Think about London 10 - 20 years from now. In your eyes, what would London look like?

Traffic - we will eliminate telephone poles and put wires underground as we renovate roadways. We will widen roads efficiently so we don't have to tear it up in 5 years to add more lanes. We will use more roundabouts to eliminate costly traffic lights and not have to worry about hydro outages. We will realign our remaining left turn lanes so they are facing one another and you won't have to make blind left hand turns anymore. We will have better bike paths (look at Holland); we will have a through-way to improve north-south, east-west traffic in city or a ring road (look at Kitchener); we may consider a subway system.
Neighbourhoods: we will keep more farm land to accommodate the "buy local" vision, instead of over-building subdivisions on prime agricultural land. We will have more green space, keep more woods, add mini-parks to existing neighbourhoods. We will have more self-sustaining neighbourhoods with smaller grocery stores and convenience stores (look at Toronto). Our downtown will be rejuvenated by totally rebuilding some of the older blocks and the existence of university and college students will energize new development there.
Recycling: we will finally have green bins, and will be refusing to accept our purchases in non-recyclable materials, and making the retailers take back the unrecyclables for disposal until they convince their manufacturers to update their methods. We will be refusing other big cities' garbage and forcing them to do better on their own recycling programs.

I moved to London 19 years ago for an employment opportunity, and its where I've stayed for the most part over the years. London was prettier and more vibrant back then, I feel that we've lost our lustre a little.

1. One of our biggest issues is traffic flow, we have grown by almost 100,000 people since I moved here 19 years ago, the city has "sprawled" in many directions, but there has been zero attention paid to arterial route, or ring road planning. Most cities our size have limited access hwys running though them. We have routes like Highbury, Wellington, Oxford etc, all riddled with traffic lights, and during rush hours you could be at one light while it changes from green to red 5 times. This doesn't just speak to congestion, but pollution as well.

Solutions for the traffic flow: Ring roads, limited access hwys through the city. We have two major railway lines running right through the city, we either need more overpasses, or pick up one of the lines and move it in the country outside the city! (In my dreams I know.) Give incentives for people to carpool or ride your bike, for example, encourage businesses to offer the best parking spots to their car-poolers. Build more bike lanes. Create more "allies" for the buses to pull into at stops, so they are not halting traffic when they are picking up and dropping off passengers.

2. Greenspace, where has all the greenspace gone? Or more precisely, why hasn't it grown? Lets admit it, we have one "good" park in London: Springbank. Its the cleanest and most well-kept park in the city. Again the city has grown by almost 100,000 people since I moved here, the city has sprawled, but yet there has been no major push for any large park projects? As well the existing parks, just don't seem to be well kept or maintained. My husband and I ventured down to Harris Park last year for what we thought would be a nice stroll, and I was disappointed by what I saw. Landmarks vandalized, garbage everywhere, I spent more time collecting garbage than I did taking in any sights, but once I collected the garbage there was no where to put it? No garbage containers? No recycling?

Solutions to improve greenspace: First we need another "good" park, something taking in one of the natural features of the city, maybe in the north east end of the city, something along the Thames? Second, I think we need to do better at signing our park, and marking landmarks within them, replacing signs if/when they are vandalized. Third I think we need to install garbage and recycling bins in all major parks, to be emptied by the city. Outside of parks I think we also need to try to beautify our roads, when building or resurfacing our roads I think we should be looking for opportunities to add trees, grasses etc. Does the city still supply trees for new subdivisions? We used to be called the "Forest City", but when I look around I feel like that could hardly apply anymore.

3. Communities within communities. What I mean by this is we have a couple of areas of the city that are real treasures, Wortley Village, Byron. But we are missing out fostering the community feel in other areas, one area is out DT core, another example is Hamilton Rd., Sprinkbank Rd. etc. I think with some attention to cleaning, maintenance, and incentives for retailers, businesses, and restaurants, we could create some more nice little communities, one where people play, live and work. How do we do this? I'm not sure.

I have so many dreams for London I could go on forever! See you at the mtg on June 5!

Thanks,
C. Wilton

- More dense, vibrant downtown core
- More reliable, expansive, green transporation (BRT!)
- More internships, jobs, opportunities for young professionals, keep them in London after graduation
- Protect our green spaces
- Make the for of the Thames a bigger attraction, boardwalks, ice cream shop, Dundas bridge pedestrian
- Make Dundas a flex street with patio's and able to shut down Dundas with flex posts instead of signs
- Highlight our unique communities liek Wortley Village and Old North, like Toronto's communities
- Build economic hubs along BRT to suppor it (nodes)
- Green bins
- support multiculturalism, diversity

Improve arterial roads with more useful and safe bike lanes, more bus bays to allow traffic to move freely, reducing pollution-causing stops and starts waiting behind buses. Continue aggressive approach planting more trees and enhancing green space.

Red light cameras to cut down on red light runners.

Improve and enforce bylaws around property use and maintenance of student rentals. Devise a reasonable system of landlord and tenant accountability.

Stop the sprawl of big box malls that are cold, sterile and a huge waste of land. A poor concept for a country that has winter.

What a vision.
I just read 127 comments with a wide range of ideas, desires and personal agendas.
What I also read (between the lines) is that we live in a very unique city. A City with much to offer. London is a diverse city with an abundance of opportunities. If we want our city to be better managed, we need a different type of leadership. Fleming is right. We need a common vision, with emphases on “common”
When people run a city, EGO’s and personal agendas show up everywhere. When an “Intention” statement runs a city, everyone is invited to accept and honour the intention. Ego’s disappear when a clear and focused intention is the leader.
Could we adopt such an “Intention”?
Can we start with: “London, where clean, healthy living is supported by a cooperative, responsible Governance”.
That would invite; Council, administration, city staff, City Police, London Hydro and the school boards a crystal clear direction.
Lets first get to a common direction because, when a crystal clear intention is adopted, it does not matter who is running the show because the intention is the leader.
Lets re-vision on a clear intention as our leadership.

Do away with the concept of a traditional down town with office towers. They lead to congestion, poor traffic flow and poor air quality. Instead spread commercial centres around the city. In this day and age most business (the office tower kind) is conducted using technology.

Workshop in a Box:

Vibrant Downtown.
Continued plan of green corridor (Thames River).
Preserve & recognize heritage properties and culture.
No sprawl.
More main street commercial and less big box.
A built environment that is aesthetically pleasing.
Rebates for good business and promote JOBs.
Council respect community input and work done by advisory groups.
Emulate GTA in regard to public transportation.

I would like to see a boardwalk that runs along the Themes River. Starting from City Centre and working it's way to Springbank Park.

The boardwalk should be adorned with small shop's and cafe's. This would draw people to the parks and downtown and would be away from the hussel an bussel of busy streets.

Vision statement: We are an engaged and welcoming City that celebrates our diverse communities while innovating and remaining connected to our environment.

Create a userfriendly Official Plan: More focus on planning/futures for existing communities/promote neighbourhood nodes; generalized depiction of future land use supported by clear description of intent; multi-cultural; trim number of designations but increase flexibility within them.

Create a Plan that is more than a Land Use Plan: focus on things that are implementable; needs to be connected/integrated with other City departments; incorporate indices/measurement devices to monitor quality of life & healthy communities; monitor performance; need more policy incentives to encourage risk taking; recognize City-building is dynamic (need policies to support more variety).

Pieces Missing in OP: Implementation tools; Community economic development; community goals (land use responses); Disconnect between landuse & transportation planning & servicing; Plan is too perscriptive (being used like a zoning by-law).

Improved transit/alternative transit options/bike paths.
Vibrant, walkable, thriving downtown.
Environmental sustainability (LEED buildings, green bin program.
Beautification.
Walkable community & community hubs.
Limit sprawl/grow up not out.
Multi-cultural .
Social equity/empowerments.

Address Student Housing (residences near Fanshawe College).
More efficient way of moving people, World class transit, promote transit hubs around City and reduce number of connections directed to downtown (easier to get around the City rather than going via downtown) .
Safe & clean City.
Downtown revitalization (eg. grocery store).
High Tech waste management .
Invest in parks & develop Forks of the Thames .
Compact City .

Workshop-in-a-box:
Affordable housing choice and integration.
All season transportation priorities and choices, including a pedestrian zone in the Downtown.
Encourage Downtown Prosperity.
Mixed use vibrant neighbourhoods.
World class Transit.
Green Bins and more recycling.
Create clean, health swimable Thames river with a green buffer.
Maintain (Coves) and/or create green spaces (more in Old South).
Better energy homes and buildings.
Promote Cultural and Demographic Mix in Downtown.
Maintain heritage integrity in Old South.

Workshop-in-a-box:
Ring Road.
Increase the amount of seniors housing.
Improve public transporation system, and park & rides/hubs.
Active leadership in East London.
Control urban sprawl.
Improve downtown transit/public space/residential.
Increase serviced industrial land and long term jobs.
More green space.
Maximize London's location along the 401.
Better waste disposal system (eg. recycling).
Create retail opportunities.

Hello: I have used all caps below to indicate the topics of my entry so that they are easy to identify:

I would like to see the City of London focus on ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY. Significantly reducing our carbon footprint is only one of several ways to achieve environmental sustainability. INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES MANAGEMENT is one area that is lacking, and I would like to see the city develop a comprehensive invasive alien species management plan, especially in regard to INVASIVE ALIEN PLANTS. This plan should have two components: Education and Action. The Action component involves 1) Changing landscaping practices so that only native plant species are being planted in all City projects from landscaping around City buildings to streetscaping to City parks to Environmentally Significant Areas (ESA's). For example, when the City cuts down a diseased tree, the tree species that is chosen to replace that diseased tree should be a species that is native to Southern Ontario such as hoptree ("Ptelea trifoliata"), and not a known invasive alien species native to Asia, such as Bradford pear. And 2) the Action plan needs to involve dealing with invasive alien plants that are already established in our environment, especially in ESA's. The City is already working on the buckthorn problem, but is the work being done on buckthorn adequate/enough? Related to this is the Education component. The City is spending some money on getting rid of invasive species, planted in the past by City staff and the unknowing public on their private land. Who has the responsibility to focus on educating the public, so that landowners become informed about the need to plant natives, and not plant invasive aliens? The problem with invasive alien plants is that they out-compete our native vegetation (native trees, native shrubs, native wildflowers) which is becoming more and more rare due to numerous threats such as habit loss. Our native wildlife, which Canadians so cherish, depends on native vegetation for food and shelter (habitat), and cannot utilize invasive alien plant species for either food or habitat. This has been well documented in numerous publications, including the outstanding book "Bringing Nature Home" by Douglas Tallamy. Ontario, Canada and North America as a whole are plagued by invasive alien species (plants and animals) and the City of London should not be contributing to the problem by planting invasive aliens as part of its landscaping/replanting programs. In addition, the City should be ACTIVELY PLANTING NATIVE PLANT SPECIES TO RESTORE OUR NATIVE BIODIVERSITY and boost the health of our environment. A healthy environment means healthy and happy people. Thank you for the opportunity to comment!

London is a leader in clean energy and energy conservation, providing at least 30% of its energy from local, decentralized renewable resources (solar thermal, solar electricity, wind, geothermal, etc.). It no longer needs hazardous fossil fuels or dangerous nuclear power to supply electricity as it gets instead from solar and other renewables, hydro power, and hydro-electricity imports from Manitoba and Quebec.

As a result, London now has cleaner air (and resulting cleaner water and cleaner soil - when it rains, air pollution is put in the rain drops and enters waterways and soil). One third of children no longer need puffers to survive. Smog days are a thing of the past.

I think it is frustrating to see so many planning initiatives, conversation, and care - with little responsive action. Londoners have great ideas and are many voices are unified, especially in the area of transportation and trails. The elephant syndrom is thick upon our city - we are SO slow to move. The dramatic rethink that london needs to being re-ACT-ing. Pick one initiative - finish it well and move to the next. Within a decade, you will have a new london and people speaking about The London Way - looking to us.
Please get reACTing to our voices.

Continue to build on the Forest Cities foundation as a progressive,modern,vibrant city governed by sensible government to meet the needs of the people.

We see this in the upgrades to our parks,recreations systems and the overall management of our city.

Rarely do you hear of corruption in our municipal government.

London's fleet of vehicles seems to be very well managed. Police, Fire, City and Transit.

We have a professional group of City employees who provide a good service for the cost.

For the most part the city is clean, safe and housing is reasonably affordable.

Our Medical and Educational systems are top notch.

The investment in our infrastructure has been good for all Londoner's.

London is a very desirable place to live and I say this with the experience of living in Barrie, Europe Ottawa, Toronto and Welland.

If we continue on this path London will be a great city to call home not only for my children but for me in retirement.

Of course I am thinking of the development all along the Thames and at the Forks. The revitalization of of our downtown including the street cafes and park improvements coupled with entertainment of course safety makes us a great place to call home.

We need to continue to invest in this manner.

My City of London Vision

Continue to invest in infrastructure and build on our strong foundation as a progressive,modern,vibrant, affordable city that continues to improve the life of our citizens on a daily basis thru the responsible governance of the tax base.

Thanks for this opportunity!

1. Continue to expand bike paths to enable safe travel throughout the entire city.
2. All needed street roads to accommodate bike lane.
3. Improved downtown core with grocery stores for downtown residents. Eliminate the need for cars in downtown area.
4. Build bus routes and car routes around perimeter of downtown.
5. Close off Richmond to traffic between Oxford and York. Talbot to Wellington. Build a free electric train that drives itself as people mover. Like they have done in Detroit. Build green space on closed roads.
6. Figure out how to build a ring road around London with no stop lights.