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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory - 2006-02-09DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES February 9, 2006 City of Kitchener The Kitchener Downtown Advisory Committee met this date, commencing at 4:10 p.m., Chaired by Doug Hoch with the following members present: Christina Weylie, Marcus Stranz, Glen Woolner, Shelley Gibbs, Jamie Hill, Jason Lane and Markus Shantz. City staff present include: Tracey DeVille and Silvia Wright Others present include: Mayor Carl Zehr, Councillor Berry Vrbanovic, Carla Ladd, and Shelley Adams. Various members of other Advisory Committees were also present. 1. Business Arising 1.1 Who Are You Kitchener? Presentation Mr. Don Bourgeois, Compass Kitchener, provided some background information on the Who Are You Kitchener process. Mr. Bourgeois outlined the agenda for today, noting that the goal is to obtain the opinions of all advisory committees and that is why they have been invited. Mr. Bourgeois explained that the Who Are You Kitchener? process was formed to help define the visions and values that the residents want to be as a community over the next 20 years He advised that this is one of the largest public processes ever taken on in Canada which has been organized by Compass Kitchener, which is made up of all volunteers and residents of Kitchener. The purpose is to develop a vision for the future. The process stated with an extensive survey by the Evnironics Research Group in the Spring of 2005. The Who Are You Kitchener? project is the second phase of the program. He explained that the survey and the Who Are You Kitchener? project is made up of social values of the residents of Kitchener and not their opinions. This approach was taken since opinions do tend to change but individual social values do not change very rapidly. Phase 2 is scheduled to run January 2006 to March 2006, with a final report to Council in June 2006. The full survey is available on line - www.who-are-you.kitchener.ca Mr. Bourgeois provided the Committee with statistics on the survey. He noted that there were some topics that were identified within the survey that Compass Kitchener chose to focus on. These topics include: Leadership and Community Engagement, Downtown Development, Development, Identity, Diversity, Environment and Quality of Life. This data will be used to help Council form an identity of the City of Kitchener over the next 20 years. Page 1 of 5 DAC Minutes February 9, 2006 Mayor Carl Zehr thanked the Committee members for their time and opinions with this process and advised the Committee members that he is very interested in the comments the members will have. Mayor Zehr noted that Council is interested in getting as much information as possible and that there has been a balance of positive and negative reaction to the process. Mr. Bourgeois then introduced the Facilitator for the workbook session, Ms. D'Arcy Farlow. Ms. Farlow led the Committee members through a variety of exercises in the workbooks. The Committee participated in the exercises and discussion on their opinions. The following is a list of the comments gathered from this exercise: Budget Exercise (this exercise had the group imagine they had the City budget and they were to decide how much money for each City service) ^ Everything is important -difficult to assign ^ Instead of dollar amount it may have been easier using percentages ^ Without the history or education on each category it is difficult to determine ^ Top 3 priorities are roads, sidewalks and social programs ^ Add some other categories (Regional) Should the City be about communities that carefully plan with some restrictions or a City where the business community is the one that decides the way that the community is run? ^ To have the business community decide could potentially create problems in that some businesses may not get the opportunity to locate in Kitchener -not right for others to set categories and let the `chips fall where they may' ^ Create democracy to allow businesses to go where they want ^ Need to be more creative than to have too much planning -allow some flexibility to get some interesting things ^ Some homeowners may feel as though his/her investment (home property or other) is protected by the current Zoning By-laws of the City and to not have restrictions could jeopardize their investment ^ citizens are involved in all decisions to plan the creativity etc. LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Thoughts and Questions - ^ A little more amalgamation of municipal government -(roads, sidewalks, water, fire, essential services) ^ Why is it not possible to have one central administration -want to see savings and reduction of costs ^ Difficult to combine municipal governments -but volunteer services should be pooled - what would that look like? More efficiency -volunteer organizations (volunteer action centre) ^ Some things do not need to leave Kitchener - Oktoberfest, cultural things unique to Kitchener ^ Grant Proposals - if you provide services to all 3 cities then it would be easier to apply once then more than once -plus the Region Page 2 of 5 DAC Minutes February 9, 2006 ^ take the licensing department and make it regional in order to make it easier for the charitable groups ^ agnostic about amalgamation -some efficiencies realized, but not entirely -some things could be better such as libraries ^ larger the structure the less opportunity for civic engagement - we have very little direct communication with queens park, and Ottawa, the small the structure the easier it is to make the connection ^ go to a larger community -some costs can actually rise (amalgamation) ^ certain standard across the region -water ^ libraries have been a high priority but the other municipalities have not given the same level of commitment some things can be universal others not so but we could be helping others get to the same standard and it may come to an amalgamation but still keeping some of our own services ^ mostly comfortable with infrastructure amalgamation, but not with social type services SAFTEY IN THE DOWNTOWN ^ likes the diversity and is hearing about the violence and drug dealer, not uncomfortable with the street people, movement towards street workers, community style police with longer involvement, ^ outreach workers and the working centre is a positive thing ^ downtown lighting issue specifically King Street - did a bus tour to Guelph to view their recent lighting upgrade and there is a dramatic difference and the people that see the difference say there is no question that the downtown Guelph lighting is very bright and even the upgraded standard for Kitchener is no comparison, and the need to see clearly one block away ^ more retail needed ^ deaf do not like to be in the downtown since they rely so much on light, lighten up the entire downtown, light facades, no dark alley ways, stores on either side, you want to go home when the stores close ^ more police on the beat -could that bring about changes -employment strategies can not comment on the officer presence in the downtown core is the highest than any other part of the community it has not changed a lot since the early 80's - it is busier in the downtown now and they do not walk too much since they have more incidents, sometimes it is that if there is too much police on the beat then the perception of safety ^ uniform is black and it may not be as visible ^ empty parking lots with no reflective walls of a building, increase lighting, service hours of business, increase transportation, activities ^ streetscape is important - if it looks attractive then people will be more comfortable ^ safe activity in an unsafe area it reduces the amount of crime -neighbourhood watch - skating downtown, community gardens, chess games ^ housing stock -diverse housing area, 24 hours of people living downtown, lofts, schools Page 3 of 5 DAC Minutes February 9, 2006 DEVELOPMENT - ^ Clusters and Industry (Arts & Culture Cluster, Biotech Cluster [extension of the school of pharmacy]) ^ Clusters that leverage -Arts & Culture for example brings people down to the core, makes downtown `neat' has the ability to not just sustain but also to put the icing on the cake ^ Education and Knowledge cluster -new business, attract more businesses downtown, suppliers, etc. ^ Educational institutions are a fabulous move - create a centre of excellence in education ^ Education is a safe bet -its there to stay it's not a short term lease, you do not want to push out certain businesses because they do not fit into a cluster ^ Do not loose one or two major employers here that is bad for our local economy and diversification is key and that can be supported within the area ^ Maintain diversity ^ Management of spin-offs -housing and the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods and it does not end of n the wrong neighbourhood where there is a good mix of everything ^ Councillor Weylie provided news about the new school of medicine. DIVERSITY How can the city support multicultural diversity? ^ Have interpreters available to keep all members of the community aware ^ Recreation is not looked at as just baseball, but other cultural activities ^ Growing segment of immigrants - we have a large number in Kitchener, one of the first things that needs to be done is a comprehensive survey of the needs and wants of that group -they need to understand, a lot of things could be done well through a survey geared towards immigrants ^ How far do you go with the word encourage or allow it almost becomes a negative term, support of multi-cultural things within the City -where does it start and where does it stop ^ A lot of things are happening naturally and if you are committed to living downtown you need to commit to participate. ^ Recognize and respect the diversity of who the people are -and with deaf people it is a communication issue -whether it is through not having English as a language or needing an interpreter ^ We should be proud of what we have in Kitchener - in Toronto they are setting up a deaf cultural centre and depending on the population needs that could be something that we may need to focus on ^ Grants and funding community groups, a lot of people get engaged that way and that may be viewed as well spent money because the non-immigrant population gets exposure to the cultural groups and you have the ability to celebrate their cultural as well. ^ It was noted that K-W Oktoberfest does receive a grant and it creates a huge spin off for other local community groups Page 4 of 5 DAC Minutes February 9, 2006 IDENTITY Describe Kitchener as if you were telling someone who has never been here before what we are like ^ We are the size of Newark, New Jersey but we are not a satellite ^ We are close to Toronto but we are nothing like it ^ The deaf community already does the sign for Oktoberfest and everyone knows Kitchener through that ^ Very Arts Community rich -theatres, museums, art galleries, etc. ^ Educational Community -University of Waterloo, Wilfred Laurier and Conestoga College ^ Technology, Knowledge, Cultural ^ Blue collar manufacturing healthy employment rates Shelley Adams thanked the Downtown Advisory Committee for allowing the Who Are You Kitchener? project team to present during their time slot and noted that these meetings have also been an opportunity for everyone to learn more about others values and as a way to have a more intimate conversation. 2. Approval of Minutes On motion by, It was resolved: "That the minutes of January 12, 2005 be approved" 3. Appointments • Safe & Healthy Community Advisory Committee Representative No nominations were put forward. It was noted that the request for appointment to the Committee will be on future agendas until such time that the position is filled. Updates from the Safe & Healthy Community Advisory Committee will be done through receipt of the minutes. 4. New Business On motion, the meeting was adjourned at 6:05 p.m. Next Meeting: Thursday, March 9 - 4:00 pm - 6pm Conestoga Room, Ground Floor City Hall Page 5 of 5 DAC Minutes February 9, 2006