KPaul
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Proposed new transit/fleet facility getting major downsizing
GuelphToday
33Building new transit admin facilities at any cost ($170 Mil is still a BIG number) without improvements in rider service is not a good look at all for Council - especially when Transit has deferred a public washroom at Central Station until 2029!
- KPaul
Enhanced, expedited downtown improvements get initial council approval
GuelphToday 27Lots of budget room for this: defer the new transit admin building = $200 Mil. Guelph Transit needs to focus on service improvements rather than fancy new admin facilities.
- KPaul
Construction for new city transit and fleet facility has begun
GuelphToday 19It wasn't a good idea in 2024 at $170 mil, and certainly not today at $200 mil...From 2024:"Building new transit admin facilities at any cost ($170 Mil is still a BIG number) without improvements in rider service is not a good look at all for Council - especially when Transit has deferred a public washroom at Central Station until 2029!"
6- KPaul
OPINION: Council readies its most disgusting attack on the homeless yet
GuelphToday 20It's hard to imagine the downtown being a tourist draw, with no upscale tourist-oriented hotels within even a moderate walking distance. If Cam and Council see tourism as an engine of downtown revitalization, then we need:- at least 1 more upscale hotel very near/ in the core, and City incentives for B&B/guesthouse conversions- Council to develop a plan for some pedestrian-only streets, with Quebec St a good startDowntown Guelph may have been quaint at one time, but the bloom is off the rose now without a major rethink by Cam and Co..
1- KPaul
No to notwithstanding clause, says small group of Ontario councillors
GuelphToday 14I applaud these councillors' efforts to reel back a bad decision, promoted by Ford to bury the homelessness issue.The notwithstanding clause was intended for "unusual" situations. Homelessness has been a "usual" situation for decades, and using this clause is just lazy governance.Cam, just roll your sleeves up and let's get homelessness solved, not hidden from sight in some isolated corner of Guelph, without sufficient human supports.
6- KPaul
POLL: 81% of readers would be fine with weekly mail delivery
5Wouldn't work for me. I get time-sensitive mail from the U.S. that requires prompt response.The Can/U.S. border delays plus weekly deliveries in Canada would be make my response time very tight.We need to be mindful of other countries' delivery schedules when tweaking ours.
15- KPaul
‘Bring it on’: Council praises 24-storey student housing proposal
GuelphToday 6"let's not let a lack of parking get in the way of building housing downtown. We don't want or need more cars downtown."Eliminating the need for parking spots in downtown residential property developments only worsens congestion., It forces parking demand onto downtown streets including nearby residential neighbourhoods. And Guelph Transit isn't the answer: the system's hub-and-spoke network doesn't move people nearly well enough to cause them to give up owning a vehicle.
14- KPaul
Ontarians to begin receiving $200 'taxpayer rebate' cheques
GuelphToday 14"wasn't bankrupt or incarcerated in 2024"Wha??Why deny these folks the funds? The former certainly need it, and the latter are already being punished...why add to their sentence? They're legally entitled to vote from jail, so how is this denial justified? They're still Ontario citizens.My bribe is charity-bound, too.
5- KPaul
OPINION: Council readies its most disgusting attack on the homeless yet
GuelphToday 18To Council and the Mayor: 1. Let's see the Health and Housing Symposium report before planning anything.2. If that report doesn't provide you with guidance, then ask the social services agency experts for help.
- KPaul
Transit-only lanes, more roundabouts and more may be coming to Guelph
GuelphToday 18Another suggested Vision Zero action item: change Ontario regulations to add roundabouts to driver training courses and driver testing.
- KPaul
The State of the City? More like The Sound and the Fury
GuelphToday 17Surrender public parks for housing? Never!Spoiling our parkland with housing to get Ford's big fat cheque is a really bad idea.
1- KPaul
Region sees sharp increase in homelessness in first quarter: report
GuelphToday 14More stats, worsening conditions, same aspirations. Let's have less monitoring and analysis, and more action. A doubling of homeless persons by 2025 over 2017 levels is shocking.
4- KPaul
Despite planned new facility, Guelph Transit parking lot expansion coming
GuelphToday 17My $$$$ priorities for transit - and Council -, waaay before forking out $201M for new accommodations:1. a public washroom at Central Station for seniors and young families with infants2. improve the service3. address the housing crisis in Guelph
1- KPaul
Holiday Inn coming back to Guelph with new six-storey hotel
GuelphToday 14Too bad the Baker St. library complex didn't include a hotel on the upper stories. Guelph needs a downtown hotel and a pedestrian-only street plan (at minimum: Quebec St) to attract tourist revenue and revitalize the core.
1- KPaul
Mayors call on province and feds to ‘Solve the Crisis’
GuelphToday 14"Alongside the Ontario chair of the Canadian Mental Health Association and CEO of the Ontario BIA Association, OBCM wants the province to strike a task force including healthcare workers and first responders as well as representatives from municipalities, community services and the business community to create an action plan."No.No. No!Enough with task forces and action plans! We know the problem. Do something. Evaluate it. Revise it. Wash, rinse, repeat.Beware the old adage: Perfect is the enemy of good. Waiting for a perfect plan is futile.Let's get on with it. Winter is around the corner.
1- KPaul
Two more Guelph councillors sign opposition to use of notwithstanding clause
GuelphToday 11Nic k: "one is elected and accountable". Huh? How can a Council be held accountable if it invokes the Notwithstanding clause? It preempts legitimate legal challenges to Councils' actions regarding the unhoused.
3- KPaul
The State of the City? More like The Sound and the Fury
GuelphToday 11"a preponderance of studies that show it does not."Nope. Worldwide evidence supporting safe consumption facilities was considered by the Supreme Court of Canada in their decision supporting BC's Insite facility, and other sites that might open up in other provinces:"On September 29, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled to allow a safer supervised consumption facility (SCF) to remain open under a section 56 exemption of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. 3 The decision has lent additional legitimacy to SCFs as a necessary health care service that is part of a comprehensive and holistic drug and addiction strategy."https://shorturl.at/WubWA
3- KPaul
Guelph city council to advocate for CTS to remain open
GuelphToday 9Worldwide evidence supporting safe consumption facilities was considered by the Supreme Court of Canada in their decision supporting BC's Insite facility, and other sites that might open up in other provinces:"On September 29, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled to allow a safer supervised consumption facility (SCF) to remain open under a section 56 exemption of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. 3 The decision has lent additional legitimacy to SCFs as a necessary health care service that is part of a comprehensive and holistic drug and addiction strategy."https://shorturl.at/WubWACTS is not the whole answer, but a critical part of it.
4- KPaul
Draft city budget defers $1.1 billion in ‘low priority’ projects
GuelphToday 11Agree with Doug G on transit. The City is still going ahead with new admin and fleet facilities - though scaled back to "just" $172 mil - and has neglected the sorry state of transit service, including deferring AGAIN a public washroom at Central Station. I'm tired of watching transit staff using their private key entry washroom, which seniors and young families tough it out - or, more likely, give up on transit altogether.
2- KPaul
City Hall open as overnight warming centre this week
GuelphToday 12Great! I hope this can be a regular resource on any winter night!
1- KPaul
