Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #LdnOnt
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A prime example of how the international student boom is affecting the housing market. This is the neighbourhood I grew up in (Tweedsmuir/Fairmont in #ldnont). A 700 sq.ft. 1 bedroom home is renting out for $3300 (and being sold for 650K) because it's 6km from Fanshawe College. 
You could buy some homes in that neighbourhood for under 100K, well into the 1990s. Now you've got one selling for 650K, and being used as student housing.
International enrollment numbers, from 2015-16 to 2019-20 (I don't have this year's numbers):
Fanshawe went from 1,652 in 2015-16 to 6,065 in 2019-20.
Western undergrad went from 2,779 in 2015-16 to 4,149 in 2019-20. Grad went from 1,218 to 1,677.
Fanshawe went from 1,652 in 2015-16 to 6,065 in 2019-20.
Western undergrad went from 2,779 in 2015-16 to 4,149 in 2019-20. Grad went from 1,218 to 1,677.
Itās the little things: Iāve spent the last couple of years slowly trying to put together a set of 1967 O-Pee-Chee baseball cards. Got a few more this week. My set is still only about 60% complete, but I did manage to get one complete page.
This is my favourite page. Mickey Mantle and a young Steve Carlton. If anyone needs a 1967 O-Pee-Chee Adolfo Phillips, let me know. I have about six of āem. He seems to be in every lot I trade for or buy.
The goal is to get every O-Pee-Chee baseball set ever produced in #ldnont. Iāve got 1977 complete and everything after. The 1970-76 sets are difficult because theyāre really large sets, and 1965-69 are small sets but with limited print runs. Thereās also sets from 1934 and 1937.
1/ So @SanJoseSharks goaltender #JamesReimer says if he wears a rainbow themed jersey heās violating his Christian faith. To further explain his position he drags #NazimKadri in,
2/ suggesting Nazim would understand if there was a Muslim night & Reimer would not wear a Muslim themed jersey because THAT too would violate his Christian faith.
3/heās hiding behind the Bible to justify his hateful actions - trouble is thereās no credible scriptural argument to be made for protesting someoneās personhood because they are gay. None either to justify Islamophobia.
Community is the way forward. A ridiculously long š§µ
Commercial properties on Hamilton Road in #LdnOnt pay $500 extra per year in property taxes to support the Hamilton Road BIA, this generates about 70K per year. We paid $4000 for this hamroad.com website /1
Commercial properties on Hamilton Road in #LdnOnt pay $500 extra per year in property taxes to support the Hamilton Road BIA, this generates about 70K per year. We paid $4000 for this hamroad.com website /1
that seems to be entirely dedicated to the tree trunk tour. Member directory? No. Anything at all about the businesses they represent? No. Anything on there to support businesses? One working relevant link on the "Member's Corner" page. /2
The only link on the main page that isn't related to the tree tour? "Safety & Extreme Weather" no it's about the tree tour too. Completely unacceptable to have a taxpayer funded website making jokes under SAFETY headings. AODA compliant? No. /3
I wrote a blog for @envirodefence summarizing info from Ontario conservation authorities and municipalities about impacts to wetlands following changes to OWES.
Learn more about which specific wetlands are at risk of losing protection in your watershedš environmentaldefence.ca/2023/01/17/floā¦
Learn more about which specific wetlands are at risk of losing protection in your watershedš environmentaldefence.ca/2023/01/17/floā¦
I took the šø in the blog header last summer at the Sifton Bog, a wetland in #ldnont 10,000 years in the making that @UTRCAmarketing says is no longer guaranteed protection as a Provincially Significant Wetland complex under revised OWES rules. Which other wetlands are at risk?
Ontario has 36 conservation authorities @conont. I summarized what some of them have said in reports and statements about anticipated losses of Provincially Significant status to wetlands in their jurisdictions. See the blog for references. I'll compile some maps/quotes in a š§µ
What are students saying about Ontarioās #Bill23? On Friday December 9, @westernsogs organized a large public demonstration on #WesternUās campus as part of our effort to spread community awareness of the Bill and what it means for the housing and climate crises. A recap š§µ
If you donāt know me, Iām the 1st Sustainability Coordinator at SOGS. I advocate on behalf of grad studentsā environmental rights. Iām the Chair of an advisory committee for the City of London dedicated to environmental stewardship & climate action. Iām also working on a PhD!š¦šŖ
Two weeks ago, @westernsogs endorsed a letter condemning #Bill23 and educating our membership about what is at stake in Ontarioās housing and climate crises. You can read the statement in full here:
sogs.ca/bill-23
sogs.ca/bill-23
Let's take a look at how councillors voted on close votes at council, where the margin ranged from one to five votes #ldnont
1. To appoint Tanya Park to LTC (12/18)
Yeas: (10) Mayor E. Holder, S. Lewis, M. Salih, J. Helmer, M. Cassidy, J. Morgan, A. Hopkins, S. Turner, E. Peloza, and A. Kayabaga
Nays: (5) M. van Holst, P. Squire, S. Lehman, P. Van Meerbergen, and S. Hillier
Yeas: (10) Mayor E. Holder, S. Lewis, M. Salih, J. Helmer, M. Cassidy, J. Morgan, A. Hopkins, S. Turner, E. Peloza, and A. Kayabaga
Nays: (5) M. van Holst, P. Squire, S. Lehman, P. Van Meerbergen, and S. Hillier
2. Appoint D. Vanden Boomen to Council for Adult Education (01/19)
Yeas: (10) Holder, van Holst, Salih, Helmer, Cassidy, Morgan, Hopkins, Van Meerbergen, Turner, and Kayabaga
Nays: (5) Lewis, Squire, Lehman, Peloza, and Hillier
Yeas: (10) Holder, van Holst, Salih, Helmer, Cassidy, Morgan, Hopkins, Van Meerbergen, Turner, and Kayabaga
Nays: (5) Lewis, Squire, Lehman, Peloza, and Hillier
Want to understand voting patterns on #ldnont's city council over the past term? Here's an overview. jessehelmer.medium.com/voting-patternā¦
van Holst and Hillier, who were outliers and more contrarian in the first three years of the term, have shifted to voting with the majority much more frequently. #ldnont
Newly-appointed councilllors Hamou and Fyfe-Millar have joined Lewis, Morgan and Lehman in a very tight group of five that votes together on non-unanimous votes. #ldnont
We received an email yesterday from the mother of an injured cyclist, letting us know that her son had been hit by a bus while riding his bike on Sarnia Road. She told us the following:
On Monday, Oct.3 around noon her son, a Western student, was biking to school on Sarnia Road. He was riding on the mostly empty sidewalk, but as he got closer to the school there were a lot of pedestrians, so he merged onto the road.
He rode very close to the curb, and then was hit by a bus. He was clipped by the mirror, and ended up with a broken arm. The bus driver, emerging from the bus, asked him why he wasn't riding on the sidewalk; the student told him to call for help.
Please encourage newcomers to #WesternU to consider voting in the upcoming #ldnont municipal election. Student turnout for these elections is historically low, yet students will be affected by many decisions to be made by the next local government. Alsoā¦
westerngazette.ca/news/everythinā¦
westerngazette.ca/news/everythinā¦
If you wanna get informed about the election, check out accounts like @ThrivingLdnOnt & @london_votes. Watch online recordings of debates hosted by @ULLdn to find out how local candidates stack up on issues. There are good summaries available to make your research really simple!
Electing representatives who follow science and base decisions on evidence is an impactful #climateaction we can easily undertake. @CityofLdnOnt declared a climate emergency, but itās up to the next municipal council to oversee implementation of the Climate Emergency Action Plan
Who knew #ldnont was home to a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Former @washingtonpost +@Newsday reporter B.D. Colen was also a celebrated photographer who taught his craft for years at @MIT. He snapped this photo last week at @WesternFair last week. š§µ1/
His list of achievements are too long to name here, but you're in luck. He's teaching a workshop w/ the Bayfield Fall Foto Festival. His street photography segment is at the Goderich Library on Sat at 3. Info: pcob.ca/blank. You may have seen this photo.ā¤µļø 2/
Colen took this photo on June 24, 1968, for the student paper @GWtweets. "It shows people about to be hauled off to jail after U.S. Park Police shut down a protest encampment...on the National Mall," He also photographed this guy on Solidarity Day, June 19, 1968. ā¤µļø3/
š§µ: I fundamentally support the work of @Forgotten519 and the advocacy piece and the work we all have to do to support all community members, including those who are unhoused. In rural communities, we struggle with homelessness and lack of housing, although it does not present 1/
as it does in the City. The Province in its decades of work in social services has developed a āurban-centricā model in which those who require social services must go into cities to get resources. The current #ldnont-#Middlesex service manager model is the perfect example of 2/
this work. That is why when reading through threads, including previous tweets of @NeedlesOnNews, I struggle that the responsibility solely lies on #ldnontās shoulders to fix. #Ldnont, by virtue of decades long modelling has become the victim of an entire #SWOnt issue 3/
1. A parking thread. Are you heading to Port Stanley this summer? There are some new parking rules you should know about. Fees have kicked in at more lots and if you get nailed by a ticket, it'll cost you more. #ldnont
Photo: @CEBeachRescue
Photo: @CEBeachRescue
2. You'll have to pay at all of these municipal lots now.
3. And come August 1st, if you get a ticket, it'll cost a whole lost more.
1. WARNING. This story contains graphic details. A woman is sharing her story about a longtime St. Thomas music teacher. Eugene Francois, 59, operated a popular music studio in the city and in 2021, was charged with trafficking + sexual assault.
cbc.ca/news/canada/loā¦
cbc.ca/news/canada/loā¦
2. Then this week, @STPSmedia announced 16 more charges in relation to 10 victims. They include voyeurism, making child pornography + possession of child pornography. We spoke to an alleged victim. She says she was secretly filmed while at a recording studio.
3. "I want to take something horrible that's happened to me + make it into something powerful where it gets out there that it's more common than people are talking about. Women + girls are not safe in the music industry."
1. Check out this amazing story by @KateDubinski about an incredible daycare + family centre in London. It's Indigenous-led +caters to urban Indigenous families. LOOK AT THESE FACES. Joy. #LdnOnt
This is Lorna Chrysler + her son, Darryl Wright, 5,
cbc.ca/news/canada/loā¦
This is Lorna Chrysler + her son, Darryl Wright, 5,
cbc.ca/news/canada/loā¦
2. This is Dawn Redskey. Her one-year-old son, Robin Redskye-McKinstry goes to the daycare. The first thing Dawn noticed when she walked into the Nshwaasnangong Child Care and Family Centre was the smell of smudge in the air.
3. "I almost cried the first time I smelled it. I thought, 'Oh my gosh. It just feels so nice to be able to bring my baby into this atmosphere where this is encouraged. He gets to be around people that understand where he's from and are able to help kindle that identity."
I genuinely appreciate that thereās a āreasonablenessā thing at play in this issue, and that some folks, myself included, are throwing around the term āhousing crisisā ā at least in #LdnOnt ā though itās not, in fact, been declared at any official level. I propose that we do. 1/n
We are facing in #LdnOnt *all* of these things, not just as trickle-down or domino effects, but SIMULTANEOUSLY across multiple scenarios for people seeking shelter, temporary, transitional, or permanent household, across classes and other intersectional identities.
2/n
2/n
And, of course, simultaneous with all of the above, in #LdnOnt, we do also have:
- folks seeking to buy their first home, again, in a heavily financialized market.
So, if we are unable to house any part of our population in the housing they seek, letās call it an emergency. 5/n
- folks seeking to buy their first home, again, in a heavily financialized market.
So, if we are unable to house any part of our population in the housing they seek, letās call it an emergency. 5/n
1. Yesterday, we aired a story about a woman who collects human skulls. Many of you were troubled by the story, including @cwilliamg. He says overwhelmingly, the human remains that are bought + sold online are Indigenous.
2. The practice of buying and selling remains suggests that Indigenous people, "are still for and worth putting on display and it continues to dehumanize us as people," said Cody Groat, who is Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River. @westernuHistory
3. As an example of where people buy this stuff, the website for the Skull Store in Toronto includes a section called, 'Human Products' + features skulls, a skeleton, fragments of a preserved human brain and a fetus.
SinceĀ the evening ofĀ June 6th, IĀ haveĀ struggled to find the right words to express, on behalf of our city, the magnitude of what happened to the Afzaal family, #OurLondonFamily. #ldnont
One year later, I remain at a loss on how to properly communicate the depthsĀ of ourĀ anger, our sadness, and terror.
Make no mistake, wordsĀ do matter. TheyĀ can provide comfort, encouragement, and hope.
Make no mistake, wordsĀ do matter. TheyĀ can provide comfort, encouragement, and hope.
Ultimately, however,Ā wordsĀ are nowhere near as important, nor as impactful, as action ā especially one year later.
Dear #LdnOnt,
A difficult truth is preferable to a palatable lie.
One year ago, a son of our city, sentenced #OurLondonFamily to death for the crime of being different. Singled out & marked for execution because they were deemed to be enemies in an invisible war.
A difficult truth is preferable to a palatable lie.
One year ago, a son of our city, sentenced #OurLondonFamily to death for the crime of being different. Singled out & marked for execution because they were deemed to be enemies in an invisible war.
Dear London, the difficult truth is that his was not an imported hate, but rather one grown in plain sight. A hate that took root & grew in a forest city. A hate we chose not to see because we preferred the ease of wilful blindness over the harsh reality of the difficult truth.
The difficult truth is that this evil man does not exist in isolation. There are many, too many, that walk amongst us who share his philosophy. We have all, at one time, witnessed someone partake in hate & we have all, at one time, failed to call it out.
Hey @dhcycle, we had a lovely ride through old north and downtown and loved the protected lanes on Dundas and Colbourne but ran I to some trouble as the northbound Colbourne gave way to āshare the laneā. 1/n
A handful of the cars were very courteous, and the LTC bus certainly gave us plenty of room, but a number werenāt and finally, our chariot was clipped as we came to a stop at Grosvenor and an older gentleman tried to overtake us and make a left in the intersection. 2/n
I was able to get his attention and it became apparent that he thought he had given us plenty of room despite hitting us. Never gave a thought to waiting until we proceeded through the intersection before he made his left and never gave a thought to us at all. 3/n
We had such a great turnout for Community Solidarity London's rally in support of healthcare workers today.
Unfortunately we were confronted by another #FreeDumbConvoy, but most problematically, confronted by the #ldnont police. A š§µ
Unfortunately we were confronted by another #FreeDumbConvoy, but most problematically, confronted by the #ldnont police. A š§µ
Our amazing speakers, like @DirkaProut seen here, spoke about the need to support the healthcare workers on the front lines, while a stationary group of #convoy protesters nearby heckled "bullshit!"
We turned our attn to the road, encouraging drivers to honk in solidarity for healthcare workers and pro-science initiatives, in an effort to take back the narrative from the #ConvoyForFreedom2022, which has filled our streets with cries for anti-science, anti-democratic action
1/ āā¦there is a long history of hatred behind that as a symbol.Ā If you don't know why you're flying the flag, you'd better do your research before you come across as a bigot or someone who is perpetuating hate." #ldnont
2/ Perhaps those who raised the flag didnāt know what they were doing. Or, maybe they did. Either way, thereās much work left to do to ensure all citizens in our city feel that they belong and are valued.
3/ Letās not allow those who wish to divide us the opportunity to have their way. When we hear racism, we must speak up. When we see racism - and the symbols that perpetuate it - we must speak up. This is the least one can do and all of us have a role to play.
Hey #LdnOntBike weāre about to get walloped by a severe storm. Itās going to bring a ton of rain, flood the river, and then flash freeze all in about 48 hours.
Rain starting tonight, continuing to tomorrow. Temperature will fall tomorrow (Thursday), so the morning ride is warm and wet, but afternoon ride home will be extremely cold and icy. #LdnOnt
The river will be very dangerous as all the snow thatās on the ground will melt and run into the river. Watch the water level here if you have to go anywhere on the TVP. Above 3.5m usually means some flooded parts, above 4.0 = many sections impassable. wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/real_tiā¦
Who's ready for our City Bike preview for 2022? While we're really excited about e-bikes and cargo bikes, there's nothing more practical and efficient than a regular Dutch-style city bicycle. We've scoured the globe to get a very limited stock of bikes, first come, first served!
While other Covid-related shortages have more or less gone away, bikes have remained stubbornly scarce. Many of our offerings in 2022 were actually ordered in 2020, and only reaching us now. Supply is tight, and we're doing our best.
First up, the Breezer Downtown will be back in our lineup for another season! This is our favourite city bike for a lot of reasons: chromoly steel frame, comfortable geometry, and quality components. It's an easy bike to ride that will last a generation. londonbicyclecafe.com/bike-store/breā¦
