So I think it’s time we get back to hard
news. What do you think? Well too bad, by the time you read this I will have
written it a week ago, so I’ve already made the assumption. Here we go:
Things Are About to Get Innovated
From the "Hey, maybe this will stifle
some of those HST grumbles" file, comes word last week that the Government of Ontario and the City of Guelph has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in regards to the City's plan for the Guelph
Innovation District. Now off the top, an MOU sounds a bit like when you tell
your buddy that you'll get the next round when he buys your beer, but you say
you've got to get home before it comes to that, but apparently, this is big
news.
"The MOU signed today commits a
portion of provincially-owned land in the district to the city’s plan to create
this new, innovative employment area," said a joint press release. The City of Guelph anticipates the District will accommodate
10,000 of the 32,400 jobs projected for the City by the year 2031. "This is part of the province’s Open Ontario Plan to help
create clean, green jobs and support innovation."
“Guelph residents
will welcome this Memorandum of Understanding which sets out a joint vision for
the future development of the provincial lands in Guelph’s York
District," said our own MPP Liz Sandals. "The Guelph Innovation
District plan brings together an exciting blend of green jobs, cutting edge
innovation, and environmentally-friendly places to live and do business that
will benefit our community for years to come.”
“Home to as many as 5000 people and 10,000
jobs, these lands will bring together the best and brightest minds to address
provincial and global environmental and technological challenges," said
Mayor Karen Farbridge. "As a carbon neutral LEED-Neighbourhood, this urban
village will demonstrate new approaches and technologies to manage the urban
environment redefining our experience of city living.”
In Ironic News…
Everybody loves bike lanes, right? Well,
except for Toronto City Councillor and mayoral candidate Rob Ford who once
said, “I can’t support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks.
My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it’s their own fault at the end
of the day.” Still, most people like bike lanes because their progressive, they
help get cars off the road and they’re environmentally friendly. Which is why
it’s so strange that the construction of new bike lanes should have local
friends of the shrubbery upset.
There are new bike
lanes being constructed along Gordon St between Stone Road and Harts Drive, but because of the narrowness of this
section of road, it’ll have to be widened to accommodate the bike lanes. But in
order to do that, about 20 trees will have to be cut down. “Clearly, inadequate
consideration was given to preserving trees when planning the reconstruction of
sidewalks and a development of a bike path,” Norah Chaloner of Guelph Urban
Forest Friends wrote in an e-mail to the Guelph Mercury. “It’s another
indication of the lack of regard for the importance of urban trees and canopy.”
The City countered
though that they’re not taking down trees willy-nilly. “If we don’t have to cut
them down, we won’t. We’re saving them if we can,” he said. “There will be
further refinement (of the plans) at the time of construction (of the bike
lanes).”
Not cool though
says Guelph Urban Forest Friends who submitted that in the past about half of
the young trees planted don’t make it past five years and it’ll take decades
for new trees planted “today” to reach the same maturity as trees currently in
the ground on that same stretch. Construction is due to start by the end of
July and is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
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