Downtown Transportation Study Open House
Today you can attend an open house at Cornwall Centre to look at the City’s Downtown transportation plans (see the City website for more). The event runs from 10am to 7pm.
TAE Contemporary Art Gallery and Artful Dodger
March 1st is an exciting day. It will be most Reginans’ first chance to see the new art space containing Artful Dodger Cafe, TAE Contemporary Art Gallery and Windhover Artists and Events on Osler and 11th Avenue. From 2-5pm there will be a media launch and sneak peek of the space.
I was fortunate enough to get a tour with Executive Director Carol Cairns last week.
Follow after the jump for portions of our conversation and more pictures
Walking in America
I want to share a piece from BBC News’ special Altered States about getting people walking in US cities once more.
The video does a great job of highlighting the problems with sprawl while also providing positive ideas (Matt Tomasulo: city hero) for change. The city in question, Raleigh, North Carolina, has some serious infrastructure challenges to over come, especially in suburban areas.
This video actually makes me feel optimistic about Regina’s chances for suburban retrofit. Comparing our suburbs to featured areas of Raleigh, Regina neighbourhoods have a better foundation to build upon.
Check it out.
Urban coyotes
This article is cross-posted from RUE contributor Katherine Forster’s blog ‘dandelions and concrete‘. Katherine recently relocated to Lindsay, Ontario to learn about natural ecosystems, the restoration of wildlife habitat and how to live in harmony with nature.
During our tracking class last week, the teacher pointed out fresh coyote tracks on school grounds beside the loggersports field. The campus used to be an old farm and there is a river running on the east and south end, with a small creek running into it. Rabbit, skunk, squirrels and racoons live near or on the property. We’ve also been told that you can find many different birds including osprey, cooper’s hawks, ruffled grouse and owls. When you really think about it, it’s amazing who our neighbours are.
In the last couple of years there has been a growing number of human-coyote interactions in different cities across Canada and municipalities have had different approaches to addressing these “conflicts”. Vancouver has chosen a policy of “co-existance” which many wildlife centres have praised as forward-thinking. I received an email from the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre that had this to say:
“In the metropolitan core (Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster) there are about 200 to 300 coyotes. Coyotes in urban areas will scrounge for food scraps and pet food left outdoors in garbage or compost — but their main food source in cities are the large populations of rats and mice.
Co-Existing with Coyotes aims to reduce conflict between people, pets and coyotes by providing accessible information through a wide range of media. The program has been developed in cooperation with the Vancouver Park Board and BC’s Ministry of Environment in response to increasing public contact with, and demand for information about, coyotes in Vancouver.”
Check out their website or email them to find out more: coyotes@stanleyparkecology.ca
February 21, 2012 City Council Meeting
Update: Ward 4 councilor Michael Fougere announced he will run for Mayor (Leader Post). I wonder if this will come up in council?
The Municipal Heritage Awards Presentation will proceed council this evening at 5:30pm.
6:00pm tonight there will be a meeting of City Council at City Hall.
The 13th Avenue Safeway redevelopment is being recommended (see CR12-16). Planning commission raised some concerns about screening the South side of the parcel adjacent to houses on Robinson and Retallack. The matter was refered to the proponent, city administration and the residents to discuss. A supplementary report, CM12-2 suggests the residents’ concerns have been addressed.
There are only three ( including the applicant) delegations speaking to this proposal; far fewer than at planning commission last month.
There are two delegations regarding the Taxi Study Recommendations (CR12-19) put forward at Executive Committee last week. Neither presenter seems pleased with the process. It’ll be interesting to hear what they have to say.
Also from Executive Committee, CR12-20 recommends the Regina Revitalization Initiative (RRI) contract a procurement team for the stadium project.
I look forward to hearing our councilors’ take on this step in the RRI.
For the full agenda check out the City website.
Mayor Fiacco and Executive Committee
The rumours are official, Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco will not run for a fifth term (see Leader Post, Newstalk and Prairie Dog.) The Mayor will end his 12 years in office before the municipal election this fall.
As Mayor Pat Fiacco certainly divided opinion. Many Reginans appreciated his energy and positivity as a great ambassador and civic booster. There were years without tax increases, which was popular if not short sighted. Big projects like Wascana Lake improvements, record construction and more recently new office towers and a public plaza downtown. He also embodied a more corporate style at City Hall, perhaps taking a page from his time in the private sector.
Detractors often felt he was isolated, combative and too business oriented. With projects like the Regina Revitalization Initiative (RRI), the 12th avenue plaza and planned cuts to libraries were some of many controversial plans and projects backed by Mayor Fiacco.
His stepping down makes this fall election look much more interesting. Vetting a new mayor should allow the public to raise questions and reflect on the kind of leader they want and what direction they should go.
In the mean time, there are meetings, plans and projects on the go. Like today, where at 11:45 there is a meeting of Executive Committee (which may or may not be open to the public). There are three reports on the agenda:
EX 12-3 Final Taxi Study Recommendations. There are dozen recommendations for upgrades to Regina’s taxis including GPS units and security cameras in at most three years time, as well as new licensing and inspection fees. There is also a recommendation for a ratio of one cab for every 1250 residents.
EX12-4 Regina Revitalization Initiative (RRI) [Stadium] Procurement Team Contracts. The City wants to contract a Project Manager, Architectural/Owner’s Engineer and Fairness Advisor to the RRI team. The positions are part of the P3 process and as such will provide, according to the report, expertise in their fields.
I recommend reading the Background section of the report for a good summary of the RRI process to date.
EX12-5 Comprehensive Housing Strategy Work Plan. The work plan sets out 5 phases:
Background Review (Now)
Issue Identification (Mar-May)
Policy, Incentives and Strategies Identification (May-July)
Evaluating Alternatives and Preparing a Draft (July-Nov)
Public Engagement (Nov-Dec)
Housing Strategy (Early 2013)
February 8, 2012 Planning Commission
There are four reports today at the 4pm planning commission meeting at City Hall.
RPC 12-7 Will see one of the oldest buildings in Regina receive heritage recognition. The former Salvation Army Citadel and Christian Apostolic Church, located at 1772 Montreal Street is now (well, as of Jane’s Walks last year anyway) the Core Christian Centre, an after school child care space.
RPC 12-6 A rezoning of parcels around the former Sherwood Village Mall (YMCA and Sherwood Library area) from PUD (MU) Planned Unit Development (Mixed Use) to MS or Main Street. This MS zoning allows the library to be a permitted use and the subdivision will include the rear parking lot of the library.
RPC 12-5 Lastly, a discretionary use application (11-DU-4) at 215 Winnipeg Street N for a proposed new Robin’s Donuts drive-thru restaurant on the old Race Trac Gas site on the corner of 6th Ave N. The restaurant will be converted from a car-wash attached to a convenience store/gas station.
The City’s report included feed back against another donut shop in the area; with the City’s response being that administration doesn’t choose the style of restaurant for zoning approval.
Friends of the Library Meeting: Lets talk about theatres
Thursday February 2nd at 7:30 there is a meeting of the Friends of the Library to discuss concerns with the City Cultural Centre project (aka the new main branch library). The meeting will take place at the Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre, 2900 13th Avenue.
My main concern is keeping an art and foreign film theatre in downtown Regina. The RPL Film theatre is my favourite thing about the main library. So when I think about a new facility or an addition to the existing building, including or retaining theatre space is important in promoting more night life.
Following the break are some of my favourite theatres.
Events for Monday January 30th
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment is holding a public meeting this morning, 8am at the Centre of the Arts, to explain its change to Results Based Regulations.
In the evening, there will be another installment of the Talk’n about School and Society Series hosted by the U of R department of Education. Tonight’s topic will be; ‘Environmental Education: where are we?’ The event starts at 7pm at La Bodega restaurant on Albert Street
Thoughts on Unplanned Architectures
Saturday, January 28th I went to the opening of Unplanned Architectures at the Neutral Ground in Regina (See Laura’s post). The opening was busy with most of the artists in attendance to speak to their work and answer questions. Opening along side Unplanned Architectures Saturday night was Diane Morin’s Capteurs d’Ombres.
