I am pleased to announce the City’s bargaining committee met yesterday with representatives from CUPE Local 501 (Waste Water Treatment Plant) and reached an agreement that will end the strike. Both the union and City Council ratified the agreement last night and a joint press release will be issued today. The Plant workers will be back on the job tomorrow.
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If you were judging solely on the apparent demand for new high-end condominiums in the Charlottetown area, you would hardly know the world is in the grips of a financial crisis, a severe downturn in real estate markets, with economic recession on the horizon. Last week a developer announced plans for several 8-story glass and concrete luxury condo towers in Stratford, while almost simultaneously Charlottetown’s Planning Board was hearing from another developer who wants to build similarly highfalutin condos directly north across the harbour, behind Founders Hall. In fact, although they are different developers, both projects were designed by the same architect.
This area of the Charlottetown waterfront is a Comprehensive Development Area, or a special planning area, and because this new proposal is significantly different from the spa/hotel/condo plan that was originally approved for that site more than two years ago, the approval process must start again from the beginning.
Tomorrow night at council’s monthly public meeting we will vote to “…proceed to the public consultation phase to consider an amendment to the Waterfront Development Concept Plan…”.
Assuming this resolution passes, a public meeting on the new condo proposal will be scheduled sometime before Christmas, I would think. The developer has indicated he would like to get started on some of the early prep work this winter.
UPDATE: The public meeting is scheduled for November 26th, 7:00pm, at the Rodd Charlottetown Hotel (Georgian Room).
I’m hopeful an agreement can be reached soon with CUPE Local 501 (Wastewater Treatment Plant). In the meantime, as they continue to strike, the union has obviously employed some type of email robot to facilitate the sending of a form letter to the Mayor and Council. I’ve been receiving them at a brisk and steady pace since yesterday, and they appear to be coming from CUPE members and supporters from as far away as Ontario, and even Ireland, strangely.
Many of the correspondents have not bothered to alter the final sentence which reads:
As mentioned, Pick Your Councillor will also be notified of my concern.
Still, the point is well taken. The union is making a demonstration of their support, and it certainly is being noticed by me as my email inbox alarm continues to ring away. As a tactic, I’m not sure how effective this is but I do hope the union and the City’s bargaining committee come to an agreement sooner rather than later. About a week into this strike, I received a visit at my home by two members of the striking local. They were very cordial and presented me with some helpful information. More than three weeks into the strike now, it would be best for everyone concerned if we could find a resolution. But I’ve heard it said that a good compromise is an agreement where everyone involved is equally unsatisfied, something both sides will have to keep in mind.
I was just advised that over 800 UPEI students voted yesterday and two thirds were in favor of a Charlottetown Transit U-Pass being included in their tuition. Students rightly should be concerned about any increase in the tuition they pay, and certainly not all of them will use the service they are paying for, but the passes are being sold at a massive discount ($7.50 per month, as opposed to the regular $50 monthly rate for students).
This will help make the transit service more economically sustainable, and students without cars will also have a much wider range of apartment options, which is nice if you don’t want to live in residence or the rowdy student ghetto at Brown’s Court.
A couple of things I noticed while biking around downtown Charlottetown with my boys this evening. First, the Pownal Parkade is undergoing a small but important facelift. This parking garage is notoriously dark and dingy, and that is reflected in its generally poor occupancy. But CADC is using lots of white paint and brighter lights to create a more inviting atmosphere. I think the results are good.
A brighter, cleaner Pownal Parkade
Secondly, I was sad to see that Burke’s Gas Bar, operating from the old Irving station at Queen and Euston, has apparently closed shop. This has been for years my usual place to fill up. The pumps are gone and a sign directs customers to other Irving stations around town. I’ve heard this old building variously described around City Hall as a “disgrace”, and as an important heritage building. In fact, I believe it is a designated heritage resource.
Gas pumps gone.
It took a year — and a bit of prodding as recently as a few weeks ago — but I finally got what I wanted.
The signage is very clear but one thing is missing that everyone should keep in mind — speeding fines in school zones are now doubled. We requested provincial legislation to allow these new fines and I was very pleased when government passed it. This should probably be noted on the signs.
Drive safely tomorrow. Keep an eye out for our students. Ward 3 has a big student population with four or five schools either in the ward proper, or right on the boundary. On a personal note, my six-year old son starts grade one tomorrow. It’s going to be a big day!
I recently received a package in my mailbox at City Hall from the Church of Scientology International. It was addressed specifically to me. I’m not aware of any other councillors receiving the same package which makes me wonder, “why me?”. There’s a short note from President Heber Jentzsch outlining the virtues of Scientology and a DVD “with 80 broadcast-quality videos”.
Scientology DVD
I haven’t taken the wrapper off the DVD yet, but if Tom Cruise himself agrees to come to Charlottetown and make a movie I’ll… um, take the wrapper off. Actually, I plan to watch it out of shear sheer curiosity, but I’m not quite ready to sell my Thetan to Xenu just yet.
That title is a reference to my previous post about Benjamin Franklin’s observations on the tendency of “those who govern” to be reactive.
With that in mind I wanted to highlight an initiative of the Human Resources Committee, which I chair, that was not “forc’d by the occasion”, as Ben put it, but rather quite forward looking. Last year the HR committee decided to develop a strategic plan for the management of the City’s permanent employees. After a lot of hard work, the result is the City’s new Corporate HR Plan. The document is a road map for the City to be a leader in HR management. Attracting and retaining qualified employees is becoming very difficult in all employment sectors and we wanted to get a jump on the competition and start developing a more professional, competency-based work environment and a corporate culture that values employees. The plan deals with retirement and succession planning, recruitment, training, performance evaluations, communications and a raft of other issues. Ultimately, the goal is better service for the residents of Charlottetown.
This will be an ongoing process. Management is currently developing a work plan aligned with the HR plan’s recommendations, and some immediate actions are already underway. This whole process has the support of Council, senior staff and management and employees were engaged in the process all along. This is not a report that will sit on a shelf gathering dust. Although HR is a pretty mundane topic for most people, and not generally newsworthy, I think this was an important step for the City.
I read Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography a few months back, mostly because it was available for free as an ebook on my iPod. As one of “those who govern”, I found this little bit of wisdom interesting:
Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forc’d by the occasion.
It sounds like a more sophisticated way of stating what is now an old corporate-speak cliché: be proactive, not reactive.
Complaints about traffic violations and a perceived lack of police enforcement have always been high on the list of things residents bring to my attention. Tonight at our monthly public meeting of council, someone suggested we should be publishing on the city’s website the monthly report of statistics of police activity that all councillors receive. I expressed my support for this idea, and I will get the ball rolling here by posting one particular stat that stood out this month.
Highway Traffic Act tickets issued (year to date):
2007: a few short of 1400
2008: less than 700
Why the huge drop? Are there fewer speeders, red light runners, and stop sign-optional drivers? Or is enforcement simply down by half?
UPDATE: Answers here.
This Guardian editorial is at least the second news report I’ve seen that states incorrectly that the Idle Wheels property “has been rezoned”. It has not been rezoned. IRAC has ordered the City to rezone the property, but in its order, IRAC states, “there is insufficient evidence and argument at the present time to persuade the Commission that an automatic rezoning should follow in these circumstances.” In other words, it’s not rezoned until council rezones it.
I agree that residents should have been made aware of the appeal, but unfortunately most of council — including the councillor who represents the area — was not even aware of the appeal until the decision was reported in the media. Consequently, we could not notify residents of something we ourselves did not know. This also caused us to miss the window to appeal the decision, but we are pursuing other avenues because council feels it is not entirely appropriate for an appointed commission to be ordering elected officials to make planning decisions, particularly when the order clearly states “that the City did follow all the procedures required in its Bylaw.“
Canada Day is coming back to Victoria Park. All the complaints that traditional family-oriented celebrations have taken a back seat to other activities at the Festival of Lights have prompted City Council to revive this popular event. We are not intending to compete with the FoL, but the idea is to run a parallel, scaled-down alternative that will offer simple fun and entertainment for the whole family, a proper flag raising, singing of Oh Canada, and whatnot. That’s the gist of it for now. We have eleven months to plan exactly what will take place, but we’ve committed to the idea.
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.
The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission has ordered the City to overturn a decision last February to deny a rezoning application. The CBC reports that current occupants now fear forced removal from the property. The crux of the IRAC’s decision is a ‘Future Land Use’ map in the City’s official plan showing this property under the proposed zoning.
I won’t quibble with the decision, but it does remind Council that even as elected officials we don’t necessarily have the last word on planning decisions. IRAC did, however, make the order to rezone “subject to a development agreement” between the City and the developer which leaves some room for Council to deal with the concerns of residents in the area before a building permit is issued.
The City has received many complaints about the recent Festival of Lights from residents of downtown Charlottetown. I’ve heard others call these people “whiners”. I can tell you, these people have very legitimate complaints. I’ve heard some horrible stories about the things residents had to endure over the course of this event.
On the other hand, I’ve had members of the business community tell me how important and successful this festival is, and how we need to maintain it downtown.
In my opinion, something needs to change — either the demographic the concerts cater to, or the location of the concerts, or both. I recently spoke to a friend who played a leading role when the Festival of Lights was originally conceived. It was also his opinion that the festival had “gone off the rails”.
Certainly the people of Charlottetown and PEI are divided over what constitutes “success” where the Festival of Lights is concerned. But consider the email below, received by the Mayor, from a managing editor of a Southern California magazine who was here to write a travel article (the email is published with permission but name is withheld by request):
Dear Mayor Lee,
I was in Charlottetown during the recent Festival of Lights. This was my first visit to your city and to PEI. I was an assignment for [name withheld] Magazine, for which I serve as managing editor. I stayed at the Rodd Crowbush Golf & Beach Resort in Lakeside, Dalvay-by-the-Sea, and Hillhurst Inn, and have written a travel article for the magazine’s August issue.
I must admit I was quite dismayed by the crowd that was attracted to the Festival of Lights. I have traveled widely throughout the world, but I cannot remember encountering a ruder bunch of people than I did in Charlottetown. Anywhere I went in town, my ears were assaulted by young people using the “F” word with every breath. Moreover, young people called out to pedestrians as they drove by, making fun of how they looked or dressed and assaulting them with crude comments. Not only is this rude behavior in general, but I was very surprised that I encountered such poor manners in Canada. I have made perhaps 15 trips to your beautiful country over the years and have always been met by friendly, kind, generous, well-mannered citizens. The behavior I noted during the Festival of Lights was rather shocking.
I would suggest that you re-evaluate the way you celebrate Canada Day in Charlottetown. I am sure that the citizens are not so rude–Scott, Heidi, and Fiona at Hillhurst Inn are wonderful people–but you are attracting to your fair city people who just don’t know how to behave because of the musicians you are headlining during this weekend.
Best regards,
[name withheld]
Something needs to give. I’m not suggesting the Festival of Lights be scrapped, but in a province so heavily dependent on tourism — and in a world where everyone is a potential travel writer — we need to re-focus this festival to showcase the best of our community, not the worst.
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