Public Meeting Planned With Neighbourhood Renewal Groups And City Councillors To Talk Budget

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A public meeting is planned for this Friday to talk about budget issues.

The meeting will be held with Councillors Costante, Bortolin, Holt, and Sleiman, and staff from the four United Way funded neighbourhood strategies: Ford City Neighbourhood Renewal, Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative, Our West End Neighbourhood Renewal, and The Initiative: Glengarry Neighbourhood Renewal.

“The draft budget has been released by administration and includes a proposed 3.3% increase, with 1.6 increase being given to Agencies, Boards, and Committees. With the Mayor openly stating a goal to get to at or around a 2% increase (approximately inflation), the neighbourhood groups want to make sure that priorities that matter to residents are openly discussed and put forward,” said Sarah Cipkar – Community Development Coordinator for the DWCC in a news release.

This is the second year of active and coordinated advocacy around the City of Windsor’s budget from the neighbourhood groups.

“We have been examining the 2019 Budget to identify key issues we want to promote, advocate, or even eliminate. While on a tight timeline, neighbourhood staff have been hosting meetings, consulting with City Councillors, and getting the information to the residents, all for the purpose of advocating for the programs that are important to residents of Windsor. Drawing on momentum from last year’s successful efforts to raise the profile of issues in the budget, coordinators and organizations have been working diligently to prepare residents for being a successful advocate, as well as provide basic but sometimes overlooked information about time, date and location of delegations, submissions, or deadlines,” Cipkar said.

Key issues identified include:

• • Residential Bulk Item Pick-Up-Reduction from $10 voucher to fully paid for by the City of Windsor
  • Minor Alley Maintenance Program and Alley Closing Subsidy Program
  • Increase in Outreach Workers (an increase from one temporary full-time to 2 permanent full-time positions)
  • Parks Investments (Parks Playground Inspection Program, Parks Asset Collection, Neighbourhood Parks Initiative, as well as Community Parks Initiative)
  • Traffic Calming Initiatives (Addition of an Operations of Analyst Transportation Engineer)

The meeting will take place at Life After Fifty located at 635 McEwan Avenue from 7pm to 9pm.