I have just read, in the Guelph Tribune, that the City is considering footing the bill for testing pissoirs at the next council meeting.
The “City” pays for this and the “City” pays for that, I would like to remind everyone that “the City” are US, the people, and the money the “City” spends so freely is OUR money, not the “Citiy’s”.
In my opinion the problem is created by one, and only one, situation and that is the abundant drinking in downtown bars. Abundant drinking means abundant profit for the bars, therefore it shoud be the responsibility of the bar owners to provide suitable places, indoors or outdoors, for their patrons to uninate etc. They should also be responsible for the street/sidewalk cleanup resulting from their patrons’ drunken behaviour.
I really can’t see why I, or most other Guelph residents, should pay for any of it and as my representatives in the meeting I hope you will vote against this motion.UR
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Thank you for the e-mail. I fundamentally agree with your point on financing these facilities and do not like the image they bring to our city.
I did not support the initial pilot recommended to Councl.
I do however have a problem with doing nothing. I have talked to our Chief of Police, as well as the University of Guelph and Downtown Board representatives on the task force.
I believe the key issues we as Council need to consider include:
1. We have no public washrooms in our downtown.
2. We have a serious issue to resolve.
3. We cannot force businesses to pick up the entire tab. . We have issued approx. 340 tickets at $240 each – total over $80,000. Some could help fund his Pilot.
4. All stakeholders on the task force are stepping up to the plate to help. Our Chief of Police is a strong supporter of the proposal coming forward and will be supporting it with enhanced enforcement.
5. The bottom line is this is a short Pilot project, which even if successful, is only a temporary measure until we can provide permanent facilities in one or more of our currently planned projects. ie Wilson Parking lot, new Transit centre.
I, Will of course be listening carefully to all points of view on Monday, but based on the improvements to the initial proposal, recognizing we have a serious problem, and recognizing that if I am not part of the solution I become part of the problem I am inclined to support this version of a Pilot project.
Thanks again for you interest, concern and feedback.
Councillor Wettstein