More Rooming House Information

Below is the text from a document that was created as a fix/solution to the Regina Housing Crisis and Rooming Housing Debate. I like what is included in it, and hopefully the City of Regina is paying close attention to it. Enough of patting each other on the backs (read: City scratching developers backs and vice versa), it's time to get on with truly addressing this situation!

Rooming Houses in Regina

The rooming house issue in Regina is part of a much larger global phenomenon, to properly

understand its origins we need to first understand the larger context.

Regina in Context

In June 2013 Regina had the lowest unemployment rate in the country, 3.5%.¹ For the past few

years Regina has consistently had one of the ten lowest unemployment rates in the western

world.² In 2012 Regina had the second fastest economic growth in the country at 4.5%, just

behind Edmonton. We have the 4th highest per capita income $44,662 behind Calgary,

Edmonton and Ottawa.³ These realities are drawing thousands of people from all over the world

to our city.

Population Growth and Housing

Officially the population of Regina grew by 3.2%⁴ in 2012, three times the national average and

second only to Saskatoon. Unofficially, as people in the statistical field can tell you, the population

has been growing faster than official metrics.

Between 2005 and 2012 the vacancy rate dropped from about 4% to about 1%. In that same

time the average price of an existing house went from $122,184 to $301,145 an increase of

almost 250% in just 7 years.⁵

Rapid population growth driven by rising levels of prosperity has created a housing shortage.

This housing shortage will only be eliminated by either quashing prosperity or by increasing the

supply of housing. Quashing prosperity is not a politically popular option, which leaves the only

remaining option; increasing the supply of housing.

The supply of housing can be increased two ways:

1) Increase the number of dwellings. This is already being done, housing starts in the city are up

350% from 2005-2012⁶.

It will, in the short term, be difficult to further accelerate the pace of housing construction in light of the labour shortage.

2) Increase the number of people per dwelling. There is significant surplus space within Regina’s existing housing stock. The following graph shows that the number of people per dwelling has fallen by about 50% since the 1930’s; this has happened despite newer houses being significantly larger than older houses. Neighborhoods such as Hillsdale and Whitmore Park, which were constructed in the 1950’s and 60’s, were built during a time in which it was normal to have a third more people living in a house than there are today.

1 Saskatchewan Labour Force Statistics, May 2013

2 US Bureau of Labour Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics.

3 Conference Board of Canada, Metropolitan Outlook Spring 2013

4 CANSIM 0510046

5 CMHC

6 Saskatchewan Economic Review 2012

The Solution to Regina’s Housing Crisis

In the long term, the housing crisis will be solved by increasing the number of dwellings, however, in the short term, the number of people per dwelling must go up to satisfy the housing needs of the population. Failure to increase the population density will result in slower economic growth, homelessness and their associated social ills.

Increasing the number of people per household will provide many benefits, most of which are covered in the document “Transforming Regina, Planning for 2040 and Beyond”. Rooming houses are the solution to Regina’s housing shortage!

The Whitmore Park and Hillsdale Community Associations

The Whitmore Park and Hillsdale community associations have recently written a letter to the City of Regina’s administration outlining their concerns regarding manifestations of the housing shortage in their neighbourhoods.

These neighbourhoods feel the effects of the housing shortage more acutely than other neighborhoods due to their proximity to the university and its 13,113 students. ⁷ The University does not have sufficient on-campus housing to accommodate the student body. The city’s transit system is anemic due to 60 years of automobilecentric development and there are insufficient parking spots to support a large commuting population. These factors force many students to live in nearby neighbourhoods so that they can easily access the campus via active transport methods.

To combat what the community associations perceive to be the problem of “rooming houses” they have proposed a new tax be levied on all properties which provide housing for nonfamily members. The revenue this regressive tax generates is to be used to enforce new regulations and subject homeowners to invasive searches of their private homes.

The community associations propose to put an arbitrary cap of 2 “rooming units” in a dwelling. This limit would restrict the supply of rental units without regard to the actual size and capacity of the dwelling, and would render homeless anybody currently living with more than two people.

We feel this will be a disaster. The effect of new taxes and regulations on rental spaces will be to reduce the supply of rental spaces at exactly the time they are most needed.

A better solution is to encourage a larger number of people to rent out rooms in their homes, thus providing renters with a greater diversity of housing options and preventing the massive overcrowding that has appeared in a few isolated instances. By diffusing people across a larger area the concerns of the community associations will be ameliorated.

Nobody wants to live in a cramped overcrowded environment, but people are doing so because there are few alternatives available to them. Forcing people out into the street is not the solution.

7 University of Regina Fact sheet

Regina Rooming House Debate

Good morning Regina!

There are so many things that the City of Regina is battling against their own taxpayers for right now, it's hard to keep track of it all! Thankfully there are some amazing local citizens who are keeping the good fight going, and working to ensure that the appropriate actions are being taken for certain issues. This one is in regards to the ongoing Rooming House debacle.

I have copied and pasted the below from Mr. Benjamin Harack, MSc BSc BA, because it summarizes, quite well, the viewpoint of many taxpayers in Regina who are of the mindset that "Rooming Houses" should most certainly not be regulated. We have enough Bylaws in place that can easily be enforced for any of the concerns that the Community Association members are bringing up. There is absolutely no need to continue with this ridiculous bylaw that punishes those in our great community who are legitimately trying to help alleviate some of the pressure in our housing crunch. 

Here you go, and by the way, they were part of the Morph My City challenge, and have an excellent document to read up on (http://www.visionofearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Morph-My-City-Vision-of-Earth.pdf), if you have the time. I feel strongly that this should be something that the City of Regina should, at minimum, review with these fine folks to incorporate some of their thoughts into the Design Regina OCP. Here's hoping the City is listening!

Regina’s Rooming Houses debate

By Ben Harack – July 11, 2013 

Posted in: Ben Harack's Blog, Economics, Saskatchewan, Urban Planning

• 
  
• 
  
• Email

The City of Regina has recently begun consulting residents about the subject of “Rooming Houses,” which are homes in residential areas in which both the owner and renters are residing. If all renters in a home are relatives, then it is not a Rooming House.¹ The City has asked that comments on the subject be sent to urbanplanning@regina.ca by the 19th of July, 2013.

Certain community associations and residents within the city have asked that the city heavily regulate rooming houses – effectively requiring them to be businesses in order to operate. On the other side, some residents are asking for the exact opposite: the removal of the rooming houses clause from the Zoning Bylaw which is currently thwarting many people’s attempts to legally provide rooms for rent in the city.

I decided to contribute to the discussion by writing to the City. Here is what I said:

To Whom it may concern,

I would like to encourage the City to adopt “Option 1 – Eliminate the Rooming House Definition” as its response to the current discussion on Rooming Houses. I will try to briefly lay out my reasons here.

First, the complaints that are being made by community associations and some residents are, to my knowledge, entirely covered under bylaws other than the Rooming Houses clause. Noise is covered in the zoning bylaw, and disorderly conduct by neighbours is covered in the criminal code. Overuse of parking or high traffic volumes are existing problems, but they are very distinct from the legality of rooming houses. Currently, the same amount of traffic and parking can happen legally with a large family living in a home, so the opposition to rooming houses alone is really just a form of discrimination intended to exclude people who do not (or cannot) live with their direct relatives.
Second, direct regulation of rooming houses would be an incredibly bad economic move. Regina is experiencing its fastest population growth in the last thirty years, and houses are essentially being built as fast as they possibly can be. Constraining the supply of current and future rentals in the city is undesirable because it would render effectively homeless the large number of people who currently live in such arrangements and those who would have taken advantage of such arrangements in the near future. We already have a labour shortage because of the boom. A move like this would have many effects, but it would certainly drive people away from the city because the vacancy rate would drop even lower (in fact, it would be definitively negative if current rooming houses were shut down). There is a simple causal path from rooming house regulation to economic slowdowns in Regina.

Not only should we not be regulating rooming houses further, they should be explicitly legalized so that more Regina residents feel that they have the freedom to rent out parts of their own property and thus contribute to the ongoing influx of human and financial capital that is taking place during this boom. Raising the vacancy rate and spreading population densification around the city is desirable because it will take some of the pressure off of the areas that are currently seeing dramatic increases in density (including via rooming houses). In one stroke this will reduce the intensity of the problems regarding traffic, parking, noise, and overcrowding in some areas while also improving the vibrancy and economic solvency of other areas of the city which up until now have not seen significant densification. Diversified and decentralized growth of Regina’s working population in this manner could help undo some of the ‘hollowing out’ that has taken place during the last several decades, during which Regina has seen the number of residents per dwelling unit drop from about 4.5 to 2.3.

It is my recommendation that the city explicitly legalize rooming houses and at the same time embark on a determined effort to protect those aspects of the commons that Reginians clearly care about, such as traffic reduction, safety, noise, and the on-street parking near their homes. In this way, the City can strike a balance between the freedom of house owners to do what they want with their property and the desires of neighbourhoods to defend those things they cherish in their locales. Paradoxically, allowing densification throughout the city will alleviate, rather than exacerbate, the problems of intensive densification that are being voiced by some residents and community associations. Their interests are best served by the City ensuring that all of Regina remains a vibrant, civilized, and welcoming city to live in. Free-form densification, within reason, of residential Regina is a fundamental key to its long-term prosperity.

For more information on these points, and the statistics underlying them, please see the document Transforming Regina – Planning for 2040 and beyond.

Thank you for your time,
Benjamin Harack MSc BSc BA

City Clerk's Office Violating Cities Act?

Good morning Regina!!

If you haven't been following the ordeal that is happening at the City of Regina's City Clerk's Office, regarding verifying the signatures on the Wastewater Treatment Facility Petition, you've been missing out on some really interesting stuff! Stuff that, in my opinion, is clearly violating the Cities Act, and thus, certainly opens the City of Regina to even more legal action.

It came to the attention of many this week that the City of Regina City Clerk's Office (who is supposed to remain "independent") has been calling people to verify the exact information that is contained on the petition. There is so much wrong with this, I don't know where to start, but I will try.

First off, as a quick backgrounder on this situation, the City Clerk's Office first tried to apply to the Provincial Government to make the required number of signatures even higher than the already ridiculously high number (10% of population - even more than voted for Mayor Fougere). Secondly, they went through with a fine tooth comb and picked apart the petition and struck any signatures that were "incomplete", most notably those that didn't contain a "valid date". This struck a chord with many taxpayers, in that they shook their head at how ridiculous this action was. For the City Clerk, Joni Swidnicki, with the alleged consultation of the City's astute "legal team", to go out of her way and deem that ANY signature on that petition was done in any other year than 2013, is not only ridiculous, but borders incompetence, in my opinion. The WWTP P3 deal wasn't even public knowledge until February 2013, and most certainly we haven't mastered time travel yet, so therefore ANY signature on that petition that states a month and date after the first signature, should be deemed valid. Common sense. End of argument.

THEN, this week, I hear that the City Clerk's Office, Joni and Ashley, are now calling people to confirm not only that they SIGNED the petition, but that the information contained is valid, including if they are supposedly a valid voter. For anyone that is curious, you can read SS 108(3) & SS 108(4) of the Cities Act (http://www.qp.gov.sk.ca/documents/english/Statutes/Statutes/c11-1.pdf), about what I am about to talk about. If you are one of these "lucky people" that happen to be "randomly selected", please do keep record of it, as it will be valid evidence in a Court of Law very soon.

The Cities Act very clearly states in SS 108(4):

"the Clerk may use a random statistical sampling method with a 95% confidence level to determine the sufficiency of the petition INSTEAD OF VERIFYING that the requirements of SS(3) have been met with respect to each petitioner."

It is pretty obvious to me that they are using BOTH SS(3) AND SS(4) which is in clear violation of the Cities Act. Yes, it's a technicality - who knows how BIG of a technicality - but certainly one that I would expect would hold up in a court of law. If they feel that they can find a loophole to void the petition, you bet your ass I'll find a loophole to ensure the petition is VALID and their "due process" is violating the Act.

 

Section 107 is pretty clear, as well, that, by signing the petition, you are attesting that you are indeed a valid voter, and you have not signed the petition before.

I'm no lawyer, but to me, this would mean that simply the act of signing the petition should be deemed enough evidence by the Clerk's office that they meet all requirements. All they should be allowed to do - if they choose to ignore SS 108(3) - is calling to verify people actually signed the petition, or better yet, mailing them.  

ONLY IF THEY HAVE A LEGAL CONCERN should they be applying to the COURTS to challenge if a signatory is invalid. 

Also, interesting to note, I'm not sure if they've been striking signatures because an address isn't "complete" (I'm assuming they've tried this based on the other dirty tactics they've tried), but if they have, it should be noted that an address is deemed "complete" by entering the Street Address only (no City or Postal Code required that I can interpret), or alternatively a Post Office Box Address. And the corruption and unspoken scandals continue at the City of Regina City Hall.

This should be making National Headlines, but Regina's mainstream media is so good at painting a picture of "everything's fine here, move along", that it's sticking here close to home - for now.

Have a great weekend everyone!

RM Land Annexation and Conflict of Interest

Good morning Regina!!!

Well, as expected for many months (and years by many others), the evidence is now in black and white. Former Regina Mayor, Mr. Pat Fiacco, is indeed one of the interested landowners that wants to be annexed into the City. At least, that is what is 'interpreted' from the document printed in the Leader Post today, and the Sunday Post for those of us who like the environment and don't pay to hurt it by getting an oversized paper version of what we all get electronically.

Why is this important? Well, it certainly lends very well to the pending legal action against the City of Regina, and others, and will be very difficult to fight in a Court of Law. Is it just Pat Fiacco that I'm concerned with? Of course not! But, well, it certainly is the tip of the iceberg, and I really don't need to publish much more than this to shut up the detractors out there that say I'm a conspiracy theorist or whatever.

Have a great weekend everyone and make sure to hit up Wascana Park today when the sun comes out and shines down upon our great Queen City Cruise In!!

Regina Rooming Housing Debate Continues!

Good afternoon Regina!

For those that recall, back in May, there was an open house hosted by some great residents in Whitmore Park regarding the Rooming Housing fiasco. Long story short, the City of Regina tried enforcing a ridiculous and outdated bylaw that forced homeowners to either vacate their premises or evict their tenants if they were simply renting rooms to others. This caused a lot of outrage, understandably, and the need for clarification by the residents and the City of Regina. Mayor Fougere went to the media and stated that this was simply a case of "an overzealous employee" that shouldn't have sent out official letters stating the homeowners have 30 days to comply, or face up to $10,000 fine and/or time in jail. I respectfully disagree with this statement, as I find it very hard to believe that a "low level employee" would have the authority to send out such a letter without higher-up approval.

I received this email today from Adam Knutson, who asked me to publish it on my blog. As I am rarely one to say no to respectful requests, here it is, in all it's glory! For those that want to follow them on Facebook, check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/293704457430491/

(I have taken the liberty to bold items that I feel are very important to note)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am writing to you about the Rooming house situation in Regina.  The next step in the battle appears to be July 10th @ 7pm at the Knox Metropolitan Church.  This town hall style meeting is being put on by the City of Regina itself this time and they are expecting more then the 250 that showed up for the May 9th meeting that the Whitmore Park Community Association put on.

I have been passed this email and attachment from a source of mine.  The attachment details what the Whitmore Park Community Association(WPCA) expect the city to do in regards to rental and rooming houses.

I personally have a few concerns about their goals.  I personally believe that the source of all the problems here is in fact high rent.  High rent is why there are more people getting crammed into houses simply because they are trying to split the cost enough ways to make housing affordable.  The solutions that are proposed in that document will do 2 things.  Cut supply and increase costs.  I think that this will make the housing situation worse in Regina if they get their way.

1.  Licensing.  This concerns me because these licenses won't be issued for free and because they will have a cost we can expect that cost to be transferred to the tenant.
2.  Sub Point c) "R1-Residential Detached zoned areas have a limit of 2 rooming units." is a horrible recommendation.  Where does this group think that the people who are currently renting in homes with more then 2 people are going to go?  This will horribly cut supply and with our understanding of economics will put severe upward pressure on rent.
3.  Permits.  Essentially between the hassle of licensing and permits I expect a reduction in the supply of rentals.  We both know what that will do to price.
4.  No daily or weekly rentals allowed.  This is contentious to me because I had some pipeliners rent from me before and they wanted weekly rentals because they might be told Friday they would be based in Regina for 3 months and on Monday get told to move to another city.  It was just the nature of their line of work.  It worked out that they did stay at my place for more then 2 months every time they were in town.
5.  The call for city staff to monitor local web-sites that list rooming units to heighten compliance with the related bylaws.  Basically calling for an expensive surveillance state.  This will cost taxpayers and ultimately the tenants paying for the licensing and enforcement a lot of money.  Rent price would be forced up.
6.  They claim "...and likely increase the number of accommodation choices for roomers."  I think I have clearly laid out how and why they are going to increase costs and cut supply with these tactics.

I hope for two things from contacting you.  First that you can provide me some feedback on my views and secondly I'd like to see a lot of people who are struggling with rent come out to the meeting and let this group know that they are wrong and that they can't take another rent hike.  I take it you have some contacts who would be interested in this information and meeting.  The meeting information is as follows:

Knox Metropolitan Church
July 10th, 2013 @ 7pm.
City of Regina Public consultation meeting.

Adam Knutson,
Embattled Rooming House Operator


-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Community expectations - Hillsdale and Whitmore Park
Date:	Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:43:20 -0500
From:	Brian and Kathy Black <hobbes.dog@hotmail.com>
To:	wpca.treasurer@sasktel.net <wpca.treasurer@sasktel.net>, secretary@whitmorepark.ca <secretary@whitmorepark.ca>
CC:	terry.madole@gmail.com <terry.madole@gmail.com>, Luc Lemoine <lemoine@sasktel.net>, jjking@accesscomm.ca <jjking@accesscomm.ca>, jeffrey.king@aonhewitt.com <jeffrey.king@aonhewitt.com>

I have sent you the community expectation report that was provided to the City managers at our Tuesday morning, June 11, 2013 meeting outlining what we, as representatives for our 2 communities, suggest is a plan of action that our communities expect them to propose as part of the solution for rooming house and other room rentals to our City Council.  The City Managers were very receptive to our proposals and this was also endorsed by our Councillor Barbara Young who was at the WPCA meeting last evening and had talked to them later on.

Terry Madole, Luc Lemoine and Jeffrey King from Whitmore Park have been part of this plan and it was stated at last night's WPCA meeting that this report should be included with the minutes of the meeting.

The City intends to have another community meeting so that city residents will have an opportunity to listen to their proposals that they will include in their submission to City Council on July 29, 2013 regarding the options to control rooming houses and other rental properties in Regina. The meeting will have to be arranged in a larger venue than last time to accommodate the expected larger audience than our May 9 meeting at St. Martins. I would suggest watching the City Page portion of the Leader-Post for the meeting date announcement.

Brian Black

WWTP Petition - Red Herring?

Good morning Regina!

I had a very long, interesting discussion with Rob Court yesterday, at the Design Regina information session, regarding the Wastewater Treatment Plant. At the time, I wasn't aware of exactly who he was, or what role he played, but now that I've had some time to digest what he told me in person, and reviewed online, there are some very serious issues that I have with what he has told me in person, and what is in previous media reports. Mr. Court is a Senior Engineer at the City of Regina, and has been working on the WWTP for some time now. He has been with the City of Regina for two years, and ten years with the City of Saskatoon prior to that.

This article, in particular, is where I have a major concern. While the WWTP Petitioners are focused on the P3 aspect of things, and kudos to them for doing that, the reality is that, according to my research, I still stand behind my statement that we DO NOT require a $230M+ new facility. Why am I being so bold to say that? Well, read the article, "There's Something In the Water" http://www2.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=d26d7034-e91a-45e9-9e37-f350678d42a4. In particular, according to Rob Court himself, we "meet and exceed our permit to operate". I've been saying this for over a year now. The major focus for the City of Regina, that Mr. Court suggested to me in person, is that of Nitrogen, Ammonia and Phosphate being released into Wascana Creek. The question becomes: Is a BRAND NEW FACILITY really necessary to address these relatively minor issues (when you compare it to the overall situation)? Consider that the current facility itself is anywhere between 30 and 50 years old, depending on which part you look at. Consider even further that a majority of the plant has even been upgraded over the years, and in the early 21st Century, Regina's water treatment was, in fact, considered to be one of THE BEST in Canada. Has it really deteriorated that much in 10 years? And, if so, WHY?

We've been told, over and over and over again, that we aren't meeting new Provincial and/or Federal Regulations to be implemented by 2016. HOWEVER, no one from the City is willing to publicly release the specifics on the contaminants that we currently release into Wascana Creek, nor are they willing to release the specifics on what these alleged new regulations require. The article briefly touches on World Health Organization standards, but this is far from any Provincial or Federal Regulated Guidelines. "Part one of the study found very high ammonia and phosphate concentrations, both of which exceeded guidelines." <-- What isn't clear with this statement is WHICH guidelines are they referring to? The WHO, Provincial, or Federal?

This is about as close to a public statement that we can get so far - from the article:
"The province has sort of set some mandates with respect to the City of Regina treatment facility by the end of 2016," he said. "So we're aiming to basically upgrade our treatment plant in line with those new coming provincial regulations. As a city, we are committed to ensuring that we're maintaining our regulatory compliance." <--- In this quote, it would be suggested that these new guidelines are provincial, but when pressured, the City of Regina has sent information that doesn't support this. In fact, some on Twitter have referred to the Federal Regulations, which again, we meet and exceed.

In the end, while the WWTP P3 Petition is a great thing for democracy, I feel VERY strongly that we all need to get educated on the realities of this situation. And, that is listening to what both sides are feeding you, but take what they tell you with a grain of salt. Know that both sides will feed you bullshit, and good information. The key is to sift through and figure out which is which. Most importantly, something that I stress to the Regina Media every single day - ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS. If something doesn't sound quite right, chances are they aren't. Keep probing until you get answers that satisfy your request. The City is unwilling to publicly share the Risk Matrix for this project, for example, saying that it would compromise Privacy concerns, which would actually demonstrate just how big of an issue, say the Ammonia is, and how big an issue, say our current plant is meeting guidelines. The question then becomes - WHY won't they release this information? I do not buy into the "privacy" argument. These are OUR tax dollars. We DEMAND to know how they are to be spent.

There are too many unanswered questions, and unfortunately, this is all too common with the City of Regina in recent years.

We NEED to demand better accountability and transparency BEFORE this gets put to a vote.

PLEASE do your part and DEMAND it from your City Council and your City Hall. 

Have a great day everyone!

"Democracy Be Damned!" [sic] - Mayor Michael Fougere

Good morning Regina!!!

What a beautiful start to the weekend. What was looking to be a rain-filled weekend, is now turning out to be sun-filled, at least for this morning so far. This is God shining down on us all, saying that he is watching over us and taking care of us, and allowing us all to get our great City back from the greedy hands of developers and construction related parties.

For those of you who haven't heard the news by now, this past week has been - eventful - to say the least. It began with news that the Water Watch group was nearing it's expected goal of just over 19,000 signatures in order to force a referendum on this very controversial project. Keep in mind, that is almost as many votes as ANY current City Councillor or even the MAYOR received in the 2012 Civic Election. Then, the City of Regina ramps up their continued propaganda campaign to try to convince the general public that the P3 project is "the way to go", no ifs ands or buts about it. What many people, thankfully, are realizing is that, no matter how good something is, there will always be risks involved. We have yet to hear any of those risks identified from the City of Regina. All they continue to do is push, push, push needless propaganda, bordering on outright lies, in order to push their agenda forward. Then, there was an announcement on Thursday that the Water Watch group is very much nearing their goal, and with over a week to go, it was pretty evident they were going to meet and exceed that requirement.

Then...Friday. Friday. What can I say about Friday. Anyone that is familiar with politics, you will know that when you want your news to be pretty much ignored and more of "filler", you publish your story on Friday. Well, I think City Hall needs a refresher on this, because they went to the extent of making a "major" announcement about the Federal Government pitching in "up to" $58.5 Million for the WWTP upgrade project, as long as it's a P3 project. (http://cjme.com/story/update-regina-city-hall-seeks-raise-petition-requirement-water-facility-issue/115003) <----BTW, I LOVE how the headline is certainly NOT the one that the City of Regina was hoping for. MANY KUDOS to Rawlco for doing this. 

One would wonder, why would you do such a "major" announcement on a Friday, given the known risks involved with making ANY announcements on Friday, when it's typically going to be ignored by the majority of the intended audience. Well, this is where things get even more suspect, and certainly add more fuel to the fire that is the pending Legal Action against the City of Regina, and many, many other related parties for the Criminal Code violation of Municipal Corruption. Apparently, on Thursday, City Clerk Joni Swidnicki, whom I had the utmost of respect for - emphasize "had" - sent an email to the Water Watch group telling them that she had submitted a letter to the Provincial Government requesting them to change the number of required signatures for a Petition to be based on the population according to the Health records, and not the Census data, as is already clearly written in the Cities Act.

While this, apparently, is an allowable request, it is pure filth, and filled with nothing but the worst of intentions, in my opinion. Not only do the Health records indicate those within the "Regina Qu'appelle Health REGION", but it also unfairly adds another 1,400 required signatures to the petition requirement, which is less than a week from it's deadline. This, to me, is nothing more but a giant slap in the face of Democracy. And, what's worse? Mayor Fougere is playing ignorant on this subject, claiming that he "wasn't aware" of that letter, but if it were indeed sent, then "it's just for clarification as to the actual number required". To this I have to quote Seth and Amy from Saturday Night Live and say - REALLY?!?!? For a "seasoned" politician, Mayor Michael Fougere is probably one of the worst under pressure that I have ever been witness to. At least the former Mayor would (allegedly) tell them where to go and threaten them with their jobs if they dare call him out.

So, in the end, this week has been quite the eventful week. Thankfully adding even more to the pending Legal Action, and the impending need to call for the resignation of quite a number of senior officials at the City of Regina. They have had plenty of opportunity to come clean, and avoid legal action for months, if not years now, and they continue to deflect, thinking that they are untouchable, and no one is going to bother to attempt to bring them and their castle down. Thankfully, that is soon to happen, either forcibly through the Criminal Code enforcement, or voluntarily, through their tendered resignations.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Why Don't I Accuse the RM of Sherwood of Conflict of Interest?

Good morning Regina!!

I've been asked this a few times already, by parties that have a genuine concern for why I am going after the City of Regina and related parties for Conflict of Interest, and not the RM of Sherwood, specifically the RM's Reeve, Kevin Eberle. Well, CJME printed an article this morning that pretty well sums up why I don't feel there has been any malintent by the RM or the Reeve. Yes, he has lands, it's pretty out in the open there. Yes, he stands to make some money from this development. But, as outlined in the article itself, he actually has a home on these lands, his family homestead, and they continue to farm it to this day. If that doesn't tell you that he didn't just buy this land to make money one day, I don't know what else will. This is in direct contrast to certain parties that stand to eventually profit (substantially) from the annexation of their lands from the RM to the City of Regina, who have never held the lands for any true personal reason, other than that of land speculation. There is nothing wrong with land speculation in a regular circumstance, but as will be outlined in the Court Documents, it's the intent that is key in the City of Regina and related parties' situation.

Quotes to note from the Article:
"I'm not interested in having a process that a lot of people have spent a lot of time trying to work forward to have this all derailed just because an unsolicited offer came to us," he stressed.

Eberle explains that 469 acres of the 736 acre space laid out to house the development currently belong to him and his wife. Initially they rejected the idea of selling their land, he claims, uncomfortable with the idea of selling off the only home his children have ever known.

"It's where I live. We're quite comfortable where we are," he said.

Since the original pitch was made, however, the company adjusted it's footprint to exclude the Eberle's home quarter. Since the family still has land to farm north of Regina they decided to agree to contract out the land. Eberle says the project is just too important to the area, partially because developer Great Prairie is including a fully self-sustaining sewage treatment plant and water system in the plans. He feels the ability it will give the RM to service other developments in the region will help advance the council's desires to open up to development.

"We've been struggling to try and bring land use change into the RM for a very long time. This dates back to 2000, 2001."

Eberle is referring to the history of discussions around putting an Official Community Plan in place and the years of disagreements the RM and the City of Regina have had over regional development planning. He says he takes the possible perceptions of impropriety so seriously he's actually recused himself from any discussions having to do with the OCP as well. The document, which lays out the council's vision of long-term future growth, has gotten a lot of attention the last two weeks because it conflicts with the recently-revealed plans of Regina's council to annex large tracts of lands the mayor insists will be needed to grow the city in the future.

"I don't want this to harm the reputation of the RM or the council in any way, shape, or form so I've completely recused myself."

http://www.cjme.com/story/sherwood-reeve-denies-conflict-interest-plans/112945?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

The Regina Housing Crisis - All Talk VS All Action - You Decide

Good morning Regina!!!

Another glorious weekend ahead of us here, with the perfect temperatures of a balmy 70F, which in my eyes, is better than any of the 90s (sounds better when you use the Imperical system), because you don't have to worry about wasting energy of A/C and/or fans, and can truly enjoy all that Mother Nature has to offer.

Something that has been an issue for me for some time now, basically since I opened my eyes and started listening to those actually affected by the housing crisis in the most visible ways, has been that of homelessness. Whether we choose to believe it or not, it is a serious issue in Regina, and we need to do something NOW to address this known problem, before it gets even worse. Step 1 is to open our eyes, and the City of Regina seems to want to do everything in their power to downplay the seriousness of this situation, in an apparent attempt to make the problem even worse, which in the end, helps their developer friends literally profit off of others' pains. I met one tremendous Social Activist over the last year and a half, that being Stella Rogers. Anyone that knew her, knew that she always, always had her heart in the right place. She had faced the severity of homelessness in a number of ways, and had experienced it in several cities. She had lived in Regina for some time, and I actually had the pleasure of meeting this fine lady during the Occupy Regina movement. Sadly, she had since relocated back to Vancouver, and recently passed on to the Heavenly Father.

For anyone that had been following that movement, you would be aware that I did not like the idea of what Occupy Regina was doing, that being what I saw only as what the media portrayed, and that being deliberately breaking bylaws to prove some apparent point. My eyes were closed to the realities of the situation here in Regina, and as such, I actually sided with the City of Regina saying that these people should be obeying by bylaws to demonstrate whatever message they wanted to get across. After having the courage to attend ONE of their meetings, after several invitiations to do just that, I must say I was blown away. These people were not the bums that the media made them look to be, they weren't the "get a job" crowd that some in our community only saw them as. They were real, living, breathing human beings, who had the courage to bring about an awareness campaign, and in that regard, the point of breaking the bylaws was that of civil disobedience. Since that day, I have never been the same. That was the inspiration for my Mayoral Campaign, and also for my steadfast approach at standing up against the ridiculous rule of our current City Council and their alleged decorum, which is unique to Regina in all of Canada.

Fast forward to the Mayor's "Housing Summit" and the RM's recent announcement for (in my opinion) a TRUE attempt at working towards a solution of this ever growing problem in our community. The Prairie Dog wrote up a very well written article, http://www.prairiedogmag.com/2013-05-30/lets-not-think-big/#comment-106493, and it addresses the issue directly. Without some great community activists like Stella Rogers, Patrick Smythe, or Dr. Marc Spooner, to name but a few, this issue would continue to be on the back burner, and Mayor Fougere would continue to pretend it's not a real issue, and continue to say it's not his problem. (Oh wait, I guess that last point is still true - he still uses that as a fall back excuse)

This article brings the crux of the problem right into the forefront. We need to change out approach and our attitude in this City and Province in order to truly affect change. We need to first recognize that we have a housing crisis, a serious one at that, AND we have a homelessness crisis, a VERY serious one at that. What's the way to bring this to the forefront? Tent cities? (Like Occupy Regina attempted to do?) Unfortunately, I think that seems to be the ONLY THING that the City of Regina will listen to, which applies severe PUBLIC PRESSURE.

It's sad that the City of Regina won't listen to the people who are actually facing the problem, and instead continue to cater to the developers who make billions off these exact problems, and actually profit by making these problems worse. Something needs to change Regina, and it's our attitudes. If the City of Regina doesn't want to recognize this is a serious problem, and the Council continues to pretend that they are actually DOING something to fix it, we the citizens are forced to take drastic actions, like the one I am doing, that being taking legal action against the City and other related parties.

Did I WANT to have it come to this point? Of course not! Did I do everything I've done over the past year and a half, specifically with the intent to sue the City? Of course not. BUT, after banging your head against the wall over and over again, there comes a time that you begin to realize that the only way to get through that brick wall is with a (metaphorical) sledgehammer. The lawsuit IS that (metaphorical) sledgehammer.

Stay tuned Regina - the City has until Saturday, June 8, 2013 to respond to my Notice of Civil Action.  

Will they implement the actions I demand of them? 

Time will only tell.

Notable Quote from the above article:
"You have an opportunity here in Regina and in Saskatchewan to get at this and fix it while it’s a million dollar problem before it’s a billion dollar problem”

My Two Cents:
I think there’s only one statement that needs to be made here. The City of Regina is all talk. This has been proven. The RM of Sherwood: Seem to want to walk the walk. As demonstrated by their MEGA PROJECT announcement this week. You can’t get a better real-world example of a situation where talk means nothing without action. I heard very little need for BS talk from the RM, and pretty much all action. I guess we will see who actually cares to address the affordable housing situation in Regina. So far, RM of Sherwood: 1 City of Regina: 0 (Hell the RM, in my opinion, deserves bonus points for not spending months upon months promising something and delivering nothing – like a certain other former mayoral candidate, now mayor)