59 Carden St.

An uncensored insider's view of the HCBP protest

Councillor Ian Findlay has posted on his blog a graphic recounting of what it was like to participate in, and particularly to leave, Thursday night's sod-turning at the Hanlon Creek Business Park.

Click here to check it out, but be advised it is, as I mentioned already, uncensored.

Some images from a protest

Thanks to Tony Saxon for the photos

Well, this could get interesting

A sod-turning planned for tomorrow evening will likely be the most secure sod-turning the city has ever seen.

City and business officials will gather at the contentious Hanlon Creek Business Park to "celebrate the start of construction."

The mayor will be joined by Frank Valeriote, Chamber of Commerce boss Lloyd Longfield, city councillors and reps from the U of G, GRCA, agriculture ministry and several economic development organizations.

They will also be joined, unofficially, by a healthy contingent of protesters keen on seeing the business park not going ahead.

Those who occupied the site for a spell last summer are organizing a "peaceful protest" at the site.

Read more here

Put your cars away overnight starting this weekend

Bylaw officers will once again have something to do in the middle of the night as of this Sunday, when overnight parking restrictions return.

Street parking has been permitted for the past six months, but with winter weather on the horizon the city needs streets clear at night to allow plowing. Cars can not be parked on most city streets between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Exemptions are available under certain circumstances by calling the bylaw office at 836-7275.

Nestle wants their bottles back

We have an interesting op-ed piece in the paper today written by Gail Cosman, president of Nestle Waters Canada.

Cosman points out the lack of recycling opportunities which exist in many public spaces, such as parks, sidewalks, playgrounds, traffic stops and so on.

Nestle and others in the bottling industry have recently teamed with the City of Sarnia to launch the province's first public spaces recycling program on a trial basis. In her piece, Cosman offers to work with Guelph officials on a similar initiative in the Royal City.

I took this photo at Riverside Park during the Canada Day celebration in July. After initially attempting to ban people from bringing water bottles to the park, organizers put up these temporary recycling stations around the park to divert bottles and cans from garbage bins.

Not a bad idea considering, as Cosman notes, most public spaces do not offer recycling opportunities.

Hanlon Creek Business Park not "eyed in cuts"

Contrary to what you might read in the paper version of today's Guelph Mercury, city councillors are not considering mothballing the Hanlon Creek Business Park.

A headline on my story about last night's budget discussion is misleading.

Gloria Kovach floated a motion which would see the city take on less debt next year to meet a recommendation put forth by credit rating company Standard and Poor's. But it soon became apparent the only anticipated debt which could be deferred, in treasurer Margaret Neubauer's opinion, was that required to get the business park lands ready for sale.

Kovach, and seconder Christine Billings, were both clear it was not their intention to target the business park, but rather to urge their colleagues to find other ways to reduce the city's debt load.

Read the full story, with an accurate headline, here

Bell to seek nod for local Greens

Councillor Bob Bell will try tomorrow to secure the nomination to represent the local Green party in the next federal election.

That was announced in a press release from the party, which curiously did not mention that activist Bill Hulet had previously announced a similar intention. Bell will compete with visual artist Russell Ott to wave the party's banner.

We'll have more in the paper tomorrow.

In the interim, perhaps Mr. Hulet, a frequent recent visitor to this blog, might share some thoughts on why he is apparently out of the running?

Is anyone working at the County office today?

I was curious heading into today's start of the city/county arbitration hearing how many officials from each side would show up.

The unofficial tally is a lot from the county, and not that many from the city.

By my count there were at least a half-dozen senior county staff -- including the CAO and director of planning -- at the hearing this morning in an observer capacity, as well as nine members of county council.

By contrast there were just a couple of city officials, including CAO Hans Loewig and Coun. Bob Bell, watching the goings-on.

Other notable attendees in the audience included county solicitor Hugh Guthrie and Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott, who arrived with county Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj but didn't stay long.

Arbitration starts at 10 a.m. today

Day One has been a bit delayed, and is now scheduled to start at 10 a.m. I'll try to find out whether that will be the start time every day and post it here.

I was at city hall about 15 minutes ago, and there was already a contingent of Wellington County officials in the front row.

Arbitration hearing to start Monday morning

The scheduled three-week arbitration hearing between the city and Wellington County is slated to begin Monday morning at City Hall.

The hearing will be held in Committee Room C -- the friendly security guards will direct you there when you check in -- but unfortunately I have not been able to determine the exact start time.

The room is booked from 8:30 on, but I assume the hearing will not begin until at least 9 a.m. and likely later.

If anybody has better information about the start time, please feel free to post it.

Update - A county official tells me the hearing is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m.