It would be great to enter some of you in the Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry area!

If you are interested either for your yard or a neighbors, please drop me an email at jgerbasi@winnipeg.ca  including the name of the resident or business and the address.

The deadline for nominations is June 30, 2010.

2010 ACCESSIBILITY AWARDS

As Chair of the City of Winnipeg Access Advisory Committee I am pleased to tell you we are looking for nominations for the 2010 Accessibility Awards.

Please send in your nominations for a worthy building, residence, landscape design, or service that has been designed with inclusion and universal design in mind.

Deadline for nomination is June 30th.

Nominate as many as you want.

Self nominations are allowed as well.

Nomination forms are now available at www.aacwinnipeg.mb.ca  or available at city hall.

For further information on the Accessibility Awards call Chris at 986-8345.

It will take some time to review the documents and to form a clear sense of this plan but here are a few initial thoughts.

A lot of really excellent planning work has been done by city staff. 

However, it is clear that one year is an inadequate time frame for staff to complete all the work required for a plan of this magnitude. For example, the Transportation Master Plan and the Community-wide Climate Change Action Plan are not completed and not expected to be ready for 12 months.

It is also unfortunate that the Public Hearing will be held in July when many people are on holidays and unavailable to participate.

Finally this plan involves a significant and massive change including a far reaching development plan for the city. The election is in October and it is expected that there will be a significant change in the make up of council. It is questionable to make such a massive policy shift in the direction of our city just prior to possibly electing a completely new leadership team.

There are a number of public information sessions planned over the next week or so. Here are the details:

Thursday, May 27th Red River College, 160 Princess St. 5:30-8:30 PM

Saturday, May 29th, Win Gardiner Centre, 363 McGregor St 1:00-3:00 PM

Monday, May 31st, Canad Inns Fort Garry, 824 Pembina Hwy, 5:30-8:30 PM

Tuesday, June 1st, River East collegiate, 295 Sutton Avenue, 5:30 - 8:30 PM

Wednesday, June 2nd, Sturgeon Creek C.C., 210 Rita St. 5:30-8:30 PM

Thursday, June 3rd, Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre, 340 Pronvencher Blvd, 5:30-8:30 PM

It is expected that the documents will go to council in June to ask for a public hearing date. Then there will be a formal process in which individuals can make presentations to Executive Policy Committee.

This opportunity is planned to take place in July in order to have approval complete by the July 21st council meeting.

The document then goes to the Province of Manitoba for approval and then back to council for a final 3rd reading which is pretty much a formality.

The information that has been published today includes the following:

OurWinnipeg - a 105 page vision document that requires approval from the province

Four other documents:

Complete Communities - 155 pages - this is a new development plan for the city which will be similar to a secondary plan

Sustainable Transportation - 53 pages

A Sustainable Winnipeg - 45 pages

Sustainable Water and Waste - 63 pages

The documents will be available on the city web site at www.winnipeg.ca.

Thank you for your interest in Civic Issues!

Watch for details this weekend in newspaper ads and at www.speakupwinnipeg.com  

COUNCIL APPROVES EXPLORING A STRATEGY ON THE SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING

The motion at Council this week which asked to explore the idea of regulating condo conversions morphed into a wider look at the affordable rental housing shortage. The end result was unanimous council support for a broader motion that includes public consultation.

Of course, the key question is: what Council will do with the report when it comes back with recommendations.?

The positive thing is that there was an excellent discussion at Council about the severe problem of a lack of rental apartments in our city .

Here is the motion for your information:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of Winnipeg Public Service be requested to report back to Council in 120 days with a report on the issue including: consideration of a range of strategies to address the shortage of affordable rental accommodations in the City and consultation with stakeholders including the Province of Manitoba.

VEOLIA AGREEMENT PASSES COUNCIL

The decision to enter into a 30 year contract with Veolia for the design, build and partial management/operations of our waste water treatment facilities passed at council with a vote of 9 to 4.

While the battle appears to have been lost, it is clear that the message came across in the media that there is significant public opposition to the direction our city is being taken by the current Mayor and City Council.

I would like to thank all the people who participated through emails, calls, letters, petitions,and attendance at council for taking the time to make your concerns known to elected officials. Your commitment and efforts in regards to our city are appreciated!

On the basis of a nine-page summary report, City Council is being asked to commit to a 30-year contract without Councillors or the public having access to the contract details.

A number of speakers this morning called on the Mayor and Executive Policy Committee (EPC) to provide full disclosure of the Veolia contract. They also raised concerns about the environmental and social track record of Veolia in other municipal jurisdictions.

This request and these concerns were not addressed at todays meeting.

A summary presentation was given by Bryan Gray, a former political policy advisor to the Mayor who is now leading the Water and Waste Initiative.

The available information doesn’t even say how much the City of Winnipeg will pay Veolia (a multinational company based in France) for their “expertise”.

It appears from assurances from Mr Gray that the idea of privately financing the project have been abandoned. However, the summary promises that Veolia will share with the city some of the financial risks associated with the project, but doesn’t say what Veolia will get in return for assuming this risk or how much it will cost Winnipeg.

The brief report says “the contract will contain provisions for the City to terminate if ever required” but doesn’t tell Winnipegers how much it will cost to get out of the 30 year contract , a contract Councillors and the public have not been allowed to see.

It could be the best deal in the world, or the worst. But there’s no way for Winnipeggers or their elected representatives to know.

Accountability legislation for Public Private Partnerships is currently on the order paper and will be coming forward to the Provincinal legislature. However, this project is too far along in the procurement process to be subject to it as the legislation is unlikely to be retroactive.

The proposal that council approved in July to create a Corporate Utility (which would be a new armslength governance model for the Water and Waste Department) is awaiting provincial regulatory approvals. The Veolia contract can proceed without the Utility being created. It is logical that should the new Utility Model be established, it would take over this contract making it even more armslength from accountable elected officials.

There is a short period of time to take action and let your concerns be known.

You will find more info at www.canadianswinnipeg.com  or contact me at jgerbasi@winnipeg.ca  

Thank you for your interest in Civic Issues!

Jenny’s View Point!!
 
12 Years on City Council: A Tale of Two Mayors

 
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. These famous words might be one way to describe the last 12 years on Winnipeg
City Council.
 
There have been many highs and lows during my time of serving on City Council under the leadership of Mayor Glen Murray for the first six years and then the next six years under Mayor Sam Katz.

 
One of the lowest points in my memory was when the Rapid Transit project from downtown to Jubilee Avenue was cancelled in 2004. At the time it appeared that Winnipeg might never see Rapid Transit or that it would be delayed for another decade. Yet against all
hope, it is being built at last. However, controversy remains as to the Mayor’s intentions in regards to completing the Rapid Transit line all the way to the University of Manitoba.

 
In the Glen Murray years the groundwork was laid for some exciting developments for our city: Waterfront Drive, the Esplanade Riel
bridge, the creation of Centureventure, the development of an inner city housing policy, a Public Art program, the MTS Centre and the
Hydro building downtown. Who could forget the excitement of Portage and Main packed with people as Great Big Sea played for free at our big downtown street party?

 
In those years we had public debates about garbage pickup and ways to find a New Deal for cities. Winnipeg’s reputation seemed to be
on the upswing as a progressive and happening place.

 
The last six years has seen a more modest approach of reducing the role of government in the community and focusing on “pipes,police and pavement”. It has been a constant struggle to convince the current council not to cancel funding for public art, inner city
housing redevelopment and to keep services public.

 
I hope each of you will participate in the upcoming civic election. Ultimately it is the citizens who will decide what sort of leadership they will get from their City Council.

 
I am interested in hearing your feedback about what kind of city you want and your ideas of how we can get there. Feel free to contact me
at 986 5878 or jgerbasi@winnipeg.ca.

Thank you for your interest in Civic Issues!

Cheers!

Jenny
Jenny Gerbasi
Councillor,  Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry

The motion which I moved, was seconded by Mayor Sam Katz and will appear on the Agenda for the April 28th meeting of City Council.

Here is the motion for your information:

NOTICE OF MOTION
Moved by Councillor Gerbasi and Seconded by His Worship Mayor Katz:

WHEREAS the City of Winnipeg had previously been involved in a Municipal Partnerships program with the City of Kampala, Uganda to strengthen local government involvement and processes and service delivery initiatives;

AND WHEREAS a Member of Parliament in the Republic of Uganda has proposed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009, that would target lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandans, their friends, families and neighbours and anyone else who fails to report them to the authorities, whether they are inside or outside of Uganda;

AND WHEREAS the proposed law:
(a) would impose criminal penalties up to life imprisonment for persons engaging in consensual same-sex relationships;
(b) might inflict the death penalty on persons who engage in homosexual activity while living with HIV; and
(c) would criminalize third parties who failed or refused to report homosexual activity of their friends, neighbours or relatives;

AND WHEREAS the international community, including the Government of Canada, the U.S. Government, human rights groups and others have expressed concern about serious potential violations of the human rights of homosexual individuals and even any unmarried Ugandan adult resulting from this proposed law;

AND WHEREAS human rights groups have identified this proposed legislation as potentially causing severe health problems, hindering the fight against HIV/AIDS by preventing those with the illness from seeking medical attention;

AND WHEREAS commentators have raised concerns about the impact of this proposed legislation on the political process and the rule of law in Uganda as it has the potential to create a political climate of fear where allegations of homosexuality are used to extort or silence government critics and stifle dissent;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Winnipeg City Council join with the Government of Canada and the international community to denounce Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009 and any similar legislative proposal.

FINAL BUDGET OF COUNCIL TERM PASSES

The 2010 Operating Budget passed this week at Council by a vote of 11 to 5.
If you wish to hear my views on the budget you can find the text of my speech posted on the front page of my web site at: www.jennygerbasi.ca

CYCLING ROUTES MOVING FORWARD

There have been a number of public meetings throughout the city to consult with citizens about the close to 35 new Active Transportation routes that are coming to our city.

$20 million dollars of funds from all three levels of government must be spent on Active Transportation by March 2011.

This huge investment is going to go a long way to make our city more friendly for Active Transportation of all kinds. 

A  number of adjustments to the plans are being made in response to public concerns and suggestions.

If you want to find out more details about the current plans and upcoming meetings, please visit the city web site at www.winnipeg.ca and click on the active transportation link on the front page.

There are four problem areas that I will be focusing on in my remarks:

Financial sustainability

Social sustainability

Environmental sustainability

Transparency and inclusion in the process

The most obvious problem with the 2010 operating budget and the three year forecast is its severe lack of financial sustainability.

To get down to the basics….I am not convinced that the budget even balances.

The budget includes 10 million dollars in revenue from a law suit against the province related to the gas and electricity tax.

Even if you think it is right to put an additional tax on the GST, how can you possible include 10 million dollars in the budget when the province has made ABSOLUTELY NO COMMITMENT ON THIS MONEY.

It is incredibly undiplomatic and unwise to sue the level of government that we are dependant on to fund almost everything we do.

We also know that law suits take a long time, perhaps even years to play out which means if this 10 million dollars is ever realized it will be long past due to be part of balancing this budget.

How does any of this make sense as generally accepted principals of accounting?

I am also appalled at the fact that this budget includes 10 million dollars of land sales from the Land Operating Reserve.

Selling land to balance the operating budget on such a large scale is a clear sign of desperation.

It is also fiscally unsustainable and even irresponsible.

It is like selling your garage to pay to keep your lights on in your house.

There are other questionable practices in this budget such as taking unused capital dollars on a much larger scale than in previous years and using them to fill in the operating budget gap.

Again it is fiscally unsustainable to rely so heavily on one time money.

Furthermore, it is a shame to be frittering away potential Capital investment considering the massive infrastructure deficit we have.

Those Capital dollars could have been used for addressing some of the needs identified in the budget process….for example more funding for repairing sidewalks and more investment in inner city housing redevelopment.

Freezing and cutting taxes made sense for the first 5 or 6 years of the 13 years we have been doing it.

But for years now Winnipeg has been at the lower end of the scale when compared to other cities on tax rates.

This council’s refusal to even have an inflationary increase for so many years is gotten to the point of being a bit of a crazy obsession.

The result is that the city is in a massive hole that is deepening every year.

The projected deficits in 2011 and 2012 are spiraling out of control. 77 million in 2011 and 118 million in 2012….not a word has been said about how this council will deal with that.

Putting off the difficult decisions until after the election, is not going to make the problems disappear.

Where is the plan to deal with these massive shortfalls?

It is wrong to minimize the impact of a yearly inflationary increase….If a two per cent in crease is 8 million…that builds up each year and is significant.

We all know that 13 years of tax freezes and cuts has had an impact on service….even if you can’t figure out what that impact is from trying to read the budget document.

The budget document won’t tell you the rates of vacancy management or staff reductions so you have to be Sherlock holmes or CSIS to figure out what is really happening.

The gutting of midlevel staff has been so severe that there is little work being done on policy.

Staff are simply reacting from crises to crises and people are burning out. In some cases, one person is doing the work of 3 or 4 people.

With the exception of the Our Winnipeg process, policy work and planning work is rarely done.

Even Our Winnipeg is being rushed through in one year which is a completely inadequate time period to do a huge city plan. Such huge planning exercises normally take 2 or 3 years to complete.

As a result the planning work will be incomplete and unfortunately somewhat disappointing…This is not the fault of our staff.

City council has set our staff up to fail by expecting miracles while under investing to the extreme.

For years this council has frozen the investment in the Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative at one million dollars.

Like every other form of construction, building housing units is more expensive each year yet the city investment shrinks each year due to inflation. Many neighborhoods remain without support.

Please spare me the tired phrase that housing is now a line item in the budget.

If you’d invest more in the housing improvement zones…I could care less if it is a line item….just show us the money!!!

This investment is well spent and pays us back in spades in increased assessment values, neighborhood safety and quality of life. Yet the cupboard is bare for things like this.

While a few suburban libraries will be open on Sundays which is good….Winnipeg continues the race to the bottom when compared to other cities in terms of materials, circulation and staffing of our libraries.

We also own the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the lack of adequate staffing of our planning department.

It is outrageous that the secondary planning priorities of 2006 are sitting on a shelf, even after communities, such as Corydon were told the planning was going to happen.

The pre planning work (which only whet the appetite and showed the need for the neighborhood plan) is gathering dust because we don’t have the resources to do the work.

Don’t tell me that this budget has no negative impact on core services!!!!

Lip service is being paid to environmental sustainability but unfortunately this budget falls short.

Once again, this council is avoiding the reality that using the chemical Dursban for mosquito larviciding is about to become impossible BECAUSE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS BANNING IT.

Isn’t it obvious that if they are banning it, it is means that Dursban is bad for our health and the environment?

Yet, to save money council continues to use this chemical for the majority of the larviciding rather than investing money to switch to an environmentally acceptable biological agent.

The change will be forced upon us by the Feds in the next year or so….but until then….this council will continue to follow the cheapest path possible.

Like so many problems….rather than facing and addressing the challenges….the mantra is….refer it to the 2011 budget process….

This budget is being presented as once again pulling a rabbit out of a hat and painlessly addressing the cities financial needs.

However it is far from painless.

Last year a lot less summer students were hired by public works to maintain our parks. While the budget document is not transparent about this sort of info….I would guess we can expect the same this year.

User fees are all on the rise…in the case of ambulance fees…the increase is dramatic.

Other increases including transit fares are now being automatically raised without any public discussion or debate.

The long term pain that will come from this budget really concerns me.

Future councils will be in a financial hole that will be very difficult to get out of.

It is tempting to embrace the old see no evil hear no evil strategy until after the October election is over.

However, that is simply not the right thing to do.

The budget process had some superficial improvements in that a couple of focus groups were held and the process was a little bit longer.

However, the new “service based” format seems be much less transparent in terms of people being able to figure out what is really in the budget.

Even two years ago, vacancy management targets and specific staff reductions were shown. Providing less information does not make for a more transparent process….far from it.

Also, the practice of excluding non-EPC members of council from the budget process continues unchanged. In other cities…all members of council are included in priority setting and prebudget work.

In Winnipeg, non-EPC members hear about the budget the same day as the media does. We need changes to our governance structure!!!!

So unfortunately, I will not be able to support this budget for the following reasons. It lacks fiscal, social and environmental sustainability as well as transparency and inclusion.