Candidates tout ideas for city's core
Four men are battling for two positions representing Town Ward on Peterborough's 2011-2014 City Council, to be elected this October 24. Only one of the four candidates—Tim Rowat—is coming to the race with no prior experience on council.
The incumbent, Dean Pappas, and candidate Garry Herring, have each served one term, and candidate Bill Juby has served two.
Town Ward, which stretches from Parkhill Road to Lansdowne Street and the Otonabee River to Monaghan Road (north of Sherbrooke Street) and Park Road (south of Sherbrooke Street), is perhaps the city's most important political constituency.
In its boundaries is found the city's highest concentration of jobs, housing, social services, and cultural and government institutions—as many see it, the heart of the city.
Arthur spoke with all four Town Ward candidates recently. Each shared their unique take on what seem to be the defining issues of Peterborough's downtown politics: economic and community development, poverty and affordable housing, and transportation and parking. This week's feature focuses on the first two; read next week's Arthur for coverage of the candidates' positions on transportation and parking.
Filling Empty Space
Rowat owns 379 George Street, which houses Titles Bookstore and Brand Health Marketing Agency. He says when he looks across the street from the upper floors of the building, all he sees is empty rooms. He'd like to see that change.
"I think we need to have a pot in one hand and a stick in the other to give landlords the incentive to really fix up and modernize the buildings downtown and make them really attractive," Rowat said.
Peterborough's downtown is set for a major boom; as it's implemented, the City of Peterborough 2009 Central Area Master Plan will see the combined number of residents and jobs per hectare in the area increase 50 per cent by 2031.
All four downtown candidates expressed support for the plan. Juby, Rowat, and Herring all pointed to vacant units above downtown businesses as having the potential to be converted to apartments and office space to accommodate some of that increase.
Juby noted that when he last served on council, the city's planning department proposed converting those units to affordable housing. He said it was unfeasible because after the cost of renovations, developers wouldn't recover enough profit from affordable rents. He suggested the units could be renovated to be leased at higher "market" rents.
Pappas thinks the Central Area Master Plan will help more businesses set up in the downtown.
Municipalities are restricted under the Ontario Planning Act from "bonusing," that is, giving tax breaks to entice businesses to locate in their community. However, Pappas points out, the city can provide loans and grants to, for instance, help businesses renovate older buildings. The Central Area Master Plan will formalize such incentive programs.
For his part, Herring wants to see the Downtown Business Improvement Association expanded to include more businesses outside of the downtown core, especially in the south end of Town Ward, he said. With the support of downtown business owners, he would also like to see a pedestrian mall—temporary or year-round—which would restrict motor vehicle traffic and incorporate similar design features as those of the Hunter Street café district.
Juby wants to see a "linear park" created along one side of Bethune Street. He thinks such a park would create development potential along that street, which he described as having some "dodgy" properties.
"You build a park, they'll come," he said. "People that live on the west side of Bethune Street may find their landlords wanting a different use for their property. So you move a block."
Asked how this would affect affordable housing, especially for students, Juby said, "I'm not driving students out of the downtown. It's one street. I don't know how many students live on Bethune, I haven't seen that many."
He thinks the redevelopment of the area would be "attractive" to all residents, including students who can "ride their bikes from Stewart Street."
Juby also wants to see young people hired as downtown ambassadors, a program he's seen in Winnipeg.
They would be helpful to tourists and seniors and be "the eyes and ears on the streets" for police and the Public Works Department. They could take pictures of any incidents downtown, he said, and potentially even be sworn in as part-time by-law enforcement officers.
Pappas and Rowat both pointed to the loss of schools in the downtown as troubling. Pappas noted there is now only one publicly funded school left in Town Ward, Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School (PCVS), which he said he's been fighting to save from closing as well.
"The province is really at odds with itself and I've been trying to get it to come to grips with that," Pappas said, noting how on one hand the province wants municipalities to plan for "complete communities" where people can live, work, and play without having to drive long distances. On the other hand, its funding formula for schools promotes centralization, requiring more students to be bussed across far distances.
He said the lack of schools discourages families from buying homes in the downtown.
Rowat agrees, and although he admits this may be "wishful thinking," he says that if he had it his way, he'd like to see a new "state-of-the-art school in Town Ward. You want to build up any part of a community," he said, "you put a school in."
Place of despair?
While downtown (a large segment of Town Ward) is widely recognized as Peterborough's heart, some are concerned that heart is not an entirely healthy one.
Herring called it "a place of despair when people are lying in the streets," referring to panhandlers who frequent streets like George St North. He also said the ward has the highest rate of break and enters and assaults of any in the city.
"I want to address that," he said. He said by working with partners like Peterborough County to pursue "regional economic development," he believes, "we can put people back to work."
Rowat also identified panhandling as a major issue. He said it impacts businesses by discouraging people from coming downtown.
He wants more police patrolling the downtown, though he said their presence should not be "heavy handed." He also suggested social services could be delivered more effectively by having social workers directly on the streets.
Juby doesn't see a solution in sight to the problems of poverty and panhandling.
"It's been ongoing forever," he said. "Our social services budget is one of the biggest of all the city departments. Because these people are on the street, we feel responsible for them. But we're pretty much hand-strung. What do you want us to do, hand them money? They'll go right to the liquor store with it."
In terms of providing social services for those living in poverty, he said the city "needs help" from the provincial government. He also suggested implementing San Francisco's policy of dedicating one parking metre on every street corner to collecting donations for panhandlers.
He said the money could be used to ensure hot meals and beds were available, bypassing the giving of money directly to panhandlers who, he said, spend the majority of money they collect on drugs and alcohol.
Pappas echoed frustration at a lack of provincial involvement in providing social services.
"It falls on municipal governments, but I'm not sure it should," he said. "We don't have the resources. It's really the province and the fed's responsibility. Technically your property tax dollars are supposed to go to property issues—sewers, fire service, police."
In the 1990s, the provincial government under Mike Harris downloaded various services—like certain social services and social housing--onto municipalities. Cities like Peterborough were forced to deliver those services without reliable or adequate funding.
Pappas said he has been lobbying the provincial government to upload certain services, like ambulances, which were downloaded under Harris.
In the meantime, he said the city does "its best" to provide social services. He pointed to Our Space Community Centre—which is funded by the city and provides services to those living in poverty—as an initiative he's supported and which he wants to see continue to grow.
"It's not getting rid of the panhandlers, it's housing them and finding programs for them, because that's the issue," he said. The centre currently provides meals, opportunities for socializing, free clothing, temporary shelter, and certain health services like dental check-ups. He said, however, that the current facility on George Street that houses the centre is inadequate and a better one is needed.
He also mentioned a "Four Pillars Drug Strategy for Peterborough" he participated in developing along with the Peterborough and Lakefield Community Police, PARN (Peterborough AIDS Resource Network), and other partners.
He said one of the recommendations of that strategy is to hire ten more police officers. He also said he's been advocating for a "permanent drug squad for the last four years."
