KANATA NORTH NEWS Marianne Wilkinson Councillor, Kanata North STATEWOOD MEETING

Thank you to the more than 100 residents who attended the public meeting to discuss whether the connection from Statewood to Terry Fox should remain closed or be reopened. City staff members, Marc Magierowicz from the Planning Department and Kerry-Lynn Mohr from the Traffic Division, were present to hear the comments and respond to questions. Their input was much appreciated by those present, as well as myself. Although the meeting was tense, residents showed that they respected the different views held on the issue as they made their personal presentations. Those on both sides of the issue expressed concern for safety on all streets, including Statewood, Brady and Ipswich. Whatever the solution will be, residents supported traffic calming measures on busy local roads. I have received emails from 88 different individuals on this issue. These had 42 in favour of the closure, 45 in favour of opening the road and 1 unclear, showing the clear division on this issue. All submissions I have received have been forwarded to staff, so that they can be considered in the report being prepared for consideration by the Planning Committee and Council. .

CANDIDATES RESPONSE TO MUNICIPAL ISSUES

Since your city services and taxes could be severely impacted by the election, local candidates were asked to respond to five key questions sent to them by the Mayor. You can see these by going to the Citys website and clicking on the Mayor. The tab for Provincial Candidates responses is on the left. The questions included whether the candidate supported the agreement reached between municipalities and the province to gradually upload the cost of many social programs. These programs cost taxpayers hundreds of dollars each year, so cancelling the agreement would mean higher property taxes across Ontario. The other nine provinces pay for social services at the provincial level. In Ontario, the cost of social programs was downloaded to municipalities in the past. Over the past four years, the uploading of those costs has saved Ottawa tens of millions of dollars. Unfortunately no conservative candidate responded to the questions and a letter from Tim Hudak did not address the uploading issue or the other four questions. You can view the letter at the end of the list of candidates on the Mayors website.

DRIVE SAFELY
I was distressed to hear of a driver passing a school bus that had its lights flashing. The bus driver honked his horn and the child crossing the street stopped but the car did not. If you see a situation like this please try to get the license number and description and give the information to the police, so that this type of careless driving can be stopped. In October the police are concentrating on dealing with drivers who do not stop, including the so called rolling stops, and on having everyone buckle up. They will also check to see that childrens seats and booster-seats are properly installed. Running a stop sign is very dangerous to individuals, cyclists and pedestrians. The few seconds it takes will help keep everyone safe.

TEEN AUTHOR FEST

During the local writers festival in Ottawa, the Public Library is holding a teen author fest at locations across the city. In Kanata, at the Hazeldean Branch on Oct. 6th, Sylvie-Catherine de Vailly will do a French presentation at 10:30 am and Jeff Ross will present in English at 1 pm. Tish Cohen will present in English at the Beaverbrook Branch, on Oct 14th at 1 pm. For further information, go to the Library website.

NATIONAL TRANSIT STRATEGY

I was pleased to represent the Mayor at the press conference where Olivia Chow presented a private members bill to have Canada create a National Transit Strategy. Such a strategy has been requested by the Canadian Urban Transit Association, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Big City Mayors group. Every other developed country has such a strategy. The benefit of this approach is that municipalities will be to be able to conduct continuous planning of transit issues with some certainty based on committed funding from other levels of government. .

DATES TO REMEMBER
Thurs Oct 6, Election Day. Remember to vote Thurs. Oct 13, Open House on Environmental Assessment for the transitway from Terry Fox Station to Fernbank, Goulbourn Rec Centre, 6-9 pm. Presentation at 7 pm.

Sun Oct 16, MADD Dash, Earl of March, 10k begins at 10 am. Tues. Oct 18, noon to 1 pm, Celebrate Persons Day by having tea at the Famous Five Statue on Parliament Hill Mon. Oct 24, Ward Council, Program Room, Kanata Seniors Centre Contact me at 613-580-2474, email Marianne.Wilkinson@ottawa.ca, or visit www.mariannewilkinson.com to keep up to date on community matters.