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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Action - 1995-08-03DAC\1995-08-03 KITCHENER DOWNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE MINUTES August 3, 1995 The Kitchener Downtown Action Committee met this date under the Chairmanship of Councillor Mark Yantzi with the following members present: Rita Westbrook, Doug Marshman, Beth Christensen, Nancy Brawley, Deborah Budd, David Ryan, Michelle Morissetti, Karen Simoneau, Brian Hunsberger, Karen Taylor~Harrison, Robert Braun, Randy Jackson, Marleen Guttensohn, Nell Carver, Councillor Christina Weylie, Councillor Karen Redman, Councillor Jake Smola, Councillor Berry Vrbanovic and David Gowland Others Present: Gord Miller, Joseph MacDonald, Sybil Frenette, Catherine Heal and Ed. Kovacs 1. OPENING REMARKS Councillor M. Yantzi applaud members for their dedication to participate even in the middle of the summer season. Councillor M. Yantzi explained that the objective of the meeting was for members to discuss and express their opinions about the recommendations contained in the Mayor's Task Force Final Report. Councillor M. Yantzi welcomed Gord Miller and Joseph MacDonald from Waterloo Regional Police, and Deborah Budd from Waterloo Regional Arts Council. Waterloo Regional Arts Council is a new DAC member. The King East Neighbourhood Association has prepared a two~page submission in response to the Mayor's Task Force Final Report (see attached). S. Frenette provided an overview of the review process regarding the Mayor's Task Force Final Report. The report had been referred to both the Downtown Action Committee and Management Committee. Input from this committee will be submitted to Planning Committee and then to Council. S. Frenette emphasized the importance of keeping the momentum of the downtown initiatives. Staff have started to work on recommendations that were first introduced in the Interim Report and that have been approved by Council. 2. SAFETY RELATED RECOMMENDATIONS ~ RECOMMENDATIONS #34 ~ #40 Gord Miller and Joseph MacDonald with Waterloo Regional Police were present to discuss the safety related recommendations#34 to 40. S. Frenette explained that recommendation #34 originated from the Safety Committee. Work has begun to establish the Kitchener Safe City Committee. Terms of reference have been drafted and will be referred to Council for approval. The intention is to recruit members that have a proven genuine interest in the safety issue. J. MacDonald explained that the Waterloo Regional Police have recently started a few new initiatives including research regarding city safety and have hired a co-ordinator. Mr. MacDonald suggested that the Waterloo Regional Police be part of the Kitchener Safe City Committee. Councillor Redman asked how this new Safe City Committee will co-ordinate with the existing political structure and other organizations such as the KDBA. S. Frenette answered that in the first year, the group will have specific tasks, for example, examining the alternatives of improving lighting. The group will work with other related organizations such as the lC, DBA and the media. Depending on the nature of the initiative, the group does not necessarily need to receive Council's approval for all its initiatives. Councillor J. Smola asked for clarification on the safety audit, R. Westbrook answered that the safety audit was updated in March 1995 and the recommendations have not been implemented. E. Kovacs responded that the public is frustrated about the lack of action. He suggested a co- ordinated, consistent and proactive approach be used. N. Brawley suggested that when implementing safety initiatives, perception and feelings rather than technical numerical standards be used as the measurement of need. For example, the perception is that lane ways are more unsafe than main streets therefore the level of lighting should be higher on lane ways. E. Kovacs responded that focus has been put on vehicle traffic rather than pedestrian traffic when designing lighting. The new approach should include the pedestrians and the surrounding communities. Councillor M. Yantzi asked which is the leading body regarding the lighting issue. S. Frenette answered that the Safety Committee intended to be the lead. The new Safe City Committee's first agenda would be to revisit the safety audit, map problem areas, set priorities, set budget for first priority locations and work with the Public Works Department. Under recommendation #3B, it was recommended $100,000 be put aside so that, among other things, what is recommended in the safety audit can be implemented. Councillor C. Weylie asked who would be the safety co-ordinator recommended in recommendation #35. S. Frenette answered Brock Stanley would be the co-ordinator. He has met with members of the committee and it was decided that because Mr. Stanley is at a senior level and has the authority to assign work to other staff, he would be the ideal person to serve the function. When the issue of budget was brought up, E. Kovacs said that the Public Works Department would recategorize the lighting budget. J. MacDonald stated that environmental design is an important element in crime prevention, and - 186- that crime prevention and other safety measures have to go hand in hand. He suggested that crime prevention be an important part of the committee work. R. Braun asked if the $100,000 budget is a one time budget or an ongoing budget. Councillor M. Yantzi answered that the $100,000 would be the capital cost. N. BraMey asked if the $100,000 was assigned for lighting improvement only, and K. Taylor- Harrison asked where would the funding for crime prevention come from. S. Frenette explained that the $100,000 is only an estimate for the first year's implementation cost. If the Committee needs more money it can approach Council directly for an increase in budget. In regard to recommendation #37, S. Frenette explained that as a result of this recommendation, the KDBA and the Waterloo Regional Police have had one informal meeting with some downtown bar owners to discuss possible resolutions to problems that are incurred by the entertainment industry and their customers. The main problem being the price competition among the bars which result in low prices and therefore excessive drinking. Other problems include the use of posters and bars allowing underage drinking. During that meeting, the problem of price competition was discussed but no agreement was reached. All bar owners except one agreed to stop using posters and the one that is still doing it has cut back on the volume of posters since the meeting. They agreed to perform constant security checks in and around their establishments. Councillor J. Smola commented that it is important that similar meetings be held regularly in order to monitor the progress. N. Brawley agreed that there is no monitoring in place presently. Some problems can only be solved if bar owners co-operate voluntarily. The KDBA can continue to facilitate similar meetings. Councillor J. Smola further commented that the safety audit should include night time when the crime rate is highest. J. MacDonald explained that safety problems at night are different from those during the day. Most calls received by the police are received between 9:00 p.m and 3:00 a.m. They do focus their manpower at night. R. Westbrook responded to Councillor J. Smola's comment about having regular meetings. She said monitoring how the bars are co-operating is very time consuming and difficult to do. Bar owners are not obligated to attend the meetings. Their participation has to be voluntary. Another problem is that there is only one liquor inspector in the whole region. J. MacDonald asked if recommendation #4 regarding the exemption on development charges can be implemented selectively to exclude undesirable industries. S. Frenette answered that only strip - 187- parlours and arcades are restricted. Councillor J. Smola stated that the safety recommendations are the most important recommendations, and that one incidence can contaminate the image for the whole area and undermine other recommendations. S. Frenette pointed out that those are first priority items. G. Miller pointed out that the Waterloo Regional Police have been putting emphasis on problems in the downtown area in the post several years. He was disappointed that there is no recognition of that in the report. For example, 25 police officers are dedicated to the downtown area compared to an average of 6 to 7 officers in other areas in the region. Officers have to spend some of their time doing paper work which is inevitable. As a result, it is not possible to assign any more officers to the downtown and therefore recommendation #38 will not be implemented by increasing the number of officers. After a discussion on recommendations #58, it was agreed that the recommendation is not a first priority item, that improvements that have been made in the past should be acknowledged, and that given budgetary constraints it is not possible nor necessarily desirable to increase police presence by increasing the number of police officers. Nevertheless, downtown policing can be improved by strengthening the existing system creatively and by educating the public. For example, it might be possible to increase the visibility of the existing officers. It was suggested that the issue of perception must be dealt with seriously. G. Miller believed the key solutions are to educate the public about the reality vs. the perception, and to ask the media to cooperate. He applauds the work that the Task Force has done and concluded that the Waterloo Regional Police will continue to co-operate closely with other related organizations. He emphasized that co-operation is the key. N. Brawley suggested that the recognition be done in the preamble rather than in the recommendation. When asked for clarification of recommendation #40, S. Frenette explained that there have been incidents when businesses were considering relocating, they decided not to relocate in Kitchener downtown because of the false information that downtown Kitchener is unsafe. The intention of the recommendation is to create precise statistics to correct the misbelief. The statistics would be included in the business recruitment package as a promotional tool. Councillor C. Weylie advised that she sits on two political organizations that relate to: AMO and the National Board of Safety and Crime. She suggested that policing problems that are caused by poor legislation should be presented to Regional Council and then referred to AMO or the National Board of Safety and Crime so that the provincial or federal legislators can be informed of the need for reform. She agreed that the press is aggravating the safety problem and she suggested that the police meet with the media regularly. She felt that the downtown is not the only place where problems occur. - 188 - :3. SUBMISSION FROM KING EAST NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSOCIATION Dave GoMand briefly presented the submission prepared by the King East Neighbourhood Association (see attached). He believes that the downtown has good potential to attract business, the key is to convey the message. He thought that downtown residents should support the businesses in the downtown. He suggested that all neighbourhood associations meet once or twice a year to co-ordinate their work. The idea was welcomed by other association representatives present. 4. OTHER SUGGESTIONS AND CONCERNS N. Brawley announced that a business consultant has been hired to develop the Retail Action Plan (recommendation # 1). She expected the report to be completed in eight weeks. Farmers' Market Location It was pointed out that one of the problems with the present location is the unsuitability of the facility. Scott Street is also not ideal for the outside market because of the 3 blank walls and the back doors around it. It was felt that the Farmers' Market should be relocated but remained in the east end of the downtown so that it can augment the existing market district. Involvement of Different Organizations K. Simoneau suggested that community groups and the KDBA be included in the Downtown Action Team (recommendation #45) to ensure that key players are involved in the part of the process where actions are taken. S. Frenette and Councillor M. Yantzi explained that that team is an administrative team solely composed of staff. Therefore it would not be appropriate to include DAC members on the team. Community groups can participate through this committee. N. Brawley commented that there is no chart in the report that shows how different agencies relate to one another in the process. She suggested that the KDBA be added as a partner in the following recommendations: # 15, 18, 21,, 32, 33, 36, 39 and 41. She further clarified that the KDBA would like to participate in the development of the initiatives but not as a financial partner. It was suggested that the Waterloo Regional Arts Council be included in recommendations # 15, 23 and 28. D. Budd announced recommendation # 16 has been written and approved. With regard to programs such as the Facade Program, a boundary is usually drawn to indicate ~ 189~ where the program applies to. Councillor K. Redman said that she had received complaints from property owners about not being qualified for the program because their properties are on the side of the boundary where the program does not apply to. She felt that that issue should be dealt with. Housing M. Morissetti felt that the housing density in the downtown should be increased. R. Jackson felt that the linkages between local residents and local businesses have not been built. B. Hunsberger encouraged S. Frenette to consider other ways of developing the Smiles and Chuckles project instead of selling the land now that the provincial government is not sponsoring the project. S. Frenette agreed that other alternatives should and will be considered. 5. CONCLUSION The Committee endorsed the entire Mayor's Task Force Final Report in principle with the suggestions that were made at this meeting. Councillor M. Yantzi sent the Mayor's regrets on the Mayor's behalf for not being able to attend the meeting because he was on holiday. 6. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 a.m. Catherine Heal Acting Committee Secretary