The Sandor Report

South of Horton (SoHo) Community Association SoHo Community Association Logo SoHo (which stands for South of Horton) is an up and coming neighbourhood just south of downtown. Our boundaries are the CN Rail tracks to the North; The Thames River marks the West & South boundaries and Adelaide St. to the east.  SoHo is surrounded by other great neighbourhoods: Old South, Woodfield, Hamilton Road, Old East Village and of course Downtown!  Renamed from St. David's Ward, the community association was put in place to assist residents and act as neighbourhood advisers for the city.  Together, a plan for the future was set in place to regenerate the neighbourhood and thus, The Roadmap to SoHo was created. Programming and Initiatives The group meets monthly during the school year on the third Wednesday of each month at  7pm  in the basement of Maple View Terrace.   Each year SoHo holds an annual yard sale, called Junk in the Trunk, in June and a ...

Hello readers!  It has been a while since I last wrote, but I have a very exciting post this time around.  My survey series with the TVBDSB Trustee candidates was so successful that I have decided to periodically carry out interviews with groups and individuals in my homes of London and Guelph.  These interviews begin with this interview with His Worship Matt Brown, Mayor of London.  Spencer and Matt at a London Lightning game Spencer:  First and foremost, congratulations again on being sworn in as the Mayor of London.  Second, allow me to thank you again for agreeing to allow me to interview you for my blog.  Although I have a modest readership, I try to use my blog to provide insight into local politics in my two homes of London and Guelph. I have prepared a few questions for you to answer and have tried to strike a balance between providing you an opportunity to discuss your vision for London, and answer some questions that Londoners m...

Once a month Statistics Canada releases the Labour Force Survey .  This is a report designed to provide insight into the labour market across Canada and includes a breakdown by province and various census divisions and subdivisions showing the size of the labour force as well as the number of people who are employed and unemployed.  For most people, the Labour Force Survey is a way to keep track of how many people do and do not have jobs.  What this means in practical terms is that the media reports a limited subset of the data in the report and that is all that the average citizen has to go on.  While the media does report increases or decreases to the overall number of jobs, the most common number that people pay attention to is the unemployment rate.  Unfortunately this is the statistic included in the Labour Force Survey that has the least value and is misused more than any other figure. A Mark Twain quote about how numbers can be misleading comes to mi...

Just before Christmas, the George Morris Centre published a report that revolved around on the closings of the Heinz Leamington and Kellogg’s London plants as indicators of a transition in food manufacturing.  A number of points that the report raises seem to resonate well beyond the food industry.  A close look at the report suggests that cities in southwestern Ontario such as London need to fundamentally rethink the way they approach economic development.  The days of large plants employing many workers are on the way out and there is no going back.  Instead, the future of economic success lies in attracting many small firms producing speciality goods and employing fewer than 50 workers.  The George Morris report does not even make it past the introduction before pointing out that the food industry is in a state of transition and although we are seeing multiple plant closures, the industry is ripe with opportunity for investment for those willing to acc...