Taking a position - guest post by Waterloo Councillor Karen Scian

Originally published October 19, 2010 by Karen Scian on her own blog

This Waterloo election has been characterized by criticism … hard to watch from the sidelines. As an acclaimed candidate, there is a choice to be made – Do I participate? Do I quietly sit by and bide my time til Oct. 25th? If I say something – if I lay out my perspective - what are the personal risks if “my” candidate doesn’t win? Those of you who know me … you are fully aware of my inability to fence-sit.

Lots of questions – no simple answers. However, I have decided that the risks to the community outweigh any personal risks that I may be taking… so here goes.

I take issue with Councillor D’Ailly’s persistent “criticism” of Mayor Halloran – he keeps beating her up on her “lack of leadership” and that irritiates me. From my seat, he’s entirely offbase. Completely.

Leadership means a variety of things.

To some, leadership may mean acting authoritatively or taking a stand or demanding attention or wrestling control or …

Leadership may mean communicating effectively and bringing people together and inspiring people to be good citizens and building capacity in others and seeing the possibilities around you and working collaboratively.

I certainly know what type of leadership I believe in. I also know what kind of leadership Mayor Halloran espouses AND practices. I know because I watch it happen. Is she perfect? Hell no – who is? This is a tough job and, four years ago, we came into it with little or no governance experience. The learning curve has been steep and bumpy – but my god, we have learned a lifetime of lessons that will serve this community well. (To the new candidates out there … if you are fortunate enough to win, you will have your eyes opened really quickly.)

There are lots of stories out there about Northdale – they are true, but they aren’t my stories to tell. However, I can not stay silent on a series of incidents that occurred in early 2010 re: the Clay and Glass Gallery funding. My experience with this situation clearly illustrates why Councillor D’Ailly is overstating his abilities as a leader:

• early 2010 – the Board of the Clay and Glass registers to speak at council – Waterloo Council is gobsmacked to be handed a request for $300,000 of funding.
• Councillor D’Ailly is the city liaise on the Board of Directors – he knew it was coming and endorsed “the ask”.
• As council reps on a plethora of city/region boards, we COMMUNICATE with council regularly, out of courtesy and respect. (That is the stamp of Mayor Halloran.)
• I repeat – not one single individual on council (aside from Jan) knew that they needed that money. We were side-swiped by a Councillor with a $300,000 agenda.
• Councillors McLean, Witmer and myself worked with our finance staff to figure out some creative alternatives – ie, the loan that we ended up extending to the gallery. It was a radical approach – but we felt it was necessary to stop the entitlement attitude that was coming from CCGG.
• Around the same time – Councillor D’Ailly voted against the $1/person Prosperity Council funding for Arts and Culture, as he wanted that money for the CCGG.

Collaboration? Leadership? I urge the voters of Waterloo to really think about this … Councillor D’Ailly has rarely been able to engage members of council OR the community around an issue – Clair Lake, Northdale and CCGG were all wrestled away from him as we forced our way into the conversations. These are not his success stories – they belong to the collaborative members of our community and council who continue to diligently work together to solve tough issues. That, again, is the stamp of Mayor Halloran.

Finally, I have a distinct memory of watching his backside bolt for the door, instead of placing a vote for or against a grant for the Supportive Housing project … we were all astonished. Where is the leadership in bolting for the door?

These are my experiences, I offer them to you for consideration.

As a footnote – I am very proud of the approach we took with the Clay and Glass Gallery and I’m extremely impressed with their board. They took their lumps – then they set to work. Today’s gallery is not the same place it was a year ago … I have faith that they will succeed. And for all of you who have the “simple” and punitive answer of “just closing the doors” on the gallery … think that through a bit. To me, that’s parallel to a cold-hearted parent kicking their pregnant teenager out of the house. Get real.

What a Community!

Not only did we open a fire station in Waterloo - there were many other fantastic events happening all in one day!

I started Saturday (Sept 11th) bright and early - it was the Second Annual Mayor's Movie Morning - a fundraiser I hold in partnership with the generous Galaxy Cinema. They provide six different, current movies to choose from, as well as donating a free popcorn and pop to each person who bought a ticket. This year we worked with the Alzheimer's Society and they received all the proceeds of the movie morning. We had a good turnout, gave away a bunch of door prizes and everyone had a great time. Thank you to everyone who helped organize and who attended.






The next event was the India Canada Association MELA 2010 festival at City Hall in Kitchener. A wonderful celebration of Indian culture and heritage in this communty-dancers, singing, food - another special event.



Back in the car and off to the Laurelwood Community Fair - what a fantastic day - there were all types of games, food booths, rides of all descriptions and hundreds of happy families sharing a beautiful Saturday afternoon together. I spoke with many people and it was so apparent that this was a proud neighbourhood of families - my thanks to the organizers - this was such a successful day!








Next stop - WLU to participate in Shinerama! Every year the students of WLU spend a day washing cars and collecting change in support of CF-this has been an event that is held each year and I am so proud of the students who spend a day raising money for Cystic Fibrosis. I was in desperate need for a car wash and it looked terrific. Thank you WLU students!






Then the next big event - the Open House at the new Fire Station - I must admit, after cutting and handing out hundreds of pieces of cake, I decided I couldn't eat cake for at least a day! Just a wonderful community celebration.

And my last stop was the Norman Street Party - now that is one fun group of people! They made me feel right at home. And what a great neighbourhood - they had the street blocked off, childrens's jumping castle and games, food, barbecue's going, kids playing and running around having fun and parents relaxing and visiting.



This is what my Waterloo is about - families, children, people helping each other out, celebrating our community and the great city that we live in!

Open House at Waterloo's Newest Fire Station!

On Saturday, September 11, 2010, an Open House was held at the City of Waterloo's new Fire Station # 4. What a day it was! There were hundreds of people exploring the fire station, looking at the fire fighting equipment and meeting members of the fire fighting crew. We even had a special guest - Sparky the Fire Dog! There were numerous activities from face painting to wooden toy building and demonstrations on kitchen fire safety. We also had the cake cutting ceremony and I had a great time serving cake to over 500 hundred attendees! It was such a wonderful experience - the best fun was seeing the looks on the children's faces as they got to sit in the trucks and see all the equipment - every child I met had decided to become a fire fighter!

This was a very exciting open house for the Eastbridge community, who had been waiting for their fire station. Special thanks go to the Eastbridge Neighbourhood Association for their extremely generous donation of a beautiful evergreen tree, proudly planted in the front of the fire station. And a special thank you to the Chair of the ENA-Ms. Cindy Watkin, who spent many hours working with city staff and within her neighbourhood, sharing information and answering questions for us all.

This 6,000 sq. ft. fire station is the first City of Waterloo building that will be recognized as a silver level, LEEDS ( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building. It will be 25% more efficient in energy conservation, than another building of similar size. Completion of this fire station will improve our response times for the families living in this area.

I had the great privilege of cutting the ribbon on the official opening on September 6th - while listening to the speeches, I felt extremely proud of the work done by the city staff, the design team, Council and the community and for the tremendous amount of collaboration that went into creating this fire station for our community.

An exciting, historical moment for the City of Waterloo.

Team Brenda

(guest post by Beth Warren)

Behind every run for political office is not only the candidate, but a team of people to help provide support. This team helps with everything from campaign donations, to scheduling, to drumming up support, promotion and more.

Of course, Brenda Halloran's bid for re-election is no different.

There are many people on Brenda's "team". Dozens of supporters who believe in her passion for the City of Waterloo, her foresight, her vision.. her dream. And they are supporting and assisting wherever they can.

Several of those people are involved with her Social Media strategy and plan. I'm one of those people.

Social Media is a hot topic these days. A "new" way to communicate. Really.. it's not. It's communication. It's this decade's "word of mouth".. only instead of leaning across your picket fence to tell your neighbour what you think, you're telling them via Facebook, Twitter, MSN and the like. But hey, you're reading this blog and perusing Brenda's website, so I'm pretty sure you get where I'm going with this.

Brenda has put together an excellent team of people to assist her in her re-election (if I do say so myself..) Among those are the team at Waters Denison Internet Group. We are developing and maintaining her website (along with help from many others on Team Brenda) and we are also handling her Social Media strategy.

We have a multi-tiered plan which not only includes the website, but a Facebook fanpage, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

It's a lot to do. So, Brenda needs assistance with it. And we're happy to help.

That said.. Brenda's Social Media Team updates her Fanpage and posts community events, new content from her website, quotes and more on her Twitter account (@brendaformayor). When the TEAM posts, we use Brenda's own words.. things she has written for the website or content that she has approved. We're just helping to manage the content by scheduling. At no time do we answer "as Brenda". If we feel the need to address someone (in order to respond in a timely manner) we will make it clear that it's coming from "TEAM BRENDA".. not Brenda herself. And we'll let you know that we are getting the question/concern to her ASAP.

When you see a Tweet or Facebook update about an event she's at.. or a personal comment.. That IS coming directly from Brenda. She's very active on her Twitter account and likes to keep everyone up to date on what she's doing in the community. And if she responds to you directly.. that IS her, not one of the team. We assist... we do NOT pretend to BE her. (Brenda also does a fair amount of retweeting..)

Suffice to say that despite her hectic schedule, Brenda is very active in her Social Media strategy. We`re just helping.

If you have any questions, etc.. feel free to email Brenda at brenda@brendaformayor.com (she receives the emails directly).. Or through the comments section of her website.

And, most importantly.. don't forget to vote October 25th!


Beth Warren is the Social Media Manager at Waters Denison Internet Group..... and a proud member of "Team Brenda".

9th Annual Afro Festival

It started out as a dull, cloudy, rainy day with participants crowded under the shelter and tents at Waterloo Park. The joyous singing, dancing, drumming and the many friendly smiles at the 9th Annual Afro Festival seemed to part the clouds and brought out the warm sunshine.

After bringing greetings from the city of Waterloo, I spoke about my visit to Lesotho and South Africa. In August 2009, I used my vacation time to travel to Africa where I worked as a volunteer in an AIDS clinic, was a guest speaker at a conference against the social stigma surrounding AIDS and also visited the workshop where they make the bracelets that are sold as part of the Bracelet of Hope (http://www.braceletofhope.ca) fund-raising campaign. It was a life-changing experience that still reminds me every day of the endless blessings that we enjoy as citizens of Waterloo.

Many thanks to the African Women's Alliance (http://www.afrowomen.org/) for organizing a wonderful festival for the whole community. The entertainment, games, food and information displays, but most of all the people involved, were as welcoming and friendly as the sunshine.

Parking in Waterloo

There are always many questions and concerns raised about the City of Waterloo parking by-laws and the reason for specific time and zone restrictions. Parking is a complex issue and there is not one easy answer and one easy solution.

The city's overnight and three hour restrictions have been put in place for a number of reasons including road maintenance, road safety, municipal liability, crime prevention and nuisance control.

These reasons cover many issues but the underlying concern is making sure the roads are safe,available for maintenance issues when needed and takes into consideration that roadways were never considered or designed as a long term parking solution. Waterloo has gone beyond most municipalities and offers an online and telephone exemption system consisting of 18 exemptions per residence each year. This system is designed to allow for those instances when extended short term parking is required while at the same time attempting to maintain the community standard that exists in Waterloo with respect to parking.

To this point Council has passed the UpTown Waterloo Parking Strategy, in hopes of dealing with issues that have arisen in the UpTown area. City staff are also working on a city wide pay and display strategy to present to Council sometime in 2011. It is not anticipated at this time that on street parking in residential zones will change in the near future. We must also consider that even if the current restrictions were to be modified, there would still likely be a combination of restriction, prohibition and paid parking woven into any new system. Also, any new system would have to consider safety as it relates to road widths, community standards as it relates to the wishes of each area, and ongoing maintenance.

I hope this information helps to clarify some of your questions and puts some reasoning behind the parking by-laws the city currently has in place.