There are 145,000 stories in the Royal City, and this is some of them. Looking at a week’s worth of media releases from the Guelph Police Service, there’s a lot going on in our little city crime-wise speaking, so let’s run down some of the charges, issues, and requests for information from the Guelph Police Service over the last seven days. Continue reading “POLICE NOTES: Voyeurism, Break-In Bust and Goose-Related Motorcycle Mishap”
This month’s meeting of the Grand River Conservation Authority’s membership was focused on customer service. Staff presented one report about why there’s no rock climbing in the ironically located Rockwood Conservation Area, and then there was more information about why capacity limits exist at the Elora Quarry Conservation Area. That was the big business, but there was other business for us to recap… Continue reading “RECAP: GRCA Board Hears About Rock Climbing and Quarry Capacity”
We’ve got one more month of meetings before the start of the annual summer break, and it’s going to be a pretty busy month. To kick off July, city council will be looking to the future a new strategic plan, a new e-scooter bylaw, new performance goals for paramedics, and a permanent version of the seasonal patio program. And before all that, council will have a brief in-camera talk about other business. Continue reading “Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the July 5 Meeting?”
The second Committee of Adjustment meeting for June had only one thing on the agenda as opposed to the lengthy, and controversial, agenda at the meeting earlier this month. Maybe they thought this was going to be the controversial one. It wasn’t though because the one application before the committee more or less sailed though in a relative brief meeting that was over in less than 30 minutes! Continue reading “RECAP: Committee of Adjustment Swiftly Approves U of G Plan for Days Inn”
As you may have heard, there’s a byelection in Toronto on Monday to choose their next mayor. As you can imagine, this is a massive undertaking when you have four years to plan for it, but in the case of this byelection, the Toronto clerks office had to do it four months. But they do have help from colleagues in other municipalities, including Guelph! Several members of our local clerks office will be taking part in the election on Monday. Continue reading “Guelph Clerks Called in to Assist Toronto with Mayoral Byelection”
Last Friday, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark announced that so-called Strong Mayor powers were being extended to 26 of Ontario’s biggest cities, including Guelph. The move was not shocking, and going back to the original announcement last summer, it had indeed been promised, but it was kind of surprising that Guelph’s mayor was there, on stage with the minister, for the announcement. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #378 – Strong Mayors Podcast”
The June meeting of the Accessibility Advisory Committee was mostly about getting around. The AAC was asked for their opinion about parking in the downtown, the future of complete streets, the needs of mobility transit, the quality of bus shelters and accessible alternatives to Uber and other ride shares. If that wasn’t enough, the committee also revisited the Parks and Rec Master Plan in what’s again a very packed agenda! Continue reading “RECAP: Accessibility Committee Looks at Transportation and Parks Planning”
After 20 years of fits and starts, approvals and renegings, several different proposals and at least three business cases, the ground was finally broken for the new main library project, which is at the heart of the Baker District Redevelopment. On the recently cleared ground of what was once the Baker Street parking lot, councillors, City senior leadership, and library board and staff members stuck their ceremonial shovels in the ground to start the project. For real. Continue reading “Pigs Fly! Ground is Finally Broken on New Main Library (and the Rest of the Baker Project)”
If it was hard for the Guelph Public Library Board of Directors to get through their meeting on Monday night, it would have surely been because they were almost 12 hours away from the groundbreaking for the new library building (and the rest of the Baker District Redevelopment). The business was done just the same though as the board looked at the mid-year report, reviewed the 2022 financials, and more. Continue reading “RECAP: Library Board Takes Care of Business Before Groundbreaking”
This was a busy week at city council and it was four meetings long. There was the usual planning meeting, which went by in a way that was largely free of controversy. Less than 24 hours later, council got together again for a triple header, first to receive the audited financial statements from the last fiscal year, and then back-to-back shareholder meetings about energy and trains respectively. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Planning and Shareholding in Four Parts”
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