posting
05-26-2010, 04:35 PM
Kingston City Council
Special Council Meeting May 25 2010
Jason here. Well now we understand the only visible power of the mayor – to call special meetings. This one was called to clear the agenda of two items that had been hanging on for ages – the Barriefield project and the 2nd phase of the Environmental Assessment of the Third Crossing. Some (the mayor?) thought council’s continued deferral (no time!) of these items was on purpose as the issues were too volatile going into an election. They certainly are good election issues The vote on the 3rd crossing surprised me. I expected the vote to be against. Councillor Schmolka, in not supporting more work on the project, mentioned the Transportation master plan which speaks much of demand restriction and the relative lack of importance of the car. Councillor Schmolka may be the only one on Council to support the Transportation master plan. Although Council supported it, it may be because they only read the first two pages. If they really believed the report they would be doing something about demand reduction. They aren’t. This project is a long way from a go and it may never reach completion as the price will keep rising. The bridge cannot be built without a lot of federal and provincial money. The money will have to be in place before a vote or the project will die. The memory of the potential funding from the Feds for the LVEC will haunt this project.
And at last – the vote on the Barriefield project! It is a go! Lost was a motion to explore the land swap although Councillors Foster and Glover were eloquent in insisting that the project was much more expensive than it appeared on the surface and the swap would make more low income housing available sooner and less expensively. One can’t help feeling that this was as much a vote against the Barriefield occupants as it was a vote FOR low-income housing. You have to give Councillor MacLeod-Kane credit. She is regarded as light by the other Councillors and probably by staff BUT she is unafraid and stands her ground. She wondered where the ‘swap’ land was. I’m sure she knew, but she is correct that she hadn’t been informed and resented it. Also she hadn’t been invited to a meeting with staff to discuss the potential swap. Staff won’t make that mistake again!
Councillor Gerretsen was consistent in opposing anything that did not fully integrate low-income housing. Lots of luck on this one Councillor. Successfully integrating low-income housing will require different funding from senior levels of government. Yes we do have rent-geared-to-income housing in apartment blocks and no one knows who is being subsidised, but I haven’t seen this sort of funding for a long while. I understand that it is more expensive in the long run (however long that is).I would like to see some figures.
And so we slump into the election. Garrison, Foster and Rosen have declared that they are not running, so the complexion of Council will change. New faces will bring new ideas and it will be interesting to see if the Smith or Schmolka camps will have more adherents. Will anyone replace Garrison’s hard line views?
City Bits: Good to see the tables and chairs out on the market square on non-market days. It looks a bit like a pimple on an elephant but it is a beginning. Keep watching. Is it wrong to expect them on market days as well?
Special Council Meeting May 25 2010
Jason here. Well now we understand the only visible power of the mayor – to call special meetings. This one was called to clear the agenda of two items that had been hanging on for ages – the Barriefield project and the 2nd phase of the Environmental Assessment of the Third Crossing. Some (the mayor?) thought council’s continued deferral (no time!) of these items was on purpose as the issues were too volatile going into an election. They certainly are good election issues The vote on the 3rd crossing surprised me. I expected the vote to be against. Councillor Schmolka, in not supporting more work on the project, mentioned the Transportation master plan which speaks much of demand restriction and the relative lack of importance of the car. Councillor Schmolka may be the only one on Council to support the Transportation master plan. Although Council supported it, it may be because they only read the first two pages. If they really believed the report they would be doing something about demand reduction. They aren’t. This project is a long way from a go and it may never reach completion as the price will keep rising. The bridge cannot be built without a lot of federal and provincial money. The money will have to be in place before a vote or the project will die. The memory of the potential funding from the Feds for the LVEC will haunt this project.
And at last – the vote on the Barriefield project! It is a go! Lost was a motion to explore the land swap although Councillors Foster and Glover were eloquent in insisting that the project was much more expensive than it appeared on the surface and the swap would make more low income housing available sooner and less expensively. One can’t help feeling that this was as much a vote against the Barriefield occupants as it was a vote FOR low-income housing. You have to give Councillor MacLeod-Kane credit. She is regarded as light by the other Councillors and probably by staff BUT she is unafraid and stands her ground. She wondered where the ‘swap’ land was. I’m sure she knew, but she is correct that she hadn’t been informed and resented it. Also she hadn’t been invited to a meeting with staff to discuss the potential swap. Staff won’t make that mistake again!
Councillor Gerretsen was consistent in opposing anything that did not fully integrate low-income housing. Lots of luck on this one Councillor. Successfully integrating low-income housing will require different funding from senior levels of government. Yes we do have rent-geared-to-income housing in apartment blocks and no one knows who is being subsidised, but I haven’t seen this sort of funding for a long while. I understand that it is more expensive in the long run (however long that is).I would like to see some figures.
And so we slump into the election. Garrison, Foster and Rosen have declared that they are not running, so the complexion of Council will change. New faces will bring new ideas and it will be interesting to see if the Smith or Schmolka camps will have more adherents. Will anyone replace Garrison’s hard line views?
City Bits: Good to see the tables and chairs out on the market square on non-market days. It looks a bit like a pimple on an elephant but it is a beginning. Keep watching. Is it wrong to expect them on market days as well?