Top 5 Stories for 2010

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?

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Well, that went by fast. Summer that is. And as we enter the Labour Day long weekend, it is time to take stock of the last few months and remember what we all came here for as we re-enter the routines of autumn. I don’t know what you did/learned/talked about, but here’s my five for the Summer of 2010.

1) Waiting for the Bus

This happened a lot. But in this case the context is outside the fact that one goes to their bus stop by a pre-arranged time and wait a couple of minutes for the city’s public transportation to show up as scheduled. But then, when you make it downtown, there was the indignity of watching the bus you needed to transfer to drive away without you. Then, to add insult to injury it seemed to come as almost a surprise to city councillors at a July meeting that our transit system needs improvement. Perhaps if more city officials were dependent on the bus, they wouldn’t need a consultant’s report to tell them that changes are needed.

2) Dealing with Road Construction

I have a philosophy about the weather: of all the things in the world to complain about, why would you complain about the weather? Can you change it? Can you make a rainy day sunny by thinking about it, or via some kind of weather-changing device? That’s what I thought. Well the same can be said about road construction. Sorry kids, but when you’re over five years behind on infrastructure repair and the government throws money at you to get ‘er done, you’re not going to refuse the opportunity. After all, today’s road closures avoid tomorrow’s sinkholes.

3) Getting Bitch Slapped for Being an Artist/Activist

Not sure where all the litigation came from this summer, but first the police slammed shut the doors of the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph and then the city bylaw officers started slapping postering fines on anyone with space available to a concert, a screening or a protest. Granted, I’m biased given one of the hats I wear is Co-Chair of Ed Video Media Arts Centre (PS: See our ad on whatever page it’s on in this issue of Echo), but still, with the Alma Gallery closed and Manhattans smoked out, the number of venues in our fair city is dwindling. Never has a piece of 8 and a half by 11 piece of colour paper generated so much red tape.

4) Waiting Patiently for Fall

Perhaps it’s the American election cycle of one-after-the-other, but I’ve been dying in anticipation for the start of our municipal election season. But while it’s been fun to watch the scorecard in Wards One and Two fill up, it’s been something of a struggle to get candidates to sign-up in the other four wards. In the last couple of days though (before press time anyway), a few people have put their names forward for the school board elections, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that this is the trickle before the rainfall. You can’t say that there’s not anger out there, and people are looking for options. So let’s give it to them.

5) Finding New Reasons to Love the Royal City

Despite our problems, there’s still a lot to love about the City of Guelph. Aside from the usual summer trappings like Hillside and Art on the Street, the festival circuit was joined by the first ever editions of the Guelph Electronic Music Festival and Top Freedom Day. As well, the Guelph Jazz Festival has added a Nuit Blanche program, which will feature all different types of music and art installations across the city. You may not be able to DIY promote your own show, but if you keep your eyes open, there’s plenty to get excited about.

Local Bomb, No Jefferson, and Pot Pulled

What is this? Beirut?

Guelph proved that there’s room for humour in the middle of a bomb scare last week, when the downtown found itself in the middle of an actual bomb scare. Now, I say “scare” even though things at the scene were rarely tense as police officers cheerfully answered residents’ questions about the situation while the explosives device unit (EDU) did their thing with the help of a special robot loaned from Waterloo Region.

Details about who did what and why were still sketchy at press time (like up-to-date info, try my blog at guelphpolitico.blogspot.com), but a suspicious package was found at the post office in St. George’s Square about noon, and police responded by closing down a large portion of upper Wyndham, and diverting buses to the River Run Centre alternate-stop. By 4 pm, the EDU had exploded the package safely, and it was back to business as usual in the Square.

But who’s responsible? I don’t know, but I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now watch this drive.

Jeff’s Not Here, Man

Well, it seems that the first best reason not to build the Hanlon Creek Business Park has been disproved, according to a City press release last week. According to the salamander monitoring program, no trace of the reptile has been found on the HCBP lands so it’s time to drill, baby, dr… I mean, let the construction begin on the Business Park without any further interruption.

Not necessarily. On May 7th, a group opposing the HCBP marched on City Hall and a local developer and articulated their continued opposition to the planned development, and already their tone had moved to an overall environmental cause. “This is our drinking water at stake … clean air … the Earth,” spokesperson Marcie Goldstein said in an interview with the Guelph Mercury.

Still, the city says all precautions are putting put into place to protect the local wildlife. “The City will be moving forward with the development of the HCBP subdivision as approved by the Ontario Municipal Board in November 2006,” said the press release last Monday. “The 2010 salamander monitoring program has provided additional information on the location and movement of other amphibians within the HCBP subdivision. This additional information will be used to consider design refinements and to undertake measures for wildlife protection during construction activities.”

Cannabis Calamity

On May 6th members of the Guelph Police Drug, Intelligence Unit, Co-ordinated Enforcement Team and Uniform Division executed Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrants at the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph at 62 Baker Street as well as 5 residences, which resulted in the arrest of four people for trafficking, possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and production of a controlled substance. Apparently, the bust of these tax-paying, pot-selling citizens have been under police investigation for some time, after all, they were selling medicinal marijuana to the sick to ease their suffering.

What’s more mysterious is the Police Service’s restraint. The Medical Cannabis Club has been in operation since 2006, and are duly recognized members of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Guelph Business Association. (I have the links on Politico, look it up if you don’t believe me.) “Our investigation has revealed that The Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph has illegally sold marihuana and hashish” said Sgt Doug Pflug-Guelph Police Media spokesperson. “Health Canada sets clear guidelines and regulations for the use of medically sanctioned marihuana use and these individuals operated outside those guidelines and regulations.”

While he’s technically right, it begs the question about why it took so long to lower the boom on the Medicinal Cannabis Club. As well, it ignores the fact that one of the defendants did have a license to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes, and that nearly half of the Club’s membership had the proper permits to procure it. And most importantly, this does nothing to rectify the still sorted grey water that’s our government’s pot policy. For the latest info, and scenes from last Saturday’s protest in St. George’s Square go to guelphpolitico.blogspot.com