Press Release - New Mayor's Blog Launched

Having an active internet presence is key for any modern politician looking to get his or her message out to the masses, not to mention keeping their community up-to-date with key points of information. Mayor Cam Guthrie is no stranger to this idea, and during his political tenure he's been active on Facebook and Twitter and maintained a news blog for his Ward 4 constituents. Eager not to lose that connection to the people, Guthrie and the City of Guelph has just announced the launch of the new Mayor's mayor's blog. Details and links to follow.

Guelph Politicast #4.8 - "Fireside Chat" with Phil Allt and James Gordon

 

October 27 marked a bold new venture for the City of Guelph with the election of seven new councillors and a brand new mayor. But campaigns are one thing, how does our city council, new and old members alike, intend to work together? That's one of many questions I put to Ward 2 Councillor-Elect James Gordon and Ward 3 Councillor-Elect Phil Allt when we met recently for a series I'm calling "Fireside Chats," the first of which forms the basis for this latest entry in the Guelph Politicast.

City Hall Reporter Wants to Become the Reported

All those years of reporting and blogging about local issues and the business of City Hall apparently gave former Guelph Mercury journalist Scott Tracey a kind of Stockholm syndrome. Or maybe he's just now of the opinion that if he can't beat them, join them. Or, the more likely, he's being driven by a sense of civic pride and commitment. Regardless of the reason why, Tracey is throwing his hat into the ring for this fall's municipal election running in the very busy Ward 4 race.

An Open Letter from the Drivers of Guelph Transit

Lost in the rush to indict the drivers of Guelph Transit on the whole overtime fracas, is their side of the story. This open letter from the drivers of Guelph Transit has been making the rounds online, including Cam Guthrie's blog and Ian Findlay's blog. I mentioned it on the last edition of "The Guelph Hour" on Beyond the Ballot Box, and I wanted to post it here too. The picutre it paints suggests that the maybe there's bigger operational problems with the city's mass transit service.

Election Questions for 2014

In more or less one year from today, Guelph residents (and indeed most residents in towns and cities across Ontario), will go to the polls to choose their local government for the next four years. Now a lot can happen in a year, so making predictions this far out seems rather counter-intuitive. Instead, let's consider some of the questions Royal City voters might have concerning the state of politics in town as we roll into an election year: Who will run? Who will run again? Who might be looking for a promotion? And what issues will be the deciding factor on who gets a seat around the horseshoe in 2015? Below are nine things to consider as we gear up for the 2014 campaign trail.

This Week In Rob Ford

Courtesy of the Torontoist

It's been a while since I wrote about Ol' Fordsie, but so much goes down with the Mayor of Toronto this can almost be a weekly, if not daily column. In fact, the "Morning Brew" feature on BlogTO is almost a clip-a-day slice of whatever controversy - major or minor - is presently marching through the Mayor's Office. For Rob Ford, the week began explaining some phone calls he was making, segued into losing his appeal to the Ontario Press Council, then he did a hatchet job on a city employee supposedly caught napping on the job, and is now wrapping up the week with the revelation that Ford wrote a character reference for his good friend Alessandro Lisi, part-time Ford driver, (alleged) full-time drug dealer. Just another week in Ford Nation.

Early Report Card on the Media

Guelph Mercury managing editor Phil Andrews says on his "From the Editors" blog that he recently got a sneak preview of a media review the City's doing as part of it's communications strategy, and the news was apparently good if you're a fan of balanced media coverage. 

Looking at stories -  news articles, editorials, letters to the editor, columns and blogs - published  between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, the media audit aims to examine what kind of coverage City Hall gets from the various media sources in the Royal City. According to Andrews more than half the items audited were from the Mercury. In particular, blogs and editorials were both considered 71 per cent balanced, but while blogs were found to be 21 per cent negative, editorials were only a bit more negative at 23 per cent.

But the real question is what is all this in aid of? Is this the city equivalent of Googling one's own name and seeing what comes up? Is this seriously going to help the city better communicate knowing who's fairest most of the time? Whatever the reason, I hope the results will find their way online somewhere for the consumption by the general public (not to mention other bloggers interested in their perceived fairness. Hint, hint).

Solidarity in Walking

While flipping through the digital pages of the Guelph Mercury's Editors' blog this morning, I came across something I thought was worthy of re-publishing here. It's a letter/opinion piece from a concerned citizen that caught my eye because it reflects a lot of the problems I've encountered on local roads and streets lately.

Mike O'Dwyer says a lot of the things that have been shuffling around in my head for a while, but he says it with a great deal of eloquence, or at least more eloquence then I have when I'm nearly run over crossing the street, obey the traffic signals, just trying to get from one place to another like everyone else.

Guelph Politico 3.0

This is the end. No wait, that's wrong. This is actually a new beginning. 

Robocall: Notes From a Year Later

A couple of weeks ago I was on Twitter and I read a post by Andrew Prescott, AKA: the blogger Christian Conservative. He addressed the tweet to Donald Trump and asked The Donald to come to Ontario where he can continue the good work fighting wind mills as he did in Scotland. Forget that Trump is basically fighting an entire Scottish town on this so that he can open some ghastly golf course he'll undoubtedly drive into bankruptcy, but as I said a few weeks ago on "Beyond the Ballot Box," if Trump comes to Ontario to protest wind mills, I'll support him so long as he campaigns to see Stephen Harper's birth certificate while he's here.

Joking aside though, I find these kinds of posts from Prescott as irksome as I find them tiresome. Not just because he's one of the few people in the free world that continues to beatify Trump - whose own kids after his election day meltdown last November told him to pucker up - but because in midst of Prescott's identification of so call liars and "Fiberals" he seems to forget that he, himself, has a lot to answer for.

Funeral for Some Media Friends

It was sad news this week when the less than one year young Guelph Review revealed on its website that its taking its leave, and will no longer be covering the Royal City as this Friday's issue. The bold experiment in adding a third regular newspaper to the city's rotation was intriguing and full of possibility, but the paper seemed sadly unable to capitalize on its assumption that there was room in this market for three papers, especially when Guelph already has a daily and a twice-weekly newspaper in circulation.

Then again, maybe some people thought that you can dress up the old Smart Shopper with articles, photos and suduku, but at the end of the day, it's a still a thing that shows up on your doorstep Friday afternoon that doesn't get read. Maybe we'll never know where it all went wrong.

No Barbeque For You!

I noticed a post on the Mercury's From the Editors blog the other day that interested me in light of the whole robocall controversy. Apparently there is no local Conservative Party barbeque this summer. Now political parties of all stripes usually use Parliament's summer vacation time to jazz up the local support and thank volunteers and party members for their hard work. But the resounding silence from the upper leadership of the local Conservatives seems to be having a trickle down effect on their supporters.

Esoteric Nazi Labelism

The anonymous nature of the internet has long been a source of irk for people that like open and honest debate. It's too easy for people to duck behind a handle and lob hate-filled tirades at such diverse targets as Barack Obama, the Cincinnati Reds and filmmaker Ridley Scott. Now I believe in Freedom of Speech as a foundation for our whole, you know, society, but part-in-parcel with that freedom is responsibility. 

So when someone who goes by the moniker "Serious Cynic" compares our local government to Nazi Germany, it means it's time to reach back and remember some words written here and here.

The Problem with Bradshaw

To complete my trifecta of things in the Mercury that have made be angry (sorry Mercury staff), I come to another post on the 59 Carden St blog. Well, in the Mercury's defense, they were just regurgitating something posted on Ian Findlay's blog, but let's just say it opened old wounds.

You may recall a to-do made a month ago about a promotional video featuring the City of Guelph that the Mayor and others tried to pawn off as a prestige placement that Guelph was selected for, but what it really was was an infomercial paid for by the City. The series, Profiles with Terry Bradshaw wasn't so much a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous for out of the way tourist destinations in North America so much as it was a get-rich quick scheme for Bradshaw.

Christian Conservative Speaks... Cryptically

Ever since the breaking of the robocall scandal back in March, the former members of the Marty Burke campaign, including Burke himself, have gone into silent running mode, including Burke's Deputy Campaign Manager Andrew Prescott.

If there's a reason that Prescott's silence stuck out a little more than Michael Sona's, Ken Morgan's or even Burke's himself it's because Prescott is (or was) a fairly active blogger under the handle Christian Conservative. The last post on that blog was dated February 5th, at least a month and a half before the robocall issue went full tilt national scandal, at which point Guelph specifically, and the Burke campaign team even more specifically, went under the microscope. On blogs and on social media, Guelph's Christian Conservative's been eerily silent.

Until now.

The Laidlaw Conundrum

Whenever Maggie Laidlaw says something off the cuff, it's a guaranteed lightening rod.

The topic was up for discussion again yesterday on "Beyond the Ballot Box" on CFRU. I was doing a "Media at the Mic" segment, talking local issues with the Guelph Mercury Scott Tracey when the latest Laidlaw lob came up. In discussing the city's new, stricter idling by-laws last week, Ward 4 councillor Cam Guthrie said that he was concerned that the restrictions were "just another tool ... for residents to be tattle-tailing on their neighbours." To which his Ward 3 colleague responded "I will look forward to starting to make some phone calls."

Shelter from the Storm

I guess today we all know why now we're the Guelph Storm in OHL hockey. But all kidding aside, did you see that storm last night? Between the recent storms and the heat wave, one wonders how the weather this summer is going play out considering it isn't even technically summer yet.

But back to last night's storm. This morning's Police Blotter said that Guelph Police received over 60 calls concerning storm related damage through the night, and more were still coming in this morning as sunlight brought a better chance to measure the full extent of the damage. 

On her blog, Mayor Karen Farbridge offered a sampling of what City crew were dealing with out there today, and its pretty incredible. Hopefully all you people out there in blog-land have weathered the storm well, and didn't have to deal with too much of this:

• Staff have received approx. 250 storm calls as of approx. 1:00pm today.
• Staff first received calls at ~1:30am, including a report from Guelph Police Services reporting at 300m stretch of Laird Road being blocked by trees
• I can’t confirm how many city trees had been impacted city-wide, but suggest at least one tree per call on average
• I can’t confirm the number of downed trees that will require complete removal at this time, as staff hasn’t had full opportunity to assess
• The damage from this storm was worse than last Saturday’s event, and is the worst storm damage I have seen during my 4 ½ yr. tenure with the City.
• Staff are dealing with trees on houses, cars, and blocking roads and sidewalks—opening our roads was a priority as a matter of access for EMS vehicles.
• A number of hydro lines were down which precluded immediate access by Forestry staff in some instances—Hydro was required to ensure safe access.
• As of 1:00pm, we were aiming to have the last of or our residential roads opened by 3:00pm—-where closed, the local residents had an outlet; however, there was no through traffic.
• As well, staff were assessing our park/trail system for damaged/hazard trees—such trees found/reported have been cordoned-off with safety tape until such time as Forestry staff can address them, i.e., Sunny Acres, Silvercreek, John Gamble and Drummond Park. Forestry staff plan to get into the parks tomorrow, however, soft turf conditions will make for an additional challenge for our heavy equipment to remove the wood debris.
• Staff will be working into the evening and we’re planning for another 12 hour day tomorrow.
• Staff anticipate this latest storm will require 2-3 weeks to fully address the clean-up and this clean-up activity will directly impact our planned activity for forestry service requests.
• We do not provide assistance for damaged private trees, apart from those blocking roads and sidewalks and that homeowners should seek assistance from private forestry contractors who are both ISA certified and fully insured.

What's Right with this Picture?

Sending out a little love to my brothers and sisters in Guelph-based journalism today (as I nod to the oratory-style of Cornel West), because The Guelph Mercury has finally launched its new website. My short review is positive so far. It's as easy to navigate as the old site once you get your bearings. It took me a while to find the links to the Mercury blogs, like 59 Carden Street for example.(For the record, you click on the "More" tab in the middle of the task bar under the flag, or logo), but I do like how the blog now pops open in a new tab on browser. So far, so good!

Campaign Promise Achieved

Cam Guthrie's ahead of the game by fulfilling one campaign promise before he's even officially sworn in to City Council (which would be tonight by the way) with the launch of his Ward 4 News blog, which will keep his constituents up to date on goings on and issues in his Ward and the City of Guelph. Additionally, Guthrie has started a Facebook group called "Ward 4 Guelph".

I'm not sure if it's Guthrie's goal or not, but his dedication to creating this new blog seems to me like he's trying to create the kind of interactivity with his constituents that's on par with Ian Findlay's Ward 2 Blog. Is it too soon to call an inter-ward blog war? I don't think so.

New Rule: Nobody's A Nazi. (Except actual members of the Nazi Party)

Seriously?

Comparing our leaders or our political opponents to the fascist state that nearly conquered the globe and committed millions of people to dying horrible deaths is an instrument used by a lot of people in the United States. It's become easy for them to compare George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, or Nancy Pelosi to Hitler, or label them with terms like "Li'l Eichmann." (And don't even try and ask me about the whole thing with Obama painted as the Joker.) Anyway, I look at all this and think, well, at least we here in Canada can elevate ourselves to a level of political discourse where we don't compare people to Nazis.

My bad.

On a political high following last night's Mayoral Debate, I started scrolling through comment sections on various posts on the 59 Carden St blog. There's a post on there about The Guelph and District Labour Council's endorsement of several candidates in the coming election, and it's become one of those posts that's generated a lot of very heated commentary. 

Somewhere in the middle of all the comments was a three-way exchange about some information that Mayoral candidate Ray Mitchell posted about the legality of campaign donations from unions, saying that many municipalities in Ontario have outlawed the practice. Bill Hulet, a familiar poster on 59 Carden accused Mitchell of stretching the truth, saying:

"That's the same sort of politics that guys like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Joseph Goebbels follow."

Limbaugh, Beck and Goebbels? Worst. Dinner Party. Ever. 

But seriously, Goebbels? The implication, whether purposefully implied or not, is that Mitchell is cut from the same moral character as a Nazi. I'm no fan of either Limbaugh or Beck, one's an unrepentant drug abuser and the other is mad without a hat, but I would never in my wildest tantrum call them Nazis. To me, in a political discussion, comparing someone to a Nazi is like telling someone you'll kill them if you ever see their face again. It's a statement you may not have meant literally, but there's really no way to get around that because chances are, you're not going to kill that person if you see them again. 

The blog soon moved on to other matters and it seemed that there were no more Nazi comparisons to be made. It was a lively discussion and I send a virtual high-five to everyone that made it through to the end. Still, while the post was mostly issues focused, that one incident of name dropping Goebbels has got me grinding my gears. Disagreement is fine. Argument is fine. But throwing a Nazi uniform on people is just one small step to this: