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Tax break will spur growth in depressed areas: Wilkinson Continued from page 1
His colleague, Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson, disagreed. “Deferring it helps stagnate economic development in our city,” she said. “Itʼs extremely important now.” Mayor Jim Watson had a short speech prepared to speak in favour of the plan. He said the idea is “a good experiment” to try, and something the city has never done before. While it would be nice to give incentives for the whole city, itʼs not practical to have community improvement plans everywhere, Watson said. “We have to focus on areas that need help,” he said. Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans also expressed concerns about the plan. Still, she voted in support of the report. “This is a slippery slope,” she said. “I donʼt like where this is going…maybe the market should be the driver.” Deans said the criteria used to choose the areas that get a community improvement plan “will be its success or failure” and supporting the program without seeing those criteria made her uncomfortable. Kitchissippi ward resident Kevin OʼDonnell ran down to city hall during the meeting to speak because he was so opposed to the “tax holiday.” “The city should be focused on ensuring all businesses have a chance to prosper…but whether they prosper or fail is up to the market,” he said, adding itʼs not appropriate for the city to “be in the business of picking winners.” The city should invest in things that really attract busi-
ALLAN HUBLEY
RAINER BLOESS
nesses to invest here, such as a good transit system and infrastructure, OʼDonnell said. Gloucester-South Nepean Coun. Steve Desroches made the same point. “If weʼre giving away money for taxes, are we going to have enough to provide the stuff that really incents businesses to come here, like transit?” he asked. Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess said the city isnʼt “shovelling cash at anyone” and added that it is difficult to justify investing in transit and infrastructure if there is no business development happening in an area. Itʼs a chicken-andegg problem, he said. Community improvement plans are permitted by the provincial government and have been used in Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Niagara Falls and Windsor. There are two types proposed for Ottawa: plans that foster urban revitalization through grants for businesses that repair or rehabilitate existing employment areas, and employment-related plans that help create jobs in areas where residential growth has outstripped job creation. That is the case in Orléans, where the ratio of jobs to households is 0.5 – far lower than the citywide target of 1.3 local jobs per household. Itʼs unclear why Orléans has lagged behind, said Jamie
Kwong McDonald, executive director of the Orléans Chamber of Commerce. She said the east-end community has a lot to offer, including an educated, bilingual workforce. “Very few people actually stay in Orléans and work there,” she said. “There is a lot of excitement (about the proposed plan) in the business community in Orléans...There are some that have been stalled and this initiative is very exciting for them.” The two proposed locations would be part of a fiveyear pilot project, but Bashir said he would likely be ready to expand the program to different areas after observing how it works in Orléans and on Carling for six months. “Once the programs are up and running…with eligibility criteria, if we feel comfortable with it, I would see no reason not to expand it further,” Bashir said. Information on the Carling plan – including the boundaries of the area – is sparse. It will be an urban revitalization plan, and more information is “forthcoming,” according to a city report. Bay ward Coun. Mark Taylor has been working towards an economic development plan for the area by meeting with local businesses for the past several months.
I chose solar
JESSICA CUNHA/METROLAND
Clay creations Anne Derks of Chapman Mills and Linda Thompson of Mooney’s Bay take a look at pottery items made by Chandler Swain at the ninth annual 260 Fingers event at the Glebe Community Centre on Nov. 10.
Are you Creative? Do you want to design a Christmas card for all of Ottawa to see? Councillor Steve Desroches, Gloucester-South Nepean is holding his
Annual Christmas Card Contest and invites all elementary school students in Ward 22 to participate!
to increase the resale value of my home
Draw, Paint or Sketch a design depicting the holiday season on 8 1/2” x 11” paper. The winning design will be selected to be on the front of Steve’s Annual Christmas Card.
...and to be part of the clean energy solution
Deadline: November 23, 2012
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Call us today for a free home solar assessment 613.738.2646
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A modest investment can have you earning thousands every year for the next 20 years.
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Earn an 8-12% annual return.
Mail your entry to: Deputy Mayor Steve Desroches 110 Laurier Ave. West Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 1J1 Or email a high-resolution copy to: Steve.Desroches@Ottawa.ca Ottawa South EMC - Thursday, November 15, 2012
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