This Week at Council: The Wall and the Race to Zero

This month’s regular meeting of city council brought to an end the great zero parking minimums debate for new residential developments downtown. That was the big item of the meeting, but there was one item of new business to take care of first, the matter of a certain wall that’s been making getting a lot of press in the last several weeks. So there’s all that, plus a new Indigenous territorial acknowledgement on this week’s council recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Wall and the Race to Zero”

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for September 26, 2023

It’s the last council meeting of the month! 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 September 26, 2023”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Meeting on September 26?

It’s been a pretty busy September so far at Guelph City Council, a couple of long summer meetings after almost a month off, so perhaps it’s fitting then that this month will go out like a lamb with a lighter agenda. For the regular meeting this month, council will approve the consent agenda from Committee of the Whole, including the new version of the Territorial Acknowledgement, plus one bit of new business on the heritage file. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Meeting on September 26?”

This Week in Council: Downtown Parking Gets Racked Out

This week, council came back to do the council’s business with an agenda that included Indigenous relations, but the Downtown Parking Master Plan that was the source of the most controversy. How much should maximums be minimized was the primary source of friction, but that might still have to be worked out at the end of the month. Meanwhile, there was a lengthy closed session we know nothing about. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week in Council: Downtown Parking Gets Racked Out”

LIVE BLOG: Committee of the Whole Meeting for September 6, 2023

We’re back! For real this time. 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 “LIVE BLOG: Committee of the Whole Meeting for September 6, 2023”

Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the September 6 Meeting?

We’re back! Well, technically we were back a few weeks ago, but now city council is officially back, returning from summer vacation and returning to the council chambers. The agenda for this first Committee of the Whole meeting of the (nearly) fall has some straightforward stuff, but it also will have some controversy including the presentation of the Downtown Parking Master Plan and everyone’s three favourite words: “Strong Mayor Powers.” Continue reading “Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the September 6 Meeting?”

OP-ED: Strong Mayor Powers “Unacceptable”, Even as a “Tool”

The Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has announced the extension of Strong Mayor Powers to 26 municipalities including Guelph effective July 1st 2023. Previously only Toronto and Ottawa mayors had these powers. Continue reading “OP-ED: Strong Mayor Powers “Unacceptable”, Even as a “Tool””

GUELPH POLITICAST #378 – Strong Mayors Podcast

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”