59 Carden St.

Next stop bylaw blitz?

Posted by Phil Andrews

Residents in the Ironwood-Scottsdale area are appealing to various city officials in search of relief over mischief at and around a Guelph Transit stop in the neighbourhood.

Mayor Farbridge, councillors Lise Burcher and Leanne Piper, transit officials and city police are apparently aware of the residents' concerns. They centre around littering, vandalism, public urination and other property crime.

Apparently the problems are chronic and arise on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening - bad times for the police to respond or patrol purportedly.

Residents are of the understanding a civic meeting will be held about the issue on Monday.

Perhaps we'll explore its roots and possible fixes pending the outcome of that proposed gathering.

Ho-Ho-Honestly people, step back a little bit

This is the view my daughters (foreground) had of last weekend's Santa Claus parade.

We showed up 45 minutes before the start to stake out a good spot, only to have a crowd arrive two minutes before the parade began and stand in front of the kids.

Is it honestly that difficult to understand that adults should give the kids front-row seats for the Santa Claus Parade and stand behind them so everyone can see? Even when we asked the crowd of mostly adults (some of whom didn't even come with kids!) to move back, they just shuffled their way out onto the road again.

I meant to post this as a rant earlier this week, but with a dozen SC parades scheduled in the county in coming weeks maybe you could consider it a public service announcement instead.

Remember when only 15 trees were slated for removal at Royal City Park?

Remember back in 2005 when city staff revealed a plan to remove 15 poor-condition trees from Royal City Park, raising significant public concern?

Well, the study that resulted from that incident has led to a new report which recommends the removal of more than 50 trees from the downtown-area park. Earlier today, members of the community development and environmental services committee green-lighted the cutting, which is to take place "immediately."

There is a caveat that each removed tree must be replaced, and a further recommendation that 100 new trees be planted over the next five years.

We'll have more in the paper tomorrow.

State of the City, the moving version

If you don't feel like reading Karen Farbridge's latest State of the City address, it has been uploaded to Youtube.

Clicking here should take you to the first of five clips. After that click on 'More From: GuelphChamberComerc1' on the right side to see the remaining clips.

Arbitration hearing wraps up

The arbitration hearing between the city and Wellington County wrapped up today, with city solicitor Lois Payne and county lawyer Doug Thomson each making their closing arguments.

For the first time since the hearing began Oct. 26 there were nearly as many city representatives as county ones on hand to take in the proceedings.

Mayor Karen Farbridge and councillors Leanne Piper, Lise Burcher and Bob Bell were in the audience, as well as several members of the senior staff.

The county, as always, was heavily-represented by councillors and staff.

I thought it funny that Bell was the only Guelph rep to sit on "the county side" of the room, especially when Payne told arbitrator Doug Colbourne there were a number of councillors and staff on hand and asked them to stand to be recognized, and Bell was the only person on that side of the room to rise.

The line between city and county reps was so clear, when the room began to get near capacity social services administrator Eddie Alton -- a county employee whose salary is largely paid by the city -- came over to the city side and took an unoccupied chair to the other side of the aisle so a county staffer would not have to sit with the Guelph folks.

What that, on my face? Oh, that's just egg.

In my column today I wrote that Karen Farbridge had not mentioned the Hanlon Creek Business Park during her State of the City speech yesterday, and wondered why she would not have done so, especially at an event sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

While it's true the mayor did not talk about the HCBP, she did in fact mention it near the beginning of her address. She pointed that out when I saw her this morning at City Hall while attending the arbitration hearing.

I sit corrected.

The state we're in

Karen Farbridge presented her annual State of the City address this morning at a breakfast meeting sponsored by the Guelph Chamber of Commerce.

There were no surprises in the speech, in which the mayor outlined the day-to-day services provided by the city and those projects which will have to be mothballed -- main library and south-end rec centre -- until the financial picture improves a little.

My colleague Vik Kirsch attended the meeting and is putting a story together for tomorrow's paper.

To read the mayor's address and look at some of the visuals presented during the speech, click here

(The attached photo is from the 2007 State address)

Wanted: Traffic passing through the downtown core

The amount of traffic, or lack thereof, flowing through downtown Guelph will be the topic of discussion during a public meeting tomorrow night.

Lorenz Calcagno, a board member of the Downtown Guelph Business Association, will present the results of many interviews he has had with various stakeholders aimed at figuring out how to help the core live up to its potential.

One of the key problems, Calcagno told me, is simply the diminishing amount of traffic passing through the downtown.

The discussion will include how to remove barriers which dissuade people from taking Wyndham Street. (Think those all-way crosswalks at St. George's Square, for example)

There's not much space left for the meeting itself, but expect the issue to land before a city committee later this month or in December.

We'll have a story in tomorrow's paper.

Thoughts on the 'jewel case?'

In my column in Friday's paper, I suggested a glass addition proposed to adorn the end of the old Loretto Convent should be scrapped in an attempt to bring the relocation of the Guelph Civic Museum back within budget.

I'm curious to know how others feel about it. (If you haven't seen, or don't remember, this particular feature, click here to see a sketch and/or read my column)

Arbitration update

The city-county arbitration session is on hiatus the rest of this week due to previous engagements of some of the players.

The county has three more witnesses -- two economists and a municipal governance expert -- who should be on the witness stand Monday and Tuesday, then it is expected the hearing will break for Remembrance Day on Wednesday and resume with oral arguments on, appropriately enough, Friday the 13th.

Written arguments from both sides will then follow.

City solicitor Lois Payne said under the arbitration agreement, arbitrator Doug Colbourne is to arrive at a decision within three months of the start of the hearing. This should allow the financial impacts of his decision to be reflected in the city and county's 2010 budgets.