American Block Redevelopment | 3 fl | U/C

[ijmorlan]

My biggest issue with drive thru's is actually not environmental, but with the built environment. They create a completely inhospitably pedestrian environment. Drive thru's require a larger site footprint and pretty much guarantees that all four sides of the building are dedicated to cars. They are also are almost always fast food chain restaurants that don't add anything to the urban environment. Look at roads like Victoria, Fairview or hespeler. Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto have all banned new drive thru construction. I think it is time for the cities in this region to start acting like urban cities and follow suit.  But I am an urbanest with very ideological views on how a city should be built. Obviously people that love the suburbs with strip malls and fast food drive-thru's will complete disagree with me and say that I am creating a war on their precious cars.

The entire Region is not urban.

In any case, I think it will, in the long term, be easier to make the case that there needs to be a carbon tax, congestion charge, etc., because of negative externalities which do in fact exist, than that drive-thrus should be banned essentially because you don’t like them.

[DK519]

Any news on this development or are we just going to continue discussing our inept government until there is?  

[robdrimmie]

Any news on this development or are we just going to continue discussing our inept government until there is?  

Scaffolding's still up, stuff is happening, but there's not a lot of externally visible activity of late.

[Momo26]

Ironically, I probably understand marginal tax rates as well as anyone else on this thread . A better use of words may have been along the lines of 'the middle class is not in a position to pay more of their money in tax(es)'...but keeping my words as is and, as another poster briefly referenced, when you do factor in static HST set at 13% for everyone, then yah, they may actually be paying a greater proportion of their money in tax (tax as a whole).

But I'm going to weigh out of this facet of the discussion because I probably won't see eye to eye with most - not because I'm some card carrying PC who wants to 'cut taxes' and cut services, but because fundamentally, the system is flawed. Just grasp for a moment how much of your - already taxed - $1 of income is in turn then taxed when it is circulating in the economy. I also don't have a better system for you that is laid out in some master integration plan and would satisfy 100% of the population.

[panamaniac]

Is it know whether the developer is going to take the exterior back to the buff brick, or is their section of the builidng going to be repainted?

[white_brian]

It appears that the building was painted white

[Spokes]

How did we even get here?

[tomh009]

How did we even get here?

Not the first thread ever to digress into another topic ...

Anyway, I have moved the tax discussion to a new thread:
https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...p?tid=1453

[Rainrider22]

Thank you, a worthy discussion but just not here

[jgsz]

The new windows on the north side looks great.  And of course, from the inside, they will have a view of Vogelsang Green.

   

[Spokes]

Wow very nice
What's that cladding

[panamaniac]

Wow very nice
What's that cladding

It’s just brick that’s been plastered over at some point, no?

[hypnagogic_logic]

Wow very nice
What's that cladding

It’s just brick that’s been plastered over at some point, no?

It is just the original exposed brick - not sure if it's been plastered over or if it's just the paint flaking off the building though..

[Spokes]

Ohhh, I saw it on my phone originally and it looked different compared to on my computer now

[mastermind]

The blue waterproofing membrane that is around the windows looks stuck to the brick, I think that means it will need to be re-clad over the brick.