Tag Archives: podcast

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Housing advocacy organization questions denial of funding by Region of Waterloo

Delegates representing housing advocacy organization A Better Tent City (ABTC) went to Region of Waterloo (ROW) council on Wednesday, November 7, asking for urgent help. The group was appealing a decision by the ROW housing department that determined ABTC did not fit the criteria for ROW funding.

ABTC has not yet received an explanation as to why it did not meet the criteria, and department officials have agreed to meet with the members of ABTC to explain later this month. Without additional and prompt financial support, the delegates warned, the project will not be able to continue.

The delegation included Jeff Willmer, Laura Hamilton, Marion Thomson Howell and Father Toby Collins. ABTC had asked for $236,000 under ROW housing provider funding scheme. This money would provide for dedicated staff to actively support residents to further stabilize their lives and obtain permanent housing.

Laura Hamilton described how the group began as a crisis response to unsafe living conditions and how it transitioned from an illegal unsanctioned encampment to a registered charity with community partners and over 100 volunteers.  Despite these achievements, Marion Thomson Howell noted how demand is increasing, “One year ago today, we had approximately 65 people who came around on a regular basis looking for support. As of Thursday of last week, we had 96 and that number grows daily.”

When ROW Chair Karen Redman asked about volunteers, Hamilton described typical tasks and the increasing demands on volunteers. She also described how much of the success of ABTC comes down to one woman, Nadine Greene, and why that is problematic because it leads burnout for the volunteer and excessive dependence on one person, which is not good for the organization in the long run.

Councillor Berry Vrbanovic asked, beyond finances, what the main challenges for the group are and what supports are needed to confront these challenges. Father Collins answered by characterizing the struggles of the people who rely on ABTC are facing. He noted the people they take in are extremely unstable and they need to be stable before they can start to move beyond their struggles.

Councillors Rob Deutschmann and Chantal Huinink tried to understand why ABTC didn’t meet the Region’s criteria while Councillor Colleen James asked how they are funded, if there is any government support, and more about the request for additional staff. Father Collins explained the organization’s revenue streams, the financial short fall, and need for staff.

Council noted the excellent work ABTC is doing, but, and while they understood why the group had made the request, some councillors were unsure how to interpret the performance measures. Councillor Craig asked about turnover – or how many people move on into permanent housing — on average per year. Thomson Howell, Hamilton and Father Collins reiterated their approach, highlighting that they don’t have dedicated staff to help people move on to other housing, and that was why they had come to council.

Councillor Jan Ligget returned to the turnover number and expressed concern over what seemed like a low performance indicator. She asked the group to clarify how they will improve their scores. Delegates explained how they can increase transitions with the additional  staff and when waiting lists for affordable housing are reduced.

No motions were put in place regarding A Better Tent City. The next Community and Health Services meeting on December 6.

 

Listen to the story above:

CKMS News -2023-11-14- Motion 86 and voter-led electoral reform

CKMS News – 2023-11-14 – Motion 86 and voter-led electoral reform

electoral reform, citizens assembly, voting, federal election, democracy proportional representation, first past the post, waterloo region, fair vote canada, green party, ndp, by: dan kellar

Kitchener – On November 7th, Motion 86 on forming a Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral reform had its first debate in the house of commons. The motion seeks to establish a representative “Citizen’s Assembly” which would investigate alternatives to Canada’s first past the post electoral system, and inform the government on which proportional systems would best reflect the needs and preferences of the people in Canada.

The motion was brought forward by NPD MP Lisa Marie Barron, and built on the work of Mike Morrice, the Green Party MP for Kitchener Centre who was the first to second the motion back in June. Morrice’s second was followed by 18 other seconders from the NDP, Liberal, and Conservative parties, including Bardish Chagger of the Waterloo riding.  This cross party collaboration is exactly what Fair Vote Canada, one of the grassroots organisations who contributed to the motion, hopes will become standard operations in governments under an electoral system based on proportional representation. 

This show features interviews with Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice, and Evan Rosamond, the co-chair of the Fair Vote Canada chapter for Waterloo Region. 

Motion 86 was debated for its allotted hour, with many MPs announcing their support for the idea of electoral reform. Bloc Quebecois MP Martin Champoux applauded the motion, and called for MPs to have the courage to take action when it is time. Conservative MP Scott Reid stated the proposal was “half right”,  but recommended a referendum over a citizen’s assembly. 

However, support was not universal. Liberal MP Chandra Arya said that a citizen’s assembly would be “an attempt at an entry through the back door into a proportional system”. He then claimed that “Because of the proportional system, Israel cannot come to an agreement with Palestine.” Arya did not offer any evidence for either of his statements.

While the future of motion 86 and electoral reform in Canada is uncertain, the debate in the House of Commons will resume in the coming months, and with hope brewing around successful cross-party collaboration, Evan Rosamond remarked “it is better to talk a lot then to fight with everybody”.

Radio Nowhere Episode 36, 11/11/23

Download: https://soundfm.s3.amazonaws.com/RadioNowhere231111Episode36.mp3, 58m02s, 80.0 MBytes

 

7 and 7 Is Love
Skin It Back Little Feat
Sky Pilot The Animals
La Flûte de Pan Art of Noise
Venus In Furs (Stereo Version) The Velvet Underground & Nico
It’s Bad You Know R.L. Burnside
Born in Chicago The Paul Butterfeld Blues Band
Lightnin’s Boogie Lightnin’ Hopkins
I Always Get Lucky with You (Single Version) George Jones
Over Under Sideways Down (Stereo) The Yardbirds
Can Get a Witness Lee Michaels
Bitter Blue Cat Stevens
California Sun The Rivieras
House Burning Down The Jimi Hendrix Experience
What’s Going On Marvin Gaye

 

CKMS News – 2023-11-10 – City of Waterloo develops a new hate incident reporting guide

CKMS News – 2023-11-10 – City of Waterloo develops hate incident reporting guide

by: dan kellar

Waterloo – As hate crimes and incidents of discriminatory hate have surged in Canada over the past several years, Waterloo Region has not been immune to the ugly trend, seeing the highest ever level of incidents in 2021 and then 2022.  As part of a response to these increases, the City of  Waterloo has developed a new guide to “support residents in navigating and reporting local incidents of hate and discrimination.”  The new resource “offers clear instructions on where to file a report and outlines what to expect throughout the process.”

In this show, we speak with Julie Legg, the Supervisor of Neighbourhood Services for the City of Waterloo, and Paulina Rodriguez, the Anti-Racism and Social Justice Advocate, also for the City of Waterloo.  The interview explores the development of the hate incident reporting guide, the importance of reporting hate incidents, and how this guide helps further the City of Waterloo’s inclusion and diversity initiatives, and create a city where as Julie Legg says “Hate isn’t welcome”.  

This new guide from the City of Waterloo was a collaboration which included community partners Community Justice Initiatives, and Coalition of Muslim Women of Kitchener Waterloo, as well as the regional police services.

In 2022, according to Statistic Canada, police-reported hate crime incidents in Waterloo Region doubled to 144 events  This represents  22.7 incidents per 100,000 of population compared to 6.7 per 100,000 in 2017 or 2.5 per 100,000 in 2018. In Canada, hate crimes rose 38% in 2021 from 2020, reaching 3358 incidents, and in 2022 surged even higher, with 3,576 hate crime incidents being reported.  That is on average 9.2 hate crime incidents per year per 100,000 of population.

As the Coalition of Muslim Women of Kitchener-Waterloo reported in their 2022 Snap Shot of Hate in Waterloo Region, only 10 of 97 incidents that were reported to them were ever reported to the police, suggesting that the police-reported numbers of hate incidents and hate crimes may be significantly lower than the actual number of these incidents that take place in the region.  

The new guide from the city, includes details on alternatives to reporting hate motivated incidents to the police, such as the reportinghate.ca website run by the Coalition of Muslim women of Kitchener-Waterloo.  According to Paulina Rodriguez from the City of Waterloo, these reporting alternatives are highlighted in an effort to support community members, and “meet people where they are at, where they feel most comfortable”.

 

CKMS News – Kitchener City Council takes advantage of extra time and defers lodging home motion

CKMS News – 2023-11-07 – Kitchener City Council takes advantage of extra time and defers lodging home motion

Lodging home licensing is on the way in Kitchener, but at Monday night’s council meeting, council took the opportunity to defer the motion until March 2024.

At last week’s council meeting, on October 30, a motion to remove restrictions on lodging houses was deferred. Councillor Bill Ioannidis introduced the deferral after questioning if fourplex apartments are a better option overall to increase affordability and if a pilot study would be a better approach to roll out licensing.

In response to those questions, at this week’s meeting, delegate Phil Marfisi noted how lodging homes differ from fourplex apartments, and that lodging homes do not require much in the way of preparation and can be occupied without additional construction or renovation. Because of this, Marfisi said, lodging homes can be a more economical mode of housing. Marfisi also explained how a lodging house pilot study would not meet the urgency of the crisis and would impede the delivery of this needed housing.

A second delegate, Lynn Intini, presented a description of lodging home residents and how the plan integrates with the city of Kitchener’s overall housing plan. She also pointed out that exclusionary zoning bylaws can have human rights implications if it restricts where people can live.

Council was informed on Monday night that the bylaw will be back in March 2024. Councillor Scott Davey moved to defer the lodging house motion as nothing would be able to be enacted until the lodging house licensing bylaw was ready anyway. Councillor Jason Deneault agreed with the deferral and noted that by deferring, more research can be done into issues such as short-term rentals that overlap and influence the affordable rental market.

You can listen to the show above

 

From the Void #71 November 7th

Welcome to Episode #71 of From the Void

Tonight is all about Monster Drummers!!!

My new podcast with Co – Host Peri Urban is on YouTube, it’s called The Listening Eyebrow and its about deep listening to good music.

ALSO!!! I released  a new album. Everything, Vol. 3 Spotify, You Tube23 and Bandcamp or where ever you stream your music!

Subscribe to the Podcast

See you in the Void!

 

Radio Nowhere Episode 35, 11/4/23

Download: https://soundfm.s3.amazonaws.com/RadioNowhere231104Episode35.mp3, 58m02s, 80.0 MBytes

North Blackie & the Rodeo Kings
Whipping Post The Allman Brothers Band
Rock and Roll Doctor Little Feat
Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave Dave Mason
Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite! The Beatles
Levon Elton John
Universal Soldier Donovan
Blowin’ in the Wind Bob Dylan
Oh, Sweet Mary Big Brother & The Holding Company & Janis Joplin
Magical Mystery Tour The Beatles
Sisters A Tribe Called Red feat. Northern Voice
Soldier Of Peace Mahatma Ghandi
Welcome Home Ruthie Foster
Walkin’ The Dog Aerosmith
Badge Cream
Everybody I Love You Crosby Stills Nash and Young

 

Big Wreck’s Sekou Lumumba on CKMS Community Connections with Yenny

TOUR DATES:
2023.11.09 • HAMILTON, ON • FIRSTONTARIO CONCERT HALL
2023.11.10 • LONDON, ON • LONDON MUSIC HALL
2023.11.11 • KITCHENER, ON • ELEMENTS NIGHTCLUB
2023.11.14 • CHARLOTTETOWN, PE • PEI BREWING CO.
2023.11.15 • HALIFAX, NS • LIGHTHOUSE ARTS CENTRE
2023.11.17 • MONCTON, NB • CASINO NEW BRUNSWICK
2023.11.18 • MONTREAL, QC • THÉ TRE BEANFIELD
2023.11.20 • PARRY SOUND, ON • STOCKEY CENTRE
2023.11.21 • SAULT STE. MARIE, ON • THE MACHINE SHOP
2023.11.23 • REGINA, SK • CASINO REGINA
2023.11.24 • EDMONTON, AB • MIDWAY
2023.11.25 • CALGARY, AB • THE PALACE THEATRE
2023.11.28 • NANAIMO, BC • PORT THEATRE
2023.11.29 • VANCOUVER, BC • COMMODORE BALLROOM
2023.11.30 • SEATTLE, WA • NEUMOS
2023.12.02 • PORTLAND, OR • WONDER BALLROOM
2023.12.05 • OAKLAND, CA • THE NEW PARISH
2023.12.06 • WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA • TROUBADOUR
2023.12.08 • PHOENIX, AZ • CRESCENT BALLROOM
2023.12.10 • AUSTIN, TX • EMPIRE CONTROL ROOM
2023.12.11 • HOUSTON, TX • HOUSE OF BLUES HOUSTON
2023.12.12 • DALLAS, TX • THE STUDIO AT DEEP VELLUM
2023.12.14 • DENVER, CO • MARQUIS THEATRE
2023.12.16 • SASKATOON, SK • COORS EVENT CENTRE
2023.12.17 • WINNIPEG, MB • CLUB REGENT EVENT CENTRE
2023.12.18 • THUNDER BAY, ON • NV NIGHTCLUB
2023.12.20 • BELLEVILLE, ON • EMPIRE THEATRE
2023.12.21 • OTTAWA, ON • BRONSON CENTRE
2023.12.22 • TORONTO, ON • HISTORY

Big Wreck Is:
Ian Thornley
Dave McMillan
Chris Caddell
Sekou Lumumba


CKMS News – The GRT proposes increased accessibility measures and increased fare hikes in the 2024 regional budget

CKMS News – 2023-11-03 – Proposed GRT increase

MP Holmes
Kitchener, Ontario

Proposed changes to the Grand River Transit (or GRT)  fares would see cash fares rise, but under these proposals, accessibility services would also increase. Commissioner for Transportation Services Mathieu Goetzke presented the proposals to Regional Council during a budget consultation meeting on Wednesday November 1.

This budget consultation meeting, one of several in the run-up to the final budget day on December 13, focused on determining the budgets for the Region’s equitable services and opportunities. Items of discussion included improving community safety and well-being, automated speed enforcement, youth-focused initiatives, paramedic services, transportation, and proposed transit fare changes to the GRT.

These proposed fare changes include increasing the electronic cash fare by two cents from $2.98 to $3.00, increasing monthly passes from $92 to $96; and increasing cash fares from $3.75 to $4 per single ride.

GRT fares last increased this past July, by 25 cents, from $3.50 to $3.75, which means that, with this proposed increase, fare hikes of will have increased by 50 cents or 12.5% in two years. Despite this, ridership has never been higher. In September, the GRT set a new ridership record with 150,000 boardings per day.

Commisioner Goetzke explained why this cash fare price increase is needed, but several councillors expressed concern. Councillor Natasha Salonen wondered if the cash fare increase wouldn’t hurt the most marginalised.

Another proposed increase is the fare window, which is how long one bus ticket is good for. Currently the GRT offers a 90-minute window and is proposing a 120-minute, or two-hour, window. Councillor Rob Deutschmann suggested increasing the fare window to three hours, arguing the size of the region justified increasing the transfer window. Councillor Jim Erb agreed and noted that Waterloo Region riders often switch between the bus and ION train systems, which takes more time.

Commisioner Goetzke listed the proposed measures to increase accessibility, including removing $5 minimum load on easy go card, developing a mobile payment app, increasing the discount on needs-based fares, and introducing a new group pass for $12, which would allow unlimited travel for up to five people regardless if they are a family or not.

These proposed changes were presented as a preview of what will be discussed in more detail at a later council meeting. The intention of this review was to bring forward a budget-day motion to adopt a new user fee and charge bylaw.

Councillors have until December 4 to make a motion to amend the budget before the final budget day on December 13.

At the next Strategic Planning and Budget Committee, on November 8, Council will be examining the draft 2024 budgets focusing on the theme homes for all.

 

You can listen to the show below:

Through the Static Episode 17 – 01/11/23

We’re back with another episode this week. Switching between some spookier stuff, some modern classics, and some of my favourites. Thanks as always for listening 🙂

  • One Hundred Years – The Cure
  • Starman – David Bowie
  • Blackstar – David Bowie
  • I Want Wind to Blow – The Microphones
  • The Magician – Dizzy
  • High and Dry – Radiohead
  • Rumpus Room – Xiu Xiu, Liars
  • Chiquitita – ABBA

https://radiowaterloo.ca/category/through-the-static/feed/?tag=podcast

CKMS News Removing restrictions on lodging houses deferred while city council wrestles with affordability

CKMS News 2023-11-02- Council considers lodging homes

MP Holmes
Kitchener, Ontario

Kitchener city staff have drawn up new guidelines for land use and zoning changes for lodging houses in the city, but Council isn’t satisfied. At the Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee meeting on October 30, Kitchener Council examined these changes, and given the mix of opinions on council, deferred their decision until the next council meeting on Monday November 6.

Several review studies, including Kitchener’s Housing for All Housing First strategy and the March 2021 Lower Doon Land Use Study, among others, encouraged the city to examine how lodging (or rooming houses) can play a role in alleviating the housing crisis. And so, at Monday evening’s council meeting, Kitchener city planning staff came back with a proposal that would remove references in the official plan and zoning regulations to minimum distance separations, lodging houses parking regulations, and geographical limitations on lodging houses.

Two delegates presented to Council in favour of lodging houses. Nelson Chukwuma from the Conestoga Student Inc.‘s Board of Directors and Martin Asling of the Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) housing advocacy group. Both explained the importance of lodging houses to help both students and permanent city residents secure affordable housing.

In the mid 2000s, as part of then-official plan, the City of Kitchener sought to limit the creation of new lodging houses. Currently there are about 20 licensed lodging houses located across the city and an unknown but an assumed large number of unlicensed lodging houses.

One of the recommended zoning changes is to scrap the minimum distance provision, which limits lodging houses from being too close to one another. Up until now, lodging houses have to be at least 400m from one another. Martin Asling explained that this, according to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, is a form of ‘people zoning’ and is illegal in Ontario. In considering this change, Councillor Scott Davey expressed concerns about a possible overconcentration of lodging homes in an area, and he wondered what the consequences of that would be.

City staff also recommended that parking regulations be removed. Martin noted that these regulations are from an earlier time and are now out of date and no longer in line with the city’s aims.

Another recommendation from staff, that both delegates agreed with, was to lift restrictions to allow lodging houses in all residential zones throughout the city.

Affordability was a concern for many of the councillors. Councillor Bill Ioannidis asked Martin how to keep lodging houses affordable and prevent landlords from overcharging. In response, Martin listed a series of studies that have examined the implementation of lodging houses and which found that affordability stayed intact. Councillor Debbie Chapman asked Martin if he knew of any measures that could be put in place now to ensure affordability, and Martin explained how preventing the loss of lodging house supply is important.

City staff made a point to note that this meeting was not about licensing lodging homes but rather land use and zoning changes. Despite this, throughout the meeting, questions on licensing and enforcement popped up, Mayor Berry Vrbanovic asked if both the zoning and licensing could be dealt with concurrently given the importance and urgency of this measure. Staff were quick to point out that the licensing depends on removing some of the zoning and land use restrictions, and perhaps it could be done concurrently, but the changes to zoning and land use must occur before a licensing program is overhauled.

Other issues of licensing that were raised included how to incentivize landowners to obtain a licence, how licensing would be enforced, and what repercussions there currently are if landowners choose not to obtain a license.

Councillor Ioannidis expressed a preference for the four-plex housing strategy, which was passed at council previously. By the end, the Councillor noted he had more questions than answers and pushed for a deferral to the next council meeting. The deferral motion was passed and the issue will be readdressed at Council meeting on November 6.

 

You can listen to the show above

From the Void #70 October 31st

Welcome to Episode #70 of From the Void

Happy Halloween! Tonight is going to get scary!

My new podcast with Co – Host Peri Urban is on YouTube, it’s called The Listening Eyebrow and its about deep listening to good music.

ALSO!!! I released  a new album. Everything, Vol. 3 Spotify, You Tube and Bandcamp or where ever you stream your music!

Subscribe to the Podcast

See you in the Void!

CKMS News – City of Waterloo offers free sidewalk and windrow snow clearing to eligible residents

MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

The City of Waterloo is offering a free assisted sidewalk and windrow snow-clearing service for eligible residents who are unable to clear their sidewalks and windrows during the winter months. Earlier this year and after obtaining community feedback on how to proceed with future snow clearing in the city, City Council decided to open applications for a trial snow-clearing service.

Tiffany Smith, Manager, Senior Services and Community Services at the City of Waterloo, explained who the program is meant to help, how to apply, and what the future plans are.

Demand has been high and the city has quickly received applications for half of the forty spots available. Smith explained how this initiative is the first of a four year phase-in program that will see snow-clearing services expanded. Council approved this plans in a May 2023 meeting. A synopsis of this report can be found at EngageWR. There are plans to assess the program and gather further input from homeowners and the community after this first trial season.

As a part of its current snow-clearing responsibilities, the city clears multi-use trails and paths around the city, as well as walkways and bike lanes. City plows also currently clear about 85 km of sidewalk in and around various city parks and facilities

Applications open until October 31st and can be found online here.

You can listen to the show above:

Radio Nowhere Episode 34, 10/28/23

Download: https://soundfm.s3.amazonaws.com/RadioNowhere231028Episode34.mp3, 58m00s, 80.0 MBytes

My Green Tambourine Lemon Pipers
For No One The Beatles
The Letter Joe Cocker
Midnight Rambler The Rolling Stones
Oh Well Pt.1 & 2 Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac
Gallows Pole Led Zeppelin
A Forest The Cure
Screaming Gun Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
High Ball Stepper Jack White
Nsera Fatoumata Diawara & Damon Albarn
Queen Bitch Seu Jorge
Down In Mexico The Coasters

Chief medical officer announces COVID-19 vaccine availability timeline

MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

Up-to-date COVID and flu vaccines will be available for all residents on Monday, October 30. The announcement was made at last  week’s Waterloo Regional Council meeting by Dr. Hsui-Li Wang, the chief medical officer for Waterloo Region.

Up until now, vaccines had been reserved for vulnerable individuals, but starting Monday, the new vaccine will be made available to the wider public at local public health clinics and participating pharmacies and health care providers.

There are no walk in appointments at this time, and clinic appointments must be made through the provincial booking system.

Also on October 30, the Board of Health will begin sending notifications to parents as reminders to update children’s immunization records and vaccines.

The update also stated that while COVID 19 has been increasing slightly in the Region, wastewater data remains at elevated levels with signals dominated by most recent variant (XBB).

Listen to the show above:

CKMS Community Connections with: “The Truth Behind The Smile” PTSD PEER SUPPORT

Jean-Guy Poirier, a firefighter diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress (Disorder), started PTSD Peer Support groups: “The Truth Behind The Smile. These groups so far are in London, Stratford, and Kitchener, Ontario. Jean-Guy has a big vision for The “Truth Behind The Smile.” Giving back is a big part of the endeveour.

Thanks Jean-Guy!

 

CKMS News -2023-10-27- Delegates tell council to reaffirm the Regional Official Plan in response to Ford’s policy reversal.

CKMS News 2023-10-27-Reaffirming The Regional Plan

by: dan kellar

During presentations on October 25th to Waterloo Regional Council, 2 delegates asked the council to respond to the Ontario government’s reversal of the forced expansion of the region’s urban boundaries by reaffirming their commitment to the 2022 Regional Official Plan and by informing the Government that no changes will be identified.  

In today’s show, we hear excerpts from the delegations of Sam Nabi, the director of  Hold the Line Waterloo Region, and Kevin Thomason of the Grand River Environmental Network to the regional council, along with responses from councilors Rob Deutschmann and Dorothy McCabe. 

These delegations were in response to the October 23rd announcement from the  Ontario minister of municipal affairs and housing, Paul Calandra, that affected municipalities had 45 days to respond to his government’s policy reversal.

Before we get into those presentations, here is a bit of background on the situation.

On October 23rd Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing Paul Calandra announced the reversal of his government’s plans which would have forced the extension of the urban boundaries of 12 Ontario municipalities.  In the case of Waterloo Region, this reversal could be accompanied by a return to the 2022 Regional Official Plan which was the product of an extensive public consultation and negotiation. 

This recent flip-flop by the PC government, follows the reversal of the Greenbelt development plans which received widespread condemnation, was the catalyst of province-wide protests, and is also the focus of an RCMP investigation.  

In April 2023, Ford’s Progressive Conservative government upended the plans of many municipalities by overturning their urban boundary and development plans, forcing municipalities to start new processes to approve previously protected land, for new urban sprawl. 

At the time of the original upending of the region’s official plan, local grassroots organisation Hold the Line WR were adamant the Region needed to fight back against the conservative government’s plans. Now, Sam Nabi, the director of the group, and Kevin Thomason of GREN are asking the regional council to reaffirm their commitment to the 2022 Regional Official Plan and to tell Minister Calandra, within his 45 day limit, that there will be no changes identified.

 

Radio Nowhere Episode 33, 10/22/23

Download: https://soundfm.s3.amazonaws.com/RadioNowhere231022Episode33.mp3, 58m19s, 80.0 MBytes

Volver Los Inquietos del Vallenato
Couldn’t Stand the Weather Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Who do You Love? Nash the Slash
Something Better The Blueflowers
Top Down Teenage Head
Traveling Riverside Blues Eric Clapton
Fresh-Garbage Spirit
Tell Mama Savoy Brown
Gasoline Alley Rod Stewart
What A Way To Die The Pleasure Seekers
Have a Cigar Pink Floyd
The Volcano Song The Budos Band
All Mine Portishead
Horace and Pete Paul Simon
Winterlude The Wilderness Of Manitoba
Give Up This Day (with R. Reverend “Sport” Trendleberg) Proctor And Bergmen

Poverty Reduction Forum encourages people to get involved in police budget consultations

by MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

“Show up and tune in” was the message from the Poverty Reduction Forum, when asked how people can engage with 2024 police budget consultations. The Forum, which was hosted by the Kitchener Public Library and presented by the Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, was held on October 17, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The Forum consisted of two four person panels that included outreach workers; people with lived experience of poverty; academics; a former politician; and social workers.

Some of the conversation at the Forum revolved around the problems and challenges when dealing with the police. Consistently, across the panels, delegates encouraged all members of the public to get involved in the community consultation process, in particular to attend the upcoming public consultations on the police budget on October 26 and November 6.

Earlier this year, the Waterloo Regional Council approved a motion that demanded the WRPS board consult with council and the public before approving its annual budget, in an effort to encourage transparency and improve relations between the police and the public. Up until now, Regional Council could only approve or reject the police budget and had no control over individual budget items or the process.

As reported by CKMS news last week, Regional Councillor Rob Deutschmann presented a motion to council to express dissatisfaction and disappointment in the engagement process so far and that the WRPS budget seems to have been finalized with neither public nor council input. That motion ultimately failed, though the vote was close.

At the Poverty Forum, advocates Kamil Ahmed, a community organizer and mediator at Community Justice Initiatives, and Sara Escobar, co-founder of Peregrine Outreach, both stressed the importance of public participation. Kamil also discussed the importance of gaining a wider perspective and understanding of the police’s increased budget requests.

The WRPS is the 12th largest police service in Canada and the 7th in Ontario. In 2023 the police budget was $214 million. Despite a surplus, the WRPS has asked their 2024 budget to be increased by $16 million, in large part to fund additional 18 new officers in 2024 and 2025. The reason, according to police, is because officer staffing in the region has fallen short of other major municipalities, noting that as the population has grown in size, staffing has not increased.

To bolster their request, the police pointed to the rise in crime from 2012 to 2021 has risen 34 percent.

The Police budget public consultations begin with a virtual meeting on Thursday, October 26 at 1 pm. You can join this consultation by watching on Waterloo Regional Police Service Board’s YouTube channel.

 

You can listen to the story above:

Through the Static Episode 16 – 25/10/23

Today’s episode starts off with an epically long tune, then takes a bit of a spooky turn with some Halloween-themed tunes. As always, thanks for listening!

  • Storm – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
  • Spooky – Classics IV
  • Witchy Woman – Eagles
  • Time Warp – Cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show
  • Circumstances – Rush
  • Andromeda – Weyes Blood
  • Walking at a Downtown Pace – Parquet Courts

https://radiowaterloo.ca/category/through-the-static/feed/?tag=podcast