59 Carden St.

Comfy in there, Mr. Galt?

Founding a city is bound to earn a guy a little respect, and the crew from Cambridge's Collaborative Structures Ltd. is showing just that with the statue, in front of City Hall, of founder John Galt.

CSL will oversee the conversion of the former municipal hall into a new POA court facility, and today began erecting wooden fencing around the site. The company built a protective shelter for the statue so it is not damaged by construction activities. The statue is expected to ultimately be moved down Carden Street closer to the new civic administration centre.

"We didn't want anything to happen to the guy," a CSL staffer told me.

And another thing, Province ...

It was encouraging this week to hear some fightin' words from CAO Hans Loewig directed to the province.

During a workshop to discuss priority-setting, talk turned to the amount of money the city must spend up-front to support provincially-mandated growth. The city must pay for growth-related infrastructure such as water and wastewater treatment, but can not recoup these costs through development charges until builders are just about ready to go.

The gap can be a lengthy one, and the city is concerned about taking on debt and then waiting for the developers to pay up.

Mayor Karen Farbridge suggested telling the province the city simply can't financially afford to hit the population targets set by the Places to Grow legislation.

Loewig agreed.

"They can't just pass the legislation and download it and then expect the municipalities ... to move forward without a fiscal management plan," the CAO said.

Earlier in the meeting, a consultant urged councillors and staff to practice "assertive maturity" in standing up to higher levels of government.

That suggestion just might have found an audience with the administrator.

See the full story here

Leave the car at home next week, for Earth's sake

The city is urging its employees and other commuters to leave their cars at home next week as Guelph participates in the annual Commuter Challenge to coincide with Earth Week.

The challenge is a national initiative promoting the environmental, financial and social benefits of getting to work other than driving by themselves, including car-pooling, walking, cycling or using transit.

"Leaving the car at home helps people save money, reduce stress, get active and reduce air pollution in the city," according to Jennifer McDowell, the city's coordinator of transportation demand.

Participants register online and the Commuter Challenge website calculates the greenhouse gas emission reductions for each community. Last year, 362 participants in Guelph prevented 5.2 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Last year Guelph recorded more than 21,000 kilometres of commuting by more sustainable methods, placing third among similar-sized communities across the country.

To make the commute easier, Guelph Transit will offer free rides on all routes next Wednesday between 5:30 a.m. and 9:15 p.m.

For more info about the Commuter Challenge, or to register, click this

Here's the press release, what's your hurry?

The city's communications staff have developed an annoying habit of sending out press releases very late in the day, when it is next-to-impossible to get comment from other city staff.

Case in point: Minutes ago, at 4:31 p.m. to be precise, I received an email letting us know the city has hired a company to oversee renovation of the old City Hall into the new municipal court facility.

The email, sent by one of the city's PR people, invites us to contact court services manager Brad Coutts for more information, except that there is no answer at Coutts' extension.

At least we got a little more advance warning than we did Thursday, when the city issued a press release letting us know the federally-protected Jefferson salamander has been identified where the city, inconveniently, wants to locate a business park.

That release was issued at 4:54 p.m., and included the note that the staff contact "is not available for comment tonight."

No kidding.

One of my colleagues is trying to get something together about the court project for tomorrow's paper.

The Jefferson salamander is in Guelph

DNA analysis on a salamander collected on Laird Road has confirmed the presence of the elusive, and federally-protected, Jefferson salamander, the city announced late today in a news release.

While the sample was revealed to be a hybrid, a pure Jefferson salamander sperm donor is in the area.

What the discovery means to the future of the planned Hanlon Creek Business Park is not clear. The Jefferson salamander is protected under the federal Species at Risk Act and the Ontario Species at Risk Act.

The city's findings have been forwarded to the Ministry of Natural Resources "and the city will work with the Ministry to determine next steps," reads the press release.

"The city remains committed to protecting the habitat of endangered species, and we will work closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources," Mayor Karen Farbridge said in the release.

The Jefferson was not previously believed to exist in this area.

We'll be looking into what this latest development means for the sometimes-controversial business park proposal.

King of the Guelph Hill?

For reasons entirely unclear, Guelph got a starring role in the American animated series King of the Hill this past Sunday night.

In an episode entitled "Uh-Oh Canada," the mush-mouthed Boomhauer, one of the main characters, trades houses with a Canadian couple, Gordon and Maureen Huskins, for a summer. But when the scene cuts to Boomhauer in his temporary digs, the note on the screen describes it as "Guelph, Ontario, Canada."

The episode swaps tired Canadian and American stereotypes, from weak American beer to Boomhauer's new neighbour, Suzette, bringing him a tray of Coffee Crisps.

Watch the episode here. The Guelph reference is at 5:42 in: http://watchxonline.com/media/3124-king-of-the-hill-1318-uh-oh-canada.php

We're looking into the curious reference.

Too much River at the Centre

Cynthia Dale fans will have to wait a little longer to see their idol in the Royal City.

It seems a flood at the River Run Centre has damaged the Main Stage theatre, which has been temporarily closed while city and insurance officials assess the extent of the damage and establish a repair schedule.

The Dale concert, scheduled for tomorrow night, has been postponed to an unspecified date. Staff will determine whether more events need to be rescheduled or moved.

Centre GM Colleen Clack said the sprinkler system malfunctioned on Monday, filling the theatre ankle-deep with water.

We'll have more in the paper tomorrow.

She's in

Sister Christine has officially been invested into the Order of Canada, and did so in her own unique style.
Read the full account tomorrow.

Termite sheriff reports progress

Posted by Phil Andrews

A city report going to council next week shows Guelph's termite eradication program apparently made so much progress in 2008 that the municipality might be able to draw a much smaller map of its active termite zone this year.

Plus, more help seems to be on the way with a pending federal grant to do another course of treatment.

 

Fewer weed complaints

Posted by Phil Andrews

In the latest package of materials going to council is a report on civic maintenance performance in Guelph's civic parklands and greenways.

The good news: complaints on weeds and turf and playgrounds were way down in 2008.

The bad news:tiding up washrooms and doing garbage pick-up in these areas "continues to be a challenge"

What's next: One the lawn-mowing side, one suggestion is reducing mowable areas by allowing "naturalized borders" of parks to increase.