Mike Bloxam declares candidacy for Ward 6 council seat

Yesterday afternoon, I registered myself as a candidate for London City Council in Ward 6. Press release below!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Mike Bloxam declares candidacy for Ward 6 council seat

Heritage advocate and environmentalist Mike Bloxam has declared his candidacy for London’s Ward 6 council seat.

“I am a champion for sustainability, including financial sustainability in the budgeting process, environmental sustainability, and sustainability in terms of community planning 

and maintaining London’s character,” said Bloxam of his focus if elected.

For Bloxam, seeking local office is a natural extension of his life-long commitment to community involvement. Londoners may know his name as a recent president of the local branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO), where he has advocated for sustainable development and preservation of London’s heritage buildings. Then again, that may not be the only reason it rings a bell.

Bloxam is nearly ubiquitous: he has argued for decommissioning the Springbank Dam, as a past chair and current member of City Hall’s Advisory Committee on the Environment (ACE); and worked to make sure the Forest City lives up to its name as a board member and Trees Committee chair for ReForest London.

“Mike is committed to his family and his community, working towards making London a healthier and more vibrant community for citizens today and generations who will follow,” said Linda Lustins, Chair of the Board for ReForest London, where Bloxam has served as a director since 2015.

Beyond his community efforts, Bloxam has the varied experience and perspectives of a business owner and non-profit worker. He launched SunTap Technologies in 2009 to install solar energy systems on homes and businesses across Southwestern Ontario, and continues to offer that service.

These days though, most of the hours he puts in are at the London Food Bank, where he joined the staff full time in 2016 after more than 16 years as a volunteer. It’s that time, spent face-to-face with people experiencing poverty in London, where Bloxam finds much of the inspiration for his campaign.

“I want to see the next Council take poverty and homelessness in our city seriously,” Bloxam says. If elected, he would push to expand London’s Housing First strategy, which has already started to make a difference, as well as advocating for changes to benefits at the provincial level.

Bloxam will kick off his campaign with a launch party in June, to be announced at bloxam.ca.

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Mike Bloxam is running to be your next councillor for Ward 6 in London, Ontario. He aspires for a better London that is an ideal place to live, work, play, and stay.

Campaign hotline: 519-518-2273 | E-mail: mike@bloxam.ca | Web site: www.bloxam.ca | Twitter: @Mike_Bloxam

Common courtesy for your neighbours

I have heard many ideas and concerns from Ward 6 residents over the last eight months of my campaign. There’s one issue though that has come up at every single debate, and more frequently than others at the door. That issue is student housing.

Londoners are proud of our college and our university. We know how many people they teach and employ; however, they can sometimes be a source of neighbourhood conflict for those living nearby. Ward 6 residents have reported untidy lots, buildings with heritage value left in disrepair, and safety concerns with large numbers of people sharing a single-family home.

How do we find a balance between making sure there is affordable housing for students and young people, while maintaining the character of our neighbourhoods? There are a number of things to consider.

First, there is legal precedent that more than three unrelated people sharing single home makes it a lodging house. Lodging houses are not allowed in R1 residential zones, where only single detached homes are allowed. Some neighbourhood groups would like to see this implemented in London, and in general, I support the idea. Not everywhere is an R1 zone, so lodging houses would still be allowed in higher density residential areas – places that are more likely to have the services, like transit, to support the extra people.

Fixing transit in London will also help our neighbourhoods over time. If students can get quickly and efficiently across town by bus or bike, more will be willing to live farther away from campus. That means they will get to know the city beyond the campus bubble better, and hopefully start to think of London as home. It also means that housing all of the city’s students won’t fall to just a few neighbourhoods in the same way it does now.

In many cases though, students or tenants aren’t the problem at all. Some landlords neglect their properties, putting in the minimum amount of time and money it takes to find renters. This is where we see uncut lawns, buildings in disrepair, and where we start to worry about the safety of some of our student neighbours.

I hope there aren't any properties as bad as this in your neighbourhood!

Some of these landlords aren’t concerned at all about how their properties are reflecting on the community because it isn’t their community. Many live in Toronto or even further away, and own property in London either because their children were once students here, or merely see it as a good investment. We need to make sure these property owners do their part, even if they aren’t around to live with the results.

Most of the things neighbours complain about are covered under existing by-laws, whether it’s maintaining the yard, disposing of waste, or making sure that fire safety regulations are observed. The trouble is that most of these by-laws are only enforced when a complaint gets filed.  

London can do better at holding absentee landlords accountable, for the sake of both long-term residents and renters. We can increase inspections under the Residential Rental Licensing program, and also step up by-law enforcement in targeted areas near campus.

All of these measures will help maintain the character of our neighbourhoods, while keeping all residents safe and allowing them to enjoy their community.

Open. Accountable. Accessible.

I have been working hard during the election period to tell you what I stand for. My platform has been on the Web site since August and expanded on the planks in this blog. I've included it in brochures, spoken about it at all-candidates meetings, and spoken with you about it at your doors.

What happens a year or two into the council term when there are issues we haven't anticipated? How can you know now how I will deal with the questions of the future?

Here’s the answer: I will talk with you about them.

I have spoken with you about your priorities and concerns for London at your doors for over six months now. While I won't be at the doorstep as frequently after October 27, I will continue to engage with Ward 6 residents and with all Londoners in a number of ways.

First, I will hold regular office hours and return your calls and emails in a timely fashion. That’s easy to promise, and you can be reasonably assured I will do so, because I’m doing it already. A wide selection of London organizations send surveys to council candidates to make sure voters know their positions on key issues like poverty or the arts. Here’s a selection of just a few: from a student engagement effort to a local magazine, from the London Arts Council and the Middlesex-London Health Unit, to a local blogger. I've responded to each and every survey thoughtfully. I believe I’m the only Ward 6 candidate who has responded to every survey sent out.

Secondly, I will continue to meet regularly with constituents. I support the idea also raised by several candidates in other wards of establishing wards councils. A diverse group of Ward 6 residents representing arts, business, faith, and community groups would meet regularly with me as councillor to advise on issues facing our ward and our city. Regular townhall meetings where anyone can participate and share their thoughts will also be a great way to listen to residents.

Finally, I will listen to the experts. Throughout this campaign, I have been meeting with people who have real experience providing services to Londoners, services like policing, fighting fires, providing childcare, and working with homeless people. By listening to people with firsthand knowledge, I gain a perspective you can't get only from reading reports and policy papers. I will continue to seek out this kind of advice one elected.

I want to thank everyone who has shared their own concerns and priorities with me already, whether at the door, on the phone, or at community events. I encourage you to get in touch with any questions and comments, good or bad, both before the election and after. I've talked a lot in my platform about integrity. One of the things integrity means is that I will keep listening, even if I think I have the answer.

What a waste

Garbage collection is one of the city’s most basic and necessary services. It is also a service with enormous room for innovation and improvement.

On the pickup end, garbage service helps people keep their home safe and clean. On the other end, how we dispose of that material makes a big difference to our city’s future and our planet’s future.

Containers ascend the conveyor system at the city Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

The provincial target for waste diversion is 60%. That refers to the percentage of garbage that ends up somewhere other than the landfill. Anything that is recycled, composted, or re-purposed fits into this category.

How is London doing on waste diversion? Not great. Our current rate is 44%. Why is that a problem? London’s landfill site, W12A, is only expected to meet the city’s needs for another 15 years. It’s already the size of 190 football fields. Improving waste diversion will help that space to last longer, which would cost over $100 million to expand. It’s time to lay out a plan to meet or exceed the provincial waste diversion target in a cost-effective way.

That plan must include a strategy for organic waste. We do well with recycling, for the most part, and the new items being collected in blue boxes will help. London’s progress on organic waste has stalled in recent years. A Green Bin pilot project was completed in 2012, but we haven’t seen any move since then to roll the program out to all Londoners.

Many festivals (including Sunfest) did not have an organics composting stream this year.

City festivals also began separating organic waste at EcoStations in 2007. It was a great way to make our festivals greener while getting Londoners ready to sort food waste at home. Unfortunately, that step forward disappeared this year as well. London no longer requires big festivals to separate compost at EcoStations, and Home County was the only festival to do it in 2014.

Door-to-door green-bin collection isn't the only possible way for the city to deal with food waste. The city could also look at providing people who live in houses with composters and educate residents on how to use them. Of course, that wouldn't be a solution for people who live in apartments, but it would be a start. 

We can also look at the causes of food waste in the first place, and work to reduce it: the average Canadian throws away one pound (0.45 kg) of food each and every day.  That adds up to nearly 6 million tonnes of waste nationwide that could otherwise feed the hungry or be diverted from the dump. The bottom line is that we can't divert more of our waste away from the landfill unless we deal with compostable food waste.

I've been asked at the door and at all-candidates meetings whether I would support moving London to same-day, once-a-week garbage pickup. Some are passionate about making this change, while others see our rotating system as an innovative way to cut costs and still provide efficient service. I think our system works well for the most part. In addition to the collection calendars delivered each Fall, there are electronic tools available for those who have trouble keeping track of garbage day: the My Waste app and LondonTrash.ca.

If we were to go to same-day pickup, I would prefer to see a waste collection system where recyclable and compostable material is picked up the same day every week, while garbage is collected every other week. Most of the complaints I hear about the rotating schedule are about garbage getting messy and stinky after eight days, especially in the summer. Food waste is the messy and stinky part of garbage. With that removed every week, what remains for bi-weekly pickup should not present those issues.

Along with organics, we can do a better job of dealing with the household waste left behind when people move out. A drive through Ward 6 at the end of Western’s term makes that obvious. There are some great ideas out there to improve this situation, but it needs to be a co-ordinated effort, included in London’s waste strategy.

On council, I will push for a comprehensive waste program that deals with organics and household waste, and increases out diversion rate.

On a final note, some of these subjects are covered in Road Map 2.0, a report city staff have prepared on waste diversion. It recommends that a decision on green bins be deferred until a new review is completed this year. It doesn't propose a strategy for move-out waste.

You can viewthe report and provide your feedback on the city’s Web site. If you are sending in comments to city staff, I’d love to hear your thoughts as well. Comment below, or e-mail me any time at mike@bloxam.ca.

A moving experience

The experience of our city is a collection of places: where we live, where we work, where we play, and where we learn. Each one demands an important part of our time. Getting between these places takes time, too, and that time can often be frustrating.

We need to increase safe and efficient options to get around our city. Making it easy for both people and goods to get where they’re going will improve quality of life for Londoners and help business and culture flourish.

To make sure our transportation network functions well, we need to consider all modes of travel and the people who use them: walking and using mobility aides; cycling and active transportation; local and regional public transit; and commercial and passenger vehicle traffic. The more single-occupancy vehicles we get off the road, the better it is for all travellers: reduced traffic congestion benefits everybody on the move, so that those who still need to drive can get around efficiently, too.

Each of these is a huge topic on its own, and the subject of all kinds of study. I’ll get to a few specifics below, but the most important thing when approaching transportation is a philosophy of giving weight to each. The London Plan does this well: pedestrians can’t be just an afterthought, and neither can cars. Each system needs to work well for the ones who use it.

Here are just a few of the ways for London to improve transportation. 

Walking and mobility devices

• Plan new neighbourhoods to be walkable. We know that walkable neighbourhoods lead to healthier and more engaged residents. The city’s planning process should favour grid patterns and mixed uses (i.e. some commercial spots in residential neighbourhoods) for new areas.
• Give people more time to cross the street. Extending signal times at busy pedestrian crossings by just a few seconds can make a big difference in how safe people feel crossing busy streets, especially elders and people with physical disabilities. It can also help people catch their bus on time. I’ve heard from Ward 6 residents time and time again about trouble crossing at Oxford St. and Cherryhill Blvd. and at Sarnia Rd. and Sleightholme Ave., and this is an unacceptable situation.
• Increase accessibility on our streets and sidewalks. Add more accessible pedestrian signals and cut curbs. This allows people to more easily cross roadways, particularly if using a stroller, a walker, or a mobility device.

Cycling and active transportation

• Increase dedicated space for cycling, to increase safety. Properly-designed cycling lanes, in a planned network, will increase safety and comfort for both cyclists and drivers. New cycling lanes can either be segregated from vehicle traffic, or along parallel routes where traffic volumes or space on the main road make that a better option.

Local and regional public transit

• Overhaul London’s bus routes. The radial pattern we have now makes it easy to get to and from downtown, but hard to get anywhere else. We need a grid system with express cross-town routes and connections that service neighbourhoods. This will make it easier to connect between routes and get to all corners of the city, including commercial and industrial areas so that workers can get to their job quickly and on time. (Don't miss out on London Transit's survey, closing October 12th:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/letstalktransit)
• Invest in rapid transit. Yes, this will mean a serious investment, whether it’s bus rapid transit or some other system. This is crucial if London wants to be a functional mid-size city in the 21^st century. We need to plan not only for where we are today, but where we will be in the future. The provincial government is partially funding rapid transit in Waterloo Region, Hamilton, and Ottawa. London should present a solid, comprehensive rapid transit plan as soon it is feasible to seek this kind of investment in our own community.
• Foster regional transit. Right now, all trains and busses lead to Toronto. The city should work with the province and with other municipalities to establish regional connections, making people have options to travel to nearby cities and towns. As the major city in Southwestern Ontario, London can and should play a lead role.

Vehicles

• Scrap the overnight parking ban. Londoners should be able to have family and friends visit without worrying about parking. This will require further discussion with city maintenance staff, but it’s doable. Several other communities of comparable size ban overnight parking during declared snow events only.
• Establish more carpool and park-and-ride lots near our major highways, at the edges of the city, and on the edges of the core.
• Improve road safety. Adding facilities for pedestrians and cyclist will help improve security for drivers, too. Other ways to increase safety include: restricting right turns on red lights in areas with high pedestrian and bicycle traffic; adding advanced-left signals when entering or exiting a major artery (such as needed at Wonderland  Rd. and Beaverbrook Ave.); and considering pedestrian bridges across wide, high-traffic roads.

Of course, these aren’t the only things to consider when it comes to London mobility and transportation. As I said, it’s a huge topic. Most importantly, we need to make sure people can get around using multiple modes of traffic, and that they can get to any corner of the city efficiently. As your councillor, I will make it a priority to keep London connected. 

My platform for a better London

The ideas a potential councillor proposes and the values he or she represents will be the most important information for citizens as they cast their ballots this Fall. To make sure my ideas and values are clear, I posted my platform at Bloxam.ca/platform.

Since the Spring, I have been visiting Ward 6 residents at their homes to introduce myself. I've also been listening to them about what is important to them in their neighbourhoods and for the city of London as a whole. I’ve also attended community meetings and events, and met with many of the decision makers in the area. All of this has helped me to refine and focus the priorities I already had when I entered the race to be the next councillor for Ward 6.

I chose to organize my platform based on three key themes that I believe Londoners are looking for from their next council – Integrity, Prosperity, and Sustainability. Of course, there’s a lot more to the platform than just a few key words. I’ll expand on some of the individual ideas here on this blog over the next few weeks. For now, let me tell you a bit about what I mean by each of these words. 

Integrity 

If there's one thing I've heard above all else when speaking with Londoners, it's that the citizens of our city have lost faith in their elected officials.  I promise to be open, accountable, and accessible to my constituents.  I will work with my council colleagues to come to a consensus when making decisions, instead of continuing the "us vs. them" mentality of the past.

Prosperity

Our city has had a tough time during the recent economic downturn.  We need to get more folks into fulfilling careers and encourage business growth in London.  There is no easy answer and there are many pieces to the puzzle, but working together we can achieve our goals to make London a place to live, work, play, and stay.

Sustainability 

Sustainability means ensuring that decisions take into account economy, community, and environment without placing higher priority for one over the others. It also means ensuring that the prosperity we build together lasts over the long term. In my business career and volunteer commitments, I have always striven to make sustainable decisions. This is a practice that I will continue as your councillor.


I hope you’ll take some time to read through the platform on my Web site, and to get in touch with any questions and comments, good or bad. One of the things integrity means is that I keep listening, even if I think I have the answer.

Please also continue to visit the blog as I expand on some of these points and talk about what the next council’s job will be when it comes to making them a reality.

Ward 6 candidate Mike Bloxam exceeds fundraising target

As of today, the first campaign fundraising milestone of $2000 was raised a week before the deadline.  Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Ward 6 candidate Mike Bloxam exceeds fundraising target

London business owner Mike Bloxam, the frontrunner in the race for the Ward 6 council seat, has established his early start by raising more than the campaign’s $2000 fundraising target well ahead of its March 31 deadline. 

Bloxam thanked supporters on Tuesday for helping him surpass the goal before his campaign officially kicks off with a launch party this weekend.

“I want to express sincere thanks to all those who have supported me so far. I greatly appreciate the encouragement and advice I've received already, and look forward to the campaign ahead.”

In addition, he will gather with supporters at 2:00 this Sunday, March 30 at the Alibi Roadhouse to officially start the campaign. More than 50 people are registered to attend, and the event is open with   registration required via the campaign Web site at www.bloxam.ca. Bloxam plans to step up canvassing efforts following Sunday’s event to listen to more of Ward 6 residents’ vision for our city.

“I'm running because I believe strongly that living in a community means giving back: it is a belief and practice that I will continue through civic duty. I plan to share that belief with Ward 6 residents, and to speak with them about the things they value in our shared community.”

In the meantime, he has set a new campaign fundraising target of $5000 by May 31.

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Mike Bloxam is running to be your next councillor for Ward 6 in London, Ontario. He aspires for a better London that is an ideal place to live, work, play, and stay.

Campaign hotline: 519-518-2273 | E-mail: mike@bloxam.ca | Web site: www.bloxam.ca | Twitter: @Mike_Bloxam