June 17 - News, Views & What's Happening Locally
Plus: A public meeting on new rental housing in Owen Sound revealed deep discomfort not just with development, but with who is seen as belonging.
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Who Gets to Live Here?
At last night’s public meeting on rezoning the former Georgian Heights nursing home to allow for its repurposing and expansion into 36 rental apartments, some residents made their discomfort plain—not just with the building itself, but also with the prospect of who might live in it.
One asked whether the project was for those low-income or “normal people,” while a few hinted at the troubles a certain type of person (let’s not beat around the bush… they meant “poor”) would bring to the neighbourhood.
Listen, the fact is that Owen Sound needs more housing. Desperately. People need somewhere to live. Every single person in this community deserves a place to call home.
If not on a long-vacant site near transit and services, then where?
Where should we put all of these “others,” these undesirable renters we’re afraid of having in our proximity… many of whom, let’s be honest, have helped fund the retirement plans and property wealth of some of the very same people who now feel they need a bigger, taller fence?
And it was hard not to notice the irony: some of the most pointed objections came from residents of condominiums converted from apartments, and from subdivisions filled with duplexes and semis.
The suggestion that apartment housing will drag the neighbourhood down rings hollow when so many already live in buildings just like the one being proposed.
Owen Sound has ambitious growth goals, which inevitably means more people and more housing. More students. More healthcare workers. More young families. More immigrants. More tradespeople.
A healthy community isn’t built on buffers and barriers. It’s built on diversity, density, and making sure we provide room for everyone, even if that means letting go of old assumptions about who belongs where.
I’ve been in Edinburgh recently, covering the extradition hearings of the three men implicated in the death of Sharif Rahman (and I’ll be heading back later this week for the next one). But it hasn’t been all work. I took a walking coffee tour during my last visit, and we explored Edinburgh’s Victorian-era café culture.
One thing that’s stuck with me: in this once fortified settlement, where space has been limited for centuries, there’s been little room—literally and figuratively—for rigid divides between rich and poor.
A wealthy merchant and a cobbler might live in the same tenement (furnished worlds apart, perhaps, but under the same roof). And in the 18th century, the city’s coffee houses became known as “penny universities,” places where, for the cost of a cup, anyone could sit down, join the conversation, and be part of the public life of the city.
No velvet ropes. No gated corners of the room. No seating by rank. No need to prove you belonged.
That’s the kind of openness we should aspire to. Not because it’s easy or comfortable, but because it makes our city more resilient, more connected, and better prepared for the future.
Public Notices
The City’s Strategic Planning Ad Hoc Committee meets on Wednesday, June 18, at 9:00 a.m. in council chambers at City Hall and will receive the long-awaited Vision 2050 final report and implementation recommendations.
Local News
Keep reading for community events, our original reporting, and curated local news updates.
Today: coverage of last night’s public meeting on the rezoning of the former Georgian Heights property; a downtown business owner appeals for assistance after a destructive break-in; Council’s decision on a new flag policy, and a lot more. No, really… this is kind of a big one. Grab a coffee and let’s get to it.
~ Miranda Miller, Editor
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