A medium sized city with a population of
190,
399 in the city itself, with a total of
444,094 in
the metro/suburban areas.
The city contains one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.
Highly educated people, high-tech jobs.
The city suffers a few problems, the degrading downtown for one. In the late 90's several buildings in and around downtown suffered
arson problems. Store owners were setting fire to buildings to collect insurance money. After that, in around 2000 the downtown started to get really bad. No more fires, but lots and lots of drug-dealing, prostitution, robberies, car-thefts etc. The bus-terminal is also a heaven for young teenage kids who like to act like they're from Brooklyn, talking shit to anybody.
Living in Kitchener is nice, if you have the money. High cost housing is leaving alot more people to move into ghetto neighbourhoods in the South Ward District of the city, and near Chicopee-Bridgeport. Ugly
slab apartments, small houses, and crime are turning many areas into high-crime
ghettos. If one can afford it though, the city is building pleanty of new,
middle-class suburban areas. Tearing down forests and burying streams, developers are constantly building row upon row of identitcle houses on the
outskirts of the city.
The lack of managed health care is showing. The recent lack of general-physicians is starting to show. Despite putting millions into the hospital, they're still struggling.
Despite the problems the city faces as it gets bigger and bigger, Kitchener is a fine place. One thing they need to do though, is build up, not out.
Example:
I was walking downtown and got approached by two
kiddie drug dealers, followed by a crack head, saw various prostitutes, and had
some pussy white kids wearing
G-Unit clothing call me a 'bird'.