Weekly newsletter: August 29, 2023

Hello again!

You can almost feel September breathing down our neck as the weather begins to cool a little and some trees have had early displays of colour. 

I was in London for four days last week. I didn’t have the chance to ride the Tube, visit filming locations of popular movies, or tour the local history, because I was in London, Ontario. 

Jokes aside, I attended the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference to connect with municipal leaders from across our province to discuss common issues, learn about initiatives to address them, and share ideas for our future. 

Though I expected there to be other municipalities in Ontario facing the same challenges Ottawa faces, what was interesting was that every city in Ontario was facing those challenges, albeit at different scales. 

These include challenges with keeping services adequately funded without wringing residents dry, housing and homelessness, and the outdated municipal fiscal framework (which determines which level of government pays for what). 

AMO also features ministerial delegations, whereby attendees from each municipality were given short meetings with different provincial ministers to advocate for something from the provincial government. 

I intended to observe and take notes as Councillors Brockington and Kitts led the delegation meetings, but a scheduling fluke thrust me into meeting the Solicitor General and the President of the Treasury Board... alone. 

With the Solicitor General and his staff, I brought up the funding that is needed for Ottawa to support next generation 9-1-1 (currently being deployed across the province), as well as the need for additional spaces allocated to Ottawa’s police recruits at the Ontario Police College. 

With the President of the Treasury Board, we discussed the need for improved cooperation in emergency and disaster response by private entities through changes to the building code and other best practices. They quickly pointed out the inordinate number of times we had to deploy our emergency/disaster response over the last few years.

These meetings typically don’t generate immediate results other than that connection, but are valuable in potentially guiding conversations for future programs and funding by various ministries. Locally, it could include things as specific as a new highway interchange (ahem, 416/Barnsdale). 

Aside from that, there were also several workshops, plenaries, and presentations based on current demands, past solutions that worked, and future initiatives. 

Next year’s AMO conference will be in Ottawa. 

The transit budget 

The 2024 budget process will begin early-September, starting with budget directions at the Finance and Corporate Services Committee on Tuesday, September 5. Budget directions sets the high-level direction we want to take with next year’s budget, most notably setting the tax/levy increase envelope. 

It’s no surprise where the greatest budgetary challenge will be: transit. 

It made sense to leave the bus network and service levels unchanged in 2020 into early-2021, as the pandemic was still new and technically unpredictable. The fact that OC Transpo continued to hope for provincial and federal funding while doing nothing to adapt was — and is — irresponsible. 

Businesses survive on adapting, and while OC Transpo is not a business, the principle of adapting to survive still applies. 

A route review process to accept the new reality is underway, expected to be unveiled in 2024, but the price that was paid and to be paid for dithering and hoping to wait it out will loom large for a few years. 

But the solution to transit’s problems can’t always be tackled by cutting service, raising fares, or taking from reserves, since that’s not sustainable. 

The City needs to embrace creativity to address the shortfall, which started at $39 million in January. “Creativity” is used loosely, because things like land asset realignments, pursuing more aggressive advertising partnerships, and taking advantage of technology to improve demand-responsiveness are common solutions already embraced by private businesses and some public entities. 

But against the current rigid culture at the City, those solutions seem seismic. 

Waste collection truck spills – update 

Two weeks ago, I shared that city staff and Miller Waste (our collection contractor) were working to determine a path forward, because green bin material being spilled and smeared across residential streets is below service expectations. Compost is not marmalade, and sending a cleaning crew every two weeks is not sustainable. 

I mentioned there are challenges in repairing the specialised parts of the vehicle, and though the challenges are not entirely the contractor’s fault, there remains an expectation collected material is not spilled. 

Miller will soon be renting or purchasing a new vehicle to address the issue, though it could be some time before that materialises. 

Municipal waste collection contracts are typically up to 10 years long, so contractors often purchase new vehicles at the time of a contract signing (sometimes also worked into the contract by the City and/or the contractor). 

Miller’s contract with the city is up for renewal in 2025, so it makes sense their existing fleet is getting old, but in the meantime, they still need to correct issues. 

Please continue sharing issues on collection day with me at Wilson.Lo@ottawa.ca or by calling 3-1-1, 311@ottawa.ca, or submitting a webform. Thank you! 

Resident outreach 

Lastly, I had really hoped to devote some time throughout the summer to knock on doors and chat with residents across the ward, but the summer busier than expected on both work and personal fronts. 

My wife and I are nursing a sick guinea pig back to health this week, but I’m hoping to be out and about regularly throughout the autumn starting next week. 

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Enjoy the last week of August, the last week of summer vacation for many. To our francophone students, best wishes for the 2023-2024 school year, which starts this week. 

Take care! 

-Wilson