Cord Community Edition, November 2012 by Cord Community

INSIDE

A history of

Waterloo’s Bullish real estate market. See Page 14

See Page 11 NOVEMBER ISSUE VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 COMMUNITY.THECORD.CA

ART IN THE DIGITAL AGE See Page 18

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

75 University Ave. W Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 519-884-0710 x3564 Volume 1, Issue #1 Next issue: November 15, 2012 Advertising All advertising inquiries should be directed to Angela Endicott at 519-884-0710 x3560 angela.taylor@wlusp.com Associate Editor H.G. Watson hwatson@thecord.ca Publisher Bryn Ossington Bryn.ossington@wlusp.ca Editor-in-Chief Justin Fauteux jfauteux@thecord.ca Creative Designer Taylor Gayowsky Taylor.gayowsky@wlusp.ca Photography Manager Nick Lachance nlachance@thecord.ca

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 News 8 Urban Exploring 10 Community Conversations 11 Urban Legend: The story behind Waterloo’s favourite eatery (with one TV)

14 Housing Crunch: Inside the struggle for Waterloo’s real estate

18 Quantum Art: Learning to tinker with Waterloo’s hackers

21 Arts 23 Monthly Events

Photography Manager Kate Turner kturner@thecord.ca Copy Editing Manager Gillian Lopes CONTRIBUTORS Rebecca Allison Amy Grief Helen Hall Erin O’Neil Justin Smirlies Jody Waardenburg WLUSP ADMINISTRATION President Executive Director Advertising Manager Treasurer Vice-Chair Director Director Corporate Secretary Distribution Manager Web Developer

Emily Frost Bryn Ossington Angela Endicott Tom Paddock Jon Pryce Kayla Darrach Joseph McNinch-Pazzano Allie Hincks Angela Endicott Adam Lazzarato

The Cord Community Edition is the monthly magazine version of the Cord, the official student newspaper of the Wilfrid Laurier University community. Started in 2012, The Cord Community Edition is an editorially independent newspaper published by Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. WLUSP is governed by its board of directors. Opinions expressed within The Cord Community Edition are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial board, The Cord, WLUSP, WLU or CanWeb Printing Inc. All content appearing in The Cord Community Edition bears the copyright expressly of their creator(s) and may not be used without written consent. The Cord Community Edition is created using Macintosh computers running Mac OS X 10.5 using Adobe Creative Suite 4. Canon cameras are used for principal photography. The Cord Community Edition has been a proud member of the Ontario Press Council since 2012. Any unsatisfied complaints can be sent to the council at info@ontpress.com. The Cord Community Edition circulates monthly. Normal circulation is 33,000 and enjoys a readership of over 60,000. Cord Community Edition subscription rates are $20.00 per term for addresses within Canada. The Cord Community Edition has been a proud member of the Canadian University Press (CUP) since 2012. Campus Plus is The Cord’s national advertising agency. PREAMBLE TO THE CORD CONSTITUTION The Cord Community Edition will keep faith with its readers by presenting news and expressions of opinions comprehensively, accurately and fairly. The Cord believes in a balanced and impartial presentation of all relevant facts in a news report, and of all substantial opinions in a matter of controversy. The staff of The Cord shall uphold all commonly held ethical conventions of journalism. When an error of omission or of commission has occurred, that error shall be acknowledged promptly. When statements are made that are critical of an individual, or an organization, we shall give those affected the opportunity to reply at the earliest time possible. Ethical journalism requires impartiality, and consequently conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest will be avoided by all staff. The only limits of any newspaper are those of the world around it, and so The Cord will attempt to cover its world with a special focus on the community of Kitchener-Waterloo. Ultimately, The Cord Community Edition will be bound by neither philosophy nor geography in its mandate. The Cord has an obligation to foster freedom of the press and freedom of speech. This obligation is best fulfilled when debate and dissent are encouraged, both in the internal workings of the paper, and through The Cord’s contact with the community. The Cord will always attempt to do what is right, with fear of neither repercussions, nor retaliation. The purpose of community press is to act as an agent of social awareness, and so shall conduct the affairs of our magazine.

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

What you are holding in your hands is the result of years of work and planning from the staff and volunteers at WLU Student Publications. It is our intent to, through the creation of the Cord Community Edition, share the skills and passions of our writers, designers and photographers to the broader community by telling stories that matter to you. The idea for this publication was spawned in 2009 when former CBC Washington Correspondent Henry Champ came to speak to the staff and volunteers at WLU Student Publications. Henry, by this time retired, was insistent that he was not going to come and speak about how things were in the old days. He demanded that we give him something to research and prepare to discuss with us; he was, after all, a journalist. I suggested to him that we would like to hear from a veteran journalist that there is a future for journalism. What Henry brought to us was a challenge. He dared us to stop looking at ourselves as “student journalists” but rather as journalists who happen to be students. He encouraged us to look past the walls of the Laurier campus for our reporting and tell stories that are being missed by mainstream newsrooms. Henry was exceptionally generous with his time and even after he returned home to Washington was more than willing to help me sort through this idea of looking at our newsroom as more than a campus newsroom. Henry passed away this past September. In the many tributes that followed his death one theme was clear; Henry was a mentor to pretty much anyone who would listen. It only seems fitting that as we deliver this new publication, we do so with the same standards and integrity that the man who instigated this project espoused throughout his career. As this publication grows we hope that you will engage us and help us to tell stories that you feel matter. The power of journalism in this age is that it no longer has to be a oneway conversation. We encourage you to reach out to us with your thoughts, complaints, compliments and story ideas. We want you to hold us accountable to the standards of fine journalism that journalists like Henry Champ stood for so that you feel the same sense of pride and ownership over The Cord Community Edition that we do. Bryn Ossington is the Executive Director of WLU Student Publications and Publisher of the Cord Community Edition. He can be reached at bryn.ossington@wlusp.com

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS JUSTIN

AMY

GRIEF I am a fourth-year student at Wilfrid Laurier University where I’m enrolled in the Communications Studies program nand recently completed the Co-op option with placements in the field communications and corporate brand management. Currently the Co-Arts Editor for The Cord, I hope to pursue a career in journalism or brand marketing upon graduation. After eating at Toronto’s many Mexican restaurants this past summer, I knew I had to continue my culinary fiesta in KitchenerWaterloo; covering Holy Guacamole was the perfect place to start!

FAUTEUX I’m not sure how it happened, but — despite being born in 1990 — as a teenager, I became a big fan of Cheers. The bar wherever “everybody knows your name.” What a concept. While Ethel’s Lounge is in no way like the fictional bar run be Sam Malone, and I’m not quite at the level where everyone there does indeed know my name, it’s taken on a special significance in my life and I just had a feeling there was good story behind one of my favourite places on this Earth.

JODY

WAARDENBURG Hanging out with zombies was definitely a great way to start my day. I’ve always appreciated zombies and that whole scene, and so this was a great experience! As a photographer it was really fun to capture the process and the finished product of being “zombified”. Although it was sticky, and kind of gross, it was awesome to see how a professional would do it, even with dollar store supplies.

Reach over 30,000 readers with The Cord Community Edition

ADVERTISE WITH US! Contact our advertising department Email: angela.taylor@wlusp.com | Phone: 519 884 0710 ext. 3560

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

NEWS LRT ON TRACK

Waterloo Region enters the early stages of its transit plan

PROPOSED LRT MAP COURTESY REGION OF WATERLOO

The proposed LRT line will stretch the whole of Waterloo Region, connecting Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge. JUSTIN SMIRLIES CCE CONTRIBUTOR

he Region of Waterloo is entering the early phases of the construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system that will connect the three main municipalities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge by 2017. Until the end of November, the region will accept requests from developers to determine who will design the approximately $800-million project. “Through this process, we will identify up to three teams who then will be given the opportunity to bet on and request a proposal next year,” explained Darshpreet Bhatti, the director of the rapid transit division at the Region of Waterloo. “They will submit their submissions by the end of November, basically identifying their strengths in construction, design, operations, maintenance and finances.” Those three potential candidates for the project will be chosen by the regional council in January. The team awarded with the contract and permission to go ahead with the project will be selected by council in the summer of 2014.

“Construction will likely be two to two and a half years. We anticipate and we’re aiming to have our revenue service and our system running itself by 2017,” Bhatti added. The LRT system has been under debate since its first proposal back in 2009. According to Bhatti, the system will benefit the region – which has a population of about 500,000 people – in two ways: improved transportation and more efficient land use and growth management. By focusing the growth of the region in already built-up areas, the environment and green space of the region will be maintained, Bhatti said. “We want to protect our countryside, to maintain a good environment of this region for now and also in the future,” he continued. “Once you have that intensification coming in built-up areas you’ll have to provide options and opportunities for people so they’re able travel from an origin to their destination.” Regional council approved the route of the LRT back in June 2011, but the devel

opment team chosen for the project will make slight adjustments. The set route and station locations, however, can’t be tweaked by the developers. In addition, about eight kilometres of the route will be on existing railways and hydro corridors, therefore minimizing the impact on city streets. Bhatti noted that the rail system will be either in the middle or the curb side of the road, but road-widening will take place if required. In the past, some opposition to the LRT has arisen, notably from the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. While Cambridge will not be involved until the latter stages of the construction, the city’s representation on council approved the project last year. But small business owners, like David Worsley, the co-owner of Wordsworth Books in Uptown Waterloo, are also voicing concerns. “You’ll have to look at it from two perspectives: as a citizen, I think it’s a no-brainer that we have to reduce our carbon footprint,” Worsely explained. “As

an owner of a business that is directly going to be affected by LRT, it’s going to be problematic.” As a result of the LRT construction, small businesses that are directly affected by the rail will see an increase in their commercial rent. Worsely is no exception as a train will pass right in front of where Wordsworth Books is located on King Street. “So commercial rent, all the way up to University [Avenue] really, is going up in a big, big way,” he said. “That doesn’t come into question if LRT is a good idea or not.” Worsley added that the support for the project, in his own eyes, has been rather minimal. Even though the construction won’t be completed until 2017, Worsley and other business owners will be affected throughout the whole process. “As a business owner, I’m worried about it,” Worsley admitted.

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

Princess Cafe NOVEMBER ISSUE

THE NEWS LINE Garner out at BIA On Sept. 27 The Kitchener Post reported that Mark Garner was leaving the Kitchener Business Improvement Association for a position with the City of Waterloo. We’re sad to see him go, only because he promised to turn Kitchener into Austin, Tx. and we want more Mexican food.

Flap over swans Concerned citizens were irate that Kitchener city authorities took no action after a distressed swan perished in Victoria Park Sept. 14.

E D M Y O C H G T I N ix s

Students drunk at homecoming; also, Pope a Catholic During Wilfrid Laurier’s annual homecoming game, a student streaked — or rather dressed in women’s clothing while running — across the field during the game. Nothing was injured except his dignity.

Astro jump Felix Baumgartner safely completed a 24-mile jump from the edge of space, breaking several records along the way. That’ll show all those bullies who teased him at space jumping school.

Orange power Catherine Fife was elected in the Kitchener - Waterloo provincial byelection Sept. 5, giving the NDP a considerable leg up in provincial parliament.

Ockoberfest was a great success this year. Festival goers enjoyed drinking Canadian beer in makeshift tents — just like they do in Munich!

ost

in u Q

People drunk at Ockoberfest; also, bear pees in the forest

ed b y Ryan

9PM • $12

at the PRINCESS TWIN 46 KING ST. N. WATERLOO ADVANCE TICKETS ON SALE AT THE PRINCESS CAFE • 46 KING ST. N. www.princesscafe.ca

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

CITY OF WATERLOO | OUR COMMUNITY w2

WARD 2 COUNCILLOR

WARD 6 COUNCILLOR

WARD 5 COUNCILLOR

WARD 3 COUNCILLOR

Karen Scian

Jeff Henry

Mark Whaley

Angela Vieth

t: 519.747.8784 c: 519.807.7611 karen.scian@waterloo.ca

t: 519.747.8784 c: 519.998.5883 jeff.henry@waterloo.ca

t: 519.747.8784 c: 519.635.9436 mark.whaley@waterloo.ca

t: 519.747.8784 c: 519.807.2111 angela.vieth@waterloo.ca

The City of Waterloo is committed to being the location of choice for individuals, families and businesses. It is an ambitious vision and helps our council make decisions that move our community forward, building a desirable city for people to successfully work, live, and play. I am very excited about the work being done by our City of Waterloo Economic Development Committee (WEDC) to help us achieve this strategic commitment. This committee is composed of a talented group of dedicated citizen volunteers from a variety of economic sectors: representatives from our academic institutions, members of the development and financial communities and experienced local business owners. This is a marvelous group of strategic thinkers who bring their advice and progressive vision to council. I am joined by Councillor Vieth and Mayor Halloran as the council representatives on WEDC. The committee meets regularly to examine current trends and issues, advising staff and council on how best to foster economic development in the City of Waterloo. The committee is supported internally by our Economic Development team and our CAO. This committee is an excellent example of how the City of Waterloo reaches out to the community for expertise and perspective. It is imperative that we, as a government, continue to seek out diverse voices to join the conversation about your community.

I’m sure you’ve heard about the City of Waterloo’s new rental housing licensing bylaw. It balances the needs of property owners with the needs of residents looking for safe, adequate and properly maintained rental accommodation. License applications have been higher than expected and we are making adjustments as necessary to keep the process working well. We are continuing with team inspections to target fire prevention, building code and property standards violations all at once. We feel this approach is necessary to protect all parties involved. If you have concerns or questions about this bylaw, or would like to report an issue with a rental property, please call 519- 747-8785 or email bylaw@waterloo.ca. September marked the annual Project Safe Semester and Door Knocker programs, delivered with our partners at both universities and the Waterloo Regional Police. The rental housing licensing bylaw assisted in diffusing and managing potentially large university/college parties and many local residents responded positively, citing the month as one of the quietest Septembers in recent memory. Lastly, the Clair Lake project is finally underway. Construction began in September and will continue into 2013. We encourage you to stay informed about this project by visiting www.waterloo.ca/clairlake.

The next time you’re walking down the street look around and see all the services the City of Waterloo provides for you. Sidewalks, street lights, roadways (that are clear of snow in winter) are all provided by Waterloo. And underneath the roads, pipes that bring clean water to your tap and pipes that take what you flush down the toilet away for treatment. Also unseen is the huge network of stormwater pipes that keep the city from flooding during storms. The parks, swimming pools, arenas, woodlots and other green spaces are all managed by the city. The libraries, fire stations and bylaw enforcement all are city operations. We plant the trees in the boulevards; make programming available for soccer, hockey, baseball and a myriad of other sports for virtually every age group. We make policy on what our neighbourhoods will look like and where our businesses can grow. These are just some of the things your city does for you. And for every dollar in taxes you spend to pay for the federal, provincial, regional and local governments, the City of Waterloo does all these things and many, many more, for less than a nickel. Not a bad deal, wouldn’t you say?

Happy fall to the residents of Ward 3 and welcome to students and new neighbours! There is quite a lot going on around Waterloo these days. Check out our website at www.waterloo.ca for news and events you might be interested in. We would love your comments on our culture plan and the draft sign bylaw. I’ve heard from folks concerned about the future of portable signs. What do you think? I also want to recognize the neighbours who came together to enhance the new Canewood playground. Thanks for your hard work and contributions to a great park. The Sunnydale Neighbourhood Association recently hosted a “Welcome Back” event in September with a BBQ and social. Great turnout and lots of fun for all. This is a busy time of year, so I just want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported the Great Canadian Food Fight for the Waterloo Region Food Bank. In Waterloo Region last year, emergency food was provided to 27,000 residents. Your donations do not go unnoticed.

A Message From City of Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran ...

“

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a happy Oktoberfest this year!

You may have heard that we are developing a culture plan for the city. What does culture mean to you? Is it sports, music, art, gardening? Culture is an integral part of what makes Waterloo attractive to all who live, work and play here. How can we preserve and improve our culture? Let’s talk about it!

Autumn is such a special time of year as there are so many great community events in which to participate. We are so fortunate to live in a community with beautiful trails, parks and green space. With the leaves changing colour on the trees and the air becoming crisper outside we are reminded Visit www.waterloo.ca/cultureplan just how beautiful Waterloo Region really is and what a to answer five quick questions about the future of great place it is to live. Bundle up with your friends and culture in Waterloo. family for a lovely fall walk in Waterloo Park and then warm up with a hot apple cider at one of the many charming cafes in our vibrant UpTown core.

Visit us online and join in the conversation at P. 519.886.1550

E. communications@waterloo.ca

/citywaterloo

TTY. 1.866.786.3941

www.waterloo.ca

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

SEEKING

FLIGHT RISK

Waterloo Air Show looks for additional funding

Armchair Urban Planners Backyard Gardeners Poets & Bloggers Hockey Moms & Stay-at-home Dads Tech Workers Factory Workers Anybody who loves K-W

to Write Take Photos & Design

The Cord Community Edition

MARK HALL CCE CONTRIBUTOR

The Snowbirds perform at the Waterloo Air Show in June 2012. HELEN HALL

attend.

If you have a stake in this region, whether it be for the four years you come here to learn, or the 50 years you’ve been living here, The Cord Community Edition is for you.

EDITOR, KITCHENER CITIZEN

wo years of poor weather has reduced attendance at the Waterloo Air Show and left the organizers $350,000 in the red. David White and Richard Cooper will decide in December if they will continue to produce the show that is scheduled to be held at the Waterloo Region International Airport on June 1 and 2, 2013. White said in an interview that they will approach Waterloo Region in November to see if they can get some additional sponsorship on top of the $25,000 the Region has already committed. They will also be contacting provincial and federal government agencies looking for grants. “We can’t afford to take on the risk of losing another $250,000 next year,” White said. White said the air show has been “cursed” with two years of bad weather resulting in a $100,000-loss in 2011 and $250,000 in 2012. “You can do everything in the best way possible but if you have bad weather then it doesn’t matter,” White said. However, White said he thinks the people of Waterloo Region do enjoy the event because, even with a rainy weekend in 2012, 5,000 people paid admission to

White and Cooper met while working on the Toronto Air Show and took over producing the Waterloo Air Show in 2011. Prior to that it had been run by the Waterloo-Wellington Flight Centre for two years. While both White and Cooper work in other industries full-time, they created a company called Waterloo Air Show Inc. to run the show. “It’s great for the community and it highlights one of the Region’s greatest assets,” he said, referring to the airport. White said he and Cooper want to keep the show going. If they can secure some additional funding from the Region and other levels of government, or find sponsors who are willing to help with funds, the show will go on in June. “We don’t have a desire to make money,” White said. “We’d just like to see it break even.” “And we really need a break with the weather,” he added.

If you’re interested, send an email outlining why you’re interested to with a few samples of your work to

communityeditor@thecord.ca.

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

URBAN EXPLORING DAY OF THE DEAD

[1]

n advance of this year’s Zombie Walk (Oct. 20, kdub.ca for more information) we asked two zombie experts to help us get dead on the cheap. Karen Andraza and Dan Lauckner dropped by the office and demonstrated how easy it is to be a zombie.

[1] Andraza first applies a coat of white face paint over the skin that won’t have “wounds”. To create the wound she first applies a layer of liquid latex. Before it dries, she begins to apply a layer of toilet paper (make sure you don’t use the hard edges though). Andraza recommends allowing the paper to bunch up to give it a realistic effect. [2] As the first wound dries, Andraza applies a second layer of white facepaint (necessary for daylight zombieing or those of us with pale skin) and begins work on a mold growth — really liquid latex, oatmeal, and green face paint mixed together. [3] While the wounds are drying, Andraza adds more face make up to make our zombie a little more ghoulish. Grey paint in natural crevices plus a mix of brown eye make-up and fake red blood create an interesting mix of gore. [4] Voila! You are ready to snack on the living. Lauckner and Andraza agree that being a zombie is all about creativity. Brown rice can serve as maggots, fake flies can be pasted on to compliment that rotting effect and you can even go big with coloured contacts to be extra creepy.

[2] [4]

[3]

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

FRESH MEX

Holy Guacamole brings burrito love to downtown Kitchener

NICK LACHANCE PHOTO MANAGER

Holy Guacomole staff prepare their burritos before the lunch rush. Owner Melissa Allensen estimates they serve 150 a day. AMY GRIEF CCE CONTRIBUTOR

fter opening a mere ten months ago self-described “Fresh Mex” restaurant Holy Guacamole, located in the heart of downtown Kitchener, has been serving up freshly-made burritos, tacos and quesadillas to scores of hungry office workers. Run by Kitchener local Melissa “Birdie” Allensen, Holy Guacamole is a family operation. “I’ve worked in restaurants since I’ve been able to work. Just like Boston Pizza, stuff like that and I just loved cooking school,” explained Allenson. “My dad is actually a Red Seal Chef, so he makes all the meats and stuff. And my mom is just a really good cook.” For Allensen, serving up fresh Mexicaninspired food was a no-brainer. “Our background is Spanish so we just went with that.” Simple and delicious is the key for Allensen. “It’s like your Subway. Your Mexican Subway,” she joked.

Hailing from Chile, Allensen’s mother whips up fresh salsa — both mild and hot — along with their namesake guacamole daily. Her father seasons and slow-cooks all of the meats in-store as well. Walking into the restaurant on a cold and cloudy October afternoon, the bright yellow walls with red and green accents (to match the Mexican flag) were a welcome relief from the dreary fall weather. Unpretentious in design, the restaurant is simply laid-out with ample seating and standing room — undoubtedly to accommodate the daily lunch rush. At busy times, Allensen estimates that they serve an upwards of 150 burritos per day. “On Fridays it’s closer to 250. When we first opened we said, ‘okay if we do 50 people per day we’ll be good’ and it’s pretty much tripled, so it’s exciting.” The walk-up counter is indeed reminiscent of Subway, yet the menu, neatly-

printed on an overhead chalkboard, offers more diverse and tantalizing options. Diners can choose from a variety of meats, veggies, salsas and sauces served hot and fresh in a burrito, taco, quesadilla or salad. Providing a delicious alternative to traditional fast food, customer Sarah Michaels, who works nearby, has made Holy Guacomole a lunchtime staple. “Since the revitalization of Kitchener has moved to this end, we’ve gotten some of these great places like Holy Guacamole and I like coming here,” she said. “There’s great price, great food and it tastes fabulous.” Many self-proclaimed regulars echoed her sentiments, pleased with the freshness and value of the food. Relying only on Facebook and a website to market the restaurant, Holy Guacamole’s popularity has exploded due to wordof-mouth. Having already expanded to a

larger storefront, Allensen is looking to open a second location in the future. “Hopefully we will have a location in Waterloo,” said Allensen. “We’d like to have it within the next three years. Just like a bigger one where it’s sit-down and more of a we serve you, rather than this, which is really quick.” Trying to perfect the first year of business, Allensen believes that good customer service is integral to their success. “I want people to walk in and see a friendly staff for starters because that’s what’s bring a lot of people back is seeing how happy we are.” The staff ’s passion for their product is clear, and Allensen hopes Holy Guacamole will continue doing what it does best: serving up speedy, friendly and delicious fresh Mexican food.

NICK LACHANCE PHOTO MANAGER

The restaurant is part of the downtown Kitchener revitalization. Several new restaurants have popped up in its vicinity on Duke St.

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS W/SUSTAINABLE WATERLOO REGION

Each month we feature a conversation with one of The Cord With fall’s arrival, Ontarians are breathCommunity Edition’s partners. This month, Sustainable Water- ing a sigh of relief as they bid farewell to one of the hottest and driest summers in loo Region’s Jennifer Carreiro tells us why sustainability is good history. With global temperatures on the for the environment, and even better for business. rise, climate change has become a hot

consumption dashboard, have been met with enthusiasm throughout the student body,” notes Claire Bennett, sustainability coordinator at Wilfrid Laurier University. “Not only is Laurier’s leadership in campus sustainability a source of pride for students, it has also proven an important asset in the recruitment of prospective students.”

But where does business fit in this conversation? We spend at least 40 per cent of our weekly waking hours at our places of work, and in Waterloo Region, business accounts for a 39 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, we struggle to find ways to hold businesses to account for their environmental impact.

The call for socially-responsible organizations also extends to the workplace. People want to work for socially-responsible companies. At a recent RCI event, James Gray-Donald, VP: sustainability at real estate investment giant, Bentall Kennedy, noted that a strong climate of social responsibility within the workplace can cut the number of employees actively seeking new jobs by as much as half and increase the percentage of employees that would recommend their workplace as an “employer of choice.”

topic and it often appears the challenge falls to everyday citizens to be the change so desperately needed to mitigate, halt and reverse the looming repercussions of our changing climate.

So how can we assure business leaders, entrepreneurs and key decision makers of the value of environmental sustainability? By speaking their language. The key to demonstrating the value of integrating environmental sustainability into the operations of an organization begins and ends with the bottom line. Local environmental not-for-profit Sustainable Waterloo Region (SWR) has identified four key tenets that comprise a sound business case for environmental sustainability: risk mitigation, green branding, employee attraction and cost savings. Local businesses are taking note. With over 50 organizations currently working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through SWR’s flagship program, the Regional Carbon Initiative (RCI), it is evident environmental sustainability is gaining momentum among Waterloo Region’s leading institutions like Sun Life Financial, Grand River Hospital, Ernst & Young and the Region of Waterloo. Demand for socially-responsible business is on the rise in the marketplace. Nielsen reports that 66 per cent of consumers worldwide prefer to buy from socially responsible companies. Such is also the case with students taking the leap to post-secondary education. “The introduction of a number of campus-wide sustainability initiatives, including our real-time energy

A commitment to environmental sustainability can also mean cost savings for business. Local manufacturer Veriform has implemented more than 72 sustainability projects since 2006, including basic projects like replacing plant lighting with T5 lights and installing a tamperresistant, programmable plant thermostat and motion sensors on five bay doors. While reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent, Veriform is simultaneously seeing cost savings of over $160,000 per year. In fact, the first 37 sustainability projects resulted in an average payback period of 6.2 months and almost doubled their return on investment. It’s clear we’re on the cusp of a cultural shift in how organizations in Waterloo Region operate, integrating sustainability in their day-to-day business, with a view towards increasing their profitability while decreasing their carbon impact. And as a community that prides itself on being at the cutting edge of innovation, that this surge of organizations working to make meaningful environmental change is taking place in Waterloo Region only makes sense.

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

FEATURES

Urban Legend

The story behind Waterloo’s favourite eatery (with one TV)

NICK LACHANCE PHOTO MANAGER

JUSTIN FAUTEUX EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

tubborn and stupid.”

That’s how Glenn Smith describes himself with a laugh as he sits at the back of the Uptown Waterloo bar he’s called his own for the past 18 years. A veteran of the bar and restaurant game, Smith opened Ethel’s Lounge at the corner of King and Spring Streets in 1994 with a simple idea, driven by those two simple adjectives. “I just didn’t want to be like everyone else,” he says. “I didn’t want to open another corny-looking bar.” And since its opening, Ethel’s has developed into a local favourite. With a loyal cast of regulars and a diverse clientele that includes students, locals and those passing through town looking for a good meal, Smith can’t help but smile and crack jokes as he’s asked to describes the bar’s origins While Smith may have started a business that was different to just about anything that existed in Waterloo in 1994, he had a clear point of inspiration. A fan of the dive bars that became popular throughout the United States in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Smith wanted Ethel’s to reflect that style. However, there is one bar in particular Waterloo’s Ethel’s Lounge pays homage to: Ethel’s Lounge. The original Ethel’s was a blues club in Detroit, Mi. that had its hey day from the early 1970s to the early ‘80s. “I was familiar with Ethel’s as a blues bar,” says Smith, who’s been a devoted fan of the blues for as long as he can remember. “Just at the time that they closed was the time that I was opening here.”

Despite the light-hearted tone of this story behind the original Ethel’s and its loanshark’s-mistress owner — not to mention the fact it jokingly includes the line “Your host, Glenn will always be happy to sit at the end of the bar and swap lies with you” — there is indeed some truth behind it all. “There was a woman named Ethel and she was a loan shark’s girlfriend, not to be confused with his wife,” says Smith. “I’m not sure when it opened, probably in the ‘70s, maybe the ‘60s but it was a pretty well-known blues nightclub.” Located on Mack Avenue in East Detroit, the original Ethel’s Lounge was one of several nightclubs in the Motor City that featured nightly blues, jazz and R&B performances through the 1970s and ‘80s. The bar had a predominantly African-American clientele and played host to some of the biggest blues acts in history. Legendary blues musician Muddy Waters performed there in 1973. Albert King, one of the “three Kings of the blues guitar” — along with B.B King and Freddie King — played at Ethel’s on multiple occasions. And it was, indeed, all run by Ethel, the mistress of a Detroit loan shark. “She just passed away recently actually,” says Smith of his bar’s namesake. “I always thought of bringing her up, but I never got off my ass and did.” While Ethel never made it to Waterloo to see Smith’s creation in Uptown herself, a part of her legacy — besides, of course, her name — lives on in the second coming of Ethel’s Lounge. The bar’s sign, which typifies the dive-bar style Smith appreciates so much, complete with neon lights and a glowing tipped over glass, is the sign from the original location on Mack Avenue in Detroit. “That sign became available, obviously because the club was closing in Detroit, so I liberated it,” says Smith.

The story of the original Ethel’s — though slightly doctored — is told on the menus and website of its Waterloo incarnation.

And after a quick ride across the border in the back of the truck, some new lights and a fresh coat of paint, the sign had a new home.

“Ethel was a loan shark’s mistress from Detroit in the ‘60s. After dumping him for a better man, she relocated to the current address in Waterloo in 1994,” the story reads before explaining the inspiration for “recreating some of Ethel’s favourite southern cooking.”

And that sign, which has become an iconic logo of sorts for the bar has led to some widespread recognition for the bar. Even amongst the relatives of the original Ethel herself.

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VINTAGE PHOTOS COURTESY ETHEL’S LOUNGE

Greg Brow, a long-time employee and current manager of Ethel’s smiles in amazement as he recalls the story of an encounter one of his regular customers had while wearing an Ethel’s t-shirt.

“I was getting blues bands from New Orleans and Detroit and Chicago coming up here [to play the legion],” says Smith. “And then it morphed into Pop the Gator where we actually had a lease and I sold off my day job and kind of fell into the bar business through music.”

“One of our regulars, Jeff, was in Detroit at a Tigers game and he was wearing an Ethel’s t-shirt,” Brow begins. “This big guy in front of him, turns around and asks him ‘where’d you get that shirt? What is that?’

Smith says the space Ethel’s occupies today became available just as Pop the Gator was closing and things simply transitioned from one bar to the other. Pop the Gator is still recognized on the walls of Ethel’s, where a clock bearing its name hangs.

“And Jeff ’s just staring at him and says ‘it’s my bar back home in Waterloo.’”

One look around Ethel’s quickly reveals that there’s a story to everything that hangs on its walls. Be it the Pop the Gator clock, the Blatz beer sign, or one of the plentiful posters of concerts that took place in the area in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Of all the 41,782 seats at the Tigers’ Comerica Park, who should be sitting in front of an Ethel’s regular, wearing an Ethel’s Lounge t-shirt? “The guy just says ‘that’s my mom.’ He was sitting right in front of him and he just says ‘that’s my mom’s bar,’” recalls Brow. Perhaps, it’s not surprising that Smith took his inspiration for Ethel’s from a 1970s blues club. Growing up in Kitchener-Waterloo a lifelong blues fan, it was his love of music that got Smith into the bar and restaurant game in the first place. Well, that, and, as he jokingly puts it, “stupidity.” “I had another job years ago, a day job, for 20 years, I owned a wholesale company where we sold wholesale automotive batteries,” he says. “So out of boredom and my love of music, I used to run a legion hall in Kitchener in the ‘80s where we’d have blues bands in on Saturday night. It became so big and so popular it morphed into a bar.” Smith would move from running that legion hall in Kitchener to opening a pair of blues clubs in the 1980s: Pop the Gator on Queen Street in downtown Kitchener and the Circus Room at King Street and Stirling Avenue.

Everyone from Kiss, to Neil Young, to Steppenwolf, to Blue Oyster Cult is immortalized on the walls of Ethel’s, with countless others in between. There are even some nods to Smith’s beginnings as a blues club owner, as well as the original Ethel’s Lounge itself as posters of the likes of Otis Floyd join the atmosphere. And according to Smith, nothing is on those walls by accident. “I went to some of those shows and then I also tracked a lot of them down,” he says. “For someone to go out there and say ‘I want to go for this look’ you’re going to have to struggle like I did and go out and look for this stuff. But then it becomes a lot more interesting. “Every time I go to take something down, there’s someone who says ‘you can’t take that down, I’ve always loved that poster’.” The tributes to great musicians that line the walls of Ethel’s help the bar maintain the atmosphere of an old-style blues club, despite the fact its liquor license prohibits live music - prompting the slogan on the menus that reads: “one tv, no live music.” But not being able to host concerts inside hasn’t stopped Ethel’s from being part of the local music scene. Juno award winner Ronnie Hawkins has been known to come in and take a seat at the bar. Gordie Johnson from Big Sugar has stopped by. And several other artists will

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NICK LACHANCE PHOTO MANAGER

stop in for a drink while performing in town.

applied for a job, but his connection to the original manager ended up working against him.

While the number of TVs in the bar may have increased over the year – from one to three – the appearance, the atmosphere and a lot of the people have remained the same.

“The only reason I didn’t get hired here was because Glenn said ‘oh no, I don’t want any more of your friends working here,’” he remembers with a laugh.

And while that American, dive-bar influence is certainly prevalent; there is something about the bar that is distinctly ‘Waterloo.’

But a few years later, Brow ended up getting the job and now, in his words, he’ll probably be there “’till the I die.”

“Kitchener-Waterloo’s been fantastic to me,” says Smith. “People in this town will really support you. They love supporting a local individual. They’ll get behind that person and make them succeed, which is an honour and fantastic for me that I’ve been able to do that.”

One person who was there on day one was Ethel’s regular Nathan Stark. Originally from Toronto, Stark came to K-W to study at the University of Waterloo and in 1994, when a new bar called Ethel’s opened its doors, “we just came over, because it was open.”

And as much as Smith is thankful to the community for keeping him in business, the community has adopted Ethel’s as one of its entrenched establishments.

And he’s stuck around ever since.

“This is the classic neighbourhood bar,” says Brow, who has now worked at Ethel’s for 15 years. “But it’s not only us, it’s a good spot, it’s a good vibe and it’s good people that come in here.” Smith sees things a little more simply. “I guess if you keep beating your head against the wall for a dozen years you become ingrained in the community,” he says. “And now it’s to the point where if we closed down now it would be big drama.” It’s likely that kind of mentality that makes Ethel’s such an attractive place to work. Smith says he receives resumes everyday and could probably hire 20 great new people tomorrow. However, his existing staff just keep sticking around. “It’s like Groundhog Day in here everyday.” Brow, one of the longest-serving employees on the Ethel’s staff, hasn’t quite been around since day one, but it’s not for lack of trying. Brow knew the bar’s original manager and

Stark has since moved all around K-W, but no matter where he’s lived, he’s frequented Ethel’s, even if it’s just for a relaxing beer on a Sunday night. “I think my favourite thing is actually the acoustics,” he says as he sips a Labatt 50 and watches the day’s NFL highlights. “When there’s a lot of people in here and everyone’s talking, and the music’s playing, it’s just a great atmosphere, a great vibe.” Putting aside the tangible things he loves about Ethel’s, Stark isn’t surprised it’s become an entrenched part of the community. To him, “that’s just what Uptown is.” “Everybody that comes here and everybody that works here is a part of the community,” he says. “I always call this the Waterloo 100, everyone you see here is just rubbing shoulders with other people from the community. “Ethel’s is just what it was meant to be.”

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HOUSING CRUNCH Inside the struggle for Waterloo’s real estate Words by HG Watson & Justin Fauteux Design by Taylor Gayowsky

alk down King Street as it stretches across Waterloo. From Uptown to past the universities, the horizon is dotted with apartments, cranes and sites for future projects.

“From a developers point of view, five years ago there were a few people who were putting up new builds.” Benajmin Bach is real estate agent at Cushman & Wakefield. For the last few years he has blogged about the changing Waterloo real estate scene at benjaminbach.com. “In the last few years — probably going back to 2009 — a lot more groups have been involved [in putting up new builds].” The phrase “changing landscape” isn’t just a metaphor for the changing real estate scene in Waterloo. The landscape is literally changing. The town is getting taller and small landlords beginning to feel the push. In digging down into real estate, The Cord found that the forces at play are hungry for the growing class of renters that don’t seem to stop coming — students — and lacking the only thing they need to accommodate them: land. In the 2011 update to the Student Accommodation Study (the City’s looksee into where students are living), the City of Waterloo estimated that student numbers would rise by 1,000 every year. This didn’t account for grad students (Wilfrid Laurier University Campus Master Plan predicts 4,000 more graduate students on campus by 2017). It also doesn’t mean 1,000 is a certainty. In 2010, University of Waterloo, WLU and the City of Waterloo predicted that 34,830 new students would arrive on campus. In actual fact, 38,985, did and of them, 33,960 needed a place to sleep at night (For more facts and figures on the student housing boom, see pg. 15).

tember all across Canada. Milovick thinks that in a few years, there will be zero in Waterloo. “Waterloo is out of employment and residential lands in the next three years.” Smaller landlords now claim they are the ones feeling the brunt of this fight for land. Much of this anger has been directed at the rental housing licensing bylaw, which came into force this spring. “The city has made it so costly and onerous to be licensed, you have people willing to do it but now avoid doing so,” says Adam Hoffman, the owner of Hoffaco Property Management. Hoffman manages 83 properties, some of which fall under the new bylaw. “The impact on my portfolio has been an increased cost burden for the rental housing provider.” He estimates that the rent increases on some of his properties is a difference of as little as $35 a month or as much as $200 a month, depending on how many upgrades had to be made to the property. To Hoffman, it’s clear who gets the advantage under the bylaw — the developers who are building high rises outside the grasp of the municipal legislation. “The smaller service provider is at disadvantage by having to provide additional fees the larger competitor doesn’t have to,” he said. “It’s like the City of Waterloo decided to pass legislation that benefits Starbucks at the expense of local coffeeshops.” (For some mythbusting of the rental housing licensing by-law, turn to page 16). Jeff Henry, city councillor of Ward 6, downplays any connection between the bylaw and large-scale residential development. “That’s a broader market forces matter that is entirely separate from rental housing,” he said, adding that he hadn’t seen any acceleration of the building trend. “That was happening from year to year and I would consider it to be separate from whether or not there is a bylaw.”

Jim Butler, vice president: finance and administration at WLU, estimates this year that the school was about 800 to 900 beds short for its freshman class. “We’re renting from the private sector,” he says, noting it was the only place where they could find the accommodation. It’s one of the factors that led to the school’s purchase of $59-million worth of real estate around the WLU campus. But the long-term goal is to turn the newly-acquired properties into university-zoned residences. “We’re losing money on [renting from the private sector],” added Butler.

Yet, the City’s own statistics from the Student Accomadation Study seem to contradict Henry. In 2010 the amount units under construction in Waterloo spiked at 1,474 — up from over 1,200 from the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of properties licensed as lodging houses — typically low rise buildings with shared facilities — has been steadily declining. In 2003 there were 139; in 2011 only 10 were. There are a number of factors that could account for this decline — one being a lack of property to even get licensed as a lodging house.

Mike Milovick is another experienced Waterloo-based real estate agent. Over his 11year career, he’s watched the market change dramatically. “All of a suddden we saw a big uptick in rent,” said Milovick. “Usually it was around $400 but it jumped about $65 to $75.” (For how much bang you get for your rental buck in Waterloo, turn to page 16). It’s not the only change.

Yet the demand for housing continues unabated. “I believe [the vacancy rate] to be about 2.5 per cent in September,” says Milovick. The Canadian Housing and Mortgage and Housing Corporation says that a balanced market lies between three per cent and six per cent — which means Waterloo is teetering on the side of a shortage. New swanky residences like Luxe Waterloo are also creating demand for luxury apartments for student, which very well may price low-income families right out of the city (for our editors’ take on Waterloo’s urban future, see page 17).

Housing starts (the number of homes on which construction has started) fell in Sep-

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WATERLOO REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

WILFRID LAURIER & UWATERLOO FALL ENROLLMENT

# REQUIRING OFF CAMPUS HOUSING

32, 596

19, 587

33, 310

20, 247

34, 334

20, 293

37, 172

22, 750

38, 985

24, 323

NUMBER OF 4+ BEDROOMS (LODGING HOUSES)

2003 PEAK #’S

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

8 10

139

15 18

39, 809

25, 030

*Each person represents 1000 students on top of 30, 000

*Each house represents 2000 students on top of 18, 000

APPROVED APARTMENT CONSTRUCTION (2008 - 2011) NORTHDALE STUDENT HOUSING NONSTUDENT HOUSING

SURROUNDING AREA*

662(units) 3,005(bedrooms) 0(units) 0(bedrooms)

1,145(units) 5,422(bedrooms) 928(units) 1,847(bedrooms)

*surrounding area includes columbia st, university ave, king st, lester st area; areas around universities & part of uptown waterloo

NEW APARTMENT CONSTRUCTION (# OF UNITS) 2010 1474

*Each rectangle represents 20 new construction apartment units

2008

2011

453

1016

2009 2007 2006 147

191

260

NOVEMBER ISSUE

MYTHBUSTERS: BYLAW EDITION Over the course of our reporting we found it was difficult to separate some of the facts from the urban legends about what exactly the controversial rental housing by-law entailed. We went to the best sources to sort out those pesky grey areas. ONLY FOUR BEDROOMS ALLOWED One of the most-widely reported aspects of the bylaw was that it would limit houses to four bedrooms. Which is true. But it also isn’t. “There are different classifications for houses,” Jeff Henry, City Councillor for Ward 6 tells us. A Class C license for lodging houses is specifically for five rooms or more, and properties already recognized as lodging houses have been grandfathered in to the program. As for whether you can get the classification depends on a whole host of other variables. “Zoning is the number one factor,” says Jim Barry, Director of By-Law Enforcement for the City of Waterloo, “and it requires higher building and fire codes.” RENTS WILL GO UP BECAUSE OF INCREASED COSTS We spoke to Gay Slinger, a staff lawyer at Waterloo Regional Community Legal Services, who assured us that a landlord cannot simply up and change the rent in the middle of a tenancy because of increased financial burden. “Any kind of increase to sitting tenancies has to comply with the Residential Tenancies Act.” That means it can only happen once a year, with 90 days notice and it has to be within the provincial guidelines. Right now the provincial government maxes out the rent increases at 2.5 per cent. That said, there’s nothing to stop a landlord fror upping the rent in between tenancies to recover costs. It’s why the person living in your place before you could have paid $400 a month, while you’re paying $600. THE CITY CAN SHUT DOWN THE LANDLORD’S BUSINESS Section 13.6 of the bylaw states that if a landlord continues to carry on business without a license, the Court can shut them down. However, in this case the business is renting properties to tenants; and the only administrative body that can end a tenancy is the Landlord Tenant Board under the Residential Tenancies Act. As the bylaw only went into enforcement this spring, we still don’t know how this will play out; but it is definitely something to keep an eye on.

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

TO MARKET, TO MARKET The CCE did a little apartment hunting to see how far your money actually gets you in the Waterloo rental market. $613.47-$675 LUXE WATERLOO Who says living like a student means you can’t do it in style? Luxe Waterloo is part of a new wave of high-end student residences that come equipped with flat screen TVs, brand new appliances, granite counters and ensuite bathrooms. You still have to have roommates. But for $675 a month you only have to share with three other people as opposed to four or five. (luxewaterloo. com). PROS: Has basically everything you ever need. CONS: Might be difficult to leave your house and actually go to class. Plus that price point isn’t necessarily friendly to the budget-conscious person. $530-$560 ONE BED IN AN APARTMENT BUILDING The mid-range gets you into an apartment unit that you’ll share. Several listed are nice, though not quite as high-end as Luxe. In some you’ll also be sharing a bathroom or other amenities with your new flatmates. PROS: Easier to find availability in these due to the amount built in the area for the student market. CONS: For slightly more, you get the added perks that a high-end building has to offer, and for slightly less you save some money without giving up much. $485-$495 A COZY BEDROOM IN A HOUSE In the $495 range, bedrooms in shared houses are the norm. On inwaterloo. com, the home of VIP Student Housing, one unit on Hickory St. included laundry, parking and internet — but you still have to pay your water bill, and have up to four other roommates. PROS: Cheaper, for a start. Plus you get some of the amenities promised by the higher end facilities. CONS: It’s a student house — which can be a pro depending on how you look at it. Regardless, expect to be cleaning up a lot after parties and your roomies 2 a.m. munchies attack. $400 SHARED APARTMENTS FURTHER AFIELD There is a place where the rent is reasonable and — shocker — you could even afford an apartment all on your very own. Kitchener gets a bad rap, but venture out of the bubble and you’ll find a revitalized downtown that the hipsters haven’t quite yet discovered, which means rents are still on the reasonable side. PROS: More bang for your buck CONS: The distance will be frustrating for people who like going out in their PJs — but keep in mind, the area is well served by the GRT.

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URBAN FUTURE

Two views on a brave new Waterloo It’s no secret that the populations of Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo have exploded over the past decade. And, as common sense dictates, there needs to be some place for all these students to live when they leave their on-campus residences. The student demographic is of course, just one segment of Waterloo’s population, yet it seems it’s been the one that’s affected the most change. The university area has undergone such a dramatic transformation that a graduate of 2008 would barely recognize the majority of the King Street and University Avenue area. As condos and student-dedicated apartment buildings begin to dominate the area and in turn provide a new core and cityscape to Waterloo, we must take a step back and ask ourselves, “are we moving too fast?” Yes, there is an imminent need to house the thousands upon thousands of students that call Waterloo home — even if it is for only eight months of the year. And despite whatever protest may exist, the time of single, detached, fiveperson houses is indeed over. But as the drive to “urbanize the student ghetto” moves forward, and luxury condos are built to draw a more diverse demographic to the area, this means one simple, yet very important thing. The university section of Waterloo is going to be much more densely populated. As obvious as that statement seems, it appears to be being overlooked as redevelopments move forward and 12-storey apartment buildings are built on seemingly every corner. As great as it will be to be able to provide housing for such a large group of people, does the infrastructure exist to allow them to live comfortably? Anyone that’s tried to take a bus or patronize a business along King Street during the height of the school year, will tell you it doesn’t. This is why before we go ahead and build high-rise luxury condos and exponentially increase the possible number of people that can live in the area, we need to look at the kind of development going on.

The future is up. Real estate is becoming a scarce commodity. It’s possible that no municipality has felt this as keenly as K-W. The population boom brought on by the successful tech industry and two universities means that people are scrambling for a place to live and developers are scrambling to build it for them. But with land not coming freely (or cheaply) there is no other place to go. Except up. When you talk about the high rises beginning to dot the Waterloo skyline, it’s likely you’ll be met with anger or sadness. People don’t want places going to the students, or they lament the loss of cheaper housing. In a recent Toronto Star column, urban theorist and Spacing editor Shawn Micallef wrote, “if we build the Annex, Little Italy or Riverdale again, Toronto will sprawl to Orillia.” It’s true of Toronto and it’s true of Waterloo. While houses are nice, the only way to meet the demands of a growing population is to build where real estate still exists — that means up. Expanding upwards doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Micallef points out in his article that Paris is essentially a city of mid-rise condos. The same is true of New York and London. Apartments and condos aren’t a sign that culture is going to die. It’s a sign that new people who will build new cultures are moving in. What makes Waterloo unique is that much of the high-rise boom is focused on students, who are by nature a transient population. The answer to this seems simple enough — rather than create apartments specifically for students, create multi-use condos that students or residents can use. With the amount of business and amenities in this area, it’s a natural fit for anyone moving into the city. Not to mention that people with full-time paying jobs are much more likely to be willing to pay the higher rents found in the so-called luxury accommodations.

Simply building places for people to live, is not the proper way to re-develop a nieghbourhood. The current Uptown retail core is already overrun and as apartment buildings continue to creep up King Street, things will only get worse. This is why we need to see less simple apartment and condo developments and more mixed-use planning.

It wouldn’t hurt to have some more input on design either. After all, if the future is indeed up then we should at least have some well-designed things to look up to. It would be nice to see a developer take their cues from the “Marilyn” building in downtown Mississauga or classical brownstone apartment design.

While, it is indeed inevitable that most of Waterloo’s development will be moving skyward, the need for supportive infrastructure needs to become a far more prevalent part of the conversation.

Whatever happens, the skyline and the makeup of Waterloo is changing. We can either dig our heels in and fight change or we can work with it and, look up.

NOVEMBER ISSUE

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

Quantum Art Learning to tinker with Waterloo’s hackers H.G. WATSON ASSOCIATE EDITOR

en Grossman is making noise.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in a Guelph conference centre, about 50 odd nerds, tinkerers, artists and tech junkies are watching Grossman with rapt attention. He’s plinking away at an old children’s keyboard; the kind that three year olds get with brightly-coloured keys and a special button that plays “drums.” He strikes a key and the toy emits a lowpitched whine. Another gives a synth beat that doesn’t sound dissimilar to what you can hear on the radio today. “Worthy of a Nine Inch Nails recording,” Grossman quips. The room cracks up. Every year a group that calls themselves makers and hackers comes together for the Southern Ontario Makers and Hackers Conference. A motley crew of artists and programmers, they are a movement that could represent the next steps for art and technology. WE CALL OURSELVES A MAKER SPACE… In what is likely the last factory in Kitchener not slated to be turned into condos or highend office space, Kwartzlab has set up shop. “We have 3,000 sq ft. to do pretty much whatever we want,” says Darcy Cassleman, president of the collective. “And we choose to make stuff.”

centre, people gather round large tables, chatting about life and projects. Doug Moen, a user of the space, shows me busts of Yoda the group made with their 3D printer. In industry, these printers are often used to create models for larger projects. Here, it’s a way for people to play with what interests them. “We need a new 3D printer,” Moen says. “The idea is to get four new ones and run a regular series of public workshops.” The space isn’t limited to what you can make with tech. Cassleman shows me their art wall, where the artist-in-residence (who rotates in every few months) displays their wares. It’s important to him that people understand the difference between what they believe a hacker is and what is actually going on at Kwartzlab. “We call ourselves a makerspace because there are a lot of connotations about the word hacker.” WHO SAYS AN EXQUISITELY WELLWRITTEN PROGRAM ISN’T ART… Artists and counterculture members seek each other out for community and creativity naturally. It’s why the Impressionists splintered off from the French art establishment and why Greenwich Village and San Francisco are still known for being “alternative” — even if today they are mostly filled with expensive condo towers.

Hacklabs have a similar history, though many of the movement founders may not necessarily call themselves artists in the normal sense of the word. It begins in GerI’m there on a Monday night, the space’s traditional open house night. REBECCA ALLISON CCE CONTRIBUTOR many, where a tradition of squatters’ rights and a plethora of abandoned warehouses Kwartzlab members inspect a project at their downtown Kitchener space. meant people could set up shop wherever Cassleman leads me into the back room, a huge they pleased. One of the first such spaces to gain notoriety was c-base established by space filled with big, intimidating equipment — at least to my untrained eyes. “This is the Chaos Computer Club, a Berlin-based network of hackers. Their original focus did our C&C milling machine,” he points to a large metal container. “We have woodworkseem more in tune with what the public perception of hackers was — in 2008 they obing tools and a welding and metal working area.” Several members are using power tained the fingerprints of a German politician and published them to protest biometric tools on large pieces of wood and the room is filled with the debris of various projects. It’s not exactly what one has in mind when you think of the word “hackerspace”. data collection — but the way CCC combined art and computers laid the ground work for the labs that followed. “A hacker [is really] an engineer who is able to do clever things with technology,” says Cassleman. “That’s what we understand a hacker to be. But trying to convince everyThe idea of hacklabs began to slowly make its way over the Atlantic, with spaces popbody else of that when they think guessing a four digit pin makes a hacker is hard.” ping up in New York City and San Francisco. A recent New York Times article estimates the amount of hacker spaces in 2012 to number around 200, with some cities We wander past two younger members fervently discussing an episode of Community supporting several spaces within their limits. (up for debate: the philosophical implications of Abed’s Dreamatorium) and into the beating heart of Kwartzlab. A bank of computers runs against one wall, while in the

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In southern Ontario, labs are set up in Guelph (Diyode), London (The unLondon Hack Lab), Hamilton (Thinkhaus), two in Toronto (site3 and hacklab.TO), one on the way in Windsor and of course, Kwartzlab in Kitchener. The core Kwartzlab group began planning the idea in 2009, and in six short months moved into the space they now call home.

ware. He displays little tikimen chess figures he created using Tinkercad, a free online modeling tool. Johnson is a new member to the hacker world, having only joined Diyode in Guelph a few weeks before the conference. As an artist, he’s interested in turning fantasy into reality. He assists every year creating a huge maze — inspired in part by cult film Labyrinth — for the Guelph-based fantasy fair Enchanted Grounds. “My mandate as an artist is to expose people to fantasy in real life.”

It’s tricky to sum up exactly what it is a hack lab does. The best way to describe it is simply: whatever it damn well wants to. “The people are smart and willing to experiment,” says Richard Degeleer, the president of Hamilton lab Thinkhaus. The only thing really limiting anyone is their own limitations — and of course, space and money.

Diyode was then a natural fit for the artist. “What excited me about [hacker spaces] is that we’ve got all these people and we can actually do this stuff,” he says. “One of us couldn’t make a life size dragon spewing fire but you get enough people excited about it you could actually make that happen.”

“The spaces reflect the people who run them,” says Degeleer. “They also reflect the real estate.” Site3 in Toronto is on the second floor of a house in the Kensington Market neighborhood market, which means the space can’t do the same kind of projects that can be done in a large ground floor space like Kwartzlab.

Educated in sculpture at OCAD in Toronto, Agnes Niewiadomski has been circling around Kwartzlab since its beginnings in 2009. The hack lab opened Niewiadomski’s eyes to new technologies that could complement her art practice. At Kwartzlab, she was able to learn how to use a laser cutter, a tool that allows precision design work. “Having the laser was an answer to a lot of the things I was doing.”

“These are people who don’t just sit around and talk about the awesome things they could do, they actually do it,” says Terre Chartrand, a former artist-in-residence at Kwartzlab. Chatrand’s a jack-of-all-trades who writes plays and designs the occasional tattoo. For her, art isn’t as black and white as what may appear in a gallery. “It’s people who get their hands into things and make things by hand,” says Chartrand. “Who says an exquisitely well-written program isn’t art?”

REBECCA ALLISON CCE CONTRIBUTOR

A Kwartzlab member works at the space’s soldering station.

There’s a definite sense that this is a place where anyone is welcome to come play and create. One member’s kids are playing in another area, and some even get to work on projects. On the night of my visit, Chartrand and myself are the only women present, but Cassleman estimates that female membership sits at around 30 per cent.

“[Female representation in] tech in general is usually around 18 per cent,” says Chartrand, noting that Kwartzlab is doing fairly comparably. Both stress that diversity is key to a truly lively space. ONE OF US COULDN’T MAKE A LIFE SIZE DRAGON… Back at SoOnCon (The short form the collective has taken on for their yearly gatherings) T. Shawn Johnson is leading the group through a workshop on free maker soft-

With Kwartzlab’s tools, she creates fabric plants that she sells at maker fairs — another gathering of creators where the public is invited to view and purchase their work. Working at Kwartzlab has also pushed her to think about what she does in new ways. “[When I made my projects] they were like what does it do? Does it have lights or motors in it?” She laughes. “But it got me thinking about how I can integrate some more technology in it.”

No one needs ask whether Bernie Rohde is integrating technology into his art. At SoOnCon the clockmaker and artist displays his pet project, a half bust constructed with LEDs and a mess of wires that give the sculpture a Medusa like appearance. She’s named Pixle, appropriately enough for this fusion of art and technology. Computers haven’t reached their full potential yet, at least not for Rhode. “Computers have only built the left brain,” he says. “We’ve made a real good calculating machine and it can imitate intuitive functions but really its not working that way. Its just math inside.”

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

HG WATSON ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Bernie Rhodes takes a step back from Pixle, the sculpture he’s been tinkering with for years.

Rhode’s art practice is about working human intuition into technology. While some science fiction writers might worry about giving robots more intellectual ability, Rhode believes it’s the path to better art and computing ability. He’s following his intuition to. “I don’t plan every detail of the system. I let it show me.” He echoes his artist compatriots when it comes to what hackerspaces give him. “[Kwartzlab] is going to be a creative environment, so you’ll have artists comfortable in that place,” he says. “Artists want to use technology in their art so they learn from engineers and the engineers want to do cool new stuff with the tech they know.” THERE’S AN OPENNESS AND A FREEDOM THAT’S PART OF IT… We already know the end of the story to countercultural movements. They hit the mainstream and suddenly everyone wants a piece. Iggy Pop tunes are used in cruise commercials and even the Impressionists — once the radicals of the French arts scene — are decried as too populist for any true art geek.

WANT TO PLAY ONLINE? TRY THESE FREE SITES AND PROGRAMS FOR YOUR HACKING AND MAKING NEEDS. TINKERCAD Free online site that doesn’t require you to download anything. Great for beginners, you can make simple shapes and play with other people’s designs (tinkercad.com) PLOPP This kid-friendly program lets users upload a 2D image that it then transforms into 3D (planet-plopp.com) INKSCAPE Inkscape is for people who still want to play with 2D pictures — as long as you know how to use vector graphics. The program deals in lines, not pixels, which means you get to play a little easier. (inkscape.org)

As hacklabs grow and expand, the attention on them has intensified. The Atlantic and Business Week have featured hack labs in their pages. Pinterest, the rapidly-growing social shopping site, was developed in one. Perhaps most troubling, The New York Times recently reported that the US Defense Department started directing funding to high school hack labs as a way of creating ties with the community. Even at SoOnCon, there are mentions that NASA is interested in this or that technology.

FABRIC PLANT PHOTO COURTESY AGNES NIEWIADOMSKI

Artist Agnes Niewiadomski laser cuts fabric plants

Degeleer hopes that the groups will keep their grassroots aesthetic. “There’s an openness and a freedom that’s part of it.” It’s what keeps the spaces interesting and innovative. Perhaps we need a new descriptor for what goes on in makerspaces, hack labs — whatever you want to call them. At the conference, Rhode tells me a story about clockmakers who lived near the Black Forest in Germany. Although they liked making clocks, they wanted to start making something new; something inventive. So they turned their mind to making toys that still used the little parts from their clocks. Rhode calls these men tinkerers. It seems that a word that literally means to experiment might be very appropriate for people who are adapting and playing with art and technology.

SCULPTRIS A program for creating more textured and organic images — you get to sculpt, just like the name implies (pixologic.com/sculptris/) PEPAKURA While 3D printing companies like Ponoko can make your creations for a fee, Pepakura creates paper versions that you can print at home and then fold into your design. (tamasoft.co.jp/ pepakura-en/)

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

ARTS AND CULTURE

INTO THE WILD Carrie Snyder leads the pack at the first annual Wild Writers Festival

REBECCA ALLISON CCE CONTRIBUTOR

ords are the paintbrush of every writer as they embark on their journey into the literary world. Each word can bring great understanding or confusion as the pen strikes the page.

In her Governor General Award nominated novel The Juliet Stories Carrie Snyder writes: “what is the specific meaning of each heavy word that falls from the sky? But a definition is not an answer. It’s a temporary shelter, a camp that is put up and broken down. The more she knows, the frailer the original definition.” For the Waterloo-based novelist, The Juliet Stories in an exploration of words. Following the experiences of Juliet Friesen through war-torn Nicaragua in the 1980s, The Juliet Stories reflects Snyder’s own experiences in the country as the daughter of peace activists during The Cold War. Snyder wanted to explore the memories of her childhood in Nicaragua, but also her parents’ experience of bringing small children to a country so affected by war. “What would motivate people to feel so strongly that they’d be moved to action?” Snyder wonders. “I still can’t imagine doing it actually, even having written about it.” Before she began writing, Snyder returned to Nicaragua to research. Not wanting to write a memoir, her idea evolved from a story inspired by peace activists being kidnapped in Nicaragua soon after her family’s relocation from Nicaragua to Canada, to a fictional retelling of her childhood. As she began the novel, her goals were very simple. “I wanted to tell a good story, that’s always what I try to do - to delve into characters that I find fascinating and probably complicated and not necessarily straight-forward, so there’s a lot of layers to the characters.” As a young writer Snyder was fond of L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon series, feeling a connection to the young aspiring author within its pages. These days she takes cues from fellow Canadian writers Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant. Now Snyder is a full-fledged member of the Canadian literati. Her blog, Obscure CanLit Mama, connects her with many Canadian aspiring and published writers. Her upcoming appearance at The New Quarterly’s Wild Writers Festival will have her meet and work with many more Canadian authors, such as Miranda Hill, Marilyn Simmonds and fellow Governor General nominee, Tamas Dobozy. “Waterloo has such a small art scene, it’s nice to have something that’s all our own and celebrate what is here and what is happening here.” Snyder will sit on the women writers’ panel during the day long conference, giving her a chance to impart some of her own wisdom after writing two books. And what advice does she have for aspiring writers? “Read a lot, read what you want to write, read the things that interest you and then write, and just practice writing because I think a lot of people just assume that you write stuff down and then it happens,” Snyder says. “But it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience and years and years of work.” The Wild Writers Festival takes place Nov. 2-3 at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo. For more information visit tnq.ca/wildwriters/

REBECCA ALLISON CCE CONTRIBUTOR

Carrie Snyder poses at Words Worth Books, a supporter of the inaugural Wild Writers Festival

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

DEAR PHOTOGRAPH

HG WATSON ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Dear Photograph: we wish Ocktoberfest was longer. - the CCE staff HG WATSON ASSOCIATE EDITOR

ear Photograph (dearphotograph. com) is one of those Tumblrs that took the Internet by storm. The concept is simple enough — find an old photograph of importance and hold it up to where it was taken. But the captions underneath them serve as letters to a time gone by, adding an emotional resonance that is missing from say, LOLcats. Taylor Jones is the local creator behind the website and book, which was released on May 8 of this year. We spoke to Jones at Word on the Street Kitchener while he was waiting to meet one of his many fans: Jian Ghomeshi. HG Watson: Where did the idea come from? Taylor Jones: It was May 25, 2011 and I was sitting at my kitchen table. My family and I had just finished having dinner and we pulled out a few old albums. I came across one of my brother who was sitting in the same spot he was sitting in the photo and I was sitting in the same spot from where my mom took the photo. I

went and took it out of the plastic and held it up and then grabbed my camera and took a picture of it. After that I started a Tumblr blog. I went to go upload the photos and it asked for a caption… I thought how do people talk to photos? I said, “well, people write letters.” That’s where Dear Photograph came from. I had a decent following for my personal brand I guess you could say. People actually reacted to it — before I put out a ton of websites that were just flops. But people just kept sharing it and sharing it.

much work with all the press and logistics for the book, and I couldn’t do it all. HGW: What’s next for you? TJ: I’m starting to [look] at more opportunities. I’m working on something I’ll have out in the next little while that I’m excited to share with everybody. It won’t be the same as Dear Photograph but it will be cool. HGW: Before Dear Photograph were you a photographer?

HGW: You had to quit your job at RIM, right?

TJ: I’ve always been in love with photography. I wouldn’t call myself a photographer; it’s just more of a hobby. One of my websites before was Appleography — I curated photos from people’s iPhones that were really nice photos. Its weird now that I’ve created something that has all my interests combined. I like photography, blogging and creativity so it’s been cool to do something that I actually love.

TJ: I would go home and do radio interviews at lunch. I started at RIM in April 2011 and I had to quit Sept. 1. I was only there for the summer! It was way too

When I first started it was weird to see people from Kitchener then from Hamilton, London and it just started exploding. I remember getting my first international

Two weeks later I got picked up by Mashable — I was working at RIM at the time and it was right after lunch and I got an e-mail that asked to do a story on my website.

submission — it was just really cool. HGW: Are there any photos that have stayed with you? TJ: One was posted last week of a mother who lost her child and two days before she took a photo of him kissing a tree and she did a Dear Photograph. It was super sad. HGW: Are there any local ones? TJ: The owner of Disneybound, she sent in a photo of her at Disney Land when she was really young in front of the castle. HGW: What makes Waterloo Region a good place to be in a creative industry? TJ: When I was younger I wanted to move out of the city. Now I’ve been so involved with everything that’s going on. It’s a great community and it’s cool because its not too big but its not too small and you get to know everybody… everybody just helps each other out. That’s one of the reasons Dear Photograph has done what its done; because I’ve had that community behind me.

THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

NOVEMBER ISSUE

MONTHLY EVENTS

MUSIC OCT. 18

Joel Plaskett Emergency wsg. Mo Kenney Starlight Lounge, $34.50, 8 p.m. Fundraiser show Feturing: Rufus, Chad Price, Joni Nehrita and more Maxwell’s Music House, Donations accepted, 8:30 p.m.

OCT. 19

Brydan Smith wsg. Scott Cooper Maxwell’s Music House, $7, 9 p.m. Victor Villadangos The Music Room, $30 (general), $25 (senior) $20 (student), 8 p.m.

OCT. 20

The Coolest Thing About Love – DJ Dr. Frank Jane Bond, 10 p.m. Brian Byrne wsg. The Sailboat and The Sea, and Lumberjunk Maxwell’s Music House, $10, 9 p.m. Another Outstanding Canadian Quartet The Music Room, 30 (general), $25 (senior) $20 (student), 7 p.m. New York, New York.. – Grand Harmony Barbershop Chorus Conrad Centre of Performing Arts, $25 (adult), $15 (18 and under), 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. A Glorious Night of Mozart and Bach St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, $10, 7:30 p.m.

OCT. 21

Lucas Stagg wsg. Paul MacLeod Jane Bond, $10, 8 p.m. 19+ Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra concert Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, 3 p.m.

OCT. 23

NOV. 1

Open Mic Night Maxwell’s Music House, 9 p.m.

Ark Analog Starlight Lounge, $8, 8 p.m. Death from Above 1979 Wax Nightclub

OCT. 24

Hey Ocean wsg. Alvarez Kings Starlight Lounge, $14, 9 p.m. Suzie Leblanc The Music Room, $30 (general), $25 (senior) $20 (student), 7 p.m.

OCT. 25

Wintersleep wsg. Elliot Brood Starlight Lounge, $25, 8 p.m. The Art of Thelonius Monk The Jazz Room, $35 (general), $30 (senior) $5 (EyeGO), 6 p.m.

NOV. 3

Canadian Piano Trio: Jasmine Lin, Marina Hoover, Patricia Tao The Music Room, $30 (general), $25 (senior) $20 (student), 7 p.m.

NOV. 4

Rose Cousins Maxwell’s Music House, $15, 7:30 p.m.

NOV. 8 The Greatest Threesome Ever

Starlight Lounge, $10 advance, $15 at the door, 8 p.m.

OCT. 26

Wintersleep wsg. Elliot Brood Starlight Lounge, $25, 7 p.m. Citywide Panic, Menage, The Short Films Maxwell’s Music House, $5, 9 p.m.

OCT. 27

Zombieland Halloween Party –DJ Rob Bass Elements Nightclub, 10 p.m. Bif Naked and special guest Sarah Smith Waterloo Inn, $50, 8 p.m.

NOV. 10

The Attacca String Quartet The Music Room, $35 (general), $30 (senior), $25 (student), 7 p.m. Artamus Guitar Quartet Conrad Grebel University College Chapel, $20 (general) $12 (student/senior), 7:30 p.m. Love of Music Marathon First United Church, 10 a.m. 5 p.m.

NOV. 12

OCT. 30

Cuff the Duke wsg. Jenn Grant Starlight Lounge, $14, 8 p.m. Devil’s Night Out Conestoga – DJ Rob Bass Wax Nightclub, free for Conestoga students, $5 for nonstudents, 8 p.m.

Balalaika Sensation The Music Room, $25 (general) $20 (senior), $15 (student), 7 p.m.

NOV. 13

Sloan Starlight Lounge, $28, 8 p.m.

COMMUNITY OCT. 20

Waterloo Zombie Walk Waterloo Public Square, 1 p.m. Argentine Tango Dance Waterloo Community Arts Centre Messy Church First United Church, 4 p.m. Tamil Cultural Nite 2012 Humanities Theatre (University of Waterloo), 5:30 p.m. Adult Only Halloween Dance K-W Navy Club, $15, 8 p.m.

OCT. 19-27

Nightmare on Daly St. Haunted House 250 Daly St., $5 (adults) $3 (12 and under) 7 p.m.

OCT. 25

Final Uptown Market of 2012 Waterloo Public Square, 3 p.m.

OCT. 27

Starlight’s Annual Halloween Costume Ball Starlight Lounge, $5 with costume, $10 without costume., 10 p.m. Scare Fair Waterloo Community Arts Centre, $15, 12:30 p.m

OCT. 17-21

Grand River Film Festival Empire Theatre/Princess Twin

OCT. 20-21

K-W Central Art Walk Downtown Kitchener Studios, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

OCT. 21

God Save the King Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, $20 (adult) $15 (senior), $5 (student), 2:15 p.m.

NOV. 2-3

Wild Writers Festival Balsillie School of International Affairs

NOV. 9-DEC. 1

SubRbanity, Amy Roger Waterloo Community Arts Centre

NOV. 9-24

International Art of Peace YMCA Waterloo Community Arts Centre

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