Elizabeth Clarke - Blog

Talking Bike Lanes

10/2/2014

The Regional Cycling Master Plan, created with input from stakeholders and the general public, outlines how our cycling network will be designed, and where it will extend. Its aim is that most of Waterloo’s residents will live within a comfortable ride of the regional network, which will include a variety of on- and off-road facilities.

I believe that if Waterloo wants, as the plan intends, to increase the number of cycling trips to two percent of all trips made in our community, we will need to invest in bike lanes, and particularly in segregated bike lanes which separate cyclists from high volume, high speed traffic.

If elected, I will promote the goals and strategies of the Regional Cycling Master Plan as a benefit to all our commuters, be they drivers, riders, or walkers.

I hope you'll support me.

Talking Transit

10/2/2014

Transit serves several ends critical to a diverse and growing Waterloo Region. It is a means of transportation that enables people who don't or can't own or drive cars to work, shop and participate in our community. As an efficient alternative to private vehicles, public transit reduces emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants that contaminate our environment. Transit drives urban intensification and reduces sprawl, protecting agricultural areas and natural habitats. And transit promotes economic development, making our community a more attractive location for businesses and employees.

The Region of Waterloo has created a Regional Transportation Master Plan which outlines how our transportation system will develop over the next 20 years, as our population grows. It considers and builds upon the vision and goals of Waterloo’s Official Plan, Growth Management Strategy, Cycling Master Plan, Rapid Transit Environmental Assessment, and of Ontario’s Places to Grow Growth Plan. And its focus is on limiting sprawl, managing traffic congestion, preserving the Region’s environmental resources, increasing the walkability of communities, and delaying the need for construction and maintenance of new roads. If elected, I will champion the Transportation Master Plan and push to have its goals and targets met.

I hope you will support me.

Talking Child Care

9/25/2014

This week, the Toronto Star published an article titled Daycare centres struggle to adjust to full-day kindergarten.

The article explains that this month the four year phase-in of the province’s program is finally complete, and while full-day kindergarten is undoubtedly popular with parents of four and five year olds, the gradual and now complete loss of that age group from the not-for-profit child care sector has left providers in desperate straits. That’s because the costs of providing licensed care to younger children are much higher than to older children. In fact, most not-for-profit child care providers, and particularly those that pay a living wage to their Early Childhood Educators, actually lose money for every infant in their care, and can only offset those losses by serving school-age children as well.

The situation is even worse here in Waterloo Region than it is elsewhere in the province, as four years ago our local school boards made the unusual decision to directly deliver before- and after-school care to their students in grades one and two as well to their junior and senior kindergarten children, in order to make their service to the four and five year olds more viable.

Our Regional government has supported the school boards in their decision and continues to support them in the implementation of their child care programs, despite knowing that that Waterloo region’s licensed not-for-profit providers are being forced as a result to close their infant classrooms, and in some cases to close their doors completely.

Regional Council has approved changes to the funding formula, effective next year, which may provide some small relief to some providers, and the provincial Ministry of Education continues to promise, as it has been doing for four years, that changes to licensing standards that will help to reduce the costs of providing care to children from birth to age three are pending. But these measures will be too little, too late, for too many local not-for-profits, and families will suffer.

Some candidates for municipal office have been invited by the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care to sign a pledge to support child care and early learning in our Region. The best way they can do that is to better support our not-for-profit child care sector.

That’s what I’ll do if I’m elected.

Talking Poverty

9/21/2014

I spent an afternoon this week with an amazing group. Awareness of Low Income Voices, or ALIV(e), is a collaborative of women and men who struggle to live on low incomes, and who come together to network and to educate our region about the impact of poverty on people’s lives. The group certainly educated me. And they inspired me, too.

I asked them about things that our local governments could do to make a positive difference in their lives. My pen couldn’t keep up with all their ideas. Some suggestions were big ones, requiring major shifts in the way we think as a society about human value. Others were small, practical and comparatively easily achieved. But they were all important ideas, and all worthy of Council’s attention and consideration.

The ALIV(e) group told me about the impossibility of eating a healthy diet on an Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program budget. They talked about the huge difference even $200 a month would make to them. And they also suggested that an expanded and supported network of community gardens would help them to access the fresh fruits and vegetables that they and their families need.

They talked about last year’s cuts to discretionary benefits and especially about the loss of the moving allowance. “If I could move to a cheaper place, I could afford to pay for food. But I can’t afford to move. I’m stuck where I am”, one woman said. They suggested that this and other measures that people might take to move out of poverty should be supported, even in the face of limited funds.

They talked about the gradual disappearance of affordable housing from the downtown, and the fact they can no longer get around without transit passes, which have themselves increased in cost. And they suggested many creative ways the Region of Waterloo could reduce their transportation costs, including off-hours and transferrable passes. They said that they would say to Waterloo Regional Council, as it moves ahead with LRT, “just don’t leave us behind”.

Over 50,000 of our neighbours live in deep poverty, and many more have trouble each month paying the rent and putting food on the table. The people from ALIV(e) talked to me about these neighbours. They talked about their lives, they talked about their problems and they talked about their dreams.

We need to listen.

Talking Economic Development

9/10/2014

There’s an increasing income gap in Waterloo region, and the distance between the richest and the poorest in our community is growing faster than elsewhere in the province, according to the Region’s 2013 Income Gap Report. That’s the main reason I’m running for Council. I want to shrink that gap, and I want Waterloo to be a community in which individuals and families who live at the low end of the
income scale can still enjoy healthy lives filled with dignity and opportunity.

Accessible affordable housing and childcare, and an enhanced public transit system are tools critical to achieving those goals. So is economic development. A successful program of economic development will create a diverse local economy which will make Waterloo region more stable and less vulnerable to economic fluctuations. And it will create more high-wage jobs for those who are able to work, and expand the local tax base to enable us to better assist our neighbours who cannot.

Waterloo region has approved a new economic development strategy, the goals of which are for our community to become a premier location for innovation and entrepreneurship, the most competitive location for new and expanding companies and institutions, a dynamic economic ecosystem, and a community of choice for talented people to live. We’re making some headway toward reaching those goals, but there are still many challenges we need to overcome.

Our economic base remains quite diverse, including agriculture and food processing, financial institutions, manufacturing, education and healthcare, small business and not-for-profits, and tech. But some sectors are doing better than others and some experts worry that our focus on the tech sector may mean that others will be neglected.

We will struggle to attract new businesses and residents until the rail service between Waterloo and the GTA is significantly improved, until the 20,000 ‘orphan patients’ in our region find family physicians, and until our arts and culture and recreation sectors can sustain themselves and thrive.

Arguably the main challenge we face in implementing a successful program of economic development is our lack of a regional approach. The cities and townships that make up our region have historically pursued their own economic agenda, sometimes in apparent competition with each other. Regional Council must take the lead in coordinating these activities, using a consultative approach to resolve some of the confusion and distrust that persists.

I believe that economic and social development aren’t mutually exclusive activities. In fact, I believe the same things that will make Waterloo region an attractive place for businesses to locate will also make it a healthy place for all people to live, with places and spaces that cultivate engagement, inclusion and belonging.

I hope you will support me.

Talking Healthy Communities

9/2/2014

I've taken the Active Communities Pledge.

I've pledged that, if I am elected to Regional Council in the 2014 election, I will promote active transportation, including cycling and walking, in our community; I will support the construction of new projects that serve to make walking and cycling easier and more accessible to all residents, regardless of age or ability; I will support our community in applying for a Bicycle Friendly Community designation from Share the Road; I will support our community in applying for a Walk Friendly designation; I will work to ensure that our community supports and contributes to the implementation of the Ontario Cycling Strategy by developing programs, projects and policies that enhance safety, drive tourism, provide economic spinoffs and promote overall health in our community; I will support the development of a Complete Streets Policy in our community to ensure that all roads serve all road users in a safe, effective manner; and I will ensure that our community has a dedicated funding source for active transportation projects to ensure consistent, continuous improvement in the conditions for cyclists and pedestrians.

I believe that communities where people walk and bike are healthy communities. That's why I've taken the pledge.

Talking Community Safety

9/2/2014

For a brief time in the 1990s, I worked for Family and Children’s Services of Waterloo Region, investigating reports of child abuse and neglect. I still remember my first call to Waterloo’s Sunnydale neighbourhood. I couldn’t find the address I was looking for, so I asked a couple for directions. They took one look at my briefcase, asked ‘Are you a social worker?’, and refused to answer my question.

It’s no wonder people in Sunnydale didn’t welcome visitors in positions of ‘authority’. Back in the 1990s, the police responded to calls to that neighbourhood two to three times each day. The people felt that their home wasn’t a safe place to be, and at that time they were right.

Things have changed in Sunnydale. Crime is down and perceptions of safety – of belonging in the neighbourhood – are up. And the people who live there credit things like recreational programming, community-based services, and lots of resident-led social initiatives with turning matters around.

Waterloo Region devotes a third of its tax revenues to policing costs. We need to find more efficient and effective ways to create and maintain public safety. Crime prevention is key, and the key to crime prevention is social development with individuals and communities at risk, before crime happens.

Talking Supportive Housing

8/21/2014

The last week’s Out of the Cold site closures have got our community talking urgently about homelessness, and we should. In 2013, Waterloo Region’s homeless shelters served almost 3,500 men, women and children.

It’s widely known that there are close to 3,300 households waiting up to six years for affordable housing on Waterloo’s community housing wait list. What seems to be less well known is that there are almost 1,500 households waiting for supportive housing, and many of those waiting are homeless.

Supportive housing can take a wide range of forms, from a few hours a week of home-based assistance all the way to fully staffed residential programs. But in all its forms, the purpose of supportive housing is to keep people, often with mental illness or addictions, permanently and stably housed, in homes that are their own.

Waterloo Region has adopted The Homelessness to Housing Stability Strategy, with the goal that we will be ‘an inclusive community where everyone has adequate housing, income, and support to make a home’. But currently, we are 1,500 units of supportive housing short of meeting that goal.

It won’t be an easy goal to reach, and getting there will require collaboration with all levels of government, business, not-for-profits, community groups and community members. But I believe it must be a priority of Regional Council in the coming years, and if I’m elected I will make it my priority.

I hope you will support me.

Out of the Cold - A Good News Story

8/19/2014

Last spring, Ray of Hope made the decision to close its Tuesday night Out of the Cold program. Last week, St John’s Lutheran Church announced that it would no longer be operating its Thursday night program, and Trinity United Church advised that its Monday night program would also be cancelled. Yesterday, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church followed suit. The news of the closures of four of Kitchener-Waterloo’s Out of the Cold sites was greeted by the public with a level of concern that is testimony to our community’s compassion and caring. But I believe that the Out of the Cold story is really a good news one.

Some fifteen years ago, the two long-established year-round homeless shelters – the House of Friendship’s Charles Street Men’s Hostel, and the YWCA’s Mary’s Place for women and children – were struggling. With little or no government funding, and limited inter-shelter coordination, they struggled to meet the demand, and sometimes struggled to meet the complex needs, of the growing homeless population. Local churches saw that there were some people – primarily men but occasionally women and youth, too – who were falling through the cracks, and they organized themselves to deliver volunteer-run, overnight, wintertime back-up to the formal shelters. One night a week between November and March, each participating church opened its doors to provide a warm welcome, a good meal, and a safe place to sleep to those people who could not access the formal shelters, and they called the program that they created ‘Out of the Cold’. I have no doubt that in doing so they saved some lives. They certainly touched many hearts.

Although the Out of the Cold program only operated part-year, and only served a small percentage of the homeless population of Kitchener-Waterloo, it proved so popular among the people it did serve that instead of being merely an emergency alternative to the year-round shelters, it became for some homeless people the preferred wintertime option. Even when beds were available at the House of Friendship and the YWCA shelters, some people chose to use the churches instead. Their reasons varied, but most said that they appreciated the kindness of the people there, and valued the fact that the volunteers didn’t ask questions and didn’t make any demands of them. And over the years, what was intended to be a temporary, emergency response became a permanent community fixture, to such an extent that when some members of the public and media thought of homeless shelters, they thought of Out of the Cold program first.

But over those fifteen or so years, some profound changes occurred within the year-round shelters. The Region of Waterloo assumed responsibility for the homelessness system’s coordination, and increased shelters’ funding substantially. The YWCA’s family shelter was expanded, new shelters for youth opened, system-wide admission and referral and overflow protocols were developed and implemented, and as a result of these and other measures, the homelessness system’s capacity grew exponentially. And the services and resources that the formal shelters were able to offer their homeless clients increased, too, including intensive, individualized assistance to secure and maintain permanent housing. In 2014, the formal shelter system is well-equipped to serve all of our region’s homeless people, and to support even those with complex needs not only to be warm and fed, but also to move out of persistent homelessness.

When announcing their decisions to discontinue their Out of the Cold programs after 15 years of operations, the churches talked about volunteer exhaustion. They talked, too, about the fact that their volunteers are typically untrained and unequipped to support people with addictions and serious mental illnesses. But the main reason those churches gave was the fact that the formal shelter system has evolved and expanded and greatly enhanced the support services that it can offer to homeless people – services that the Out of the Cold sites simply can’t. And these reasons are legitimate.

What’s also legitimate is the concern of some of the churches that will continue to provide overnight shelter this winter that some of their long-term guests will not want to avail themselves of the year-round shelters. Reaching out to those Out of the Cold program users, understanding their special needs, and doing whatever is possible to accommodate them is a task that the formal shelters and the Region of Waterloo will take on, and one which they’ve already gladly begun.

Talking Public Transit

8/19/2014

I was privileged this morning to talk transit with the Federation of Students at the University of Waterloo. The Feds have identified a number of areas of improvement in bus service and bike infrastructure that they believe would make life in our community better for the 35,000 students they serve, and that would encourage more of them to settle here after they graduate.

The Feds would like to see increases to frequency of bus service, with more heavily used routes running every 10 to 15 minutes. They would like to see expanded hours of service, with buses that feed the iXpress running between 7:30 am and 11 pm. And they would like to see enhanced capacity of service, so that riders aren’t left stranded at stops because buses are too full to accommodate them. The Feds are in full support of the new ION Light Rail Transit, but would like to be consulted by Regional transit planners about future decisions that might affect student ridership.

Many students rely on bikes as their primary method of transportation, and the Feds are recommending that the Region adopt the Ontario Traffic Manual Book 18 on Cycling Facilities, and take other measures to ensure the safety of cyclists.

The Feds’ transit goals align closely with the priorities I’ve heard expressed by low-income working people elsewhere in our community. Many spend hours each day commuting to and from their jobs by bus. Others can’t use public transit at all because of the location or hours of their work. Some have even told me they’ve turned down shift work because they simply can’t afford to own the car they’d need to get there.

I’m grateful to the Federation of Students for sharing with me, and I’m pleased to say that I support their recommendations.