Clean-Up, Tory Tussle, and Video Victories

Call to Clean-Up

This weekend is the 32nd annual Speed River Clean-Up organized by the Guelph branch of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG). Brought to you by Wellington Water Watchers, Trout Unlimited and GUFF (Guelph Urban Forest Friends), the Clean-Up, as always, aims to educate people about the importance of Guelph’s waterways, get them involved and in the river to literally take out the trash.

Like in years gone by, everyone is to meet up at the gazebo in Royal City Park (Gordon Street) by 11 am. Bring your gloves, sun gear, water and a pair of either old shoes, boots or hip waders. Then sign-in, join a group and start cleaning up the river. Afterward at around 12:30, everyone’s invited back to McCrae House for some eats and some entertainment. The theme is pot luck, so volunteers are being asked to bring a dish to share, and for each dish contributed, you will be entered in a draw to win two tickets to the Speed River Fundraising Dinner at Borealis Grille, a $120 value. Additionally, volunteers are being asked to bring their own plates and utensils to cut down on waste.

If you’re looking to get even more involved, OPIRG is looking for volunteers to take on specific jobs at the Clean Up. Among the list of jobs needed to be filled are crew leaders, photographers, set-up and take-down volunteers, and people to help out at the potluck. For more information, get in touch with OPIRG at 519-824-2091 or at opirg@uoguelph.ca

A Trio of Tories Tussle

Three nominees have put their names forward for the local Progressive Conservative nomination in this fall’s Provincial Election. John F. Ross high school teacher Greg Cawsey, entrepreneur Greg Schirk and businessman and former pastor Bob Senechal are the three who will be metaphorically duking it out to get their name on the ballot for the PCs, said a news release. “These three candidates bring a wide range of qualities that will allow any one of them to represent Guelph well in Queen’s Park,” said local PC riding association president Allan Boynton in the release. Cawsey ran the business department at Ross, Schirk once owned Royal City Glass, but now works for PM Doors and Windows, and Senechal has been a partner for the past 11 years in CG Maintenance. He also ran as the PC Party’s candidate against Liberal Liz Sandals in the 2007 provincial election.

In other news, the day and time for the first all-candidates debate of the fall election has been established. Look for The Guelph-Wellington Social Justice Coalition hosted forum on Sept. 13 at the Italian Canadian Club. Presumably, the Coalition is looking to avoid any situation where a candidate says that they didn’t get enough notice and have something already book.

The Hanlon Hacks It

The Phase One lands of the Hanlon Creek Business Park have satisfied all conditions of Draft Plan of Subdivision approval and have now achieved Registered Plan status at the land registry office. I don’t know what that means, but the City thought it was a big enough deal to write a press release about it. “What this means, is that title to these lands are now able to be transferred to potential end purchasers” says Jim Mairs, Senior Business Development Specialist, Economic Development and Tourism Services, in the release.

“We are extremely pleased with the completion of this next stage,” says Peter Cartwright, General Manager of Economic Development and Tourism Services. “In order to register this Phase approximately 50 conditions imposed by various government and review agencies needed to be addressed and approved. It is further validation of the commitment this Park has to the environment and the development process.”

All-in-all, 16 acres of land, in various stages of development in the Hanlon Creek Business Park representing nearly $5 million in revenue for the city, are ready. The total land acquired by the City for the Business Park property is about 420 acres, but a percentage of that will be preserved as green space.

Video Victories on Two Counts

As one video contest wraps another begins. Voting for the viewer’s choice favourite “I love Guelph tap water” video closed this past Monday, but the winners won’t be announced until June 15th. Various high tech prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place finisher, and people’s choice winner will designate a favourite charity to receive a $500 donation. Next up are videos for Guelph Tourism. Go to www.youtube.com/guelphtourism and vote for your favourite video promoting the Royal City as a tourist destination and the winner will receive $100 in prizes. The winner will be announced during the closing ceremonies of Tourism Awareness Week on June 10 at 1:00pm at City Hall.

Poster Peril and Water For All

Sign of the Times?

That sound you heard last Wednesday was the book being thrown at three Guelph businesses for actions that they had nothing to do with. In another example from the “Sometimes I Don’t Think Government Knows What It’s Doing” file, comes the court case last week of the City of Guelph versus anybody that tries to promote their small-scale indie arts/awareness/charity event.

You see, the City of Guelph has a by-law regarding postering in that you’re only allowed to poster in three designated places downtown. Since everybody postering in the same three places is neither efficient nor effective, sometimes promoters like to put their posters up in numerous places so they can get the maximum eyeballs possible. But the City of Guelph seems to want to designate this as criminal, and as such brought the owner/operators of Ed Video Media Arts Centre, The Bookshelf and The Palace nightclub to court for the better part of the day last Wednesday.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’d like to add here that I have a personal stake in this story given that I was one of the organizers of the event that was held at The Bookshelf Cinema. We took our lumps and reimbursed The Bookshelf their fine of $85 plus assorted processing fees, but Ed Video, an artist run organization that lives off fundraising and grant dollars had to eat the $250 fine. This despite the fact that contracts for use of their gallery space have a clause noting that the event runner will obey all city postering by-laws.

Perhaps most egregious though was the story behind the origin of The Palace’s fine. Basically, The Palace is out $100 because a young woman put up 11 posters for a charity fashion show for kids with cancer that she was putting on at the night club. And not only were there a mere 11 posters for a cause as benign as “kids with cancer” but from what one source tells me, the by-law officer was standing there watching and laughing as she was putting up the posters. He was quite content to not let her know that she was in the wrong.

Regardless the reasons and what-fors, the City’s grand total for the day’s court proceedings was less then $500. I realize that the city’s got cash flow issues, but didn’t I read a couple of weeks ago that Guelph-Wellington has 10,395 cases of defaulted fines from moving violations that comes out to a grand total of approximately $5.3 million? If something here seems hinky to you, you’re not alone. Why these groups? Why now? How can a city that portends to support the arts dump on the independents that give the city’s culture its diversity? All good questions, no good answers.

A W. We Can Get Behind

If you've been turned on to the joys of simple old tap water, and convinced that bottle water is a long con perpetuated by multinationals selling a resource you already pay for back to you, then you might interested in this. Now, thanks to the Blue W program, finding local restaurants, City facilities and businesses willing to fill reusable containers with municipal tap water free of charge is easy.

"Refill your reusable bottle—anywhere. It's really that basic." said Evan Pilkington, the Director of Blue W in a press release. "Guelph is a city full of people who appreciate tap water. Helping provide residents and visitors greater access to safe, clean municipal tap water is what Blue W is all about.”

The Blue W program is a not-for-profit initiative that lists locations in numerous Canadian cities, via computer connection or Smartphone application, where people can get free tap water in refillable containers. All you have to do is log on to bluew.org or look for the Blue W at one of your favourite Guelph establishments; there are about 30 around town.

And if you need another reason to get off the bottle, there’s always an article published in the Globe and Mail a couple of weeks ago. I believe it was called “Bottled water has high level of bacteria, researchers find.” Happy drinking.