The Politico Calendar for September 2016

September means back to school, but it also means back to the Politico Calendar after a summer break. Here are the events to look out for all next month.

MANGEZ! Dine Safe Guide for August 16-31, 2016

Twice-monthly, Guelph Politico posts the latest inspection results from the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit inspection of local restaurants, hotels, cafes, grocery stores and other businesses that handle food. We call it "Mangez!", and this column highlights the latest inspections done by WDGPH, and the results they've posted.

GUELPH POLITICAST #48 - Food Trucks in Guelph

Can you smell what the trucks are cooking? Guelphites certainly have been this summer as the City has experimented with new rules and regulations for the roll out (pun intended) of food trucks in the Royal City. In years gone by, the most you can expect in terms of "meals on wheels" was a hot dog cart; I myself have found memories of the chip wagon strategically situated between my house and my high school in Georgetown, but as we've seen this summer, the food truck business is incredibly more diverse than we might have once thought possible.

Upcoming Townhalls With MP Longfield Announced

Getting a jump start on Back to School, Guelph's Member of Parliament Lloyd Longfield is putting out the call: two town halls this fall about important and pressing issues before the House of Commons. 

OPEN SOURCES GUELPH BEAT #8 - City Councillor Mark MacKinnon (Ward 6)

Summer is winding down, and so are a lot of summer vacations, which means it will soon be time to get back to business as usual (or unusual as the case may be) at City Hall. Before that happens though, we look backwards one more time and the last city councillor to grace the CFRU studios for their 30 minutes of fame on Open Sources Guelph, Ward 6 Councillor Mark MacKinnon.

Flowers and Veggies Make the News in Guelph

Of course Guelph is renowned for being a fairly environmentally friendly place, so in that tradition today we mark how the City of Guelph won an award for planting some flowers, and is planning a celebration next month for all things vegetable. 

S&P Gives Guelph AA+ for the Fourth Year in a Row

In an announcement that should chill out voices of concern about the City of Guelph's financial outlook, Standards and Poor's (S&P) Global Ratings agency has given our fair city a AA+ rating with a stable outlook for the fourth year in a row.

GUELPH POLITICAST #47 - Stephen O'Brien, City Clerk

The subtitle for this week's episode might well be "How does city council work?" Or at least, how does something transform from being an idea or suggestion into a new by-law or policy. Change is always inevitable, and there's a fairly significant change coming to the way council is conducted next month, the switch over from a standing committee model to a Committee-of-the-Whole one. So I thought, "Why not combine the ideas?"

OPEN SOURCES GUELPH BEAT #7 - City Councillor James Gordon (Ward 2)

Many city councillors manage two careers, but usually one of those careers takes them out of the spotlight. This is not the case with Ward 2 City Councillor James Gordon, who is a city councillor by day, and a singer/songwriter by night. Or maybe that's reversed. Or maybe they sometimes both take place at night. In any event, Gordon spends both career in the spotlight, and he recently took the hot seat on an episode of Open Sources Guelph a few weeks ago.

MANGEZ! Dine Safe Guide for August 1-15, 2016

Twice-monthly, Guelph Politico posts the latest inspection results from the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit inspection of local restaurants, hotels, cafes, grocery stores and other businesses that handle food. We call it "Mangez!", and this column highlights the latest inspections done by WDGPH, and the results they've posted.

Nightlife and Safe Semester a "Evolution of the Process" Says Guelph Police

Following up on last week's Guelph Politicast podcast, I sought out the perspective of someone that represents one of the most important members of the Nightlife Task Force, the Guelph Police Service. Garry Male, an inspector with the Guelph Police Service, has been a part of the Nightlife Task Force off and on for five years, and he thinks that as compared to how things used to be handled downtown on bar nights, there's been a big improvement over the last several years.

GUELPH POLITICAST #46 - Nightlife Task Force

It's coming! Or rather, They're coming! Back to School time will soon be upon us, and along with heading back to the books, the classes, the seminars, the study sessions, and the seemingly never-ending stream of projects, essays, and reports, the students of the University of Guelph will soon be coming back... to party! That may be an over-generalization, but it's also true that Downtown Guelph is going to get very busy again on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. This is where the Nightlife Task Force comes into play.

OPEN SOURCES GUELPH BEAT #6 - Guelph Police Chief Jeff DeRuyter

What began as an experiment to get the city's politicians on the show, has expanded into other areas. Like policing. In an effort to expose out listeners to the myriad of voices that make a difference to our lives in Guelph everyday, back in June we invited the police chief onto Open Sources Guelph, which might have marked the first time the police was intentionally invited into CFRU.

Nestle Gives $460K to UofG to Study the Groundwater it Wants to Take

In the kind of academic/corporate partnership that should give most people pause, the University of Guelph announced today that it has been given a $460,000 donation by Nestle Waters Canada to "conduct leading-edge groundwater research in Wellington County."

GUELPH POLITICAST #45 - Wellington Water Watchers

It was a month ago today, that the City of Guelph took the water use level down to Level 2 Red. Indeed emphasis of water use during the Summer of 2016 is "less is more," as an unusually dry winter has lead into an unusually dry spring and summer. Given the preciousness of water, and the unusual scarcity of it this year, would it not be advisable to think about just how we spend those resources?

5th Annual guelPhonography Exhibit Looking for guelPhonographers

Reminder Guelphites: You can do more with your phone than collecting Pokemon. The fifth annual guelPhonography contest has begun, inviting all phone-wielding photogs to submit their pics of "the people, places, history, heritage, sports and spirit that make Guelph beautiful."

OPEN SOURCES GUELPH BEAT #5 - City Councillor Cathy Downer (Ward 5)

With council taking the month off, this is the perfect time to catch up with your city councillors. As part of a project on Open Sources Guelph, we're endeavouring to host every member of Guelph City Council on the show by the end of the year. Those efforts have been catalogued in two installments of Open Sources Guelph Beat so far. This is the third.