Online Town Hall

I am deeply grateful for being given the opportunity to serve my community as City Councilor;  it has been one of the most significant responsibilities I have undertaken.

I would like to thank my constituents for their faith in me and ask for your support to represent your interests at City Hall for a second term.

Please visit my campaign website http://mikesalisbury.ca for complete information about the issues we face and my vision for the future of Guelph

I will be taking a brief sabbatical from blogging during the election period.

The City of Guelph has completed Envision Guelph – the City’s Official Plan update. The document will guide residential, employment, and commercial development, natural and cultural heritage conservation and the city’s transportation and energy systems over the next 20 years.

The 300-page document is available for public review. City Council is asking for comments and will hear presentations from the public during a meeting on May 20 at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers.

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(Originally Printed in the Guelph Mercury, “Sightlines” – by Unto Kihlanki )

This past Monday, largely due to the efforts of Coun. Mike Salisbury, Guelph city council decided not to turn the city’s recently acquired building at 152-158 Wyndham St. into a parking lot, at least not yet. They voted to investigate the option of renovating it for other possible interim uses while we wait for the day, perhaps quite distant, when it is slated to become part of the proposed new central library.

Good for our council. The merchants currently located along Wyndham must be breathing a long collective sigh of relief. A gaping hole in the fabric of the existing frontage is the last thing they need now, as they struggle to maintain a semblance of commercial vitality on their street.

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I like Gerry Barker – I find myself waiting eagerly for his editorial column; a longstanding diatribe about local municipal politics published bi-weekly in the Mercury.

I also like Steven Colbert – Steven is a popular late night TV talk show host featured on the Comedy Network who plays an opinionated and self-righteous commentator who “unwittingly” uses a number of logical fallacies to ridicule the actions of politicians and other public figures. By taking their statements and “the facts” to the furthest (supposedly) logical conclusion, he uses irony and sarcasm to paint a twisted picture of reality.

Both of these gentlemen are gifted satirists and both of them can be very entertaining (and even enlightening) if you don’t take them too seriously.

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On June 5, 2009, the governments of Canada and Ontario announced a joint investment of more than $44.4 million for 21 infrastructure projects identified as priorities for the City of Guelph that will create jobs and help build a stronger community.  The City of Guelph will contribute $22.2 M.
Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the federal government has established a new $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund that provides funding to provincial, territorial and municipal construction-ready infrastructure rehabilitation projects. Funding to Ontario communities, which will be matched by the government of Ontario as part of its 2009 provincial budget, Confronting the Challenge: Building our Economic Future, is available for two years for projects that will be built during the 2009 and 2010 construction seasons.,

The City, through its operator Wyndham House, has provided an interim shelter for at-risk youth since November 2008 at the former Delhi Community Centre.  This interim facility provides twelve beds and has been operating at about a 50 percent occupancy rate. There have been 51 clients using the facility in the period between November 2008 and the end of March 2009 and the average length of stay was six days. Over 40% of the youth participated in Wyndham House’s After-Care support program to obtain the individual supports they need to find and maintain a longer-term housing situation.

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As part of our commitment to good governance, Guelph City Council met last night to learn more about the City’s Long Term Financial Plan and a new tool that will help prioritize capital projects, both of which will strengthen strategic and fiscal management for the City.

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Bravo for creating arts, culture post

By Renann Isaacs, curator, Alma Gallery, Guelph

Dear Editor – Re: “Need for cultural post debated” (Guelph Mercury, Dec. 19).

Hooray for Mike Salisbury and the six other councillors who voted in support of creating a much needed position for an arts and culture supervisor. I can’t believe Guelph has been without one.

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I find it interesting that when city staff reported the possibility of a 6.5% tax increase it was front page news. However, when Council pared down this estimate to deliver the lowest tax increase of the last two terms of council it was reported on page three of the Mercury.

Well, I certainly feel that the lowest tax increase in 5 years (despite being among the fastest growing urban areas in Canada) is VERY significant.

Along with growth demanding increased use of the city’s roads, water, wastewater, housing and quality parks and public spaces we have dramatically improved public transit with the implementation of 20 minute bus service this year.

6.9% in 2004 – Previous Council
5.1% in 2005 – Previous Council
4.7% in 2006.
4.3% in 2007
3.8% in 2008

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One of the benefits of living in the ward I represent is noticing the small things that need attention. One of those “small things” can now be crossed off my list.

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We were told that the changing regulatory environment was forcing the issue. “Merge now or risk being forced to do so at a later date”.

While I think that it is pretty unlikely that we will be forced against our will to merge I believe that the OEB will continue to create a regulatory environment so onerous that smaller utilities will ultimately have to choose between spiralling distribution rates and operational deficits of full ownership or to accept a “tax incentive” to partner with other LDC’s for survival.

This Machiavellian reality of the current provincial energy policy was certainly not the sole reason to consider a merger, it was however the context of the discussion.

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The Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country. The general public has an expectation that an organisation of this calibre will present well thought out and researched opinion on matters of public policy.

Unfortunately I believe that this is not the case in regards to a recent email they sent out to the newspapers regarding the proposed Hydro Merger.

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I spent 10 hours over Labour Day weekend combing through the hydro merger business case. To be honest I was specifically looking for reasons NOT to support the recommendation. I read the business plan looking for details / or the lack of details that would support my basic personal bias that smaller is better.

The business case is about two and a half inches thick, not including the legal agreements and appendices. After combing through the plan I had come up with about 30 questions.

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The 2008 City of Guelph Citizen Satisfaction Survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid Public Affairs is being presented at the July 28th council meeting and the results are very informative.

This type of communication is vital to the democratic process, in fact I think it is so important that I have established the “Ward 4 Survey” an online questionnaire based upon the original Ipsos Reid survey. I would like to encourage everyone to take out a couple of minutes and share your thoughts and opinions.

It will take only a couple of minutes to fill out, but will greatly improve my ability to represent your needs and priorities. Your participation and comments (both positive and critical) are requested and encouraged.

We have an alignment of the stars above Guelph when it comes to public transit.

1. This City council is one of the most transit friendly councils we have seen in a great many years.
2. Both the federal and provincial governments see public transit as a top priority.
3. The general population is beginning to see alternative transportation as one possible solution to the problem of global warming
4. The City of Guelph has reached a critical point where old transit solutions are not serving the needs of our community.

It was under these conditions that the transit ad-hoc committee was formed “To provide input on neighbourhood and community transit issues, improving system capacity, ridership growth, service quality and customer satisfaction” As an outspoken critic in support of improving our current transit services I was asked to chair the committee.

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Following an extensive public strategic planning process, City Council and staff engaged in a priority setting exercise to determine exactly where our efforts should be focused. Our top priorities are listed below

• Organics Facility
• Community Energy Plan
• Growth Management Plan
• 20 minute transit service
• York District Lands
• Downtown Action Plan
• Waste Management Plan
• Urban Forest Strategy
• City/County service agreements

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A number of years ago my father and I sat at the kitchen table deep in thought. We had come to an impasse with the design of a piece of equipment we were developing. For months we had tried different alternatives, each one falling short of achieving our objective.

And so we sat there, staring at our prototype on the kitchen table.

My mother walked up and having no involvement in the project whatsoever took one look and said, “Why don’t you try….” and with that one naive comment she had solved the problem. I learned a very important lesson that day and it was perhaps because of that experience that I rejected a million-dollar proposal to solve our glass recycling system.

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I have received a number of emails regarding the rumors surrounding Guelph Hydro fueled in part by some of the misleading editorials written by outspoken critics of the current Guelph City Council.

Gerry Barker recently wrote one of most ludicrous, misleading and inflammatory editorials that I have ever read on the issue which was echoed again by David Birtwistle (who as a reasonably intelligent person probably knows better but thought he would stir the pot anyways) a few weeks later.

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I recently attended the Making Cities Liveable conference in Portland. When I arrived at the airport I had a choice between a $40 + cab fare to my downtown hotel or taking the light rail rapid transit which conveniently stopped right in the airport terminal.  My direct commute to downtown Portland took only minutes, brought me to within one block of my hotel and cost me less than five bucks. For the rest of my stay I took transit anywhere I wanted to go in the downtown absolutely FREE, no charge, zero dollars…nothing.

City of Portland is one of the most progressive urban environments in North America. The entire city is serviced by a system of light rail and transit so effectively that there is a noticeable absence of cars in the downtown core. With a population of just over 500 thousand people in the City of Portland the question on everyone’s mind was, “How can they afford this”

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Transit Services recently announced the need to change from our existing 30 minute service during peak times to a 40 minute service. The change is more an admittance of the reality of our current situation rather than a policy change, nevertheless it appears that at the very point when the most people need public transit we are not able to accommodate them very effectively.

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The public has until August 13 to comment on the application by River Valley Developments Inc. to change a licence condition that would allow it to extract twice as much limestone from the former Guelph Dolime site west of the Hanlon Expressway.

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A quick look at the date of my last blog entry shows that it has been almost a whole month since the last time I have added commentary to this site.

It’s not that I haven’t had a number of really great topics to write about; because there have been many interesting and provocative issues that have come up over the last few weeks…so why have I not posted more.

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Going door to door during my campaign in November I heard stories from people who were absolutely impressed with the service they received from City staff. I recently received yet another report of a job well done by our city staff.

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At the May 21 council meeting, councillors unanimously supported a very simple request with profound implications.

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During my recent live-to-air interview on Rogers Television’s “Politically Speaking” with Tim Mau, a caller inquired about the recent hire of an event co-ordinator to assist the Mayor, mentioned in the papers as a “Public Relations Consultant for the Office of the Mayor.”

I did not have a full and complete answer during the interview but promised to find out the details and post the answer on this site.

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As many of you will recall, one of the primary issues in the recent municipal campaign, and indeed some of the strongest promises made by those elected to City Council this time around was… a return to professionalism at City Hall.

We had all grown really tired of the dysfunctional behaviour around the horseshoe; the bickering, attitudes, egos, block voting… the list went on and on. Some of us were so distressed by what we saw that we threw our hat in the ring and ran for office!

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I recently recieved an email from a concerned citizen who wrote:

As a homeowner and taxpayer in your Ward, I feel strongly that the regulation of pesticides should remain the jurisdiction of the Federal and Provincial governments, and that it has no place on the municipal agenda. In my opinion, the City of Guelph has spent an inordinate amount of taxpayers money and Staff’s time in addressing this issue over the last number of years. Please leave pesticide regulation in the hands of the scientists at Health Canada, who have the expertise and the resources to regulate this issue from a scientific and not an emotional perspective.

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The Ministry of Transportation announced this week that it is moving forward with plans to build a new, four-lane highway between Kitchener and Guelph to reduce traffic congestion, improve safety and accommodate growth.

Ironically, while the Ontario government committed to supporting improved transit system to run through the urban cores of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo… the more than 21,000 commuters who travel daily between Kitchener and Guelph will be encouraged to drive their cars.

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In 2005 City Council amended the zoning bylaw to define body rub parlours as a specific land use, then proceeded not to include this new zone within the master plan for our city.

The council of that day naively thought that this would keep our city free from this type of business; however a recent newspaper article indicated that we now have eight body rub parlours in town… about the same number of Tim Horton’s outlets.

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The Guelph Development Priorities Plan (DPP) provides a multi-year forecast of development activity and is used to manage growth in a balanced and sustainable manner.

At the inaugural meeting of the Community Development and Environmental Services Committee, I brought forward a resolution referring the DPP back to city staff. ‘to report back in March with possible strategies to curb sprawl’ within this year’s development priorities plan.

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This Friday my ward mate Gloria Kovach announced her intention to run in the next Federal election.

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Agenda will be posted at http://guelph.ca/cityhall.cfm?subCatID=861&smocid=1447 in advance of the meeting.

Watch the meeting online at http://www.rogerstelevision.com/guelphcitycouncil

7:00 p.m. – Council Chambers

Agenda will be posted at http://guelph.ca/cityhall.cfm?subCatID=861&smocid=1447 in advance of the meeting.

Watch the meeting online at http://www.rogerstelevision.com/guelphcitycouncil

7:00 p.m. – Council Chambers

Guelph City council passed the city’s 2007 operating and capital budget on Tuesday evening and approved a 4.3% increase over last year’s budget. The increase is equivalent to an $88 increase on property tax bills for households with a $200,000 assessment.

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