Online Town Hall

This Editorial appeared in today’s Mercury – inspired in part by a comment I made on the Mercury political blog 59 Carden Street (reprinted at the bottom of this post)

Guelph is often referred to as The Royal City.

It could at least as fairly be nicknamed The Activist City. There’s a long tradition of such in the city. Broaden your interpretation of the term if necessary and then embrace some of the history of local activism – if you’re off-put by some recent tactics and actors associated with the label.

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There has been a tremendous outpouring of support for the victims of the disaster in Haiti

Below is a list of the local events / initiative in our community where you can lend your support.

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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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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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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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It was so nice to get this email I just wanted to share it with you.

Mr. Salisbury,

I want to thank you for your help with my request for assistance in recognizing our Novice girls fastball team representing Guelph at the Quebec nationals.

I have heard from the Mayor’s office today and have they have offered assistance.

I was pleasantly surprised with your calls today and the efforts you took upon yourself which resulted in quick involvement of the Mayor’s office.

This is the second time I have sought you out, and in both instances your help was invaluable.

Once again, thank you.

Regards,
Robb Graham 

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 hear it at the beginning of every council meeting. “Are there any statements of a pecuniary interest?” But how many people really know the significance of this simple question?

The prime responsibility of elected officials is to act in the public interest. If a Council member has a pecuniary interest, it is possible that they will be influenced by it when contributing to debate, voting or performing other duties as a member of Council. Potentially a councillor could act to promote their own private interests, rather than the public good. Not only is this unethical…it is illegal.

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At some point we need to talk about what to do to make things better. Today is not the day for that. Today I want to talk about Dawn Ling.

I knew the Lings… not well enough to know them by name, but if you live in the West end of Guelph you know the Lings as well. He is tall and slim, she was shorter and slower; together they walked everywhere and everywhere they walked together.

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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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City Council received an inspiring delegation at last night’s council meeting by the local chapter of Students Working against Tobacco (SWAT). Young people from across the city filled over half the gallery during the highly professional presentation outlining the group’s anti-tobacco initiatives and outreach.

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Some constituents have expressed concerns that the proposed ban on pesticides will undermine the hard work and pride they have put into their property.

As a home gardener and a professional landscape architect (who has nothing against a beautifully manicured lawn) I understand these concerns, however, allow me to explore the opportunities…

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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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City councillors recently received an anonymous email from a resident suggesting that one or two “women from the University” call all the shots at City Council. In addition to being an absolutely absurd proposition, the email was inflammatory and condescending in nature, nevertheless, I believe that it is incumbent upon councillors to be responsive to the electorate.

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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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