TL;WR

Apr 04, 2016

Eating and drinking and working.

We'd be fooling ourselves to think that LRT construction doesn't impact our local businesses. The closure of Duke Street and partial closure (more on that in a second) of Ontario Street have led to the bins of Candy Candy Candy being emptied one last time. Losing Candy (2X) and Dave Watson in downtown is a shame - it's one of those unique places that gives a city core its character.

Since construction began, store owners have made complaints about lack of notice and issues on getting detour signage in place. Central Fresh Market and Cafe Pyrus have put up their own signs - as many others have along the LRT path. Ontario Street retailer Style Frugal posted this image on their site to show their frustration.

Here's my two cents (or nickel since we don't use pennies any more) -

The road isn't closed. The road is partially open for local traffic - and 100% open for pedestrian traffic. We're building the LRT to get more people out of their cars - so why are we using automotive specific signage and ignoring pedestrians? Why not have signs that say "Open for people, closed for cars"?

What can we do? Go out of your way to shop at local businesses. Both the Waterloo and Kitchener Business Improvement Associations (BIA) have listings of stores that have that special gift you can't find in a box from Amazon.

Andrew Coppolino, the man behind Waterloo Region Eats and Rare Republic has a great article up over at the CBC about new bars and restaurants here in Waterloo Region. He even mentions Arabella Park in Belmont - which means technically, we broke that news before he did. Going to mark that one up as a "W".

What to do.

Night School | 56 King Street North, Waterloo | $15 adv | $20 door
I prefer to give up control of my mind and body the old fashioned way - with beer. That being said, if you've never been to a hypnosis show before - here's your chance.

Open Sesame | 220 King Street West, Kitchener | Tues, Apr 5 | 7pm
Local designer and author Andrew Kolb will be speaking at the next Brew Over Design event this Tuesday. B/D is a meet-up for designers & creatives of all shapes and sizes. It's just you, a brew and like-minded pixel-tweakers!

Maxwell's Concerts & Events | Fri, Apr 8 | $10
35 University Ave E, Waterloo

Sometimes we all just need to bang our heads - and not just against our desks. Head over to Maxwell's this Friday for "Hard Rock Night" featuring:

Blackout in Effect
From Beyond The Sky
CityWide Panic

THEMUSEUM | Downtown Kitchener | Fri, Apr 8 | 5:59am
Seriously - 5:59am. The At First Light event will guarantee to wake you up and get you energized for the day. Doors will open at 5:59am, and guests will enjoy live music, dancing, smoothies, coffee and more! Food and drink will be provided by Mercury Cafe. 91.5 The Beat will also be doing a live broadcast of their morning show, and live-music will be provided by Toronto-based band Running Red Lights.