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jan 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Walk to Shop in Old East Village
As part of the Strengthening Neighbourhoods Strategy underway in the city, neighbourhoods were invited to apply for funding from the City of London to assist in developing local Walk to Shop initiatives. The Old East Village Community Association, in partnership with the Old East Village Business Improvement Area, is one of three successful applicants. Our grant from the city has been supplemented by two generous cash donations from merchants on the corridor and significant donations-in-kind from the Association and the BIA.
The money is to be used to encourage residents to shop locally and to highlight the options available to us within walking distance. While the focus is thus to help to deliver local folks to local merchants – not to promote local merchants to markets outside of the neighbourhood – it has always been clear to us that the prospects for both residents and merchants are improved when relationships are nurtured between them.
The commercial corridor that runs along Dundas Street has always been a strategic asset of the neighbourhood. The Revitalization Plan currently underway along Dundas Street (currently in its second iteration) has been celebrated nationally for the progress it is making but bringing commercial corridors back to life, especially secondary corridors in the downtowns of larger Canadian and American cities, is complex work that takes years to accomplish. Though Dundas Street East remains in transition, there are many good options available to us – especially in the arts and culture sector, with a number of top notch venues in the performance arts, and in the food sector, with the successful Western Fair Farmer’s Market going a long way towards addressing the status of Old East as a food desert, and a number of very good restaurants and cafes.
The Walk to Shop strategy we are working on has three inter-related parts to it.
First, we will be working with the local business community, including with those residents operating home-based businesses, to develop a local business directory, to be distributed through our community newsletter, the Old East Village News, hand-delivered five times per year to the nearly 2,000 residences in the neighbourhood.
Second, we are going to design a Scavenger Hunt that will take place over the next several months to bring as many local residents into as many local businesses as we can. At the end of the day, the best we can do is to get as many residents as possible into the stores along Dundas Street. After that, it’s up to the merchants themselves to give us a reason to come back.
The largest and most difficult portion of our strategy will involve a local wayfinding system along our neighbourhood streets and along the corridor. Wayfinding, for our purposes, refers to artistic signage that will act as visual cues for residents to the proximity of local shopping options, as measured by walking time. The mapping of neighbourhood walking times from a myriad of points to various categories of shopping options along the corridor will be translated into wayfinding symbols to act not only as markers but as visual cues reinforcing a local shopping ethic in Old East Village. Old East walks, certainly more than most other neighbourhoods in the city. We want to explore the use of symbols in influencing behaviour.
There are benefits to the wayfinding program over and above bringing residents into local businesses, though this is important. The program will establish the neighbourhood as one engaged in reclaiming the corridor for its own use. New businesses are obviously interested in the strength of the local consumer market available to them as they work their way through the business planning process, and a neighbourhood that votes with its feet will make attracting the kinds of new businesses we wish to see that much easier.
We intend to work our way through designing and implementing the strategy in the most collaborative way possible. We hope that local residents and especially local merchants will get involved early.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Welcome to the New OEVCA Website
Why would we move away from a unique domain to a blog? A few reasons but the biggest reason is to keep costs of running the OEVCA to a minimum. We were paying more than $20 per month to a hosting company and with the blog, we will be able to do everything we could do before but it will be free.
Please feel free to send us your comments and feedback. We are looking for people who could help with maintaining a community calendar for OEV events.
Please feel free to send us your comments and feedback. We are looking for people who could help with maintaining a community calendar for OEV events.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
History of the Old East
During its remarkable 130-year history, the Old East Village area has become an integral part of the story of London along with making far-reaching contributions to Canada and the rest of the world.
The Old East area was the site of groundbreaking research that led to the discovery of insulin. Today Sir Frederick Banting's scientific breakthrough is honoured with a museum that stands on the site of his former home on nearby Adelaide Street. The building is designated as a National Historic Site.
Imperial Oil, a major player in the world's petroleum industry, was born in Old East London when sixteen small oil refineries amalgamated there in 1880.
Just a short walk east along Dundas Street, the Western Fair has made Queens Park a favourite destination of millions of families since its arrival in Old East London back in 1887.
East London also has the distinction of giving The City of London its first mayor. Murray Anderson took office in 1855. As the founder of London East, Anderson earned a solid reputation as a manufacturer, most notably for his Globe Foundry ironworks located at Dundas and Adelaide Streets where our police station stands today.
The Old East Village holds important historical significance in the city's public transportation as well. London Street Railway later re-named the London Transportation Commission- operated for many years from the bus barns on Lyle Street. Although need for a larger facility saw the departure of what is today referred to as London Transit, the area continues to enjoy the benefit of excellent public transportation. The Old East Village is served by five major bus routes, which provide easy access to and from many areas of the city.
The Old East Village is a community that embraces its rich diversity. A welcoming home to people of numerous backgrounds, our village is truly a global village.
EOA
The inititialism East Of Adelaide has its roots in the early history of the City of London. Adelaide Street was the western boundary of the former Town of East London which was amalgamated with London in 1885.
The Old East area was the site of groundbreaking research that led to the discovery of insulin. Today Sir Frederick Banting's scientific breakthrough is honoured with a museum that stands on the site of his former home on nearby Adelaide Street. The building is designated as a National Historic Site.
Imperial Oil, a major player in the world's petroleum industry, was born in Old East London when sixteen small oil refineries amalgamated there in 1880.
Just a short walk east along Dundas Street, the Western Fair has made Queens Park a favourite destination of millions of families since its arrival in Old East London back in 1887.
East London also has the distinction of giving The City of London its first mayor. Murray Anderson took office in 1855. As the founder of London East, Anderson earned a solid reputation as a manufacturer, most notably for his Globe Foundry ironworks located at Dundas and Adelaide Streets where our police station stands today.
The Old East Village holds important historical significance in the city's public transportation as well. London Street Railway later re-named the London Transportation Commission- operated for many years from the bus barns on Lyle Street. Although need for a larger facility saw the departure of what is today referred to as London Transit, the area continues to enjoy the benefit of excellent public transportation. The Old East Village is served by five major bus routes, which provide easy access to and from many areas of the city.
The Old East Village is a community that embraces its rich diversity. A welcoming home to people of numerous backgrounds, our village is truly a global village.
EOA
The inititialism East Of Adelaide has its roots in the early history of the City of London. Adelaide Street was the western boundary of the former Town of East London which was amalgamated with London in 1885.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Old East Village lies just to the east of downtown London, Ontario. It is bounded on the west by Adelaide Street and on the south by King Street; the railway tracks define its eastern and northern boundaries.
The Old East Village Community Association (OEVCA) was formed in January of 2003. We remember it was a stormy winter evening ~ but warm inside.
Our vision:
…is to aid and empower residents of our neighbourhood through advocacy, education and community involvement in order to establish a positive and healthy relationship with each other and with our city.
Our purpose:
…is to promote, facilitate, co-ordinate, support or undertake activities that will enhance the quality of life and the local environment of Old East Village including but not limited to the following:
1. to bring residents together through social activities, educational opportunities and structured OEVCA committees and meetings so that the members of the community can build strong and enduring ties with one another.
2. to maintain the residential and heritage character of Old East Village.
3. to provide a vehicle for public participation in the preservation and enhancement of those unique qualities that have come to characterize Old East Village.
4. to work towards the creation of an Old East Village Neighbourhood Plan, a vision document that will identify and prioritize the needs of the neighbourhood and, through public participation, develop an Action Plan to meet these needs.
5. to advocate on behalf of the neighbourhood with the City of London for effective and timely bylaw enforcement and building standard monitoring processes.
6. to act without partisanship in the best interests of our community.
The Old East Village Community Association (OEVCA) was formed in January of 2003. We remember it was a stormy winter evening ~ but warm inside.
Our vision:
…is to aid and empower residents of our neighbourhood through advocacy, education and community involvement in order to establish a positive and healthy relationship with each other and with our city.
Our purpose:
…is to promote, facilitate, co-ordinate, support or undertake activities that will enhance the quality of life and the local environment of Old East Village including but not limited to the following:
1. to bring residents together through social activities, educational opportunities and structured OEVCA committees and meetings so that the members of the community can build strong and enduring ties with one another.
2. to maintain the residential and heritage character of Old East Village.
3. to provide a vehicle for public participation in the preservation and enhancement of those unique qualities that have come to characterize Old East Village.
4. to work towards the creation of an Old East Village Neighbourhood Plan, a vision document that will identify and prioritize the needs of the neighbourhood and, through public participation, develop an Action Plan to meet these needs.
5. to advocate on behalf of the neighbourhood with the City of London for effective and timely bylaw enforcement and building standard monitoring processes.
6. to act without partisanship in the best interests of our community.
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