In a few weeks, the new city councillors will be sworn in and the next term of council will begin. Not a moment too soon because it’s getting hard to find things to write about for this city hall column.
(Note to the editor: Just kidding! *wink*)
But seriously, before the new council is joined, we should have a conversation about priorities. The last two weeks worth of Market Squared columns have talked about issues directly, but this week let’s take a broader view.
What are some of the things that the next council should focus on?
Development was a big issue in the election, but the debate during the campaign wasn’t about “development” or “no development”. Everyone seems keenly aware that Guelph has to grow, but the biggest problem seems to be making people aware of the specific places we’re growing.
Council needs to look at how the City communicates and collaborates with neighbourhoods to make sure that they’re kept in the loop from the moment a developer starts looking at a plot of land and talk to them directly so that it’s not a surprise when a completed proposal for an eight-storey tower, for example, comes to council.
Also, maybe we can cool it on the clear cutting and ploughing of land before the proposal comes before council. It makes people feel pretty powerless when the character of their neighbourhood is radically altered just because a developer has got a piece of paper signed by the City saying they could.
And in one last note on development, there’s a general feeling among the people I’ve talked to that I’ll call “Guelph Factor Whiplash”, that instead of roadblocks, the City now reacts to development proposals with a rubberstamp.
Along with the issue of development, is the side issue of affordability. A lot of Toronto-area money is coming into the Royal City because homes here are more affordable, which forces housing prices to go up and that keeps many, many people here from being able to get into the market. People who choose to make Guelph home for reasons beyond being cheaper than the GTHA.
I say “Toronto-area money” because it speaks to the broader issue of character, which is to say the character of the city.
Many people are concerned that new developments downtown and in the south are meant to appeal to commuters, not Guelphites, which would turn Guelph into another bedroom community.
On that last point, part of the responsibility for council here will be to encourage more employment in Guelph, encouraging businesses to set up shop here, and encouraging Guelphites to set up their own shops since they’re already here.
In so much as any government has middling control over how an economy grows or shrinks, a government can help set a tone, and by tone, I don’t mean “Open for business” signs. We need more employment lands, affordable rental space, more parking, and improved transit.
Ah yes, transit. One of the first meetings of the new council in January will be about the transit service review, which has been the subject of many promises as being the key to resolving our transit frustrations.
It won’t be.
Then the question becomes what council will do to actually act and make needed changes to the system to make it work better.
Speaking of transit, the City also must do more to promote regional transit, and that does not (just) mean high speed rail.
High speed rail is going to be difficult to say the least with the penny-pinching implications of the new Ford government at Queen’s Park, especially on non-Fordian issues like transit. The focus needs to be on expanding how people can get around our region.
We need more transit options to Cambridge, Hamilton, Niagara, London, and various points in between. I don’t know about you, but I see a Fergus Taxi cab at least a couple of times a week rolling though town, which might anecdotally suggest there’s demand for some limited transit options between Guelph and Fergus. Maybe we can get some research going?
But there’s also work to do *in* the council chambers too.
In this new session, it would be nice to see the provisos for closed meeting used a little less. Although council has been using the protocols properly, it’s been noted that they could be using it in an overly cautious way.
Consider that more transparency is always a good thing, but more importantly than that, it helps stymie the ones at both extremes on the political spectrum that see conspiracies everywhere. The seal in closed meetings has been fairly tight, and because of that, the void has been filled with a lot of idle and not so idle speculation.
That speculation then feeds back into the tones of partisanship that were not so subtly struck during the campaign, so as we start the new term, let’s not let old resentments fester. Tomorrow is a new day, as will it be on Dec. 3.
