Why vote for Karolyne? Q & A

1. What experience do you bring with you as a candidate that is relevant to running a city like Guelph?

I have a Master's degree in conservation biology, which means that I share the City's environmental values. 

I have ten years of experience working in government. When I finished my graduate studies I started working with the federal government and discovered a keen interest in policy and politics. As a biologist with the province, I dealt with the legislative framework within which municipalities operate on a daily basis. The Planning Act is of key importance in municipal affairs, for example, governing the identification of Natural Heritage Systems, Significant Woodlands and Significant Valleylands. 

Thanks to my work experience, I have the necessary knowledge to analyze planning and zoning issues faced by the City in a smart and informed manner, with environmental considerations top of mind. 

As for my personal aptitudes, I'm proud of my openness to divergent opinions, and my ability to negotiate win-win situations. I'm not afraid to ask questions, and refuse to see any situation as black and white. Life is complex, and I enjoy the challenge of developing balanced policies. I look forward to applying this quality of mine in municipal decision-making. 

2. Do you have experience managing finances?

As a program coordinator with Fisheries and Oceans Canada for over 5 years, I worked with colleagues to manage an $18M dollar budget for the federal species at risk program. 

Similarly, managing the City budget is a team effort, and regardless of budget size, fiscal management principles remain the same: with a finite amount of money and dollar requests exceeding what is available, priorities have to be negotiated and decided upon. 

At the end of the day though, I still say that the most valuable financial experience I have is from managing my own household budget. I know the difference between good debt (owning capital assets via a mortgage) and bad debt (e.g. paying high credit card interest rates), and I am proud to be "bad debt"- free. I save first, anticipating future uncertainties. 

In that respect, Council's 2010 budget should have decreased its spending in anticipation of a likely revenue shortfall; everyone knew about the financial crisis we had been grappling with since 2008. Yet a budget shortfall is happening again this year, so Council is clearly not planning adequately for unforeseen expenditures. In contrast, I commit to managing the City's budget in the same manner I manage my own.

3. What is your tourism vision for the city?

Agro-tourism. It's a fresh, hugely popular emerging form of tourism, and it's perfect for Guelph. Our farmer's market is already a great draw, and I want to build on our Local Food Fest to promote Guelph as a prime culinary destination.  We have restaurants serving locally grown, organic foods, a University renowned for its agri-food research, and farms close by for tourists to visit. I want Guelph to have boutique hotels in the downtown which will result in increased foot traffic, to the benefit of all other businesses and shops located nearby. Let's promote our "produits du terroir": our unique, locally produced, delectable foods.   

4. As a resident and small business in Ward 1, specifically downtown, I have a few questions regarding your stance on a few downtown matters. 

i) What is your position on the round-a-bout or ring road where St. Georges Square is? 

I have not yet formed a final position on the proposal to have a central square, though at this point I have serious reservations: residents are clearly telling me that they feel there is too much money being spent on the downtown, and those residents I have talked to that have an opinion on it are against it. If I am elected I intend to have meaningful consultation with the downtown businesses to hear their perspectives, as ultimately I want our downtown businesses to thrive. If it's not going to increase the vibrancy of the downtown, I won't support it.

ii) Do you have any initiatives that would increase traffic to our local downtown businesses?

The way to increase traffic is to increase foot traffic by residents that have disposable income in particular. To achieve this, we have to further diversify the demographics of the residents that visit the downtown, i.e. make it attractive to working adults and retirees, so that they don't feel as though the downtown belongs just to students. Restaurant and bar patios are great for that (the Byward Market in Ottawa is full of life thanks to those). Events, such as Art on the Street, are another great way to increase foot traffic. Lack of parking is another obstacle I have heard from residents, so I support the city's initiative in looking at various options to address this issue. Again, I look forward to consulting with downtown businesses to hear your ideas on what the city could do to increase downtown vitality.

5. Trees
The following questions were submitted in a questionnaire form by Guelph Urban Forest Friends (GUFF)

i) GUFF is very happy that our new Forestry Manager is hired and running his department. But, the department does not have the full complement of staff. Our forest is both growing and aging at a greater pace, placing more demands on the department. Will you support full funding for the Urban Forest Management Plan and the Arborist Crew in the next budget cycle? Why or why not.

I too am very pleased that Guelph now has a Forestry Manager; as a conservation biologist, I don’t need convincing about the importance of sound urban tree management. I do not think it would be responsible on my part to support full funding of the Plan in one budget cycle in isolation of the overall 2015 City budget, but I do support incremental funding of the priorities I outline below over the next four years.

ii) Shade is important for reducing the heat island effect and for reducing the risk of skin cancer. Will you support and advocate for establishing a shade policy which would set goals for shade coverage along streets/sidewalks, in parking lots and in parks? Why or why not.

Absolutely. Most of the play structures in the City’s East End parks, for example, have no shade at all (Severn Drive Park is a prime example): children—and the parents watching them—are baking in full sun. This needs to be remedied, both from an environmental and a human health perspective. In fact, I think our City shade policy should go beyond establishing goals for streets, parking lots and parks, and include minimum requirements for tree cover of new residential, commercial and institutional development to achieve the City's tree coverage goal. Hedgerows with mature trees are consistently deemed expendable and removed in the course of development, yet they provide shade, contribute to canopy cover, and most importantly provide essential linkages between habitats.

iii) There is currently no recognition or protection of trees that are exceptionally large, old or have a significant history in the City. Will you support and advocate designating and protecting Heritage Trees? Why or why not.

Solitary trees or trees in parks are often given less value than a forest or woodlot. I agree that heritage trees ought to be protected as part of our cultural heritage, and I support the development of cultural heritage criteria against which we should evaluate large, old or historically significant trees that are under threat of removal or damage. It has been done in other cities so there are models that we can learn from to develop our own. If elected I will propose expanding the city's heritage planning mandate to specifically include heritage trees, and work with city staff on how to best integrate natural heritage planning with that of cultural heritage.

iv) The City has begun an inventory of trees in our urban forest (species, size, health, etc.), but trees are not given value as “assets” or “green infrastructure.” Will you support and advocate for a comprehensive inventory of trees in the City that assigns a dollar value to the trees (using currently available computer programs that compute the dollar value of ecological services provided by trees)? This value would then be used in the assessment of the cost of proposed city projects. Why or why not.

Yes, I support a comprehensive inventory of trees in the City and the development of a municipal database to record and track canopy loss. The City needs to assess current canopy cover and record all tree removals and new tree plantings to be able to measure progress towards our tree canopy coverage goal.

As for assigning a dollar value to the trees, I favour the Tree Replacement Valuation Estimation in place in the City of Hamilton, whereby an individual or corporation is charged a replacement fee for a tree that is removed, damaged or that will die because of alterations to its environment. The calculation takes into account the diameter at breast height (DBH) of the pre-existing tree and the DBH of the replacement tree to calculate the total number of replacement trees required. The replacement valuation for trees of significant value (e.g. historical) is evaluated in accordance with the International Society of Arboriculture Standards.

v) City Council passed a tree by-law in 2010 which requires permits for removing large trees on properties over half an acre in size (.2 ha). This tree by-law only covers about 6% of privately owned properties within the City. It does not cover city trees, institutional trees or the trees on small private properties where the majority of our urban forest exists. Will you support and advocate for expanding the existing tree by-law to cover all private properties in Guelph? Why or why not.

The current by-law is a step in the right direction but it has limited value given the small percentage of properties it applies to. Increasing the size of the properties to which the by-law applied was not the appropriate way to address the concerns raised by residents in 2010 when the by-law was being debated. Residents' concerns largely revolved around the onerous and costly process of having trees assessed; I think Council should have addressed those issues directly rather than attempt to deal with residents’ concerns by simply limiting the number of residents to which the by-law would apply. It’s time now to gather lessons-learned from the four-year-old by-law and revise it so that it would apply to all properties, but without the problematic process-related aspects of the original by-law proposal. By-laws are doomed to fail without the support of residents. I am committed to achieving win-win solutions.

vi) Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) infestation is now eating its way through our ash trees.  The ash inventory is almost complete and an EAB plan has been adopted by council.  Do you support full flexible funding for this initiative so the amount of money needed for injecting, removing and replanting is available as needed in a timely manner?  Why or why not.

Mortality of ash trees due to damage from the Emerald Ash Borer is no different than the removal or damage of other tree species except that it will happen over a compressed period of time and then level off. The municipal budget should allocate money for ash tree replacement based on a yearly estimate of trees forecasted to need removal for safety reasons, in order to help spread the cost of replacement over time despite an initial mass die-off. Inoculation of ash trees is most appropriate for large trees, which have greater environmental benefits and are also more costly to remove than smaller trees. 

6. What issues do seniors in Ward 1 have, and, if elected, what will you do to address these issues?

In Ward 1, many seniors I have spoken with at their doors have expressed anxiety at the increase in property taxes. Unlike income tax, municipal taxes increase regardless of household income, which is why this is a particularly acute problem for seniors on a fixed retirement income. It saddens me to think of a senior having to move out of the home they have lived in for decades because they can no longer afford the property taxes.

I am a proponent of sustainability. Financially speaking, this means I will advocate for the rate of property tax increases to match the rate of inflation.

Seniors are also concerned about the lack of nearby shopping. This is in part due to zoning and planning decisions made by previous councils, whereby single-use residential subdivisions get approved at the expense of mixed-use development. This has also resulted in a lack of amenities east of Victoria, which makes it that much harder for seniors to access services.

As councillor I will advocate for mixed-use zoning, so that development projects include a mix of housing types as well as shops and doctors' offices close by. I want to include small shops in residential neighbourhoods.

Many seniors depend on public transit to maintain their independence.  The inadequate bus service in the east end compounds the problem of having very little commercial services in the area. I am a staunch supporter of public transit and will work to improve bus routes and schedules, including Sunday service.

7. Do you subscribe to the 'Essential Features' of an 'Age Friendly City' as set out by the WHO?

 I was heartened to see how closely my core values align themselves with the World Health Organization's Checklist of Essential Features of Age-friendly Cities.

Accessibility is one of the underlying themes in the Checklist: services for seniors should be accessible both in terms of their location and their affordability.

Responding to the taxation issue discussed above will result in more affordable housing for seniors, the importance of which is highlighted in the Checklist's Housing principles. To achieve this I plan to reduce the City's financial dependence on home property taxes by generating new revenue streams for the City through business partnerships. Encouraging commercial enterprise in this manner will in turn shift municipal tax revenue towards a more balanced residential to commercial property tax ratio.

My support of mixed-use planning -- bringing shops, social venues and health services to residential areas -- is a concrete way to implement a number of Essential Features in the Social participation and Outdoor spaces & buildings categories in the Checklist.

My third priority -- improving public transit -- is consistent with several Essential Features listed under the Transportation and Community and health services categories.

Have a question for Karolyne? Send it by email to karolynepickett@gmail.com, with the subject line "Question for your webpage", or Post it here: