Friday Roundtable on 980 CFPL: Talking Conestoga Huts & Housing
Former City Councillors Cheryl Miller and Paul Hubert, and Ward 2 City Councillor Shawn Lewis talking with Craig Needles about a possible Conestoga Hut pilot project as one small part of London’s response to homelessness and the housing crisis.
Part 1
Part 2
Want to hear the whole Friday Roundtable? Listen here: https://omny.fm/shows/the-craig-needles-show/friday-round-table-february-21-2020
Family Day Free Public Skate
Honouring Team Canada 2020 World Junior Gold!
The Ward 2 2019 Year in Review
My first year as your city councillor has flown by, but it has been a very exciting and productive first year.
In 2019 engaging the residents of Ward 2 has meant:
- Hosting 3 public townhall meetings
- Responding to over 2000 of your emails
- An average of 4000 social media engagements a month
I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to share your thoughts, ideas, questions and concerns. It is important for me to hear from you in order to bring our neighbourhood’s voice to London City Hall effectively.
Of course, it is also about doing the work at City Hall as well and in my first year I’ve served on Council’s Civic Works and Community and Protective Services Committee, as well as Council’s representative on the Argyle BIA, Library, and Tourism London boards.
I’m looking forward to continuing that work this year and am honoured to have the confidence of my fellow council members in taking on the additional role of Chairperson for the Community and Protective Services Committee for 2020.
There are many Ward level needs and wants to work on as well. We have streets without any sidewalks, while other streets are badly in need of paving repairs. We have parks that need equipment repairs and other locations that need and are waiting for pedestrian crosswalks too. Of course there is also the need to keep working on affordable housing, better snow plowing, public wifi access at city facilities, and getting the green bin program started to name a few of the city wide initiatives I’m working on.
And although I’m frustrated about the delays, I continue to work with our project team at the city to “get it done!” so that 2020 will finally see the opening of our new East Lion’s Community Centre.
It will also be a challenging year as we work on the 2020-2023 Multi-year budget and work to deliver good services while keeping tax increases as reasonable as possible.
I look forward to continuing to work with you, and for you, to make our community an even better place to live, work, and play than it already is.
Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!
A Year 1 Council Update, with Councillor Morgan
Naming the EAST LIONS COMMUNITY CENTRE!
In 1951 the newly chartered East London Lions Club purchased a block of land which they cleared for a baseball diamond and park. Continue Reading
In Debate on BRT: The Argyle View
Discussing in the first video how Argyle residents feel about always being left out when it comes to service and investment from city hall.
In the second video, presenting an amendment to the East London Link rapid transit proposal to include improved service to Argyle, the airport, and employers along Veterans Memorial Parkway to get people to jobs.
PUSHING FOR BETTER SNOW CLEARING AT COUNCIL
At Civic Works Committee on Tuesday (Jan 8th), I introduced a motion to start the process of looking at options for better snow clearing for London residents. This is an issue I heard about during the campaign, and promised to try to tackle.
My motion was seconded by Councillor Elizabeth Peloza, who supported my campaign pledge on this issue and it read as follows:
That staff be directed to investigate and report back, before the next multi-year budget process begins, on the operational and budget impact of:
- lowering the clearing of residential streets from 10cm to 8cm and 7cm options.
- the capital costs for new equipment and options for faster response times during heavy or consecutive snowfall events.
- to lower the threshold of sidewalk clearing from 8cm to 5cm.
- to ensure that school walking routes are cleared as a priority.
- to conduct a review of current snow plowing routes and available technologies to implement smarter, more flexible and responsive snow clearing.
There has been lots of interest from Londoners across the city, and from the local media on this effort. I invite you to check out the media stories at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-snow-removal-1.4971779
London councillor aims to improve city’s snow clearing standards
https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/city-hall-briefs-15
End of 2018 Update
Today we say goodbye to 2018 and prepare to start a new year. There is no doubt the future holds both challenges and opportunities for our city, and I’m confident we are ready to face them! Please take a minute to read this Ward 2 update and let me know what your priorities for City Hall are in 2019 by clicking the link at the end that will take you to a short survey.
Today also marks the end of my first month as your city councillor and it has been a busy time. The first thing any new council has to tackle is the appointment of councillors to standing committees, as well as the appointment of both councillors and citizens at large to the 25 boards and commissions our city has.
In addition to being your Ward 2 Council representative I will be serving as a representative on: Continue Reading
Post Election Update
First off, my sincerest thanks to the people of Ward 2 for placing their trust in me to represent them at City Hall for the next 4 years. With 64% support, you’ve given me a strong mandate to work for you and fight for our neighbourhood.
And, my deepest gratitude to all the amazing people who volunteered on my campaign. Continue Reading