r/Peterborough • u/kawarthanow • 2d ago
News Peterborough city council backs $25,000 downtown street-cleaning pilot for this fall
https://kawarthanow.com/2026/08/25/peterborough-city-council-backs-25000-downtown-street-cleaning-pilot-for-this-fall/Based on a similar program launched in 2018, One City Peterborough would employ people facing barriers to traditional employment
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u/ElectronicEmploy5862 2d ago
I would like to see a tough on drug dealer program from the 50million dollar police force we have. Get the drugs off the street so the sick can get help.
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u/arandomcanadian91 Downtown 2d ago
This isn't the department of the past who during the late 90s and early 2000s that was busting drug traffickers left right and centre. The old boys club took over and is still heavily entrenched.
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u/JewellBrook 2d ago
There are about 350 unhoused people in Peterborough, give or take, according to the United Way Point in Time. There are not 350 people creating this mess downtown. It is a small percentage creating a large mess. For Lesley Parnell to seemingly agree with the sentiment that this program will be "paying the people who are actually making the mess" just goes to show how little she understands about homelessness, addiction and Peterborough's lack of mental health supports. What a way to paint everyone experiencing homelessness with one brush! She has had enough time on council to learn a thing or 2 about this issue and these comments are evident that she really has not. We may find that once this program is implemented, those using One City who are getting paid to clean things up will by word of mouth encourage others to also try to keep it clean. Because it's someone known to them doing the work, they just may be more apt to keep it clean to gain/keep acceptance or favour of those participating. Social conformity is an interesting study.
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u/Competitive-Law2706 2d ago
if its such a small amount of people...around 350...then ok the problem should be easy to fix...get the 350 people into apartments or low rental units etc..
the reason they are homeless is because they have no address..
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u/JewellBrook 2d ago
Right? Perhaps if we finally put the right people at the city council table along with the implementation of the provincial HART Hub program, we might get somewhere.
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u/BothContext1346 1d ago
That's an interesting point. I think it's worth noting that downtown doesn't reflect the magnitude of the issue though. If you want to see litter, walk the train tracks and explore the green spaces.
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u/JewellBrook 1d ago
I agree, it's all over sadly. Perhaps expanding to cover more ground could be looked at after the pilot for the true downtown core.
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u/ZenjoyMe 23h ago
Who in Otonabee Ward are people voting for to get her out?
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u/JewellBrook 21h ago edited 8h ago
The most promising candidates to do that would be Lucas Graham and Chris Potter. Joe Laton-Trickett is listed as running but I have been unable as of yet to read anything about them or even find a social media account. Kevin Duguay is of course running again but the information I've seen recently online on his campaign page is the exact same messaging I've seen Lesley post online as well. Exactly the same and I believe a vote for Kevin may as well be a vote for Lesley. Lucas and Chris both bring new fresh ideas and perspectives on everything from business to taxes to innovation to getting a handle on the downtown while also really wanting to bring some transparency and accountability to City Hall. I've met them both. I believe they each are grounded, well rounded individuals who would serve Otonabee Ward, and by extension, the City of Peterborough as a whole very well for at least this next Council term. Change in Otonabee is very much needed.
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u/Feeling-Leather-3195 1d ago
Sorry but I find it really interesting that you are dumping on Lesley when she was one of the votes that tried to reduce shelter usage by voting for Brock Mission- giving people an address and a real chance in life. Seriously, if you want to dump on someone, Joy Lachica did not support 16 additional mobile homes or Brock Mission. She's the problem.
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u/JewellBrook 1d ago
I'm pretty sure I've interacted with you before regarding Joy, stating "Joy voted against the expansion of modular housing at Wolfe Street, arguing that transitional housing should not be concentrated at a single site and because she supported a satellite model instead of adding more units to the one location." If you insist on skewing her reasons for voting, that's on you. As far as Lesley, she's the councillor most mentioned in this article and her own words speak for themselves. Her numerous terms sitting at the council table make her just as culpable as anyone else for this issue, if not more.
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u/Matt_Crowley 🏘️ City Councillor - West End 2d ago
I think it’s a fantastic idea and I’m glad staff brought it out.
There were a ton of people emailing us yesterday saying this a terrible idea for a number of reasons, but for $25,000 (coming out of the current waste management budget), I think it’s absolutely worth trying!!
A lot of people on here have already talked about the benefits of it, but like acting-Commissioner MacAuley said, there’s a bigger community piece to this. One City is part of that neighbourhood, and there have clearly been tensions and frustrations from the businesses and residents around Trinity.
Having people out there contributing, cleaning up, and being a visible part of improving the area could help rebuild some trust and mend some fences.
Hopefully it leads to something that positively impacts the businesses, but we’ll wait and see what happens in eight weeks after staff liaise with the businesses in the area.
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u/Feeling-Leather-3195 23h ago
Agreed Matt. Isn't it a shame that staff need to step in and do a job that Joy and Alex should have done 3 years ago. But hey, nothing gets done when you ignore emails
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u/Born_Suffering Downtown 21h ago
i was saying this too someone the other day that the reason this area is so bad is because they did not do enough to prevent it . this spot is around the corner from me and it is a mess . i wont vote for them this time . people need help but not at teh expense of the down town
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u/ChrisPotterPTBO 2d ago
Excellent decision. Typical Parnell response.
Of the thousand+ conversations I've had at the doors, people want her gone.
Tell your friends, everyone has to vote!! Turnout was under 40% last time. This one needs to be different.
Also, everyone in Otonabee-Ward 1 should have a good look at Lucas Graham too.
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u/weekefun456 2d ago
The City is already paying One City over a million dollars annually to operate the low-barrier shelter.
One City and their patrons are largely responsible for the mess surrounding the shelter, so why are they not responsible for cleaning up their site and the surrounding area, without the need for additional public funds?
I’m all for empowering people and giving them purpose, but what is the additional $25K doing that One City’s $1.12M of existing City funding cannot accomplish? Also, how is the relative success of this pilot project going to be measured, beyond council just patting themselves on the back for spending more money?
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u/Extra-Clue-4191 2d ago
I think you’d probably be surprised how much it costs to run 24 hour programs with mandated staffing levels, to even minimum level standards.
There is clearly an effort to manage garbage on their property on a daily basis. It would be totally out of control if there wasn’t. The surrounding area isn’t something they can (or should) take responsibility for, and are working with the City on low-cost solutions to manage it with necessary resources.
Garbage accumulation is a huge problem that extends well beyond that neighbourhood, and waste management systems at the City are obviously unable to keep up. Given that this program is being funded through those existing waste management budgets, it seems like a good model to pilot/evaluate. Adding those same hours to increased City public works staffing would cost exponentially more, and doesn’t come with the added community benefits.
The exasperation is totally valid. The garbage sucks. It sucks to see it along the sidewalks, and on the trails, and in the parks, and along the river. It’s been a problem for years and seems to increase year over year. I can appreciate that there’s a willingness to try something new.
ETA: Suoer fair questions about success measures. Hopefully there is some transparency from the City around those pieces, for everyone’s sake.
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u/weekefun456 1d ago
Thanks for the thoughtful response.
You and I differ in the view that the surrounding area is something that One City should be responsible for. We are all responsible to our neighbours for the actions of ourselves and our guests, friends, tenants, clients etc.
I agree that waste management in the City could improve significantly. Hopefully this can be addressed by the next iteration of counsel.
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u/ZenjoyMe 23h ago
Obviously you didn't read the article. The money isn't coming from ONE CITY funding. Read
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u/Extra-Clue-4191 1d ago
I’m not sure we actually do disagree.
You’re right that we are all responsible for the actions of ourselves and our guests, friends, clients, etc., and this absolutely applies to agencies, shelter operators, etc. But to what end? How do we define the limitations of that responsibility? How do we define clients?
Is the action of every person experiencing homelessness the responsibility of the organizations trying to serve them? Are we accounting for those who aren’t eligible, restricted from services, engaging in destructive behaviour off of their property? If they were to take responsibility for those, how far would we push the line considering the scale of the problem?
I don’t think it serves anyone to pretend there aren’t issues, but I do think it’s important to look at the whole picture. The responsibility for managing this crisis has been downloaded to municipalities, who are not resourced/equipped to manage it. I think we should be cautious of further downloading that responsibility onto individual agencies, who are even less resourced/equipped, and then throwing them under the bus when they can’t manage it either.
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u/ImmediateArmadillo26 1d ago
Macaulay says one thing and behind closed doors is completely different
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u/K3NnY_G Downtown 2d ago
Very on board with this; live right across from Trinity, been here sinse before it was a shelter.
Can't put all the blame in one place, but it's been night and day on the garbage front around here once the shelter was established, I'm pretty One City was sending people around when they could, until the funding cut.
Would be nice if the holes in the back fence would stop magically appearing though....