New City Council to Discuss Removal of Downtown Benches and Picnic Tables

Thursday, 17 November 2022 05:58

By Marcie Culbert

Councillor Kate Leatherbarrow will bring forward a motion tonight asking for Woodstock City Council to reinstate the benches and picnic tables in the downtown core.

WOODSTOCK - It's going to be an eventful first meeting for the new Woodstock City Council.

In her first act as a City Councillor, Kate Leatherbarrow will put forward a motion, asking council to bring the benches and picnic tables back to Museum Square and the rest of the downtown core.

The Notice of Motion is included in the agenda and it reads as follows:

WHEREAS at the regular meeting of Woodstock City Council held on October 21, 2021, Council directed staff to remove the benches and picnic tables in the downtown area until further notice;

AND WHEREAS to reinstate benches and picnic tables ensures Woodstock’s downtown core be both accessible and inclusive to all members of our community;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Woodstock City Council direct staff Page 4 of 137 to reinstate all such benches in Museum Square immediately and all remaining benches and picnic tables in the downtown area in the Spring of 2023 following final snow removal activities.

Once the notice of motion is accepted by City Council, it will be discussed at the next meeting on Thursday December 15th.

City-County Councillor Deb Tait put forward the motion for the benches and to implement 24/7 security last year. Her motion was amended by former City-County Councillor Sandra Talbot to include the removal of picnic tables and you can read more about that discussion online here.

After hearing about Leatherbarrow's Notice of Motion, Tait issued the following statement to the media.

"This is not a decision that was taken lightly by the council at the time to remove the benches. We had stakeholders, employees, citizens, merchants and their customers that had very real concerns and apprehensions about going downtown due to the climate created around the congregating, loitering and nefarious activities around the downtown benches. If the new council is going to revisit this it should be done with the benefit of broader public input so all those concerned can have their say. The former council took the attempted arson on our museum building very seriously and the welfare of our city employees. I believe the new council should have the benefit of all the information that went into the decision and this would be derived from a public input meeting where all stakeholders can have their say. The health and wellbeing of ALL our citizens is paramount. "

Tonight's hybrid meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and it will be live streamed on the City of Woodstock YouTube Channel.