Placemaking in suburbia

This lady lives near me and like so many who live in Byron she enjoys walking about our suburban neighbourhood. I spotted her with a friend in front of my home; They had stopped while she, clearly a serious photographer judging by her camera, grabbed some careful images of the crabapple tree in bloom.

Our street is lined with crabapple trees and in the spring it is beautiful. I must tell you that my wife disagrees. Oh, it looks nice, she'll grant me that. But the bees that are attracted to the blooms --- big, loud-buzzing bumblebees --- in the hundreds!

Maybe tomorrow I'll try and grab a picture of one or more of the stinging little devils. It's best I take an antihistamine before the shoot.

Cheers!

Bear shot in London, Ontario

London police looking for the bear sighted in the Southwestern Ontario city.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. A rather large black bear was shot yesterday in the southwest end of London, Ontario, just a short walk from where I live. The chief of police said he has never come up against such a problem in all his years with the force. This was his first bear encounter. The local office of the Ministry of Natural Resources reportedly deals with so few bear complaints that they were also rather unprepared. So, no giant live-traps for the humane capture of large black bears were available, no one had, nor knew how to use, a tranquilizing gun, and beating drums to drive the now frightened bear away did not seem to be an option as there are a number of daycare centres and schools in the immediate area.

If you are still curious, more of the story is posted to the Digital Journal. To see the bear itself, check out this link to The London Free Press, our local paper. (I do wish the Free Press image didn't seem to depict the police officer almost as a big game hunter. But, maybe that's just my take on the image.)

Cheers,
Rockinon

Back from the ashes, like the Phoenix

This older Victorian home, sitting on a corner facing Victoria Park in the core of London, Ontario, burned a few years ago. But it was not demolished after the fire. The owner had the building re-roofed, but with shingles and not slate, and took the fire as an opportunity to modernize all the windows and other features of the aging structure. The result is not technically a restoration but it is smart: Smart to have considered, smart to have done and the result looks smart, too.

Cookie cutter homes of the core

One criticism I have often encountered when someone is busy knocking suburbia is a reference to the cookie cutter look of the homes in the new developments. There is a smugness to this talk that is not earned. Older neighbourhoods are filled with cookie cutter areas. It is not uncommon to find two similar homes sitting side by side in older neighbourhoods. And finding a row of three or more similar homes is not as rare as you might think.

The big difference is that in the newer neighbourhoods, all the homes tend to be homes. Many of the homes in the older neighbourhoods now contain businesses.

Urban critics must learn to get out more. See the world. See suburbia. At the least, open their eyes and see the older, urban neighbourhoods that they profess so loudly to loving.

The real city planners are the residents

I like London. It is a fine place to live. But I don't find that if I like this, then I must dislike that. There are London-boosters who feel that to boost London they must cheer for the downtown core while heaping scorn upon suburbia. These folk are silly. In truth, one can root for both. I know, 'cause I do.

Today's picture is another one from my walk around my neighbourhood in a sprawling southwest suburb of London. This is a home that disproves the myth that if the garage is in the front, the house must be ugly. An position which is very popular with new urbanists. The urban theorists are fellow-travellers with the silly folk in the first paragraph.

My picture captures what I see, what I focus on, when I look at this home. I figure anyone who sees the large, black vehicle off to the side of the lot, parked in front of the garage is not person who easily sees the beauty in the world. It is they who have the problem and not the home owner.

If you're into such stuff as new urbanism, please read my blog on the new urbanist development in Oakville, Ontario. It got rave reviews in the local paper but not from me. Check out my take and my pictures.

And if you are still looking for something, I also blogged on the "placemaking" silliness. To my way of thinking it is the property owners in a city, like the owners of the home featured today, who are doing the real placemaking and not the fancy talking city planners. I, like many, love going for a stroll through my neighbourhood. It is quiet, safe and the many of the folk living here keep their homes so beautiful that it make a neighbourhood walk a mission of discovery.

Cheers!

More Suburbia

As I have mentioned in the past, there's a group of folk in London who think that suburbia is a place of ugly cookie cutter homes, wide curved streets that are more maze than neighbourhood. These people are of course right --- there are places like that --- mostly outside London, well outside London. Many London suburbs are quite pleasant. The home featured today is a suburban home in southwest London about nine kilometres from the city core. More on Suburbia tomorrow.

Earth Day

It may be called Earth Day but the real beneficiaries are our children, or in my case my granddaughter. Fiona may wear pink, but she's definitely green. She eats only organic foods and she loves her soft, organic cottons.

For the whole blog, click the link to Digital Journal.