MEETING PREVIEW: Accessibility Advisory Committee for October 15, 2024

Don’t worry, the October Accessibility Advisory Committee has not been cancelled, it’s just been moved to another day of the week. This special Thursday meeting of the AAC will cover a lot of items under the housing file, from the Public Space Use Bylaw to housing affordability strategies. In other news, the committee will look at transit and then try to agree on a definition for a very important word. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Accessibility Advisory Committee for October 15, 2024”

GUELPH POLITICAST #434 – The Year at Council So Far (May-August)

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)”

This Week at Council: Second Time’s the Charm for Public Space Bylaw

It was business as unusual this past week because city council should have one last week off before the start of September. Instead, there were a couple of extra meetings, one short and one pretty long. At the first meeting, council had a decision to make about the hiring of a new CAO, and in the other there was an even tougher decision regarding a matter so deeply controversial it packed the gallery. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Second Time’s the Charm for Public Space Bylaw”

RECAP: City Council Meeting for August 28, 2024

Get ready for a long and contentious meeting! 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 August 28, 2024”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the August 28 Meeting?

You don’t normally get a lot of political controversy – especially at city council – in the last week of August, but these are exceptional times… Back from the dead, and back from a contentious February meeting on this very same subject, council will debate again implementing a Public Space Use Bylaw. Strap in and get ready for what’s sure to be a rowdy time at city hall! Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the August 28 Meeting?”

RECAP: Social Services Committee Feels Good About Direction Post-Symposium

This month’s Social Services Committee meeting was a special occasion, not only was there a change in venue to a Wellington County building on Wyndham Street, but this was the last committee meeting in its present iteration. But before a new committee takes over, there was a lot for this group to tackle on the March agenda from ongoing construction projects to the aftermath of the Health and Housing Symposium. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Social Services Committee Feels Good About Direction Post-Symposium”

MEETING PREVIEW: County Social Services Meeting for March 13, 2024

After taking February off, the Social Services Committee of Wellington County is getting together again… for the last time. Sort of. Next month, a new joint committee between the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington takes over, but for this month *this* committee will tackle reports about construction projects, resolutions from the Guelph council, and the findings from a symposium held just a few weeks ago (and will be held again in a few weeks time). Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: County Social Services Meeting for March 13, 2024”

GUELPH POLITICAST #408 – Greg Dorval Has Things to Say

One of the problems covering issues of homelessness in the media is that it’s hard to find people to be the face of those issues. You see this in just about every news story, “person X is experiencing issue A”; it’s a way of personalizing the issue and making it relatable to the audience, and it’s one of the reasons why the homelessness crisis is so unrelatable. That’s where Greg Dorval entered the picture a few weeks ago. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #408 – Greg Dorval Has Things to Say”

This Week at Council: Planning, Tribunal and Encampments Form the Trifecta

There are busy weeks at council, and then there’s spending nearly half of a 28-hour period in the council chambers. That was the time frame this week at 1 Carden Street, and in that period there was a planning meeting, a meeting where council sat as tribunal on a matter of misapplied Development Charges, and, the big one, a marathon meeting about a Public Spaces Use bylaw. To see how it all turned out, consult this week’s recap below… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Planning, Tribunal and Encampments Form the Trifecta”

LIVE BLOG: First City Council Meeting for February 14, 2024

In what’s sure to be one of the most controversial meeting of the year, the public spaces use bylaw. 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: First City Council Meeting for February 14, 2024”