Canvassing in the SoHo Community

Touching base in the SoHo Community of Ward 13

It’s been wonderful seeing so many familiar faces while my team and I canvass in SoHo (South of Horton), and hearing the good-news stories from the residents of this vibrant neighbourhood. For instance, the revitalization of Nelson Park, located at the south end of Clarence St, has given neighbourhood children (and their parents) a new place to play and meet. I was there on a Wednesday evening, and found three families still at play and it was getting dark. One of the adults commented that the new playground had become very popular, and every evening this summer has been a gathering place.

I visited the Middlesex London Housing Corporation building at 241 Simcoe Street for the open house and barbeque celebrating their Communities in Bloom project. Congratulations to all the participants on creating this lovely spot.

More good news from SoHo is about the Red Antiquities building on the corner of Wellington and Hill Streets. This one-of-a-kind heritage building had been threatened with demolition. However, it was purchased this summer, and plans are underway to restore and renovate the 137-year-old building. (You can read about what’s happening at http://www.redantiquitiesbuilding.com/.) It was one of the many intriguing stops during this year’s Doors Open London.

The neighbourhood, like many others in our Ward 13, continues to have its challenges, but with the continuing work with the City on the Community Improvement Plan, and the strong and growing SoHo community association, I expect more exciting developments.

Zero Tax increase over 4 years??

That is the question:

The issue raised of a zero increase over four years is old and easy for a candidate to suggest when serving only one term. We had zero increases several years ago, with no tax increases for two years (1999 & 2000.) Therefore the council I came into was forced to increase taxes by some 8.1% and 6.6% with a total of over 15% in my first 3-year term. Since then we have reduced increases consistently and slowly lowered them to inflation or less with this year at 1.8%. Council also set a spending cap to reduce the debt servicing cost and this is now helping to keep the taxes down.

Costs do increase with inflation therefore we must control spending but a zero tax regime would mean significant cuts to services including fire services and policing (49% of the average tax bill is made up of London Police Services, Social Services, London Fire Services and Debt Servicing costs.) Yes, we must cut our costs as many of our residents and businesses are facing severe hardship. Zero taxes means either significant cuts in service or deferring debt to another council, thus putting the pain off to later taxpayers.

I seek public input into our spending priorities and that is why for each year that I have been on council I have attended forums across the city listening the taxpayers of London to help us set our spending priorities. All of us would like a world where we have no increases but unless we budget wisely we face significant service cuts. I am serving on our Services (finance) Review Committee set up this term and chaired by my colleague Nancy Branscombe. This review of finances runs year round and independently of the budget process. This committee examines every service department for overlaps, efficiencies and savings.

Council made sure our complete budget is on the city website: www.london.ca