Colin's Blog » Cambridge

A New School in the Neighbourhood

Colin Carmichael — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:46:39 +0000

Having kids changes your life. Duh. Just a few years ago, the building of a new school (and all of the bureaucratic wrangling that goes with that) was a mildly interesting civic event to someone like me who has an interest in local politics. Now, as our second child prepares for kindergarten in the fall (just as our oldest is leaving) the prospect of a new school in the neighbourhood has ramifications that will profoundly impact our family’s daily life.

My wife sits on the ‘School Council‘ at our kids’ school. The new school planned for southeast Galt (the part of Cambridge that I live in) and the boundary implication were mentioned at a recent meeting. This isn’t news but I hadn’t thought about it for a while and I was curious how the existing school boundaries would be affected.

A quick Google search brought me to the Waterloo Region District School Board’s Accommodation Review for southeast Galt elementary schools. There is a LOT of information here, and I will admit that I have not read it all. I did, however, spend a little time poring over the maps provided in Appendices C&D. (I love maps)

Appendix C: JK-6 boundaries:

click image for full-size

Appendix D: 7-8 boundaries:

click image for full-size

There are a couple of weird things I noticed:

our kids will go to the new school for 7-8 even though Stewart Ave is closer. This is even more problematic for us since we’ll have kids going in two directions (Chalmers and Glenview to the west and ‘NewSchool’ to the east even though Stewart Ave is situated between Chalmers and Glenview.
kids who live on Dudhope (a block away from Stewart Ave) will now be bussed the 1.9 kilometres to ‘New School’?
Based on my reading of the busing rules (here), it would seem that our kids will be bussed to ‘NewSchool’ (1.85 kms) when they could easily walk to Stewart Ave. (1.1 km). It’s ridiculous to bus kids within city limits when there’s a school within walking distance!

I realize that these are pretty complex things to figure out (especially with the Jr/Sr split) but I will maintain my position from my trustee campaign last fall that if we had smaller schools in more neighbourhoods we could probably eliminate all intra-city busing.

If you live in southeast Galt – or even if you don’t – what do you think of the plan for the new school? Leave a comment below…

Campaign Information

Colin Carmichael — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:29:22 +0000

I’ve decided to officially put this blog on hiatus for the duration of my campaign for public school trustee in Cambridge.

If you’ve come here looking for information about me or about the campaign, please visit my campaign website at www.CambridgePublicSchools.ca

Thanks!

Cambridge Reporter Revisited

Colin Carmichael — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:56:14 +0000

It seems that my foray into community publishing in 2008 has garnered some interest on the Twitter… There is some confusion, understandably, about who was doing what when and under what when.

I may do an in-depth post sometime on the whole experience, but for now I’ll offer a simple timeline to clear the air:

(I’m doing this from memory, so I may revise these a bit after publishing)

June 2008: I launch CambridgeReporter.ca. it’s a community-driven site where anyone can submit stories and opinion. It’s intended to be more news than opinion – similar to NowPublic.com but on a smaller scale.

October 2008: TorStar sends me a friendly email about how they still own the Reporter name and they’d appreciate it if I could stop using it. Important to note that in Sept 2008 TorStar did not own any of the relevant URLs, but in October, CambridgeReporter.com suddenly appeared with syndicated content from the K-W Record. Update: Rabble.ca did a story about this here: http://www.rabble.ca/news/cease-and-desist-i-dont-think-so

Later in October 2008: CambridgeReporter.ca becomes CambridgeVoice.ca.

Spring 2009: The Cambridge Voice becomes The Cambridge Advocate under new ownership. (I’m totally drawing a blank on the timing here, so I’ll update after a little research)

There it is – my best recollection of the events surrounding my involvement with the Cambridge Reporter.

On the Twitter, there’s already talk about trying again to create a community-driven local news & opinion website. Stay tuned.

Meeting Called to Discuss Coworking Space in Galt

Colin Carmichael — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:23:22 +0000

Yesterday’s blog post sparked quite the conversation on Twitter last night! I thought we should try to capitalize on the momentum and get a bunch of people in a room to brainstorm, so I called the first meeting of the Galt Coworking Group.

We will meet Monday, December 21st at 8:30pm at the Golden Kiwi pub on Dickson St.
RSVP here: http://guestlistapp.com/events/11064

Everyone is welcome to come and offer your $0.02 on this idea.

Update: There is a public working document for fleshing out the principles of what we are trying to accomplish. Read and edit it here: http://colincarmichael.ca/galtcoworkdoc

Working alone, together.

Colin Carmichael — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:46:30 +0000

Not an ideal working environment…

Guess where I spent most of my day today? The public library. Why? Well, long story short, the weather made commuting to the office a silly thing to attempt so I was stuck in town with nowhere to work.

I essentially have three options in this situation: 1) work from home, 2) work from a cafe, 3) work from the library

The first option is really not an option since there are 4 pre-schoolers there and no “home office”. Option #2 is my usual habit – but you can only drink so much overpriced coffee in a day. So today was #3 – no pressure to leave , but still less than ideal.

The biggest problem with each of these options (even #1) is isolation. Humans are social creatures and require social interaction, within the context of their work, to be creative.

So what to do? I’ve been intrigued by the concept of coworking for some time. The idea of being able to work on my own but in an office full of people I know is very attractive!

I have this feeling that we’re reaching a critical mass in Cambridge that could support some kind of cooperative working environment. In talking with a few folks today and yesterday, I’m sure I’m not alone in that belief.

So let’s do it. Let’s incorporate a non-profit to create a cooperative working space for professionals in Cambridge that need a place to hang their hat from 9 to 5 but have no use for a full office of their own.

Who’s with me?

UPDATE: a few of us are throwing around ideas on Twitter. Use the #galtcowork hashtag to particpate!

Meeting Called to Discuss Coworking Space in Galt

A Tweetup for Canada’s Technology Triangle

Colin Carmichael — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:03:42 +0000

I’m calling a Tweetup for the Kitchener-Waterloo/Cambridge/Guelph area – otherwise known as Canada’s Technology Triangle. If you’re on Twitter (or curious) and live in or near the Triangle please join us!

The venue is the Duke & Duchess Pub in north-east Cambridge at Hwy 401 and Townline Rd. Someone might want to bring along a proper website for the D&D!

The date has not yet been set. Please visit ScheduleOnce to let me know which dates you would be available. The date with the most people available wins.

Update: The date has been set. December 9th

See you there!

Update: Apparently Guelph is not officially part of the Technology Triangle – rest assured you are still invited. @designmeme has suggested forming Canada’s Technology Rhombus… we can discuss at the Tweetup. ;)