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My response to today’s lead editorial in the Guardian, submitted as a letter to the editor:

A recent Guardian editorial (Community policing equals safer cities, August 12, 2009) discussed the elimination by the Charlottetown Police Services (CPS) of its Community Policing Officer position. As noted, this move was a recommendation in the Organizational Review & Evaluation of the CPS released earlier this year; however, this should not be understood as a retreat from community policing principles. Rather, the CPS is in the midst of reorganizing and developing a strategic plan that will put the task of community policing at the core of the CPS Mission: “As guardians of the Birthplace of Canada, the Charlottetown Police Services, working with the community, will provide high quality police services and maintain a safe and peaceful environment for residents and visitors.”

Responsibility for spearheading this mission will now reside with our newly appointed Deputy Chief, who has been tasked with oversight of Operations and Community Policing. This provides the advantage of having a senior ranking officer undertaking a larger leadership role, and helps to underscore our objective to have all members playing a role in community initiatives.

The strategic plan also defines our Vision, or why we are here: “To work in partnership with the community to enhance the quality of life through Crime Prevention, Enforcement and Education.” In addition, four of the eight CPS Core Values specifically address the community, and in the near future the mayor will be appointing members of a new Community Consultative Group that will help guide and validate the priorities of the CPS.

All of our considerable efforts over the past five months have been focused on aligning CPS operations with national policing trends and implementing a truly comprehensive philosophy of community policing, as articulated by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police this week in Charlottetown. The job of connecting with the community will not belong to any singular officer, but to the whole of the CPS.

We are on the right track. Council has committed to ensuring we have the best policing service in the country. We are renewing the CPS in ways that are already improving public confidence, and will pay dividends for the whole community well into the future. The commitment to the shared values of the CPS and the community at large is best exemplified by our new slogan: “Our City. Our Community. Our Responsibility.”

Councillor Rob Lantz
Chair, Police & Bylaw Enforcement Committee

Earlier this week a group of business operators pleaded with City Council to reconsider our decision to build a roundabout at the intersection of Allen Street and Mt. Edward Road. Notable for their absence was D.P. Murphy Inc, who have had their share of traffic problems at this intersection. I’ll take their absence as approval or at least acceptance.

Those present gave a list of concerns ranging from a perceived negative impact on their business (e.g. if drivers do not stop at a light, they will not notice the surrounding businesses), to pedestrian and vehicle safety, congestion, stacking, cost, and a simple lack of confidence that Islander drivers will ever figure out how to navigate a roundabout. Some who had sold small strips of land to the City to enable upgrades to the intersection felt misled because they understood the only option under consideration was a lighted intersection. As the Mayor stated very sincerely on the radio this morning there was certainly no intention to mislead. As this Guardian story from January makes clear (Charlottetown investigates roundabout for Mount Edward-Allen Street facelift), the roundabout option has been under consideration for many months.

Traffic engineers hired by the City gave what I felt were very convincing responses to most of the concerns. They have done their homework with regard to the roundabout option, including research, computer simulations, and careful design. We are taking their advice on this one. Do I worry that it will not work out as well as expected? Yes. Do I think this is the ideal intersection to build our first roundabout? Possibly it isn’t. But if it works well here, which I’m increasingly confident it will, it will bode well for converting some of our other lighted intersections to roundabouts in the future.

Modern roundabouts offer many benefits to lighted intersections (traffic flow, environmental, and yes… safety) and conversion to roundabouts is a growing trend in North America. I came across this article today called The rise of the modern roundabout.

Some notable quotes I felt were relevant to our local discussion:

“When construction started, there was quite an outpouring of concern,”

“It was something new, and people were nervous. But as they’ve gotten used to the roundabouts, they’ve realized the benefits. The traffic moves quicker and flows pretty freely; very rarely is there any type of stacking or backup.”

“The result was less congestion and fewer accidents, especially when compared with traffic signals, where drivers often accelerated to race through and avoid red lights.”

Another good article here: Roundabouts: reducing traffic frustration

Former Councillor and Chair of the Police & Bylaw Enforcement Committee, Bruce Garrity, sent me a copy of a letter he submitted to the Guardian in which he offers praise for the recent focus on traffic enforcement, but also some criticism on other matters. He asked me to reply to his comments on the police, but since he has already taken to the public forum, I thought it was appropriate (and fair) to respond publicly rather than by email.

Here is Mr. Garrity’s submission to the Guardian, printed in today’s edition.

I’ll respond to what he has deemed “Not Well Done” by me and the police.

1. In a recent interview I was asked about the cost of the Charlottetown Police Service’s new Downtown Depot and I “would not or could not” answer a question about the cost of this initiative. The reason is nobody knows the full cost yet, but as anyone can see in the City budget (section 8, page 2 of 2), we set aside $20,000 for the downtown office. I do know that we will pay approximately $4000 to lease the office space. The landlord, Dyne Holdings, very graciously paid for much of the fit-up costs on the office space, so it is unlikely we will spend the full amount we budgeted. I disagree with Mr. Garrity’s opinion that the Downtown Depot is “smoke and mirrors”. It was a recommendation (4d) in the Organizational Review of the CPS, and the official opening was well attended by both residents and business owners who are very grateful to have this new police presence in the downtown.
2. Mr. Garrity asks about photo radar. The City officially requested the enabling legislation to use photo radar approximately one year ago. The provincial government is actively working with their lawyers to draw up the legislation, and rewrite existing legislation that will be affected. To judge the police “not well done” on this issue is unfair. We cannot legally use photo radar at this time.
3. In Mr. Garrity’s opinion the Police Chief should be the spokesperson for the Charlottetown Police Service. While the Chief certainly needs to be a prominent and well recognized leader, the Organizational Review of the CPS recommended (4f) the following to help connect with the community:
   “…assign responsibility for media relations to the platoon sergeants, with the Chief and Deputy being available for major events or serious crimes.”

   “Mandate the duty patrol sergeant as the working level point of contact for media relations. Mandate the Inspector, Community Policing [i.e., the new Deputy Chief] as the focal point for all media and community relations.”

4. On the bicycle helmet issue, I will only say that the new awareness and enforcement initiative is a positive example of a collaborative effort between the police and community groups; in this case, the Atlantic Network for Injury Prevention and the Brain Injury Coalition of PEI. Mr. Garrity wants to “punish” the police for their omissions of the past. I prefer to look ahead and I congratulate the police for this new initiative.

All in all, things are looking good at the Charlottetown Police Service. The shortcomings identified in the Organizational Review are being addressed. We have acted on most of the recommendations in the report and we continue to move forward. I have been approached a number of times by City residents who have recognized the renewed efforts of the CPS. Have you taken notice of their improved presence? I have. I sense the public’s confidence in the CPS is improving, and I believe morale among the police themselves is improving. It’s all a result of the actions we’ve taken over the last number of months and the commitment and dedication of our police officers.

I say, well done!

This is a reminder that despite my post from eleven months ago (Get Out Your Picnic Blankets) Canada Day is NOT coming back to Victoria Park this year. Instead, Tourism Charlottetown and its Canada Day corporate sponsors are refocusing on fun, family-friendly activities from June 27th to July 1st. The City and Tourism Charlottetown agreed to this arrangement after a solid commitment from Lee Gauthier to get back to the festival’s roots of celebrating our country.

The Festival of Lights concert series does not begin until July 3rd. This means the concert stage and all the peripherals that go with it will not be erected until after Canada day. Should make for lots of room for everyone and an unimpeded view of the fireworks. [UPDATE July 1st - Contrary to what I was told months ago, the FoL main stage and fencing are already setup. I thought these were to be erected tomorrow.]

See you there!

From the Festival of Lights website:

June 27-July 1: Family Fun Days
Historic Charlottetown Waterfront will be transformed into fun for the whole family with all the Festival favourites returning: Atlantic Superstore Petting Zoo, Peakes Quay Strongman Competition, Children’s Village presented by Northumberland Ferries, buskers and a 10 hour FREE Concert for Canada presented by Century 21 Colonial Realty on July 1st. The Canada Day finale will be the largest musical fireworks extravaganza in Atlantic Canada, proudly sponsored by WestJet. NEW activities on the waterfront for the Atlantic Superstore Festival of Lights are: Rick Hansen Wheels In Motion, SportyKids Fitness, activities with the 2009 Canada Games Host Society, a Confederation Centre of the Arts Young Company performance, and Always on Stage live music entertainment, and more. All these activities are FREE for families to enjoy.

I submitted the following comment on Tim Banks’ blog. The comment is still awaiting moderation so I thought I better post it here also, for the record:

Tim… thanks for the kind words. There’s just one thing I’d like to clarify. When I ran for council I made a firm commitment to my employer that company time is company time. I wouldn’t want my boss to think I’m taking liberties, or my colleagues to get the impression I’m treated any differently. I am generally regarded as the councillor who is most difficult to schedule for meetings because I need to live up to that commitment I made. I can count on one hand the numbers of times that I’ve attended to city duties outside of my lunch hour, or before 4:30 [update: okay, maybe I'd need two hands]. I’ve occasionally used vacation time where necessary to avoid mixing company time with city time.
No comment on the rest of your post!
Thanks again,
Rob

Larry Beasley designs cities. Modern Vancouver is his baby and he is very well respected in his field. Last Monday night, almost two hundred people attended a lecture by Mr. Beasley at McDougall Hall on the UPEI campus. He was invited by the Friends of the Farm as a way to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Charlottetown Experimental Farm.

I was happy to see so many City staff people there, but also representatives of the business community, developers, and regular citizens. I think we all gained a better understanding and respect for the importance of good urban planning; how it affects our quality of life and drives economic development.

I recorded the lecture using my phone, and although the audio quality is perfectly acceptable and Mr. Beasley’s words speak powerfully enough themselves, the real advantage of actually being there was his photo essay that seemed to sync perfectly and effortlessly with his speech. Visuals of spectacular urban vistas, public spaces and residential developments — mostly from Vancouver but mixed with his own excellent perspectives on Charlottetown — flashed across the screen and seemed to be impossibly timed to emphasize his points.

You can download my recording here (mp3, 40 mb), or read Mr. Beasley’s lecture here (pdf).

Here are just a few memorable and relevant quotes, among many:

“Every city has to have a design. A city without a design does not know where it is going, does not know how to grow.”

“You cannot leave the design of these building to chance, or you can get some pretty unpleasant results. So we carefully regulate the designs…”

“Schools are actually being closed… these kind of counter-intuitive decisions are happening, that do not help you achieve a re-populated city”

“There are simply not enough young singles, or older empty nesters to create a vibrant city … and families are flooding back downtown [Vancouver] in record numbers … And there is a spinoff benefit that we discovered: If you design a city that works well for children, it seems to work well for everyone else.”

What was…

what is…

h/t Ruk

and what will be… The Grand Holman Hotel.

Click here for full view of south elevation.

Back in December, developer Paul Madden’s proposal for an 85,000 sq. ft. condominium and spa complex on the waterfront was rejected, mainly because the building exceeded the 36,000 sq. ft. allowed for in the Waterfront Comprehensive Development Area. Mr. Madden persevered with a cooperative approach and a lot of patience. After several design revisions Planning Board accepted the design below and Council approved it at last week’s monthly public meeting. This view is looking east from Lobster on the Wharf.

Here are alternate views from the Seaport wharf, and from the water. And here the site plan.

Received a call from a resident who is concerned with potential privacy issues due to the increasingly common practise of people picking through curbside bluebags looking for returnable beverage containers.

A front page story in the Guardian today requires a correction. Although I only read the online version, which was updated this morning after I spoke to the reporter, I can only assume the print edition repeats the same mistake: that the City will be paying police officers for off duty work performed for third-party clients. This work is known as Paid Duty, or Extra Duty. The story strongly implied that the cost of this work would be a new expense and that taxpayers would be subsidizing security for private businesses.

Not true. Members of the Charlottetown Police Service will continue to perform Extra Duty, but clients will be invoiced for the service and payment will be through the Police’s regular payroll. User pays — not the taxpayer. Big difference.

Continuing with the recent bird theme, today I received an inquiry from a resident about keeping egg-laying hens in the City. This is the second time in four months someone has asked me about this. A bit of quick research shows this is becoming a popular trend. A few examples:

• Urban Chickens addendum: Allowing Vancouverites to Raise Chickens Fact Sheet
• Waterloo Hen Association by-law proposal
• Urban Hen Movement

Currently, our by-laws severely limit the raising of any livestock within the City, but the trend away from factory farming and toward locally grown food is giving the laying hen hope for a better future as a food-producing urban pet.  What do you think? Would something like this “fly” here? Or would it be dead as a Dodo?

Best viewed with sound. It’s difficult to see because of the quality of the video, but many of the trees in the background and the surrounding area are also full of crows. Loud, squawking, pooping crows.