12-30-2017, 11:52 AM
(12-30-2017, 10:02 AM)Pheidippides Wrote: Quotes like the one below from the same articel are misinformed, and not helping to change the stereotypical impression many still have of downtown Kitchener:
"If somebody told me this was going to happen, even five years ago, I would have said they were on drugs like a lot of people in downtown Kitchener," said Haldenby.
Yes. A very positive article overall but some of it is not right.
Quote:Haldenby's short list of concerns is nothing to compared to the many challenges plaguing the downtown in the past 20 years.
Crack cocaine and later, crystal meth. Prostitution. Abandoned buildings. Absentee landlords who did not care about their buildings or tenants. A declining population. Two failed shopping malls. For a long time that's what people saw downtown.
While those all happened in Kitchener, "20 years ago" would be far more accurate than "in the past 20 years". Manulife took over King Centre in 1999, Centre Block was cleaned up maybe 10 years ago, and Cedar Hill has been in far better shape for a long time now.
Still, I'm happy to see the positive article. And even happier with the momentum we now have in DTK.