I can’t begin to tell you how distressed and upset at how our civic leaders, staff, and the Operations department have allowed our beautiful parks and green spaces to turn into what can be best described as “cow pastures”. The ten day cutting policy you mention in your memo to city council is, frankly, a joke!. I have personally cut my property three times in the last ten days and it is still 4 inches high. If I were to allow my property to fall into such a shameful state as our parks, I can assure you that a bylaw officer would be at my door. Why the double standard? Our city’s parks are the first thing that visitors from out of town see, play in, and are drawn to. Doesn’t anybody at city hall, or in your department realize how this makes everybody in Guelph look to visitors and guests. I can’t believe you don’t care. It must be a staffing or funding problem. Whatever it is, it must be corrected. A friend of ours from the U.S. was in Guelph on business, and he didn’t believe me when I told him of the city’s parks policy until I showed him St Georges Park. He was astounded, and said that if that happened in his town and I quote: “somebody’s butt would get fired”. We have stood by too long, and put up with this nonsense for too long. It’s time for somebody in city management to do something about this, and none too soon. RA
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It is with sheer frustration that I again have to put pen to paper to obtain
what should be the normal services provided by Guelph City Council, for the
exhorbitant amount of taxes paid by my husband and I for our home on Milson Crescent.The city’s parks, boulevards and public areas are a disgrace and an
embarrassment to the residents and tax payers, not to mention a hazard for
allergy sufferers.In 2000, the City Council of the day banned the use of pesticides, however,
at that time and even to date, no Council in power has provided either the funding or resources to provide a service to replace pesticides, i.e. fertilizing and seeding the parks and public areas. Instead, these areas have been neglected to the point that in many areas there is no grass, there are merely weeds. So basically, through fiscal mismanagement and sheer incompetence, we are now faced with a financial burden of mammoth proportions.I have just read Brandon Walker’s June lst article in the Mercury, where he
quotes Maggie Laidlaw’s concerns about the state of the parks. Has Ms
Laidlaw suddenly had a “revelation”, and just woken up to this problem.
Where was she when I, with the assistance of my Ward 6 Councillors, made
presentations to Council last year and the year before to do something about
this situation. This problem is not new, my husband and I have been extremely vocal on this subject.Because of the apathy of the previous Councils, and I exclude my Councillors
from this comment, we are now faced with a problem that is near impossible
to fix by using alternative methods to pesticides. In view of this, I now agree with Paul MacIntyre, who is quoted as saying that he feels we should go back to using pesticides to get the situation under control.Once under control, then we should provide the necessary funding and
resources to put the alternative methods of using pesticides into place.As it stands right now, we are putting good money after bad. For Mr. Haras,
the Supervisor of Parks Activities, to say the cutting of the parks is on a 10 day cycle is a joke. We all know that this is not so. I would suggest Mr. Haras go out on the road and inspect the parks, boulevards and public areas to see for himself what a mess we are facing. There are many areas that have not as yet seen a lawn mower and those that have, have not been cut efficiently. The blades are set too high and the mowers merely squash the dandelions down, to pop right back up hours after the so called cutting of the grass (weeds).The park on Milson is a prime example. I invite Councillors to come and take a look. My husband has mowed half of the park using our mower, and our gas to set an example of what it should look like.
Over the years, budgets for the parks have been cut and it is only when residents like myself take the time to address Council that something gets
done. It is about time that Guelph City Council were held accountable for
the money that is being wasted in many areas (and I could quote many) while
at the same time we have areas that are drastically underfunded.Why is it that Guelph residents pay such high taxes and get such poor services in comparison with other Municipalities. How can we be proud to live in a city where neglect is so evident and the apathy of the Councillors to do something about it so prevelant. We are starting to look like a city in a third world country.
By lack of services provided, we encourage residents to dump their garden
waste in the walking trails around the city. For example, Guelph provide garden waste pick up ONLY twice a year, compared to other municipalities who provide either weekly or pick up every other week.I strongly agree with an article in last week’s Tribune, where it was stated
that many residents are putting their houses up for sale because they can no
longer afford the high taxes imposed by this Municipality.I also believe we will soon be seeing a exodus of people who no longer can tolerate the pathetic state of the city, or the poor management by its Council.
My husband is considering putting a motion before Council to have Guelph
officially declared the Weed capital of Ontario.In closing, don’t misread the silent majority of Guelph residents. Not everyone is prepared to take the time I do to make my views known , but that doesn’t mean they are satisfied with the state of the city or the poor services being received. You have a lot of unhappy constituents right now.
I am prepared, if necessary, to do whatever it takes to get this Council to
honour its obligations to the residents of Guelph, and will continue to be vocal until I get some action. SG