This week we begin to look at budgets for the next five years, guest speakers bring Nanaimo’s history to life, and stay in-the-know by signing up now for our new emergency alert system. Read on, Nanaimo!
Are you ready to be alert-ready?
Picture this. You’re outside of your home, taking a moment to enjoy the cool and refreshing air after raking up a huge pile of leaves. Before you move the leaves to your green organics cart, you take a moment to check the messages on your phone. There’s a ‘hello’ from your brother in Saskatoon, an update on the latest Canucks trade, and a fantastic sale on ugly Christmas sweaters, just in time for your office Christmas party! You hope there’s one in your size with jingle bells, cats, and twinkling lights.
Some commotion from across the street distracts you. The Sampsons are rushing their kids out the door. They’re carrying a full backpack, a large water container, and each of the kids has a strong hold on their favourite stuffed toy. Their hurried pace suggests that this is more urgent than a trip to grandma’s for dinner. They’re so focused on hitting the road that they don’t even see you.
Concerned for them, you send a text message, saying that you saw them rushing out. You want to make sure that they are okay. You get a reply.
“We’ll be fine, but our street is being evacuated. Didn’t you get the alert?”
You didn’t, because you haven’t signed up for the new City of Nanaimo notification system.
The new system will push out alerts by text, phone call, email, or through an app, and you can sign up for one or even all of these methods. Sign-up is easy – seriously! It can be as simple as going to the website, entering your postal code and preferred contact information, checking a few boxes, and confirming with a confirmation code that will be sent your way upon registration.
You can also download the Voyent Alert app and walk through the same process in just moments, on both Android and iOS systems. Remember to accept/allow notifications so that alerts will push through when they are issued!
So sign-up now and be alert-ready! Then, with barely a few minutes lost, you can go back to ordering that perfectly ugly Christmas sweater, in all of its twinkling meowyness.
Making dollars make sense. It’s budget time!
If you love money talk and making sense of how municipal dollars are spent, this is your time to take a closer look as the City of Nanaimo's 2020-2024 Draft Financial Plan comes forward! There will be a number of opportunities to review, ask questions and provide input leading up to a budget-focused eTown Hall on Monday, December 2 (save the date!).
There will be four Special Finance and Audit Committee meetings on November 20, 22, 25 and December 2. All meetings are open to the public and will be held in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre's Shaw Auditorium.
The draft plan and other related documents will be available to review here on the City’s website. For anyone wishing to watch the meetings online instead of in-person, you can view them on the City website at www.nanaimo.ca/meetings.
Forward momentum on downtown mobility
How do you move downtown? How do you want to move downtown? Are you a cyclist looking for dedicated cycling lanes, or do you prefer to take the bus? Perhaps your ideal downtown has different parking options.
The Downtown Mobility Hub Project aims to improve multi-modal transportation in the City’s core by developing short-term solutions that could be built within the next five years. Focus areas include intersections, cycling, transit, and parking with the goal of taking concrete steps towards a safe, accessible, inclusive, and interconnected downtown transportation network.
For this project, November is all about feedback. Come to a pop-up event this week or to the public workshop taking place on Wednesday, November 20 at the Coast Bastion Hotel from 5 – 7:30pm. Let us know what you like and what you think needs improvement. More details below in our event section!
From our great parks, to our island lifestyle, we all have our reasons for choosing Nanaimo and calling this home. This Tuesday, Seniors Connect and the City of Nanaimo present ‘Choosing Nanaimo,’ a special Living History Speaker Series event. Come and hear from Ms. Joan Brown (CAO, Snuneymuxw First Nation), Mr. Gunter Gutsche (89 year-old longboarder) and Mr. Craig Taylor (local author).
Upcoming Community Events:
- Tuesday, November 19: Living History Speaker Series: Choosing Nanaimo from 6:30 – 8 pm in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre's Shaw Auditorium
- Wednesday, November 20:Downtown Mobility Hub Project Public Workshop, 5 – 7:30 pm at the Coast Bastion Hotel (11 Bastion St.)
- Pop-up events are underway as well! Nanaimo Aquatic Centre (Monday, November 18 from 4 – 6 pm), Harbourfront Branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library (Tuesday, November 19 from 11 am to 2 pm), and the Vancouver Island University upper cafeteria (Thursday, November 21 from 11 am - 2 pm)
- Thursday, November 21:Musical Entertainment, 1:30 to 3 pm in the Bowen Park Auditorium. This week featuring Oldies But Goodies.
- Friday, November 22: Free Skate, 3:45 – 5:15 pm at the Nanaimo Ice Centre, courtesy of Coast Capital Savings
- Sunday, November 24: Lions FREE Skate, noon to 1:30 pm in Frank Crane Arena
For a look at more City-related events, visit www.nanaimo.ca/goto/events.
Construction Updates
You can follow project progress and learn about detours that may affect your commute by going to our Current Construction Projects page.
Here is an overview of our current construction zones:
- Plan ahead if you are in the Hammond Bay area as the Hammond Bay Road widening and storm improvements project continues and delays should be expected. 24-hour single-lane traffic is in effect. Hammond Bay is expected to be open to two way traffic around the first week of December with the contractor returning in late February 2020 to complete the work.
- Seventh Street is closed between Park Avenue and Stirling Avenue from November 20 to November 22 to facilitate repair work in the Chase River Bridge. Construction on the project continues and is expected to be substantially completed in November.
- Work on Haliburton Street will continue until spring 2020. Single-lane alternating traffic will be in effect at times during working hours while work is ongoing. Some delays on Haliburton Street can be expected.
This week’s Council and Committee Meetings
This week, the Finance and Audit Committee meets to review and discuss the 2020-2024 draft financial plans. Follow along and prepare any budget-related questions that you may have for the eTown Hall on December 2! For more Council-related information, read our Stay in Touch with Council blog.
- Monday, November 18: Regular Council Meeting at 7 pm in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre's Shaw Auditorium
- Wednesday, November 20: Finance and Audit Committee Meeting at 8:30 am in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre's Shaw Auditorium
- Wednesday, November 20: Environment Committee at 5 pm in the Service and Resource Centre Boardroom, 411 Dunsmuir Street
- Friday, November 22:Special Finance and Audit Committee Meeting at 9 am in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre's Shaw Auditorium
Visit the Meetings, Documents and Videos page on the City website to view upcoming meetings, agendas and past meeting videos or visit the Council Meeting Summaries page to read a recap of decisions made in previous meetings.
If you’ve been reaching these weekly updates you are likely aware of our Council Meeting Summaries page, but did you know that we have a page where we post Committee Meeting Summaries as well? Here you can find a summary of motions made at any Committee meeting including the Finance and Audit Committee, Health and Housing Task Force, Environment Committee and more!
Here's a recap of City-related news from last week: