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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSafe & Healthy - 2010-04-06SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES APRIL 6, 2010 CITY OF KITCHENER The Safe and Healthy Community Advisory Committee met this date, commencing at 4:07 p. m. Present: Ms. K. Kwiatkowski, Chair Councillor B. Vrbanovic, Ms. S. Franzen, Ms. D. Ahluwalia, Ms. T. Beaulne, and Messrs. B. Pegg, P. Doherty and Superintendent B. Larkin. Staff: L. Palubeski, Manager of Program and Resource Services S. Adams, Director of Community & Corporate Planning J. Ouellette, Facilitator of Volunteer Resources S. Weare, MSW Intern J. Metzger, Crime Prevention Council C. Collins, Marketing & Communication Associate R. Delaney, Committee Administrator DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE UPDATE (DAC As Mr. D. Pellerin was not in attendance, Superintendent B. Larkin gave an update. He advised that DAC has changed their meeting format so that agenda items are now discussed in the first hour and the last hour is dedicated to business working groups and actions plans. PRESENTATION - ENVIRONICS STUDY Ms. S. Adams presented the Final Results of the 2009 Citizen Survey completed by Environics Research Group on behalf of Compass Kitchener. She stated that this was the 2"d of two surveys to measure citizen's satisfaction with municipal services and their support for the strategic direction of the City. There were 900 responses using mail and Internet methodology and the results show an increased satisfaction in most areas surveyed, with the highlights being: • residents are pleased with Kitchener's direction; • satisfaction with City government is strong and steady; • satisfaction with City services and staff is strong; • residents are supportive of all six City priorities, with the highest priorities being managing growth, improving quality of life and protecting the environment. Ms. Adams stated the positive results on services such as parks and amenities show that citizens are willing to pay more in taxes to get better quality of life. There was some concern, however, with results related to the Auditorium and the Market, and some investigation will be done, to determine what these results indicate. Environmentally, citizens are relatively satisfied, but there is room for improvement (e.g. bike lanes on City roads). Ms. Adams further advised that 69% of citizens are still concerned with safety in the Downtown core, but questioned whether this is perception rather than reality. She also advised there were significant improvements in the Downtown planning and development results which could affect future perception. She noted that the City is addressing perception issues by using special events and community partnerships and suggested this is something that this Committee could do to help change the community's perception of Downtown. She then directed members to Compass Kitchener - "Who Are You Kitchener" web site at www.who-are- you-kitchener.ca/ to participate in the current survey before May 5, 2010, to check results of past surveys and view other information. Finally, Ms. Adams referred to a study recently completed by Environics Research Group regarding Urban Aboriginal Peoples. The Study was conducted over the past year to understand the identities, values, experiences and aspirations of First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples living in Canada's major cities. PRESENTATION -COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY Ms. J. Ouellette introduced Ms. Sue Weare, Masters of Social Work Intern, who is currently working on the Community Engagement Strategy. Ms. Ouellette clarified that this Strategy is not aimed at the general population but is directed to those citizens who stated in the "Compass Kitchener -Who Are You Kitchener" survey that they wished to be involved in decision making on local governance issues. SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES APRIL 6, 2010 - 7 - CITY OF KITCHENER 3. PRESENTATION -COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY (CONT'D) To the best of its ability and as appropriate, the City will be committed to using community engagement strategies and tools that will regularly engage citizens through: the sharing of information; citizen consultation on specific projects; and, participation in the development of City policies, strategies and plans for strategic investments. To that end, a community engagement tool kit is being developed to assist staff in this process with practical techniques and to encourage staff to involve the public as much as possible. The kit is intended to: • provide practical guidelines for identifying which form of community engagement is most appropriate to use and when; • assist staff in planning, designing, implementing and evaluating a range of public engagement techniques; • be a toolkit that describes an array of public engagement techniques and methods to address barriers; and • provide a list of reference materials for further enquiry. Ms. Ouellette asked members to look through the tool kit and provide comment on anything that could be added to this engagement process. She advised the Committee's feedback would be appreciated as soon as possible as the staff report on this issue is scheduled to be presented to Council for approval of a 6-month pilot project. Ms. Beaulne cautioned that the knowledge and professional expertise of staff may be a barrier to engaging the community who may be passionate for engagement but could also feel intimidated by this process. The ultimate goal might look similar in terms of outcome, but citizens and staff may come from different places. Ms. J. Metzger advised that community goals of collaboration often conflict with the City's viewpoint. Councillor Vrbanovic suggested that the citizens need to know that weight will be given to their input and that it will affect any decision making process. In response to a question from Mr. Doherty, Ms. Ouellette stated the next step is to complete the tool kit following which, staff who normally engage the community will be trained and requested to use these techniques in a pilot project. After that time, the strategy will be finalized and will be used to engage community stakeholders. Ms. Ouellette advised that the resource guidebook "City Hall 101 -Working in Partnership: An Orientation to Municipal Government and the City of Kitchener" has been updated with information provided by Compass Kitchener and has valuable information on how municipal government works, how to get involved and how to begin working with the City. This guidebook can be found on the City's website at www.kitchener.ca under Publications. WORK PLAN Ms. Palubeski noted the comments from the Environics presentation today regarding perception versus reality on the Downtown is great timing as this Committee begins work on the Safe Kitchener Awareness campaign. Ms. C. Collins, Corporate Communications, provided an overview on her discussions with her staff team. They have asked for clarification on some of the questions the Committee had posed earlier. Ms. Collins also suggested that perhaps a general poster is not the best way to go, as based on the Environics report presented earlier, we need to target a specific audience. She asked for clarification on the following questions: • Who is our audience? (the general community will have different fears and perceptions that the senior community) • Who do we influence? (downtown community /suburban community) • How will we know when we have had success? • What is the Committee's role in this campaign? (Make aposter /host community meetings, talk to people, knock on doors) • What else is happening in the Downtown community? (Can we piggyback on to special events) • What is DAC or the KDBA doing? (Can we work with their resources) SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES APRIL 6, 2010 - 8 - CITY OF KITCHENER WORK PLAN (CONT'D) Councillor Vrbanovic suggested that through the Environics report, we do have initial information on citizens' perception of the Downtown, that there are two core audiences we can use to flesh out our campaign; neighbourhood associations through the suburbs and the senior's group through the three community centres. A general discussion took place on topics such as: • are we going to be able to influence all seniors, can our campaign alone make that change, or shall we take a smaller bite and concentrate on those that are directly affected by living in the Downtown first? • younger demographic group did not feel Downtown was unsafe; • target the benefits of what Downtown has to offer; • target each individual group through all media outlets; • Downtown Core, Urban Flair with Attitude" areal diverse collection at the Saturday Market, including pan handlers, people are actually leaving the market and giving away stuff to the panhandlers. How do you capitalize on the concept that it is a very strong community with many regulars who live and shop there? • retail attraction strategy -Who are we attracting? • take a broader strategy on safety issues, for e.g. Statistics Canada -Kitchener is still below the national rate; • number of police calls in different parts of the community; • real estate agents' approach to selling; • target the I-Express and promote Downtown; • develop the audience ; • have a "Find the Key" project, show movies (city hall cube) to enhance the positive. • have better scripts for Dan the Mayor, target the real stories of Downtown Kitchener. • Host a King Street party, claim the part of King street closest to you; • encourage the Festival of Neighbourhoods to involve themselves with their portion of King St; • there were two high schools that made the Downtown a community of 12 or 15,000 extra people who appeared to have no negative perceptions; • general propensity of media to play on people's fears, trying to work against that all the time, any campaign is to counteract the newspaper, television, radio fear news; and, • find a way to engage all three committees, KYAC, MACKS & SHCAC in stakeholder activities. L. Palubeski will schedule another meeting and organize asub-group to come up with some objectives. The following members have offered to help on this sub-group: J. Metzger, Superintendent B. Larkin, B. Pegg, and P. Doherty. ALL-COMMITTEE GATHERING -FOLLOW-UP K. Kwiatkowski and L. Palubeski met with the Chair of Mayors Advisory Council for Kitchener Seniors (MACKS). There was an exchange of information, review of Terms of Reference, ideas for working collaboratively and an invitation to the April 19th project meeting. It was felt that the April 19th meeting would be a convenient time to talk about the Downtown and the perception of seniors. As Mr. Bellamy is away, there is no follow-up report at this time on opportunities to connect with the Kitchener Youth Action Council (KYAC). ADJOURNMENT On motion, the meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m Rita Delaney Committee Administrator