What Londoners say should be city council’s budget priorities

Dozens of Londoners addressed city council Monday evening to share their concerns and priorities for London’s multi-year budget (2024-27) that will be drafted by politicians at a series of meetings that begin Thursday. LFP’s Jack Moulton was in council chambers to gauge the public’s priorities.

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BUDGET FONT

As expected, one of the blockbuster asks for the budget is $672 million over four years for London police ($168 million per year on average). The budget proposed by police that includes a 16 per cent increase in its first year was a popular topic among those who spoke to Mayor Josh Morgan and city council.

Two members of the police board, former city councilors Nancy Branscombe and Megan Walker, said supporting the budget would result in better response times and improved policing.

But there was also scrutiny of the proposed budget that includes adding 189 officers and civilian employees from several speakers. They referenced a recent study of Canadian police forces, London includedthat found higher police budgets didn’t correlate with lower crime rates.

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Some of the police requests, such as a second light armored vehicle and a training center, were also singled out as unnecessary.

PUBLIC TRANSIT AND PARATRANSIT

The public meeting kicked off with a contingent of paratransit users pleading with politicians to better fund what they called a broken system.

As all held signs saying Improve paratransit, Julie Idsinga, a paratransit advocate, pointed to a 2023 report saying the system has 11,000 registered users and only 32 buses on the road during the work week.

“I urge you, budget committee, to stay true to the commitment to support improvements to paratransit,” she said. At the end of one resident’s remarks, another person chimed in to say several paratransit supporters at the meeting had to leave early in order to catch a bus.

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Transit for able-bodied Londoners was also referenced several times, including the particular business case calling for the expansion of transit and paratransit hours, something Morgan also committed to in last week’s state of the city speech.

ARTS LOCAL

Another popular item for speakers was their support for the London Arts Council’s new budget request.

Eunju Yi, executive director of the council, told politicians the budget of the community arts investment program that funds the non-profit arts sector has not increased in its 23-year history.

“Imagine that you have never received an increase in your salary or contract rate for 23 years – this is the situation of the local arts sector,” she said.

Representatives of organizations dependent on the program, including London Symphonia, Forest City Gallery and the Grand Theatre, also spoke to the importance of arts funding.

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LOCAL ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE

Several speakers also noted their support for local green initiatives including drafting master plans of environmentally sensitive areas and the naturalization of roadsides and boulevards to cut down on grass mowing.

More broadly, Londoners were also interested in the city taking a greater interest in addressing climate change, singling out the business case calling for the implementation of the city’s climate emergency action plan.

“The medium- to long-term costs of doing nothing, and not funding climate change mitigation and adaptation at the scale that’s required, will be much more expensive and pose major risks to the city’s finances indefinitely,” said Brendon Samuels, chair of city hall’s environmental stewardship advisory committee.

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LONDON PUBLIC LIBRARY

More than a month after a cyberattack that crippled the library’s in-person and online systems, its budget requests also came up several times.

Downtown resident Chelsea Smith outlined how the Central branch on Dundas Street acts as a community hub, and how the Pond Mills library was a major part of her childhood.

Mary Rowe, chief executive of the Canadian Urban Institute and a native Londoner, singled out reinvestment in library branches as a key way to protect services and programs, referencing a study done by the institute in October.

“I’m sure I don’t need to make the case for anybody in (city hall) about how valuable your libraries have been and proven to be through the pandemic,” Rowe said.

Part of the library’s budget request is based in major capital projects to repair certain branches as they deal with structural issues.

The next official public input session for the budget is set for Feb. 27, and council is set to deliberate the mayor’s submitted budget Thursday.

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@jackmoulton65

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