of what used to be there and how busy things used to be.

Looking at the trolley map I think back to when the city finally finished the removal of the overhead lines. At that time they thought it was progress!

Funny about your mom in that I likely went to school with her since I graduated from there in 83. Again, yep that old.

BTW, as to the Mini-Queen's park ref. Believe it or not, that little beige 2 storey building by the Courthouse was called "mini-queens park" for the longest time.

[vid]

I've never heard anyone refer to it as that. When people say Mini-Queens-Park these days, it means the complex on James. All the other are called "The Government Building" or "The Court House".


The Simpson Hotel burned down in January or February 2000, shortly after an apartment up the street burned down (My aunt lived there, lost everything; the firefighters took forever getting set up, and there was speculation that the owner burned it down himself for insurance. He was never charged). The tree that was behind the Simpson Hotel was cut down in early August. It was a good tree. Alve's fish mart is closed, I live above them. It's a good thing, the smell of the wine shop comes through the vents. I'd rather wine than fish.

Actually, the stretch between Dease and Ogden has seen the most fires and demolitions, and is now home to about 15 or so people. Except for maybe three buildings, the stretch is just empty lots now. And if you're interested, the city has a plan for revitalization of the area into a "gentrified arts community" and identified many of the warehouses on Hardisty as "potential for loft developments". Probably won't happen for a while, though.

http://thunderbay.ca/index.cfm?fuse=html&pg=5032

My earliest memories are just after they redid the street, putting in trees and stuff. If it wasn't for the run down buildings, it would be a beautiful neighbourhood. All the trees are about two storeys tall now, it's very nice. We just need to increase desirability.

I'm working on a new version of that transit map too, I'm going to make it larger and add bus routes, etc. It'll be a while, but it looks really good now. Much better than the one I posted.

[shreddog]

Yeah I remember when it burned down and you're right, the belief was that it was self induced. Funny the restaurant was still doing well from what I remember.

Can't picture Alves - based on your previous posts I had actually assumed that you lived above Hornets. As bad as the section around Dease is, for me it's sadder to see the emptiness down towards the subway. I remember when that was happening from Wenzels, Larry Joy, European Bakery, etc, etc and of course Cherry's Corner and Nippers. Funny, I can still picture crowds on those sidewalks. Of course back then that whole area was still a "nice" neighbourhood for the lower class.

It will be interesting to see how an arts community spin will work. While I hope it will be successful, I just don't think the critical mass is there. I wish I had the answer since there is so much potential there - good infrastructure, central location, etc. But of course T Bay's not in the shadow of the GTA and the there really isn't much to fuel any growth.

Cheers.

[vid]

"Can't picture Alves"

White building with the ugly blue thing on top, it was directly across from the Simpson Hotel. It's beside Courtesy. (They just replaced all their large new modernist windows from when it was built with tiny ones from Northern Windows next door, it's sad to see but they are more efficient.) I don't know where Hornets is/was, I don't quite recognize the name. (I recognize it but don't know where it was)

European Bakery and Nippers are still open (The PAer in me prefers Carrie's Corner. They're better than Nipper's, but so far away. ) but those other places are closed. Wenzel's building is in pretty good shape, though. The subway is full of urine, so I don't use it. I prefer the bridge anyway, it has a view.

"But of course T Bay's not in the shadow of the GTA and the there really isn't much to fuel any growth."

Not right now, but if the city is successful and gets the new consolidated court house in the south end, it probably will go along Victoria or Miles somewhere, which is close enough to have some sort of effect. The neighbourhood has lost a few bars, so it isn't full of crime, it's just empty and neglected. Academy Heights and even parts of Northwood and Jumbo are worse than Simpson at times now, the traffic is there, people just need to get over what it was like a few years ago, and start taking care of it again. United Way's Action for Neighbourhood Change just wrapped up, and has established a lot of community groups in the neighbourhood, we even have a neighbourhood newsletter, so we're improving but slowly. The court house would help a lot. The new bio-medical sector which the city is excelling in could also help the neighbourhood if they could get a bio-medical company to locate here. (Probably not likely though, the trains create a lot of dust, my apartment is covered in train dust. ) And like I mentioned (if I mentioned it) the new arena doesn't have a definite location (LU wants it, but that's far away, and Marina Park isn't big enough until NW Wood Preserves goes under, which will probably be soon with the state of forestry) and the area at the corner of Simpson and Cumming which is largely vacant is a good spot.

Another thing I should mention: There isn't as much litter here as there was in Academy Heights along Oliver Road. I noticed that as we moved in. I was expecting more, but the area is very clean. I've only seen about 5 or 6 needles in the past 6 months. When I was younger and my aunt lived here, we'd find them daily in the back alley or along the sidewalk.

And another thing about the arts; A little building at the corner of Ogden across from the stained glass studio (Klywicz? I'm pretty sure it's something Polish anyway) was fixed up and it's now called "SoHo Gallery"; they rent out space for business get togethers (like a party I guess?) or art shows or whatever. I haven't seen it occupied, but it had it's own article in the newsletter.

[softee]

Here are a couple of pics of the new Future shop at Northgate Shopping Centre, the actual store is hidden behind the mall parking garage, so to make sure people know it's there, they went totally crazy with the sign!



You can see this thing from miles away at night!

[shreddog]

Okay, I now know where Alves is .. too bad I wasn’t looking to my right when I took this picture!



“Hornets Sports Centre” is that ugly 2 storey bldg on the east side of Simpson on the NE corner with Bethune – across from the hdwe store (or at least it used to be ) and Rocco’s tailor (now closed) – and kitty corner to Boyles. The first floor of Hornets is sort of a bingo hall/pawn shop and there’s apartments up top.

Nice to hear some good news about the strip, but like I said, you can’t imagine how alive it was 30 years ago. Sigh.

Any idea on the story of this mural?



Took the photo this June and didn’t have a chance to stop and check it out.

[vid]

First up:

The historic Bank of Commerce building has been saved!! Habib Architects purchased the building today, and will save the façade!! The burned out portion of the building will be demolished and the façade will remain standing at the site, pending a future project.

TBSource story | My blog

Oh, and the off-leash dog park opened today.

==

Originally Posted by shreddog

Okay, I now know where Alves is .. too bad I wasn’t looking to my right when I took this picture!

That's ok, the building is really quite unsightly.

Originally Posted by shreddog

“Hornets Sports Centre” is that ugly 2 storey bldg on the east side of Simpson on the NE corner with Bethune – across from the hdwe store (or at least it used to be ) and Rocco’s tailor (now closed) – and kitty corner to Boyles. The first floor of Hornets is sort of a bingo hall/pawn shop and there’s apartments up top.

Now I know what you mean, the faux-half timber. I got a lot of my childhood toys from that place, back when "toys" mean large plastic things that stayed outside.

Originally Posted by shreddog

Any idea on the story of this mural?



Took the photo this June and didn’t have a chance to stop and check it out.

The mural was made by students at (Westgate? Maybe Churchill? One of them) High School, as part of a local project to add murals to ugly buildings to make the area less unsightly. That particular mural is a generic cross-section of Thunder bay history and geography; Terry Fox's run, the forest (indeed, a terrible rendering of the forest, but the forest none the less), the sun rising over the sleeping giant and the city below (I'm assuming the centrepiece is supposed to be from the angle if Hillcrest park. Oh, if only our skyline was that big!), and fur traders and natives on the right. Before that picture was put up, the entire façade there was the black paper stuff. The main floor is vacant but the upper floor is occupied.

There is another mural up the street...



...which was supposed to represent multiculturalism, but the District Health Unit build a little red building on front of it, and you can only see a small portion between buildings. The building it is painted on is some sort of workshop, they build stuff out of wood. Supreme Cleaners moved to some other place.

And I just remembered - The stained glass studio is called Kleewyck, it's in two buildings. One is their showroom, the other is their studio. Soho Locale Gallery is having some sort of green presentation, but as I went by in a vehicle (four times!) today, I could not read the whole thing.

[vid]

This is the updated version of the image I made the other day. I added a couple more lines and changed some names. The overground LRT line would be located where the CN right of way is now. They only use it once or twice a day now since they've scaled back their service, and there is talk of the city forcing them to re-reroute as it occasionally inconveniences and endangers drivers in intercity. Many of their crossings don't have crossing arms and malfunction frequently. In fact, a train almost hit a bus I was on a few weeks ago, and had it been going faster than 20km/h, it probably would have hit cars, too. It had to use it's horn to warn them. The black and orange line is a subway under Victoria. The street is too built up for LRT to go through though it might be possible down a centre median, but that would require widening the street and in a few places that would be impossible without demolishing buildings. The line would terminate below the east side of Victoriaville Mall, where the Capitol Theatre used to be.

Obviously, this plan would be for the future, when the population is high enough to sustain something like this. So far, the traffic capacity would probably be able to fill an LRT train during peak times, especially between the cores and through intercity, but economically it wouldn't be feasible. The only BRT and Express lines which would be viable would be the Port Arthur--Intercity and McIntyre. Both trams would be viable, but the Port Arthur one would be more successful, until the Simpson Street area improved.

The difference between BRT and Express Bus is that BRT would be able to have a right of way (Though the McIntyre line running down Algonquin might damage the trees on that street, in which case it would have to go down Junot, but would then be unable to serve College Heights)



I started some bus routes but didn't think the system I had worked (15 and 30 minute frequency routes feeding to the RT lines) so I'm going to try and re-work it.

^ Nice work with the map.

[Koolfire]

It makes much more sense to get the right of way from CP? (the one that runs along Lake Superior) for LRT. That would hit most of the major areas (Airport, Westfort, Downtown FW, Simpson St, Intercity, Walmart and surrounding stores, Downtown PA/Marina, Boulevard Lake and Current River) All in one line with no need for underground and with a lot of infrastructure like bridges in place already. That would eliminate the need for CN LRT line (as there's is nothing between Intercity and Airport worth stopping at), FW tram, Westfort BRT, and Current River Express bus.

[Danny D]

That map looks good Vid.

Im waiting for the news that a developer has been found for the waterfront. since the EOI expired on the first.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Koolfire

It makes much more sense to get the right of way from CP? (the one that runs along Lake Superior) for LRT. That would hit most of the major areas (Airport, Westfort, Downtown FW, Simpson St, Intercity, Walmart and surrounding stores, Downtown PA/Marina, Boulevard Lake and Current River) All in one line with no need for underground and with a lot of infrastructure like bridges in place already. That would eliminate the need for CN LRT line (as there's is nothing between Intercity and Airport worth stopping at), FW tram, Westfort BRT, and Current River Express bus.

CP's line is active, though. The method for using the CN line was that it's now underused and on the verge of being abandoned anyway. If they used the CP line, it would be too detached from most places. While the CN line runs through the city, the CP line runs beside it. People in Current River would walk down to the ship yard to catch an LRT, and the CP line is far enough from downtown FW that they probably wouldn't bother, while the CN line would go into the centre of it all. The CP line runs about 500m away from Intercity Mall and 250m away from Wal-Mart, so a connection to anything in intercity isn't viable. The CN line runs about 20m from Intercity Mall, and about 50m from Wal-Mart. The Fort William Tram would be beneficial either way, as the neighbourhood had a tram until about 60 years ago. The lines are still under the street in some places. When they dug up Cumberland Street a couple years ago, they ripped out the old tram lines at the same time, they had been there since the 1880s.

Basically, it would be almost impossible to do so.
I haven't heard any news about the waterfront yet, and the anti-development crowd is getting louder. They've completely swung around to "just scrap the project altogether" mode, and will probably shit themselves if there is a developer. I think they've become quite content with the status quo, which is sad. Just more of that do-nothing attitude this city has too much of.

Additionally, the city will appoint Tuchenhagen to McKeller Ward in two weeks. He got less votes in this ward than Timko! And all because they want to save 30,000$. Fort Frances is spending 12,000$ to replace Tannis Drysdale with a by-election, which is about 6 times more per capita than the 30,000 required to have a democratic vote in McKeller ward.

And if Iain Angus was present, it would have failed and we would have had a by-election! Now we know why people call him Iain Anguish. :ohno: If we can't afford democracy, we certainly can't afford to give city councillors a raise, either.