OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
17The downtown is for Drug Addicts , crime, filth and grafitti... but that's just the opinion of a life long resident of Guelph that pays taxes and obeys the laws. The past few city councils have voted in a bloc and now we have a king for a mayor . Unless people wake up and vote these people out, there will be more to come
22- littlebill
Sunday storm causes flooding, power outages in Guelph
30Just want to thank the city staff and hydro that have to get out and do all of this . Their dedication to 24/7 care of our roadways, sidewalks, catch basins etc is essential.Much appreciated!
1- Lorraine Pagnan
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
20Strangely--but predictably--littlebill, you skipped any plausible suggestions for how to do it better, opting instead for the usual Hellscape take on a Downtown I'd bet you rarely visit.
9- Splurfy
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
10A play area for whom? What are the insurance ramifications when kids get hurt and the city has lawsuits? Shake your heads council and staff !!!
18- John Steele
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
24I would like to answer several of the otems mentioned in this article.1) DOWNTOWN PUBLIC WASHROOM -I have been very vocal on this point. If there is ever going to be a public washroom funded by taxpayers; it should be located where it is most needed - the Guelph Central Station.Thousands pass through there on a daily basis; whether from across town or by traveling to other cities.It is closer proximity to the major bar/restaurant traffic during the evenings; and the dozen or so homeless that walk the route by it later at night.2) CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND -Better located where children are already found; either City Hall by the slashpad, or at the new library.3) DAY TIME SHELTER -Unfortunately Council moved this behind doors; so we cannot see full transparency on the strategy to eventually move this to 23 Gordon; and try and handcuff the Royal City Mission.I hope RCM continues to serve the local community. They have both the volunteers and support from many.
4- Alec Purves
Sunday storm causes flooding, power outages in Guelph
8Bikers we did it ! We got the bike lanes plowed /s
19- Kb1
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
25I love the idea of installing the Robert Munsch/Paper Bag Princess in proximity to the new library! It makes much more sense than sticking it in the square.
1- yogagirl
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
19To your point, we shouldn’t have parks then?
5- GuelphGirl
Sunday storm causes flooding, power outages in Guelph
8Too bad you couldn't have cleared all the way to the curb. Maybe we should have a canoe lane too 🤔
13- 1SPOOK
Local school boards adapt to multilingual student population, where over 70 languages are spoken
15Ya, this is something I've noticed in Jordan, Vietnam, China, Croatia, Poland, Italy, France, Spain, Montenegro, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Portugal, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Cuba, Panama, Mexico, Honduras, Philippines....their schools assimilate. What a mess.
3- B Be
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
15"They’re actively making a point about what kind of person they want downtown. Are we surprised? No."That's quite the strawman you've built to rail against. Our society has a moral obligation to care for the least among us, IMHO. But also IMHO, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The data indicates that the homeless are a tiny fraction of Guelph's populace, and we MUST do whatever it takes to support them but not at the expense of the vast majority of the population. St. George's Square belongs to all of us, not just the Homeless few, and should be made to serve the needs of the many.
2- Royal City Rabble Rouser
Local school boards adapt to multilingual student population, where over 70 languages are spoken
13Two official languages. That's enough. Focus on teaching all Ontario children those two languages with the highest proficiency possible. Their native languages can be taught to them at home. We need to be bringing our citizens together.
4- Mervyn White
Local school boards adapt to multilingual student population, where over 70 languages are spoken
5When I was in high school in the long forgotten years around the turn of the millennium, I took classes in four different languages, and I learned a lot. (Thinking of the phenomenal Ken Oldridge and his Latin courses at JF Ross Right now.) We've always had room for more than two languages at the high school level.But actually, this isn't that. This is using modern technology to make sure kids don't fall behind in math because they don't speak English well yet. While also making sure they get ESL supports.Unfortunately as soon as a news article so much as mentions that immigration exists, a certain kind of gremlin crawls out from under their bridge to rave unintelligibly about their bad assumptions..
12- Matt Saunders
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
13You left out the part that downtown businesses pay higher property tax and must additionally fund the downtown levy to help build commerce... Framing commerce as something being imposed on the city rather than something that materially sustains it .... well... you can argue for permanent washrooms without turning busines viability into a strawman.... NOW, with that said... I would agree that we're on a dangeorus path where public-space redesign is asked to compensate for weak social service policy, and the downtown core will pay the price - heavily... Portland's a great example of that failure... larger scale than guelph... but cautionary tale for sure!! There are cities that do fund inclusion AND commerce in parallel.... they don't pretend one must come at the expense of the other...
3- Adam Cloet
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
6Playground: I actually like the idea of this in the square. I often times bring children downtown and I like the thought of grabbing a drink/snack at Capistrano, having a seat and watching the children play on the playground 🙂
9- GuelphGirl
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
12I’m confused by the point of this article. You want a bathroom, playground and homeless shelter in the revamped Downtown? And the evil downtown business association is stopping that? What’s the point of the drivel man? Christ, go hit the freshly plowed bike lanes for a ride.
2- RK Ross
Unions representing laid off Conestoga College staff demand province intervene
10The provincial government intervened long ago by encouraging colleges to pay their way with international student fees. The issue was masked then and it still is now — colleges and universities have been underfunded in Ontario for a long time.
3- Worthington
Local school boards adapt to multilingual student population, where over 70 languages are spoken
9Immigration? Actually, legally we have two official languages. Most Ontarians can't speak French in an even passable manner. Shouldn't we be putting all our energy and resources in those two languages? As for immigration, it should be obvious to anyone coming to this country that we have two official languages, and their children should be focusing on those languages.
4- Mervyn White
Fusion looks to extend agricultural use on GID lands
12Not mentioned in this article (or in the linked article): agricultural lands are taxed at a lower rate than every other kind except for natural heritage lands. What was the classification of these lands prior to the variance? How much tax revenue is Ontario forgoing?And who reaps the profit of the cash crops?
- Tango Golf
OPINION: Downtown Guelph is ready for Instagram, but not for people
3What exactly is keeping you away from Downtown? Have you any personal experience to share? Do you ever go there or is this just another fact-free, foaming-at-the mouth outburst?
9- Splurfy
