tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935799994141641782024-03-13T15:22:23.333-06:00Chad Novak for Taxpayers of ReginaYour resource for everything you need to know about Chad Novak and the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-38660948228354488202017-04-12T11:02:00.000-06:002017-04-12T11:02:17.818-06:00STC Cuts - How Does It Impact Saskatchewan Families?<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Saskatchewan! </i></b></span><br />
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I'm not used to typing that, as I have been focused on Regina and area for so long now, that I'm both surprised and honoured to have been entrusted by so many great Saskatchewan residents to be a voice for their honest concerns, now province-wide.<br />
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<b>What the local media won't talk about</b>, for one reason or another, or will spin in one way to cater to their governing overlords, I promise that <b>you can come to my page for the no-nonsense, unequivocal true story.</b> Whether it be good or bad for the governing party, elected officials or anyone in between. I have garnered much respect with the position I have taken, and (<i>and I know this sounds insane and overly boastful</i>) the fear of many elected politicians at different levels of government.<br />
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With that said, I was approached by an anonymous source yesterday with a personal story that I thought deserved sharing widely. That person granted me authority to use their first name, but I'm not even going to do that, because I don't want there to be any opportunity of retribution of this family, as frankly, they've had to endure enough as it is. With that said, I present to you, a story from the family of a current STC employee:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">Believe me. I feel a lot of the pain of STC shutting down. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">My partner of 17 years, and the father of my children, has been working there for 11 years now. There's so much more that's going on internally (at STC), than just trying to save the business. They still have a 7 month contract with Greyhound, which they will continue to fulfill, even after May 31st(, the date the Saskatchewan Party chose to shutter STC). Higher up employees, including my partner, will be asked if they would like to stay or leave. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">They are then faced with one of two options:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">Option A: They choose to leave. Then, we are faced with the very real comment of “Well, we offered you a job beyond the 31st, and your refusing, so we don't have to pay your severance. Oh, and we’ll make sure that Service Canada is aware of that as well, so that you will have difficulties getting EI, if at all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">Option B: Stay with STC (in the interim), and take a pay cut. Of course, this option allows you to receive your severance, but not until after the end of the extension. Therefore, for the next 7 months, he can't look for a new full time job, and he can't go back to school. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">It's utter shit what's going on...oh and there are only 2 busses that come in to our location, at 6am and 10am. We still don't know 100% of what's going on with the Greyhound contract, but it will require a few employees to stay behind to work. Oh and not to mention that they are also fighting for an additional 6 weeks severance due to labour laws.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">I ASKED THIS PERSON IF THEY APPROACHED LOCAL MEDIA ABOUT THIS STORY, AND THIS WAS THEIR RESPONSE:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">I did and CJME botched my stories. It was very embarrassing, and they refused to delete it. He's not allowed to talk about anyone outside of STC. His name can't be mentioned or he could be terminated. I've cleared already that family are allowed to speak out, but not sure what I'm allowed and not allowed to say. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">He is a big part of our main income. I work but it's not full time. My job hours are hit and miss. He was already talking about going back to school, but can't set anything up yet. Everyone was left in the dark. I keep trying to correct stories that people post, but nothing seems to be done about it. Like the day before the budget came out: They shut down the bus service to allow for management to meet with staff and let them know. This was never done. They got some papers 2 days later, which included points that by that time we already knew. I could give you copies of those. It was very unprofessional. Management hid for 2 days, and then handed out some papers with no answers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">There are also a lot of non-supporters that think shutting down STC will somehow save $85 Million per year – which is simply untrue. And what many people also don't understand is that bus going to Saskatoon with “only 5-6 people on it”, that its trailers are packed full of freight, and the bus underneath is also packed full. While ridership may be down, the freight most certainly is not. The story isn’t being told truthfully, and I think that's what's really upsetting the people that work there. Because they know more than any of us do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">It's just a really shitty deal for the Regina employees, due to the Greyhound contract, because they know they will be out of a job and can't start looking and they don't know who's staying or who's going. Because of that, they don’t know how many hours they'll work if they choose to stay, or even how much they'll get paid. So the future right now is very grim. He's upset I can tell, but being a man, he doesn't like to talk about his feelings LOL. So I can't really talk much about it with him. I talk to a few other employees that I'm close friends with, so I can try and help him manage.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">Ya I told you pretty much what I told CJME. They said “my husband” – even though we are not married, and that is why I use the term “partner”. They reported that he was the sole income provider, which I also didn't say. You just can't trust anyone anymore; they even put in his wrong age. But I gave up and let it be. I just gave them a statement the next day of "how we felt" and I mean what can you say, we're losing a big chunk of income. I know we will be ok. I'm just mostly worried about our vehicle payments, which we have 3 years left out of 7, so we are doing pretty damn good, I guess.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">I also said to them about the older employees that are in their fifties, who can't quite retire yet, and asked what are they supposed to do? I would say that they make up about half the total employees there. Most of them have been working there for 25+ years, and that's all they know. They are just not going to be able to find another job that pays them as well. And learning something new at that age isn't easy for some.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; font-size: 12px;">I trust you I have been following you for some time. I believe you respect people's privacy when it's asked. And do nothing but the truth so that's good by me!</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-89289088429800051502017-03-21T10:00:00.000-06:002017-03-21T10:00:41.705-06:00"MOSAIC 2.0" EXPLODES OVER BUDGET WITH ZERO PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
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Yes, you read the headline right. Remember that shiny, new stadium that we were all promised would come in "<i>on time and on budget</i>"? Well, thankfully, it does appear to be <i>on time</i>. However, as far as the <i>on budget</i> goes...well, as it turns out, anyone can easily follow through on that promise - <i>when your granted the ability to remove key items out of that originally committed-to and promised-in-an-election budget</i>. </div>
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And, yes, believe it or not, that is exactly what is happening as we speak. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/stadium-maintenance-agreement-1.4028488">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/stadium-maintenance-agreement-1.4028488</a></div>
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Regina City Council is set to discuss the authorization of <b>an additional $9 MILLION of YOUR tax dollars</b> for the Food and Beverage services at Mosaic 2.0. That is <i><u>over and above</u></i> the promised "all-in" price of $278.2 MILLION, and also <i><u>over and above</u></i> a further $12 MILLION of YOUR tax dollars that were previously authorized for this portion of the project - <i>it is yet unclear as to who authorized the initial $12 Million.</i></div>
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If you're as upset about this as I am, <b>SHOW UP AT CITY HALL on Monday, March 27, 2017 at 5:30PM</b>. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">This is <i>your</i> money. <i>You</i> deserve respect. <i>You</i> deserve answers. <i>You</i> deserve accountability. </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Just some of the questions that I have for the City of Regina:</i></span></div>
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<li>Who authorized the decision to remove the Food and Beverage services from the $278.2 Million price tag in 2014? </li>
<li>Why have non-profit groups been lead on a leash in hopes that they might be lucky enough to continue their fundraising efforts in the new stadium, when it is clear that they are the last group that is truly being thought of here?</li>
<li>Why was the current Food and Beverage managing organization not given the contract for the new stadium, while the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) were gifted it?</li>
<li>Who authorized the initial, additional $12 Million for the first part of this Food and Beverage operation?</li>
<li>Was this the reason that the former man-in-charge, Brent Sjoberg, was terminated? If so, why was it not discussed publicly? What kind of non-disclosure agreement was he forced to sign, and how much did it cost taxpayers when he signed that agreement?</li>
<li>Why should taxpayers be okay with further funneling a single dime of their tax dollars into this project, when they are told time and time again that the City is tight for money come budget time, which somehow justifies the need to increase our property taxes and utility rates?</li>
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These are just some of the questions that we deserve answers to. Will we get them? <i>Well, that's up to you.</i> </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>You need to DEMAND answers from City Hall. </i></span></b></div>
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<b>Contact your City Councillor, the Mayor or Service Regina</b> and ask these questions, or your very own. <b>Show up at City Hall on Monday, March 27, 2017 at 5:30PM</b> - <i>remember, you don't have to speak, just being there shows that this is important to you.</i></div>
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Below, you will find my unedited, as-submitted delegation for next Monday. Chances are it will be severely edited by the City Clerk's office, as they typically don't like confrontational tones in these speeches. But, I'm still going to submit it and hope for the best! It is my sincere hope that they understand this is an emotional issue and we have a right to be mad.</div>
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Chad Novak,
and I am here representing the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy
Group, which is a grassroots organization proudly standing up for the rights of
individual taxpayers. I am here to address the elephant in the room – no, the
City – the projected $21 MILLION cost overrun for the Food and Beverage service
at the new stadium, which I like to refer to as “Mosaic 2.0”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Within this report, there are some concerning statements
which I am hoping can be clarified for the residents of Regina, who entrusted
our elected officials with the biggest infrastructure project in Regina’s
history – even if it wasn’t really an essential item. Roads, sidewalks and
water mains would have been better served by this kind of money, but that’s
neither here nor there anymore, since the new Stadium is slated to open this
summer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What is most concerning to me is this statement from the
report: “<i>In 2014, the Food & Beverage
(F&B) project was removed from the scope of the $278.2 million stadium
construction project.</i>” I’m really, really curious here as to who made that
call? Who decided to effectively add an open-ended cost at that time (<i>which we now know is AT LEAST $21 MILLION</i>)
on a project that was continually promised over and over again, to come in “on
time and on budget”. Was this something that went through City Council, or was
it negotiated by the former Chief Operating Officer, who was entrusted with
such negotiations at the bequest of the Regina City Council through their vote
to delegate that authority? Based on the report before you this evening (<i>See Appendix A</i>), it appears as though
this was actually a decision put forward by the bidders – even though they
ought to have known that they were required to come in on-time and on-budget,
as had been publicly suggested. If they didn’t think the $278.2 MILLION would
cover that cost, they (<i>or better yet, the
entrusted individual representative of the City of Regina</i>) should have come
right out to the public and said it at that time – <i>and</i> <i>not wait a few years
until we are at the point of no return and it’s either done or the stadium
isn’t complete</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Honestly, I really don’t care how this story is spun by the
City of Regina, because, at the end of the day, <b>taxpayers are now paying $21 MILLION more for this stadium</b>, which
is entirely contrary to what many of you had run on in the 2012 Civic Election
– remember that one, where it’s been claimed to have been the referendum on the
stadium? <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the report, there are claims that this is exactly what
the stadium reserve fund was designed for, to which I would argue that the very
nature of a ‘reserve’ is for <b><i>unexpected costs</i></b>, and not ones that
were originally included within the $278M price tag, and especially not one
that is considered <i><u>crucial</u></i> to
the stadium’s operation. Let me be clear, this isn’t a situation where it was
decided half way through construction that we should maybe add a few more
washrooms, or an escalator or two – <b><i>this is an essential part of the project
that was <u>known to be required</u> for the stadium’s successful operation</i></b>.
What you have effectively done here is tied our hands, where we have no choice
but to say “well, if it’s essential to the operation, then of course, DO IT!!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is my sincere hope that the entire $21 MILLION (<i>plus a <u>hefty</u> interest</i>) will be
fully recouped within a reasonable timeframe. Of course, no one knows if this
is going to be a reality, because as per the report, this is apparently still
being negotiated. Oddly, though, Evraz Place must have thought this was a slam
dunk, since they already put the call out for quotations on at least part of
this very agenda item before you this evening. Interestingly enough, that RFQ
closed today (<i>See Appendix B</i>). I
should add that – since this appears to be simply a financing transaction, why
is REAL not funding that transaction? It’s no secret they can easily afford to,
if push came to shove, given that <b>they
have approximately $60 MILLION in deferred revenues</b> (<i>See Appendix C</i>), and seem to be in a good enough financial position
where they could, at the very least, fund this portion of the project entirely
themselves through self-financing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This, ladies and gentlemen, is up to you this evening. It is
obviously not a matter of <i>whether it will
get done</i>, it is a matter of <i>who will
finance the food and beverage operation and construction</i>. I would suggest
that you vote <b>against this motion</b>
and force REAL to finance at least the $9 MILLION being asked of you tonight.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally, there is something that, to my knowledge, is still
up in the air at the stadium, which is the way this Food and Beverage operation
will be run. For years, there have been some amazing local non-profits that
have been granted a fundraising opportunity within the current stadium food and
beverage services. Unfortunately though, as of the most recent media reports,
it sounds as though this is still up in the air. I can’t help but wonder – <b><i>why?</i></b>
How is this fair to our community in any way? How is this ensuring this is
viewed as a “community asset” when we don’t even know if those most benefited
by this service are going to be afforded the same opportunity they had in the
current stadium?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Thank you
for your time this evening, and I will gladly answer any questions you may
have.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-47731455310974876572017-02-23T12:34:00.000-06:002017-02-23T12:52:38.943-06:00Regina Recycling - Just How Well Are We Doing?<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
<br />
Coming up on Monday at City Council will be an update on the Waste Plan Regina, or more specifically the "annual" update that was postponed from 2015, and then again in 2016 due to the election. What you will find in this report is something that many of us already know - <i><b>Reginans are awesome at recycling and the City of Regina is only accepting a fraction of what they could be because it "doesn't make enough money"</b></i>. This became brutally evident over Christmas when the whole <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-gift-wrap-recycle-1.3894196" target="_blank">"should we recycle wrapping paper"</a> debate came to head.<br />
<br />
Below is my delegation for your consideration. I encourage you all to read and share, and provide your feedback. I also encourage you to read the full <a href="http://www.regina.ca/opencms/export/sites/regina.ca/residents/waste/.media/pdf/waste_plan_regina_report.pdf" target="_blank">Waste Plan Regina (2009) report</a>, and corresponding <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/zx8bds1yavpiptu/2017-02-27%20City%20Council%20-%20Waste%20Plan%20Regina%20Report.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">2016 update</a>, so you can get a better sense of how far we've really come in seven years. <i>Spoiler alert: We haven't really come that far.</i><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Regina City Council Delegation – Monday, February 27, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<u>RE: Waste Plan
Regina 2015/16 Update</u><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/t9609zqqy82qf0q/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Waste%20Plan%20Regina%20February%2027%2C%202017.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">PDF copy available here</a></div>
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Chad Novak,
and I am here representing the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group, which is
a grassroots organization proudly standing up for the rights of individual
taxpayers. I am here to address the item that is recommended to be removed from
the outstanding list, that being the 2015/16 Update for the Waste Plan Regina. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve spoken on this issue previously, and I’ve also
monitored a lot of the online discussions that occur around this topic –
specifically when questionable actions of the City take place. Like, for
example, the recent revelation at Christmas time that the City of Regina would
not accept certain types of Christmas Wrapping Paper. What transpired during
that short time frame was the revelation that the Regina Residential Recycling
Program is more about profits than it is the environment. This became quite
obvious when the comment was made by Emterra that while it <i>could</i> recycle regular wrapping paper, it is lower quality and would
not bring in as much money for the company or the city, which gets a share of
the profit (See Appendix A). This was then contradicted by the City (See
Appendix B) suggesting that these materials simply were simply “not recyclable”
– which is concerning as it demonstrates a clear effort by the City of Regina
to sway citizens opinions from the truth, which was graciously explained by
Emterra. The fact of the matter is, these items <b><i>are</i></b> recyclable, it’s just
that Emterra, and in turn the City of Regina, wouldn’t realize a reasonable
profit – or possibly even experience a loss – by recycling the material. This
is further supported by the fact that many of the items that we currently
reject are actually recycled by many other cities (See Appendix C), and is
included in the list of industry accepted recyclable materials in material the
world over. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, what first needs to happen is turning our attention away
from the potential profit of a fully-recyclable item. Once we do that, then we
can realistically expect to see our diversion rates increase. After all, the
City of Regina realizes such a minimal return from Emterra for profit-sharing
(Average $150,000 [approx. 2.5%] – see Appendix D), it’s almost meaningless to
look to refuse certain items because of their profitability. I can guarantee
when you go to residents and tell them they can recycle any material included
in a generally accepted recycling list – not just the items that turn a tidy
profit – you will realize a significant jump in your diversion rates. Not just
because it’s going to make things a lot less confusing for residents, but also
because you are actually diverting a lot of material that is currently going to
the landfill now, simply because it’s been determined it doesn’t make enough
money. The environment needs to be the #1 driver here – period.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s been suggested that it’s actually Emterra who is the
one deciding what material gets recycled, but I’ve since found that couldn’t be
further from the truth. In fact, it’s right there in black and white in the
legally binding contract with Emterra that they “shall receive all collected
materials regardless of the level of contaminants” (See #36 in Appendix E).
Further, that “it will be the operator’s responsibility, at it’s sole cost,
risk and expense to dispose of all contaminants.” This confirms that Emterra <i><u>must</u></i> accept and process every
single item that residents put in the blue bins, regardless of whether or not
it can be recycled, let alone it’s profitability. With regards to what Emterra
must contractually process, it is clearly stated that they “must accept and
process any and all of the designated materials received.” (See #43 in Appendix
F) As you will see in Appendix G, there is no differentiation of certain types
of materials that the City of Regina has since designated as “non-recyclable”
(or “non-profitable”). <o:p></o:p></div>
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What I’m saying here is essentially, the City has the
ability to enforce this contract, and Emterra is legally bound to accept and
process all materials that the City tells its residents to include in their
Blue Bins. What residents deserve an answer to is this: Will the City step up
to the plate and encourage residents to include any and all <i><u>recyclable</u></i> material (according to
standard practice in many other jurisdictions, and as accepted by industry
standards) in their Blue Bins, regardless of profitability? If not, can they
please explain why? It should not be residents’ concern as to whether or not it
costs Emterra more money to process certain materials, as that is something that
Emterra ought to – and most likely did – take into consideration when
negotiating the contract in the first place.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What you really need to come to terms with is that, until
the City makes meaningful changes to our curbside recycling program (by
increasing what is accepted), it’s going to be that much more difficult to
increase that rate by any meaningful amount. Instead of coming back to
residents in 2020 and saying “sorry, we tried”, why not proactively do
something now to meaningfully increase that diversion rate?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Thank you
for your time this evening, and I will gladly answer any questions you may
have.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b>ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION</b> (<i>Subject to inclusion
based on time and questions by Council)</i>:<o:p></o:p></div>
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The City of Regina continues to realize significant
surpluses at the Regina Landfill of $15 Million or more. The actual cost of
processing our recycling – aside from the collection of it which is a subject
for another day – is only $1.5 Million (See Appendix H). Why are we not funding
this program entirely from the continued surplus at the Regina Landfill, as the
two would seem to be intrinsically linked.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, the City of Regina now realizes additional revenue of
approximately $775,000 from the Multi-Material Stewardship Western (MMSW)
program, which is over and above what was originally considered in 2013 when
introducing the curbside recycling program. The MMSW program is specifically
intended to cover “up to 75% of the net costs for a municipality to operate a
recycling program for waster paper and packaging.” Why, then, are residents not
realizing a reduction in their recycling fees as a result of this new funding
source, which is expected to last for the foreseeable future? Also, considering
the goal of the MMSW program, it would directly contradict the intention of the
program if we are not actually using that money to offset the operating costs
of our recycling program, which is evident in Appendix I where it speaks to
exactly what this money will be used for (taken directly from this 2015/16
Waste Plan Regina Update). For the City to use this money for further public
outreach is effectively a slap in the face to that industry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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An added cost savings that can be realized down the road is
implementing offset biweekly collection, so that we aren’t doubling down on the
environmental footprint that is caused by the dual collection system as it
exists today. (Loraas is contracted out to collect recycling biweekly and
in-house staff collect garbage weekly) This would not only improve our
environmental impact (which is consistent with the public feedback in Appendix
J – also taken directly from this 2015/16 Update), but it would result in
significant cost savings, furthering the call for eliminating the separate fee
for curbside recycling.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While residents are being lead to believe that our diversion
rate is steadily increasing, the statistics in your own report suggest
otherwise, going from 16% in 2009 when the Waste Plan Regina report was
released, to only 20% in 2016 (See Appendix K), or a 4% increase in seven years.
Obviously, there are a few ways to impact that rate, including reducing our
waste and increasing that which we recycle, but at the end of the day, the
numbers are pretty consistent over the three years in this update, with the
total tonnage of recycling actually decreasing over the years included in this
report. It should be noted that in the 2009 Waste Plan Regina, there is no
suggestion that anything beyond 40% could be attained without additional improvements
(See Appendix M), so is the lofty goal of 65% by 2020 truly realistic, or are
we just setting ourselves up for yet more failure?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Interestingly, our
garbage has reduced over this time by over 6,000 tonnes, without any
corresponding increases in recycling or other programs, pointing to the fact
that people are possibly consuming less? As well, considering that only 14% of
what residents toss in the garbage bins ought to have been thrown in the blue
bins (See Appendix L – again taken directly from this 2015/16 Update), it is
not the fault of residents not knowing what to and what not to recycle – which
goes against the idea that more public education is necessary. Contrary to what
is planned, it is obvious that further public education is NOT required nor is
it the solution – spending money on this kind of campaign is both wasteful and
meaningless as it is clear that residents do fully understand and support a
properly run recycling program.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-40538120313468143132017-01-18T22:55:00.000-06:002017-01-18T22:55:43.281-06:00City of Regina Shuts Down Land Development Talks<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
<br />
I know it's been a while since I've posted on here, but it's certainly not because I haven't been active. Just check out my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Chad4Regina/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> and you'll know what I mean. Please go and 'like' the page if you haven't already, as you will find a lot more of my up to date postings on there.<br />
<br />
There was an issue that came up today that I felt needed to be shared on this website. Another blatant disregard for public transparency, and honestly, I couldn't tell you why. Oh...wait. Yes, I could. But...for now, I'll let you do some digging and see if you can come to the obvious conclusion that I have, and hint at in this media release below.<br />
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<b><i>Have a great January everyone!!</i></b><br />
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">MEDIA ADVISORY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">January 19,
2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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SHUTS DOWN TRANSPARENCY ON LAND DEVELOPMENT TALK<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Regina – </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At a
meeting held at Regina City Hall on Wednesday, January 18, 2017, the Regina
Executive Committee voted against allowing a full and open, transparent public
discussion on the possibility of a Municipal Land Development Corporation
(MLDC). In a rare 6-4 vote, a recommendation by Ward 8 City Councillor Mike O’Donnell
was rejected, which would have simply allowed the information report to be
considered once again at City Council on Monday, January 30, 2017. This would
have been an opportunity for further meaningful discussion in a public format,
as a larger number of Regina residents are aware of, and participate in, these
regular City Council meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After
a two year delay, the City Administration drastically changed their recommendation
from supporting a MLDC to advising against one, suggesting that land
development can be accomplished within the current Administrative framework. As
per the documentation from September 10, 2014, the Executive Committee at the
time asked for City Administration to further review their recommendation to
support the creation of a MLDC. Included in this request was for Administration
to provide a further report outlining a model to govern City-owned lands and to
provide recommendations on whether a separate corporation is required to
govern. In the report brought before Executive Committee on January 18, 2017,
there was minimal detail included as to why the City Administration took such a
drastic change in their recommendation, other than a vague reference to how “conditions
have changed” since it was last talked about in September 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chad
Novak, with the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group, addressed the Executive
Committee on the subject. “It is clear that there is a bias within certain
council members that they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them.” Novak
references the significant campaign donations provided to a number of former
and current City Council members that could be perceived as having influenced
their decision to deny the development of a MLDC, which could negatively impact
long-standing developers within the City due to increased competition. “I hoped
to see a really detailed report come back – <i>especially
after two long years</i> – and all the Administration provided was nothing more
than vague commentary to support a position that some council members obviously
feel very strongly about.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At
this point, there is no indication that the subject will be brought up again in
the future, but those that support the creation of a MLDC didn’t seem confident
after the commentary at the meeting. The topic of a MLDC has not been brought
forward to the voting public in either a public consultation process or a regular
City Council meeting. This is a direct contradiction to the assertion of
providing open and transparent processes by the City of Regina.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For more
information, contact:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chad Novak –
Spokesperson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saskatchewan
Taxpayers Advocacy Group<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Regina,
Saskatchewan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Email: <u><span style="color: blue;">chadnovak2012@gmail.com</span></u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Website: </span><a href="http://www.reginamayor.info/"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">chad4regina.com</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Phone: (306) 596-7685</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-52713040391834467882016-12-03T21:42:00.005-06:002016-12-03T21:42:53.834-06:002017 Budget Coming Soon<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Hello Regina!</b></i></span><br />
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I know it's been a while since I posted last, but well, I think I earned that break after the hard fought election. While I wasn't successful in my run for City Council, I am pleased with the outcome, as we have a new Councillor in this Ward, as well as a few other new - hopefully very good - councillors in other Wards.<br />
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This week, there are a couple Committee meetings that are happening at City Hall. Both are interesting in their own accord, but one that has really grabbed my attention is the Winter Maintenance Budget anticipated surplus for 2016. Thanks to Mother Nature and/or climate change (<i>whether or not you believe in it, I really don't care</i>), we've been granted with extremely little snowfall last year, and so far this year as well. As a result, there is a <b>projected surplus of over $3 Million</b> in this year's Winter Maintenance budget. What does that mean for you and I? Well, it all depends on what City Council decides. I'll be there this week to give my thoughts on this, and I hope that this new Council at least listens to my thoughts that should benefit all of Regina.<br />
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The 2017 Budget deliberations are still ongoing, but we, the general public, are being kept in the dark now until February 2017. Why is this necessary? Well, the public excuse is that, with the election, it wouldn't be fair for the new Councillors to just 'jump into' it so fast, which was originally scheduled for December 5, 2016. Of course, this doesn't seem to affect other cities, but well, we here in Regina, we're a special group, apparently. Anyways, it certainly would be nice of the City to at least give the public an idea of what is to come, at the very least let us know how the City is doing with regards to their 2016 budget. Given that every single year for at least the past decade, we've realized pretty big surpluses, it sure would be nice to know if that's the case again this year, as we could put that towards any projected increases in the 2017 Property Tax hikes. You know it's a given the Regina Police Service will ask for their standard 5-6%, even if they don't deserve it, and City Hall knows residents have become accustomed to at least a few percent increase in their property taxes, even if it's not needed. So, the question now becomes, how much, and how can it be reduced?<br />
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Only time will tell! Oh, and you really should tune into my Facebook page if you want to keep updated on breaking stories that I don't take the time to post about on here.<br />
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For example, did you know, <b>Mr. Brad Wall is</b> playing an interesting game of 'shuffle the deck' where he is (most likely) <b>increasing your property taxes</b>, due to the "Percentage of Value" for property assessments. What does that mean for you? Well, go check out my Facebook page to find out!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-38730701310765824272016-10-18T10:27:00.001-06:002016-10-24T21:11:16.762-06:00REGINA VOTES 2016: MORE RESIDENT Q&A <span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!</i></b></span><br />
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After a very successful day yesterday, today I am so happy to see some more resident questions being sent along because it tells me that many are truly paying attention to this election. We held the (Para)Transit Rally yesterday, and I was extremely impressed with the turnout and the commitment by many Council and Mayoral Candidates to dramatically improve the Paratransit and Transit systems in Regina. You can see the video of the Rally on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Chad4Regina/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>. I was very pleased to see current Ward 3 Councillor Shawn Fraser take some time to stop in and hear of the concerns as well, even though he is not running again. I feel it is very important to note, however, that <b><i>not one current City Councillor who is running for re-election bothered to show up</i></b>. This should be very telling to you in terms of their commitments to residents.</div>
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Also yesterday, City Council heard an application by Forster Projects and Harvard Developments to approve the Aurora Retail Complex in East Regina. While I am not opposed to this commercial development, per se, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to at least make a point and have this report delayed until next City Council meeting, where the new City Council will be allowed to vote on it. All it needed was one vote against the third reading of the Bylaw...<i><u>and it happened</u>!!!!</i> I was so happy and excited to see this happen. While merely a formality, it sends a message to this Council that further public consultation was sorely lacking and the residents deserve a say. I want to thank Councillor Shawn Fraser for standing up for what is right here, as he was the lone voice voting against the approval.</div>
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<b>Further resident Questions and Answers follow:</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px;">As per the resident: The literature of candidates, including yours, is vague to the point of being irrelevant. Everyone wants “transparency”, everyone wants “lower taxes”, no one likes “traffic congestion” ..and so on. What I want to know are your specific proposals in these areas.</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;">- on relieving traffic congestion? Might you advocate free public transit ( much like the Riders will be providing) at specific times in the day and/or on specific routes. ?</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I envision more roads accessing the East End of Regina, most notably the long-planned-but-never-<wbr></wbr>executed extension of Prince of Wales Drive to Wascana Parkway, and the extension from Ross Ave to Prince of Wales Drive in the North. Our current situation is absolutely unacceptable at the best of times, but when construction hits Victoria Avenue, Arcola Avenue, or Dewdney Avenue - or worse yet two or three at the same time - accessing East Regina is a gong show. Adding these two alternate routes will help alleviate that congestion and to me, they are common sense items that should have been done long ago. In addition, adding a third lane in both directions on Arcola Avenue, along with a proper merging lane from Ring Road onto Arcola Avenue that you don't have to come to a complete stop from 100km/h. Finally, in terms of Transit, what I want to see is increased ridership, and this can only be done by providing top-notch service. Current commute times can exceed two hours on the bus, and until this is remedied, it is futile to offer any other incentives to ride the bus. I think the solutions are there, we just need a City Council that is willing to invest in a viable solution. I have committed to having "Free Ride Fridays" as well, in order to increase ridership once we have a service that we can be proud of. Ideally, this will encourage more people to try transit, and hopefully that will translate to increased ridership long term. Any revenues that might be lost on those days could be considered research costs, or they could be offset by a corporate sponsor.</span></div>
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- in terms of sustainable development, plastic shopping bags are currently not recyclable. Would you favour of banning them, as some communities have done, if they can not be made a recyclable item?</div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I strongly encourage the use of reusable shopping bags as much as one can do. To me, they are the long-term, environmentally responsible solution. With that said, I know there will always be that time you forget your bag, and then we must look at an environmentally responsible alternative. It is my understanding there are plans in the works in the recycling industry to feasibly recycle plastic bags. However, until such time, what is the alternative? An outright ban? Paper bags? I think the financial 'penalty' is one solution that many stores have implemented. I would like to see this possibly be a higher fee, which can be diverted to local recycling initiatives. That being said, I know I don't have all the answers on this, but I would look to citizens like yourself for input on what you feel is the best solution to a problem that is growing, thanks to our awareness of the environment.</span></div>
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- in regard to ”...proper planning for our urban growth....” what are your views on urban expansion in the Regina bypass area?</div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I have attended City Council and delegated on this very issue, and I feel very strongly that public consultation has been extremely poor on the Southeast Neighbourhood Plan, and I have pushed for further public consultation before it got approved. I think we need to have a comprehensive plan in place where we know where the next group of residences will be built before we allow another subdivision to be built. There is no reason we cannot have a 5, 10, or 25 year plan for this as developers should be aware of the need for proper planning, both from a community perspective, but also from an infrastructure perspective. It is really concerning to me that the City Administration had clear warnings about their concern for the inability to service the 17,500 new residences along the new Bypass, and yet City Council had no problem rubber stamping the approval. This is both irresponsible and damaging to our City as a whole.</span></div>
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- in terms of “transparency”, would you advocate that any councillor recuse him or her self in any instance where a council motion would benefit a campaign contributor of that councillor?</div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I cannot tell you how much I support this initiative. I am a strong believer in transparency, and if a Councillor is in a position that the average person would perceive them to be in a Conflict, they should recuse themselves from the vote, no questions asked. As it sits right now, the reliance is on the Councillor to determine if they are in a Conflict, and even at that, the average citizen has to file a court application to express their concerns about any potential Conflict. I want to ensure that the public are aware of all major contributors to all current City Councillors and remind them of these at every meeting. While the general public may not push the Councillors to declare a Conflict, I would think this would add a layer of guilt to those Councillors, and they would be more inclined to recuse themselves as such.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-84496333669115341142016-10-12T22:15:00.000-06:002016-10-12T22:15:05.952-06:00REGINA VOTES 2016: TRANSIT RALLY & FAIR TREATMENT FOR DAYCARES<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!</i></b></span><br />
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Another very busy, yet productive week on the go. I have organized a small Rally at City Hall on Monday, October 17, 2016 at 5:00PM in order to raise public awareness to the issues that currently face users and drivers for Regina Transit and Paratransit services. I was shocked to learn some of the situations over the past few days, but unfortunately, it does not surprise me one bit. If you can spare a few minutes on Monday, your attendance would be greatly appreciated! You can find more information on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/549883788537972/" target="_blank">Facebook Event page</a>.<br />
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Another issue that has come up in recent months is the unfair treatment of Daycare facilities in our province. Following up on some of that media coverage, and a great conversation with one of the directors, I issued the following Media Release to demonstrate my commitment to this cause.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Wednesday,
October 12, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;">DAY CARES DESERVE FAIR AND CONSISTENT TAX
TREATMENT </span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Regina,
Saskatchewan</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"> – In recent years, the City of Regina has reassessed a number
of home-based not-for-profit Day Care facilities, in order to be consistent
with other day cares operated out of commercial facilities. While this succeeds
in levelling the playing field for Day Care facilities that are operated out of
homes and commercial properties, it does nothing to address the significant
cost savings that other Day Care facilities realize by operating out of the
University of Regina or the YMCA, as they are currently exempted from paying
Property Taxes. This results in a significant cost to these home and commercial
property based Day Care facilities, even though they are providing the exact
same service to consumers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">The Day Cares have recently joined forces to lobby the Provincial
Government to introduce or amend legislation to correct this situation, but in
the meantime, these not-for-profit facilities are left with significant
operating costs that could otherwise go towards improving the level of
childcare offered at their facilities. As a group, they have called upon the
City of Regina to introduce temporary tax relief until such time the
legislation is changed to accommodate their request. Unfortunately, however,
the current City Council did what they often do, and blamed the Provincial
Government for this situation. This does nothing to address this situation, and
only further aggravates an already sensitive situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Ward 4 Regina City Council Candidate, Chad Novak, has been
committed to fair and equitable treatment for all taxpayers over the past
number of years, as evidenced by his continued delegations at City Council.
Consistent with this approach, he feels that the City of Regina owes a duty of
care to these organizations that provide a social good to all residents of
Regina, and <b><i>he is committed to pushing hard for these exemption requests if he is
successful in his bid for City Council</i></b>. “City Hall has had no problems
giving tax breaks to big businesses that simply don’t need it, or other
organizations that truly can afford it in their annual budget, but these Day
Cares are having a hard time getting City Council to listen to their reasonable
requests for a level playing field.” Novak continued, “I have long advocated
for fair and equitable treatment of all taxpayers, and this is a prime example
of where improvements can be made with minimal impact to the budget.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Once these exemptions are legislated, assuming provincial
approval, the City of Regina will be required by law to exempt all day care
facilities, so this could be considered as a voluntary expression by the City
in support of that legislation change, as well as demonstrating their support
for working parents to fully utilize the day care facilities without fear of
large cost increases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">-30-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;">For media enquiries,
please contact Chad Novak (306) 596-7685 or email </span><a href="mailto:chadnovak2012@gmail.com"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;">chadnovak2012@gmail.com</span></a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;"> .</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-22784286879383513382016-10-04T15:51:00.002-06:002016-10-04T15:51:54.359-06:00REGINA VOTES 2016: MORE Q&A FROM RESIDENTS<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!</i></b></span><br />
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Tonight is a special night for Ward 4 and Ward 5 residents, as it will be your first opportunity to meet the candidates in the same location, and grill us with the questions that you've been dying to ask us. In preparation for this evening, I thought I would share with you a (not so) brief questionnaire that Newstalk 980 CJME sent to all candidates last month that they should be publishing soon.<br />
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I also want to remind you that there is so much more to follow on my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Chad4Regina/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> that I don't get to publish on here, and it is a great opportunity for you to interact with me as well!<br />
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Why
should voters hire you?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I am passionate about improving the quality of life for all
residents of Regina. I have demonstrated my dedication to doing just that
through my continued appearances at City Hall on a number of different issues
over the past few years, and feel that should show residents that I am not just
about words, I am a man of action. Our City is a great place to call home for
some, but for others, they dread living here for a number of reasons, including
crime, gangs, unemployment, housing costs, and so much more. City Hall can do
so much to affect those issues and until we directly address them, and pretend
they are not a serious problem, we are going to have a set portion of the
population dreading living here.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Who
should we call for a reference?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Pat Fiacco - Not saying he will give me a glowing reference,
but he does know how passionate I am about this City.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What is
your greatest strength?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Obviously, my ability with numbers. I'm about far more than
a financial accountant who can tell you how much your business made last year,
though, I can also tell you what things you can improve upon, how to improve,
and lay out a detailed road map to get you there. Translating this to City
Council, I've analyzed the numbers that get reported to residents each year
through the budgetary process, and I am very confident that we have a lot of
room to make all of the changes I've included in my platform and so much more,
with absolutely no impact to residential property taxes. (Other than them going
down as in my platform)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What is
your greatest weakness?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I am a little too trusting in people that I have just met.
It caused me to falsely believe the rumour of Pat Fiacco's father-in-law back
in 2012, and I've put trust in some during the 2012 election that ended up
burning me in the end.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What
would be your priorities at city hall?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Improving the quality of life for all residents of Regina.
This includes focusing on reducing water bills, reconfiguring residential and
business property taxes, improved downtown and hospital parking, improved
transit, increased recreational opportunities and so much more!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Where do
you stand on city taxes?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I feel that residential property taxes are far too high, and
an independent report by CFIB confirms this. For every dollar that residents
pay, businesses only pay $2.12, compared to the national average of $2.83. This
needs to change. Businesses should be subsidizing residential taxes, not the
other way around. This can be done through a variety of means, including
raising business taxes, lowering residential taxes, or a combination thereof.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Where do
you stand on city debt?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Debt can be a good thing if it is managed properly, and used
for essential infrastructure items. No, the stadium was not an essential
infrastructure item. However, it is done and we can do nothing more than try to
maximize the utilization of the facility now that it's been built. Thankfully,
we have quite a bit of room to our current maximum debt limit, so if we did
need to use it, it is there. However, we do have a significant amount of
financial reserves, with nowhere to use it. As an accountant, it bothers me
that we would rather borrow money than use money we already have, since you are
going to pay for borrowed money, than the interest you would lose on reserves.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Where do
you stand on downtown development?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I think the Regina Revitalization Initiative is an amazing
opportunity and that should be the key focus of City Hall over the next four
years. The Railyard Renewal Project is an opportunity that should not be squandered,
and it needs to be done right. I don't believe any of the current alternatives
that the City has considered are the right path. I have a plan that I have
shared on my website that I feel residents would be more supportive of if they
were given the option.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Where do
you stand on downtown parking?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Downtown parking is horrendous. I can't tell you how many
times I hear of people from out of town who avoid downtown like the plague, for
fear of parking 0.1 metres too far from the curb, or outstaying their welcome
at their meter by five minutes and getting a hefty parking ticket. This is the
wrong way to encourage people to visit our downtown, and sadly, the Regina
Downtown BID doesn't quite get it. I plan to address this issue by adding
off-street parking options, including at least one major parkade, which will
take the 9-5'ers off the streets. The Cornwall Centre has a 12 month waiting
list for long-term parking, and this is completely unacceptable and well within
the City's ability to address. Once the off-street parking options are
addressed, then we need to reconsider the rates we charge and the time limits
we have in force.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Where do
you stand on roads and infrastructure?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I feel our roads and infrastructure are being horribly
neglected, and the current Council just doesn't have a realistic plan to
address this anytime soon. We have a situation where City Hall is paying $10
Million of taxpayer money on the Victoria Avenue overpass, while they missed
out on the Federal and Provincial Government's funding any of it, as they had
thought they would be able to obtain. The Provincial Government was apparently
supposed to hand that over to the City about six years ago in "as
new" condition, but apparently someone at City Hall screwed up and now it's
basically a lost cause, at least per Mayor Fougere (if you watch the City
Council video from September 26, 2016, you can confirm this). He "makes no
apologies" for doing this, however, because apparently the overpass was
now in such dire shape that it might have been risking lives to delay it any
longer. Yet, this wasn't the #1 priority item in January 2015. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At the end of the day, we need a better plan to address this
and without a City Council willing to focus on a realistic 5, 10 and 20 year
plan, this will never happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Where do
you stand on photo radar?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To me, photo radar is nothing but a cash grab. Mailing
someone a photo of an offense they allegedly committed weeks, if not months
prior, does absolutely nothing to curb that offense as it occurred. Maybe it
might deter them from speeding in that area again in the future, but we need a
system that punishes offenders as the offense is happening to have a real
impact. When you add the fact that the photo radar has had major issues with
its technology and the fact that only a portion of those offenders actually get
a ticket, it really makes one question the validity of the enforcement process.
Thankfully, touch wood, I have never been ticketed for speeding, either through
photo radar or otherwise, but even if I had, that wouldn't change my opinion on
this matter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Where do
you stand on environmental issues?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'm not really a big environmentalist by any means, but I do
believe that the City should do everything it can to minimize it's negative
impact on the environment. One such item that I supported was the
implementation of electric or hybrid vehicles into the City's fleet of
vehicles. This would have a two-fold impact, as it would require charging
stations to be placed at locations around our City which would help those that
have electric vehicles and currently do not have a great selection of charging
locations in our City. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There is absolutely no reason why we should have Parking
Enforcement officers driving to the suburbs in GMC Terrain SUV's. This is a
perfect example of what the City is currently failing miserably at.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: #E0E9E6; color: #333937; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Who
inspires you and why?</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A current person that inspires me is Senator Bernie Sanders
in the United States. I feel he is a prime example of what a politician should
be and we should all aspire to be like him. He doesn't just talk the talk, he
walks the walk. I feel the US would have been so much better off with him as a
candidate, but sadly, the two left are an example of what is wrong with the
format of the United States electoral system.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-13419410489590709902016-09-24T12:22:00.001-06:002016-09-24T12:25:01.931-06:00REGINA VOTES 2016: Q&A WITH REGINA RESIDENTS<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
<br />
I received an email from a resident recently that I wanted to share with you all. They posed a number of questions about Regina in order to determine their vote this October. I am extremely pleased to see anyone take the time to reach out to candidates, but to go to the extent this person did, I am speechless. This is the kind of attention and dedication that I feel all residents should put towards all elections, but most importantly, municipal elections, because after all, that is where you can have the most impact.<br />
<br />
I will post the questions and answers below, and then add them to my "Campaign FAQ" page for future reference as well.<br />
<br />
Thank you everyone for your continued support and attention to this election!<br />
<br />
<b>1)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>Did you support the destruction of a functioning football stadium and its replacement with a new stadium at taxpayer expense?</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I campaigned against this in 2012 when I ran for Mayor, for the simple reason that the current stadium is most certainly in decent enough shape to host the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Sir Paul McCartney as recent as 2013. It hosted the Grey Cup in that same year. While it is certainly in need of updating and repairs, I feel the City portrayed the cost of these in such a manner that made it sound like the new stadium was the cheaper alternative. With that said, the new stadium is now near completion, and while I still don't agree with the need for it, we must now find ways to make it used as effectively as possible. I only hope that the promises to redevelop the current stadium site and the railyard do not disappear suddenly.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<b>2)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>If unforeseen issues arise requiring more spending to make the new stadium functional, should the taxpayers pay, or should the Riders and their fans pay?</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">This is a good question, and as an accountant, I would want to know the full details of what would be required. If there are deficiencies that were promised with the construction, and it is within the contract, I would first want us to go back to the builders to honour their commitment. If there were things that the City didn't consider and realize now that it's either do it or the facility cannot open to the public, I would be hard pressed to simply rubber stamp it. I would want to ensure we are balancing both sides of the balance sheet, and the good thing is we do have the current facility still able to be used until such time the new facility is deemed ready for the public. I feel the Riders got a sweet deal in this entire transaction, as they actually aren't paying one red cent for this new facility. Contrary to Mayor Fougere and Fiacco's assertions, the Riders "contribution" is actually money funnelled through them from sponsors. Not one single dime comes from the Riders accumulated surplus, which I feel is a kick in the teeth to taxpayers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<b>3)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>Regina has one of the highest residential property tax rates and one of the lowest commercial to residential rate rations in Canada. Would you consider shifting the burden to commercial property?</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I am so pleased that you posed this question. This is actually one of the items that I am campaigning on. I had discovered this over the summer through some research of a report done by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. I was shocked, but not completely surprised, to learn that in Saskatchewan, businesses pay only $2.13 for every $1.00 that residents pay. Contrast that to the national average of around $3.00 and the highest near $4.00. I most certainly plan to address this situation, and it would have to be some kind of compromise of reducing residential taxes and increasing corporate taxes. I have found through my own independent research that companies in Regina pay 30% less than similar assessed properties in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<b>4)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>The Regina Chamber of Commence supported the construction of the new stadium at taxpayer exense. Would you consider shifting the burden of paying for the stadium onto commercial property?</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;">I will say this - the Regina Chamber of Commerce has been responsible for so many favours to the business community in our City. That is one of the reasons why they pay the lowest in the Country in contrast to residential taxes. I have personally expressed my frustration with the Chamber at City Hall on numerous occasions, partially because of their tendency to exaggerate statistics, such as "67% of businesses agree with so and so", when in reality they only represent 1,200 registered businesses, of which fewer than 15% typically respond to their surveys. So, in reality, it is 67% of 15% of 1,200 of how many businesses are in Regina. So, to answer your original question - I would do anything I can to ensure businesses are not being subsidized by residents and that would include the burden for the new stadium.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<b>5)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>Do you think Libraries should be closed?</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;">While I have rarely used a library since I was in school, I do see the need for them and until such time that this becomes a global trend that libraries are closing, I would want to keep libraries open. I see them becoming about more than just books as people traditionally see them. With that said, if there are valid reasons anyone can provide to me for the contrary, or to possibly reduce the locations, I am always open to listening.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<b>6)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>Do you believe recreation facilities should be closed?</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;">Absolutely not. On the contrary, in fact. This is one of my campaign platform ideas, and I feel that recreational opportunities are far too lacking in our City. We have a tremendous amount of greenspace, which is great, but not very many viable opportunities for our kids to partake in activities that don't cost much or anything at all. I want to see more skate parks opened and bmx parks (the city currently only has one of these along the grid road that is 13th Avenue by the airport), places for kids to spend their time productively, rather than resorting to situations that are less than productive like gangs or the like. Another popular item I have heard on the campaign trail (and over the past number of years) is a water park. Of course, to be most effective, this would have to be indoors. I think this is a great idea, as our current facilities really lack that "fun" factor that a water park would offer. As for the cost of it - we have a significant amount of room in our reserves and in our debt ceiling. Another viable option would be a P3 - which I don't normally support, but this is a good example of where that would probably be the preferred option.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<b>7)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span> Do you believe recreation facilities in low-income neighborhoods should be closed? (the last administration attempted to do this)</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;">10000000% no. As I said above, I feel offering recreational opportunities to kids are a great way to keep them from less appealing options, like getting involved and gangs and crime. While it may not be the ultimate solution, it is certainly a way to show them that the City appreciates them and knows they have a meaningful contribution to our City now and in the future.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<b>8)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>Do you agree that Wascana Park should be opened up for commercial development (ie: office building construction)</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;">This most recent situation with the Conexus office building, I do not agree with whatsoever. I campaigned against this over the summer, and was adamant that the City should not donate land for this purpose. If the university were using it for their own purposes, then it would be a different story. Granted, Conexus is a great community partner, and I am a proud member, I do not feel this is the appropriate use of the space. There were options available, and given our 15% vacancy rate downtown for office space, and the fact it went against the Official Community Plan and Wascana's own plans, it just seemed to be a no brainer that it shouldn't have happened. I was disappointed to see the lack of community backlash until after it was approved, but hopefully that serves as a wake up call to all residents to always be diligent with anything City Hall is capable of, regardless of how we feel they ought to decide.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<b>9)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>Would you reverse the City’s decision to allow Conexus Credit Union to build office space in Wascana Park?</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">If it is possible, absolutely, 100% I would do what I can to make that happen. Worst case, I would want to work with the partners to possibly get them to move it over to where the Conservatory is being demolished (this should never have been allowed to get to the point of no return either), so that there is minimal impact to the current greenspace and trees that make our park so beautiful.</span></div>
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<b>10)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>Do you support P3s for infra structure projects?</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u></u><u></u></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">As I said above, I don't normally support P3's in any way, whatsoever, but I do admit there are times when they can make sense. A recreational facility like a water park, which can traditionally be viewed as a commercial venture, would be a good example. A private business might have a tough go of it in Regina, but with a P3, the government and the private company can work together to ensure the community's best interests are met.</span></div>
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<b>11)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span>Do you agree that companies from out of province or out of country should be involved in Regina P3s?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">No. Personally, I would much rather see preference given to Saskatchewan companies first and foremost. I realize this may go against our free trade agreements, etc. (at least according to Brad Wall), but Saskatchewan workers should always be given first priority. If a company coming in from out of province (or out of country) can somehow do a project for cheaper than our local companies, I would have to question the validity of their bids and what are they compromising on that our local companies are not. Most importantly, as an accountant, I would want to know what specifically is affecting our local businesses that doesn't impact those from out of province or out of country. It has to be, after all, a level playing field for all.</span><span class="im" style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-46709186774640208492016-09-14T20:51:00.000-06:002016-09-14T20:51:10.535-06:00Introducing your Ward 4 City Council Candidate<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
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Well, today was a great day, both in terms of the weather, and in terms of the big announcement I was telling you all about just a couple of weeks ago. I held my campaign launch today, and I am officially running for Ward 4 in the Regina City Election 2016. I could not do this without the ongoing support and following from everyone out there, whether it be on my Facebook page, in person, on the street, or at City Hall.<br />
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Below is the Press Release that was sent to the Media, along with a copy of my door hanger that is being distributed all over Ward 4 over the next few weeks. If you want to display a lawn sign, my team has plenty to go around, and your support is always appreciated! You will also be seeing a billboard or two going up in Ward 4. I am taking this run for City Council very seriously, and I am putting a good amount of money into my campaign this go round. If you would like to support, any amount of money is appreciated, but by no means will I be soliciting funding from anyone as I do not want to have any perception of undue influence in my role as your next City Councillor.<br />
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Thank you again everyone, and as always, please remember....<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>It's Your Money. You Deserve Better!</b></i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">#VoteJOE</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANT CHAD NOVAK TO SEEK SEAT FOR REGINA CITY COUNCIL WARD 4</span></b></div>
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<b>Regina, Saskatchewan </b>- Over the past number of years, Chartered Professional Accountant, Chad A. Novak, has been advocating for individual rights at Regina City Hall on a number of different issues. Ranging from property tax breaks to water rate increases to the recent land donation in Wascana Park, Chad has stood strong towa<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">rd the overall goal of equality and fairness for all taxpayers of Regina.</span></div>
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Knowing another run for City Council was inevitable, Chad had spent much of 2016 determining which areas of the City lacked reasonable representation, and what issues mattered the most to the majority of residents of Regina. After long deliberation with friends and family, Chad has decided that running in his own area of the City, that being Ward 4, would provide him with the best opportunity to win a seat on Regina City Council. However, in a unique twist, recognizing that many areas of the City are lacking reasonable representation, and noting that many issues are similar across the City, and thus impact residents all over Regina, Chad has vowed to be available City-wide for any residents that feel they aren’t being listened to by their local City Councillor.</div>
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Some of Chad’s recent advocacy successes has been bringing attention, and meaningful action, towards the dust problems along Winnipeg Street North and Pinkie Road, the Glockenspiel in Victoria Park and raising many questions with regard to land transactions surrounding the entire Regina Bypass, but in particular Tower Road, which is within his area of Ward 4.</div>
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FRONT BACK</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-51873920759407387602016-08-26T14:10:00.000-06:002016-09-08T21:06:57.343-06:00Big News Coming Soon!<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">UPDATE: OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT SCHEDULED FOR</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016</span></b></div>
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It's coming to the end of yet another absolutely amazing summer in Regina, and what better way to end it than a celebration of all that is City Hall. What's that? You aren't as enthused about City Hall as I am? Oh, that's okay! I'll make up for your lack of enthusiasm this fall, I assure you.<br />
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Well, I've finally made it official - <b>I am running for City Council in the 2016 Regina Election</b>. I have chosen Council over Mayor for many reasons, including the fact that <i>this gives you the opportunity to see what kind of a Councillor I can be</i>, and what kind of Mayor I <i>will be</i> in the future. I plan to make an official media announcement in early September as to which Ward I am running in, and what my platform will be.<br />
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For now, I'll leave you with this little snippet that you can share far and wide.<br />
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Further to this, I want to extend my sincerest gratitude to the <a href="http://www.thestarnewspaper.ca/" target="_blank">Star Newspaper</a> out of White City for publishing my latest Letter to the Editor regarding the very questionable land transactions along Tower Road. This is further to the one they posted previously, which I will include below as well. I'll leave this for you to decide what should be done about it. I guarantee you, though, one way or another, <b><i>this will be talked about publicly this fall in the election</i></b>.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-5661028446386501212016-07-26T22:00:00.002-06:002016-07-26T22:00:34.958-06:00JULY 2016 CITY COUNCIL RECAP<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Good evening Regina!!!</i></b></span><br />
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<b>Once again,</b> it's officially on record, ladies and gentlemen, <b>the entire current Regina City Council is in favour of major commercial developments in suburban residential sprawl neighbourhoods, </b>even if they contradict the very concept plans that were designed and in place for <i><u>over a decade</u></i>. Yes, even Councillor Shawn Fraser supported this plan, who allegedly is against urban sprawl. It should be noted the developer is none other than Harvard Developments and Forster Projects, who are also behind the new commercial development just up the road along Victoria Avenue and Tower Road.<br />
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To me, this continues to demonstrate a genuine disregard for public consultation of residents of Regina, and an utter disdain for anyone who dare try to oppose a development by the all-mighty Harvard/Forster team, who many rightfully suspect "own" City Hall. The blanket approval of this without so much as a peep to the neighbouring residents in the Greens on Gardiner is a perfect example.<br />
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So, remember...<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b>This fall, you are going to have choice. </b></span></div>
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The current Council is obviously okay with allowing commercial development at any cost, with little to no public consultation. There will be alternatives this fall, who will provide you the ability to make a real change at City Hall. This change has been needed for years now, and 2016 is the perfect time to do it.<br />
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<i>Remind City Hall that they work for you, and <u>not</u> the development industry.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This fall, remember:</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">It's <i>Your</i> Money. <i>Demand</i> Better.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">#VoteJOE</span></div>
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If you weren't already aware, there was a<b> Regina City Council Meeting this Monday, July 25, 2016. </b>I had submitted <b>four </b>delegations, which I have included below for your review, and while three of them didn't go as I'd hoped, all four went as I had expected.<br />
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There was the new Business Plan and an ask for $85,500 by the Regina Plains Museum, otherwise known as the Civic Museum of Regina, and they still haven't provided any answers as to how the money was spent last year. They were provided "up to" $60,000 to reopen their doors, but never did succeed in actually reopening their doors. They have made excuses about staffing and the like, but it doesn't explain why they spent even one dime last year or this year, without having the doors open. That, I had thought, was a condition of receiving those funds.<br />
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There was further property tax exemptions for the Tartan and Highland Curling Clubs, in an effort to "level the playing field" with the Callie. Even though the Callie doesn't actually get a property tax exemption, it is an offsetting contract for rent that the City would pay to the Callie for using their facility as a clubhouse for the City-owned Golf Course. Even though their research suggested otherwise, they asked for, and administration gleefully recommended, further tax exemptions, and of course, glad-handing City Council (<i>remembering there is an election this fall and the curling community is quite large</i>) approved their request.<br />
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Finally, the controversial development at 13th and Elphinstone. To me, this is a situation where there simply was no desire by the developer to compromise their proposal, and seemed to assume that it would be a slam dunk. This is further supported by the fact that they spent around $300,000 to acquire the house next door, which they claim is old and dilapidated. They even tried to use this as justification for City Council to approve their development, almost in a guilt trip kind of fashion that your teenager would use to borrow your car. The Cathedral Community rallied together, and it was evident by the over 20 delegations last night, only 5 of which were in favour (<i>the developer, his wife, the Regina Chamber, a 40 year family friend/realtor, and a lady that seemed to be more irate that the Protect Cathedral group were "spreading lies"</i>), that the development had strong opposition by the community. I attended their open house to find out what their concerns were, and really, they weren't asking for much. Simply removing one floor of the development, which means fewer parking spots were required, and the house didn't need to be destroyed. The developer claimed this wasn't financially feasible, but couldn't provide any hard numbers to back that claim up. When asked if they had a plan B if this was denied (<i>which was the recommendation in fact</i>), they said simply, no. At the end of the day, the two parties are not that far apart, and if the developer would simply accept the concerns of the community, and work together with them, rather than the arrogant attitude of "it's my money, I can do what I want with it", then I think everyone would be a winner. I see this still a possibility. Stay tuned!<br />
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Here are the links to my delegations, and the corresponding video.<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/dy8vgq2g0rwthfg/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Discretionary%20Use%20Application%20-%20Shopping%20Centre%20Chuka%20Drive%20July%2025%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Greens on Gardiner Commercial Development</a> (PDF)<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LsyFHO39QFk/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LsyFHO39QFk?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/xevw3zpqm1k8wmx/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Regina%20Plains%20Museum%20July%2025%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Civic Museum of Regina</a> (PDF)<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hsM-vmVZLnQ/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hsM-vmVZLnQ?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/8t5bi8gmb54toh7/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Curling%20Clubs%20July%2025%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Curling Regina Tax Exemptions</a> (PDF)<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2EFDevVlud4/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2EFDevVlud4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/xfy258egl2la2gm/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Discretionary%20Use%20Application%20-%2013th%20%26%20Elphinstone%20July%2025%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">13th and Elphinstone Development</a> (PDF)<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-89408984854150341562016-07-08T20:43:00.000-06:002016-07-16T20:31:52.191-06:00PROPER PLANNING NEEDED FOR REGINA COMMUNITIES<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b>Good evening everyone,</b></span></span><br />
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As you may or may not be aware, there is a MAJOR Shopping Centre being proposed for the Greens on Gardiner. "Acre 21 Developments Inc.", a new corporation created May 30, 2016, includes Harvard Developments, Forster Projects and Deveraux Developments. It goes to City Council for final approval on July 25, 2016.<br />
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This new Shopping Centre is on 21 Acres, and is set to include, <i>at minimum</i>:</div>
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- A 38,000 sq ft Grocery Store (about the size of your local Sobey's)</div>
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- At least <u><b>eight</b></u> approx 5,000 sq ft Restaurants (Average Size Montana's)</div>
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- Two 17,000 sq ft Mixed Use Retail/Residential (Possibly Hotels)</div>
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- 17,000 sq ft Retail Store</div>
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- 15,000 sq ft Retail Store</div>
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- Two 12,000 sq ft Retail Stores</div>
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- 11,000 sq ft Retail Store</div>
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- Two 6,000 sq ft Retail Stores</div>
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- 4,000 sq ft Bank</div>
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- 3,000 sq ft Retail Store</div>
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- A future 3 Acre Gas Bar</div>
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To give you a visual, imagine the developments currently occurring on the two Superstore lots in Regina, and that's basically what they want to develop here in quiet, residential, suburban Greens on Gardiner. To be clear, I am absolutely fine with having a strip mall or two, as have always been in the original plans, and are supposed to still be happening (Google Gateway Regina). I am not fine, however, with a major shopping centre on Chuka Boulevard, <b>only two blocks away from our new school</b>, and creating a traffic nightmare in our quiet area. There is a reason why no other residential area along Arcola Avenue has a development like this. If I wanted to live in Harbour Landing, I would have built there.</div>
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Further to this, Harvard Developments and Forster Projects (<i>they are one and the same for all intents and purposes</i>) are developing the Aurora Retail Complex at Victoria Avenue and Tower Road, and is also looking to do the same kind of development listed above, in the new Towns subdivision, just north of the Greens on Gardiner. So there will be no shortage of accessible commercial development within a two minute drive, or a five minute walk of our area.</div>
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<b>I'm sure you're asking yourself - Why is this an issue? Why should you care?</b> </div>
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Well, because this opens the door to future developments of a similar nature being hammered in at the last second <b><u>City wide</u></b>. If you think this doesn't affect you because you live elsewhere in the City, you couldn't be more wrong. From the date of inception, all the way until May 2016, the 21 Acres that this development was set to be residential, or at most "mixed use". One of the many reasons I chose to locate in the Greens was because of the lack of commercial development, like the mess that is currently Harbour Landing. (Also a Harvard Development)</div>
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I want to make it perfectly clear, contrary to what these developers would lead you to believe, <b><i>there has been little to no public consultation actually conducted on this development</i></b>. The only way I ever became aware of it was through my weekly review of Agendas for City Meetings this past week. Very few people are as anal as I am when it comes to that regard, and even fewer subscribe to or even read the hard copy Leader Post, which is the only other place it was publicly advertised. In today's day and age, there are many other ways to involve the public, and at the very least, the Ward Councillor ought to have a responsibility to his constituents to inform them of a major change in developments, such as this. </div>
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So, what can you do? <b>Attend City Council on Monday, July 25, 2016 5:30PM</b>. Your mere presence speaks volumes. If you wish to speak to this issue, you must email clerks@regina.ca before 1:00PM on Thursday, July 21, 2016 with your exact speech. (<i>They won't let you veer from this speech and you are limited to five minutes</i>)</div>
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I ask you to please share this far and wide. <b><i>We must take our City back from these greedy developers</i></b>. We can't just wait for the election this fall, we must take action now.</div>
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Thank you for your time.</div>
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Sincerely,</div>
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Chad A. Novak, CPA, CMA</div>
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Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-28525943271552127292016-05-28T21:10:00.001-06:002016-05-31T15:11:22.197-06:00CITY COUNCIL TO ANSWER TO TAX HIKES<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Good evening Regina!!!</i></b></span><br />
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<b>UPDATE MAY 31, 2016:</b> Well, it's officially on record, ladies and gentlemen, <b>the entire current Regina City Council is in favour of continual property tax hikes and water rate increases</b>, even though they continue to realize multimillion dollar surpluses.<br />
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To me, this is <i><u>completely unacceptable</u></i>, as it shows a genuine disregard for the well being of all residents of Regina, and completely misses the mark when considering the ability to bear these continued increases. Surely, for the Councillors and Mayor, these increases may not seem like a big deal, but to those barely scraping by, struggling to put food on the table, or trying to scrounge enough money towards a down payment for their first home, <b><i>every single penny makes a difference</i></b>.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b>This fall, you are going to have choice. </b></span></div>
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The Status Quo is obviously okay with needless tax and water rate increases. The Alternatives will provide you the ability to make a real change at City Hall. This change has been needed for years now, and 2016 is the perfect time to do it.<br />
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<i>Remind City Hall that they work for you, <u>not</u> the other way around.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This fall, remember:</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">It's <i>Your</i> Money. <i>Demand</i> Better.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">#VoteJOE</span></div>
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If you weren't already aware, there is a<b> Regina City Council Meeting this Monday, May 30, 2016 starting at 5:30PM</b>, and <i>anyone is allowed to attend</i> - so if you have a spare couple hours or five, come on down and see the excitement first hand! But, if you aren't so daring, and you subscribe to Access Communications, you can watch in on Access7, or if you don't have that, you can always watch the online stream - even though it's not always the greatest quality, and sometimes has "technical issues".<br />
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Anyways, onto the fun stuff. I have submitted <b>three</b> delegations, which I have included below for your review, and I'm hoping it brings some of these issues to the public, and if we are lucky, we might even get some real answers out of City Council and/or Administration. But...I'm not going to hold my breath.<br />
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One of the more controversial subjects year in, year out has been the continued "need" for property tax hikes, and endless water rate hikes. As you'll see by my delegation, <b>average water bills have actually doubled in the past decade</b>. What's worse? There was never a need for any of these increases, as we currently have nearly $80 Million in the Utility Reserve, with no plan in sight to deplete that.<br />
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Speaking of reserves, did you know, any year that the City of Regina realizes a surplus (<i>actual net income is higher than budgeted</i>), it is considered a "one time" item, and is automatically sent into our ever-growing reserve accounts. Apparently, for at least the past decade, we have had a surplus every single year! That has helped <b>grow the Reserves over 500% in the past decade</b>. Meanwhile, they keep coming back to you and I, saying they need more money to operate. There is absolutely no reason this needs to have happened, and I'm hoping that we actually get some answers out of City Council on Monday on this one. Do you think it will happen?<br />
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Here are the links, ladies and gentlemen! Have a great weekend and hope to see you Monday!!<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/x0zserkeeorlllp/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%202015%20Annual%20Report%20May%2030%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">2015 Annual Report Delegation</a> (PDF)<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/5dnpkuj4m0u856m/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Unconsolidated%20Year%20End%202015%20Financial%20Report%20May%2030%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Financial Report Delegation</a> (PDF)<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/jlkqd1ctnaohf1a/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Westerra%20Discretionary%20Use%20Application%20May%2030%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Westerra Development Application Delegation</a> (PDF)<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-36245445816835621682016-05-19T15:46:00.000-06:002016-05-19T15:46:59.507-06:00City of Regina Continues to Cater to (Certain) Developers<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Good afternoon Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
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Last Wednesday, I attended the Regina Planning Commission meeting, where on the Agenda was the Westerra Subdivision, and an application to rezone a parcel of land from Major Arterial Commercial to Designated Shopping Centre. I won't get into details on what the differences between the two zonings are here, because honestly, it's irrelevant to this discussion.<br />
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<b>What is important here are the following two things:</b><br />
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1) The need for remaining consistent with our Official Community Plan<br />
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2) Who the developers are behind Westerra (<i>and Aurora on the opposite side of town</i>), and why they are being allowed to develop lands that, not even five years ago, the former owners were told the lands were "undevelopable" and "frozen" for the forseeable future (25 years+).<br />
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<b>Further on Point #1</b>, it seems that "Discretionary Use" applications come before City Hall more often than would sound reasonable to the average person, given the whole concept behind "discretionary use". If the point of this kind of rezoning was intended to be more of the rule than the exception, then why even have an Official Community Plan (OCP) in the first place? The whole point of an OCP is to lay out a framework for the next (<i>insert number here</i>) number of years. This allows developers, residents, industries, and most importantly, the City Planning Department, to have an idea on where our City will be in 25 years and how it is most likely to get there. Given that you are planning a quarter century ahead, you are always going to have one-off situations. Hence the need for "discretionary use" applications. If you review the past five years, however, you're going to see more of these on the books than almost any other type of development application. I'll leave this as is, because honestly, I don't know enough of the intricate details involved in this kind of situation, and I will put the trust in my elected officials to become learned enough to translate it into layman's terms for you and I. After all, that is what they get paid to do. I just do this out of the goodness of my heart.<br />
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<b>Onto Point #2</b>, and quite likely one of the most contentious - <i>and least publicly talked about</i> - situations facing Regina over the past few decades. And, that being the appearance of favouritism towards certain developers. Many presume, rightly or wrongly, that Harvard Developments Inc. basically runs City Hall. If you follow the trail of people leaving the City, from the Planning Department in particular, chances are you'll see them going to either DREAM Developments (formerly Dundee) or Harvard Developments. I'm sure City Hall would chalk that up to coincidence, but anyone with half a brain could connect the dots.<br />
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Speaking specific to the current development projects in the works, Westerra Regina and Aurora Retail Corp., these are two very interesting situations that most certainly deserve further investigation. Since the process to get a full investigation to happen legislatively is extremely prohibitive, hopefully enough candidates can come forward this fall to make an investigation happen that is worthy of taxpayers questions.<br />
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Both of these parcels of land were actually formerly owned by separate companies, theoretically "outsiders" when it comes to developing within the City of Regina. (<i>For those that aren't aware - outsiders are very frowned upon at City Hall, but I'll get into that another day</i>) Both of these former companies were told that, in essence, their lands were "frozen for development" and "undevelopable" (<i>See <b>Exhibit A</b></i>) for the forseeable future, presumed to be 25 years or more. Both of these companies then sold, probably unbenounced to each other, to Harvard Developments and Forster Projects Inc. Both of these parcels of land, suddenly, were then deemed "developable" and the City of Regina even went so far as to annex the East lands for the Aurora Retail Corp. (<i>Keeping in mind the lands don't <u>need</u> to be annexed to be serviced, but it certainly does help the private developer by increasing the value of the lands they can then re-sell or lease out to commercial entities</i>)<br />
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Also very important to this discussion is the timeframe of land sales to development applications. But I'm leaving that with my legal counsel to discuss to determine the best method to pursue these concerns.<br />
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I plan to speak further on these issues at the May 30, 2016 City Council Meeting, but suffice it to say for now, there are neighbour concerns that had been brought up in previous meetings that still have not been addressed adequately, and are still very much a concern. I present to you my video delegation and RPC's responses/follow up in <b>Exhibits B</b> and <b>C</b>.<br />
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<b>Exhibit A</b><br />
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<b>Exhibit B</b><br />
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<b>Exhibit C</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-14655816436055342132016-05-11T21:42:00.000-06:002016-05-11T21:42:41.987-06:00City Goes on Defensive After Glaring Inaccuracies Noted<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Hello Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
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Well, this week has been an interesting week at City Hall. Today, there was another application to change the always-evolving Westerra Developments - A joint venture brought to you by the great folks at Harvard Developments and Forster Projects. (<i>Sarcasm intended</i>) We all assume (<i>know</i>) that Harvard basically runs our great City, and I, for one, don't intend to let that continue to happen without at least a little pushback from the taxpayers. <b>It's high time we had a City Council and Administration that didn't simply bend over backwards for one or two developers</b>, and the rest be damned! Westerra is a very interesting project and I do plan to talk more about this in a future blog post.<br />
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Trust me. The wait will be worth it.<br />
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Yesterday, at the Finance and Administration Committee Meeting, there were a number of items on the Agenda, most notably for me was the 2015 Annual Report, Public Accounts and Financial Results. This is always a fun time for me, being a Chartered Professional Accountant, <i>I love numbers</i>. I love <i>analyzing</i> them. I love <i>picking them apart</i>. I don't, however, love arrogant fellow CPA members who feel they are impenetrable and not vulnerable to human error. Such was the case when I found a number of glaring errors within the 2015 Annual Report. The reason why this is so important is that if there are glaring inaccuracies in <i>any</i> part of the Report, how can you and I, the people who pay for that Report, put any trust into the reliability of the entire Report?<br />
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Simple answer - you can't.<br />
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Below is one of the most glaring inaccuracies, and no matter how much I pressed, City Administration (<i>notably departing CFO Ed Archer who spent a whopping two years here - who replaced the now fired Brent Sjoberg - I'm sensing a trend here</i>), and Finance and Administration Committee simply would not address it directly. Perhaps they will at City Council on May 30, but I'm not holding my breath.<br />
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As you can see above, when you look at the numbers from "<i>Budget 2015</i>", the four boxes add together to equal the total at the bottom. However, when you look under "<i>Actual 2015</i>" it is actually the top box that mirrors the total on the bottom, which is the other three boxes added together. Long story short, it's just wrong. Whether this was a typographical error, or someone messed up on putting the totals where they should be, in the end, this tells me <b>the report did not get the scrutiny it deserves</b>, and therefore <b>I have a hard time believing the accuracy of anything else within the report</b>.<br />
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One number that Administration better damned well have accurate is the SURPLUS. Unfortunately, there are at least three different figures found within the 2015 Annual Report. One says $9.9 Million (<i>See Exhibit A</i>), which is contained in the letter signed off by Mr. Chris Holden, our new City Manager. One says $5.1 Million (<i>See Exhibit B</i>), which is what Mr. Ed Archer insists is the actual surplus. And finally one shows a whopping $169.8 Million (<i>See Exhibit C</i>)!!! Which is it?? We'll never know, because apparently daring to ask that is akin to calling the entire City Administration liars and they simply take offense to the mere implication that they may not have the best report in the world. City Councillor Bob Hawkins took a good shot at me personally by making some pretty ignorant accusations against me that, if I were someone like Bill Boyd (google "GTH land scandal"), then I might have the audacity to take him to court for defamation.<br />
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<b>Exhibit A:</b><br />
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<b>Exhibit B:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Scb-7lMHO_Escw39wm4tY0PxSWKqDy_3_1gI51gtCzyR7IVHjgY1PQqLsWMEEkg_hiHyWD-KtKITZOSizPcXM1eMlhQmJ8NPSw4sjZXXwLMBfU_jAegwI4Ik_WlS9p2M6LJwYAUPOHY/s1600/2015+Annual+Report+Ed+Archer+Surplus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Scb-7lMHO_Escw39wm4tY0PxSWKqDy_3_1gI51gtCzyR7IVHjgY1PQqLsWMEEkg_hiHyWD-KtKITZOSizPcXM1eMlhQmJ8NPSw4sjZXXwLMBfU_jAegwI4Ik_WlS9p2M6LJwYAUPOHY/s640/2015+Annual+Report+Ed+Archer+Surplus.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Exhibit C:</b><br />
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<br />
But I digress.<br />
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Finally, this evening, here are my delegations for your viewing pleasure.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-24607993634769871142016-03-27T12:39:00.000-06:002016-03-30T21:19:27.402-06:00PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS - ARE THEY GOING TO THOSE WHO REALLY NEED THEM?<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Happy Easter Regina!!</i></b></span><br />
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This Tuesday, March 29, 2016, Regina City Council is set to vote on a number of Property Tax Exemptions, as happens every year around this time. Upon review of the proposed exemptions, there are many questions that come up every year, and this year is no different. The theme that I am looking at this year, being an election year, is the concept of providing fair and equitable treatment to all taxpayers of Regina. Are these Property Tax Exemptions going to those parties that truly need them? Are there parties out there that could really use them but aren't being offered them because they simply don't know they are eligible? Is there a better way to handle this going forward? </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">This and more to be addressed starting at 5:30PM Tuesday at City Hall! Be there or...tune into my blog for more!</span></b></div>
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Here are my delegations for that evening. I have also provided a PDF of each for you to download if you are so inclined.</div>
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<u>Boundary
Alteration – 2016 Property Tax Exemptions</u><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wdln77hj6tuqp4/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Boundary%20Alteration%20Property%20Tax%20Exemptions%20March%2029%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">PDF Available Here</a><br />
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Chad Novak,
and I am here representing the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group, which is
a grassroots organization proudly standing up for the rights of individual
taxpayers. The first item I would like to address this evening is the 2016
Property Tax Exemptions for properties that were included in the approved
November 2013 Boundary Alterations. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A common theme you’re going to hear from me this evening is
the concept of providing fair and equitable treatment of <i>all taxpayers of Regina</i>. To that extent, I feel strongly that the
overall concept of tax exemptions for properties brought into City boundaries
is fair to an extent, as it can be quite a jump in property taxes going from an
RM to a City the size of Regina. With that said, the question becomes just how
much is fair, for how long, and <b>should
it make a difference if the property owner <i>did
not want to be annexed</i> versus those that had <i>explicitly requested to be annexed</i></b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Based on my research, the general consensus is the exemption
amount and the time contained within this framework is more than fair, where
the amount and length of exemption is dependent upon the anticipated timeline
of when the affected lands may be used for City purposes rather than RM purposes.
However, there is serious concern amongst taxpayers regarding property owners
that specifically requested to be annexed versus those that were annexed
against their wishes, as well as differentiating between commercial and
residential property owners. Also, and we can’t stress this enough, the ability
to pay should be a major factor, and like is policy for other city services, it
is felt that any affected property owners should have to demonstrate that <b><i>the
additional property taxes will cause “unreasonable financial hardship”</i></b>
as a result of the annexation. And, in fact, this clause was included within
this very policy as you will see in Appendix A. We would be remiss to not
mention the fact that, according to real estate experts, the mere act of
annexation immediately increases the affected property’s value because of the
fact they are now within City jurisdiction and have access to City services. Keeping
this in mind, it is a fact that a major property owner East of Tower Road very
quickly flipped some of their affected lands to the Province for the Regina
Bypass and to the City for the Pacers Ball Park relocation for upwards of 10x
the value immediately prior to annexation. This was with absolutely no
improvement by that property owner.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Further on the concept of “<i>unreasonable financial hardship</i>”, it seems only reasonable that a
homeowner who has lived in the RM for decades should be considered moreso for
relief from the additional property tax versus, say, a giant multimillion dollar
corporation who explicitly requested to be annexed into the City for undisclosed
reasons, who ought to have anticipated and budgeted for the additional property
taxes. A reasonable person would argue that they most certainly have the <i><u>ability</u></i> to afford the higher
taxes, even before taking into account the financial benefits that is realized
because of that annexation. As you can see in Appendix B, one of these
companies, publicly traded AGT Foods on East Primrose Drive, which is amongst a
group of companies associated with Alliance Pulse Processors, Long Lake
Investment Inc. and Nutrasun Foods Ltd., is set to receive over $80,000 in
property tax exemption this year alone. When factored over the anticipated 15
year life span of this exemption, barring any further extensions, that translates
to over $1.2M in lost property taxes to the City of Regina and in turn, its
residents. For a company with annual revenues nearing two billion dollars, as
outlined in Appendix C, I would hardly consider them to have realized any “<i>unreasonable financial hardship</i>” due to
annexation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is also important to note that the aforementioned
properties were never previously included in any long-term (25 year) Official Community
Plans prior to 2013. The question that a reasonable person would have to ask is
– why then were these lands annexed and why did we not stick to the 25 year
plans as previously designed up to 2011? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Thank you for your time this evening, and I will gladly
answer any questions you may have.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>2016 Annual
Property Tax Exemptions</u><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/mskj3p9id4zjd2b/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Annual%20Property%20Tax%20Exemptions%20March%2029%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">PDF Available Here</a><br />
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Chad Novak,
and I am here representing the <b>Saskatchewan
Taxpayers Advocacy Group</b>, which is a grassroots organization proudly
standing up for the rights of individual taxpayers. I am here to address the 2016
Annual Property Tax Exemptions.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I said before, a common theme you’re going to hear from
me this evening is the concept of providing <b><i>fair and equitable treatment of
all taxpayers in Regina</i></b>. To that extent, I feel strongly that the entire
listing of annual property tax exemptions, <i>and
more specifically the policy behind it</i>, needs to have a thorough review and
a complete overhaul. A quick review of the list of properties subject to
exemption will show you what I mean. There are some sporting organizations receiving
tax exemptions, <i>where others are not</i>.
There are some cultural organizations on the list, <i>where others are not</i>. There are some non-profit organizations on
the list, <i>where others are not</i>. To
me, this suggests one of two things – either the treatment of all applicable
groups is not being applied fairly, or more likely, not all organizations that <i>may</i> be eligible for a tax exemption are <i>aware</i> that they could apply and be
granted an exemption. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Tonight, we’ve seen a prime example of this with the <b>Saskatchewan Multicultural Centre
Association</b>. Their worthwhile cultural organization has paid property taxes
for decades, and now, only when they are in financial dire straits, they have
applied for an exemption. At first Administration recommended denial, but thankfully
the Finance and Administration Committee not only saw this as a fair request,
but also recommended approval of the exemption request for at least three
years. With regards to their specific situation, I would personally like to see
the City of Regina provide a rebate to their organization for the property
taxes they’ve paid over the past 25 years, as a goodwill gesture. I am
confident that this would be a welcome financial boost to their group, and by
the taxpayers of Regina, since they unfortunately lost a significant portion of
their annual funding because of a short-sighted action by our Provincial Government.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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We desperately need a complete overhaul of our policies for
property tax exemptions, so there isn’t any further confusion by community
groups as to their qualification for such exemptions. Most importantly, <b>we need to implement a clear policy on
charitable and non-profit organizations</b>, since one does not currently exist
(See Appendix A). Further to this, we also need to implement an “ability to pay”
clause into these exemptions, because as we’ve seen in recent years, there are
organizations receiving continued property tax exemptions simply because
“that’s what they’ve received in the past” – <i>even though their financial circumstances had changed significantly
from when they first applied for the exemption</i>. One glaring recent example
of this was the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who in the 1990’s most certainly
needed a hand up from anywhere they could get it. However, in recent years,
their financial situation had significantly improved which called this
exemption into question, and rightfully, it was finally removed. The same can
be said for other organizations like the Cornwall Centre for their parkade, or
the Regina Airport Authority (RAA). What I find interesting about the RAA is,
based on the current formula (See Appendix B), when it comes time to determine
their property tax exemption, it would appear that the more financially
successful they are, the higher their property tax exemption actually is. This
seems almost counter intuitive, at least on the ability to pay premise.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>On the concept of
fair and equitable treatment of all community groups, I can’t help but question
the exemption for the Regina Trades and Skills Centre (RTSC)</b>. Granted, they
provide assistance for certain trades, similar to how Sask Polytechnic might,
but I don’t think they are an accredited educational facility. Not to take
anything away from their ability to help the construction industry, but they
are nothing more than a glorified training room at a construction company as
shown by their “Who We Are” section of their website, as shown in Appendix C. Their
organization is quite similar, in fact, to the <b>Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology Career Centre</b>, which
operates just down the street from the RTSC. As far as I’ve found through my
research, they do not receive any sort of tax exemption. My question for you
is, <i>why is this</i>, and <b><i>what
can we do to level the playing field for all groups?</i></b> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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Finally this evening, in a situation that appears to have <i>attempted</i> to level the playing field for
a particular group, let’s take a look at the Caledonian Curling Club’s tax
exemption. I note that the original reason they were granted a property tax exemption,
as shown in Appendix D, was actually to pay for a 99 year lease that the City
of Regina entered with them in exchange for the use of their facility as a
clubhouse for the Craig Golf Course - <b><i>a golf course which is no longer in
operation</i></b>, and the future of which is subject to review by your
organization. That said, I can’t help but wonder, why then are we still giving
them a tax exemption? What’s even more bizarre is that, to be “fair”, other
curling clubs in the City applied for, and continue to receive, a similar property
tax exemption. I think the taxpayers of Regina deserve to know why these clubs
receive tax exemptions when there are other groups that can barely make ends
meet year over year and could desperately use these kinds of exemptions and
financial assistance. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Thank you for your time this evening, and I will gladly
answer any questions you may have.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>Regina Property
Tax Exemption Review</u><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/x6wo5hm79dzru1c/Regina%20City%20Council%20Delegation%20-%20Regina%20Property%20Tax%20Exemptions%20March%2029%2C%202016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">PDF Available Here</a><br />
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Chad Novak,
and I am here representing the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group, which is
a grassroots organization proudly standing up for the rights of individual
taxpayers. I am here to address the Regina Property Tax Exemption Review. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Once again, I am working hard to ensure our City provides
fair and equitable treatment of all taxpayers in Regina. To that extent, I must
say that I am very pleased to see this report not only being initiated by City
Council, but also being reviewed in detail by your Administration and brought
back for a full public review. With that said, I think <b>we need to take it to the next step and develop a consistent policy to
ensure that there are minimal questions and confusion</b> behind what groups
can qualify and how they can become aware of their ability to apply.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If I am reading this correctly, according to this report,
there are a <b>total of approximately $6.5
Million in property tax exemptions from 2015</b>, with $3.7M of that being the
City’s share. Is this accurate? The question that taxpayers want answered is, <i>is this a reasonable amount?</i> To answer
that, there are many variables that would need to be looked at, but to me, the
more important question to ask is, <b>how
much of this is truly necessary, as every dollar that we exempt, we must make
up elsewhere, which is often in the form of additional property taxes to
residents</b> who are already taxed to death. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When I look at this report, the one item that really jumps
out at me is the $2.8M for the <b>Housing
Incentive Policy</b> in 2015, spread across 569 accounts. While I applaud you
for taking steps to encourage rental housing development, this number is just
outrageous and unfortunately, many of these properties are not tied to truly
“affordable” housing. I know it is your <i>hope</i>
that increasing the supply will cause the market to adjust accordingly, but <b>handing out millions of dollars in tax
incentives to an industry that is hardly “just scraping by”, to me is just a
slap in the face to the individual property owners in our great City that
desperately need truly affordable housing in our community</b>. There are so
many people that can barely scrape enough together to put food on their table,
let alone pay their property taxes or rents. I’m sure the residents of Regina
would love to have that $2.8M put towards even a fraction of their annual
property taxes being exempted, which to me would have a far more reaching
impact on our cost of living and housing supply than anything.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is also very important to note that the original intent
of the <b>Housing Incentive Policy</b> (See
Appendix A) is very commendable, which talks about encouraging development
within existing communities. What it appears has happened, though, by the reviewing
the list of affected properties, is that <b>this
is now expanded to <i>any development
anywhere in the City</i></b> (See Appendix B). This goes against the original
intent of the policy altogether, as it doesn’t do anything to encourage infill
development or reduce urban sprawl.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Further into this report, there is a specific property tax
exemption that Economic Development Regina is now apparently in charge of, and
that’s for <b>Economic Development
Incentives</b>. I understand that the authority for this tax exemption has been
delegated, but do you have a current copy of the criteria required to be met,
to get this exemption? The reason I ask is that it seems rather subjective, and
given <i><u>there is only one account taking
advantage of this incentive</u></i>, I have to wonder why more aren’t being
granted and what justifications are being used. I recall there being some sort
of complex matrix the last time I reviewed this issue, but I’m wondering if
that’s still being used.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thank you for your time this evening, and I will gladly
answer any questions you may have.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>ACTUAL PHOTOS OF PROPERTIES RECEIVING TAX EXEMPTIONS:</b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-20612984939934643562016-03-01T22:17:00.000-06:002016-03-01T22:17:54.593-06:00CITY OF REGINA NEEDS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR BYPASS<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Happy March everyone!!</i></b></span><br />
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For anyone that hasn't heard, the Regina Bypass is the province's biggest infrastructure project in history, with the P3 Contract Price being $1.88 Billion. Of that, approximately $680 Million is intended to compensate the P3 Consortium for financing and "potential" unforeseen extra costs that may come up, say if the price of asphalt skyrockets tomorrow. Although, with the price of oil plummeting lately, it's far more likely that the Consortium will get even more profits from this lucrative project than anything. Off of the backs of you and I, the Saskatchewan taxpayer. Don't worry though, at least the Saskatchewan Party isn't tacking it onto our already ballooning debt, because anything financed through a P3 doesn't get counted against the provincial debt. Sneaky, hey? (<i>Remember this come April 4, 2016 Provincial Election Day</i>)<br />
<br />
Getting to the point of this post, the City of Regina continues to act as though they are a victim in this whole project, trying to point the arrow of blame away from them, and onto the Wall Government. Most recently, this past Monday, <b>City Council allowed the Province of Saskatchewan to "bypass" six million dollars in Service Agreement Fees</b> that any other developer would have to otherwise pay. While some may argue that it's all tax dollars, in this instance, it's important to differentiate between provincial and municipal tax dollars, and the City taxpayers are getting the short end of the stick on this deal. (<i>NOTE: The City may also be heavily responsible for the controversial land transactions <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/businessmen-millions-regina-land-bill-boyd-1.3420479" target="_blank">swirling around the Bypass and GTH</a>, but that's to come in a future post</i>)<br />
<br />
The Mayor felt obligated to reiterate that it's not the City's doing to locate the Bypass where it is, along Tower Road, and thus not their fault that they had to uproot (<i>again</i>) and relocate (<i>again</i>) the Pacer's Ball Park, which was the reason for this six million dollar issue being brought up. However, <b>it seems that the Mayor forgets, and continues to forget - <i>assumably deliberately</i> - that, while he was on Council, it was actually the City of Regina that went out of it's way, even commissioning an expensive study, to have the Bypass located at Tower Road</b>. This was <i><u>against</u></i> the recommendations of the Provincial Government of the time, the surrounding RM's, the general public, and surrounding First Nations. All of those other parties said that Gravel Pit Road was where it should be located, approximately 3KM further East of where it is. But, no, the City of Regina was deadset against that, and they wanted it at Tower Road because it would service their needs better - <i>even though that's not what a Bypass is supposed to be at all</i>.<br />
<br />
Just in case the Mayor needs a reminder, here are a couple snapshots for his memory. I plan to meet with him this Friday at his Open House. I encourage you to as well, between 9AM and 11:30AM at City Hall. Just ask at the Commissionaire's desk to see him - you can't walk on to the elevators without a security badge now, because that's just how accessible our City Hall likes to be!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-65708249890641919312016-01-07T20:22:00.000-06:002016-01-07T20:22:14.010-06:00IT'S 2016 REGINA - CHANGE IS IN THE AIR.<span style="color: #990000;"><i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Happy New Year Regina!!!</span></b></i></span><br />
<br />
It's been quite a while since I've posted on this blog. I've been updating my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Chad4Regina-Taxpayers-133302693448749/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> quite a bit, but have sadly neglected this page for too long. Well, now we're officially into 2016 and that means....<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">It's time Regina.</span></b></div>
<br />
<u><i>Time to take back your City</i></u><i>!!!</i> Time to <u>demand</u> a shift in the focus at City Hall from the developers back to the great citizens. Are you tired of paying more every single year and getting less in return from
your elected officials?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Well, 2016 is officially the year of CHANGE.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CHANGE</b> your mind on what to expect out of a City Council and Mayor.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CHANGE</b> your understanding of everything you currently know about downtown parking.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CHANGE</b> your thoughts on our outdated and poorly neglected Transit system.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CHANGE</b> the concept that costs and taxes must go up simply for the sake of going up.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CHANGE</b> the flawed vision from the Regina Police that more money somehow magically means more safety.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Finally, <b>CHANGE</b> the name on that ballot box on October 26, 2016. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Vote with your heart</b></span>, <u><i>not what others tell you to</i></u>. <span style="font-size: small;">(Yes, even me.)</span></span></div>
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<span class="_58cl"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">#</span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="_58cm"><span style="color: red;">Chad4Regina</span></span> <span class="_58cl"> <span style="color: red;">#</span></span><span class="_58cm"><span style="color: red;">Vote4JOECitizen</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<i>More details to come...</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-62996046682750325682015-10-17T22:58:00.000-06:002015-10-17T23:25:50.110-06:00More Questionable Land Dealings for Massive Profits<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>PRIVATE INVESTORS TO FLIP LAND FOR TOWER ROAD BYPASS FOR MASSIVE PROFITS</b></span></div>
<br />
After extensive research, I can now say publicly, with the utmost of confidence, that LONG LAKE
INVESTMENT INC. stands to profit <u><i>significantly</i></u> by flipping over 390 Acres of land along
Tower Road for the proposed Regina Bypass. While sale prices are not yet
being made public, we have confirmed that the <b><i>minimum</i></b> sale price offered
for lands in that area is <b>$100,000 per acre</b>. <i><span style="color: #990000;"><b> </b></span></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">This would translate to a
total profit of at least $35 MILLION for the investors behind</span><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="font-size: large;"> Long Lake Investment Inc. for the full 390 Acres. </span></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="text_exposed_show">(Potentially up to $95 MILLION)</span></span><b><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></b></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
For a backgrounder, Long Lake Investment Inc. (LLI) was formed in 2011 with the apparent
express intent of acquiring large amounts of land <u><i>prior to the Bypass
route being made public</i></u>. These lands were presumably purchased knowing
full well what the plans were for the Regina Bypass and with no intent to do
absolutely anything with the lands other than hold them and sell them to
the City and Province only a few short years later.<br />
<br />
As per City
of Regina Administration (<i>See below</i>), LLI made an arrangement with the RM of
Sherwood to purchase lands at an agreed price of $12,500 per acre. In
total today, LLI owns a minimum of 390.86 Acres. Do the math, and you
will find they stand to gain nearly $35 MILLION in pure profit. And all
they had to do was purchase the lands and hold onto them for a few
years. Resulting in a 700% return on investment.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9dpfJoTxQQpBkVVpBvTgMTVCA_ooHvbwfUveWxLioiM3mjuxXsiLQLhaSFdiYgeUo45by99vp5GcScaV8p17kbwQPYz84NI249VO5Ibpc9QME0Jktu5SNnof_mwbjRs6XGNl-sDSGw8k/s1600/City+of+Regina+Land+Price.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9dpfJoTxQQpBkVVpBvTgMTVCA_ooHvbwfUveWxLioiM3mjuxXsiLQLhaSFdiYgeUo45by99vp5GcScaV8p17kbwQPYz84NI249VO5Ibpc9QME0Jktu5SNnof_mwbjRs6XGNl-sDSGw8k/s400/City+of+Regina+Land+Price.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Further to this, file the following
under the "<i>what are they thinking?</i>" category. On October 26, Regina City
Council will vote whether to allow LLI to purchase a few select pieces
of land, that are virtually worthless to any developer as they are Road
Right of Ways. At least one of these pieces of land just happen to be
smack dab in the middle of the new site for the Pacers Ball Park.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSgbNE7UEqG7TT4YQds53V3oiUCP6BSBny1G8L8702w0FD34OC7bOP1IrIGq3zvj7t3Kf2dy5etyVhFN3dLSNgqLZXZ2HZZ8P94xOufjo2q13vuntFxP1KfMLdmHJCrS67hzmXCk0f3g/s1600/City+of+Regina+Public+Notice+to+Sell+Lands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSgbNE7UEqG7TT4YQds53V3oiUCP6BSBny1G8L8702w0FD34OC7bOP1IrIGq3zvj7t3Kf2dy5etyVhFN3dLSNgqLZXZ2HZZ8P94xOufjo2q13vuntFxP1KfMLdmHJCrS67hzmXCk0f3g/s400/City+of+Regina+Public+Notice+to+Sell+Lands.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Then, LLI will immediately sell that <u><i>very same land</i></u> BACK to<span class="text_exposed_show">
the City for an "undisclosed" price. Don't worry though, <a href="http://www.leaderpost.com/pacer+park+relocation+cost+millions/11438507/story.html" target="_blank">according to Mayor Fougere</a>, the Province "should" be covering the cost of purchasing
this land (back), so it won't impact the City's finances. (<i>Apparently
that's okay because provincial tax dollars come from some magical land
and not from your back pocket as well</i>)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u>Yes, Regina, this is how bold these guys are. </u></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>They are literally
allowing a private investor to buy and sell the <u>same</u> parcel of land for
an assumably substantial profit right before your very eyes</b></i>. </span></div>
<br />
<i>Why isn't
the media reporting on this?</i> You tell me. Any other city in North
America, they would have seen this and been all over it before an
individual such as myself had to do the legwork to report on it.<i> </i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>This particular land transaction is set to go
before Regina City Council at the next <b>City Council Meeting on Monday, October 26, 2015 at 5:30PM</b>. As it is a
Public Bylaw, you can attend the meeting and address this issue without a
prepared speech. Keep in mind, however, that you are still subject to the five minute time limit
and the typical rules of decorum apply.</i> </div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
I've put together this handy dandy visual for the new Pacers Ball Park
questionable land deal. The very interesting part of this is the land in
the middle that is set to be sold to Long Lake Investment Inc. below
market value ($12,500/Acre) and without public offering on October 26,
2015. This very same land is then set to be sold BACK to the City to
allow for the new park development. The prices are TOP SECRET at the
moment, but it would be fair to assume market rate which is currently
between $100k-$250k/Acre.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEQLHmr0N5jWX0b8n5qP63DEsHDAG-juEk5jPfq1wBEuQSiKu4VSuRUXwGEqh6Fn0aIP2YBjlYiPjtvVT1ajlcQW3DhU0xQn7NfsFci_LLO05D45lTglI6L0Ju0De-PhanD37TrVJwUk/s1600/LLI+Acquisitions+October+2015+-+Pacer+Ball+Park+Relocation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEQLHmr0N5jWX0b8n5qP63DEsHDAG-juEk5jPfq1wBEuQSiKu4VSuRUXwGEqh6Fn0aIP2YBjlYiPjtvVT1ajlcQW3DhU0xQn7NfsFci_LLO05D45lTglI6L0Ju0De-PhanD37TrVJwUk/s400/LLI+Acquisitions+October+2015+-+Pacer+Ball+Park+Relocation.jpg" width="354" /></a></div>
I've noticed some on Riderfans.com are questioning the current market value, and I thought I would do them a favour and share a current listing to demonstrate lands in the area going for $250,000/Acre.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJOAutrJUX6hwAvb_B_Fu8kIbKHclxRpm7XkBGLNZp4e7NqN3iRkMUs0a2AVONrBsYYd9ftMXi_ikmgQvIM-pLGM7hP9SVR6V9kjJ38q-UWELO5x0sNZY8PrgvenJh0RJY8BnYbtityPQ/s1600/Comparable+Land+Sale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJOAutrJUX6hwAvb_B_Fu8kIbKHclxRpm7XkBGLNZp4e7NqN3iRkMUs0a2AVONrBsYYd9ftMXi_ikmgQvIM-pLGM7hP9SVR6V9kjJ38q-UWELO5x0sNZY8PrgvenJh0RJY8BnYbtityPQ/s400/Comparable+Land+Sale.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>I posted the following on my Facebook page just over a week ago, before the above information came to light. </i><br />
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>TOWER ROAD BYPASS - FOR PUBLIC SAFETY OR PRIVATE PROFIT?</b></span></div>
<br />
The
current route for the Regina bypass has been touted as the best option -
but the question is best for whom? It would appear private developers
have been pulling the strings of this project all along.<br />
<br />
What can
you do? You need to ask some very pointed questions of your
Saskatchewan Government about the TWO BILLION DOLLAR BYPASS that doesn't
even "bypass" the City!<br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<b>If this was truly about PUBLIC SAFETY:</b><br />
<i>- the overpass at Pilot Butte would have been the #1 priority and begun
long ago. Traffic lights would have been implemented years ago. This
would have prevented so many tragedies that have occurred in recent
years.<br /> - the bypass would actually BYPASS the City of Regina. Where
it is currently planned, homes and businesses will be smack next to it.
Not to mention new neighbourhoods that will only be built IF the bypass
is built along Tower Road.<br /> - the initial stage of the bypass would
be routed where it would actually take the heavy trucks off of Victoria
Avenue. The majority of heavy trucks don't even go south of Regina. The
majority are destined for the industrial area, which would not be helped
in any way by the current proposal. The logical route would have been
NORTH via the already existing Highway 46. It would also save taxpayers
about a billion dollars.</i><br />
<br />
<b>It appears the current bypass is more about PRIVATE PROFIT:</b><br />
<i>- majority of lands along Tower Road between Arcola and Victoria were
purchased in 2012 by a private investment company PRIOR to the official
route being made public. This investment company is headed by a known
ally of Mayor Fougere, Premier Wall, Prime Minister Harper and also
happens to be a current board member of a City of Regina agency.<br /> -
Harvard Developments, DREAM Developments and Forster Developments all
have neighbourhood and/or business developments in the immediate area of
the East and West legs of that bypass.</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-46624669485249896572015-09-19T12:22:00.000-06:002015-09-19T12:22:14.443-06:00REMINDER: CIVIC MUSEUM MEETING SEPTEMBER 28, 2015<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">REMINDER: CIVIC MUSEUM CITY COUNCIL MEETING</span></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, September 28, 2015 5:30PM</span></span></i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFuqGvEGVwJC8vwzrvKvdzi24jP4cnaNDbzdvJmPcQYXKAtEOFeRzyvCzPS2sJX8mJnmLAzZ7e0SM3qX6yUbF_Gf9GFZuCsvnYTBfXp0TXt8_xlMZNShAaR20cre-nj7Ne926NjEyj4s/s1600/regina-civic-museum-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFuqGvEGVwJC8vwzrvKvdzi24jP4cnaNDbzdvJmPcQYXKAtEOFeRzyvCzPS2sJX8mJnmLAzZ7e0SM3qX6yUbF_Gf9GFZuCsvnYTBfXp0TXt8_xlMZNShAaR20cre-nj7Ne926NjEyj4s/s1600/regina-civic-museum-1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Just a friendly reminder that the City Council Meeting is upcoming on Monday, September 28, 2015 at 5:30PM. On the agenda is the funding for the Civic Museum of Regina (<i>AKA Regina Plains Museum</i>). It is currently near the top of the agenda, so it should be discussed within the first hour of the meeting. <b>PLEASE do not show up late if you plan to attend.</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Remember, the more physical bodies in attendance, the stronger the message will be that this is a very important issue to citizens!</i></span></b></span></div>
<br />If you are wishing to speak to the topic (<i>i.e. delegation</i>), then you are <u>REQUIRED</u> to submit your prepared speech (<i>word for word unfortunately</i>) to City Hall <b>prior to 1:00PM on Thursday, September 24, 2015</b>. You can either drop a copy off in person to the Ambassador's desk, or email it to clerks@regina.ca. <u><i>REMINDER that you are only allowed to speak for five minutes</i></u>, so please keep this in mind when submitting your delegation. You can submit as much (<i>relevant</i>) information as you wish, but remember you will only be allowed to TALK for five minutes, and you are not allowed to divert from your submitted speech.<br /><br />You can find the Agenda by following this link: <a href="http://www.regina.ca/residents/council-committees/meeting-calendar-agenda/">http://www.regina.ca/residents/council-committees/meeting-calendar-agenda/</a> - I cannot post a direct link to the document itself, as it is a live link and thus changes often and you would receive an error.<br /><br />If you need any assistance to prepare for this meeting, please feel free to contact the City Clerk's office directly (306) 777-7262, or contact myself, and I would be more than happy to help out where I can.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-51576130448492910952015-09-09T20:54:00.000-06:002015-09-10T00:07:07.592-06:00CIVIC MUSEUM OF REGINA TENTATIVELY SET TO REOPEN!!<span style="color: #990000;"><i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Good evening Regina!!!</span></b></i></span><br />
<br />
Something that I have been posting a lot on Facebook recently, but not on my website, is the issue of the Civic Museum of Regina closing - otherwise and formerly known as the Regina Plains Museum. As you may or may not be aware, the Museum faced closure last month because they simply didn't have enough funding to keep the doors open for the rest of the year. They had asked the City on a number of occasions over the past few years for a review of their funding situation - each time getting delayed or the run around. It's obvious that the closure certainly had an impact on the City's decisions, and it raised a much needed awareness around our great City (<i>and province and country for that matter</i>) of the great resource that is the Civic Museum of Regina.<br />
<br />
I want to extend a HUGE congratulations to Rob Deglau, Scott Cheston and
the entire board at the Civic Museum of Regina, as it is obvious that
they have a great passion for Regina's Heritage and they have put a
tremendous effort into getting the museum to where it is today.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here is a video of my delegation from today: </div>
<div>
<a href="https://youtu.be/FYgVQCh-Bl4">https://youtu.be/FYgVQCh-Bl4</a></div>
<div>
<br />
Here is a great story on the situation from CBC: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/civic-museum-of-regina-gets-money-to-stay-open-and-plan-future-1.3220751" target="_blank">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/civic-museum-of-regina-gets-money-to-stay-open-and-plan-future-1.3220751 </a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.cbc.ca/1.3221369.1441826687!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/civic-museum-of-regina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.cbc.ca/1.3221369.1441826687!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/civic-museum-of-regina.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b> <i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DISCLAIMER: The reopening of the Civic Museum of Regina is tentative only, and subject to final approval by City Council on Monday, September 28, 2015. If you want to see City Hall approve this request, then be sure to be in attendance to show your support!</span></i></b></div>
<br />
If you don't follow me on Facebook (<i>why not??</i>), here is the upate I posted today. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CIVIC MUSEUM UPDATE:</b></span></div>
<br />
GREAT NEWS!!!!!! Although it still has to
be approved by City Council at the end of the month, the City has
tentatively APPROVED interim funding to enable to the Museum to reopen
it's doors ASAP. I will be meeting with the board in the next
few days to find out exactly what their plans are, but the City approved a one time
additional $60,000 grant which is exactly what they asked for many
months ago. This is in addition to the $25,000 to hire a consultant to
develop a business plan.<br />
<br />
Where do we go from here? Simple. <b>
Publicly show your support.</b> <span style="color: #990000;"><b>Call or email your councillor, the Mayor, or members
of the Museum board to tell them you fully support this motion and you
thank them for their recognition of the importance of our Civic
Heritage.</b></span> Also, buy a membership for the museum! They are only $25/yr
and a portion of it is tax deductible. Donate more than that, and it's
<i>all</i> tax deductible!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Finally, please, if you have the time,</i><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> </i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Attend City Council on Monday, September 28, 2015</b>.</span> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The meeting begins at
5:30 PM, and depending on how many items are on the agenda, it could be
a long evening. If you want to speak to this issue, you must abide by
certain rules and submit your prepared speech (<i>word for word</i>) <b>by the
Thursday prior</b>. If you aren't comfortable with public speaking, throw
your ideas my way and I would be glad to include them in my speech. Regardless of whether you plan to speak or not, your attendance would mean a lot and show that there is strong public support for the museum.<br />
<br />
In closing, I wouldn't say the coast is clear now, but I definitely can
say I've gained a lot of respect for City Council today. The hardest
part is done. Getting that extra funding to simply allow them to reopen
the doors is HUGE! <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you everyone for your attention and passion shown to this matter. Your support has not gone unnoticed.</span></b></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-4283745733922169942015-08-29T10:01:00.000-06:002015-08-30T19:51:22.212-06:00FREE PARKING FOR ALL! - CITY EMPLOYEES THAT IS<span style="color: #990000;"><i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Happy Weekend Regina!!</span></b></i></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>FREE PARKING FOR ALL! - <i>CITY EMPLOYEES THAT IS</i></b></div>
<br />
One of the major discoveries of the <a href="http://open.regina.ca/dataset/parking-study-2014" target="_blank">Downtown Parking Study</a> - and <u><i>
probably one of the prime reasons it was hidden from public view for so
long</i></u> - was that a significant contributor to the Downtown parking
nightmare is FREE parking provided to City Employees and "VIPs". It should be noted that this does <i>not</i> come as a shock to the downtown parking enforcement officers, as that was the <b>#1 complaint</b> when surveyed about the downtown parking when I ran for Mayor in 2012.<br />
<br />
While it is not discussed exactly <i>how many</i> city employees and "VIP"s get this
privilege, it does equate to <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>an annual revenue loss of $1.4 MILLION</b></span>!
This translates to 55% of downtown parking spots being occupied by City
employees or "VIP"s while you are driving around, struggling to find a
spot that you have to pay two dollars an hour for!<br />
<br />
What's worse - If you factor
in the <b>total permits issued</b>, which includes free and significantly
discounted permits, they <b>account for a whopping 91% of the 1,250 metered spots
in Regina</b>. NINETY ONE PERCENT! This means that at any given time, there may be only 9% of the metered parking spots available for you to use. Without question, this is one of the key factors
that <i>should</i> have been addressed <i>long</i> before the meter rates were
doubled. Thankfully, the consultants also agree.<br />
<br />
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: As there are currently no repercussions to these permit holders for parking longer than allowed, on average over 50% of them are overstaying their welcome compared to an average of 20% of coin parkers. Not only are they taking up valuable space that the rest of us pay for, they are staying far longer which multiplies the problem.<br />
<br />
For those that don't want to read the full document, here is a clip for your ease of reference:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrXs3WnGvgW3nG3P5wWvct27I_vpUh1NMM49rgVHBhPBveAJ3oX-qzceCLUAKdaCH19UE0qLRCCF6maIfzJZJjAj57Vu_baF8RaLX5reoC7SFIhbdTse8lFmKvElaPkala-Ry5QxaItw/s1600/2015-08-30_1942.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrXs3WnGvgW3nG3P5wWvct27I_vpUh1NMM49rgVHBhPBveAJ3oX-qzceCLUAKdaCH19UE0qLRCCF6maIfzJZJjAj57Vu_baF8RaLX5reoC7SFIhbdTse8lFmKvElaPkala-Ry5QxaItw/s1600/2015-08-30_1942.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Why, then, has the City
done nothing to address this situation?!</span></b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://p1.pichost.me/i/43/1660724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://p1.pichost.me/i/43/1660724.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>STAY TUNED FOR MORE! </b></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-31810954453049583772015-08-27T20:47:00.001-06:002015-08-27T20:47:44.791-06:00CITY HALL IGNORES CONSULTANT'S PARKING RECOMMENDATIONS<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Good evening Regina!</span></b></i></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CITY HALL IGNORES CONSULTANT'S PARKING RECOMMENDATIONS</b></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>UPDATE: It turns out <a href="http://open.regina.ca/dataset/parking-study-2014" target="_blank">this report</a> has never actually made it to City Council, let alone the public's eye. It was only because of a Freedom of Information Request by the Regina Leader Post that this report is even available for the public to now view. (As of April 2015) This is a very unfortunate situation, and one that needs to be addressed. Surprisingly, no other media outlet has touched this story yet. The City's public response to this has been that there are a lot of "administrative" tasks included in the report. If you take a read yourself, you will see this is certainly not the case.</i></div>
<br />
In recent months, the
City of Regina has become famous for it's overly strict parking enforcement, and in recent years, has made moves that has made the Downtown a parking
nightmare. It has gotten so bad, in fact, the <b>metered parking use has
dwindled by a whopping 30%</b> since the new rates went into effect.<br />
<br />
Speaking of new rates, <b><i>did you know?</i></b> Your tax dollars (<i><b>125,000 of them
in fact</b></i>) went out to a consulting company in 2013 with the sole purpose
of studying Regina's parking and making recommendations on how to make
it more palatable.<br />
<br />
Well, it turns out that someone at City Hall didn't feel this report was
worth the paper it is written on, because the City has chosen to do
things their own way anyways - $125,000 report be damned. Sadly, this isn't a
shocker, because it happens more often than we would like to believe.<br />
<br />
One of the recommendations was to increase meter rates to $2/hr. <i>But
wait - isn't that what they did?</i> Yes! However, the consultants recommended
some very key upgrades to our parking infrastructure <i><b>long before that
was to be implemented</b></i>. They recommended the new rate go into effect
sometime between 2015-2017. Only AFTER off street parking is addressed
to give more capacity for those that work or live downtown.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b> If
you think this is atrocious - just wait! In the next while, I will be
posting about more items of note that the City really ought to have done
months upon months ago. </b></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STAY TUNED!</span></b></span></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93579999414164178.post-15340082390679624542015-08-11T21:48:00.000-06:002015-08-11T21:48:01.382-06:00MISPLACED PRIORITIES: PARKING ENFORCEMENT "EDUCATION"<i><b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Hello Regina!!!</span></span></b></i><br />
<br />
After a pretty long absence from the "City Beat", I've decided it's time to start posting a little more frequently once again. There are some pretty insane things happening at the City of Regina, and election time is just around the corner. What better time to remind those on Council and the great residents of Regina what issues are important and need better attention!<br />
<br />
Briefly: Have you heard about the "oops" by the City of Regina lately? Apparently, they <i>said</i> they released "only" <a href="http://cjme.com/story/city-regina-says-partially-treated-water-very-diluted/571448" target="_blank">1,000,000 Litres</a> of "filtered" sewage into Wascana Creek, which flows into the Qu'appelle River, but they made a slight miscalculation, and it was actually <a href="http://ckom.com/story/recalculation-shows-regina-released-more-partially-filtered-sewage/573765" target="_blank">15,000,000 Litres</a>. I'm not sure about you, but that discrepancy needs to be considered more than just an oversight, and someone at the City of Regina needs to be held accountable. Will it happen? Probably not.<br />
<br />
Getting to today's big story, however, a story that has garnered much attention on Facebook through the Global and CJME posts today - <i>one which was brought to you first by yours truly on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chad4Regina-Taxpayers/133302693448749?fref=nf" target="_blank">Chad4Regina Taxpayers Facebook</a> page</i> - the City of Regina turning their attention from Parking <i>Enforcement</i> to Parking <i>Education</i>. <i>Wait....what?!</i> <i><b>What the hell is "parking education"??</b></i> My sentiments exactly. As I've said on Facebook, if you need an "education" program to explain your parking bylaws, perhaps your bylaws are too complex - <i>or even more to the point</i> - ludicrous and needless. (<i>DISCLAIMER: They are by no means reducing enforcement here, they are simply reallocating current resources to "educate" people about the City's ludicrous parking bylaws while still ticketing the hell out of anyone that dares park an inch further away from the curb than they are allowed, or have their bumper hanging past the "no parking" signs</i>)<br />
<span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.0"></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><br data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text3:0" /><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text4:0">For those that really want to know, it is the City of Regina spending your tax dollars to get
parking enforcement officers to tell you "how best" to park. For
example, if they approach you and ask how long you plan to be downtown,
and you say all day, their "education" is to suggest parking in an off
street parking lot. Apparently, citizens of Regina are assumed to be too
stupid to figure that out in their own. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text4:0">Speaking of education, perhaps they should be educating their own staff?</span></span></span></span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmfbIq3H4TG1ihFmZmTVeZe-Qwyx5fQ7LLiu__esADj4o_cPAx8EtAQWtP9wJWQ5hmNAlsTAZ9AbyAbCUgE1kiDElAckSP-Tn9kkEBNFvYizdtcO3ylnM5Wf_e_0Tu8CDefFc27lHFrTA/s1600/Parking+Enforcement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmfbIq3H4TG1ihFmZmTVeZe-Qwyx5fQ7LLiu__esADj4o_cPAx8EtAQWtP9wJWQ5hmNAlsTAZ9AbyAbCUgE1kiDElAckSP-Tn9kkEBNFvYizdtcO3ylnM5Wf_e_0Tu8CDefFc27lHFrTA/s400/Parking+Enforcement.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text4:0"> </span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text7:0" /></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text8:0">The Million Dollar Question is:</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text8:0">What is the true purpose of this alleged education strategy? </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text8:0">One can only wonder. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text8:0">Proactive planning for parking tickets perhaps?</span></span></span></span></span></span></i></div>
<br data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text11:0" /><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"></span></span></span><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text12:0">Why
is the City not investing it's time and resources and, more
importantly, <b>OUR MONEY</b>, where it would be better served? Like actually
working to provide additional off street parking locations for those
that desire it. Leaving the on street parking for those that actually
need it. You know, the customers that provide the necessary business to
keep downtown businesses thriving? </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text12:0"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">DID YOU KNOW? The City has experienced a 30% reduction in parking meter hours as per the 2014 City of Regina annual report. This means that either people are parking off street more (unlikely), simply not plugging meters (the data suggests this is not the case as parking ticket revenues have not skyrocketed), or are just avoiding the Downtown altogether. All data (straight from the City's own documents) point to the latter being the case. Surely downtown businesses have noticed this, and yet the City continutes to pretend it is not an issue!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text12:0"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"></span></span></span></span></span><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><br data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text15:0" /></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text16:0"> The
solution here has to be far simpler than the City of Regina makes it out to
be...</span></span></span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text16:0"><u><i>And the good news is that it is!</i></u></span></span></span></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class=" UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".2e.1:5:1:$comment10153815328826091_10153815514931091:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$text16:0">Come 2016, I plan to unveil a <span style="color: #990000;">revolutionary plan</span> that will allow all Regina residents, downtown visitors and downtown businesses to survive and
thrive together in harmony.</span></span></span></span></span></b></i></div>
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