Is it Mayor Fontana or Joe GONTANA?

In Tuesday’s London Free Press we read that  (Mayor Joe) ‘Fontana won’t budge’, and that he “isn’t going anywhere.”

In my opinion, if he is found guilty of today’s RCMP charges, he will be budged from office, be going somewhere where he doesn’t get to pick the menu, and known chiefly as Joe Gontana.

Because of the RCMP charges, I feel Councillor Swan’s earlier supportive words (i.e., Fontana deserved “at least a month” to answer questions about how a 2005 wedding reception was paid for) may prove prophetic. If Mayor Fontana is found guilty of several charges, he may in fact be gone - “at least a month” and maybe more.

Will the Mayor stay in office? By staying does he contribute to a positive work environment at City Hall or upon city streets?

Photos by GH

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What say you? Gontana or Stay-Ontana?

Please click here for more about Deforest City

DeForest City Blues: Make room for trees PT 2

Concerning London’s tree cover: There’s a bigger pest than the emerald ash borer and the Japanese beetle. Most trees in DeForest City have been lost to ‘dozers, chain saws and axes wielded by an assorted collection of homo sapiens.

Politicians, policy makers, voters in favour of sprawl, home developers and designers.

From any relatively high vantage point within the city it immediately becomes evident that London is a low, wide, deforested city. The average height of all London’s building stock is likely little more than 2.50 floors. 

Once we begin to strive toward a high, compact city, a variety of trees will return, with little help from the man with the ax.  

[Photos by G.Harrison]

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Are there bigger pests, re trees, than those mentioned?

Please click here to read Deforest City Blues: Make more room for trees PT 1

DeForest City Blues: Make room for trees PT 1

Poor city planning has contributed greatly to the deforesting of DeForest City (London, Ontario) for years. Now climate change and foreign pests are at work as well. Under attack we are, by man and pest.

["October 2 issue of London Free Press"]

We need to slow or stop the development of our city outward and repair the damage to the tree population our sprawl has caused. (A more compact city, or an upward growing city is not a new idea, just one that has been brushed aside.) We need to slow the pace of climate change in order to defend the human population and natural wonders around us. And we must make more room for trees (and natural amenities) within urban boundaries so that humans can live closer to them.

Smaller homes and apartments are in order. Less tarmac over arable land. 

Roll back 10 per cent of city streets. Rescue the land.

[Photos by G.Harrison]

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Could a street near you be 10% narrower and still useful?

Please click here for more Live Small

Deforest City Blues: "More gated communities in the historic core?"

Will downtown London one day be home to dozens of gated communities for millionaires, young professionals and affluent empty-nesters?

It’s looking that way.

[Photo by G.Harrison]

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Please click here for more details.

Downtown London: “Just another gated community?”

Will two Renaissance towers (or more) help rejuvenate the downtown? Yes, in some respects, perhaps as much as a tall glass of homogenized milk will quench one’s thirst.

How many millionaires, young professionals and affluent empty-nesters does it take to fill Renaissance II?

 ["Are you affluent? Have a house to sell?"]

How many reasonably-priced small, tidy apartments are being built downtown for those who will not fit into the “tower profile”?

                      

                            

["A good-sized gated subdivision?"]

[Photos by G.H. of Aug. 1 Free Press article]

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Please click here for more about London

Photo Poser 2

Do you want to buy waterfront property?

Will new waterfront property near the Thames River come on market within 10 years?

What are you willing to pay to live at the historic Forks of the Thames?

Would you fish from your balcony?

[Photo by GHarrison]

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Please click here to view Photo Poser 1

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London’s Job Summit: We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?

[What is London, Ontario? “It’s a low, wide city several degrees hotter than surrounding forests and farmland, built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap.” G. Harrison, Londoner, July 28]

Tomorrow, Mayor Joe Fontana will preside over an emergency summit involving some business leaders, politicians and interested parties that will brainstorm solutions to our city’s jobless crisis.

The mayor and many others now realize that with unemployment at 9.1 per cent, the highest rate of a major Canadian city (the number employed is down 3.5% over last year with reportedly 8,300 fewer people employed), if something isn’t done now to fill the hole we will not only appear to be standing in our own grave but making it deeper.


["I kin dig a hole so deep you can't get out."]

Unfortunately, I feel the summit will fail to reverse the grave-deepening trend if local politicians and business leaders adopt one of Mayor Fontana’s mantras, i.e., that it’s only a short-term problem, that if we can get over this jobless hump we can return to business as usual.

Fontana says we need to “get over this hump for 2011,” that he’s “not so concerned about our future, but... 9.1% (unemployment) causes us all to gasp and say in the short term, there are headwinds we are facing.”

Though I appreciate his confidence and enthusiasm, feigned or otherwise, I think we need to bear the long term in mind, especially now that the ground upon which we stand is sinking.

For several decades London has been growing far, fat and wide - in pursuit of the culture of big - on the back of cheap oil. Many citizens of this fair town have made a show of prosperity with bigger properties, homes, closets, cars, pools and countless material possessions while household, provincial, national and global debt has been growing deeper.

For a dozen decades or more, many cities and countries have become accustomed to growing productivity on the back of finite resources, e.g., petroleum, wood and metals.

Ron Wright, in A Short History of Progress, describes our prosperity in this manner:

“We in the lucky countries of the West now regard our two-century bubble of freedom and affluence as normal and inevitable... Our age was bankrolled by the seizing of half a planet, extended by taking over most of the remaining half, and has been sustained by spending down new forms of natural capital, especially fossil fuels. In the New World, the West hit the biggest bonanza of all time.”


["I'm jist lookin' fer the right way to turn."]

Many citizens and businesses have grown prosperous, even excessively so, and visible signs of increasing wealth (the big houses, cars, closets, computers, etc.) are commonplace, as is associated debt.

Now, trapped by the trappings of the big lifestyle they desire and somehow feel entitled to, many countries and cities face the long term battle of not getting buried in a grave of their own making.

Will a frozen pizza factory on the 401 bail London out? Are more companies like it the answer? Is a stimulus package that will return us to ‘business as usual’ the way to go?

I think not. The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift away from the culture of big.

In my opinion, one part of the answer will be found where some business minds (especially in the home construction industry) would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.

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Please click here to read more about The Culture of Small.

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London’s trees: Benefit #11 - Islands of cool shade PT 2

I'll bet on it.

Those who have memorized the list of 29 benefits related to planting trees (and those who read “Islands of cool shade PT 1”) already know why grandson Ollie and I appreciated walking on Ferguson Place and Elmwood Avenue the other day when temperatures hit - what felt like - the high 150s.

Those that don’t know, here is benefit #11 under the heading ‘Why Plant a Tree?’:

“Shade from trees cools hot streets and parking lots. Cities are "heat islands" that are 5 - 9 degrees hotter than surrounding areas. And cities spread each year.” (‘Plant a Tree’ link)

The sidewalk on the north side of Ferguson Place (a one block long street just south of Grand Avenue and off Ridout St.) offered refuge from the hot, unshaded pavement on Ridout. The adjacent boulevard supported 11 medium-sized maples, all in a row, that provided - go ahead, count ‘em - 11 lovely islands of shade.


["Eleven islands of shade, Ferguson Pl., north side. Who can beat that?"]

(I returned to the short street yesterday with my camera. I counted 12 medium-sized maples in the south boulevard. That’s 23 trees within 200 meters. That’s got to be some kind of Forest City record, right?)


["Twelve in a row, Ferguson Pl., south side. Some kind of record.": photo GH]

After our brain pans returned to a comfortable temperature we began playing a funny game.

When we stepped under a tree I’d say, “Aahh, such lovely shade.” Ollie would smile or giggle.

When we returned to the glare Ollie would say, “Sun!” And I would quicken my pace, and huff and puff for Ollie's sake. (Oh, that was funny all right, at least to a four-year old).

The shade actually did cool us off. But, enough to make Ollie forget we were on our way to Les’ Variety in Wortley Village for a grape freezie-pop?

No. However, I’d estimate (for some reason) that the shade was 5 - 9 degrees cooler than the sunny bits on the sidewalk and 20 degrees cooler than the tarmac street.

Shortly thereafter, we passed a woman walking her dog on Elmwood Avenue.

As we made room for one another on the sidewalk she said, “We’re walking from one island of shade to the next today.”

“So are we,” I said. Though I hadn’t memorized the 29 benefits of trees I knew what she was talking about.

Later still, with Ollie enjoying his grape freezie, we walked past several relatively young pin oaks and single gingko tree lining the edge of the Valu-Mart parking lot (it was a real scorcher there too) and saw a woman standing inside an island of cool shade while waiting for the Westmount bus.

Is London, or Deforest City (as it’s labelled at times), with a lower percentage of tree coverage than many other cities in Canada, becoming more of a “heat island” with every passing year? I’m not sure.

But I bet many Londoners would benefit from a larger number of shade islands. They might also think that the challenge to plant one million trees during the next ten years is sounding better all the time.

***

Please click here to read “Islands of cool shade PT 1.”

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Deforest City Blues: Our sinkhole may lead to a big stinkhole

["How can anything about sewers be interesting? Just wait and see." June 23, G. Harrison]

London Mayor Joe Fontana described one of his ideas as radical, which may be the half of it.

Oh, it’s radical all right. It may be just the thing (along with other ideas like it) that may set him up for a second term as mayor. And it may cost Londoners more money for some infrastructure in the long-term, long after he’s retired to his ranch north of town.

His idea? He says ‘city hall must consider using private financing to build future water and sewer works, an option that’s becoming more common in money-starved Canadian cities.’ (June 20, P. Maloney, London Free Press)

Deforest City’s public infrastructure needs (about three-quarters of a billion dollars worth) may weigh heavily on the Mayor’s mind after a recent sinkhole appeared out of the blue - actually, out of the murk - at Richmond and Oxford.

A second term as our mayor may also be on his mind. If city hall allows the private sector to bear some infrastructure costs, Fontana may be able to freeze water and sewer rates in 2012. Then, who knows? Maybe he could swing freezes for three or four successive years and ride ‘the big waive’ all the way to a second term in the mayor’s chair.


[Photo by R. McDermott. Link to article]

What he definitely doesn’t say is that by inviting private enterprises to bear infrastructure costs now, taxpayers could face a burdensome stinkhole later.

Fortunately, Free Press writer Patrick Maloney presents another side to the story and mentions that John Loxley, a Winnipeg economist and author (of such books as Public Service, Private Profits and Transforming or Reforming Capitalism) “warns the deals pose ‘long-term inflexibility’ for cities and may end up costing them more.”

Costing them more?

As we think about how deep the Richmond/Oxford sinkhole used to be, maybe we should consider how deep costs could get - now there's a stinkhole - in the future with public-private partnerships (P3s).

More to follow.

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Please click here for more Deforest City Blues.

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Live Small and Prosper: PT 2 - London - The Healthier City

[“We became addicted to the culture of big.” Avi Friedman, architect, urban thinker, June 2, The Londoner]

London is a healthy city like many others in the top twenty most-populated cities in Canada. And without argument it could be healthier.

As a boomer I could be healthier too if I bumped up the intensity of my exercise program, e.g., enough to run a future 10 km. race in less than 50 minutes, or half marathon in less than 1 hour, 46 minutes.

Of course, I’d have to make the effort to shed 15 pounds to get close to my last best running weight of 140 - 145 pounds (2005), and trade in my exercise bike for a more-demanding treadmill (or hit the running trails and local hills as I used to do).

And what will the fair city of London have to do to get healthier?

I believe it will have to do more than shed 15 pounds of excess weight. It will have to shed the culture of big.

Avi Friedman, renowned architect, while addressing “planners, politicians and students... at the Coldstream Community Centre in Middlesex Centre May 17” (June 2, The Londoner), referred to the culture of big, meaning “20th century city planners’ propensity for designing spread-out cities and remote mega-malls with vast parking lots based on the assumption of cheap gas.”

He said, “This was wonderful when gas was cheap, but it’s not anymore.”

The culture of big. Spread-out cities. Mega-malls. Mega-car-lifestyle (Friedman refers to “a lifestyle where cars are used to get absolutely everywhere”).

As fuel prices rise, will the culture of big, approx. 50 years in the making, hang around London’s waist and slow it from becoming a healthier city?

Let me think about that.

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One aspect of the culture of big - the size of buildings

1871


[Photo and info link, click here]

Joseph Spettigue, a native of Cornwall, England, came to the Canadas in the 1840s and opened a store on the corner of Dundas and Clarence Streets in 1855.

In 1871, he built Spettigue Hall (later the Duffield Block) which contained an elegant 663-seat concert hall on the second floor. Designed in the Second Empire Style, the structure was 197 feet long, 63 feet high, and cost $12,000 to construct. London Public Library Image Gallery

Author's note: The building’s width is not listed but I estimate the building to be about 10,000 sq. ft. per floor. GH

2011 - 140 years later


[Wal-Mart photo and info link.]

Walmart Discount Stores

Walmart discount stores are discount department stores with size varying from 51,000 square feet (4,738.1 m2) to 224,000 square feet (20,810.3 m2), with an average store covering about 102,000 square feet (9,476.1 m2).[43]

As of April 2011, there were 706 Walmart discount stores in the United States. In 2006, the busiest in the world was one in Rapid City, South Dakota. Wikipedia

Walmart Supercenter

Walmart Supercenters are hypermarkets with size varying from 98,000 to 261,000 square feet (9,104.5 to 24,247.7 m2), with an average of about 197,000 square feet (18,301.9 m2). Wikipedia

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Please click here to read PT 1 - London - The Healthier City.

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Live Small and Prosper: London - The Healthier City

[“If we want to mitigate massive health costs that will be incurred by the growing population of long-living seniors, we have to start designing healthier cities and towns.” Architect and urban thinker Avi Friedman, June 2, The Londoner]

London, Ontario is a healthy city.

As well, it’s a low, flat city when viewed from the fifth floor of Victoria Hospital. It is more Deforest City than The Forest City. But it has a basketful of things going for it that project an overall healthy image in the minds of many.


["The mighty Thames flows through London": photo GH]

That it could be healthier, I have no doubt. I could be healthier too - thumbs up at my last physical - if I took up a more rigorous exercise routine, but that’s another story.

London could be a healthier city, and should make an effort to become one, to “mitigate massive health costs” and for a variety of other reasons.

I’m happy to live in a healthy city, just as I’m delighted the family doctor patted me on the head after my last physical examination. (I took it to mean I’m ‘good’ for another 30 years or at least until the next time I have to strip down in cramped quarters).

And I’d be more than happy to see or sense that Deforest City is making the effort to become a healthier city, for the short- and long-term, for this generation and the ones coming after we slip, on gossamer wings, from this mortal coil.

What ideas, ideals, and initiatives would propel us toward ‘healthier’?

More to follow.

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Ideas, ideals, and initiatives... got any?

Please click here for Deforest City Blues.

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Zoom w a View: One vase, one Beal Art Project

Dried hydrangeas grace the dining room table. But at lunchtime I noticed a few leaves could be removed from hardy stems.

Once the flowers had been removed from the vase to be trimmed, I noticed the vase, recalled where I purchased it, was happy once again I had.




It is a Beal Art project produced by a high school student. Circa 1985. I can’t recall the price but it must have been reasonable because I couldn’t afford another piece I really, really wanted, i.e., a pencil sketch of Wrigley Field.


[Photos by GH]


As I replaced the flowers I felt content, however, to have only the vase.

***

It gets a lot of use. Do you own a Beal Art project?

Please click here to visit more Zoom w a View.

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It Strikes Me Funny: Seriously, I need serious funding

I recently wrote about London’s precipitous fall from its position as the 10th largest city in all of Canada.

Waterloo Region now has 141 more people that the London Area. Eleven in. Cachet out.

You’re just hearing this for the first time? Sit down. Grab a Kleenex.


["Wortley Village, London: Darn... it ain't Saskatoon!": photo GH]

Some say we should just get comfortable with the number 11. Waterloo is an hour from Toronto. Always will be. We should get over it.

Not me. I’m thinking ‘road trip.’

I mean, how did Waterloo sneak ahead? Surely there are people in Waterloo, and region, I can speak to about their secret to success, if there is such a thing. Surely there’s a nice pub there, a craft beer, and a person who will talk to me.

To facilitate the road trip I just sent a request for funding to City Hall.

Take a look. Does this sound okay?

From the Desk of Gord Harrison
Weekly Columnist, The Londoner

Official Request for Adequate Funding

For: A road trip to Waterloo to “see what it’s got that we don’t got”

Rationale: According to Stats Can, the Waterloo Region now has a population of 492,390 while the London Area comes in at 492, 249.

Our Mayor feels we need to grow, and I am willing to look into the matter.

In a recent article (Thursday, Feb. 24) I wrote:

“I’ll simply drive around looking for it, examine the city, take dozens of pictures from every angle (City Hall will get a good deal, don’t worry) and the trip will be a success... I have a nice meal. I come back.”

I know, it won’t be as simple as that. I’ll have to do much more, meet with a few people in the know. But I’m willing to do that in order to help out.

After a nice meal, I’ll come back, write another column about my progress. Maybe I’ll even consider going to Saskatoon, the fastest growing city in all of Canada.

Funding request: $50.00 - for gas, cheeseburgers, parking fees, one cold beverage, maybe two.

Comment: I think 50 bucks is a steal.

Sincerely,

Gord Harrison
The Londoner

Is 50 bucks too much to ask? Too little?

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Please click here to read more about Deforest City’s dilemma.

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The Lite News: This gentleman is so polite. WTHeck!

If everyone was as polite as M.M.S. Kumar, the world would be a better place, hands down.

The city dumped snow into his driveway. M.M.S. writes the following in a recent letter to the editor:

“Our new mayor, Joe Fontana, intends to keep his promises.” (Feb. 16, London Free Press)

(M.M.S. has the heart of an angel. Already I tip my hat).

“May I request of him to make sure the city does not dump snow in front of our driveways, more so in front of corner houses.”

See, usually when people write in about the evil things that city trucks do when we’re all tucked safely in bed and dreaming about spring, they start off with at least a mild curse, like say... “what the heck were they thinking, those stupid idjits!”

Some will swear like a mangled, hell-hated jolt-head.

Some will rant on for hours like a mewling, idle-headed lewdster. I’m sure you can name a few.

Not M.M.S. He says, “This is a huge handicap for us after all the work to keep driveways clear. It is so wrong to sweep the heavy snow and ice onto driveways and we cannot get out as a result.”

Just hearing that reminds me of the last time I had to shovel heavy snow and ice for 60 minutes that was deposited my a thoughtless twit with the sensibilities of churlish, boil-brained boar-pig.

My blood is boiling and my tendency to rage like a paunchy, ill-breeding lout can barely be contained.

Still, M.M.S. has the kind-heartedness to conclude as follows:

“I request our mayor examine ways to remedy this practice.”

Yes, like ditch the doggone ‘snow moving’ program for a ‘snow removal’ program. Don’t move it into my driveway, Mayor Fontana, remove it entirely from the street!

Or else I’ll scream!

***

There, I feel better.

Please click here for something lighter.

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Deforest City News: Good Tunes at the London Music Club

This is not a paid advertisement. Not kidding.

Last Saturday night my wife and I visited the LMC, paid our $7 at the door, bought Pete Denomme’s new CD for $15, then sat back and listened to Pete present 12 of his 13 songs live.

He done good. The place rocked.

I even got up to dance to a couple of bouncing numbers, and much to my surprise, my feet actually moved in sync with the music.

Pete's CD "Nice To Be Home" is now available @ LMC, Grooves & The Village Idiot...  


To listen to a few tracks, please click here.

In my opinion, there are many places in this town for Londoners to have a good time that includes tapping feet to good tunes.

However, on Saturday night, it felt like I was in the middle of the best place to be.

Drop by yourself some time soon.

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I go so far as to recommend a TV show and book here.

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Deforest City Blues PT 5: Where do Londoners get complete news?

Though many Londoners realize they shouldn’t look for complete news in The London Free Press, thanks to Quebec Media Inc. or the QMI Agency, the money and mindless muscle behind the paper, others eat up unbalanced editorials and parrot or champion editorial at many an opportunity.

A couple of days ago, Joe Carr wrote the following in a letter to the editor:

“Let’s get real. The economy is still in a fragile state. Provincial governments and municipalities are struggling to keep taxes under control and give relief to hard-pressed taxpayers.”

So far, so good. No need for me to crack the whip at poor Joe. He’s just venting.

And maybe he’s going to share a worthy idea related to tax control.

He says:

“It is time for the police, firefighters, teachers and others in that reasonably safe employment group to step up to the plate and help out. They are well paid (and deservedly so) and if they took a wage freeze for a year they would still be well paid.”

Certainly, the public servants mentioned would likely survive a wage freeze. But... and this is a big but... are public servants the only ones that should make a sacrifice to help “keep taxes under control and give some relief to hard-pressed taxpayers?”

There are other members of society too with money, some of them with bags of money, with some of the bags coming directly from taxpayers’ pockets.

Joe might change his tune if he heard more often that taxpayer subsidies to London developers and industries have been equal to $13.5 million annually in recent years. Joe might one day think that if he wants more bang for his buck for hard-pressed taxpayers he should look to the private sector, not the public.

According to recent news, one economic development group in London has an $800,000 surplus and still our Mayor thinks a special levy (upon the public, for the private sector) is in order to help with local economic development.

Mr. Carr laments, “Many (public servants) took large raises during the hardest portion of the recession...”

No mention is made of raises in the private sector or the ridiculously high level of compensation given to CEOs in private business at the same time.

He concludes, “It’s time to give the people who suffered through this scary time a chance to catch up. The economy needs these people to work and make a decent wage for the economy to fully recover.”

Excellent conclusion, in my humble opinion. I’m sure there’s not one among us who disagrees with helping people catch up or recover.

What I do disagree with, however, is the total absence of any mention of the equal, if not greater, responsibility of the private sector.

Can problems related to unemployment, wage loss and uncontrollable taxes only be laid at the feed of the public sector?

No.

Joe Carr is wrong. QMI Agency is wrong.

We’re all in this together, and where sacrifices and changes (perhaps to employment and tax structures) can be made, they should be made.

We’re also in this equally, and there is no one among us without equal and growing responsibility to right many wrongs that exist.

In conclusion, I say there's nothing wrong with news agencies, editorialists or letter writers saying that there is much the public sector can do better. Savings can be made, many efficiencies can be considered. But there is also much, if not more, that the private sector can do better and Londoners should be able to read about it in their dailies.

To use Joe Carr’s words, it’s time for the private sector to “step up to the plate and help out” as well, and QMI should recognize that fact and editorialize about that side of the equation as often as they slam the public sector.


I'm glad I got that off my chest. I feel better already.

***

Please visit Deforest City Blues Pt 1 here.

Please visit Deforest City Blues Pt 2 here.

Please visit Deforest City Blues Pt 3 here.

Please visit Deforest City Blues Pt 4 here.

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Deforest City Blues PT 1: Where do Londoners get complete news?

Stand back. I feel a long and useful rant coming on.

Long, because yesterday’s editorial/point of view in the London Free Press raises so many interesting points inside my little round head.

For example: Why do some editorials smell so bad?

Is it because they are incomplete? Not balanced?

I’m not sure, but I’m willing to do some thinking out loud about this one.

I find it useful to do so.


[“The same-day DILBERT cartoon provides a hint to my true feelings about the editorial”: PANEL 1]

If I kept all my feelings and opinions bottled up inside I might get acid reflux or indigestion - or ‘kick back,’ as I like to say at times.

The headline, i.e., ‘Canada must take lessons from European debt woes,’ wasn’t a bad start at all.

European debt is growing, so is Canada’s, debt can make our country vulnerable to many nasty consequences (e.g., kick back from future generations), and we all might be able to learn something from the debt crisis in Ireland and England.

So, hats off to an anonymous editorialist who lives somewhere deep in the bowels of the QMI Agency, i.e., the Quebec Media Inc. Agency, a media giant that, according to its mission statement “provides reliable, complete and up-to-the-minute news coverage...”

And that’s what we look for in the media, isn’t it? Reliability, completeness, up-to-the-minuteness?

Together, let’s see how QMI dishes out the news and discover what lessons we can learn here in Canada from the trials and tribulations of others.

More to follow.

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First line of editorial:

“The welfare state has roared back to bite the British lion in the rump.”

Sounds exciting doesn’t it? But what’s that smell? Is it the lion's rump?

Full editorial here.

More Deforest City Blues at your fingertips.

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Deforest City Blues: What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be a successful writer with a fat catalogue of exciting books to my credit, like ‘My Memoirs: And I’m Not Even Dead Yet.’

My brother wants to be a successful artist. I think he already is. He can pay his rent and afford new art supplies and groceries. Come on, what more do you want in life?

And, according to recent news, London wants to grow up and be like Kitchener. A special levy might do the trick, at least so thinks Mayor Joe Fontana, aka ‘10,000 Jobs’ to some.

Although Patrick Maloney of The London Free Press feels “there could be some merit to the idea of an economic-development fund in the context of Joe Fontana’s promised four-year tax freeze,” (Dec. 18 issue) I think otherwise at the moment.

Two reasons.

One. Deforest City ratepayers (you know who you are) already pay millions upon million per year (e.g., $13.5 million) to boost economic development. At least according to another Free Press report.

And two. London already has an economic development fund, and it’s running a surplus.


According to an earlier article by the aforementioned Patrick Maloney, “London Economic Development Corp. (LECD)... has as $800,000 surplus...”

Maybe all LECD needs is a Kitchener-style idea to spend it on. Away we go, Joe.

Maybe the $800,000 could be used to drag our city 100 km. closer to Toronto (I say somewhere near Cambridge and the Galt Knife Brewing Co.) and away from the corn, cattle, soy bean and unimaginative beer region.

Like Mr. Maloney says, “there are many questions with the economic-development idea.”

For example, why would Joe introduce a new tax in a four-year, tax-free, hybrid-corn zone?

Corn dog, anyone?

***

Please read ‘Deforest City Blues Pt 1: Does City Hall still waive development fees?’ for more context.

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Deforest City Blues PT 2: City Hall waives development fees

Me bad. I ignored Google for my first rant of the day.

I wanted to know if City Hall (in London, Ontario) waives development fees for developers to encourage development.

I had a sense it did, making me wonder why new London Mayor Joe ’10,000 Jobs’ Fontana would ever propose a new tax (“special levy” sounds so much better, eh?) in order to, you know, encourage development.

A moment ago I Googled the following:

London waive development fee Renaissance Towers

And - surprise - up popped about 229,000 results in 0.16 seconds. (So, my day is planned!)

Here’s a little gem entitled ‘Subsidies In Spotlight’ by Norman De Bono, The London Free Press (August 17, 2010, 9:32am) and the opening line clearly suggests Mayor Fontana needs to rethink his plan, in my (always) humble opinion.


["The Blue Heron, outside the subsidized Renaissance Towers, London": photo GH]

“London taxpayers shell out more than $13.5 million a year in subsidies to businesses, with some politicians saying it’s time to reconsider such support.”

Now, doesn’t that raise just a few wee questions?

Like, why does our mayor need a special levy? $13.5 million a year wouldn’t be enough to encourage a bit of development? It ain’t chump change.

De Bono adds it up for us:

“The city waives development charges — levied to help pay for the cost of growth — for new and expanding industries. Those charges totalled $9.5 million in 2009. Instead, taxpayers picked up the tab.”

“Homeowners are also paying $4 million a year in higher water rates than recommended, so business can get a break.”

“Those two policies alone amount to $13.5 million a year.”

Holy Doodle. That’s amazing.

Maybe when Mayor Joe tells us there’s no money in this town for economic development, the common Joe, like you and me, should tell him exactly where to find it!

De Bono adds more good news.

“But a third factor pushes the tab even higher: Between 2000 and 2017, the city will have rebated more than $5.2 million in property taxes for new downtown residential development — again, paid by ratepayers.”

That’s a pretty big waive too!

My head is spinning and it’s not just because a squirrel just climbed across my clothesline - upright - to get to my new bird feeder.

In Thursday’s news Mayor Fontana bemoaned the fact that we’re not as enlightened as Kitchener. They started a $110 million war chest in 2004.

Let’s do the math, shall we. Take 14 million dollars and multiply by 7 years. What do you get?

98 million bucks.

Tack on another year or two and the subsidies or special levy (ya gotta love that phrase) is right up there with Kitchener’s war chest.

So, Mister Mayor. Tell me again why you want to float a new tax?

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Please read Deforest City Blues Pt 1 for more context.

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Zoom w a View: Unique art work at Renaissance Towers, London

[“The Blue Heron by London artist, Ted Goodden”: photos GH]




[“More information in a London Free Press article”]


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Renaissance Towers and taxpayer subsidies.

Should we pay a special levy to Mayor Fontana?

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