General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours

[ZEBuilder]

Merge Kitchener and Waterloo, name it Kitchener.  The region remains Waterloo Region.  You have name brand for the whole region, and name brand for Kitchener.  Universities are advertised as Waterloo Region giving strength to the whole region as a place to come to....

While we're at it all zoning will become the same as Kitchener, no grandfathering of Waterloo's nonsense. 

One could only imagine the complete chaos that would cause in the NIMBY community.

[Kodra24]

Merge Kitchener and Waterloo, name it Kitchener.  The region remains Waterloo Region.  You have name brand for the whole region, and name brand for Kitchener.  Universities are advertised as Waterloo Region giving strength to the whole region as a place to come to....

I think this was proposed some time ago if I'm not mistaken - Waterloo residents voted against the merger (I would still think many would be), Kitchener residents were for...

[timc]

The people didn't vote against a merger. City Council voted against asking the people to vote on whether council should discuss a merger.

https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/co...60d64.html

[MidTowner]

The people didn't vote against a merger. City Council voted against asking the people to vote on whether council should discuss a merger.

https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/co...60d64.html

Council subsequently voted to include it on the ballot, and Kitchener and Waterloo residents did vote on it in that autumn's (2010's) municipal election.

An overall majority of voters voted 'Yes' for the two Councils to discuss a possible merger, but fewer than half of voters in Waterloo did.

[Momo26]

This goes to the notion of Waterloo being more elite and so of course they wouldnt want to change their identity to 'Kitchener'. And no city in Canada is only referred to as 'Region of ....'

Im in Kitchener and if pressed, I'd probably be willing to actually just have it all called Waterloo. Id want to see the entire proposal and the details but even i can see the impression Kit vs Waterloo gives to *everyone* outside of it. Is what it is.

[ac3r]

Merge Kitchener and Waterloo, name it Kitchener.  The region remains Waterloo Region.  You have name brand for the whole region, and name brand for Kitchener.  Universities are advertised as Waterloo Region giving strength to the whole region as a place to come to....

Neu Berlin!

[ac3r]

There are at least ten different media outlets that serve Waterloo Region in a local capacity.  The local market for subscription print media is largely spent on publications based outside of Waterloo Region (Globe and Mail & Toronto Star) or even out of the country (New York Times, and pretty much every other news outlet that operates on a subscription model). That being said, some of those local outlets are mere shells of what they used to be and owned or controlled by companies outside of the Region (looking at you CTV née CKCO, or The Record)

If you think that it's easy enough to start another news outlet in this market, go for it.  The Record is the final print survivor of a handful of publications that started over a century ago when each community had its own newspaper, financed by local businesses and subscribers who paid for either subscriptions or advertising.

I know there are existing media platforms besides The Record. I guess I should have elaborated but I mean "new media" which doesn't fit into the mould of legacy media. Most news/journalism/cultural consumers - especially those 30 and under - get their news by watching videos whether they're long form documentaries, short 10-20 minute videos or just short formats you find on YouTube Shorts or TikTok. Heck they even read articles too, provided they're written by people that understand or relate to them. That's something that's missing here at a local level, although paradoxically it's also something that is hard to do at the local level, especially in a region that is still slightly less than a million people. But...it could potentially work here due to the fact we have so many young people in this region studying at the two universities or the college.

News media is a lot different these days and while there is still a place for legacy media like NYT or The Guardian, lots of people these days like video or short form content. It's hard to get the younger generation to give a shit about stuff like local development/economics/politics/culture etc because it's pretty damn boring, but at the same time youth are pretty aware and conscious of the world around them. Now obviously we won't get a local VICE News or Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, but that's the type of content format that would help local issues. Give a couple University of Waterloo or Conestoga College kids a camera, microphone and social media boost and they'd probably be able to tell a better story about local development issues, homelessness, cost of living etc than anything The Record has done recently.

Even a website that targets a younger demographic can work. While everyone loves to shit on blogTO or Daily Hive (Vancity Buzz) they have actually managed to do a fair job at hitting certain demographics other media can't seem to capture. They're particularly unique because they're owned by ZoomerMedia, which despite the name used to cater more to boomers. They're absolutely legacy media and even listed on the TSX so very profit rather than information oriented, but they've managed to creep into the digital media sphere and successfully draw in younger audiences as well as audiences of people who may never willingly read TorStar or Vancouver Sun, but who still want to hear about local issues. With the right people at the helm, I feel like it'd be possible to pull that off locally in Waterloo Region. A "blogWR" or "blogKWC", complete with online articles people would want to read as well as video content. Or indeed, just a guy with a camera, microphone and YouTube channel.

[Rainrider22]

Merge Kitchener and Waterloo, name it Kitchener.  The region remains Waterloo Region.  You have name brand for the whole region, and name brand for Kitchener.  Universities are advertised as Waterloo Region giving strength to the whole region as a place to come to....

Neu Berlin!

I like that !!!!

[Acitta]

This goes to the notion of Waterloo being more elite and so of course they wouldnt want to change their identity to 'Kitchener'. And no city in Canada is only referred to as 'Region of ....'

Im in Kitchener and if pressed, I'd probably be willing to actually just have it all called Waterloo. Id want to see the entire proposal and the details but even i can see the impression Kit vs Waterloo gives to *everyone* outside of it. Is what it is.

Since Kitchener is named after a guy famous for building concentration camps in South Africa, Waterloo might be the better name.

[Momo26]

If it's not German...it better has heck be British, am-I-rite?!

Re: local news...there is definitely a market for something edgy, like a 6ixBuzz esque type news. Half tabloid and half useful bahaha.

And in other news:

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2025/09/23...-waterloo/

[nms]

There are at least ten different media outlets that serve Waterloo Region in a local capacity.  The local market for subscription print media is largely spent on publications based outside of Waterloo Region (Globe and Mail & Toronto Star) or even out of the country (New York Times, and pretty much every other news outlet that operates on a subscription model). That being said, some of those local outlets are mere shells of what they used to be and owned or controlled by companies outside of the Region (looking at you CTV née CKCO, or The Record)

If you think that it's easy enough to start another news outlet in this market, go for it.  The Record is the final print survivor of a handful of publications that started over a century ago when each community had its own newspaper, financed by local businesses and subscribers who paid for either subscriptions or advertising.

I know there are existing media platforms besides The Record. I guess I should have elaborated but I mean "new media" which doesn't fit into the mould of legacy media. Most news/journalism/cultural consumers - especially those 30 and under - get their news by watching videos whether they're long form documentaries, short 10-20 minute videos or just short formats you find on YouTube Shorts or TikTok. Heck they even read articles too, provided they're written by people that understand or relate to them. That's something that's missing here at a local level, although paradoxically it's also something that is hard to do at the local level, especially in a region that is still slightly less than a million people. But...it could potentially work here due to the fact we have so many young people in this region studying at the two universities or the college.

News media is a lot different these days and while there is still a place for legacy media like NYT or The Guardian, lots of people these days like video or short form content. It's hard to get the younger generation to give a shit about stuff like local development/economics/politics/culture etc because it's pretty damn boring, but at the same time youth are pretty aware and conscious of the world around them. Now obviously we won't get a local VICE News or Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, but that's the type of content format that would help local issues. Give a couple University of Waterloo or Conestoga College kids a camera, microphone and social media boost and they'd probably be able to tell a better story about local development issues, homelessness, cost of living etc than anything The Record has done recently.

Even a website that targets a younger demographic can work. While everyone loves to shit on blogTO or Daily Hive (Vancity Buzz) they have actually managed to do a fair job at hitting certain demographics other media can't seem to capture. They're particularly unique because they're owned by ZoomerMedia, which despite the name used to cater more to boomers. They're absolutely legacy media and even listed on the TSX so very profit rather than information oriented, but they've managed to creep into the digital media sphere and successfully draw in younger audiences as well as audiences of people who may never willingly read TorStar or Vancouver Sun, but who still want to hear about local issues. With the right people at the helm, I feel like it'd be possible to pull that off locally in Waterloo Region. A "blogWR" or "blogKWC", complete with online articles people would want to read as well as video content. Or indeed, just a guy with a camera, microphone and YouTube channel.

"New media" has become largely decentralized so very difficult for people to discover unless they know exactly what to look for.  The benefit of digest journalism like a daily paper, a radio station, or a TV station is that multiple people cover different beats.  A user might buy the paper for the sports section but find something in the arts section along the way.

On a related note, I did not realize that Substack was founded by Waterloo Alumni and is now worth $1.1 billion US.

A quick search of "Waterloo Substack" on Google found the following writers covering Waterloo related topics (some are more up-to-date than others):

• https://citified.substack.com/: by Melissa Bowman, 1000+ subscribers, "Urban issues and local politics (Waterloo Region)"
  
• https://tlwr.substack.com/: by Alex Kinsella, 5000+ subscribers, "The TL;DR for Waterloo Region – a weekly rundown of art, music, culture and more across Waterloo Region.
  
• https://startupbarn.substack.com/: 2000+ subscribers, "The Barn is an organization that is focused on helping early-stage founders get started in a way that will increase their chances of success."
  
• https://midtownradio.substack.com/: by the folks who operate MidTown Radio
  
• https://generativehistory.substack.com/: by Mark Humprhies, "Exploring the use of generative AI in historical teaching and research"
  
• https://empowrconnect.substack.com/: "Educating Minds: Parents of Waterloo Region (EMPOWR) is a grassroots collection of parents and citizens committed to education and liberty. Here we will post public letters and other information."
  

[Momo26]

Oh no way... Substack is huge

[ac3r]

They don't have a local presence here though, do they?

Speaking of, I'm surprised the university hasn't been heavily leaning into AI considering we do have a big technology presence here. I know they have some, but not much. Maybe with the new hospital they'll get into that? The UW Innovation Area - next to the School of Pharmacy - is focusing on healthcare research and innovation. AI is becoming a really big thing there with WRHN itself starting to use it. There's a perfect opportunity for the region to build a large, new research focused general hospital that could spearhead innovation in that sector and with the universities and the culture of innovation and entrepreneurial startups, there's a perfect chance to make Waterloo Region an important centre of advanced healthcare innovation.

[plam]

They don't have a local presence here though, do they?

Speaking of, I'm surprised the university hasn't been heavily leaning into AI considering we do have a big technology presence here. I know they have some, but not much. Maybe with the new hospital they'll get into that? The UW Innovation Area - next to the School of Pharmacy - is focusing on healthcare research and innovation. AI is becoming a really big thing there with WRHN itself starting to use it. There's a perfect opportunity for the region to build a large, new research focused general hospital that could spearhead innovation in that sector and with the universities and the culture of innovation and entrepreneurial startups, there's a perfect chance to make Waterloo Region an important centre of advanced healthcare innovation.

AI is way overhyped and not actually that useful.

(UW does have an AI institute).

[KevinL]

There are some emerging useful applications of AI, but only in particular specialty fields. Most of the AI currently being hyped is vaporware, absolutely.