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I took this panoramic photo using the Pano app on my iPhone after our monthly public meeting of council, December 14th, 2009. It is stitched together from four separate photographs.

In the doorway on the left is reporter Steve MacDougall interviewing Councillor Mitch Tweel (unseen). Mayor Clifford Lee is the blurry man-on-the-move in the center. To the right of the Mayor is CBC reporter Brendan Elliot, and at the back is Beth Johnston, Communications Officer for the city. Click the photo for a larger view.

Our monthly public meetings of Council are streamed live over the internet and archived for later viewing. This is, in theory, an excellent way to review a meeting when I need to recall the details of a particular discussion that took place because the video is often posted long before written transcripts are available.

In practice, the videos are almost useless. Every time I’ve tried to view one the video and sound are so garbled and constantly re-buffering I just give up. The technology is ancient in technology years. With all the video sharing services available these days there must be a better way to stream, record and archive these meetings. If there are any internet video connoisseurs out there that can recommend a better, simpler, cheaper solution I’d love to hear from you.

Here’s something to help you ponder this problem.

Members of the downtown business community recently asked for a meeting with City Council to discuss the future of the Festival of Lights. The meeting took place last Tuesday evening with about 60 to 70 business operators attending, as well as representatives from Tourism Charlottetown Inc., the agency that produces the festival. Council heard one passionate plea after another, asking us not to tinker with the festival formula. Most of those in attendance are hotel/motel/bar/restaurant operators, with some retailers, and a few service companies. Everyone spoke about the importance of the festival to their business, some going so far as to claim without the festival they would seize to exist. Problems were recognized, but we were urged to deal with them rather than doing the unthinkable such as moving the festival out of the downtown core, or heaven forbid, ending it altogether. I sensed a real fear that council was about to do something drastic.

TCI presented a bulleted list of “solutions” that are intended to reduce the kinds of problems that are re-occurring each year. Number one on that list is to “aggressively advance” the development of a new venue for the festival concerts in the downtown, namely the old Imperial Oil tank farm land at the base of the Hillsborough Bridge (“This location satifies the needs of the business community while moving the festival further away from residents”).  Other items dealt with security, transportation, garbage clean up, and alcohol. It was proposed that no alcohol be served on the concert grounds on Canada Day.

Next Tuesday, July 22nd at 7:30pm Council will meet with downtown residents at City Hall about this issue. The meeting was requested by specific residents, but it is a public forum closed meeting* and I believe the word has travelled quickly through the downtown neighbourhoods. I expect another large crowd — perhaps larger than council chambers can comfortably handle — and I’m certain we will hear drastically different opinions about the festival than we did this week.

*UPDATE (July 21st): Just received word from City Hall that this is a closed meeting.

I was able to get my hands on an electronic copy of the this month’s resolutions, on top of the hard copy I always receive, so it was much easier to post them here this time around. It’s a very light agenda since December is not a busy month at City Hall.

Council will consider the following resolutions at our monthly public meeting on Monday, January 14th at 7pm (City Hall).
Finance, Audit & Tendering

RESOLVED: That the Planning/Heritage/Arts & Culture Committee be permitted to transfer $14,637 as per the attached documentation, within the Arts & Culture 2007 Budget. This transfer represents no overall increase in the 2007 City Budget.

Planning/Heritage & Arts/Culture

RESOLVED: That the request for a variance to the front yard setback from the average 75.3 feet to approximately 237.5 feet to permit the construction of a new office/commercial building at 5 Lower Malpeque Road (PID# 387472) be approved.

RESOLVED: That the request for a variance to the rear yard setback from the required 19.7 feet to approximately 14.8 feet to permit the construction of a porch addition to the existing house at 12-14 Dorchester Street (PID#s 336651 & 1006758) be approved.

RESOLVED: That the Final Architectural Plans submitted for the proposed condominium project to be located at 1 Hillsborough Street (PID# 725796) be approved.

Parks, Recreation & Leisure Activities

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application for the 2008 Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to fund the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #7:

Winsloe West Royalty Soccer Clubhouse: $180,000

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application for the 2009 Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to fund the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #9:

Parkman Soccer Complex Third Field: $185,000

Public Works, Public Property & Street Lighting

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application to the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to approve the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #5:

Storm Piping & Sidewalk Upgrades: $600,000 (2008), $300,000 (2009)

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application to the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to approve the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #6:

University Ave Traffic Flow Improvements: $200,000 (2008), $600,000 (2009)

Water/Sewer Utility & Environment

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application for the 2009 Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to fund the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #8:

MacRae Drive and Livingston Road Water Infilling: $400,000

Tyler Richardson, an organizer for the 2009 Canada Summer Games, presented options at a public meeting on October 5th for adding two additional tennis courts in Victoria Park in order to achieve the minimum eight required for the Games’ tennis venue. In the end, both options as presented were fairly universally rejected — for various reasons — by the crowd in attendance. A commitment was made to go back to the drawing board and consider some of the many good suggestions that were made. Thanks to Nigel Armstrong from the Guardian for capturing the event on video.

Pursuant to the pertinent sections of the Victoria Park Bylaw, a Public Meeting will be held to hear a presentation by the Host Society for the 2009 Canada Games for the use of Victoria Park for the hosting of one or more events. The presentation will include an overview of renovations to the Memorial Field as well as a proposal to expand the existing tennis courts.

WHEN: Thursday, October 4th, 7:00pm
WHERE: Rodd Charlottetown Hotel

I think there will be a good turnout for this meeting. The more the merrier!

There will be a public meeting in the Grafton room at the Charlottetown Hotel, Tuesday December 5th at 7:00 pm to hear comments about a proposal to rezone the property at 42 Ambrose Street from R1S to R2, which permits duplexes and semidetached dwellings.

Currently, all of Ambrose street is zoned R1S, with the exception of 2 properties that border on cross streets, namely the condo at Green Street, and the large brick house/apartment at Brighton Road.

UPDATE: The planning department has received a formal withdrawal of the application to rezone this property. This item will not be on the agenda for the public meeting tonight; however, the meeting is still scheduled to discuss the APM plan for townhouses on Water Street.