HomeMy WebLinkAboutSafe City - 1996-03-26SAFECI'rY~1996-03-26
SAFE CITY COMMITTEE MINUTES
MARCH 26, 1996
The Safe City Committee held its meeting under the Chairmanship of Councillor Karen
Redman and Trudy Beaulne with the following members present: Brock Stanley, Nancy
Brawley, Philip Fernandez, Bryan Stortz, Bob Arnot and Karen Taylor-Harrison.
Others Present: Christiane Sadeler, Kathryn Dever (minutes)
Members Absent: Councillor Mark Yantzi, Julie Dean, Manuela Almeida, Gregory Jahn,
Wilfred Park, Alan Richardson and Rita Westbrook.
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REVIEW OF MARCH 5 MINUTES
There was general agreement that the minutes of the March 5, 1996 meeting were
an accurate reflection of what took place and was discussed.
ADDITIONAL INITIATIVES
Christiane Sadeler advised members present that she would be attending the
International Mayor's Summit next week and asked for both projects to take with her,
and information she should bring back for the committee. Specifically, she was
looking for creative crime prevention efforts, which should be publicized at the
conference. After discussion it was agreed that three Kitchener projects should be
noted: the Cedar Hill Project (information will be provided by Karen Taylor-Harrison);
the Festival of Neighbourhoods (information will provided by Trudy Beaulne), and
the City's work in mediation. Members requested that information on small, "do-
able" safety projects be brought back. Trudy Beaulne noted that there is a need for
something in between grassroots initiatives on the one hand, and general policies
on the other.
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Christiane Sadeler recapped the last meeting and noted that there was a sense of
team/clustering around various initiatives. She wanted to make sure the list was
exhaustive, and so had requested committee members bring back one new initiative
to this meeting. She had also asked for terms which, because they mean different
things to different people, require clarification.
Trudy Beaulne advised that she did not have a new initiative, but that she
reorganized the priorities from the last meeting, seeing them in four clusters: safety
audit; community level pilot programs; City mandates; and important initiatives which
the committee is not ready to tackle yet. Trudy suggested three committees might
be set up around the first three of these clusters.
Through discussion around the table, the following new initiatives were recorded by
Christiane Sadeler on a flip chart:
1) Communicate "safety" in other languages; be sensitive to cultural issues
(including "culture" of relating, beyond ethinicity); work with multicultural
centres; seeking "natural" leaders
2) Re-integrate the issues specific to youth (establish connection with Korova
cafe)
3) Facilitate cross-pollenation to counter isolation
4) Going where people are, with openness to initiate projects/pilot programs;
break into sub-committees
5) Working groups/clusters of initiatives - audit
- neighbourhood pilot programs
- city planning
6) Applied research/information gathering; connect with SCPC including public's
perception; establishing a Community Profile (CP) profile and safety profile
7) Establish/consider measurement of safety.
8) Providing opportunities to hear "voices of Kitchener people"; opening a door
for action
The above initiatives were then prioritized by members, using coloured dots as at
the last meeting.
One other initiative which had been forwarded in paper form was not posted on the
wall for prioritizing: the Eyes and Ears Program (used in Scarborough), whereby City
drivers are on constant look out for crime activity; the program could also be
expanded to the business community.
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BREAK
Nancy Brawley arrived; Coun. Karen Redman, Bob Arnot and Bryan Stortz left the
meeting.
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PLACING PRIORITIES ON TIME LINE
A time line with each year from 1996 to 2001 inclusive was placed on the wall, and
members placed initiatives (from the last meeting and today's) under various years.
Discussion and rearrangement of the initiatives took place. The Toronto strategies
were seen as clouding other issues since they were not all applicable to Kitchener;
some of these initiatives, as well as those which had received no points in the
prioritizing process, were removed to simplify the grouping process; these are still
considered good ideas and will not be ignored. A category was created for
"Process", which includes initiatives which will underlie all work the committee does,
and are not specific to one time. Overlapping and related initiatives were grouped
together within their year.
Considerable discussion ensued, from which several points emerged. There was a
feeling that the initiatives should be refined by cluster first and then by time frame,
because it is important to know the time associated with them. The clusters can
create working groups who could possibly create their own time lines. Philip
Fernandez referred to the map and how the initiatives fit with it. In addition to the
three mentioned previously (new initiative 5 in section 2 above), two more clusters
were created:
- research/information gathering
- processes and values
Christiane Sadeler recommended before working groups are made, the committee
examine each cluster at the next meeting and ask about each:
1 ) title?
2) what is missing?
3) when should it be done?
4) can a group form around this?
Nancy Brawley questioned why an initial concern regarding public perception of
street people downtown and their associated safety concerns was not anywhere on
the time line. This public perception has come up repeatedly when people are
asked about safety downtown and needs to be dealt with. Discussion ensued on
public perception vs. reality, the beginnings of this committee, the need to document
and remember its history, and the possiblity of initial ideas being lost. A further
discussion on the mandate of the committee and the definition of "community" and
"neighbourhood" took place. There was general agreement that "community"
includes all stakeholders, including residents and the businesses. Christiane
Sadeler noted this definition on the list of undefined terms.
(It is noted here that several unanswered questions were submitted on paper by
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Gregory Jahn but were not addressed at the meeting).
Meeting adjourned 6:15 p.m.
K. Dever
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