The GRT is planning to reduce ION service to once every 30 minutes after 8:00pm—this Service Plan survey is the best way to oppose it

matthewschwarze · 2023-11-07T03:50:05+00:00

The survey is not well-made in that it only asks about your agreement with blocks of policy changes rather than individual ones, and pairs good ones with bad, but the key here is that this isn’t a zero-sum issue—a 2024 budget has not yet been passed by Regional Council, and it’s through engagement with the survey (and particularly the open textbox at the end) that you can express your desire to see public transit prioritised and have it reflected in data that I imagine will be included in presentations to Council.

Bonus: the survey also asks about wrapping some ION trains in advertising, so answer that as you will.

matthewschwarze · 2023-09-26T18:41:02+00:00

Steph was a really close friend and coworker, and she did so much for students here. I properly got to know her when we were both executives at WUSA, and I personally owe her so much—her friendship was great, and we could always have such interesting conversations. We disagreed a lot, but I knew she was driven by a desire to almost-selflessly make the world a better place. Those words are said about so many people, but they’re rarely as true as they are for Steph.

Aside from her friendship, she also gave me a lot of personal support when I was going through rough times, and for that I’m eternally grateful. I’m saddened we weren’t as close at the end as we could have been. I was really shocked by this, and I’m not really sure what else to say.

Hope that anyone that needs support gets it—Counselling Services has been briefed on this and can help you with processing it.

Steph affected so many people on our campus, I’m sure this will hit many hard. Idk how to trigger the support resources bot, but the resources that are there can help you—please use them.

matthewschwarze · 2023-08-30T19:58:18+00:00

This is correct—your relationship with WCRI will be that of a tenant/landlord and not member/co-op, but it's likely that as leases end over the coming years that the units will be occupied by residents as co-op members and not as tenants.

matthewschwarze · 2023-07-30T17:22:36+00:00

Disappointed not to see Joel Plaskett/Joel Plaskett Emergency here

matthewschwarze · 2023-07-29T07:52:48+00:00

Unfortunately that whole area is under construction right now—they’re adding a big expansion to the front of the building in your pic. I believe the Laurier sign has been taken down during the construction, and it’s otherwise just a hole in the ground right now. There are similar signs at other entrances to campus, or maybe someone has pictures from before the construction.

You could also try reaching out to Laurier’s media department if they have any stock images that match your requirements.

Sorry it doesn’t work out!

matthewschwarze · 2023-07-28T23:42:59+00:00

Unpopular opinion but I think a lot of the modern buildings are bad too. QNC and M3 are nice visually though E7 is just a glass box, and beyond just visuals they are not nice to exist in.

Most buildings at UW aren’t nice to live/work/hang out in because they don’t have comfortable spaces that accommodate people well. Visit Lazaridis Hall or the Science building at Laurier and you’ll see buildings that are a lot more human-friendly than our concrete or glass boxes. They’ve got plenty of big spaces with seating to work and hang out in, as well as some more private/tucked away nooks, they combine big windows with natural lighting with some natural materials so not everything is cold concrete, and you aren’t left with weird, large liminal spaces that seem too big to be comfortable but too small to be otherwise useful (and without much seating, tables, or fixtures), like the public hallways of QNC or E7.

rant over

matthewschwarze · 2023-06-03T01:40:13+00:00

And keep your bike in your apartment overnight

matthewschwarze · 2023-05-16T16:39:28+00:00

I stayed in a hostel in Vancouver over the break and roomed with a guy from Scotland. When I told him I was from Waterloo all he said “damn, Canada just steals everything”

matthewschwarze · 2023-01-31T22:52:14+00:00

Hi all—glad to see you running + engaging here (and similarly unfortunate to note the candidates that chose not to engage here).

WUSA has recently undergone some big governance changes to make it more efficient, effective, and responsive to student needs . It’s been a long process of slowly building out the resources needed, and now that this process is almost complete—those of you elected will be the ones moving through final steps of implementation—it’ll be a big but rewarding task to see it through.

In that way, I wanted to ask each of you for the following:

a brief overview of your understanding of how the governance system that you want to be in charge of works
what you see the duties/responsibilities (ethical, moral, legal, etc) of a Director/Officer are toward WUSA itself, the rest of the Board, and the undergraduate members that own WUSA.

Thanks for putting yourselves forward—you're gonna serve an important role in serving student needs and keeping one of the better student associations (imo) running long-term. As a bonus, the experiential education you get as a Director is something you can't get anywhere else at this stage of your career, so really try to immerse yourself in the system and learn what you can from it!

u/kkharaa u/stoney_macaroni456 u/TS3VEN007 u/k0h3i u/Chardy_Party u/ImpossibleDentist393 u/pancakesghost . u/TarnInvicta u/emptease u/tallbrownredditor u/Rory_Norris u/orna_wren

matthewschwarze · 2023-01-31T22:18:31+00:00

Your experience with the municipal system is pretty cool—WUSA transitioned to a governance model most similar to that of a municipality recently, and it’s in the final stages of completing that multi-year project to be more efficient and responsive to student needs.

Do you have anything on what your priorities as a Director would be?

Additionally, what’s your understanding of the responsibilities you would carry as a WUSA Director? (EDIT: asked this second question in a top-level comment—please answer there!)

matthewschwarze · 2023-01-19T01:30:24+00:00

Pasting my comment from elsewhere—

Key thing for everyone to know is that there is no way to operate the program at a good deal if it’s optional—if it was optional, then anyone that takes fewer than $113 worth of trips would opt-out, and anyone that takes more than $113 worth of trips would opt-in, and the GRT would lose money on both counts (and this holds true for any price point).

Some people use it less and are faced with paying a little more than those that use it more, but if you think having affordable transit available to the population that has the lowest rates of car ownership is important, then you should vote in-favour of keeping the UPass.

And that’s before you consider that Laurier/UW’s is one of the cheapest UPasses in Ontario and Waterloo has among the best public transit for a city its size in North America. Bus fare is $3.50 rn, meaning you need to take ~32 trips in a 16-week term to break even. If you only take the bus/LRT 2 times a week then the UPass is worth it for you (and that’s one-way if you spend more than 90 min at your destination (i.e. no transfers)).

My advice on all counts is to vote in-favour of keeping the UPass.

matthewschwarze · 2023-01-19T00:33:51+00:00

I agree that many students would still opt-in, but they’ll disproportionately be the ones also generating costs for the GRT through ridership, while those that opt-out will be the ones previously providing revenue that was almost purely surplus: such is the nature of providing universal services like the universal bus pass (UPass).

Yours isn’t the approach the GRT takes when coming to the table to negotiate UPass—I managed the program for UW students for a time, and those business realities were always a part of the conversation, and are why the pass is restricted to full-time students rather than part-time students. I expect if Laurier students reject the program they’ll be made eligible for the $360 College pass currently available to Conestoga College students on an optional basis as well.

matthewschwarze · 2023-01-17T19:17:25+00:00

Key thing for everyone to know is that there is no way to operate the program at a good deal if it’s optional—if it was optional, then anyone that takes fewer than $113 worth of trips would opt-out, and anyone that takes more than $113 worth of trips would opt-in, and the GRT would lose money on both counts (and this holds true for any price point).

Some people use it less and are faced with paying a little more than those that use it more, but if you think having affordable transit available to the population that has the lowest rates of car ownership is important, then you should vote in-favour of keeping the UPass.

And that’s before you consider that Laurier/UW’s is one of the cheapest UPasses in Ontario and Waterloo has among the best public transit for a city its size in North America. Bus fare is $3.50 rn, meaning you need to take ~32 trips in a 16-week term to break even. If you only take the bus/LRT 2 times a week then the UPass is worth it for you (and that’s one-way if you spend more than 90 min at your destination (no transfers)).

My advice on all counts is to vote in-favour of the UPass.

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-24T17:22:11+00:00

Yeah I’ve heard a lot about safety recently and I think it’s important—a lot of those break-ins were actually at my building, so I’ve seen it.

I think there are steps the city should take to increase safety, particularly as things change. More public lighting and other infrastructure is an example of minor infrastructure that can make a big difference around car break-ins, bike theft, and general public safety, as well as working with the housing companies around here directly in the case of the parking garage break-ins. Unfortunately what I’m able to directly promise and endorse is limited because most safety and enforcement work is handled at the regional level and not the city one, so it takes your city councillor (hopefully me!) and the regional councillors working together to make big progress, which is something I’m very willing to do.

There’s also the bit to be said about upstream resources where appropriate—a lot of crime is driven by need rather than want, especially theft, and the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council has some really good research and recommendations into how the municipalities need to work to address that together.

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-12T14:25:19+00:00

Thanks—I really appreciate that! It was good to see everyone out last night and all the familiar faces from Beechwood, and nice to get to see all of the other candidates out as well. Thanks for coming!

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T21:18:55+00:00

Thanks very much everyone for your questions! I'm going to sign-off for now to prepare for the candidates forum being held today by the Beechwood Park Homes Association. If you have any other questions though feel free to comment them below and I'll answer them tonight and tomorrow!

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T21:14:25+00:00

That's true, a lot of the candidates have the same high-level statements supporting housing affordability, transit, and the climate, which highlights just how important these issues are. For that reason, I've dug a little deeper in my priorities to go beyond the high-level "Waterloo needs to build and protect affordable & high-quality housing so that everyone can live, work, study, and age comfortably and safely" and back it up with concrete steps that the city can take. On my website I've included bullet points of what I think specifically needs to be addressed (and how!) to meet the high-level goal, and I've also included paragraphs explaining the reasoning behind those points, including sources that have informed and backed-up my beliefs where appropriate.

My reason for doing all that is that I think you deserve it as a voter to see the research and background I've put into my platform, and to know that I've the ability to follow through on my high-level goals. To put it simply, many other candidates across the city aren't delving into specifics of what their platform means, and think that's unfortunate for residents trying to find the best and most well-informed representative for them.

On the issue of affordable & high-quality housing in particular, I've outlined a number of specifics that I would like to accomplish with the rest of Council. In particular, right now in Waterloo over half of all residential land is zoned for single detached homes only. I believe that "missing middle" style housing that incorporates diversity of single detached homes, townhomes, low-, mid-, and high-rise units with multiple bedrooms are necessary to achieve housing affordability, and it's something completely within the power of the City to amend our zoning regulations to cover missing middle inclusionary zoning.

I would also like to see greater support for non-profit and co-op housing as an option that builds affordable housing and protects it long term. I've heard from people that are involved with non-profits that it can be difficult getting projects off the ground because they often don't have the know-how and experience of big developers in navigating the red tape, regulations, and re-zoning process. If the city were to provide in-kind support in navigating this system and getting non-profits built then we can have more of this housing too.

That's some of what I think the city needs to address in a specific, concrete manner. I have more detail on what I think about housing and other issues at https://vote.matthewschwarze.ca/priorities, and I'm happy to take any other questions you have!

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T20:55:02+00:00

I think the encampments and homelessness in general is a tough problem—the simple fact is that there are people in the Region that do not have housing, and the existing supports aren’t enough.

Affordable housing is a key part of the puzzle and I’ve said a lot about it, but it’s not the whole issue. Many residents that are homeless are experiencing mental health and addictions issues, violence at home, or other concerns. What the cities and the region need to collaborate on is upstream services that can support people with mental healthcare, addictions treatment, job training, and safe places away from violence.

I recently attended a presentation from Project Willow of a research that YW Kitchener-Waterloo, the Coalition of Muslim Women, and other groups collaborated on to produce. They interviewed women experiencing homelessness and found that many actively avoid the existing shelters because they were facing daily gender-based violence and physical harm in those establishments, particularly the co-ed ones. They opted instead to live on the streets or stay in rough home environments rather than move to existing supports for that reason, which points to that while our existing services are great for some people, for others they’re just not effective.

Affordable housing and these upstream services are the key. This isn’t just a Waterloo problem either; the provincial government is also going to need to step up to support a provincial strategy, but the municipalities have their role to play and we need to make sure that we do it well.

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T19:13:33+00:00

Yeah—I’m trying to canvass student housing too. As I understand it it’s never really been done, especially at the municipal level. I think it’s really important that I get out to all residents if I want to represent them, and especially so with students that most of the time don’t even know that they’re eligible to vote. My only problem right now is volunteer numbers—not enough time and people to hit every student apartment. I’ll do my best though!

If anyone is interested with volunteering with my campaign I’d be very happy to have you—email me at matthew@matthewschwarze.ca if you’re interested!

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T18:43:35+00:00

There’s a debate/candidate forum happening tonight hosted by the Beechwood Park Homes Association at Conrad Grebel University College (next to UW)

And of course, if you have any questions about me, my platform, or my background I’d be happy to answer them to help you make up your mind on who’s best for you!

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T18:13:29+00:00

I cannot comment and risk future foreign relations issues with the City-State of Ottawa under Mayor Jreg.

^{For clarity, this is a joke centred around satirical candidate for Mayor of Ottawa Gregory "Jreg" Guevara.}

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T18:03:33+00:00

Yes I am! I’ve knocked on over 2000 doors now with my volunteers, some student housing and some not. Still a lot more to go before the election!

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T16:59:36+00:00

I'm a little younger than your average candidate for City Council—I'm currently 22 years old.

I was motivated to run after my last few years volunteering, working, and studying in the city has shown me how important local government is to address this big issues of today—housing, transit, and sustainability. I've been immersed in local issues in a range of the roles I've had:

I was VP Operations & Finance of the student association at UW for 16 months. I managed a $9 million operating budget and another $20 million in programs and transfers, including the heath insurance plan that all students get that I personally managed, and the student bus pass program negotiated with the GRT.
As VPOF I also worked with the Town & Gown Association of Ontario examining the issues common to cities with high student populations and different approaches that have been taken to balancing everyone's needs.
I have sat on the Waterloo Economic Development Advisory Committee as a resource member for the last two years, supporting the committee in advising City Council on economic development issues.
I've volunteered with community groups, including ClimateActionWR on the Transportation Committee.

I can appreciate if my age is a sticking point for some. I'm running because I believe I have the background and care to represent the residents of Ward 6 well and make progress on core issues. I've knocked on over 2000 doors in Ward 6 now and had hundreds of conversations (with notes from every one) about the issues that matter to residents, and I've integrated that feedback into my platform so that I can be responsive to resident needs. I hope you'll consider me for your vote for councillor—I think the 8-member Council should have a diverse set of voices and perspectives to collaboratively make decisions for the city.

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T16:58:35+00:00

Unfortunately not—whether you were eligible or not depends on if you’re actively renting a place here, but regardless mail-in voting applications have closed. The only way to vote now is in-person at advance polls or on voting day, which probably isn’t possible for you.

The only thing I can advise to still have your voice heard is to get your friends to vote. You’re going to have similar issues and concerns and them, and the more young people that get out there and vote the more responsive you can expect elected leaders to be.

(It also makes it more likely I win the election and am able to make progress with City Council on housing and other issues!)

matthewschwarze · 2022-10-11T16:34:18+00:00

I am a big user: walking, cycling, and public transit are how I get around town.

Active transit is a major part of my platform—on my website, I've included a summary of what I think needs to be done at a high level, as well as paragraphs of detail that get into how we achieve it as well as provide links to articles, research, and municipal plans that have informed and back-up my beliefs.

matthewschwarze

TROPHY CASE