Council: increases transparency, welcomes casino giants, adds more trees

All boards welcome at city hall

The London Police Service isn't the only city agency that is welcome to holds it board meetings at city hall in an effort to increase transparency.

City council has extended the invitation to its 12 other boards and comissions, including the London Transit Commission and the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. Council is also encouraging the agencies to live stream their meetings.

"I think it's an important step in ensuring people feel welcome and in an inviting space that removes some of the barriers that historically have been there," saidcoun. MoSalih- who made the initial request for the police services board to hold its meetings at city hall.

• Council: appoints Mo Salih to police services board, approves smart traffic lights

Concerns regarding relocation inconveniences were raised. However,council clarified that all agencieswould have the option to decline the offer and continue running meetings at their respective centres.

Proposed Casino

Councillorsare invitingOLGand Gateway Casinos and Entertainment Limited to discuss, for the first time in-person, a proposed casino for London.

• Gateway Casinos seeks more band for its buck at Western Fair District

Gateway, a Canadian entertainment giant, has plans to build a casino that would include a hotel, eateries and gaming slots. The proposed $140 million project would employ 700 people.Gateway currently employs about 300 people at the Western Fair Slots.

Following the meeting,Londoners will have the opportunity to weigh in atpublicconsultationmeetings.

More trees in the Forest City

The Forest City is getting more trees.

• Why the city is rolling out a new strategy to crack down on plant intruders

Councillors approved a five year action plan between 2017 and 2021 that would work to achieve a city tree canopy goal of about 34 per cent by 2065.

Every year, the city spends about $1 million on tree planting. However,the new plan willincrease that budget by about $450,000. It willbe reviewed and revised every five years until 2065.

Election sign bylaw approved

City council has approved a newelection sign by-law that imposesstricter rules around candidate signsahead of an election.

Candidates won't have the opportunity to stack theirsigns, prompting a 10 metre distance per sign, per candidate. Candidates will havefour days to get takeelection signs down, instead of three days.

And although signs can now be bigger, they have to be set back from the road.Election signs placed withineight metres of roadwaysshould be below 1.8 metres in height.