Is it Mayor Fontana or Joe GONTANA?

In Tuesday’s London Free Press we read that  (Mayor Joe) ‘Fontana won’t budge’, and that he “isn’t going anywhere.”

In my opinion, if he is found guilty of today’s RCMP charges, he will be budged from office, be going somewhere where he doesn’t get to pick the menu, and known chiefly as Joe Gontana.

Because of the RCMP charges, I feel Councillor Swan’s earlier supportive words (i.e., Fontana deserved “at least a month” to answer questions about how a 2005 wedding reception was paid for) may prove prophetic. If Mayor Fontana is found guilty of several charges, he may in fact be gone - “at least a month” and maybe more.

Will the Mayor stay in office? By staying does he contribute to a positive work environment at City Hall or upon city streets?

Photos by GH

***

What say you? Gontana or Stay-Ontana?

Please click here for more about Deforest City

DeForest City Blues: Make room for trees PT 2

Concerning London’s tree cover: There’s a bigger pest than the emerald ash borer and the Japanese beetle. Most trees in DeForest City have been lost to ‘dozers, chain saws and axes wielded by an assorted collection of homo sapiens.

Politicians, policy makers, voters in favour of sprawl, home developers and designers.

From any relatively high vantage point within the city it immediately becomes evident that London is a low, wide, deforested city. The average height of all London’s building stock is likely little more than 2.50 floors. 

Once we begin to strive toward a high, compact city, a variety of trees will return, with little help from the man with the ax.  

[Photos by G.Harrison]

***

Are there bigger pests, re trees, than those mentioned?

Please click here to read Deforest City Blues: Make more room for trees PT 1

DeForest City Blues: Make room for trees PT 1

Poor city planning has contributed greatly to the deforesting of DeForest City (London, Ontario) for years. Now climate change and foreign pests are at work as well. Under attack we are, by man and pest.

["October 2 issue of London Free Press"]

We need to slow or stop the development of our city outward and repair the damage to the tree population our sprawl has caused. (A more compact city, or an upward growing city is not a new idea, just one that has been brushed aside.) We need to slow the pace of climate change in order to defend the human population and natural wonders around us. And we must make more room for trees (and natural amenities) within urban boundaries so that humans can live closer to them.

Smaller homes and apartments are in order. Less tarmac over arable land. 

Roll back 10 per cent of city streets. Rescue the land.

[Photos by G.Harrison]

***

Could a street near you be 10% narrower and still useful?

Please click here for more Live Small

Deforest City Blues: "More gated communities in the historic core?"

Will downtown London one day be home to dozens of gated communities for millionaires, young professionals and affluent empty-nesters?

It’s looking that way.

[Photo by G.Harrison]

***

Please click here for more details.

Downtown London: “Just another gated community?”

Will two Renaissance towers (or more) help rejuvenate the downtown? Yes, in some respects, perhaps as much as a tall glass of homogenized milk will quench one’s thirst.

How many millionaires, young professionals and affluent empty-nesters does it take to fill Renaissance II?

 ["Are you affluent? Have a house to sell?"]

How many reasonably-priced small, tidy apartments are being built downtown for those who will not fit into the “tower profile”?

                      

                            

["A good-sized gated subdivision?"]

[Photos by G.H. of Aug. 1 Free Press article]

***

Please click here for more about London

Photo Poser 2

Do you want to buy waterfront property?

Will new waterfront property near the Thames River come on market within 10 years?

What are you willing to pay to live at the historic Forks of the Thames?

Would you fish from your balcony?

[Photo by GHarrison]

***

Please click here to view Photo Poser 1

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Series of Significance: London’s Job Summit

The following three posts about a job summit - 135 minutes long in all - first appeared starting on August 11. They are repeated here under one roof for your convenience. No extra charge. gah

London’s Job Summit PT 1: We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?

[What is London, Ontario? “It’s a low, wide city several degrees hotter than surrounding forests and farmland, built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap.” G. Harrison, Londoner, July 28]

Tomorrow, Mayor Joe Fontana will preside over an emergency summit involving some business leaders, politicians and interested parties that will brainstorm solutions to our city’s jobless crisis.

The mayor and many others now realize that with unemployment at 9.1 per cent, the highest rate of a major Canadian city (down 3.5% over last year with reportedly 8,300 fewer people employed than in 2010), if something isn’t done now to fill the hole we will not only appear to be standing in our own grave but making it deeper.

Unfortunately, I feel the summit will fail to reverse the grave-deepening trend if local politicians and business leaders adopt one of Mayor Fontana’s mantras, i.e., that it’s only a short-term problem, that if we can get over this jobless hump we can return to business as usual.

Fontana says we need to “get over this hump for 2011,” that he’s “not so concerned about our future, but... 9.1% (unemployment) causes us all to gasp and say in the short term, there are headwinds we are facing.”

Though I appreciate his confidence and enthusiasm, feigned or otherwise, I think we need to bear the long term in mind, especially now that the ground upon which we stand is sinking.

For several decades London has been growing far, fat and wide - in pursuit of the culture of big - on the back of cheap oil. Many citizens of this fair town have made a show of prosperity with bigger properties, homes, closets, cars, pools and countless material possessions while household, provincial, national and global debt has been growing deeper.

For a dozen decades or more many cities and countries became accustomed to growing productivity on the back of finite resources, e.g., petroleum, wood and metals.

Ron Wright, in A Short History of Progress, described our prosperity in this manner:

“We in the lucky countries of the West now regard our two-century bubble of freedom and affluence as normal and inevitable... Our age was bankrolled by the seizing of half a planet, extended by taking over most of the remaining half, and has been sustained by spending down new forms of natural capital, especially fossil fuels. In the New World, the West hit the biggest bonanza of all time.”



Many citizens and businesses grew prosperous, even excessively so, and visible signs of our increasing wealth (the big houses, cars, closets, computers, etc.) became commonplace, as did associated debt.

Now, trapped by the trappings of the big lifestyle they desire and feel entitled to, many countries and cities face the long term battle of not getting buried in a grave of their own making.

Will a frozen pizza factory on the 401 bail London out? Are more companies like it the answer? Is a stimulus package that will return us to ‘business as usual’ the way to go?

I think not. The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift.

In my opinion, one part of the answer lies where some business minds would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.

.

London’s Job Summit PT 2: We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?

[“The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift. In my opinion, one part of the answer lies where some business minds would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.” G. Harrison, Aug. 11]

London’s 9.1 per cent unemployment figure has spurred Mayor Joe Fontana into action.

With “his city suddenly the poster child for tough times, Mayor Joe Fontana says he wants to take stock of where we’re at and brainstorm solutions to London’s jobless crisis at an emergency summit Friday.” (London Free Press, Aug. 11)

So, today he’ll meet with local politicians and members of business and make hash, and try to find the secret to more jobs, jobs, jobs.

The entire answer may not be found inside Fontana’s meeting venue, e.g., a large community hall.

As ‘a poster child for tough times’ as well as a poster child for the culture of big, our fair city - built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap - may find part of the answer lies inside a very small house.

Please allow me to explain.

I don’t mean the answer lies inside my humble cottage (at 1,200 sq. ft.; exterior measurement), as if to say I’m an urban planning guru of any sort. (Urban thinker, maybe, or something that rhymes with thinker).

I mean that part of the answer to future job growth lies in making the transition to building small homes and all the small scale supplies (cupboards, furniture, appliances, heating and cooling units, cars, sheds, etc.) required to outfit them.

Think 800 sq. ft. house.


[“It’s hard to think of one. We see so few!”: photo GH]

Think small refrigerator, e.g., 8 cubic ft., and two-burner stove.

Think 25 sq. ft. (e.g., 5 ft. x 5 ft.) bathroom.


[“All tiles, in 16 sq. ft.”: Little House in a Small World]

Think small furnace and AC unit.

Think sleeping berths over chests of drawers and computer desks in multi-purpose bedrooms.

Think three-wheeled, enclosed, 500 cc scooter-mobile with 2-person bench seat and 9 sq. ft. truck bed for groceries.


[“The truck for me!”: photo link]

Then think of London as the center of the small economy, cornering the market of all things for the small household and families with sustainable pay cheques.

We have no shortage of space to build and display hundreds of small scale items.

Why, one fine looking 800 sq. ft. house - designed and crafted as a joint venture between the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College - will quite easily fit in the snack food section of one of London’s lovely Walmart Super Stores.

And I can think of nothing finer than a three-wheeled scooter-mobile plant to occupy part of the soon to be closed Ford Talbotville plant on the outskirts of our city.

Small.

Why, it’s never been done. Our tourism industry will likely get a substantial shot in the arm as people come from miles around to see the creation of all things related to a sustainable, live-under-your-means lifestyle.

I think my plan will work even now, but I know for certain it will work much better once the majority of Londoners, politicians and business owners realize we’ve been digging our own grave for many decades on the back of cheap oil and we have little time left to pursue business as usual before we start digging our way out.

What do you think?

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London’s Job Summit PT 3: “We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?”

[“I can think of nothing finer than a three-wheeled scooter-mobile plant to occupy part of the soon to be closed Ford Talbotville plant on the outskirts of our city.” G. Harrison, Aug. 12]

On Friday, London’s Mayor Joe Fontana, local politicians, business leaders and interested parties participated in London’s job summit.

Ideas filled the air related to ways to stimulate the creation of good jobs for London, the city that is the current poster child for high unemployment in Canada. With Toronto at 8.3%, Montreal at 8 and Vancouver, Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo tied at 6.4%, London stands at the top of the heap with 9.1% unemployment.

According to yesterday’s issue of The London Free Press, here are but some of the excellent ideas that filled the air:

1. “politicians said times weren’t as gloomy as the high unemployment rate suggests”

(Surely then, jobs are just around the corner.)

2. “politicians pointed to developing along Hwys. 401 and 402 as a key to future plans”

(Jobs are guaranteed. Start lining up.)

3. “Mayor Joe Fontana let slip his ambition to serve a second term”

(Several really good jobs are likely going to be up for grabs. Comb your hair and brush your teeth asap for an interview.)

4. “Tory MP Ed Holder (London West) said his government had done its part...”

(Hundreds of full-time jobs are essentially on their way to London. Don’t forget to gargle.)

5. “Liberal MPPs Chris Bentley, Khalil Ramal and Deb Matthews lauded the province’s growth record...”

(Are you kidding me? You’re not hired yet?)

6. The construction trades called for more construction, home builders for more homes and realtors for a streamlined process at city hall.

(I can hear them calling now. “We want to construct! We want to build! We want to sell!” Anyone got a bag of hammers and a box of nails? Anyone? Anyone?)

By now, many of the unemployed will realize their future is in good hands and they’ll be on a job site by Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

Though my idea about turning London into the building center of all things small wasn’t mentioned (re small homes, all items that go into small homes, small vehicles, etc.), I’m not discouraged. The jobs coming down the pike (Oh, they’re inevitable. “In five years, London will be the nation’s most prosperous city,” says London’s Mayor Joe Fontana according to the Free Press, Aug. 13) will surely support London in a sustainable fashion until they can’t anymore.

Though one observer said, “This meeting was 95% chest pounding and patting on the back” (KWM) I feel we should be thankful we have chests and backs. And now, thanks to the 135-minute long job summit, we also have jobs coming out of our ears.

Mystery jobs, yes. But jobs nonetheless.

***

Please click here to read about The Culture of Small.

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London’s Job Summit PT 3: “We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?”

[“I can think of nothing finer than a three-wheeled scooter-mobile plant to occupy part of the soon to be closed Ford Talbotville plant on the outskirts of our city.” G. Harrison, Aug. 12]

On Friday, London’s Mayor Joe Fontana, local politicians, business leaders and interested parties participated in London’s job summit.

Ideas filled the air related to ways to stimulate the creation of good jobs for London, the city that is the current poster child for high unemployment in Canada. With Toronto at 8.3%, Montreal at 8 and Vancouver, Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo tied at 6.4%, London stands at the top of the heap with 9.1% unemployment.

According to yesterday’s issue of The London Free Press, here are but some of the excellent ideas concerning job creation that filled the air:

1. “politicians said times weren’t as gloomy as the high unemployment rate suggests”

(Surely then, jobs are just around the corner.)

2. “politicians pointed to developing along Hwys. 401 and 402 as a key to future plans”

(Jobs are guaranteed. Start lining up.)

3. “Mayor Joe Fontana let slip his ambition to serve a second term”

(Several really good jobs are likely going to be up for grabs. Comb your hair and brush your teeth asap for an interview.)

4. “Tory MP Ed Holder (London West) said his government had done its part...”

(Hundreds of full-time jobs are essentially on their way to London. Don’t forget to gargle.)

5. “Liberal MPPs Chris Bentley, Khalil Ramal and Deb Matthews lauded the province’s growth record...”

(Are you kidding me? You’re not hired yet?)

6. "The construction trades called for more construction, home builders for more homes and realtors for a streamlined process at city hall."

(I can hear them calling now. “We want to construct! We want to build! We want to sell!” Anyone got a bag of hammers and a box of nails? Anyone? Anyone?)

By now, many of the unemployed will realize their future is in good hands and they’ll be on a job site by Monday. Tuesday at the latest.

Though my idea about turning London into the building center of all things small wasn’t mentioned (re small homes, all items that go into small homes, small vehicles, etc.), I’m not discouraged. The jobs coming down the pike (Oh, they’re inevitable. “In five years, London will be the nation’s most prosperous city,” says London’s Mayor Joe Fontana according to the Free Press, Aug. 13) will surely support London in a sustainable fashion until they can’t anymore.


["Does anyone plan to build small fridges for small homes?"]

Though one observer said, “This meeting was 95% chest pounding and patting on the back” (KWM) I feel we should be thankful we have chests and backs. And now, thanks to the 135-minute long job summit, we also have jobs coming out of our ears.

Mystery jobs for now, yes. But jobs nonetheless.

***

Please click here to read London’s Job Summit PT 2.
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London’s Job Summit PT 2: “We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?”

[“The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift. In my opinion, one part of the answer lies where some business minds would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.” G. Harrison, Aug. 11]

London’s 9.1 per cent unemployment figure has spurred Mayor Joe Fontana into action.

With “his city suddenly the poster child for tough times, Mayor Joe Fontana says he wants to take stock of where we’re at and brainstorm solutions to London’s jobless crisis at an emergency summit Friday.” (London Free Press, Aug. 11)

So, today he’ll meet with local politicians and members of business and make hash, and try to find the secret to more jobs, jobs, jobs.

The entire answer may not be found inside Fontana’s meeting venue, e.g., a large community hall.

As ‘a poster child for tough times’ as well as a poster child for the culture of big, our fair city - built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap - may find part of the answer lies inside a very small house.

Please allow me to explain.

I don’t mean the answer lies inside my humble cottage (at 1,200 sq. ft.; exterior measurement), as if to say I’m an urban planning guru of any sort. (Urban thinker, maybe, or something that rhymes with thinker).

I mean that part of the answer to future job growth lies in making the transition to building small homes and all the small scale supplies (cupboards, furniture, appliances, heating and cooling units, cars, sheds, etc.) required to outfit them.

Think 800 sq. ft. house.


[“It’s hard to think of one. We see so few!”: photo GH]

Think small refrigerator, e.g., 8 cubic ft., and two-burner stove.

Think 25 sq. ft. (e.g., 5 ft. x 5 ft.) bathroom.


[“All tile bathroom, 16 sq. ft.”: Little House in a Small World]

Think small furnace and AC unit.

Think sleeping berths over chests of drawers and computer desks in multi-purpose bedrooms.

Think three-wheeled, enclosed, 500 cc scooter-mobile with 2-person bench seat and 9 sq. ft. truck bed for groceries.


[“The truck for me!”: photo link]

Then think of London as the center of the small economy, cornering the market of all things for the small household and families with sustainable pay cheques.

We have no shortage of space to build and display hundreds of small scale items.

Why, one fine looking 800 sq. ft. house - designed and crafted as a joint venture between the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College - will quite easily fit in the snack food section of one of London’s lovely Walmart Super Stores.

And I can think of nothing finer than a three-wheeled scooter-mobile plant to occupy part of the soon to be closed Ford Talbotville plant on the outskirts of our city.

Small.

Why, it’s never been done. Our tourism industry will likely get a substantial shot in the arm as people come from miles around to see the creation of all things related to a sustainable, live-under-your-means lifestyle.

I think my plan will work even now, but I know for certain it will work much better once the majority of Londoners, politicians and business owners realize we’ve been digging our own grave for many decades on the back of cheap oil and we have little time left to pursue business as usual before we start digging our way out.

What do you think?

***

Please click here to read London’s Job Summit PT 1.

.

London’s Job Summit: We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?

[What is London, Ontario? “It’s a low, wide city several degrees hotter than surrounding forests and farmland, built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap.” G. Harrison, Londoner, July 28]

Tomorrow, Mayor Joe Fontana will preside over an emergency summit involving some business leaders, politicians and interested parties that will brainstorm solutions to our city’s jobless crisis.

The mayor and many others now realize that with unemployment at 9.1 per cent, the highest rate of a major Canadian city (the number employed is down 3.5% over last year with reportedly 8,300 fewer people employed), if something isn’t done now to fill the hole we will not only appear to be standing in our own grave but making it deeper.


["I kin dig a hole so deep you can't get out."]

Unfortunately, I feel the summit will fail to reverse the grave-deepening trend if local politicians and business leaders adopt one of Mayor Fontana’s mantras, i.e., that it’s only a short-term problem, that if we can get over this jobless hump we can return to business as usual.

Fontana says we need to “get over this hump for 2011,” that he’s “not so concerned about our future, but... 9.1% (unemployment) causes us all to gasp and say in the short term, there are headwinds we are facing.”

Though I appreciate his confidence and enthusiasm, feigned or otherwise, I think we need to bear the long term in mind, especially now that the ground upon which we stand is sinking.

For several decades London has been growing far, fat and wide - in pursuit of the culture of big - on the back of cheap oil. Many citizens of this fair town have made a show of prosperity with bigger properties, homes, closets, cars, pools and countless material possessions while household, provincial, national and global debt has been growing deeper.

For a dozen decades or more, many cities and countries have become accustomed to growing productivity on the back of finite resources, e.g., petroleum, wood and metals.

Ron Wright, in A Short History of Progress, describes our prosperity in this manner:

“We in the lucky countries of the West now regard our two-century bubble of freedom and affluence as normal and inevitable... Our age was bankrolled by the seizing of half a planet, extended by taking over most of the remaining half, and has been sustained by spending down new forms of natural capital, especially fossil fuels. In the New World, the West hit the biggest bonanza of all time.”


["I'm jist lookin' fer the right way to turn."]

Many citizens and businesses have grown prosperous, even excessively so, and visible signs of increasing wealth (the big houses, cars, closets, computers, etc.) are commonplace, as is associated debt.

Now, trapped by the trappings of the big lifestyle they desire and somehow feel entitled to, many countries and cities face the long term battle of not getting buried in a grave of their own making.

Will a frozen pizza factory on the 401 bail London out? Are more companies like it the answer? Is a stimulus package that will return us to ‘business as usual’ the way to go?

I think not. The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift away from the culture of big.

In my opinion, one part of the answer will be found where some business minds (especially in the home construction industry) would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.

***

Please click here to read more about The Culture of Small.

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Upside, Downside: Air conditioning vs neighbourhood cohesion

[London is already a “heat island”, a low, wide city several degrees hotter than surrounding (and shrinking) farmland and forests, that was built in sprawling and extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap. G. Harrison, It Strikes Me Funny, July 21]

I wrote about air conditioning recently, and as per usual, what I said was bang on. Not a loud, important bang, mind, but still...

For example, London is certainly a heat island.

And when temperatures rise to ‘hot, hotter, hottest’, many Londoners add to the problem.

I.e., they crank up countless a/c units, cool off businesses, homes and vehicles artificially, and create more heat and carbon emissions at the same time.

The whole process is really a Catch-44 situation (twice as bad as a Catch-22).


["Can we use the a/c sparingly, even on hot days?": photos GH]

Last night, while generating another kind of heat on my exercise bike, I read the following comment about air conditioning:

Some people credit the arrival of air conditioning with the decline of neighborhood cohesion, especially in the South. (pg. 79, Little House on a Small Planet)

I found the sentence interesting because air conditioning has another colourful chapter in its life story, and we can now blame the entire fall of neighbourhood cohesion on the southern US.


["My front porch lines up with my closest neighbour's. Excellent."]


["The four chairs get a lot of use during three seasons."]

I suppose the advent of a/c, whether in the South or in Canada, drew people indoors during hot days or evenings and off their front stoops, steps, lawns and verandahs. Some people would say, “Forget about sitting under the elm tree with the neighbours. Let’s go inside, sit right in front of our new major appliance and listen to the next exciting episode of ‘The Cisco Kid’ on the radio.” (Up north it would be ‘Front Page Challenge’ on TV. That’s only if I got the decade right. I probably didn’t. Sorry, I digress).

Others would say, “I like chatting with the neighbours and passersby as they wander listlessly around the block in their undershorts to escape the heat, but I’d much rather sit indoors now and play with all the dials on our new air conditioner that’s the size of a refrigerator.”

And who could blame them?

Certainly not me. I too have a fascination with dials and push buttons and mysterious widgets. “Forget the instruction book,” I often say to my wife. “Let’s see if I can blow another fuse.”

A second comment from Little House on a Small Planet is closely linked with the first one mentioned:

Front porches in neighborhoods used to serve as telephones and TV sets; they announced to neighbors you are available to chat, and livened up the street life for those out on an evening stroll.

It makes me think there is much to be gained by making an effort to reduce our dependence on artificially cooled air indoors.

Though some people need a/c in order to survive our hot weather, perhaps if more of us tried to cool off in more natural ways, i.e., by walking or cycling about our neighbourhoods more often (not in our undershorts, please), sitting in shade islands provided by healthy trees on the front lawn, or catching a wee breeze on the front porch, we could reduce carbon emissions while, at the same time, growing more connected to the neighbours we live amongst and neighbourhoods we live within.

Do you think a/c is related to the decline of community cohesion?

Can the telephone and TV be added to the equation?

Is the South really to blame?

***

Please click here to read ‘As temperatures rise, Londoners create more heat.’

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London’s Priorities: Economy, excess, entertainment, environment, eggs

[“At this critical juncture in our history on Earth, we are asking the wrong questions. Instead of “How do we reduce the deficit?” or “How do we carve out a niche in the global economy?” we should be asking, “What is an economy for?” and “How much is enough?” What are the things in life that provide joy and happiness, peace of mind and satisfaction? Does the plethora of goods that our high-production economy delivers so effectively provide the route to happiness and satisfaction, or do the relationships between human and nonhuman beings still form the core of the important things in life? Is the uniformity of food and other products that we now encounter everywhere on the globe an adequate substitute for the different and the unexpected?” pg. 298, The Sacred Balance, by David Suzuki]

I may have my city’s priorities out of whack.

Its priorities may be “economy, economy, economy, excess, entertainment, environment, eggs.”

Environment may even come after eggs. I may have to do an egg-spensive study to be sure.

People, we live in very interesting times, do we not?

For most people the economy comes before all else. And for certain, the entertainment section in local papers - just the movie listings alone - is always twice as long (at least) than articles about environmental concerns, reparations or improvements in the fair to middlin’ four-way crossing we call home.

Why, federally (correct or quote me if I’m wrong), we have a Conservative government that wouldn’t say ‘environment’ even if it had a mouth full of it.


Locally, we usually do a bit better than that, except when economic matters hit a rough patch, which is now - in the minds of many - most of the time.

When the economy is doing poorly, many other priorities suffer. Not excess and entertainment particularly (“We must have our mega-burgers and movies!”), but for certain, the environment and eggs, or eggs and the environment (you decide the order).

I began thinking about our unbalanced priorities after reading The McLeod Report.ca, London News, July 21.

City councillor Denise Brown, about her new position on council, said the following:

“It’s a full-time job, but it doesn’t feel like a full-time job.”

What frustrates her though, is the time it takes to get things done. Among the distractions she cites the renewed debate over chickens in the backyard...

“Do I want my neighbours to have chickens next to me? No. I know the animals chickens attract and that’s an issue and it will only get worse.”

On what should council be focusing? Jobs, she says without hesitation. “We need to get businesses into London. We need to make London very attractive to big business. We need lots of jobs.” (Phil McLeod)


["Dear Ann, Can we talk about chickens today?"]

And in Denise Brown’s world, and many other’s as well, when people focus on the economy and jobs, i.e., properly, as in ‘above all else except fat hamburgers and fabulous movies,’ there is no time for environmental concerns or interests. Discussion? Humbug. Factory farms will supply everyone with eggs. Forget self-reliance. Forget doing something different or unexpected. Forget backyard coops. They’ll attract vermin. Next!

Are jobs important? Of course they are. But, as far as I’m aware, good jobs are not disconnected from the environment around us.

David Suzuki writes:

Some people believe that a clean environment is only affordable when the economy is strong, but in fact, it’s the other way around; the biosphere is what gives us life and a living. Human beings and our economies have to find a place within the environment. The economic assumption that endless growth is not only necessary but possible is suicidal for any species that lives in a finite world. (pg. 298, The Sacred Balance)

Rather than fewer discussions about chickens, perhaps more are needed, along with discussions about other topics that focus on a healthy connection with our natural surroundings.

If time allows, we could discuss the vermin already at home in London and what drew them here. Was it backyard chickens?

And we could discuss the city’s priorities too. I may have them out of whack.

***

Please click here for a few words about our unnatural surroundings.

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Letter to the Editor: PT2 “Chickens are different than dogs, but better.” Hmmm.

I agree with a recent letter to the London Free Press by R. J. Sayler that claims chickens are better in some way than dogs.

If you were to invest money in one animal or the other, and love the taste of eggs and chicken wings, then chickens would be the better deal. Right?

“Chicken food is cheaper than dog food.” (RJ)

And that too, I suppose.

RJ concludes his recent letter to the Free Press by saying, “So give chickens a break, as long as they are kept in reasonable numbers.” (June 25)

I agree with that too, as far as backyard chicken coops are concerned, and feel City Hall’s continued resistance to the idea is short-sighted.


[“Connect with nature; run with the chickens.”]

London is addicted to the culture of big - “This was wonderful when gas was cheap, but it’s not anymore” - and because much of our lifestyle revolves around driving almost everywhere to get what we need or want, we appear to be “raising the future generation of hospital patients... (with) alarming childhood obesity trends... we need to turn our cities into exercise machines.” (Avi Friedman, June 2, The Londoner)

Though we likely need to do 101 more things for ourselves, or become more self-reliant in a myriad of ways, building a coop and raising a few hens is not a bad place to start.

We walk on cement sidewalks, ride on tarmac streets, drive everywhere in fossil-fuel powered metal shells, live much of our lives surrounded by glass, steel, brick and mortar, thereby isolating ourselves daily from the benefits of our natural surroundings. Countless miles of asphalt cover fertile acreages, sprawling subdivisions shrink our contact with living green spaces and big-agri chemicals foul our streams and rivers. The more “modern” we grow the more ways we cut off our five senses from Mother Earth.

Though City Hall will continue to resist the notion of coops, the rising price of fossil fuels will one day spark a greater interest in doing more for ourselves.

Too bad the door won’t open a crack to the possibility of practicing a few natural, sustainable skills today.

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Please click here to read PT1 “Chickens are different than dogs, but better.”

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Letter to the Editor: “Chickens are different than dogs, but better.” Hmmm.

A recent letter to the Free Press by R. J. Sayler made the claim - wait for it! - that chickens are better in some way than dogs.

RJ begins by asking, “What’s the difference with chickens? Why are all the politicians so scared of chickens?” (June 25, London Free Press)

Then RJ mentions some differences between dogs and chickens, and the chickens come out on top, in his opinion.

“Everybody is allowed to have dogs but not chickens.” (I.e., here in London).

“Chicken food is cheaper than dog food.”

RJ says he likes waking up to the sound of chickens but doesn’t like the three dogs across the street that “bark at everything all night every night.”

“Dog poop smells worst and only ends up in the garbage. Chicken poop makes good fertilizer for your garden.”

“Unemployed people in London can eat the eggs... even the chicken if need be.”

RJ concludes by saying, “So give chickens a break, as long as they are kept in reasonable numbers.”


["Will chickens be run out of town? Too bad."]

Though I don’t think - like RJ - that “all the politicians” are “so scared of chickens,” I do feel there will be continued resistance to the idea of backyard coops, even “in reasonable numbers,” for many more years.

And that’s short-sighted on our part as a modern, creative city.

I hope small backyard coops become the norm in all corners of our fair city in my lifetime.

(I’m 61 now, plan to live 44 more years, beat my great-grandmother Lucille Gordon’s age and set at least one world record hockey in senior’s hockey. Maybe I’ll go for the “Keep Your Stick on the Ice - Most Consecutive Years” or “Most Goals in the Same Pants”. Sorry, I digress).

One might ask, “Short-sighted?”

Yes. More to follow.

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Please click here to read more about our fair city.

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Live Small and Prosper: PT 4 London - The Healthier City

[“We became addicted to the culture of big. This was wonderful when gas was cheap, but it’s not anymore.” Avi Friedman, architect, urban thinker, June 2, The Londoner]

If it’s not impossible - and it’s not; it will just seem that way - London should begin the process of adopting the culture of medium and small in as many ways as possible, as soon as possible, if leaders and residents desire it to become a healthier city.

Whatever aspect of life comes up for discussion, whether related to our needs (such as food, clothing, shelter) or wants (such as transportation, communication, recreation), we must find ways to allow the culture of medium and small to take precedence over big.

Of course, some readers may have guessed I was going to say something like that. They know well enough that “live small, live simply” is my motto. And it’s fair of someone to ask, how can a dominant culture be reversed?

I’m not entirely sure. I’m going through the very slow process of just getting my own house in order. I’m decluttering, I’m reducing my spending, I’m paying down debt, I’m saving for the tough times ahead, I’m trying to walk with a small footprint and make sound environmental choices so my grandkids will have a chance to enjoy some of the many aspects of life I enjoy myself, I’m trying to stay fit and healthy (and get healthier) while having a bit of fun at the same time. But I’m barely scratching the surface of “a completely healthy life” (let alone “healthier”), in my opinion.

That’s right, I haven’t lost the extra 15 pounds attached to my waist, haven’t signed up yet for that half-marathon or faster 10 km. road race.

Still, by thinking medium (or thinking small, in place of big) on a regular basis, I think it wouldn’t take long - three weeks, tops - for the culture of medium to take root.

Let me give you an example.

Recently, I read a letter to the editor that decried the use of large tracts of fertile farmland for huge single-family homes on Col. Talbot Road in London.

“Why is prime agricultural land not being protected from developers? In this age of global warming, which is causing havoc on the weather and crops, rising global demand for food, and grain is being used as fuel, does no one at city hall care that prime flat agricultural land has been destroyed so that a few privileged people can sit in huge homes in what is quickly becoming less than a country setting?” (June 23, G. Hokansson, London Free Press)

Let’s apply the culture of medium to the huge homes on valuable agricultural land.


Can developers not be encouraged to replace 200 - 300 huge homes (“And now I see they want to add more stores and double the number of homes to 1,200,” says the letter writer) with medium-sized homes or a group of medium-sized apartment buildings? Some agricultural land could be preserved as a park or green space in the process.

If the next 5 or 6 developments included a parcel of small to medium homes and apartment dwellings the green space preserved would deliver many benefits to new residents.

And if the size of Talbot Village’s “monster No Frills” and aforementioned “more stores” (the writer refers to both) was trimmed by a medium amount, say 10 - 20 per cent, then the variety and choice of services and products could still be offered while preserving even more green space and accompanying benefits.

Before long the following type of conversation would be a common occurrence:

“Daddy, why do we live in a smaller house than the Joneses?”

“Maddy dear, your Mommy and I thought it was important to contribute several hundred square feet to the green space we’re now cycling through to get to your friend’s house. Isn’t it great?”

“Give me five, Dad,” says Maddy, who understands the concept of square feet better than most adults.

(The father and daughter duo exchange a high five once safely off their bikes and after matching helmets are stored in - you got it - matching backpacks).

The culture of medium and small will work out even better in hundreds of other examples.

Stay tuned.

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Please click here to read Live Small and Prosper: PT 3 London - The Healthier City.

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Deforest City Blues: PT 2 Sinkhole may lead to a big stinkhole

[“Sewers? Infrastructure? Yup, I find the whole thing fascinating.” June 24, G. Harrison]

Should London’s city hall consider public-private partnerships (P3s) to deal with its infrastructure needs (estimated at three quarters of a billion dollars)?

“Mayor Joe Fontana says city hall must consider using private financing to build future water and sewer works, an option that’s becoming more common in money-starved Canadian cities.” (June 20, P. Maloney, London Free Press)

I say, no. I say the Mayor and members of city council should do a bit of book reading and a lot of discussing and thinking first, especially thinking about the long-term consequences of P3s.


John Loxley, a Winnipeg economist and author of Public Service, Private Profits sounds a loud note of warning.

He says that though “a city such as Moncton would argue it incurred no debt for (their) new water treatment plant, there is a hidden debt in charges citizens pay - and a lease effectively is a debt, so you’re not saving anything.” (Free Press)

One reviewer of Loxley’s book writes the following:

PPPs/P3s have become all the rage amongst every level of government in Canada in recent years. 

Proponents claim P3s reduce the costs of building and operating public projects and services,that projects and services are delivered more efficiently through the P3 model, so that in the end taxpayers are better off economically and as consumers of public goods.

This book tests all of these claims, and more, finding them mostly empty, ideological assertions.

Through an exhaustive series of case studies of P3s in Canada — from schools, bridges and water treatment plants to social services and hospital food — this book finds that most P3s are more costly to build and finance, provide poorer quality services and are less accessible than if they were built and operated by public servants.

Moreover, many essential services are less accountable to citizens when private corporations are involved.

“One frightening consequence of the global financial crisis of 2008-09 is the renewed effort by private investors to force the privatization of public assets.  And their tool of choice has become the public-private partnership. 

In this devastating and incredibly timely critique, John Loxley exposes P3s for what they are: a phony fiscal shell game that enriches investors at our expense. 

This book is an essential tool in the ongoing struggle to preserve the public good.”


- Jim Stanford, Economist, Canadian Auto Workers

In my opinion, the book is essential reading for city politicians, and it wouldn’t hurt to invite John Loxley to our fair city (after all the sinkholes have been filled in) for a lengthy debate about alternatives to P3s.

In the opening chapter of his book he writes:

“Governments have generally engaged in P3s in order to spin off some element of the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of public infrastructure and services.

With P3s, the large up-front capital costs associated with infrastructure projects can either be offset and spread over a number of years through a lease or passed directly to the consumers in the form of user fees.

Private firms can assume responsibility for things that may go wrong, such as project over-runs, problems resulting from poor construction, etc.

These features can be very attractive to public sector organizations, particularly smaller municipalities with minimal capacity and large financial constraints.

They might, however, threaten labour and, as we shall see, impose costs on taxpayers that may not always be evident.”

Did the mayor say anything about user fees or other imposed costs when telling city council it “must” consider P3s? Nope. Not a single word.

If London’s city hall isn’t careful, there’s a good chance our sinkhole problem will one day be replaced by a long-term stinkhole.

And I’ve heard it said that a stinkhole by any other name (unless it’s named after the mayor) is still a stinkhole.

[A PDF file pertaining to Chapter 1 of Loxley’s book can be downloaded by using the link under a short book review here.]

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Please click here to read PT 1 Our sinkhole may lead to a big stinkhole.

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Climate Change Concerns: Trees bite the dust, temperatures rise

[“For a century or more our use of energy has altered the amount of global atmospheric carbon dioxide... (and) nature itself is giving signals that temperatures are changing as hurricane intensity increases... pine beetles are ravaging northern forests because they are no longer held in check by severe winters...” David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance]

An infestation of emerald ash borer may spell the doom of millions of trees in SW Ontario. London’s politicians were told Tuesday “the pest could ultimately kill 90% of (our) 440,000 ash trees.” (June 22, London Free Press)

Factoid - Our city is home to almost four and a half million trees. “One in ten is an ash,” says the Free Press report.

Then there’s the ravages of the pine beetle to consider.


“Mountain Pine Beetles (MPBs) have destroyed millions of pine trees, over 400 square kilometres, leaving once forested areas barren. At the current rate, 80% of mature pine trees in B.C. will be dead by 2013. Lodgepole pine, B.C.'s most commercially harvested tree, has been especially targeted which has led to millions of dollars in losses. The dead trees have contributed to releasing millions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere... In the past, cold winters have kept their numbers in check. Hot, dry summers in central B.C. and Alberta have led to an increase of MPBs, while mild winters have failed to kill off the insect's larvae. (link to Tree Canada)

As seen above, economic losses are solidly linked to environmental degradation. And our excessive carbon emissions from heavy industrialization creates a Catch 22 scenario. Rising temperatures leads to tree loss via MPBs, which leads to the release of more carbon.

The majority of London’s ash trees will likely bite the dust. ReForest London’s project of planting one million trees in ten years is timely and deserves our support.

Efforts to reduce consumption, industrialization and carbon emissions must also be supported.

This from D. Suzuki’s The Sacred Balance:

“Knowing that oil and gas will run out, that using them creates health and environmental problems and that there will be unpredictable climatological effects, we must clearly govern our use of energy within a program of ecological sustainability. Coal and peat deposits are vast, but they release even more greenhouse gases and are a greater problem.”

Until alternative energy sources are on line, live small.

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Please click here for more Climate Change Concerns.

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Deforest City Blues: Our sinkhole may lead to a big stinkhole

["How can anything about sewers be interesting? Just wait and see." June 23, G. Harrison]

London Mayor Joe Fontana described one of his ideas as radical, which may be the half of it.

Oh, it’s radical all right. It may be just the thing (along with other ideas like it) that may set him up for a second term as mayor. And it may cost Londoners more money for some infrastructure in the long-term, long after he’s retired to his ranch north of town.

His idea? He says ‘city hall must consider using private financing to build future water and sewer works, an option that’s becoming more common in money-starved Canadian cities.’ (June 20, P. Maloney, London Free Press)

Deforest City’s public infrastructure needs (about three-quarters of a billion dollars worth) may weigh heavily on the Mayor’s mind after a recent sinkhole appeared out of the blue - actually, out of the murk - at Richmond and Oxford.

A second term as our mayor may also be on his mind. If city hall allows the private sector to bear some infrastructure costs, Fontana may be able to freeze water and sewer rates in 2012. Then, who knows? Maybe he could swing freezes for three or four successive years and ride ‘the big waive’ all the way to a second term in the mayor’s chair.


[Photo by R. McDermott. Link to article]

What he definitely doesn’t say is that by inviting private enterprises to bear infrastructure costs now, taxpayers could face a burdensome stinkhole later.

Fortunately, Free Press writer Patrick Maloney presents another side to the story and mentions that John Loxley, a Winnipeg economist and author (of such books as Public Service, Private Profits and Transforming or Reforming Capitalism) “warns the deals pose ‘long-term inflexibility’ for cities and may end up costing them more.”

Costing them more?

As we think about how deep the Richmond/Oxford sinkhole used to be, maybe we should consider how deep costs could get - now there's a stinkhole - in the future with public-private partnerships (P3s).

More to follow.

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Please click here for more Deforest City Blues.

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Live Small and Prosper: PT 3 London - The Healthier City

[“We are raising the future generation of hospital patients,” he said, referring to alarming childhood obesity trends. “We need to turn our cities into exercise machines.” Avi Friedman, architect and urban thinker, June 2, The Londoner]

I think the culture of big will slow London’s progress toward becoming a healthier city, in more ways than one.
As fuel prices rise, our spread-out city, our mega-malls, our mega-car-lifestyle (“A lifestyle where cars are used to get absolutely everywhere” Friedman) will hang around London’s waist like a dead weight, just as the extra 15 pounds I’ve added since hanging up my long-distance sneakers in 2007 keep me from hopping off my front steps and stepping right into a half- or full-marathon program today.

When Friedman addressed planners, politicians and students at the Coldstream Community Centre in Middlesex Centre in May, he said that “municipalities need to become more walkable,” that neighbouring municipalities need to be logically linked via bike paths “to create healthy, alternative transportation networks.” Green spaces and “beautiful parks in every nook and cranny” were rated highly as well.

What Friedman says is true. Alternative transportation corridors need to be expanded in London to prevent future health care problems and costs.

However, in my mind, the culture of big has extended its grip to shape more than our short-sighted transportation choices and affect more than related health care costs. It affects just about every aspect of our lives.

Our Big Basics include...

Food - mega-agricultural systems and promotion industries affect most components of our food supply. Poor food choices cause heavier weights as well

Clothing - the mega-fashion and apparel (and promotion) industries have encouraged many to grow walk-in closets to the size of dining rooms

Homes - developers have grown the sq.-footage of the average home over the years. Furnishings now cost $35,000 or more per house. Home owner debt is at a record high.

Our Big Wants include a growing thirst for the following, and more...

Transportation - “People now spend an average of five years of their lives driving and installing fridges and televisions in SUVs to enable a lifestyle where cars are used to get absolutely everywhere.” Avi Friedman


["Londoners once travelled to the Crystal Palace by electric tram": photo link]

Communication - connectivity devices abound with endless applications and real and imagined benefits

Recreation - opportunities abound. Entertainment sections of many local papers outweigh world, business and environmental news combined

In just about every aspect of our lives, the culture of big possesses a strong grip, but is also linked to dire consequences for present-day and future generations, and for our natural surroundings or environment, as CO2 emissions rise from excessive industrialization and contribute to global warming.

One might ask, “Are we eating ourselves to death? Are we entertaining ourselves into oblivion?”

Yes, quite possibly. At the very least, the culture of big in all its forms is not necessarily making us, our cities and surroundings any healthier. And it’s more of a progress-buster than 15 pounds of excessive weight around a waist.

What measures can a city take to grow healthier?

Let me think about that.

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Please click here to read PT 2 London - The Healthier City.

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It Strikes Me Funny: You can knock, but nobody’s home

Some of you may know I have an interest in birdhouses. Building them. Photographing them. Looking inside to see if anybody’s home.

In Harris Park, London, there are birdhouse sculptures that I find very interesting. Or as Artie Johnson used to say on Laugh-In in the 1970s, “Velly intellesting.”


The 6 - 8 birdhouses in the park are on sturdy poles. Very good. They are made of metal... aluminum perhaps. The sculptures will last for 100s of years. Excellent value for the money. And some are in shaded nooks so that high interior temperatures won’t bake the inhabitants. Good thinking.


["Photos of the sculptures by GH"]


I only see one problem. The hole is an illusion. It’s a black sticker, not an actual hole or entrance. Any bird that tries to enter "a sculpture" will bust a beak.

I like the idea of ‘birdhouses as art, e.g., folk art,’ but there’s another idea I like even better.

My recommendation: Besides planting one million trees in the next ten years (our Mayor suggested we do it in five), we should place real birdhouses (preferably made from decent lumber) in Harris Park to complement or increase the beneficial side of our green spaces.

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Any other ideas?

Please click here for more It Strikes Me Funny.

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