What really matters

Posted by Magda
Council's been working on a list of priorities to help with budgeting and decision-making in general. The draft list is going to council Monday. Here's a selection (10 is highest priority in brackets is the number of councillors who supported each one).

High priority:

• implementing the Community Energy Plan (10)
• new compost facility (10)
• growth management plan (9)
• 20-minute transit service (9)
• York district plan (9)
• waste management master plan (6)
• urban forest plan (5)

Medium priority:

• Eastview landfill park (3)
• Hanlon Creek Business Park (3)
• IMICO redevelopment (3)
• south-end community centre (2)

It's interesting transit isn't a number-ten priority, even councillors sent staff back to redo budget numbers when it wasn't included there, and now it's basically been solved.

Comments

[Grunt]

You're surprised;imagine how surprised the citizens of the south-end must be that their much-needed fire hall is not on the list?!I guess not meeting the response time for fire emergencies is low on the totem pole-what's the liability factor in not placing this long overdue item on the list?

[Edward Pickersgill]

I suppose I should insert my traditional moan 'n' groan about the lack of attention to the need for more rental and subsidized housing in Guelph. Likely you didn't present an entire list so I'll just hope "housing" at least got a "1" on the scale. Guelph's vacancy rate has fallen once again below 2% (and most of what's available is in the high price range).

Back when there was a federal AND a provincial housing strategy a vacancy rate below 2% would qualify a community for special attention.

At this past week's meeting of the Wellington Guelph Housing Committee there was a certain bemoaning (not by me) of the fact that Waterloo always gets more allocations and more attention that Wellington County. I attribute this plain and simple reality to the fact that Waterloo has for decades had a Social Planning Council operting at arm's length from the United Way in that area.

Perhaps in the new United Way regime here we'll see some attention to establishing a solid Social Planning Council within which needs and strategies can be identified separate from specific annual local fund raising. Such an initiative might enable Guelph and Wellington County to play some serious catch up.

[Cynthia Hartwell]

I realize now that the issue of this city and county not having in place a true Youth Emergency Shelter is so very obviously NOT an issue to council memebers and whomever else it is responsible for the budgetary list I read here.

To read, to hear, and to take part in some of the meeting after meeting taking place; continual time being spent; this organization stating one promise and the other organization stating another promise; this group expressing such concern while another group fakes another show of 'care'; and now to read this list and not see one mention of a Youth Emergency Shelter being put back in place in the city and area of Guelph ...... is appauling to say the least.

One of the truest 'eye-openers' for me as yet in the past year and year to come I am sure.

[Magda]

Sorry, Grunt -- the dangers of a partial list I guess. The south-end fire hall is there, at priority-level 2.

And Ed, housing does not appear to be on the list, though it's possible it's included in one of the groupings like "downtown action plan."

Is there any indication of a social planning council to come through the United Way?

Cynthia, do you have any hope that the recent discussion about the city and county funding a shelter (http://news.guelphmercury.com/article/283321) will come to something?

The entire list of priorities, by the way, is available on the last page of the council agenda, which is here: http://www.guelph.ca/uploads/Council_and_Committees/Council/2006/council_agenda_012108.pdf .

[Edward Pickersgill]

Question asked of me: "Is there any indication of a social planning council to come through the United Way?"

My point is the need for an arm's length social planning council. Guelph's has not been at any degree of arm's length and so we have not had social planning council activity such as in most other municipalities. This question would be a good one to put to the new executive director when the time for that interview arrives: Arm's length and largely independent of the fund raising core activities.