It’s that time of year again. Time to look
back at the year that’s almost over and quantify which stories were more
important than others. I know it sounds like I’m being sarcastic, but there is
something to recommend taking a moment and seeing where we stand and
backtracking just how we got to this point. So without further adieu, I offer,
in my estimation, the five biggest news stories in Guelph in 2010.
5) The Garbage Fail Bids
If the new Organic Waste Processing
Facility hadn’t already gotten enough confused and/or negative press, then the
news that the City is going be trading plastic bags for plastic bins put it
over the top. There was already a matter of uncertainty as to the numbers in
the final bill for both the construction and operation of the OWPF, but the
added expense of buying new bins and converting the City’s fleet of garbage
trucks to service them, created a Red Alert level of rhetoric in this past
fall’s Municipal Election. While legitimate questions remain, like how Waterloo will get
its garbage processed for cheaper than we will, this is a provincial mandate,
and ultimately a very sound, environmental direction. Still, a lot of people
are against the move on the basis of storage, hygiene and transport of the
bins, which are, ironically, a lot of the same reasons why people were against
Wet/Dry when it was introduced a decade ago.
4) Reefer Madness
So for years, four shady characters in
Downtown Guelph have been selling pot to anyone that needed it, and the Guelph
Police finally arrested this gang back in May. The trouble was that the
characters in questions were the owners and employees of the Medical Cannabis
Club of Guelph, and the drug users they were selling to had subscriptions from
their doctors. Basically, the Police busted the MCCG for operating “outside
[the] guidelines and regulations” set by Health Canada
for the sale of medicinal marijuana. But the biggest crime wasn’t the ever static
grey area that seems to be our country’s legal policy about pot, but the fact
that dozens of the MCCG’s customers, people suffering and in need of the relief
marijuana provides, were left out in the cold as to where they could now secure
their prescriptions. Some dubious questions still surround why the MCCG got a
police smackdown, while the Club itself is in legal limbo till 2012. So much
for Guelph’s reputation as a “caring community.”
3) Moan Temple Pilots
Speaking of which, there was the bizarre affair
of the proposed Sikh temple in the south end. I say “bizarre” because despite a
million reassurances from everyone short of the reincarnated soul of Sikh
founder Guru Nanak Dev that the temple will have an occupancy of 400 people
max, neighbours in the Claire and Victoria Roads area were still against it.
There was some overt racism to accompany the impression of covert racism in the
passionate, though half-hearted, arguments against, but it all came to naught
anyway. The appeal by Westminster Woods Residents’ Association was withdrawn
from the Ontario Municipal Board after members heard that there was
insufficient evidence to proceed with the appeal. Look for construction to
begin on the temple next year.
2) Staffing Solutions Fail
While a lot of the 2010 budget negotiations
fell in the waning days of 2009, the full effect fallout didn’t really hit
until the new year was upon us. In the budget, it was passed that all City
Staff had to take five unpaid days off in the calendar 2010 year. The hope was
that the City and the unions could work out a scheme were the five days off
could be spread out enough to avoid a state where the City would have to be
closed for five days. This didn’t turn out to be the case. The so-called “Karen
Days” (named for, and with exception by, Mayor Karen Farbridge) frustrated
Guelphites, especially the skip weeks for garbage pick up and the no Sunday
service for Guelph Transit in August. While many candidates in the election
towed the “Never Again” mantra, we’ll have to see what happens during the 2011
budget deliberations next month.
1) Never Bet Against Karl Hungus
So despite all the rage – property tax
rage, Karen Days rage, construction rage – only 33.9 per cent of the eligible
electorate in the City of Guelph came out to vote in the Municipal Election. At election
headquarters at City Hall, the votes were counted and the lights were off by 10:30.
And in the end result, only two of the incumbents running again, Mike Salisbury
and Vicki Beard, were voted out. The implication: we’re mad as hell, but what
are you going to do? The aftermath, if you follow the comments in the
blogosphere is renewed anger and low expectations for the new council. But
really, what else is new, and who else is to blame?
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