The many virtues of arts and culture

Arts and culture are integral to what makes a city worth living in. A thriving cultural scene helps to attract and retain residents, and contributes to our sense of community. The arts provide entertainment for weekends and evenings. They give us something to share with our families and friends and encourage us to look at the world in new ways.

What many people don't realize is that arts and culture also contribute greatly to our economy. The arts strengthen and support local merchants, and drive tourism. They also spark creativity and innovation across all sectors.

London's Cultural Profile Report, published in 2013, estimates that the cultural sector contributes $540M per year to London’s economy. In 2011, the city spent $60 per capita on arts and culture, while the cultural sector contributed $1 475 per capita to the city's economy. Obviously this is not an area the city can ignore, not even those who claim to focus exclusively on jobs and economic growth.

At Grosvenor Lodge during Doors Open London & Culture Days

It's clear to me as someone born and raised in London, and who continues to enjoy living here, that we have incredible offerings in this area. The Palace Theatre’s recent production of Death of a Salesman, as well as Doors Open London have reminded me of that fact recently (and I'm sure the Lost Soul Stroll will do the same later this month).

How do we strengthen and promote London's talent, and keep it well connected with other sectors in the city? London's Cultural Prosperity Plan, published together with the profile report mentioned above, gives a few strategic directions on that front:

• Strengthen the economic growth of culture
• Support cultural programming
• Leverage London’s cultural assets
• Celebrate and promote culture

We also need the right facilities for arts and culture in London. New facilities should accommodate many different artistic offerings, whether they are choirs or theatre, comedy or ballets. There should be room for all sizes of art shows, whether a small collection of visual art pieces or a visiting international act. When the John Labatt Centre opened in 2002, it was built with the multiple purposes of hosting hockey and other sporting events, as well as musical acts and a multitude of other events that have been held there. Why not do the same with any new arts venues?

The Cultural Prosperity Plan is a vision of London as “a culturally rich city that uses creativity of its citizens to make a place that will prosper in a new economic age”. As your councillor, I will work to implement this plan with a focus on leveraging London's existing assets. If this is done well, the other strategies will fall into place more easily.

In the meantime, I'll look forward to seeing you at our performances, museums, and galleries!

Ward 6 candidate Mike Bloxam proposes changes to overnight parking

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Ward 6 candidate Mike Bloxam proposes changes to overnight parking

When August ended, so did your right to park overnight on city streets for another year. That’s a pain, especially for those who hosted overnight guests during Thanksgiving weekend.

It doesn’t have to be that way, says one candidate for city council in Ward 6. Ending the parking ban that runs from 3 AM until 5 AM for most of the year could actually increase road safety according to Mike Bloxam.

“We spend a lot of effort educating people not to drive when you’ve been drinking, not to drive when you’re exhausted. One of the things we can do to discourage people from getting behind the wheel is to remove that fear of a parking ticket,” Bloxam said. “It also means people will have one less thing to worry about when friends and relatives visit.”

That doesn’t mean it’s a parking free-for-all, Bloxam explained.

“Of course we need the streets clear when snow plows are coming through. We also don’t want to see people owning more vehicles than their home can support with parking spaces; however, some other jurisdictions have creative solutions for overnight parking that I’d like to see London consider.”

For example, overnight parking on the street could be allowed except when the forecast says a significant snow event is on the way. Then, all cars would have to be off the street for 24 hours. The City of Kitchener uses this approach. While overnight parking is more relaxed, any vehicle impeding a snow plow can be towed.

Another approach is to keep the ban on overnight parking, but give residents a batch of exemptions (the City of Waterloo allows 15) they can use at any time throughout the year. Vehicle owners would register the licence plate online, via a smart phone app, or by phone the night they plan to park to receive an exemption. This approach allows overnight visitors without much hassle.  The City of London is currently considering this, but it will be up to the next council to enact such an initiative.

“If elected, I’d ask city staff to take a good hard look at these programs and how they could be implemented in London,” Bloxam said. “If we’re asking people to accept something that’s inconvenient, it should be for a good reason. In this case, I think there are better alternatives.”

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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

About Mike Bloxam:

Ø       Mike Bloxam is a born-and-raised Londoner running to be the next councillor for Ward 6.

Ø       He is the owner of a small business – Sun Tap Technologies – and serves on City Hall’s Advisory Committee on the Environment.

Ø       Bloxam has proposed several other ideas that are resonating with Londoners:

Ø       A web-based citizen dashboard to make city data more accessible to the public

Ø       Improved collaboration with Western University and Fanshawe College

Ø       Supporting small business with resources and start-up grants

Ø       Making childcare more accessible for parents

Ø       Improved waste diversion, including serious consideration for an organics program

Ø       Bloxam’s platform includes further proposals to increase integrity, prosperity, and sustainability in London The full platform can be found at www.bloxam.ca/platform

Let's make some noise!

Thank goodness for today's break from Winter: it gave me the opportunity to swap out the all-seasons for proper winter tires (the November squalls caught me unawares).  If you drive, make sure you have your vehicle properly equipped for our the impending snow and ice.  Today's respite will not last long, so I hope you can take advantage of today's higher temperatures to do whatever needs doing before the snow's return.

In my previous post about the proposed removal of mandatory composting at festivals in Victoria Park, I mentioned that we received much more information beyond that important topic. On the evening of Tuesday, October 22, the Special Events Public Consultation Meeting took place at the Civic Garden Complex.  Scott Stafford and Krista Kearns of the Community Services Department did an excellent job of going over the policies and procedures that will change in the 2013 manual for the 2014 season (with Ms. Kearns's assistant taking minutes). 

Ms. Kearns informed us that 180 events (including road closures and events at off-city property) in London attracted over one million people (locals and visitors) over the past year.  Of those, four events broke the noise policy outlined in section 13 of the manual by exceeding 90 decibels (dB): Rockin' New Year's Eve, Pride London Festival, Sunfest, and Rock the Park.  This means that they lost their $500 security for exceeding the noise level, and left themselves subject to by-law prosecution.

Ms. Kearns also announced that two of the organizers of Rockin' New Year's Eve, Ed Holder and Bruce McGuffin, made a request to have a complete exemption for noise during their event.  The existing exemption for this event reads:

• New Year's Eve Event will be limited to the hours of 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 midnight
• Announcements for the gathering of participants, on your mark, get set go and the singing of the national anthem at sporting events (not sound level not to exceed 90 db between 8 am - 9 am). All other amplified sound (ie: music) could not begin until 9 am)

It sounds like a reasonable request:  a vast majority of folks celebrate New Year's Eve in some fashion.  Music and other exciting noise coming from the bandshell to bring in the new year should pose no threat to anybody's enjoyment of the downtown.

A public participation meeting to discuss the proposed noise exemption (click for report from City staff) for the Rockin' New Year's Eve event at Victoria Park takes place on Monday, December 9 at 7:00 PM (19h00) at the Community and Protective Services Committee meeting, taking place at City Hall.  If you wish to have your input, don't miss this meeting.

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Also of note from this meeting, a gentleman who lives near the river in Blackfriars (making 66% of the audience residents of that neighbourhood - him and myself) suggested that Gibbons Park get used for festivals as an additional option.  Of the 92 days in June, July, and August, Victoria Park hosts events for 44 of those days.  The events schedule allows time (an "administrative week") to give the grounds a chance to recuperate.  Existing turf protection requires replacement, which allows this extended use of the park.

What do you think about opening Gibbons Park to festivals, to either give relief to Victoria Park or to facilitate even more events?

De-Greening of the festivals

Remember in 2007 when "EcoStations" started popping up at the festivals in Victoria Park?  The initiative—dubbed "Greening of the festivals"—aimed to reduce waste by diverting recyclable and compostable materials from the garbage dump, and it came in endorsed by organizers of some of the heavy hitters such as Sunfest, Home County Folk Festival, and RibFest.  Championed by the City of London thanks to the efforts of Waste-Free World and Thames Region Ecological Association (TREA), the initiative targeted reducing the environmental impact of the festivals.

Greening of the festivals encouraged folks to bring their own dishes and drink containers or use the on-site reusable dishes, while also keeping in mind the three streams of waste disposal:  recycling, composting, and garbage.  The EcoStations provide an enormous number of volunteer hours, allowing citizens (particularly high-school students) to help out by instructing festival attendees how to properly dispose of their waste.  These volunteers  keep down the cost of running the EcoStations.

Photo courtesy of TREA

On Tuesday evening, the Special Events Public Consultation Meeting took place at the Civic Garden Complex.  Scott Stafford and Krista Kearns of the Community Services Department did an excellent job of going over the policies and procedures that will change in the 2013 manual for the 2014 season (with Ms. Kearns's assistant taking minutes).  Unfortunately, the ratio of staff members to audience participants was one to one:  for those who don't like mathematics, that means three staff at the front of the room and three of us in attendance.

Regardless of the turnout, the meeting proved very informative.  When Ms. Kearns began describing changes to "Section 9: Procedures for the use of Victoria Park", she started by noting that mechanical rides can no longer sit on the grass (instead they need to situate on the road), and trailers and vehicles must also locate on the road or another paved surface.    This all provides relief for the much-trampled grass in the park.

The bombshell followed:  EcoStations will henceforth only have two streams – garbage and recycling.  Unless the event organizer requests the third stream (composting), the City of London will only provide EcoStations with two types of containers for garbage and recycling, and event organizers no longer need to provide staffing.  The standard garbage cans already situated in the park will have blue bins twinned during the festival, with emptying of both a duty of the City.  Emptying the (two or three) bins at the EcoStations remain the responsibility of the event organizer.

When I asked for the reasoning behind removing the compost stream, Mr. Stafford explained that the original idea of having the EcoStations—with three streams and volunteers—came with anticipation of a green-bin program forthcoming by the City.  Volunteers in the EcoStations instruct festival-goers how to dispose of waste properly into three streams so that residents can repeat the same process at home:  garbage can, blue box, and green bin.  London citizens become more aware of the three-stream process and don't have to think as much about it when bringing in the green-bin program.  Pure and simple, no?

Now with no green-bin program on the horizon (the pilot project in Pond Mills concluded nearly a year ago and the current council appears to have no plans to implement a city-wide program), the staff conclusion aligns with not implementing green bins rather than continuing to make a progressive step toward waste diversion at these festivals.  The policy will continue to require one EcoStation for every four food vendors.  The City provides everything included in the EcoStations, while the event operator used to staff them (no longer a requirement).

Mr. Stafford also noted too much cross-contamination of materials for reaching the decision, with the efforts and costs going into the three-stream system not giving desired results.  They have decided to not look at re-introducing the third stream for composting until the City implements green bins (i.e. following the City's garbage-collection policy).

My final question to the staff members asked about where the compost went after collection.  Mr. Stafford didn't know for certain, but knew that the compostables went to an appropriate collection site (not Jay Stanford's backyard!), and promised to get the information to me.

I encourage the festival organizers to request the three-stream EcoStations going forward, while also continuing to recruit volunteers to run them.  The learning process must continue, lest the lessons of the past seven festival seasons become for naught.  This important initiative must not die because of inaction at City council to implement green bins.

Other topics included noise levels in Victoria and Harris Parks, which I shall cover in a future post.

'Our Move Forward' - don't miss it!

After a Thanksgiving weekend accompanied by spectacular weather (our family enjoyed a turkey dinner on my cousin's patio – hope you took similar advantage!), folks made their way back to the grind this morning, perhaps not quite so ready and willing to work off the indulgence of the holiday.  

Though a shortened week, do not forget about your last chance for input into the future of London's downtown:  a shared space for all citizens to live, work, and play.  From 5-7 PM tomorrow (Wednesday, October 16th) at the London Convention Centre, people interested in having their say about the plan for the core of our city will gather from across the city.

The City of London planning division’s invites all interested Londoners to attend and participate in this final community consultation for the Downtown Master Plan.  The content from their e-mail follows:

This event will further explore the proposed plan, the 6 recommended actions and 10 transformational projects found within the Draft Downtown Master Plan. There will be several interactive activities seeking the community's input on the importance and urgency of all the proposed actions and transformational projects. Further information on the Downtown Master Plan can be found here. For those unable to attend there will be an alternate method of participation, details will follow in an additional email after the October 16^th event.

RSVP for the event here, by emailing planning@london.ca or, by calling 519-661-4980

Having as many voices as possible into the direction of our downtown makes for a vibrant, stronger plan.  Hope to see you there!

On a quick end note, you may catch me on Rogers TV's "Daytime" program tomorrow.  The interview will discuss the role of the Advisory Committee on the Environment (ACE), who reports to council's Planning and Environment Committee.

Movers and shakers

What a week Londoners have experienced in the realm of historic businesses.  The Great West Steak House location receives a new lease on life and the Children's Museum searches for a new home, while the Idlewyld Inn closes its doors suddenly and Kingsmills goes up for sale.

The movers

Moving into an historic building:

Local marketing companies rtraction and Atmos Marketing have claimed the former Great West Steak House their new home.  While I had held out hope that a steak house would return some day (oh, the buffet!), having these firms take over this beautiful historic building will breath new life into the SoHo (South of Horton) neighbourhood - even if the building is technically north of Horton (NoHo?).  Great news for the community as the area continues its revitalization.

This grand old building was built in the 1880s by the Great Western Railway as a roundhouse, and the renovations will have as little impact as possible on the historic features of the structure.  Glad to see that they are banning any use of drywall, too.

Read the full story from Metro News.

Moving out of an historic building:

The announcement from the London Children's Museum caused some surprise this week, after inhabiting the former Riverview Public School for over 30 years.  While the search for a new building and the move will likely take two to four years, the building went up for sale on Wednesday.  For a museum that takes in over 80 000 visitors per year, the building has held up well as one of the oldest schools built in London; however, the museum requires more space for visiting exhibits and they have concerns about ongoing maintenance.  Best of luck to them in the search for a new home (McCormick factory, perhaps?).

Here's hoping a new owner keeps the heritage aspects alive and celebrated.  As an aside, two of my aunts attended the school back in the '40s and remember the separate entrances for boys and girls.  They also recall one day when they arrived late and the principal threatened them with the strap.  How times have changed.

Read the full story from Metro News.

The shakers

Dilemma: put up (the "for sale" sign) or shut up (the doors)?

Shock hit the Old South neighbourhood and the city when the Idlewyld Inn announced the closing of its doors on Monday.  Operating as a boutique hotel since 1986, the mansion was originally built in 1878 as a private home for a prominent Londoner, Charles Smith Hyman (businessman, mayor of London, federal cabinet minister, and decorated player of cricket and tennis).  It became an apartment building in the '30s and then a nursing home in the '60s.

A beautiful building with many architecturally significant features, it certainly faces no danger of dereliction or demolition.  A new owner will likely take over the existing business and carry on with the inn - hopefully before any further weddings or other celebrations require relocation.

Read the full story from CTV News.

Downtown jewel up for grabs

Shock of another kind came from downtown, with the announcement that the iconic Kingsmills department store looks for a new owner.  The store opened in 1865, predating the confederation of the Dominion of Canada, and has remained a staple of Dundas Street for generations.  In fact, the store has been owned and operated by five generations of the Kingsmill family throughout its history.

Truly an anomaly in today's globalized economy, many Londoners hope that a beneficial purchaser can take the reigns and continue on with business as usual. Losing this gem would strike at the heart of ongoing downtown revitalization.

Read the full story from Metro News.


Never a dull moment, eh?