Commitee of the whole agenda

This agenda includes the final reccomendations from staff on Dogs in Parks. I will be keeping an eye on that item, and will report back. They are also going to talk about giving the lower causeway of the inner harbour an heritage designation. Other than that, it's the usual heritage designations and zoning changes that is the usual work of city council. There are some legal issues that will be talked about during the closed session at the end of the meeting.

I'm learning that a lot of stuff goes on as well in items with innocuous names like dispostion of communications. Keeping up with council is a bit of a learning curve, and if anyone cares to help out here, I'll be glad for the help. I'm sure there are people who know more about what to watch for than I do, and I am also sure that there are people who can feed me juicy rumours. I am all ears... :)

Agenda for Thursday Dec 2nd

He he... looks like there are a few people who would like to correct City Council's behaviour. There are already four people set to speak on the issue, and I never send in my fax until the day before... Tee hee. Should be a fun Council meeting.

Doggone it! You have to watch this council like hawks

The minutes for November 18th's city council have this little gem buried in there:

Banning of Pit Bulls in British ColumbiaIt was moved by Councillor Fleming, seconded by Councillor Fortin, that a letter be sent to the President of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities requesting that the Solicitor General consider legislation, similar to Ontario's recent legislation, banning put bulls in British Columbia.

It was moved by Councillor Fleming, seconded by Councillor Fortin, that the motion be amended to read as follows:
That a letter be sent to the President of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities requesting that the Solicitor General of the Province of British Columbia monitor the implementation and report to the UBCM on the effectiveness of the legislation. - Carried

On the Main Motion - Carried

I am getting sick of this crap. How often do I have to go to City Council's chambers just to stop them from screwing with me and my family? It's getting tedious!

OK, so once I calmed down from that, there's this little tidbit:

Business License Bylaw Amendments for Liquor-Licensed Businesses
It was moved by Councillor Savoie, seconded by Councillor Thornton-Joe, that Council:
1) Endorse the proposed business license monitoring and enforcement program outlined in the Corporate Administrator's report dated November 12, 2004, subject to the provision of funding in the 2005 budget.
2) Instructs the City Solicitor to amend the Business License Bylaw to add provisions that:

(a) Establish a $3.00 per serving minimum retail drink price for food-primmary and liquor-primary business licensed by the City of Victoria; and,
(b) Increase the business license fee for food-primmary and liquor-primary business licensed by the City of Victoria in accordance with the fee schedule set out in Schedules A and B of the Corporate Administrator's report dated Novemner 12, 2004.

3. Gives notice to businesses affected by the proposed bylaw amendments and invites their input at a public hearing to be held November 30, 2004, at 2:30p.m., prior to council's final consideration of the bylaw amendments. - Carried

Tomorrows city Council agenda is up

The agenda has been posted for tomorrow's council meeting. Nothing overly interesting. Rezoning some stuff, heritage designations, third reading of the water works bylaw amendments. The usual.

Committee of the whole agenda Nov. 18

It's up. Lots of stuff in this one, mostly rezoning, with a lot of stuff closed as well, mostly to do with land acquisition....

November 4 city council minutes

This meeting was a good one. First up was a hearing for a rezoning allowing a liquor store around the corner from me. I spoke in favour after hearing from those persons who were planning on opening it. They are planning a boutique type liquor store, to complement The Market, Zambri's, somewhere to get a nice bottle of wine or spirits to go with the food purchased nearby. To me it was a no-brainer as it will add more life to a section of street that is basically a dead zone. Definitely a good thing.

Next up was a development variance to put up a big honking video sign outside the Memorial Arena (It will be a cold day in hell before I refer to it as the 'Save-On Foods Arena). They allowed it, but did lower the height from the 35'6" asked for to 28'.

Did I mention that they proclaimed November 15th as Medical Marijuana Day?

Another big move was a carry over form the Oct. 28th Commitee of the Whole meeting, and they have now instructed the city solicitor to prepare and amendment to the Parks Regulation Bylaw to restrict Pioneer Square to one hour before dawn until one hour after dusk. This is the old cemetery/park that has become a favoured spot to do drugs, and it has become kind of scary to walk through. Seeing as how the street kids are allowed to sleep at the church next door, I don't see this as an attack on the poor, but a kind of defence against criminals. It's a good thing in my books.

At the end they snuck in fee hikes for Rec Fees and Plumbing Fees.... I don't think anyone expects them to lead off with fee hikes.

311 service for Victoria?

I haven't heard any noise about it yet, so let me be the first to say, "Let's get this going". 311 service seems to be a very smart thing for municipal governments, if it is anything like the service that NY has, at least as far as I have read.

From the CRTC decision authorizing this service for Calgary, Gatineau, Montréal, Halifax, and the Region of Halton, The Municipalities provided examples of the various functions of the proposed 311 service. Citizens could dial 311 to report dangerous road conditions (i.e. potholes, missing manhole covers), traffic light / street light outages, water main breaks, blocked / broken sewer mains, stray animals, abandoned vehicles, and noise complaints. Further, citizens could make inquiries regarding garbage / recycling, water quality / safety, public transit schedules, development and building permits, property tax bills, parking tickets, and recreation facility schedules. The proposed 311 service could also provide referrals to the mayor's / aldermen's offices, handle general service complaints and compliments, and provide access to all police / fire non-emergency services.

The beauty of this service is that it can spotlight trends in complaints, helping the city understand not just what needs to be done, but what the citizens want the city to do. The example that put me onside with this idea was that NYC during the blackout last summer realized that diabetics were extremely concerned about their insulin supply going bad due to lack of refrigeration, and called the city to figure out a solution. This wasn't on anybodies radar until they got a lot of concerned phone calls. In a lot of ways, this can allow the citizenry to be a bit more empowered, so long as the City pays attention to what the citizens are worried about.

City of Victoria - Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes

City of Victoria - Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutesfor November 1st.

Tonights Council Agenda

adg041104_cnc.pdf>Woops, I missed it earlier. I was distracted by our southern neighbours little election. Sorry. Won't happen again.

Here's what happened this morning, which I also missed.

New Chamber of Commerce Board.

Here's the new board. Congrats to the winners!