[whattheheck]

'I write council in support of motions that fund services and initiatives that support downtown'

And that's the problem. The fact city hall continues to use limited tax dollars for various initiatives to compel people to come downtown. And it STILL isn't working. (because if it was, people would not need to be compelled to come downtown. They would make the choice to, without the need for a taxpayer funded program)

Having ALL government employees back would. More people on trains and busses. More people in pedways. People (non-zombie ones) beget more people.

And all without the need to come up with 'motions that fund services and initiatives that support downtown'. Lead by example. (which the city is not)

 

[CplKlinger]

The fact city hall continues to use limited tax dollars for various initiatives to compel people to come downtown. And it STILL isn't working.

To the contrary, I'd argue that the past few years have been quite fruitful on that front. The Warehouse Park has led to 1,800 residential units on adjacent properties being planned, under construction, or already completed. The Infill Infrastructure Fund has supported more than 4,400 units, many of-which are downtown (some of-which are by Warehouse Park, but not all). The Downtown Student Housing Incentive will fund a minimum of 500 units for students, and the projects must have a building permit by November 2026. The CRL extension means that hundreds more units will be built north of Rogers Place by 2028, with thousands more to follow over the coming ten years. The extension also brings us an Attainable Housing Fund, with details TBD (the council package was delayed to allow for negotiations with the province and private industry to improve the program that gets recommended to council).

Not only does all of this improve downtown's vibrancy and business environment during a larger range of hours and days than ending hybrid work, but it also spreads the benefits out more. These residential developments are all over downtown, whereas COE workers are concentrated in the blocks surrounding city hall.

 

[Barnaby]

When is the city funding an ETS gondola? It would be around $200 million and solve Whyte's transit issue.

 

[TAS]

On the WFH front is there any common ground that on days of really bad weather and poor road conditions that workers who can work from home should just stay home thereby also improving the likely long commute for people who do have to drive around?

And if somebody is feeling under the weather or has a cough, but can still work ok, should they just wfh? Or how about a parent with sick kids that maybe doesn't have to miss work by taking a family care day or day off, but instead can get work done at home and attend meetings because virtual meetings are an option now when they weren't prior to 2020?