The vibrancy of London's downtown and future of the city is on us. It's no one else's job. Rather than complain or pass the buck, let's consider our advantage. Everyone seems to get defensive when our neighbour to the east, Kitchener, is discussed as a city that is successfully transitioning from a rust belt to an innovation centre.

Kitchener shares many parallels with London. It was also traditionally a manufacturing town. Its transformation was launched with a call to action in 1995 from the then Mayor's Task Force when the recession started to decimate the manufacturing companies that were major employers in the city.

Sound familiar? Kitchener went through the same loss of manufacturing jobs that London has experienced and, because of this, in 1971, the economic balance began to tilt toward Waterloo. Then the Ontario government created one city out of Galt, Hespeler and Preston. The new city of Cambridge was bigger than Waterloo and became a third loud voice in regional politics.

Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge retained separate civic governments, while a regional government made up of the mayors of the cities and of rural townships, along with elected representatives, took on more functions. What a mess.

The so-called Tri Cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge have three regional governments who are often at odds with each other on strategic direction.

Waterloo branded itself a university town and a high-tech centre.

Kitchener, by comparison at the time, was known for its crumbling industrial infrastructure. Cambridge was the new kid.

Just as London has opened a Fanshawe campus downtown, Kitchener opened the Laurier Faculty of Social Work in a deserted high school. They went further, convincing the University of Waterloo to establish a School of Pharmacy. They then got McMaster University to open a satellite of its medical school in the city. This spun off private investment and development. People moved downtown to live. Restaurants opened. Businesses thrived.

This month, the Downtown London Business Association asked the city for $540,000 of taxpayer money to offset the total cost of hiring a consulting firm that would help bring new business into the area.

LiveWorkLearnPlay is an international real estate development and advisory firm, dedicated to creating iconic and thriving mixeduse neighborhoods. Downtown London would have hired LiveWorkLearnPlay for $1.98-million to run a four-year targeted campaign.

The business association had agreed to pay $1.4-million of the hefty price tag.

Despite compromises put forth all alternatives options lost. Many councillors voiced concerns about spending more money to revamp the downtown.

When we look east, the City of Kitchener's Report, which looks back on the effectiveness of the 1995 task force and the strategy that emerged, says, "Based on detailed analysis, city staff have concluded that without financial incentives, most major redevelopment projects would not be financially feasible to build. Thus, without these incentives, very little intensification would occur."

We are dithering on the important stuff. There are lessons to be learned from our neighbour to the East.

It would seem that those businesses have put their money where their mouths are and voted. But, the city's attention is not downtown this week. Where is the relentless innovation we desperately need downtown? Masonville Place. The owner of Masonville is Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd. They run profitable and thriving businesses and perhaps said it best: "What it takes is relentless investment. You have to create modern, compelling retail spaces," said Finley McEwen, a Cadillac Fairview senior vice-president. I couldn't have said it better myself, too bad it's about a suburban mall and not all the badly needed downtown infrastructure.

Eric Vardon is president and chief executive of Arcane in London.