Catherine Blain
340112 
POLL: Is the U.S. Canada's ally? Readers show dramatic shift
88As long ago as 2001, when flying to San Francisco, I was told by a US customs agent at Pearson "We're not your neighbours and we're not your friends, so don't think we are." This was his way of venting his spleen over the fact that Canada did not immediately follow the US into war in the middle east after 9/11. It was the time of french fries being rebranded as freedom fries. America is not sane. And it is not our ally. It never really was.
19- Catherine Blain
With apparently no new ideas, the mayor is raising the dead
GuelphToday 58I have no idea about meth smoke, but I have been accosted walking on Quebec Street many times, yelled at and screamed at when I did not provide money for people lounging on the fountain. I once offered to buy breakfast and received obscenities as a response. I will never offer again. The downtown looks ill-kept and rundown, there should NOT be a tent city in the middle of the Square. I am not usually in agreement with the mayoe, but I absolutely am on this. We who have to live and work and shop downtown should not have to be afraid to do so.
5- Catherine Blain
OPINION: Guelph's small-town, small mindedness is stifling us
GuelphToday 30Guelph's small town mindset is absolutely NOT small-mindedness. It's self-protection. We live here precisely because we want nothing to do with big city issues, problems, ugliness, sprawl or 'density'. If we wanted those things we'd live in Mississauga. The automobile will never be supplanted by transit. To believe it will, or to try to force it, is naive in the extreme. And as it stands I will never attend another Ribfest. It was always a late summer ritual I loved to take part in. But if this is the way it's to be henceforward, no parking, ... I would predict its demise. Very sad.
22- Catherine Blain
Developer looks to replace downtown Wendy’s, KFC with 29-storey building
GuelphToday 10Very bad idea. We do not wish to become Mississagua. That’s why we live here instead. There are already insufficient infrastructure, transportation and amenities downtown. Apparently we will be seeing an influx of Conestoga College students to the downtown daily with the former Cooperators building now being converted to a school. The last thing we need is another three to four thousand residents adding to the congestion. Build in the south end, if you must. This is a small, quiet, historic city-core, not a suburb.
15- Catherine Blain
Residential units planned for former downtown bank building
GuelphToday 8I'm assuming these will be affordable, geared-to-income housing? The kind we actually need? Nobody wants $650K condos carved out of an old bank building.
14- Catherine Blain
Downtown patio season returns, with half the interest
GuelphToday 16This is not good for downtown. I hope no one at City Hall is surprised by the low level of interest. They've made it so prohibitively expensive to have a patio, nobody will bite. Already I've seen a very different attitude in downtown businesses. They've pretty much thrown in the towel this year. I suspect a few will be gone before the end of the summer. Thanks, City Hall, for further despressing the downtown.
4- Catherine Blain
Free parking coming to an end at city lots, parkades
GuelphToday 18I will never pay for parking downtown. There simply isn't reason enough to be there. I left a job because it cost me between eighteen and twenty one dollars a day to park. If I have to be downtown, I will continue circling as long as it takes to find a free space. This is not Toronto. There is no reason to charge Toronto prices.
1- Catherine Blain
Despite objection, council gives heritage designation to Royal Hotel
GuelphToday 16PLEASE don’t demolish any more of Guelph’s architectural history. You know what a developer would do to that building.
3- Catherine Blain
ICYMI: Developers want the city to grow up ... as in taller
GuelphToday 8Growth is NOT ‘great’. Upward growth is even worse. People choose to live in Guelph because it has so far eschewed the appearance of Mississauga-lite. Just stop. While there is still something to preserve.
9- Catherine Blain
Free parking coming to an end at city lots, parkades
GuelphToday 15Just an anecdote about the impact of paid parking on downtown business. In the early 90s I worked at a store (Magic Mountain) on Wilson St. Parking was metered at that time, and the city was ruthless at patrolling and ticketing any car that was even five minutes past its paid time. Circling and circling, passing every ten minutes, marking tires with chalk to ensure no vehicle was missed. We at the store got so fed up with our customers fleeing the moment they saw a parking enforcer, often throwing potential clothing purchases on the floor of the dressing rooms and rushing out the door to avoid being fined--and not returning-- that we started keeping a roll of quarters at the cash desk and monitoring out clients' cars ourselves. We went through about forty dollars a week that way. We learned later that the metered parking and fines levied barely covered the salaries of the people charged with enforcing it. Ridiculous.
- Catherine Blain
No attendee parking at Guelph Ribfest this year
GuelphToday 7You've just guaranteed no attendance. Congratulations.
8- Catherine Blain
Staff identify city-owned sites for potential housing projects
GuelphToday 13Redevelop something no one will miss.. like the ultra expensive parking garage on Wilson Street. Or something that no one has used in decades… like the Drill Hall. Saying you’re looking at taking away Guelph’s only real ‘entertainment district’.. the Sleeman Centre and Riverrun… is insane. You might reconsider the new library site and build supportive housing there instead. I have to shake my head at this town sometimes.
1- Catherine Blain
Staff recommends city not provide temporary housing encampment
GuelphToday 12I do not feel that this would be a sound investment for the city to undertake. I don’t pretend to know what the solution is, but it’s not to corral homeless people in flimsy structures on the outskirts of the city. There would be fire hazards, drug use, communicable diseases, garbage and debris, and the housing itself would be quickly rendered uninhabitable. Money down the drain. It would be especially unsuitable for city parks, which are used by children. Surely there must be vacant office space, existing structures without tenants that could be purchased or rented by the city and adapted as dormitories. The encampment in St George’s Square was frightening, unsightly and dangerous, with unsupervised use of propane tanks and heating units, and served only to keep people away from downtown. I myself was accosted twice by mentally unstable people there. This is not what the city wants.
- Catherine Blain
Free parking coming to an end at city lots, parkades
GuelphToday 9From all I can gather, the parking garage is rarely if ever used. What a terrible waste of our tax money.
2- Catherine Blain
Number of seasonal patios downtown dropped by 58 per cent this year
GuelphToday 6No one wants to come downtown because of the encampments and the problems they create. I do not blame restaurants for pulling out of the plan. I expect they will begin to leave downtown altogether if this is not addressed.
3- Catherine Blain
City council wants county to consider designated encampment site
GuelphToday 6No one is going to donate property that will be defaced and destroyed, or land that will be occupied by drug users. Hazards such as unsupervised propane tanks are disasters waiting to happen. An encampment in the middle of downtown driving away commerce is unacceptable. Convert one of the vacant taxpayer owned buildings such as the old drill hall on Farquar St into dormitories and set rules for their use. Thos who don’t want to be helped are on their own.
1- Catherine Blain
After 107 years, the iconic Red Chevron Club is struggling to stay afloat
GuelphToday 6I’ve driven past this place on my way to and from work every day for five years and always wondered about it. I assumed it was something like the Legion, or a members-only facility catering perhaps to veterans. Not something that would welcome a 70-something lady on her own. But a couple of weeks ago a friend and I dropped by for a Vintage Market, and were very pleased with the experience. I still don’t know how comfortable I’d be just arriving alone… it can be intimidating, going places by yourself! But next time I have a friend in town I just might check it out. :)
- Catherine Blain
Controversial Guelph skincare store evicted from Stone Road Mall
GuelphToday 5Good. I was tired of having to cross to the other side of the mall to avoid the hucksters standing outside and accosting people. Disgusting business.
- Catherine Blain
One section of York Road to reopen next month, another to close
GuelphToday 4I have lived in many cities over the last five decades, and nowhere …nowhere.. does road work take years to complete. This is just outrageous. Nowhere does a road get renovated, paved and opened and then closed to be torn up again because they ‘forgot’ to add a bike lane or an off ramp. Only in Guielph.
- Catherine Blain
Housing starts fall 77 per cent so far this year in Guelph
GuelphToday 1Of course housing starts have gone down the toilet. Who in his right mind would sign on for a three-quarter million dollar mortgage at the rates we have now? All it will take is for the BoC to start the downward interest trend and voila.. housing starts will be back to healthy levels.
3- Catherine Blain
