For the last few weeks, there’s been an air of anticipation that the City of Guelph might soon emerge from the state of emergency initiated in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Blame Omicron, but the end of the state of emergency has been indefinitely postponed as the City aims to “mobilize City resources as needed” in order to stay on top of this latest COVID-19 variant. Continue reading “In the Face of Omicron, Guelph Cancels the End of the State of Emergency”
Nearly one-year on from a seismic shift on equality and social justice felt in the year 2020, the demands for change were still heard loudly throughout 2021. From a very consequential decision made by the local school board, to a major break in the demand for Truth and Reconciliation with Indigenous people, to all the various humanitarian and equity issues in between, this was a very busy year on the social justice file. Let’s recap. Continue reading “Painting the Town Orange and Other Stories: 2022 in Social Justice”
It’s the last planning meeting of the year, and it should be a bit laid back. You can click here for the amended agendas from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for December 13, 2021”
A few days before Christmas, downtown at city hall, city council wrapped up the year, with one last Zoom call. Well, Cisco Webex to be precise. Before a much need holiday break, council will spend the last meeting of the year catching up on the business from Committee of the Whole and will consider a request from the Elliott Community. Merry Christmas, indeed! Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the December 20 Meeting?”
Let the last Committee of the Whole of 2021 commence! You can click here for the amended agendas from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: Committee of the Whole Meeting for December 6, 2021”
The Dolime Quarry land will become a part of the City of Guelph on January 1, 2022. This announcement comes from Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark who came to Guelph first thing on Monday morning to announce that he’s signing the Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) that will rezone the quarry once it’s shut down. The struggle to secure the site is over, and the countdown to redevelopment begins. Continue reading “Clark Signs MZO to Make Dolime Residential, Becomes Part of Guelph January 1”
Last week, most political concerns locally were about the council decision on the 2022-2023 budget. While council was debating, Ward 2 Councillor James Gordon was appearing on CFRU’s Open Sources Guelph through the power of pre-recording an interview in advance, and while he did talk about the budget, he was just as interested in talking about a personal political initiative of his own: the Race to Zero action on climate change. Continue reading “Gordon Tells Open Sources He Hopes Council Buys New Climate Action Plan”
Eight-and-a-half hours comes out to a 4.21 per cent increase in 2022 and then a 5.17 per cent levy increase for 2023. Those are top level results from this year’s budget deliberations, the first time that council tackled a multiyear budget. The City of Guelph seems satisfied with the results, but reading between the lines, there were some deep divides on council as some members feel that the City lost the fight for affordability. Continue reading “BUDGET MEETING RECAP: How The First Multiyear Budget Was Made”
The City of Guelph, and it’s various partners and agencies, put out a lot of information on a weekly basis, and while it all ends up on the City’s website somewhere, wouldn’t it be easier to just scroll through it all on one easy-to-read article on Guelph Politico here…? Continue reading “CITY PAGES: Winter Stuff, Cycling Needs and Shop Local”
The last planning meeting of the year offers a veritable potpourri of planning matter for council consideration. There are a couple of decision reports ready for ratification, a new request to designate a heritage property, and a brand new statutory meeting on a transformative project in the south end. All that, plus council will deal with a referral from an earlier meeting. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the December 13 Meeting?”
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