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Council’s Executive Committee, which I sit on, received a report outlining a strategy for reducing the environmental footprint of festivals and major events held on city lands, which arose from a formal inquiry I initiated last year after discussing some of the possibilities in this regard with festival and event organizers. I’m very pleased that… Read More
I did not support decommissioning the trolley system when Council voted on it in 2008, and I did not support the accelerated decommissioning either
As part of finalizing the tax rates (the last step in our annual budget cycle) Council debated the merits of charging for parking at the city’s LRT lots. The Journal has posted a good synopsis here. The short version is we decided not to for now. I think most members of council, myself included, realized… Read More
Council debated some significant revisions to the 2009 budget yesterday, which we needed to deal with before we establish the tax mill rates later this month. City revenues are down about $30 million because of slower building activity (resulting in lower permit fee revenue) and low interest rates on the cash we have in the bank.
What follows was a guest column Vue Weekly invited me to write about Council’s budget deliberations last December: I was one of nine councilors who voted in favour of the final 2009 city budget and I appreciate the opportunity provided by Vue to explain why I voted as I did. My vote was in support… Read More