The third Duke Street West Music Fest will take place on September 14th at the Duke St. Playground (between Shanley and Bismark streets). The event will run from 2pm-5pm, and will feature a Mount Hope – Breithaupt Park-based lineup.

We currently have several musicians lined up, and we want to hear more local talent!  Amateur, semi-professional, or professional, this is your chance to play the most laid-back festival in Waterloo Region. Kids are welcome to play the open mic or sign up for a set. If you sing, but do not play an instrument, we can offer to accompany you provided you are available for a rehearsal.

If you would like to play, or need more information, email mhbpna@gmail.com. If you just want to hang out in the playground/park while others make music, we can’t wait to see you on September 14th!

On February 20th, 2024 MHBPNA had its first AGM in two or three years, but who is counting?

Thank you to the 16 community members who attended on Tuesday. We had several longtime members, many new to the organization and new to the neighbourhood, and also representatives from the City of Kitchener, the Lions Club and our City Councillor Stephanie Stretch.

Ted Parkinson (Communications) presented an overview of MHBPNA’s 40 year history and we discussed past events that attendees remembered. The discussion included Jane’s Walks, the celebration we planned for the re-opening of the Margaret Avenue Bridge, various Lantern Walks, Breithaupt Park camp outs, the soccer program and the Duke St. West Music Fest.

Emily Slofstra (Treasurer) discussed our current funds and our City of Kitchener representative, Shannon Thompson, mentioned some of the funding grants that are available from the city.

Everyone there talked about how they envisioned the MHBPNA going forward and most were interested in the idea of EVENTS. So we are looking at three or four events this coming year including:

–Earth Day cleanup

–Jane’s Walk

–Music Festival

–Running event through Breithaupt Park

So this year looks pretty exciting. But we still want to hear from you! What are you looking for in your neighbourhood association? Do you want to get involved? When we work together, anything is possible.

If you would like to join our executive, or be involved in the activities, please contact us at “mhbpna@gmail.com” or through our Facebook page.

Some of the things MHBPNA have done in the past? Jane’s Walks, Earth Day spring cleanup, Duke St West Music Fest, Lego (classes or just drop in), classes at the Breithaupt Centre (in the past we’ve had Batik, cooking classes, football skills class), paint a street, organize a street party, organize a ‘bike rodeo’, lantern walks, newsletter, sit on ‘development committee’, appear as a ‘delegate’ for city and regional councils, organize community discussion about topics like zoning, growth, gardens.

Come to the AGM and ask questions, meet your neighbours….

The Breithaupt Run Group Marks 52 Weeks of Running

It’s been a great year of running in the neighbourhood. The Breithaupt Run Group has met at 6pm every Monday starting January 2, 2023 and can confirm: there are great roads, paths, and trails for running!

The group is free, social, and welcome to everyone. They typically run up to 6 kilometres at 6 minutes per kilometre pace, but that is customized to the runners present each week, which often includes dogs, strollers, and kids on bikes. They often go longer or shorter, faster or slower, or more roads or trails, all depending on the people. It’s worth noting that this is a friendly group for neighbours to connect and enjoy the neighbourhood, and not in any way a team for talented runners.

Here is a composite map they sent me of the entire year’s worth of runs. They most likely either go through Breithaupt Park or loop through Mount Hope to King St for the benefit of kids to see the Ion trains.

The Breithaupt Run Group doesn’t have a website or social media; all you need to know is that they meet Mondays at 6pm at the front entrance of the Breithaupt Centre. January 1 is the official one year anniversary run and if you are interested, you can lace up and get 2024 off to the right foot!

www.engagewr.ca/growing together

Growing Together is Kitchener’s response to the Province’s mandate to increase density near transit stations.

If you live in Mt. Hope/Breithaupt and are within 800 metres of a Major Transit Station Area – the ION stop at Grand River Hospital or the Central Stop at Victoria and King –  the zoning of your property will be changing.  Generally this means that all areas roughly within Union/Weber/Victoria/King will be re-zoned to a new Zoning category known as Strategic Growth Area 1 (see the actual map for Strategic Area 1 on the Growing Together website).

City staff are open to any and all comments on the new plan/re-zoning up until November 30^th.  Feedback on the plan will be incorporated into recommendations to Council.  The document which best summarizes the changes to all areas within MTSAs is the Draft Official Plan Amendment – its an easy overview and about 18 pages long.

Here are some things in the Official Plan Amendment which you might be interested in

• Future plans for downtown Kitchener
• How the Bramm Yards will be re-developed (between Victoria and the rail lines)
• How new builds are expected to add to the “streetscape” through building design, public spaces, tree canopy
• New guidelines for “tall buildings” and how they are integrated into existing neighbourhoods/properties
• Outlining ways to re-use existing buildings through more adaptive uses
• The future of properties currently zoned “industrial”

NB MTSAs are identified along all ION stops so these changes will apply in Mill/Courtland/Downtown Kitchener/Block Line etc.  Officially the name of the area of Mt. Hope impacted by these zoning changes is KW Hospital/Midtown

You might want to take a few minutes to look over the new DRAFT OFFICIAL PLAN.

Catherine Owens

Great Interest in Kitchener Centre by-election Housing Forum

Organizers of the Kitchener Centre by-election Housing Forum are  thrilled with the enthusiastic response to their Thursday November 23 meeting at 23 Water Street North, Kitchener, 6:30- 9 pm.

“Some 16 groups stepped forward to sponsor it, ranging from housing developers, organizations supporting people experiencing homelessness, advocates for green development standards, to Waterloo Region YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) andArchitectural Conservancy Ontario (ACO) North Waterloo Region Branch,” said Acer Bonaparte, president of the Waterloo Region ACORN chapter and one of the event organizers. “Lots of people in Kitchener Centre care about housing!”

Those unable to attend in person can register to attend virtually at
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mHXPeRmPSoGkiibELKu-XQ

In person visitors can browse sponsoring groups’ and candidates’ information tables between 6:30 and 7 pm.

Moderator Dawn Parker will start by posing pre-submitted questions to the three candidates who have confirmed their attendance, Green Party candidate Aislinn Clancy, Liberal Party candidate Kelly Steiss, and New Democratic Party candidate Debbie Chapman.  After that, questions collected from participants will be posed to the candidates.  The forum will end at 8:30 pm.

Event sponsors:  ACORN, Architectural Conservancy Ontario- North Waterloo Region Branch, Basic Income Waterloo Region, Beyond Housing, Cherry Park Neighbourhood Association, Council of Canadians KW Chapter, Grand River Unitarian Congregation, GreenWR, Groundup,  Momentum Developments, Mount Hope Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association, OldeBerlin Town Neighbourhood Association, Social Development Centre, Victoria Park Neighbourhood Association, Waterloo Region Yes In My Backyard

MHBPNA needs volunteers to function. We are planning on having an Annual General Meeting in January of 2024 to see who would like to be involved as we move forward past the pandemic. We will post a poll to decide which date works best.

In the meantime, here and on our Facebook Page, we are posting links to events we have organized and supported over the years. We have had a such a great time with our community and hope 2024 can be even more exciting.

In the past MHBPNA has done political lobbying which has directly change our neighbourhood for the better. For example:

Here is information about our meeting with Regional Staff over how the Weber Street Widening was going to affect our neighbourhood and that we needed a crosswalk with a signal:

https://mhbpna.org/2012/12/24/weber-wilhelm-and-our-meeting-with-regional-staff/

And here is the final (happy) outcome!

https://mhbpna.org/2013/01/29/planning-committee-approves-pedestrian-activated-light-at-wilhelm-and-weber/

On the other hand, we have also helped promote and pay for community organized events:

https://mhbpna.org/2015/01/03/lantern-walk-2014/

August 26th is “Worldwide Play Music on the Porch Day”!!

Don’t believe it? Check out this website.

At MHBPNA we do believe in performing music. Anywhere and everywhere, particularly on your porch. So for all musicians within the boundaries of MHBPNA, if you play music on Aug 26th and invite people, MHBPNA will reimburse you up to $30 for food (muffins, coffee, pizza etc.) with receipts.

If you email us at mhbpna@gmail.com and let us know what time you are playing, then we will post it on our website. Let’s get out there and play some music.

p.s. if you do not have a porch, you may still play music on your balcony, front steps, back parking lot etc.

Schedule so far

3 pm     Ted Parkinson (463 Duke St. West). Starting with some jazz, working into covers and original songs. 

Arnold, Guelph, Birch and surrounding areas