Yesterday's Special OSHAWA Council meeting concerning the City's new Neighbourhood Traffic Management Guide (NTMG) began with some hope. After the IBI Group consultant's presentation the motion to go into Committee of the Whole (COW) passed by a slim majority 6 to 5.
(COW meeting rules give members of Council more than the one-five minute standard regular opportunity to ask questions and hear answers. Instead a COW meeting allows one 10 minute Q & A opportunity and a subsequent opportunity for 5 minutes on a second or third round. )
The 6 who approved going into Committee of the Whole for a more fulsome discussion were Councillors McConkey, Neal, Nicolson, Giberson, Hurst, and Kerr.
The 5 who voted against were Mayor Carter, Councillors Chapman, Gray, Marimpietri and Marks"
But my hopes were dashed quickly. Not to bother with all the petty ins and outs of how the discussion seemed to me to be constrained, the way the meeting ended was very telling.
I had a motion to refer the Report back to staff - based on the fact that in March this year Council passed the following motion about automated speed enforcement:
"the City takes no position on Emphasis Area 2, Program 2 (Automated Enforcement) in the Durham Vision Zero Strategy, until such time as the Region’s anticipated report on Automated Enforcement is reviewed by Council."
Regardless of the fact that a motion to refer is always in order, the Mayor insisted, without any real explanation why, that he wanted the vote on the NTMG first before Council rose from the Committee of the Whole, then once out of COW he would allow my referral motion. It made it a joke really. I would not have approved the NTMG, because it was missing key components.
Although the Mayor and Councillor Chapman made a point of going on about how the NTMG is a living document and then could be changed, as I've seen often, once a report is approved it becomes like some gold standard written in stone, forever and a day referred to as 'the Council approved Report'...and then 'reconsideration' votes are required, which involve a 2/3rd majority vote on changes instead of a simple majority vote.
Leaving out any criteria in Oshawa's NTMG for ASE cameras on local roads and the e-scooters which Region Council recently approved on Regional Roads in Oshawa really means this 'update' NTMG is actually not 'updated' but 'stale-dated' already. The new NTMG replaces a 20 year old one. My referral motion seconded by Councillor Neal failed 9-2 It was:
"to refer the NTMG Report to staff to be updated on ASE camera installation on local roads at the meeting when Oshawa Council reviews the Region’s anticipated report on Automated Enforcement is reviewed by Council."
Yes the wording of the referral is awkward, but it includes the wording of the March 'Council takes no position' motion.
So as I said above 'very telling". It indicates the Council 'no position' is not really looking like a 'no position'.
It seems to confirm that this current Council does not want to implement the AES program on Oshawa local-road-Community Safety-Zones. Ajax and Pickering implemented the program last year and AES programs are happening all over Canada to improve speed enforcement. It is well-documented that Speed Kills and ASE cameras decrease speeding. But Oshawa Council in 2022 once again avoided the discussion.
www.ajax.ca/en/business-and-growth/automated-speed-enforcement.aspx?fbclid=IwAR3yw299mN8LhjJ9DsG8zdQ2L3A6vnFKP8lhOvI1tXANYhVJWAkWI8Xl8nc
(COW meeting rules give members of Council more than the one-five minute standard regular opportunity to ask questions and hear answers. Instead a COW meeting allows one 10 minute Q & A opportunity and a subsequent opportunity for 5 minutes on a second or third round. )
The 6 who approved going into Committee of the Whole for a more fulsome discussion were Councillors McConkey, Neal, Nicolson, Giberson, Hurst, and Kerr.
The 5 who voted against were Mayor Carter, Councillors Chapman, Gray, Marimpietri and Marks"
But my hopes were dashed quickly. Not to bother with all the petty ins and outs of how the discussion seemed to me to be constrained, the way the meeting ended was very telling.
I had a motion to refer the Report back to staff - based on the fact that in March this year Council passed the following motion about automated speed enforcement:
"the City takes no position on Emphasis Area 2, Program 2 (Automated Enforcement) in the Durham Vision Zero Strategy, until such time as the Region’s anticipated report on Automated Enforcement is reviewed by Council."
Regardless of the fact that a motion to refer is always in order, the Mayor insisted, without any real explanation why, that he wanted the vote on the NTMG first before Council rose from the Committee of the Whole, then once out of COW he would allow my referral motion. It made it a joke really. I would not have approved the NTMG, because it was missing key components.
Although the Mayor and Councillor Chapman made a point of going on about how the NTMG is a living document and then could be changed, as I've seen often, once a report is approved it becomes like some gold standard written in stone, forever and a day referred to as 'the Council approved Report'...and then 'reconsideration' votes are required, which involve a 2/3rd majority vote on changes instead of a simple majority vote.
Leaving out any criteria in Oshawa's NTMG for ASE cameras on local roads and the e-scooters which Region Council recently approved on Regional Roads in Oshawa really means this 'update' NTMG is actually not 'updated' but 'stale-dated' already. The new NTMG replaces a 20 year old one. My referral motion seconded by Councillor Neal failed 9-2 It was:
"to refer the NTMG Report to staff to be updated on ASE camera installation on local roads at the meeting when Oshawa Council reviews the Region’s anticipated report on Automated Enforcement is reviewed by Council."
Yes the wording of the referral is awkward, but it includes the wording of the March 'Council takes no position' motion.
So as I said above 'very telling". It indicates the Council 'no position' is not really looking like a 'no position'.
It seems to confirm that this current Council does not want to implement the AES program on Oshawa local-road-Community Safety-Zones. Ajax and Pickering implemented the program last year and AES programs are happening all over Canada to improve speed enforcement. It is well-documented that Speed Kills and ASE cameras decrease speeding. But Oshawa Council in 2022 once again avoided the discussion.
www.ajax.ca/en/business-and-growth/automated-speed-enforcement.aspx?fbclid=IwAR3yw299mN8LhjJ9DsG8zdQ2L3A6vnFKP8lhOvI1tXANYhVJWAkWI8Xl8nc