Yesterday evening in Middle Springs 2 didn't reflect the general trends of comments that I've heard so far.  Instead, people had individual likes and concerns.  I heard the following at the doors:

Things that people like, mentioned by individual households:

• the proposed pedestrian bridge:  "I hope it can be built"
• paying attention to spending:  "don't let borrowing get us into a hole we can't dig out of"
• the organics program:  "I use the bin all the time"
• Banff Live:  "it was a good thing to try it"
• Banff Life and FCSS:  "they do an amazing job to support our young workers" 

Questions, ideas and concerns mentioned by individual households:

• the need for affordable housing
• a concern about the dumping of large items by the bins, and a willingness to pay more to have more frequent pickups of this junk
• a concern about the low turnout at Banff Live vs the expense
• a wish to have a pedestrian bridge instead of the wayfinding program
• a request to re-evaluate the planned location of the pedestrian bridge and place it close to the existing bridge
• a request to make the current traffic bridge 2 lanes in each direction, with narrower sidewalks
• a request to re-jig traffic light timing on Banff Avenue to move traffic more smoothly
• a suggestion for a transit route to The Banff Centre
• a wish to have everyone pick up their dog droppings, and to have this bylaw enforced
• a request to limit chain stores and prevent loss of unique community character downtown
• a concern about whethr we are meeting the needs of new Canadians, and whether we are helping them integrate into our community, access our services and become locals.
• a concern about noise, safety relative to partying downtown, and a request to try to get rid of our reputation as a party town

Sulphur Court is such a great community!  When people come home from work, they don't just drive into their garages and close the door.  They get out of their cars and join the running conversations that are taking place out in the cul-de-sac, while kids and dogs play around them ... it's super!

Here's what I heard at the doors last night:

Top of mind among the good things happening -- once again, it's the completed Banff Avenue project.  People like the way it looks, and they're happy that it's done.

Individual households also mentioned being happy about:

• the dragon boat festival:  "our family stayed all day"
• the progressiveness of the town:  "it's great to try new things"
• hearing the Mayor on Mountain FM today, describing what went on at Council:  "I hope it's part of a continuing series"
• the idea of a new pedestrian bridge between Rec Grounds and Central Park:  "I hope it goes ahead"
• the wayfinding plans:  "they look great, hope it happens soon"
• customer service at Town Hall:  "always friendly, polite and professional"

There were no over-riding concerns among this group, but individual households mentioned:

• a concern that they pay for their snow-clearing through condo fees, while other neighbourhoods get theirs from the Town
• a need for handicapped parking stalls on Banff Avenue
• a need to make the "stop lines" more prominent on the Banff Avenue intersections, to help the busses make the corners
• a concern about sight lines near downtown intersections, due to clumps of trees
• a request for more parking downtown
• a request for fiscal responsibility and reining in spending
• a request to keep the Bill Peyto signs.
• a concern about traffic congestion on the bridge
• a request to actively control bike-riding on sidewalks, especially on the bridge

Hello everyone:

Welcome to autumn.  It would be hard to imagine a stronger signal that fall is here than the weather transition we had overnight!

THE FINE PRINT

These emails represent just my point of view; they do not represent the point of view of Town Council or of the Town of Banff.  I hope you will comment on or question anything I say that is unclear or that you disagree with.  I hope you'll also check in with other members of council for their points of view.

You can get off this list at any time by just sending an email to lataylor@telusplanet.net and telling me that you'd like to unsubscribe.

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you wish to.  If they'd like to sign up for the list, they can just send me an email and I'll add them on.

DOOR-KNOCKING

As you know, I've started door-knocking through town.  When I mused in my last email that people might have more to say to me now that I'm a councillor, I didn't know how right I was!  It's taking about three times as long to do the doors as it took last year during the campaign -- people are ready to talk, and I'm having some great conversations.  I've finished Valleyview and expect to finish Middle Springs 1/2g today.  At this rate, I should be done around Christmas!

I start off by explaining why I'm door-knocking (no, I'm not canvassing for a federal candidate!) and then I ask two questions, which I have tried to keep as neutral as possible:

• please tell me one thing that the Town is doing that you like, and
• please tell me one thing you think we could improve.

To get a sense of the responses, please go to www.lataylor.com/blog and scroll down through the entries -- I'm writing a brief entry after each door-knocking session, talking about what some of the frequent responses were, and also listing the comments that came from only one household.

COMING TO COUNCIL TOMORROW

Here are some highlights from the Council package for tomorrow.  To see the whole thing -- all 232 pages of it -- please click on http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1677 and give it a good long time to load.

Requests for financial support

The Whyte Museum is asking for $6800 cash, plus $650 in in-kind support, to assist with the events that they would like to hold in conjunction with the centennial of the Warden Service in 2009.  While I believe that this is an important anniversary, and that Banff is the right place to celebrate it, I need to have a clearer understanding of the other sources of funding before I'm comfortable with this request.

The YWCA is asking for the town to make a grant application on their behalf for $238,000 to assist in the completion of the residence expansion.  They're not asking the town for the money - just to represent them in the application process.

Wayfinding

I'm sure you're as anxious as I am to see the town's wayfinding signage replaced and augmented.  Among other things, I think that improved signage will make it easier for people to find their destinations and find parking spots, and thus help with traffic congestion and perhaps diminish the demand for more parking.  It will also be great to have more signage that is designed for the walkers, thus encouraging people to explore the town on foot.

You can see the report on the project at http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1677  -- be patient, it's a big package and will take minutes to load.  Scroll down to page 43 for the report. 

I am generally in support of this project and like the look overall, but I still have some concerns about aspects of the designs, including the size/scale of the downtown pedestrian signage, and the too-tempting cast-metal animals on top of some signs (I don't think that those involved in the design understand the number of talented climbers that we have in our community!)  I'll be commenting on those tomorrow in Council.  There is also some suggestion that the project "might" take $206,000 more dollars in 2009 than we have budgeted for it.  I won't be supporting that -- those involved in this design have known the budget all along, and I was assured as recently as the last meeting that the design was being done with the budget firmly in mind.

Secondary Suite Policy

By clicking on http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1677 and scrolling to page 58, you can see the report on the secondary suite policy.

The general idea is to try to address some of the need for affordable housing by expanding the areas of town and the types of houses in which secondary suites can be considered.  Each application would come to the Municipal Planning Commission for approval, and would be considered based on how it would affect the neighbourhood.  Neighbours would be notified and would have a chance to comment. 

What's coming to council tomorrow is just the policy - it's my understanding that land use bylaw amendments would have to be written and go through the normal public process before these ideas could be put into practice.

Please take a look at the proposal and let me know what you think!

Regional Transit

A regional transit authority will be one step closer tomorrow if Council agrees to join with several other organizations (including the Town of Canmore) in a memorandum of understanding to create a regional transportation commission.  You can see the reports, starting on page 65 of the package.  I know that all these administrative steps sound very bureaucratic, but there really is an important light at the end of the paperwork tunnel.  It would be wonderful to have a coordinated public transportation system between communities and to the major destinations in the park!

Recycling costs passed on to newspapers?

In a report that you can see on page 191 of the council package (aren't you glad that we get our packages electronically, instead of printing them out?), Council is being asked whether the town should pursue Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) with the two newspapers.  Briefly, the case is being made that newspapers and their inserts make up about 138,000 kgs of Banff's recycling and an unknown percentage of our waste to landfill, and that we only recover 15 cents for every dollar spent handling this waste.  The question is whether we should charge the newspapers a fee because of the waste they create.

At first glance, this appears like a simple question.  Polluter pays, right?  But newspapers are so important to community information and thus to community democracy.  You might argue that if they didn't exist, we'd have to print them ourselves.  Add to the mix the difficulty that the Crag appears to be in, and I find myself thinking that newspapers are not the place to start with EPR in our community.  But I'd sure love it if they would volunteer to help with this problem in some way ...

All the best 'til next time -- Leslie

Well, I was certainly bang-on when I guessed that it would take longer to go door-to-door as a councillor than as a candidate.  At this rate, it will take me 'til Christmas to finish this round of door-knocking!  But I don't mind a bit -- I am having some great conversations, and I'm more and more convinced that this kind of mid-term one-to-one contact is really worthwhile.

What were last night's discussions about?  Several households are happy about the look of the new Banff Avenue:  it's "appealing", "pretty", "makes the pedestrians look happier and more relaxed".

And individual households liked:

• Banff Live:  "my kids enjoyed it"
• the sewage treatment plant:  "toured it with the school kids and it was amazing"
• the recycling program:  "hope we get an organics bin here in Middle Springs"
• the volunteer centre: "I've used it and it was great"
• the move of Abbeyfield House into the Bow Valley Housing portfolio:  "This will be so good for the convenience of the users"
• the library:  "love it!"
• the bike race:  "It was great to see.  Add mountain biking into the event somehow"
• Bear Street handicapped parking:  "really helpful"
• The secondary suite policy:  "hope it will happen, it would really help employers and employees"
• The new busses:  "gorgeous"
• The TIF funding for Banff Lake Louise Tourism:  "happy to see this in place"

How did people respond when asked what the town could improve?  Banff Live topped the list, and there were still a few references to bridge traffic, although most people noted the improvement now that the intersection of Banff and Buffalo is open once again.  A couple of people mentioned design concerns with the new Banff Avenue:  trees on corners, narrow intersections, the loss of the central line of banners, a suggestion to remove the remaining lamp post at the bridge end and "tidy up" the median there.

Individual households mentioned the following concerns, ideas, and suggestions:

• A suggestion to eliminate development permit fees for environmental retrofits such as adding solar hot water -- or to redirect those fees to an environmental fund.
• a request to not engage in special events designed to bring large numbers of visitors, and to help visitors slow down and enjoy the park.
• a request to communicate more with the families of Banff
• a suggestion for Banff-Canmore transit, 2 - 3 times per day in each direction
• A request for a parkade
• a request to improve the flower plantings in the downtown
• a concern about the amount of parking along Bow Avenue and its impact on the serenity of the riverside trail
• a question about when the filter cloths will be removed from the storm drains on Jasper Way
• a request to add a transit route to the Banff Centre
• a request for increased fiscal responsibility
• a concern about violent or offensive material in store window displays downtown
• a request to concentrate less on "what we're not", and concentrate more on protecting and sharing what truly makes this area spectacular.
• a concern about the safety of the crosswalk at Spray and Mountain:  cars not expecting pedestrians, children not expecting traffic.