On a Personal Note…
One of my favourite things about attending Council Meetings is being given the opportunity to talk to residents and listen and understand their community concerns. In the last couple of years, I’ve been privy to a lot of issues that residents feel are being overlooked – things that I didn’t realize were issues – and its been such a great learning opportunity for me! If you don’t come to council meetings, I’d still love the chance to hear what’s on your mind…what are your biggest concerns in Orangeville right now? Leave a comment on the blog or send me an email mrsposty@outlook.com – I’m looking to write a post that focuses on some of your key issues in the upcoming month.
Question Period
A handful of residents attend most meetings, and Mr. Alan Toms is one who is regularly in attendance and is often prepared to speak at Question Period when he has concerns. On Monday night, he shared his concerns with the way the OPP costing presentation was handled – clearly our Town is beginning to outgrow our Council Chambers as the majority of residents who attended were moved into the Theatre to watch it from there on the live stream. Mr. Toms hoped that by addressing Council on Monday, it would allow sufficient time and planning for the Town of Orangeville to look at alternate venues for the ‘Public Meeting’ that will be upcoming at the end of April where residents will be given the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about the policing situation in Orangeville. Council Chambers just will not work – policing in Orangeville has been a hot topic for many years and there will be hundreds of residents in attendance. Thank you Mr. Toms for voicing your concerns at Council – you are bang on correct – perhaps now would be a good time to look at using the Cafeteria at ODSS or somewhere with sufficient space.
Will you attend that meeting?? Would the venue determine whether or not you will be in attendance? I’d love your opinions and suggestions on how it should be handled.
Parking Study Presentation
Have you ever tried to park on Broadway at a “busy” time of day? I have – and it’s not fun! Especially on Saturday mornings during the Farmers Market, dinner time on a Friday night when a show is on at the Opera House, or during any special events….actually pretty much any time of day, I find there are parking challenges.
Well, the consultants have spoken and according to the report, there is sufficient parking in the Downtown….even during special events such as Founders Day. Consultants from Paradigm Transportation Solutions LTD presented their extensive study on Monday night and the end result of their study was that “the need for an increase in parking supply has not been identified.” Based on their numbers, they identified that even at it’s peak, only around 80% of available parking is being utilized…I was shocked to see those numbers because in my experiences, that just simply hasn’t been the case. (the full study and presentation is available here)
The part of the presentation that I found the most interesting was the results of the community consultations that they shared. They received opinions from around 500 residents and business holders and the theme was quite consistent amongst those asked. When asked what they liked about the current parking, the number one reply was that it is free public parking – that response was the same from the stakeholders. When asked what needed improvement, the response was overwhelming that there was a need for more parking…some residents and stakeholders suggested the need for a parking structure in the Mill St Mall area while others suggested removal of the median to go back to angled parking. The other issue that was brought up was the lack of accessible parking and the abuse of the 2-hour time limit.
I would love to hear your opinions on Downtown Orangeville Parking – do you think there is enough? Do you have suggestions to improve the current state? Does a lack of parking ever deter you from attending an event in the Downtown area?
Next Council Meeting
A reminder that the next Council Meeting will be held on Monday, April 3rd, 2017 – at this meeting, there will be a presentation made by OPS’s Chief Kalinski with other members of OPS scheduled to be in attendance. Hope to see you there!!