The Council Round-Up (December 2024)
A snapshot of what's happening in council chambers around Waterloo Region
Region of Waterloo:
The Region of Waterloo recently announced that they have surpassed their goal of creating 2,500 affordable homes within 5 years. Over 2700 affordable homes have been constructed, with many of them already occupied, more than a year ahead of schedule.
The Region has accomplished its goal by: unlocking Region-owned land, providing access to funding and land for developing affordable housing, and, exploring and implementing new, innovative techniques to develop more homes faster.
There are still 9,000 applications on the region’s waiting list for affordable housing.
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region has released some sobering stats as it seeks additional funding from the Region of Waterloo. The Food Bank “is facing its highest demand for food assistance in its 40-year history, with one in eight households in the region food insecure.”
The trend has been worsening in recent years. In 2023, the ratio was one in ten households, in 2022 one in 14, and in 2021 one in 20. Please consider donating to the Food Bank.
Construction of the Kitchener Central Transit Hub is expected to begin next year, and finishing by 2029, according to a recent staff report. “The Kitchener Central Transit Hub will be a focal point for higher-order transit, providing access to ION light rail, GO Transit, VIA rail service, intercity bus, and GRT, passenger vehicles and active transportation.”
The report says the work next year will include “the demolition of the Rumpel Felt building (the part without a historic designation), the installation of a bus loop, a pedestrian bridge, a pedestrian ramp and a parking lot.” The staff report does not reference the current encampment residents at 100 Victoria N and how this announcement will impact them.
Waterloo:
Waterloo continues its work in support of Vision Zero principles with the goal to end traffic-related injuries and fatalities, while increasing safety and mobility for all. The first annual report on the City's Road Safety Countermeasures and Traffic Calming Implementation Plan “prioritizes locations in the City of Waterloo for road safety measures, pedestrian safety measures, and cycling safety measures, as well as traffic calming measures to reduce higher than expected operating speeds.”
While I did include this bit of good news in The Upside post earlier this month, I’m so excited about it, I just have to share it again here!
“Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region as the leader of the BUILD NOW: Waterloo Region initiative is excited about the opportunity to negotiate with the City of Waterloo on a transformative affordable and attainable ownership housing project. This ambitious project aims to address the critical need for affordable and attainable ownership housing in the region by providing over 1,000 stable, and attainable homes.”
Kitchener:
Parks are a vital part of a thriving community and Kitchener continues to make improvements to its parks and greenspaces in order to reflect the needs of the community.
This year, Westchester Park, Alpine Park, Westwood Park and Shoemaker Park were all updated with new play equipment or play spaces, updates to paths and trails, and infrastructure improvements to support the long-term health of the parks’ natural spaces. Downtown Kitchener also officially opened the Gaukel Pocket Park which “creates a space for play and relaxation, with a new sculptural play structure, benches and planters in the middle of a pedestrian street.”
Kinzie, Oaten and Idlewood Parks added new play equipment, walking trails, and landscaping to the park network, along with the City’s fifth dog park. Wilson, Vanier and Traynor Parks also included new play and recreation facilities, as well as the restoration and naturalization of Montgomery Creek.
Learn more at www.kitchener.ca/parks
Council approved the appointment of Ellie Anglin as Kitchener’s 2024 Artist in Residence. Anglin is a multi-media visual artist and writer whose themes include feminism, queerness, pop-culture and nature.
Kitchener is now a bird-friendly city. “Bird-friendly cities must show a commitment to maintaining and expanding community-driven and municipal bird-friendly actions and policies.”
The press releases notes, “the Kitchener Bird Team is generating enthusiasm for local bird conservation through a contest to name Kitchener’s official bird. Check out the finalist birds and vote here.”
Cambridge:
The “Culture Days Top Participating Communities” listing recognized Cambridge and its more than one hundred events organized in 2024. The city earned the fifth spot overall in Canada and second among mid-size cities.
“I’m proud of the artists, organizations, and other cultural leaders who have worked to make local culture accessible and engaging for everyone in the community. And of course, this achievement would not be possible without the army of community volunteers that work tirelessly to ensure that Cambridge has fun, vibrant, and inclusive events for all,” Mayor Liggett said.
In a similar vein, Cambridge Council motion passed a $30,000 budget amendment to evaluate a permanent pedestrianization of Lower Main Street. “The incredibly successful seasonal road closure of the lower section of Main St has received overwhelming support from the community and Downtown Cambridge BIA, hosting numerous attractions such as family fun days, live music, Latin dance nights, markets, children’s activities, and many more community building and tourist-friendly activities,” the motion states.
Unfortunately, it’s not all positive news for Cambridge, as Council recently approved a motion “that would see municipalities clear encampments, and move people experiencing homelessness and addiction into treatment.”
Several delegations expressed concerns about the proposed motion. “Forcing treatment on individuals with addiction and mental health challenges will only cause more harm and get us further away from solving these complex problems together," delegate Robyn Schwarz said.
"While we recognize the challenges surrounding homelessness and substance use, we know from the evidence that this approach will not yield effective or humane solutions. Instead, it is likely to exacerbate harm and prevent meaningful or sustained recovery," an open letter from Sanguen Health Centre reads.
Council approved the motion with six in favour and three opposed (Earnshaw, Hamilton, and Roberts).
Deeper Dive: click the following links for summaries of recent Council, Committee, and Board meetings
Region of Waterloo second public input session for the 2025 budget (Nov 27, 2024)
"I'm saddened to see that in just over 7 months, courageous words and action taken by this council in April are fading away." - delegate speaking about the possible deferral of the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness
Kitchener Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee discusses deferring inclusionary zoning (Dec 2, 2024)
"What obligations, moral and economic, do investors have when they seek a profit from our community?" - delegate
"We have housing based on profit. And whether we like it or not, we have to work with the people who actually build the homes to get them built." - Cllr Davey
Region of Waterloo Council discusses a motion for the WRPS to cut their budget by $4 million (Dec 3, 2024)
“I’m always up for asking and doing due diligence but, I also know that we're working in a system that isn't designed to change...Our hands are essentially tied on the process with this.” - Cllr James
"I have full confidence in the PSB and assume in good conscience they have looked at this budget and made the decisions necessary to keep our community safe...I want to support the work they have done.” - Cllr Erb
Region of Waterloo final public input session for the 2025 budget (Dec 3, 2024)
"Cutting funding for essential community services drives inequality and makes outcomes worse for all taxpayers...The problems we are facing in housing, mental health, transit and more, demand greater investments, not reductions." - delegate
School Boards:
I am excited to have added this section, thanks to community advocate and WRDSB parent, Lauren Weinberg, who has agreed to watch WRDSB trustee meetings for us. Her summary of the November 25th WRDSB meeting follows:
The 2023–24 Suspension and Expulsion Report: Superintendent Bill Lemon cited a "modest" decrease since 2022–23 in the number of suspensions (2524, or 3.8% of WRDSB's 65,885 students) and the number of days students were suspended. Thirty students were expelled; Lemon said a few violent incidents involving multiple students accounted for some of that statistic.
According to Lemon, WRDSB is promoting school-based interventions to prevent suspensions and expulsions, such as teaching Grade 5 and 7 students how to resolve problems peacefully, training students to be "active bystanders," and getting teachers and administrators to speak to students as soon as they spot emerging conflicts. The district is researching the discrepancy between suspensions of male (71%) and female (29%) students; and striving for more accurate counts of hate-related incidents.
Gifted students: The board now encourages classroom teachers to identify and help gifted students themselves, in their home schools, instead of waiting for special-education teachers or sending the children to a "congregated class" in a different school—though those resources still exist. To facilitate this shift, the WRDSB runs weekly online sessions about gifted education for teachers.
The 2023–24 WRDSB Annual Report was published
Ontario's Education Development Charges (EDCs): To address the housing crisis, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board suggested that school boards should be able to charge less for nonprofit or supportive housing projects, and requested a "statutory exemption" for affordable housing. Their letter also asked the Ministry of Education to give school boards enough funding to make up for resulting shortfalls. The WRDSB trustees agreed to write a letter to the MoE supporting these recommendations, and to send a copy to Regional Council.
High secondary school team fees: In response to concerns from Trustee Joanne Weston, Supt. Lemon noted that decreasing revenue has led the board to change its funding ratio over the past several years: Families are now expected to cover 100% of fees instead of 80% (pre-COVID) or 60% (prior to 2016). Inflation has increased the costs of equipment, uniforms, facilities, and transportation, and fees are standardized throughout the district to reduce barriers for students at remote schools. Lemon emphasized that schools are supposed to accommodate students who need payment support or fee waivers.
On December 4, the Ontario legislature passed Conservative MPP Jess Dixon's (Kitchener South–Hespeler) motion to "encourage and support all publicly-funded school boards to work in partnership with police services by maintaining Community School Liaison Officer programs." WRDSB trustees ended the district's School Resource Officer program in 2021 because a review found that it created fear and anxiety for some, especially Black, Indigenous, and racialized students.
Thanks, Lauren, for that summary! In other school board news, the director of the Waterloo Region District School Board, jeewan chanicka, is no longer in that role. Effective immediately, Scott Miller is taking on the role as interim director. The “departure came after an internal human resources investigation but the board has yet to give any insight on the nature of the investigation.” Stay tuned.
Upcoming Events:
Wonders of Winter 2024: Enjoy the lights from 5:00 pm to 10:30 pm every night. The festival runs from November 30th, 2024 to January 4th, 2025.
Shop small this holiday season. KWFamous is bringing your favourite pop-up shoppe back to the downtown this December.
Have Your Say:
Share your thoughts and ideas about the Kitchener Market (until January 12th, 2025.)
Really excited for the new transit hub! Wondering if there's been any discussion around the large green space between Central station and the hub building? Is the land not suited for development for some reason? I'm all for green space, but in this location it looks like it's just pushing the elements of the hub further apart
I appreciate your updates Melissa. I have a question about bathrooms: Does the work being done upgrading parks and greenspaces include the addition of bathroom facilities (incl. portables)? It is frustrating that there are no facilities at tennis courts or trails. Does the new transit hub include bathrooms?