Re-Branding Belleville

Belleville has always been known as the friendly city. A small sized city with small town values. A great place to raise a family. Yet that started to change in 2010. Due to the rate of crimes committed in Belleville throughout the last year, MacLean’s magazine recently ranked our city as one of the top 20 most dangerous Canadian cities. That doesn’t quite reflect Belleville’s motto, or slogan. I believe that Belleville needs to look at ways in which it can re-brand itself, and this needs to be initiated by the people at City Hall.

During my first year of studies at Loyalist College in 2007, I had a course on political science. One of my major assignments was to write a paper on the subject of what my mandate or platform would be if I were to ever seek political office. As an aspiring politician, I have often thought of ideas I would bring forward to the Council Chamber. I believe there are issues that need to be addressed to ensure that Belleville will have a prosperous future. The main points that I discussed three years ago are still relevant today. I would like to refer back to those previous ideas, and discuss how they can play their part in re-branding our city.

 

Issue #1 - Homelessness/Poverty

Belleville needs to do more to fight poverty. Infomercials that discuss the extreme poverty that currently exists in Third World countries can be seen on television on a daily basis. The conditions that Third World countries have to deal with are mind-boggling; I could not even begin to imagine living in such dire circumstances. Organizations such as The One Campaign have been created with the sole purpose of ending world poverty, and it’s important to fully support such a worthy cause. However, I believe that a lot of people tend to put so much focus on the poverty that exists overseas that they become blind to the poverty that exists on Belleville streets. This may not be extreme poverty, but poverty none-the-less.

I’ve lived in Belleville the bulk of my life, and I still find it hard to believe that our city doesn’t have a permanent homeless shelter. Throughout my past, I have met homeless people all across Canada, and there are many myths about the homeless that need to be corrected. Nearly everyone I know believes that homeless people all suffer from either mental illness, drug addiction, alcohol addiction; or all three. While true in some cases, a lot of homeless people I’ve met are people who suffer from nothing other than bad luck and troubling circumstances.

Another common response from people is that there is no need for a homeless shelter during the spring, summer, and fall months. Consider for a second you were homeless, would you not choose sleeping indoors and having shelter any time of the year?

Also, the number one reason why many people avoid our downtown core is that the homeless population in downtown Belleville makes them feel uncomfortable and unsafe. If Belleville had a 24-hour a day year-long shelter that homeless people could turn to, perhaps more people would feel safe to walk the downtown streets and support our businesses. Yet in the meantime, City Hall needs to educate the public about the problem of homelessness. Walking by and ignoring the homeless on the street will not make them go away. Homelessness in Belleville will only remain a problem for as long as the issue is ignored. Eventually, City Hall will come to the realization that tackling and dealing with the crisis of homelessness is a necessary step in the re-branding of our city core.

 

Issue #2 Emergency Service Worker Recruitment & Recognition

During the past municipal term, Mayor Ellis initiated the doctor recruitment program, which has guaranteed most citizens of Belleville quality health care in the years to come. It is absolutely essential to continue this program so that Belleville is a top choice for top medical school students. However, I believe that Belleville City Council needs to do more to actively recruit police officers, firefighters, and paramedics. Emergency service workers provide essential services and save lives and property on a daily basis. They are the true heroes of our community.

I spent most of my childhood dreaming of one day being a police officer. I discovered a couple of years ago that I would be required to invest $5000 and undergo laser vision correction surgery to meet policing visual acuity requirements. I am sure that there were, and are many financially stressed students such as myself in the same situation.

I strongly believe that the City of Belleville should cover the cost of laser vision surgery for emergency services applicants who pass all other components of the application process; and who would be willing to serve in Belleville for a minimum time period. As well, Belleville could be viewed as a top choice for prospective emergency service personnel if the City of Belleville were to raise their pay. They risk their lives on a daily basis and do not get paid any amount near to what they truly deserve.

Furthermore, once Belleville recruits and hires the best of the best, we need to keep them. City Hall should do more to show their gratitude for our cops, firefighters, and paramedics. Perhaps City Hall can set aside a week or day in which Belleville can recognize the sacrifices of our local emergency service workers. If people celebrate a frozen dairy product on National Ice Cream Day, then citizens of Belleville can surely honour those who keep our streets safe, protect our houses from fire, and save our loved ones by rushing them to surgery rooms.

Issue #3 – Attracting Families

My final point I want to stress is that Belleville needs to do more to attract younger families to our city. We need to renovate and improve the technology at our schools, because parents want their children to get the best possible education. We need to build more parks and playgrounds, and offer free recreational sports so that children will be encouraged to live a healthy and active lifestyle.

In closing, there are numerous tasks and challenges that the City of Belleville faces if it is to do all it can to ensure that it remains a successful and prosperous city for future generations. Acknowledging the homeless, recruiting and maintaining a solid core of emergency service workers, and attracting younger families to our city are just a few of the countless plans or strategies that can be utilized by City Hall.

Actions can be taken to ensure that citizens, and entrepreneurs feel comfortable in the downtown core. Actions can be taken to ensure that our city recruits and maintains the best cops, firefighters, and paramedics. Actions can be taken to ensure that Belleville attracts young families, our future generations. With some effort from City Hall, Belleville can be re-branded, and can once again be known as a safe place to raise a family.

I strongly believe that if the three issues I’ve discussed were to be considered by City Council; they would be taking steps in the right direction as the City of Belleville tries to re-brand itself after a year in which Belleville was on the radar for all the wrong reasons.