Location, location, location. Let's look at these decisions as choices between which community spaces to invest in, then work backwards. The property the Moose rink sits on is a good example. We have been skating together here for almost a hundred years.
There is a fine line between living in the past and learning from it. But the conversation about some of our aging recreation facilities is strikingly similar to the Arena debate. Let's look at how our greatest public building, Co-op Place, is doing six years in.
There is a straightforward way to increase transparency at city hall—stream city committee meetings to Facebook Live, YouTube, and Twitter. Transparency isn’t only about the number of agenda items in the open portion of committee meetings. It’s also about making attendance accessible.
Rotating committee assignments would strengthen councillors by giving them a broader perspective of City Hall. It would also help develop better mayoral candidates, as those with broad council experience are in the best position to step in as new mayors. Leaders are created, not born.
City council needs help. Paying library board and police commission members would strengthen those boards and acknowledge the power of these independent boards. Serving on these boards develops the same types of skills required for serving on city council. We need be intentional about developing strong council candidates. Leaders are created, not born.
City council needs help. The unresponsiveness of city council is due to the concentration of decision making power. This causes a bottleneck. Divesting some decisions to the neighbourhood level would alleviate some of this burden. It helps everyone and engages more people in politics. But we need a neighbourhood proof-of-concept first. This is a big thing I'll be working on off council, starting in my own backyard—the SE Hill.
In 2001, three friends and I paddled the Mackenzie river to the Arctic Ocean. I've never written about the trip. Twenty years later seems like a good time to do so.
You want to tackle climate change head on? You want to create a sustainable, competitive environment for small business? Say it with me—municipal tax reform!
Incumbents have a big advantage. I hope this helps level the playing field. Good competition makes everyone better. It's a great job and I hope people take the leap and decide to run for city council!
Most people don't live near downtown. Many have little reason to visit downtown. But there are good reasons why this neighbourhood deserves special attention.
It is the centre of local tourism, but also suffers from the highest rates of social disorder. It borders a beautiful river, but access is cut off by River Road. It has the most history of any neighbourhood, but many of the buildings are empty or derelict.
This is our oldest neighbourhood. The problems we see here will eventually play out in every neighbourhood. What we learn in helping downtown we'll be able to use to revitalize other areas.
The Harlow berm Phase 2A/B is one of the last projects from the previous council's ambitious flood protection strategy. I voted against Phase 2A/B because $2.2 million to protect 13 homes did not meet my standard for a reasonable cost to benefit ratio. The neighbourhood is also split over it because the flood protection comes at the expense of the trees bordering private homes. Here are the issues.