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Residents of Ward 3 and 5 are invited to attend a Ward meeting tonight, hosted by Councillors Hofland, Laidlaw, Piper and Burcher. City Hall, Room 112 at 7:00 pm.
Tonights Topic: Securing a Prosperous and Affordable Future
Bring your questions about capital projects and budgets.
I am opening a new blog heading about Lodging Houses. There has been a lot of discussion on this topic lately in Ward 5. Let’s open the dialogue….
But first, here is some background on why, how and where we have Lodging Houses:
http://guelph.ca/living.cfm?smocid=1886
To start the discussion, here is a post added to the W5 blog this morning (followed by my response).
From Walter:
Lodging House Issue Ward 5
Quick question…..why will Ward 5 Councillors not take a position on the Ward 5 Lodging House issue currently facing the City of Guelph – as per the meeting at City Hall March 11th, 2009?
It would seem Ward 5 Councillors either need to support the residents of Ward 5 or disapprove of their actions.
My response:
Hi Walter – that’s a fair question. I hope the answer below helps to set the record straight.
Your question is really two questions:
1) Do I support the neighbourhood in their opposition of the case-specific 29 Hands Drive application?
2) Do I support the neighbourhood in amending the by-laws of the city to protect and preserve quality of life in residential neighbourhoods?
The first question is one I cannot, will not and should not answer. It’s not that I don’t want to — I just can’t and won’t — sorry about that. It is a case-specific dispute related to two applicants and the legal interpretation of the Lodging House certification process. A councillor should never take a public position on a matter of potential litigation between two property owners. It would be inappropriate and unwise. It compromises the city and city staff. I have no authority (and neither does Council) to negate a staff decision on a matter within their delegated jurisdiction.
The second question I am quite comfortable to answer. I absolutely support the neighbourhood in recommending changes to any and all city by-laws that will further enhance the protection of quality of life in our residential neighbourhoods. I have stated this publicly on several occasions.
I am currently working directly with the Rickson Ridge neighbourhood group and city staff to recommend improvement in the enforcement of noise, parking and property standards by-laws. This small working group has come up with some very constructive ideas to make some positive changes.
I also believe that (as a result of the current Hands Drive situation) we have identified several potential deficiencies in the implementation of our Lodging House certification process and the wording of our Shared Rental Housing policies. These need to be addressed. I support the neighbourhood in this action and will follow through with my commitment at the March 11th meeting to bring this matter to Council through the appropriate political and administrative process. This does not mean that I support throwing out the by-law. Well-run, well-maintained, well-spaced, legal, certified, lodging houses have a place in our city.
I do understand the sentiments in your neighbourhood. My initiation into municipal politics was as a neighbourhood activist dealing with a rezoning application for a high density off-campus student residence. I have four lodging houses within two blocks of my house, where my husband and I are raising a family. I know what a good lodging house and a bad lodging house look like and what impact they can have on a neighbourhood — good and bad.
On a related note, I have serious concerns about the proliferation of “four-up-two-down” houses that can legally exist on a whole street,without any separation distance. We, as a Council, need to look at this concurrently with potential amendments to the Lodging House certification process.
I hope this answers your question(s). I am happy to continue the dialogue with you and your neighbourhood and look forward to some positive solutions.
Leanne
An update from Murray Cameron, Operations Department:
On behalf of the Operations Department, I’d like to advise that our staffing and equipment resources are being tapped to assist with the prompt clean-up of this latest snow event. The clearing of arterial and collector roads is well under way and as of 8:00am, a plow out of our residential streets commenced as snow accumulation has exceeded our 8cm standard. We anticipate this task to take anywhere between 14 to 18 hours to complete, but may take up to 24 hours depending on resources especially during the Holiday Season.
Once the residential plow out has been completed, our forces will follow behind to spread traction material as required to complete that task. At the same time, priority sidewalks and hand-shoveling locations are being addressed. City owned facility lot clearing, remaining residential sidewalk plowing and hand clearing of city owned steps and bus stops will also take place accordingly. We anticipate this activity, including bus stop clearing, will be completed by December 27th. Hauling of snow in the Downtown area commenced Monday night and was completed last night, in anticipation of this snowfall.
Milder temperatures are forecast for tomorrow, so localized flooding may be realized. We ask constituents who know the locations of their street catch basins to assist us by clearing them if possible. We thank you for your continued cooperation and patience during the execution of this storm cleanup.
Best regards and Happy Holidays,
Murray
It’s a question often asked — and a good one that deserves an answer. This week, the Governance and Economic Development committee considered a report on Full-time vs. Part-time Councillors. The report compares other Ontario municipalities and the bottom line is that all of them are very different. Burlington (population 151,000) is the closest municipality in size to Guelph with full-time councillors. Burlington is also part of an regional (upper-tier) municipality, which is different than Guelph.
The G & ED Committee is NOT recommending a move to full-time councillors. I agree. I believe we do not yet have a population that warrants full-time councillors. If we had full-time councillors, we would not need 12 of them, which means fewer voices around the table. And finally, if councillors were full-time it would limit the pool of candidates to those who are retired, independently wealthy or willing to give up another job and income for a minimum of four years. I think the committe made the right decision.
That being said, what is expected of a part-time councillor? Are part-time councillors considered 0.3 (of a full-time equivalent or FTE) or 0.5 or 0.7? There is no definitive answer to that question. In our current council, some have outside full-time jobs on top of their role as city councillors. Others are retired, self-employed or have taken a leave from other work.
What do councillors do? The list below is an attempt to answer that question using a typical week workload. I have also added an approximate range of how many hours (per week) each activity involves. The answers are from my own perspective and experience only.
- Attend Council meetings, including in-camera (3-5 hours)
- Attend Standing committee meetings (3-5 hours * I am on two standing committees)
- Read materials, reports, studies, data, agendas, minutes, etc. to prepare for each meeting (3-5 hours)
- Prepare for and attend appointed outside advisory committees and boards (6-8 hours) * I sit on Family and Children’s Services, Heritage Guelph, Career Education Council and MacDonald Stewart Art Centre.
- Attend public events ie. ribbon cuttings, flag raising, meet and greets (2 – 10 hours per week, varies)
- Attend public consultation meetings and open house (ie. planning meetings, neighbourhood groups) (0-8 hours)
- Community Outreach (town halls, coffee chats, Rogers TV, speaking requests) (0-8 hours, varies) * Last week, I was a guest on Politically Speaking, attended a neighbourhood mtg re: student housing and attended the launch of the Great Tree Hunt = 5.5 hours)
- Constituency inquiries – answer phone calls and emails (2-4 hours)
- Other (reading material on municipal governance, research, staying informed on issues across Canada, etc.) (0-4 hours)
- Council workshops – ie. budget “season”, governance and professional development workshops, etc. (0-5 hours)
That’s all I can think of for now….I hope this is helpful in understanding the “typical week-in-the-life” of a city councillor.
LP
The following press release was issued by the City of Guelph this afternoon:
City terminates contractor’s right to continue work on new City Hall; is working with bonding company to address next steps
GUELPH, ON, Friday, September 19, 2008 – The City of Guelph has terminated Urbacon Buildings Group’s – the contractor hired to construct Guelph’s Civic Administration Centre – right to continue work on the new City Hall.
The decision, made based on advice from the City’s contracted solicitor, comes after Urbacon failed to correct numerous breaches of contract and would not provide an acceptable schedule for the satisfactory completion of its contract.
The City of Guelph will now work with the bonding company to discuss ways and means of continuing work on the project and seeing it through to completion.
Guelph Chief Administrative Officer Hans Loewig says, “I believe this will allow us to complete the project sooner and be more cost-effective. The City is now in a better position to direct the completion of the project and firm up the move-in date.”
Guelph’s new City Hall is part of a larger construction and restoration effort that will house both City Hall and the Provincial Offences Court. The new construction and contemporary design will unify the block’s historical elements to form an integrated space that asserts a distinct architectural identity and create a vibrant, high-quality civic space for all residents.
I was in the right place at the right time today. Here is footage of the chimney tower coming down at John McCrae School, Water Street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbi6soYR7iQ
Leanne
I’ve added a link to the website of a small neighbourhood group in Ward 5 – what a great site!
http://www.25manorpark.ca/
LP
Due to a summer staff shortage at Rogers 20 Cable, there will be no on air broadcast of the July 7th Council Planning Meeting tonight.
Come on down in person – 59 Carden Street. It’s a full agenda….
LP
Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Time: 7:00 pm
Place: Harcourt Church, Dean Avenue, Chapel 2nd Floor
City Councillors Leanne Piper and Lise Burcher will be in attendance.
The ousting of local Conservative candidate Brent Barr is a stunner.
I’m so glad municipal politics is not tied to the political party system. I don’t consider myself to be an indoctrinated member of any political party. I have voted all over the map since I cast my first ballot at 18. If our current City Council was beholdin’ to party ideology or an oligarchical master, would the best interests of our community be served? I think not.
Leanne
