My Delegation to Waterloo City Council

After the jump is the speech I gave to Waterloo City Council on Monday. The meeting itself [was written up in the Chronicle](http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/article/199579), but I don’t think the quote from me totally sums up what I was trying to say (you know, newspaper quotes…).

I’ve mostly been complaining about the media and the residents’ associaton here and on WWBA. It took me a bit to figure out what to say to council.


> Before I begin, I’d like to say: Calling your own neighbourhood a slum
> will not make new people want to live there.
>
> What’s really frustrating about all the media coverage about Northdale
> is that it focuses solely on the neighbourhood becoming a ghetto and
> completely ignores the rather extraordinary lengths the city has gone
> to to keep it from going that way.
>
> They’ve cracked down hard on lodging houses, even going to the
> province for special powers to close loopholes. And they’ve
> completely reshaped the neighbourhood around the periphery to meet
> student housing demand for the next 20-40 years. Saying that the city
> has done nothing about the “ghetto” situation is not a valid
> criticism.
>
> That’s not to say there’s nothing to criticize.
>
> The city could be doing more on by-law enforcement. A neighbourhood
> like this needs strict “no broken windows” policies.
>
> We’re almost certainly not making the best use of the available land.
>
> Columbia Avenue is now a pretty bleak streetscape.
>
> The housing market in the neighbourhood is seriously perverted. If
> you look at two identical houses sitting next to one another, one
> might be worth $600,000 while the other might be worth $300,000, only
> because the one guy managed to sell out to a slumlord first.
>
> And even if they’re not put off by the “slum” comments in the papers,
> it’s actually really tough for new people to move into the
> neighbourhood. House prices are high for what you get, and all of
> that new rental housing stock is 5 bedroom suite style apartments,
> useless to anyone who’s not a student.
>
> Is Northdale the sort of compact, vibrant and complete community that
> we’re supposed to be building under the Places to Grow plan? Possibly
> vibrant, although not in a way all if its residents appreciate.
> Otherwise, no, definitely not.
>
> That’s what the city needs to focus on now. We need to stop focusing
> on the people who don’t want to live here and start focusing on the
> people who do. How do we meet their needs? That’s what this proposal
> should be about.
>
> So how do we do that?
>
> I would like to see a broader mix of housing options, although I’m not
> certain how many more luxury condo developments this city needs. We
> should be doing more to promote affordable housing and improving the
> rental housing situation for everyone, not just students.
>
> I would like to see a plan that was tightly integrated with the
> existing nodes and corridors plan, but with a focus on mixed use
> development. University and Columbia could become vibrant, mixed-use
> corridors with commercial, housing and office space for professionals
> and start-ups.
>
> I would like to see Hickory Street become a cycling corridor with a
> pathway between Lester and Phillip, connecting King & University with
> UW and the Laurel trail. This is already a cycling and pedestrian
> neighbourhood, but few people really want to ride a bike on Columbia
> or University, even with the bike lanes.
>
> Finally, I would like to see the local residents’ association come up
> with a better marketing strategy.
>
> I think there’s a lot of potential here. And a lot of reason for
> optimism. No, Northdale isn’t a slum, but it can be more than it is.
> It’s a neighbourhood with a lot of potential. Let’s make it a great
> community.
>
> Thank you.

One thought on “My Delegation to Waterloo City Council”

  1. No broken windows, no public urination on Albert Street in broad daylight when families are passing by and younger students walking by on their way to McGregor school, and no vandalism are admirable goals, but completely unattainable.
    The city cannot place a bylaw officer in every backyard in the neighbourhood to apprehend the people commiting these offences, nor on every sidewalk day and night.
    The same is true of policing.
    Why were residents confronted by people with guns?
    Why were people on Phillip St. robbed at knifepoint (two incidents?)
    How many break-ins were there on Lester this year?
    How was there a brawl of 35 people on a Sunday on Lester at 5:30 – in the morning – in the summer?
    Police and bylaw can’t be there when every crime is being committed.
    The city can hire more bylaw officers, but nobody can do anything about these things until after they have been committed, and then, there’s nobody around to have witnessed it to report it.
    Bylaw officers have to be called about infractions; nobody is left in here who calls.
    And we have learned through many years of discussions with the city that provincial laws override any hope of charging landlords for property stds. violations – they have to be warned first and given time to clean up the mess (whatever it may be) first.
    There is no incentive for landlords to look after their properties until someone reports them – so we get knee-high grass and piles of stinking rotting garbage full of skunks and other rodents.
    Those residents now calling for the city to rezone the neighbourhood are the very people who begged the city to preserve it in 2004.
    We lobbied and lobbied over the past 7 years to get the help needed to save this area, because we love it too.
    It is too late now.
    When seniors and young families are being vandalized in their own homes, someone has to recognize that Northdale is a failed model of urban planning and policy.
    And – when Mr. D’ailly keeps bringing up expropriation at every opportunity, one has to ask what is really going on in this neighbourhood.
    I’m glad that you and Ellen have entered the discussion.
    I’m concerned you have heard a very one-sided version of things.
    The accusation that this is a cash grab -heard frequently – is fascinating, because that is very much, to us, what expropriation sounds like.
    How does Ellen feel about having her house expropriated?
    Did Mr. D’ailly not mention his repeated threats of expropriation in your conversation?
    Welcome to Northdale – the unedited version.

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