Election News and GCL Re-Ups

Birtwistle Takes Up Space

Upping the game to the next level, mayoral hopeful David Birtwistle has officially opened his campaign office. The space is in a former dollar store in the plaza at Victoria and Grange Roads, the same one that’s home to Guelph’s famous Hockey Sushi. It’s another sign that Birtwistle, a former two-term city councillor (2000-2006) means business in the race to depose Karen Farbridge for the City’s highest office. Sign spotters may recall that Birtwistle was also the first off the bench with election signage after the Canada Day long weekend. As for our current Mayor, she’ll be setting up shop in the former Alma Gallery downtown later this month. To keep up with the mayoral race, visit the candidates’ websites at http://www.davidbirtwistle.com/ for David Birtwistle and http://www.farbridgeforguelph.ca/ for Karen Farbridge.

The Rest of the Race…

The second half of July brought a proverbial flurry of new activity to the various races. Ward 1 remains, by far, the most competitive with a total of eight announced candidates running so far. Further, as of press time, I have it on good authority that there may be a ninth sometime soon. That's almost the total number of candidates running in all the other wards combined, and the remaining incumbent, Bob Bell, has still yet to announce. Meanwhile, over in Ward 2, Andrew Colwill threw his hat back into the ring. Colwill also ran in the last municipal election finishing sixth at seven per cent of the vote. Now he is the fourth person to join the race in this ward behind incumbents Vicki Beard and Ian Findley, as well as former Ward 2 councillor Ray Ferraro.

The story in the rest of the wards is mostly a tale of out with the old, back in with the old. The races in Wards 3 and 6 have remained unchanged since April, with incumbents Maggie Laidlaw and June Hofland re-upping for re-election in Ward 3 and Karl Wettstein doing the same in Ward 6. His ward mate, Christine Billings, told me earlier this summer that she usually waits until late summer/early fall to announce. Ward 4 finally joined the board with Gloria Kovach announcing her intention to run again on July 15th, and Mike Salisbury following suit on July 26th. Finally, in Ward 5, both Leanne Piper and Lise Burcher are now officially in the race.

HGCL Ready for another Go

Although extremely active in the last municipal election, not much has been heard from the Guelph Civic League in the build up to this year’s contest. Recently though, the GCL undertook a process to reinvigorate themselves, and it started with the election of a new executive. Kevin Ferraro and Sharon Lewis, both new to the Guelph Civic League, have agreed to act as co-presidents of the organization, while Annie O'Donoghue will continue to act as past president. The rest of the exec is made up of Anne Gardner as Treasurer, Clare Irwin as Secretary, Kathie Lamie as Membership / Outreach Co-ordinator, Susan Ratcliffe as Events Co-ordinator, Dave Sills as Communications Co-ordinator, and Anastasia Zavarella, Local Affairs Commissioner of the University of Guelph’s Central Student Association, as Campus Outreach Co-ordinator. “The members of the executive committee are excited about their new roles and anxious to build on the work of past executive committee members,” said a message to members of the GCL’s Facebook group. Founded in 2004, the Guelph Civic League is committed to keeping citizens informed and working towards a local democracy that is inclusive, participatory, transparent and accountable. Check out what the GCL’s got cooking by going to their website at http://www.guelphcivicleague.ca.

Willow Facelift, Election News and Drugs in HCBP

HCBP open for (illicit) business

When politicians said that the Hanlon Creek Business Park was going to attract new business to Guelph, they probably didn’t have a recent discovery by Guelph Police in mind when they said it. On June 29th, the Drug Enforcement Unity was tipped off that on the city owned lands that will become home to the HCBP, there was an outdoor grow op. After investigating the police did indeed confirm that yes, there were several marihuana plants being grown in a section of HCBP. In fact, there were 340 marihuana plants in the early stages of maturation. The combined street value of those plants if they had been allowed to mature into dried marihuana would have been $340,000. So far, nobody’s been charged for the operation of this op and all plants have been destroyed by the police.

Getting a jump on Election Season

With the hot summer weather, it seems logical that there’s not going to be any big candidacy announcements, with maybe a few exceptions, until late August. (Ray Ferraro was the last person to make the plunge as of June 17th. At least at press time.) Still, there seems to be one person e chomping at the bit for the nitty-gritty excitement of electioneering to begin. In the last week, a few “David Birtwistle for Mayor” signs have popped up at strategic locations around Guelph. Too soon, some would say, considering polls don’t open till the morning of October 25th. Not at all, say the City’s election rules. Once a candidate has registered and paid a $200 deposit, a candidate is free to put up signs as they see fit. Apparently Sean Farrelly, Ian Findlay and Maggie Laidlaw have also paid their deposit, but their excitement is clearly no where near as palpable as Birtwistle is seems.

Willow West Getting Facelift

Apparently the owners of Willow West Mall are taking the departure of Zellers as a sign. Last week, it was reported in the Guelph Tribune that the mall’s owners, Bentall LP, had given notice to all stores within Willow West, with the exception of Roy’s No Frills and the R U Serious restaurant, till the end of August to say sayonara. “The idea is to redevelop the shopping centre and convert most of what is enclosed today into large-box retailers,” Angelo Di Palma, Willow West’s property manager, said to the Tribune.

Clearly the recent closing of Zellers, which anchored the south end of the mall, created an opportunity for Bentall to gentrify their holding at the corner of Willow Rd and Silvercreek. In May, the owners announced that a Leon’s Superstore would be filling the space vacated by Zellers, and currently developers are in the process to get the proper permits in order to begin the renovations on the 76,000-square-foot premises. News of a forced mass exodus of most other Willow West shops came as no surprise to business owners like Kirit Gohil of Guildcrest Jewelers, but the timetable, however, was. “If they had informed us when Zellers was going out, we could have had the closing sale (at the same time) and that would have helped,” he said about his end of August eviction date.

Reversely though, others think Bentall’s rejuvenation of the mall is excellent news. “This site has been tired and ignored for entirely too long,” said Roy Zannoni, the Roy of Roy’s No Frills. “I think the community deserves better.” Interestingly, Willow West Mall was the first enclosed mall ever opened in Guelph, and the Willow West area was one of the first commercial developments outside the downtown to be developed in Guelph. Willow West Mall itself has been marked for redevelopment for a few years now with a lot of commercial business heading to the south end of the city or further west to the Paisley and Imperial area. Exact construction dates and potential new retailers have yet to be announced.

Washroom Case, Union Cash, and Election Update

Answers Soon in Washroom Death

Last week, the city released an unofficial update on the investigation into an accident on city property in 2009. Last spring, Isabel Warren, a Rockwood high school student, died when a wall collapsed in a washroom at Southend Community Park. The Mercury had an update last Monday, and long story short, the province is currently wrapping up their investigation and it should be ready to release its findings in a month. The city has completed its own, independent investigation but they can't release details until after the province releases their findings.

“The field work is completely over. Now we’re reviewing the information and determining whether to take any action,” Ministry spokesperson Bruce Skeaff said.

“The investigation is still underway with the province, and until that has been finalized we can’t pre-empt the province. They still have the responsibility for the investigation,” said City of Guelph Chief Administrative Officer Hans Loewig. “We can’t release anything until the province has fulfilled their responsibilities and they direct us on it.”

More news as it happens.

Union Says They Could Have Saved Cash

The president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1189 says that he and his union showed the city several ways to save more than $1.3 million, and thus would have avoided so-called “Karen Days” this summer. After passing a budget that had to allow for five unpaid days off for city staff, and being unable to reach an agreement to spread those days out, the city mandated five days this summer where city services would be closed including no bus service every Sunday in August.

But according to Local 1189 president Gary Daters, his union had the key to keeping buses running on Sunday. Among the transit union’s cost-saving proposals was the elimination of a proposed base-to-bus radio system, the elimination of a proposed call centre, downgrading the Smart Card Study, the elimination of the purchase of a supervisor’s mobility van, a restructured schedule and training of staff, and the delay of purchasing of Nova Buses. The total savings would have come out to $1,352,000. “The city said it couldn’t do anything because those were fixed costs in the capital budget, but my feeling was they pretty much had their minds made up (on unpaid days off),” said Daters in an article in the Mercury.

But according to Mark Aromosi, the city’s director of human resources, the suggestions weren’t helpful because they pertained to the capital budget, which is separate from the operating budget, which is where the savings would have had to come from. “You simply can’t transfer those savings. There’s no ability to transfer them,” Amorosi said.

Election 2010 Update

Several new names were added to fall ballot last week, including a number of familiar names. Ward 6 Councillor Karl Wettstein will be pursuing re-election this fall, and if he wins, the 2010-2014 term will be Wettstein's third on city council. He was elected in 2000, and then lost in 2003 before being elected again in 2006.

The second new name on the ballot is Allan Boynton who is running for Ward 1 councillor. This is Boynton's first election in Guelph it seems, so I don't have too much about him. And try googling "Allan Boynton" and you get a myriad of different Allan Boyntons in the area, so I'm not sure what to say about him.

Then, in the mayor’s race, there’s David Birtwistle, and if he sounds familiar it's with good cause. Birtwistle was a councillor for Ward 4 serving two terms in 2000 and 2003 winning 26 and 28 per cent of the vote, respectively. He was defeated in the 2006 election after losing his seat to Mike Salisbury and garnering a mere 16 per cent at the polls. But it appears his ambitions have broadened since 2006, and what could now make the race for mayor even more interesting is if Cam Guthrie enters, as he also ran against Birtwistle in Ward 4 in 2006.

If you're a potential candidate for city council, we (and by 'we' I mean 'I') would love to hear from you. E-mail adamadonaldson@gmail.com to break news of your candidacy.