Desperation doesn’t make for good planning decisions

How interesting that uptown Waterloo has been a little jealous of downtown Kitchener lately.

For decades, it was always downtown Kitchener, as in “down on your luck.” But we said uptown Waterloo, as in “upbeat.”

For many years, downtown Kitchener was sad and seedy, its once-vibrant shops and streets sucked dry by large suburban malls. It seemed neglected and vulnerable no matter how hard we tried to rehabilitate it.

Not all our rescue attempts turned out well. Anyone else remember when someone thought it would be a great idea if the downtown became the nightclub capital of Canada?

That experiment ended more or less as you might expect, as messy and unfortunate as the combination of a deep-fried dinner and too much booze at 2 a.m.

Meanwhile, Waterloo people enjoyed their lives and never went to downtown Kitchener.

But now the tide has turned. Has it ever.

Kitchener can thank its former mayor, Carl Zehr, who backed an economic development investment fund for projects like the School of Pharmacy, the Tannery and other magnets for high technology and higher education.

This was a better way to bring more people into the core. This was why downtown Kitchener — DTK as it is affectionately known — became so vibrant even before the construction for light rail started. It has people living, working and shopping in the core.

They have good jobs. They don’t want to live in the suburbs.

Just like the ugly duckling who turned into a beautiful swan, Kitchener dazzles ... while Waterloo drools.

Possibly, the city that’s green with envy may have made a mistake this week when its council approved a giant highrise apartment tower for King Street.

Notwithstanding that it’s far in excess of the height allowed, Waterloo council voted 6-1 to bring in controversial condo towers, 11 storeys above King and 24 storeys above Regina Street, at Bridgeport Road.

The Regina street tower is permitted. The proposed 11storey tower on King is nearly three times higher than the rules currently allow. But the developer got an exemption, thanks to the promise of a beautiful undulating glass shell on the bottom floors, plus community space on the lower levels. The development will provide homes for another 367 people.

There’s no question it looks stunning.

Restaurateur Nick Benninger likened it to a “lifeboat showing up on the horizon” and said local businesses need more people in the core or they won’t thrive.

Clothing store owner Alnoor Keshvani added: “It just makes sense that as a city we start getting stuff like that approved, or else we're going to lose it to our sister down the street, who's grown up to be this absolutely beautiful woman."

Councillors raced to praise it and pass it.

The only note of sober second thought was voiced by Coun. Jeff Henry, who opposed the proposed tower — writing on Twitter, “because it was not consistent with our objective of retaining the scale of King Street in our historic core, which is protected by specific Official Plan policies.”

“This plan came after years of extensive community engagement,” he said, voicing his disappointment.

You can read his full message on Twitter at @jeffhenrykw.

Waterloo’s retailers in its core have been under siege, there’s no doubt about that.

But you can’t let emotion get in the way of due process.

Desperation doesn’t make for good decisions. Not in a nightclub. And not around the council table, either.