This week Guelph city council is taking a holiday break, and perhaps understandably, because it has been a very busy year in the chambers so far. The first four months of the year brought a lot of change, a lot of drama, and some pretty big decisions that tested the fiscal and political capacity of a rapidly growing Ontario city. Now, we will pause and take stock of just how far we’ve come so far… Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #471 – The Year at Council So Far Part 1 (January-April)”
There has been a lot of heritage news this year, and especially in the last couple of weeks. This should not be surprising because heritage staff in all municipalities have been in a mad scramble these last few years to designate as much heritage as possible before the end of this year due to Bill 23. That changed back in the spring, so it’s probably a good time now to catch our breathe and look at the work done so far, and all the work that is to come. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #446 – The Good Old Guelph (feat. Stephen Robinson & Jack Mallon)”
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: Baseball Bat Attack, Grand Theft Perfume, and Warming Truck Stolen”
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: Downtown Update, Cutter Caught, and New Senior Scam”
Last week, the reality of the Public Space Use Bylaw came into effect with the formal eviction of everyone in tents from St. George’s Square. The square is clear now of tents, but the people who lived in those tents have not disappeared or found permanent homes. In fact, they’re more vulnerable than ever, and even before the eviction last week, they were hurting. This is a story about the human toll of the Public Space Use Bylaw. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #443 – The Aftermath Downtown”
It was supposed to be a nice, smooth meeting. The only thing on the agenda were reports from Committee of the Whole meetings that needed to be ratified, and aside from the two or three delegations, this meeting should have been over and done quickly. And yet, sometimes when you think the meeting is over, it’s not really over, especially when a member of council has a very specific motion they want to table. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Last Minute Motion Drama”
One last crack at committee business before we move on to October! You can click here for the amended agenda 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 “RECAP: City Council Meeting for September 24, 2024”
So has anything interesting been happening at Guelph city council lately? Of course, there has! We’ve already covered the first third of 2024 on a previous podcast, and we will now visit that middle third, a period of time that is supposed to be more of a laid back political time as people rest and recreate over the summer. But no! The last four months at council have been all business, and this is the business!! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #434 – The Year at Council So Far (May-August)”
The first planning meeting of fall brought an interesting proposal for the downtown core, are we ready for some more height? A new tower promising 14-storeys, over 120 units and new retail space at the heart of the core was discussed at council this week while other matters also got an airing albeit more briefly than that proposed tower, including a controversial bylaw now bound for final implementation. Let’s recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: In the Heights Downtown”
The last meeting of September will present you, the Guelph resident, the opportunity to revisit just about anything previously discussed at this month’s two Committee of the Whole meetings (at least one of them hasn’t happened yet as of the publishing of this preview). From downtown renewal to second quarter financials to a possible renoviction bylaw, here’s your second bite at the apple! Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the September 24, 2024 Meeting?”
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