Special Post - More Election Issues

Ward 2 Voter Issues - Part 2

Having visited every residential address, and most of the businesses, as well as delivered 1767 flyers in Ward 2, I can now address the remaining concerns that were raised.
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Nordale Potholes - Patch 1, Leave 2
The explanations for why this happens are that time constraints on the crew sometimes prevent all the potholes from getting filled, and locations of potholes are usually identified by an address, rather than by city blocks that need attention. The current roads manager (who started early this year) has instructions to identify clumps of potholes that need repair, and schedule repairs to larger accumulations of potholes where patches are most appropriate. Direction to repair potholes is also being done by block, in many instances. “Cold mix” is used as a temporary fix in the spring, when the average daily temperature warms to over zero; “hot mix” is used for potholes and larger patches. In the fall, hot mix can be used as long as the average daily temperature is above minus 5.

Riverside Drive Speeding & Heavy Truck Traffic, Speeding in School Zones and on River St. West
Speeding vehicles, especially during times when school buses are picking up or dropping off children, are reduced during the (infrequent) appearances by police radar. Speed patrols - at any location in the city - do not follow a pre-determined schedule; it was suggested that they should. Speed bumps on Riverside Drive were suggested two years ago by the current councillor, but no follow-up on this suggestion is evident. I think they’re worth careful examination. [La Ronge (on Riese Drive) and Air Ronge (at Gordon Denny School) both installed rubber speed bumps in summer 2009 - the same type as those installed on the 13th St. West access to Zellers’ north parking lot in PA.] One constituent suggested a cul de sac at the city limit on Riverside Drive. This is not possible, but restricting the permitted vehicle weight on this street would make a difference. Vehicle weight restrictions on city streets are found in the Traffic Bylaw - see pages 28 to 30 at http://citypa.ca/Portals/0/PDF2/Bylaws/Bylaw%20No.%2016%20of%202005%20-%20Traffic%20Bylaw.pdf City council could be asked to change this bylaw to restrict heavy vehicles from operating on Riverside Drive.

Police Foot Patrols Downtown
Though it seems otherwise, police spokespeople assert that the schedule for foot patrols downtown during the summer months has not changed in the past two years. Many people have remarked about the diminished police presence in the mall, on Central Avenue, and in the downtown generally since the substation on the west side of Central (just south of 11th St.) was closed early in 2009. It was suggested that evening patrols be implemented - something I favour - and a schedule that makes officers more visible to workers in the downtown be instituted. (The complaint was that they may be there, but police aren't seen by people who work downtown.) The lease for the substation property was simply not renewed. The police service has moved some of its staff into the former Pandila law office building (beside the viaduct - purchased for $600,000), and has acquired new parking spaces by taking over the former city parking lot adjacent to Marquis Audio-Video. Police “visibility” downtown is not expensive; these three changes do not enhance it.

Police Response to Snowmobiles and Break-and-enter in Nordale
A constituent noted how quick city police were to respond to snowmobiles in Nordale, and how slow they were in responding to a break-and-enter where the would-be perpetrator was scared off by the family dog. Remembering that there are normally five marked patrol cars in service at any given time, and that different types of calls result in two or more being dispatched to an incident (I have seen five marked cars at a location where a firearm was discharged), response time is also directly related to how busy they are. For example, a Sunday afternoon snowmobiler in January in the city is likely to get ticketed because not much else is probably going on that requires a police presence. A break-and-enter in progress is a high priority call; but a response to a break-and-enter that happened over a hot summer weekend, but isn’t reported until it’s discovered late Sunday evening, usually waits a long time because more urgent calls require a police presence.

Rationalization of police resource allocation is a difficult task (and it quickly becomes tiresome to hear the same mantras repeated over and over about how uniquely busy our police service is . . .), but it is relevant that intoxication-related incidents take up an extraordinary amount of patrol officers’ time. The detoxification centre that opened up adjacent to the Victoria Hospital on October 19 will alleviate some of the issues with detaining these people at the 15th St. West cells.

Dangerous Left Turn from Highway 55 onto Birch Lane
Eastbound traffic trying to turn north onto Birch Lane must constantly be aware of vehicles coming from behind them that are passing on both sides, creating very dangerous situations. The centre paint marking on the road surface is dashed-yellow, “passing permitted” marking. The simple solution - changing the paint marking to two solid “no passing” yellow lines - would help the school buses that have to turn in here. The city could paint these solid lines, after consulting with Sask. Highways. The ideal solution - a dedicated left-turn lane, with a flashing yellow light - is a cost that should be seriously considered.

Snow-shovelling for Seniors and the Disabled
It was suggested that such a service be offered by organizations such as young offenders. In North Battleford, Territorial Youth Services and the local Canadian Mental Health Association offer this service to seniors. Snow clearing is usually $10 to $20 per visit. Grass cutting is also offered there, for $30. Implementing this type of service in Prince Albert would require an agency to initiate it.

City Not “Neat and Clean”
The “Neat and Clean” program was a temporary venture, one that included regular maintenance items and $28,700 in alterations to the mayor’s office and city council chamber. Fire hydrants were painted, flower pots appeared, and the bottom eight feet of light poles were painted. Picking up garbage was NOT expanded: there’s a cleanup week coordinated by the PA Downtown Improvement District in May, and there used to be fine-option garbage picking (as well as a few volunteers who did it for exercise in the 2nd Avenue West corridor). Property owners and tenants are responsible for picking up whatever lands on the property where they live. (This was a time-consuming endeavour when I lived less than a block from a 7-11, the Co-op gas station, and a donut shop.) We could hire students to pick garbage from May to August, and also engage the young offenders in such work. Trying to educate people to use a garbage can is extremely difficult . . . .

Lack of Enforcement - Spitting, Urinating, Bikes on Sidewalks
The concern was that, while city council passed bylaws dealing with these, bylaw officers and the police do not enforce them. “Selective,” or “arbitrary” enforcement of the various laws is one aspect of a larger concern that the local police service is sensitive about. Aside from the explanation given above (see Police Response to Snowmobiles and Break-and-enter in Nordale), keep in mind that police and bylaw officers have to assess every situation they encounter in terms of 1) the ultimate benefit to the public; 2) the time the officer needs to allocate to the event; 3) the likelihood of achieving a successful “penalty” for the infraction; and 4) the potential for a positive impact on the behaviour of the offender. These are valid considerations, but they do not excuse a police officer who doesn’t follow up on a theft because the perpetrator was under 16.

Minimum Standards for Rental Properties
Councillor Atkinson, following up on discussion at the Housing Committee (which he chairs), suggested several years ago that council direct administration to prepare such standards, then have bylaw officers enforce them. Council “received and filed” his request. We desperately need such standards, and I support spending money to create and enforce them.

Programs for Youth
The real problem is not that there aren’t programs for youth, but that the sports-related ones outside of school are usually too expensive for a large number of city residents. I’m talking about hockey, baseball, soccer, gymnastics, figure skating, speed skating, downhill skiing, bike racing, and lacrosse. We have a skateboard park that gets a lot of use, but it’s located on the edge of town, rather than in the city centre. There are programs at the West Flat Community Centre and Margo Fournier Centre, but sustaining them over time has become difficult. Community schools also have after-school programs. Addressing this issue starts at home; schools and city-funded agencies can only offer what children might (or, better yet, do) want to get involved in, and it’s more difficult for them than it is for parents to get kids involved in “constructive” activities.

Diversity among City Employees
There is no employment equity program at the city, so the numbers of First Nations, Métis, and visible minority employees are unlikely to reflect the city’s population. The police service has made great progress in this area; the fire department, through its mentorship program, is headed in that direction. A formal personnel policy on this issue is desirable.

Parking Space Scarcity at Sherman Towers, Northcote Manor, and Carment Court
This issue came up at a Sherman Towers monthly meeting: vehicles left parked on the north side of 9th St. East for more than 48 hours were being ticketed by bylaw officers. On October 5, the current councillor told the tenants’ association executive that he had brought a pile of 3-day parking passes to Sherman Towers a few years ago. The problem is, no one at Sherman Towers could remember ever seeing these passes. (In fact, the city’s yellow-and-black “top hat” courtesy parking passes are stamped with only ONE day’s date on them . . . .) A suggestion was made that land on the side of the building be bought for additional parking. Before the meters were removed a few years ago, there were 9 metered spaces on 9th St. East adjacent to Sherman Towers. With a request to city council, perhaps 5 or 6 of these could be designated as “residential permit parking only” - similar to the 200 block of 14th St. West, and the spaces on 10th St. East by Ecole Valois. However, this is a short-term solution.

PA Housing Authority staff told me Sherman Towers has 19 resident parking spaces, and 8 waiting for a space. Carment Court has 33 resident parking spaces, with 5 on a waiting list; Northcote, with 21 spaces, also has 5 waiting. The total number now waiting for a parking space (18) in this area is the highest number they have ever experienced. But this is actually a transportation problem, not a “parking” problem. To address it, there needs to be an attempt to ensure that vehicles are being used (not merely re-insured and registered each year), and that vehicles not driven in the winter (a common practice) are moved elsewhere, before a Transportation Co-op can be implemented for the three buildings. One space could be allocated to the co-op at each building, and the cars could be purchased from three residents who decide they don’t need to own a vehicle. Transportation co-ops are common in larger cities, and there’s financial assistance from the Saskatchewan government to help set up co-operative organizations.

Unruly Bus Patrons
The comment was that bus drivers were not refusing to allow drunk, drugged, or fighting people to get on the bus. Urinating and defecating on the buses were also noted. The bus drivers now allow such individuals on the bus, but police are called to meet the bus and deal with them. Bus drivers do not sit in a protected (cordoned off) area of the vehicle. A policy for these situations is being developed, and should be implemented in the new contract with the bus service provider. (The contract with First Bus expires on December 31, 2009.) The 14th St. East transfer station should be completed by mid-November - if the weather stays warm and the daily rains cease.

Special Post - Election Issues

Ward 2 Voter Issues - Part 1

In the course of distributing over 1300 pamphlets since September 10, Pearl and I have kept track of the issues brought to our attention by Ward 2 residents, employers, and employees. This is the first compilation of those concerns, with my responses and comments from the appropriate city officials.
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Train Whistle Blown at Length, at Ridiculous Hours
The current councillor raised this at the September 8, 2009 council meeting. It seems Carlton Trail Railway (CTR) has a new conductor, one who pulls the train whistle too much - in the late, early, and other hours of the day - disturbing (to distraction) residents of Columbian Centre and Hazeldell, in particular. Phone calls to local CTR employees from Public Works do not produce a response, so it appears the company’s Denver head office will need to be contacted before this issue gets addressed. Common sense should dictate that the whistle emits just a couple of short blasts as the front of the train approaches a roadway.

Recycling Surplus Household Goods
Even stuffy Ottawa now does this: a day was set aside this spring for residents to leave out household items they no longer wanted for people to peruse and remove. It happens all over the Greater Vancouver Regional District (except in Vancouver and Burnaby), Montreal, Nanaimo, and in Japan, with varying degrees of formality. One constituent suggested a place at the landfill where people could leave such items. A special recycling centre in Nanaimo performs the same function. In BC’s lower mainland, many residents leave these out a couple of days before a designated garbage day, and anything not taken is picked up for disposal at the landfill. Surrey has a web site to facilitate “transfer” of useful items to new homes. I think we could run a program like the paint/dangerous goods recycling day currently held at the city yards on 10th St. East. Public Works Director Colin Innes said he would consider this suggestion.

Continual Damage to Riverside Drive Overpass
The current procedure is that all Highway 55 westbound “over height” traffic coming into the city is directed by signs to 1) turn north onto Central Ave. North, then 2) west on 15th St. NE, then 3) left onto Highway 2, consequently entering the city from the north. This traffic flow pattern was implemented in 2009, after the overpass was hit yet again. The problem stems from the fact some drivers forget how high their vehicle is. It was suggested by a constituent that the roadway under the overpass be excavated on the west side (where clearance is less than on the east side). Unfortunately, implementing this solution is hampered by the need for the roadway to be at the same elevation as the train tracks at the point where the two intersect. The other alternative is a visible and audible warning - obviously, flashing lights and a blaring horn - when an over height vehicle has been detected by a measuring device. This option was deemed too costly by the city.

Grass Cutting (800 block of 16th St West, Hazeldell, and airport subdivision ditches)
Most of the problem areas get done once a summer. The ditches adjacent to the train tracks are not going to be done by CTR. I suggested that Public Works monitor rainfall amounts (easily done via the http://www.theweathernetwork.com “Historical” tab), and use that data to determine when grass should be cut [rather than sending these employees on a set rotation - one that saw them cut the 200 block of 15th St. West every ten working days, whether needed or not, and always between 7 AM and 8 AM when I lived there . . . .] Colin Innes thought this was a good idea.

Hazeldell Rink Not Open Last Winter
There was no money to operate the rink in the winter of 2008-09. Heather Vallee, the President of the Hazeldell Community Club, should be contacted to see if the budget includes rink operation this winter.

Road Grading (18th St West, lane behind 800 block 15th St. West, rear lanes generally, airport area subdivisions)
Grading is usually done in June by Public Works. Out by the airport, too much soil was brought to the centre of Valley View Rd. this year. Similar to grass cutting, a work schedule that utilizes rainfall monitoring was suggested to Colin Innes. Again, he thought this was a good idea.

Drugs, Prostitutes, and Gangs in the Neighbourhood
The province established a Northern Drug and Gang Enforcement Unit, with staff headquartered in PA, in September 2009. This probably won’t have much impact in the short term. These problems are best addressed by improvements in health, social, and education programs, rather than law enforcement. On the other hand, if you have a specific problem with a particular address, call 1-866-51-SAFER. It may take a while for surveillance to happen [let alone have an impact: one resident told me the wait was almost 4 years . . . .], but complaints to the building’s owner are usually ineffectual and the results of building inspections take time to implement. An innovative, five-year anti-gang program, called Warrior Spirit Walking, is being run by Prince Albert Youth Outreach. This program is now in its third year, and I think it’s making a difference.

Late-night Hours at Georgie’s/National Hotel
The law allows them to be open until 3 AM, and on Sundays they’re open until midnight. The new drive-through window may speed up service, eliminate some of the street noise, and make it more likely that service to intoxicated clients will be safely refused. But I am opposed to drive-through windows on principle: they contribute to air pollution and physical inactivity, and waste valuable land. No new drive-throughs should be permitted in Prince Albert, and those that exist now should be required to pay a substantial annual fee to the city to compensate for the additional environmental degradation they generate [the banks, fast food, and coffee shops that have them could recoup this fee by charging customers $1 extra to utilize their drive-through lane]. The fact that Georgie’s is attached to a hotel with a bar exacerbates liquor-related problems. Few people live in the area, so complaints about noise aren’t made often. Six or seven years ago the city approved the construction of a “convention centre” beside the National, though the persistence of the empty lot suggests there was no intention of actually building it. What this area needs (as does all of the downtown) is housing - for all ages and income brackets, of various types. Since local developers refuse to show an interest here, the city should issue a request-for-proposals (RFP) for specific land (Scarrow Plaza, on River St., for example) and start the ball rolling. THERE IS MONEY AVAILABLE FOR SUCH HOUSING - from Western Diversification Canada's new Urban Development Agreements. Downtown will NEVER be “safe,” or vibrant, without a major influx of permanent residents.

Parking on 13th St. Near St. Mary (300 block)
During school hours, 13th St. is dangerous to drive down, due to parking on both sides of the street by students. The 50-odd spaces in the cathedral parking lot are also used by students (funeral times excepted), as are those on the lot north of the new football field. The solution is to encourage other means of getting to school (I have never seen more than 15 bicycles in the fenced area at the northwest corner of the school, and the total of student vehicles parked on 13th St., 14th St., plus in the cathedral and old St. Paul’s lots never totals less than 60 . . . .) Walking, cycling, taking the bus, and getting a ride with your parents to school aren’t “cool,” but they do make street traffic less problematic for the neighbours. The neighbours could ask for permit-holder parking only on the north side of 13th, but this would only move students’ vehicles onto other blocks. When the new St. Mary building was before city council a few years ago, I was the only person to object to the proposal, and parking wasn’t the primary issue: the additional building height cuts off access to winter sunlight for the houses on the north side of 13th St.

Parking Bylaw Enforcement
A constituent suggested that this service be contracted out to Sask. Seniors Association Inc. Local #4, and that large retail (South Hill Mall, Superstore, Cornerstone stores, Canadian Tire) be required to participate in enforcement of handicapped parking stalls. I disagree, since SSAI #4 has a large block of rural members, and there’s a better way: Saskatoon uses the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires as the primary parking bylaw enforcement agency (in a three-way contract with the City of Saskatoon and the police department). The 5-year contract has been renewed several times. Maybe PA should issue an RFP for parking enforcement.

Inadequate Bus Service
We’re on the fourth route map and schedule since mid-2006. The complaint is that insufficient consultation with riders takes place when routes and schedules are changed. I was at a bus service open house in summer 2008, and was the only member of the “public” to show up. For ongoing feedback, and the next time route and schedule changes are proposed, there should be forms given out to bus patrons over an entire week - which they could fill out during their trip, then give back to the bus driver.

Dangerous Intersection - 4th Ave. & 15th St. West
This intersection was to have been “re-configured” (a right-turn lane allowing northbound traffic to turn east without blocking 4th Ave.) in 2003. The property needed was never purchased, and the intersection was forgotten about. It came up twice in the past three years, due to pedestrian safety concerns. Painting crosswalks is unlikely, unless it’s across 15th St. at the east side of the intersection. Construction of traffic islands on 15th St. would separate eastbound and westbound traffic more effectively, and allow a “safe” zone for pedestrians. Colin Innes will consider this suggestion, in light of the fact that the 2010 budget contains $30,000 for a "Pedestrian Refuge and Half Signal" here - an expenditure that was scheduled for 2009.

Property Maintenance Issues (weeds not cut, junk in yards)
Call the bylaw enforcement officers, at 953-4903, then give them a couple of business days to get to the location you’ve identified for attention.

Cambridge St. Asphalt Millings Not Replaced
The city replaced water lines in the 300 block of Cambridge St. NW in 2008, but did not replace the asphalt millings that it removed at the time. Colin Innes said this work will be scheduled.