Clause 1 be amended to include "and permanent solutions"

1:54:00and just as a heads up everyone will do this one and then I'm going to take a break after that okay

1:54:05so I just want to acknowledge that we have a couple delegations here but

1:54:12um as is normal uh process we had the motions that were referred from committee fly to today

1:54:21to the council agenda but councillor quassan who was not here uh unfortunately for the committee

1:54:27has amended and brought forward something a little bit different so you're kind of seeing

1:54:31everything on the agenda here but councillor quassan would uh will be speaking um to this as

1:54:37well so before I call off the delegates I just think it's appropriate for councillor quassan is

1:54:44sort of the originator um of this motion and this idea maybe just to speak to it for a moment

1:54:50to get the foundation out there what we're actually speaking about then I can go to the

1:54:54delegations and then come back to us okay sorry I didn't give you a heads up on that but hope

1:54:58that's okay sure yeah that's fine I've prepared a couple of things um and I just would also like

1:55:02to thank you and my colleagues for referring I wasn't able to attend last minute and so thank you

1:55:08for sending it forward to this one so that I could speak a little bit to it um and and also I just

1:55:14wanted to say thank you mr. mayor for your help um in getting this idea forward um and to the delegates

1:55:20as well and everyone who wrote to me to express their support uh this work has brought me closer

1:55:25and uh to the broader accessibility landscape in our city and I've had so many conversations and

1:55:30made connections that have deepened my understanding of the barriers that so many people face when

1:55:35trying to access spaces every day so I just thank you to everyone who has reached out to me or had

1:55:41a conversation with me or sent me an email um and and thank you Cindy we have spoke several times

1:55:47and say with James so thank you for that I really appreciate um you taking the time for for this

1:55:53I want to acknowledge that staff didn't um support my original motions which asked them to explore a

1:55:58pilot program with the stop gap foundation which is an initiative that provides affordable portable

1:56:04ramps for uh spaces uh in the city that are inaccessible if they have one single step um I brought

1:56:11forward this these motions because I believe that there is a role for the city to play in supporting

1:56:16these types of accessibility improvements and in fact many cities do uh support these types of

1:56:21of projects um often small businesses lack the resources and time to meaningfully address

1:56:28accessibility and many don't know where to start I've heard from residents that more ramps could

1:56:33make a big difference in where they can go and what they can participate in in Guelph especially in

1:56:40our downtown and older areas uh there are many storefronts that are still physically inaccessible

1:56:45due to that one step and of course there's a few that have more than just one step and higher single

1:56:50steps um that one step is a barrier for people using wheelchairs walkers canes crutches and strollers

1:56:58um because staff and several counselors weren't supportive of the original proposal I don't want

1:57:03to spend too much more time defending it here instead I'd like to offer a revised approach

1:57:09with two emotions and they're in our agenda package I'm not I hope that you've had a chance

1:57:13to look at them so there's two and I'll just read them one that council endorsed a community led

1:57:18approach to increasing the accessibility of businesses in Guelph with initiatives such as the

1:57:23stopgap foundation and two that the downtown Guelph business association and the chamber of

1:57:28commerce be encouraged to raise awareness about these initiatives and grant opportunities

1:57:33with Guelph businesses to enhance accessibility for all um and and just for your knowledge as well

1:57:39my next step is going to be to bring this to the dgba and to propose a community led project um and

1:57:46to take it and and hopefully there's some community members who will support me and I think there

1:57:50already are there's a number of folks who have said that they would be up for for this as well as

1:57:55some of my council colleagues so I just wanted to say thank you for your consideration and

1:58:00reconsideration of of these uh new motions great thanks councillor costum appreciate that and and

1:58:08and that context for what we're actually going to be discussing here today and so with that context

1:58:13thank you so much for the delegations for waiting if you would like to come up the first one

1:58:21is going to be James uh no no walk please and then uh Cindy McLean I see Cindy here as well

1:58:28so you're in the wings there and come on down James whenever you're ready go right ahead

1:58:47and uh it's uh five minutes total and you'll hear the the wonderful chime at four minutes and

1:58:53thirty seconds as the as the warning okay so thank you very much and over to you whenever you're ready

1:59:00okay dear councillors mayor Guthrie city staff and fellow citizens thank you for having me I was

1:59:16encouraged to see some of the changes in the alternate motion however I still think it should

1:59:21be revised and retabled in the fall in its current form the motion still does not address the main

1:59:26concerns I raised on July 8th namely it does not situate these temporary stopgap measures in relation

1:59:33to a broader push for permanent accessibility it does not and it does not name landlords as

1:59:39responsible parties I think it is important to establish this context in the motion doing so now

1:59:45will help the groups mentioned therein avoid the pitfalls inherent to temporary fixes and support

1:59:51them in realizing the ultimate goal of the stopgap stopgap program permanent accessibility

1:59:58consider this photograph taken on July 16th it shows the raised entrance to a retail building

2:00:05in Guelph with a stopgap ramp in front of the door the condition of the paint and the plywood

2:00:10suggests the ramp was part of the 2015 pilot project what have 10 years of apparent regular

2:00:16use led to what awareness has been raised observe the near farcical litany of obstacles which make

2:00:24the ramp itself inaccessible you need a ramp to get to the ramp let's be generous though for a

2:00:32minute and imagine that another ramp is in fact waiting inside to be brought out when needed

2:00:38how is a wheelchair user going to let someone know they want in you can't knock the door is out of

2:00:44reach there is no doorbell no number to call no sticker no intercom no automatic door opener

2:00:51no sign evidently the awareness raising impacts of this particular ramp have been

2:00:58to put it mildly limited this is disappointing because so much care and organizing by people

2:01:05who are here today went into these stopgap ramps which were always meant to raise awareness about

2:01:11the need for permanent accessibility for this to happen however something needs to change this time

2:01:19these temporary measures which i support need to be accompanied by a push for permanent solutions

2:01:25aimed at the people with the means and the obligation to pay for them landlords this issue

2:01:32would ideally i know be remedied by provincial policies that said the city occasionally steps

2:01:37in when these policies fall short for example council is presently considering bylaws to discourage

2:01:44and even to punish illegal renovations by residential landlords in theory the landlord

2:01:49tenant act should protect tenants but in practice it isn't working so the city is preparing to

2:01:54intervene this is good the present issue is similar provincial laws the aod a and the ohhcr

2:02:02are supposed to prevent discrimination but they are not working well enough i therefore think that

2:02:08the city should step in and examine what existing municipal powers might be creatively leveraged

2:02:13to pressure commercial landlords to make their buildings permanently accessible now

2:02:19i am not alone in thinking that temporary ramps work best in conjunction with creative uses of

2:02:25municipal powers indeed the founder of stopgap luke anderson just this month proposed an amendment

2:02:32that is going before toronto city council tomorrow thanks to luke that motion now includes a request

2:02:39that the city advocate for changes to the building code particularly to the distinction

2:02:43between extensive and minor renovations and there are other examples in 2016 a city of

2:02:50san francisco ordinance empowered the city to quote push property owners to remodel the front

2:02:55entrances of businesses that are inaccessible end quote these examples show that other advocates

2:03:01for accessibility and their municipal counterparts near and far are thinking along similar lines

2:03:08that temporary ramps need to be accompanied by creative uses of municipal powers in order to

2:03:13push landlords to provide permanent accessibility now with these examples in mind i humbly request

2:03:20that the mover add to the motion a commitment to explore the feasibility of similar proactive

2:03:25approaches approaches here in guelph i realize that the specifics of this will take time to formulate

2:03:32i therefore ask that you please refer the present motion back to staff and retable or revised version

2:03:36in september without proper contexts these temporary ramps will be less effective the motion

2:03:44should not endorse a temporary fix with also endorsing the need to develop innovative ways

2:03:50to push landlords to provide permanent accessibility solutions now lest you get more of this thank you

2:03:57i welcome your questions and comments i've come prepared to respond and thank you very much for

2:04:03coming again and for your for your presentation as well and is there any follow-up question

2:04:09alt and kate thanks america three and to the delegate james thanks once again for for presenting

2:04:19to us as i was listening to you one of the things that struck me was that you're focusing upon what

2:04:27is perceived to be a temporary adaptation until something permanent comes along if we were in

2:04:35guelph however it's done whether it's by the community or by the city to reconstitute the the

2:04:42ramp program would you be suggesting that we put a time limitation on this so that it not become a

2:04:51permanent solution and that we are we move with certain speed whatever that might be to the permanence

2:04:59that's one idea i i think you all are more familiar with you know what midst municipal powers exist

2:05:06and my request is that a commitment made be made to explore the feasibility of using some municipal

2:05:13powers maybe like the one you're suggesting to put some pressure on this because right now it

2:05:18functions as a pressure release valve and there's no commensurate pressure coming down to make permanent

2:05:23change thank you very much i actually don't know what authority we have to do this or whether it is

2:05:29provincial sure thanks for the question thank you thank you councillor Allt got to katin please

2:05:36thank you three mr mayor um i just texting back and forth with uh councillor claus and

2:05:44i agree with what you're saying mr noak and i was just wondering would something

2:05:49tagged on to the end of the first motion like and permanent solutions be amenable to what you're

2:05:55discussing because i think that uh the spirit of this is not to only look at the stop gaps it was

2:06:02suggestions like stop gaps but also if we added in and permanent solutions would would that give you

2:06:10the the clarification that you're needing that it wouldn't just be looking at the temporary options

2:06:18it would be better i would like to see a commensurate endorsement to use the language of the motion

2:06:24to explore the feasibility of similar of the city exploring the feasibility of similar proactive

2:06:31motions here in guelph other cities have said or have identified municipal creative uses of

2:06:41municipal powers as a potential way to bring about permanent change faster that's what i would

2:06:47like to see the just to just to endorse the commitment to explore the feasibility okay for

2:06:54for right now the suggestion i'm offering up because i understand what you're saying in terms of the

2:07:01municipality but this is i would just be doing this for purely with the the chamber and the dgba

2:07:07as a side rather than it being municipal to be clear it's better it's not what i'm asking for

2:07:14i it's better though than nothing okay thank you very much thank thank you councillor Caton

2:07:21seeing nothing further uh thank you very much and thank you for just raising awareness around

2:07:28the toronto motion that might be coming forward tomorrow oftentimes when toronto especially

2:07:33does motions and if it passes it usually gets actually forwarded to like associations and other

2:07:38municipalities and stuff like that so i think maybe not just myself but many of us will maybe

2:07:43look be looking to see what happens with that so thank you for bringing that up thank you all

2:07:48and finally we have uh c is coming forward i think welcome again cindy good to see you thank you

2:08:23for coming and whenever you're ready the time will start whenever you're ready okay thank you

2:08:38that's great thank you hi everybody hi mr mayor counselors city staff and fellow citizens

2:08:47my name's cindy mclean i'm i'm going to start because i have a terrible feeling i'm going to

2:08:51run out of time i'm thanking councillor Klassen for revisiting this temporary

2:08:58ramp initiative um and her interest and desire to make the community more accessible and more

2:09:05inclusive i um have to admit i am the culprit who is responsible for the 2015 ramp project

2:09:14so whether you think it's a good thing or a bad thing i take responsibility for it um

2:09:20i want to give you a little bit of context i have listened to some of the discussion i thought that

2:09:26i could bring some accurate historical um information and also give you some ideas on lessons learned

2:09:35back in 2015 myself and a group of friends all who face mobility challenges formed a very grassroots

2:09:43organization called gulf accessibility project acronym gap and our intention was to address gaps

2:09:51that we saw in accessibility within the city and the biggest one we saw was access to buildings

2:10:01and businesses particularly that had steps and we noticed that nobody seemed to take responsibility

2:10:09for it so we had this aod a and at that point we were 10 years into it we had landlords as james has

2:10:17very appropriately identified we'd had business or business owners and we had the city and what

2:10:24was happening was nothing and um it was frustrating and so we decided to take it upon ourselves so

2:10:30i knew luke from stopgap reached out to him found a construction company that wanted to do a very

2:10:39good deed and they committed all the materials and all the construction for 40 ramps which is

2:10:46approximately 10 to 12 000 dollars they do not to this day want to be named um the other thing that

2:10:55we did um i traveled to stratford which was the city that had most recently implemented a stopgap

2:11:02program and learned about what they were doing so they had a program that was approved by council

2:11:08and it facilitated through their accessibility advisory committee i approached our city accessibility

2:11:15services hoping to replicate the same process i was told they were not interested i approached

2:11:22the downtown guelph business association and i found a very willing and enthusiastic partner

2:11:28and so over a month we literally went door to door driving all over the city not limited to

2:11:36downtown to try to find businesses that would be interested we were dealing predominantly with

2:11:43business owners um and i would say the bulk of people were quite interested so very quickly

2:11:52we created an inventory we um had to do very extensive measurements so it's not an easy process

2:11:59there's a lot of time consuming effort i give full credit to my father um he was my partner in crime

2:12:06and um businesses were able to choose from four different color ramps so there was some standard

2:12:13as well um and we knew that we had to come up with signage because just in even in the process

2:12:19of trying to recruit businesses i literally was banging on doors and windows because of course

2:12:26i couldn't get in so we created signage we created the ramps and we created an instruction package

2:12:33on how to best use it the great part about it we felt at the time was it was an opening

2:12:41to start to have conversations around accessibility and it was an opportunity to also talk to

2:12:47businesses about how they could create interior spaces that were more inviting and to be truthful

2:12:55had not personal things happened to me and a change of leadership at at the downtown gulf

2:13:02business association megan marty who is who i'm talking about we probably would have continued

2:13:07to do some amazing accessibility um initiatives but things happen but unfortunately here we are

2:13:15yet another 10 years later and we're in the exact same boat so lessons learned the stopgap's not

2:13:21going to work for everybody we know that we need to have different alternatives funding is a major

2:13:27issue because most for-profit organizations are not eligible for a lot of granting um and we need

2:13:35leadership and so i am running out of time so i respectfully ask you to consider a community-led

2:13:43city-supported project wow right on the top of the top thank you very much thank you uh to uh

2:13:52clausen and then to boost it till please i'm gonna move a bit because i can't see this side of the

2:13:59room if that's okay thank you thank you and through you sir mr. mayor to um to the delegate

2:14:06cindy thank you first of all thank you so much for spending so much time on the phone with me in the

2:14:11the past a while and i know that we we're we're continuing our conversation later this week so

2:14:16i'm i'm excited to keep keep working with you um my question is is um you were talking about lessons

2:14:22learned and i'm not sure if you were able to finish those so i would like to ask you know could you

2:14:28finish your thoughts with regard to the lessons learned yeah we i mean i think the biggest thing

2:14:33is there needs to be real leadership and it needs to have continuity and i think that unfortunately

2:14:39if there was a lesson learned things happen with people whether they be at a personal level or within

2:14:45organizations that have them move on and so i think it needs to be embedded in the values of the city

2:14:53have the consistency of knowing that this accessibility is a priority of the city

2:15:00and that it should be seen as a leader throughout the community um i think the other thing i will

2:15:07just say is that this problem is not going to get easier it's going to get harder we have an aging

2:15:11population um by the city's own data by 2031 you know 30 percent of our population will be 55 years

2:15:20or older and we know that 25 percent of the population um greater than 65 live with mobility

2:15:28disabilities so we're trying to build a downtown that is vibrant and inclusive and yet it doesn't

2:15:37align with the needs of people with any type of mobility issue thank you thank you thank you

2:15:46and pucitil yes thank you to the delegate just a quick question you ended your presentation

2:15:53with community led city supported and can you kind of reflect back for me what does city

2:15:59supported look like for you well i think that comes back to you i mean i i read the report

2:16:06from the accessibility services and i read the report report from economic development

2:16:11and tourism and recognize that there are you know limitations in people's work volume but i

2:16:19think fundamentally it needs to be um seen as being important to the city and that it has

2:16:28continuity so that it won't be a one-off project that then we never hear again and and then the

2:16:36ramps disintegrate and you know we you know in in fairness to the picture that james showed

2:16:43that wasn't an original site that was given that ramp so these ramps have floated around

2:16:51downtown um as businesses have come in and gone out so i just think we need continuity we need

2:16:57this to be a priority we you know the aod had on target ontario to be fully accessible by this year

2:17:07right um but we're not we're not close to that and as i said i i just think the problem's going

2:17:13to get harder and and it's going to become more important and without the leadership of the city

2:17:20behind it i just worry that this will be another incident where it's a great moment and then

2:17:31we need to have you know repeat repeat repeat and and and i obviously all along the stop gap

2:17:39was a stop gap right it was never intended to be a permanent solution it was it was the means to get

2:17:48to another stage and and i do worry that we we aren't thinking enough about the next stage

2:17:55the important stage thank you and i would agree about the permanence just to be very clear so

2:18:01i'm gonna extract this from what you've shared is that you believe that this should be city

2:18:07resourced city staffed is that kind of is that fair yes yes actually that is fair yeah now it

2:18:16doesn't mean that there can't be some creativity built in there again there's there's people like

2:18:20myself i'm sure i don't want to talk for james but i'm sure james is uh you know excited as well

2:18:26about being a supporter so i think you're gonna find a lot of community um interest but in the end

2:18:34we do need it to be anchored and i think the city is the anchor thank you great thank you um seeing

2:18:45nothing further cindy thank you very much thank you again you too um so it's back to us council now

2:18:54what i would like us to do uh if it's okay with my colleagues is to to move and second the

2:19:02the referral that came from committee and then we can defeat that okay just so just so that only

2:19:10that gets tabled is is what the new motions are from councillor quassan okay okay i i see hands up in

2:19:20the air i'm so i've conferred with clerk the clerk would rather that we follow this process

2:19:30so that it's referred here and then we defeat it and move on um clerk that was the advice given

2:19:42uh through you mr marita council and to yourself quite frankly i either or you you can go either way

2:19:48i mean what we wanted to do is make sure that the motions were constituted on the agenda

2:19:52so that there was a referral from committee so it was clear from a history standpoint that they

2:19:56landed on the agenda tonight for council but if you wanted to move those and defeat them

2:20:01let's presume that council will do that alternatively you can simply move the revised motions that came

2:20:06from from councillor i would rather that so sorry everybody if i said that the wrong way my apologies

2:20:15can move a motion and defeat me if you want whatever you want to um so i will uh let's just

2:20:22say that we're good with that okay the regular ones that got referred we're just not going to touch

2:20:26them we're good with that okay uh councillor quassan i would imagine you would like to move

2:20:31your motions at least to get them on the floor and want to go to the screen does somebody on the

2:20:36screen want to want to look to second it coran thank you okay um and the first thing i think i'm

2:20:48going to look at is maybe councillor Caton uh for an amendment please go ahead councillor Caton

2:20:54thank you i have a hopefully friendly amendment uh to add

2:20:58and permanent solutions to the end of the sentence on number one okay a gogler gogler's got that for

2:21:06a seconder thank you so we'll just uh we'll let that throw itself up onto the screen okay there you go

2:21:22those those are the words added there at the end and permanent solutions i believe i could call a

2:21:27vote on that i'm seeing lots of heads nod anyone against that amendment nobody perfect so that's

2:21:34unanimous thank you back to the main motions now as amended i saw coran's hand go up but was that

2:21:42maybe just a second earlier lian yeah thank you and so councillor gogler uh thank you through

2:21:49your worship i think what i heard from the delegates is that they're looking for some

2:21:53substantial support from the city so i was wondering i think the original um intent from

2:22:00councillor Klassen included a line to allocate some funding to this so i was wondering if we

2:22:06revisit that conversation and and how my council colleagues would feel about it uh so i'll work

2:22:12to pull that up to add another amendment to look for some funding to be included in this um

2:22:19which so i just wanted to well and and just yeah um do you mind council if i just jump in

2:22:34mr you some thoughts just on that thank you so in my view and you guys know you guys know i'm not

2:22:42like trying to say no okay but if we're going to allow the community even a moment to grab on to this

2:22:50and do something with it i would much rather the our direction for the community to lead this

2:22:56to them to at least have the chance to to wrap their arms around it and then we can between now

2:23:03and the end of the year um we can hear back from the dgpa or hear back from the chamber or hear back

2:23:10from another contractor in the city who wants to remain nameless who wants to donate money or

2:23:16or something different completely different to try to fill fill this issue um before us sort of

2:23:22preemptively going ahead with an unknown amount of money and so i'm not saying i'm not saying no

2:23:29by any means but i think that i hope that i hope you're following my train of thought on that

2:23:34that i think we should sort of kickstart that in my view we should kickstart this allow it to kind

2:23:39of breathe a little bit get some legs and kind of move on and see what happens after that

2:23:44councillor Goller i'll move it back to you're you're okay with yeah that that that works it just wanted

2:23:48to make sure that we're not closing the door to to that support thank you and thank you is there

2:23:55anything further than i'll call the vote then um as as amended okay everybody so um is anyone against

2:24:04the motions as amended no that's unanimous so thanks councillor Klassen for bringing it forward

2:24:10into the delegates as well it's not an ended conversation i can guarantee you so thank you

2:24:15for your input we really appreciate it okay i promised uh a break and so we're gonna do that

2:24:22right now uh it is 645 um i'm gonna make an executive decision that we come back at seven

2:24:31is that okay 15 minutes i just think i think maybe perhaps the next conversation might be

2:24:37a little longer so just seven o'clock okay and then we'll jump right in on that okay thank you

2:24:42very much everyone all right everyone this is your three minute warning this is your one minute

2:39:24warning everybody okay everyone i'd like to call the meeting back to order please

2:40:41and uh we are going to now discuss the windham street north and st george's square

2:40:48preparing for and mitigating construction and we did have our delegation the one delegation

2:40:57withdraw so there are no delegations there was some uh correspondence

2:41:06which means it's directly to us and so right off the top wondering if someone would be willing