Ward 6: A Hub of Activity

After an inadvertently long hiatus, Better Know a Ward returns. For those of you who’ve forgotten, this six-part, award-eligible series profiles a different ward in Guelph and the councillors that represent it. Today, it’s Ward 6, the southern most ward in the city that covers everything below Kortright Road. Containing many of the newer parts of Guelph, Ward 6 is a hub of activity with a near constant level of development. The two councillors representing this Ward are Christine Billings and Karl Wettstein, and I recently got a chance to sit down with them in Guelph City Hall.

So in the mind of these councillors, what makes Ward 6 unique? Two words: growth and development. “We’ve got the age-old dilemma about services,” adds Wettstein. “I think we’re really well serviced now, but we went through a lot of years, as a ward, where there has been a service gap for the last decade.”

It’s a matter of some confusion for constituents as Billings points out, because many pay higher taxes as compared to the rest of the city. “Karl and I can have the same size lot,” Billings explains. “We can have the same size home, and I can live in the south and Karl in the northeast, for example, and his taxes are much lower. And why is that? Market Value Assessment.”

In other words, taxes rates times market value assessment equals how much you pay in taxes. “Where that gets complicated in the minds of the taxpayer,” says Wettstein, “is when you’re in a new area, with high growth, quick development, slow to be serviced by the city and commercial services, the public says ‘Hold it. We have the highest taxes and the lowest services.’ There’s a mismatch.”

Another issue that’s becoming more prominent on the Ward 6 plate is student housing. With the south Gordon corridor intensifying and the availability of transit, this ward is attracting more and more student tenants. “There are some streets where there’s clearly a disproportional number of [student] houses in the minds of the residents,” Wettstein says. He and Billings have been looking at how other communities including London are dealing with the issue. “We said we’re going to do something significant so when the students come to school on September the first they’re going to notice a difference.”

The issues aside, and the occasional tedium of the debate there of, the councillors find their jobs rewarding. “What will happen is that you have a constituent and their frustrated. Maybe they’ve already gone through the system and what they do is phone you and e-mail you and go ‘Help!’” explains Billings. “When there’s resolution and the constituent’s happy, the staff’s happy, and we’re happy, what a good feeling of accomplishment when you’ve actually helped.”

But this is an election year, and soon the discussion will look to the next four years and the next term in council. Wettstein has already declared saying that he likes to make his intentions known early. His goal, if re-elected, will be to continue looking at the business side of the city. “I have a lot of interest in the financial strength of the city. I have a tonne of interest in good corporate governance and try not to step in each other’s backyard too much. But I also recognize that we are one team, we’re not two teams, and we’ve made progress in that area.”

Billings says she hasn’t made up her mind if she will run for re-election, and will take the summer to decide whether she’ll try for her third consecutive term. “For me it’s very serious, it is a commitment,” she notes saying that in 2003 she made up her mind on the last day nominations were open. “Because I have a family, things change. If you win it is your term, it’s a four year term, so it’s not something you want to do halfway.”

Still, Billings sounds like she’s already in re-election mode saying, “At election time, a lot of people say they are fiscally responsible, but I will have a different definition of ‘fiscally responsible’ because I do not find that to be the case, for me anyway.”

Wanna hear the whole interview? Beam over to Guelph Politico at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com

Ward 1: The Centre of it All

After an unpredictably lengthy hiatus, it’s time to return to my award-eligible series (hint), “Better Know a Ward.” For the third part of this six part series, we go to St. Patrick’s; Ward 1 – the Fightin’ First. The borders of Ward 1 extend from downtown to the south-eastern border of Guelph; everything east of Victoria Road, and south of Eramosa and Eastview Roads. The two people charged with representing this diverse area are first-term Councillor’s Kathleen Farrelly and Bob Bell. I sat down with Farrelly and Bell last week, in the parlour of Farrelly’s home, to talk about issues in the Ward.

Bell and Farrelly make no qualms, they both consider Downtown Guelph to be the most important part of the city and there are some big changes coming in the next couple of years. The next step comes in January, when council will vote on whether or not to make the downtown train station the official Go Train terminal in Guelph. Bell calls it “the single biggest thing that will happen to downtown Guelph this decade,” and is part of an overall plan to revolutionize transit in, and out of, town.

The target date right now is to bring the GO Train back to Guelph by 2011, but before that, Bell and Farrelly have their eyes set on 2010, the date to create a new transit hub along Carden Street, bringing together out of town buses, trains and Guelph Transit into a single strip in the downtown. “That would enable someone to get from downtown Toronto to the University [of Guelph], on public transit, in about 70 minutes,” explains Bell. “That’s when you can really get people hauled out of their cars, if you can provide a faster service.” Adds Farrelly, “And to be as convenient as possible, which it would.”

This plan has not come without some controversy however. “Some people are very much against the relocation of the transit hub and some people seem to love it,” says Farrelly. “What was explained to us is that while the hub is being moved, the buses will still go through downtown, we’re not losing that bus stop downtown.” What might be lost though is the number of buses going through downtown. In order to create more efficiency, and to expedite travel from points A to B, Bell particularly wants to see Guelph Transit move to a grid system with express and cross-town routes that don’t have to stop downtown.

In the meantime, there are concerns in the Ward beyond transit, but are nonetheless of practical importance: the grocery store and retail deficit in the East End. “What the East Enders want is fair city investment, and the provision of services there to be at a par with other areas of the city,” says Bell. “There’s no dispute right now that they’re being treated unfairly.” Farrelly adds that the delay is not the fault of the city, but the fact that the corporations that own the land, Loblaws and Metro, have yet to capitalize. “What they’re saying is that they’re rethinking the size of the store, with the view of not having the huge stores they presented.”

And that’s not likely to change given current economic conditions and in a new age of fiscal restraint given the global recession. Like all city employees and representatives, Bell and Farrelly say they’re looking for ways to keep costs down and are re-evaluating certain purchases. Bell says he took a suggestion that the city could put off the purchase of replacement computers, which has a price tag of $1 million. “You have to be very conscious of where your discretionary funding goes,” he says. Buying new computers won’t necessarily help Guelph because they’re manufactured overseas.

All-in-all, and given the seemingly enormous nature of some of the issues facing the ward, Farrelly and Bell say that the job has been more or less what they expected. But Farrelly knew advanced what her duties might entail; her son was on the council from 1993 to 2003. And if there’s one thing these two Ward 1 representatives have in common, it’s a dislike for the trappings of government. “I’m very impatient with red tap and bureaucracy,” says Farrelly, who adds that she’s learning patience. But if she and Bell are proud of one thing, it’s maintaining a campaign promise to keep council functional and communicative. “Even though we disagree on issues, we still maintain our civility and friendliness, we don’t harbour ill-will,” she adds, “We’ve made a point of that.”

Ward 2: Always Stable, But Ready for Change

Welcome back to part two of my six part series, “Better Know a Ward.” This week: Ward 2 – St. George’s. Located in the northeast corner of the city, Ward 2 pretty much covers everything east of Woolwich and north of Eramosa and Eastview Roads. Amongst its attractions are Riverside Park and Goldie Mill, the oldest saw mill in the city established the same year as Guelph: 1827.

Vicki Beard and Ian Findlay, both elected in 2006, are the councillors responsible for speaking for the residents of Ward 2, which boasts the highest number of long time residents, including seniors and young families, and is home to a lot of Guelph’s post-war development. On the cutting edge of innovation as well, Ward 2 also has the world’s first “Pollination Park,” which lies atop the old Eastview landfill and is a research project commissioned by the University of Guelph for which Beard is an excited and passionate advocate for.

“It’s probably the most established ward in the city in that there’s not a lot of new development,” says Findlay when I meet up with him and Beard at the Cornerstone, downtown. “There are not a lot of infill opportunities either; it’s pretty much built up. There’s a little bit happening on Woodlawn and Victoria, but I would certainly suggest it’s the most stable.”

Stable, except for the fact that Ward 2 is “ground zero” as Findlay describes, for the city’s termite problems, although their number have gone down in the last few years. A repurposed and dedicated city department has been exceptionally helpful in tackling the problem, explains Findlay. “One of the first things we did when we got on council was retain Dr. Tim Myles from the University of Toronto. He’s one of the pre-eminent termite experts in all of Canada.”

Another change that Ward 2 residents have been positive about is the expansion of service on Guelph Transit and the new “Downtown on the 20” schedule. Beard and Findlay say that they’ve heard from poeple a desire to do more for the environment and conservation on a local level, and giving more support and money to buses was a good, first step. “We’re not done fixing transit, but this was a big step, a huge commitment on the part of the city but we’re not suggesting that all the problems are solved yet,” says Findlay. “And we need a strategic transit plan and that’s coming up in the next little while,” added Beard.”

Less pleased, were Ward 2 residents, about their councillors’ votes over the recent proposed expansion of the Wal-Mart at Woolwich and Woodlawn. A vote that both Beard and Findlay say has been mischaracterized. “I did not vote ‘No’ on the Wal-Mart expansion,” says Beard emphatically. She was in favour of the expansion as presented in a city staff report, which called for numerous environmental and energy friendly benchmarks, but what she ended up voting against was the 6&7 Developers plan as presented to council at the July 7 meeting which didn’t include any of those things. “Their answers did not match that report,” she adds.

“A final decision has not been made, I think we need to make that clear,” continues Findlay. “The motion was to approve [the proposal] as was, and that was defeated. We still need to give formal direction to city staff, but this will be coming back to council for further consideration.”

“We represent people in our ward that want that expansion, we see it as a non-issue – it’s going to happen, we want it to happen,” says Beard, who adds that other developers in Guelph have gone out of their way to meet the city’s commitment to sustainability and environmentally friendly alternatives. “We have to get this straight,” adds Beard, “It’s not the developer; it’s how we want the development to happen.”

The vote certainly got people talking which was good news for Ward 2’s biggest act of transparency: the Ward 2 blog maintained by Findlay and contributed to by both councillors. Findlay says the blog serves multiple purposes: not only can he and Beard talk directly to their constituents, and they respond back, but serves as a paper trail, so to speak, in highlighting residents concerns before the council. Plus the blog has a pretty liberal open door policy. “Any letter that comes in, providing that they’re not too personal, I will post,” says Findlay. “Critical: absolutely. But if they start identifying people and getting derogatory then they don’t get posted. I don’t filter it in any other way.”

To keep up-to-date with the goings on in Ward 2, you can visit the blog at http://ward2guelph.wordpress.com/

The Past and the Future Meet in Ward 3

Welcome to the first part of my six part series “Better Know a Ward.” (Any relation between this column and a sketch done on a popular late night comedy show is purely coincidental.)

This week’s ward: St. John’s, the fightin’ third. Located in the centre of the city, it’s home to both some of the wealthiest and poorest neighbourhoods in Guelph and counts the Library and Exhibition Park amongst its landmarks, as well as a number of heritage homes and buildings. Diversity is also a feature with many new immigrants settling into the Willow area, speaking 26 languages. The councillors representing this diverse sector are the thrice-elected Maggie Laidlaw and freshman June Hofland. I talked to both of them following a Ward meeting in the main council chamber at City Hall.

Amongst the concerns of Ward 3 residents is the usual: property taxes, transit, city services and termites? Yes, it seems that the wood eating insects are something of a nuisance, coming into the ward following the rail line and moving up Woolwich Street.

“One of the issues that was contentious, but its died away because it keeps getting put off, is to have a skateboard park in Exhibition Park,” adds Laidlaw. “Some people are vehemently opposed to it. We’re one of the only cities of our size that doesn’t have a skateboard park.”

Another issue is the placement of an expanded main branch of the library. Last Tuesday, a number of scenarios were presented for appraisal by the public during a library hosted open house. The original building was designed to hold about 40,000 books, a number that it’s since exceeded by a factor of three. Still, there is division about investing in an expanded library, especially after the city lost the preferred location of the old post office on Wyndham.

“There’s still a lot of bad feelings around losing that sale,” says Hofland. “The thing that I find most difficult is that the downtown is everybody’s neighbourhood. That’s why public spaces - libraries, skating rinks - all of those things are important to the health of a city, I really feel strongly about that.”

Of course, the two big elephants in Ward 3 are development related: the Lafarge site and Wal-Mart. As reported here a couple of weeks ago, council voted down the developers’ proposal on Lafarge and now the matter is before the Ontario Municipal Board, where mediation will start in September as all sides try to reach an accord.

Hofland, who refuses to comment on her feeling of the development due to a conflict of interest, says that, “People are not opposed to the development necessarily, but what they’d like to see is a ‘complete community;’ places for people to live, work, shop, public space, as opposed to 400,000 square feet of big box commercial.”

On the other side of the ward is Wal-Mart, and this month a motion will come to council to authorize an expansion of the store and create new shopping space on the surrounding land. After the furious 10 year debate, the fight against Wal-Mart seems oddly stayed as the expansion option has arisen.

“I think people are tired,” said Laidlaw, who was one of council’s staunchest anti-Wal-Mart voices. “One thing I have heard from a couple of people that live on Woodlawn, is that they want a grocery store. And yet there used to be a Zehr’s store where the Staples store is now, so go figure.”

“I don’t think we’ll have input as to what goes into the extension, but I think we’ll have input into the urban design, maybe we’ll be able to suggest a smaller scale but I don’t know if that’ll be the case,” added a hopeful Hofland.

As reflected in their comments, Laidlaw and Hofland share more than a ward in common, but a set of values, as Hofland says; a strong commitment to protecting Guelph’s environment and heritage, while promoting the communication and accountability of city hall. Clearly the people of Ward 3 like what their about as they both won their seats with over 3,000 votes a piece.

“People in my ward want the same things that I want, that’s why they elected me,” observed Laidlaw. “I’m not doing anything I didn’t say in my [campaign] brochure, I’m doing all the things that people expect of me, and I’ve had the same platform for eight years, people know me.”

Hofland agreed, adding, “I still hope that I’m here because I reflect other people’s values and that we mirror each others values.”