Politicians “Experience” and Years in Office Are Not Equal
Some politicians hold office for many years because they are good at getting results for the people they represent. Others simply benefit from the “incumbent advantage” of name recognition and vote splitting to hold on. So the public should never mistake years in public office with the experience needed to “get the job done”.
Recently, this was evident in the debate around the proposed “adult entertainment license” for a new strip club in east London’s Ward 2. Continue Reading
AM980 Roundtable Aug 30, Jeff Preston & Shawn Lewis
Talking about the issue of strip club licensing that is affecting London’s Argyle neighbourhood, about whether it’s time OHIP covered mental health service costs for citizens, and about the CAMI strike vote in Ingersoll.
AM980 Roundtable, featuring Caranci, Caranci, and Lewis
From today’s AM980 London News Roundtable…with 2x the Caranciness as both former City Councillor Roger Caranci & his son, former Conservative MP staffer Nathan Caranci were on the air with me and London’s best talk radio host Craig Needles, talking downtown development, BRT and whether or not police should be welcome at Pride.
AM980 Roundtable with Craig Needles & Jeff Preston
Talking City of London Noise By-law appeal, Health Unit cancelling dental clinic, and high school student busing:
June 14 Roundtable with Steve Garrison & Craig Needles
Talking about the opioid addiction crisis and the need for local leadership on the issue, the ranked ballot mess council has created in it’s own votes, and some good news about traffic light synchronization in London, with local broadcast legend Steve Garrison and host Craig Needles on the AM980 Wednesday Roundtable:
AM980 Roundtable with Shawn Lewis, Steve Garrison, Devon Peacock & Craig Needles
Talking municipal smoking by-laws, basic income, long term care for seniors, and does City Hall planning process give developers special advantage over citizens?
Broadcast Legend Steve Garrison, Political Insider Shawn Lewis, Program Director Devon Peacock, discuss the issues with host Craig Needles:
London Home Owners Get Some Tax Relief
Get this year’s property tax bill yet?
When you do, you might notice how the 2.9% increase homeowners were supposed to get ended up only being 1.1%
That’s some good news and Londoners have my friend Ward 7 Councillor Josh Morgan to thank for that.
In 2014 I was happy to serve as Campaign Manager for Josh Morgan’s (successful) bid for a council seat, not just because Josh is a friend, but because I knew Josh was someone Londoners could count on to balance the need for city building and infrastructure improvements with the fiscal realities of London families.
Josh and his wife are working hard to raise 3 kids, make the mortgage and car payments, and cover the grocery and hydro bills, just like so many other London families. So he gets prioritizing the “need to haves” over the “nice to haves” for the City, and recognizes just how hard people work to generate a tax dollar.
This year, some changes to the education portion of our property taxes meant there was an opportunity to provide some tax relief. These variances do happen from time to time, but historically City Councils (remember, Mayor Brown and Councillors Armstrong, Hubert, and Usher have been on past councils) have given the relief to industrial and commercial landowners (people like Mr. Farhi who can write off more in taxes than most homeowners earn in a year).
This year Josh Morgan made sure that homeowners got the relief.
This is exactly the kind of balanced, fair tax approach Josh campaigned on.
Here is Josh (along with AM980’s Craig Needles and myself) talking about how he delivered this tax relief for homeowners, give it a quick listen:
Urging Council to Connect Argyle to BRT
Members believe the college is too isolated and would prefer the transit hub be located at Argyle Mall, or close to it.
“People want to see transit improved,” association chair Shawn Lewis told AM980.
Full story and audio clip:
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If London’s Doing BRT, Argyle Wants to be Included
“The Argyle Community Association asks council to reconsider the eastern route,” the group writes in a letter sent to council, signed by board chair Shawn Lewis. “It is our position that the eastern transit village should be located at Argyle Mall.”
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Time to Fix Council Pay (Permanently)
It happens almost every term of council in London, the issue comes up of how much council is paid and whether or not the position should be “full-time” or “part-time” (currently councillors are considered part-time). It always brings a cry of (ignorant) protest from some quarters that “greedy politicians” are feeding at the trough again, and instead of making a tough (and awkward) decision, councillors kick the proverbial can down the road with some version of “make it an election issue” or “let next council decide”.
So let’s cut through the crap shall we?
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