KANATA NORTH NEWS Marianne Wilkinson Councillor, Kanata North Best wishes to all for a festive and safe

Christmas season
My best wishes to all for this Christmas and holiday season. Please drive responsibly, considering the weather conditions, enjoy the festivities and stay safe. I will be spending some time with family over Christmas but will be reviewing emails. If you need a City service, call 311 and your issue will be sent to the appropriate staff. Enjoy being with your family at this time and refresh yourself for the start of the New Year.

City budget tabled

The draft budget for 2010 has been tabled until late January to provide time to consult with residents. The budget as presented will result in a 3.9 per cent increase in property taxes. This was achieved by cutting some services such as roadside maintenance, park and ride maintenance and reducing/eliminating some bus routes, as well as borrowing funds for maintaining our infrastructure rather than the pay-as-you-go we had agreed to follow. Copies of the budget can be reviewed online or at a public library or client service centre. I would appreciate hearing from you on your view of the budget and any recommendations you would like to make. The four west end Councillors (Wilkinson, Feltmate, Qadri and El-Chantiry) are holding two consultation sessions in January on the 9th from 2-4 p.m. at the Mlacak Centre and the 12th from 6-9 p.m. at Holy Trinity High School. City staff will be available to answer questions and as councillors, we will be listening to your input. Council will sit as a Committee of the Whole starting on January 25th when individuals and groups can make five minute presentations on any aspect of the budget. Later in the week, council will debate it. I would like to reinstate som;e of the cuts, such as taking all funding from Crime Prevention Ottawa and all funding for new school crossing guards, but to do so requires finding more savings or cuts. Ill be looking for these and would appreciate your suggestions as well.

BRT vs LRT
There has been much discussion lately about continuing to move to install a light rail system (LRT) versus continuing with an all bus system (BRT). City staff have done a preliminary analysis of the two options which clearly shows the LRT is more economical overall and provides a much higher capacity. For example:

tunnel costs, with the approved alignment, are estimated at $735 million for LRT and $780 million for BRT. Although council approved an LRT system with BRT in outlying communities in 2008, I have asked for a more detailed evaluation of Mr. Haydons proposal and this will be provided before we vote to move forward on the LRT plan. I look forward to receiving this and discussing it with Andy. Much of Andys plan is based on capacity in Bogota. It should be noted that in Bogota, buses are crammed with double the number of people that would be permitted on an OC Transpo bus. That impacts on his operating costs. To change now would require reconsideration by council since a decision to use LRT has already been made, and that means a positive vote from 75 per cent of council. Moving forward requires a lot of funding but this is in line with what federal and provincial governments have been providing in other cities. We will not start without a funding commitment from the province and feds so we may be working with BRT for some time. I was on the Transit Commission with Andy when we started to build the transitway and it was designed and built to accommodate light rail as we felt that eventually that should be the mode. Andy also supported light rail during his election bid in 2006 and there will be ample opportunity to debate this further during the 2010 election campaign.

Coming events
Jan. 9, 2-4 p.m., Budget Meeting, Mlacak Centre, 2500 Campeau Jan. 12, 6-9 p.m., Budget Meeting, Holy Trinity, 180 Katimavik

Serving the residents and businesses in Kanata North

To receive the Kanata North Newsletter, to deal with a concern or make a suggestion contact me at 613-580-2474, email Marianne.Wilkinson@ottawa.ca or through www.mariannewilkinson.com.