Peterborough Currents is going through some big changes. 

A key piece of our funding has dried up, which has necessitated some tough conversations about what lies ahead for our community-powered local news outlet. At the same time, we're transitioning to become a non-profit organization governed by a volunteer board of directors. It's a lot! 

In this episode, karol orzechowski interviews Currents publisher-editor Will Pearson about everything that's going on at Currents. karol is the board chair of the Peterborough Association for Local News, the brand new non-profit that will be assuming ownership of Peterborough Currents in the coming weeks and months.

We discuss the past, present and future of Currents, as well as how different journalism business models shape the content outlets produce. Have any questions? Email [email protected] to get in touch.

Thanks to Charlie Glasspool and 3C84 for the music on this episode.

Ontario is heading to the polls on February 27, 2025, and Peterborough Currents has interviewed four of the candidates running to be Peterborough-Kawartha's next MPP. 

In this episode, we chat with Andrew Roudny, who is running for the New Blue Party of Ontario.

Ontario is heading to the polls on February 27, 2025, and Peterborough Currents interviewed three of the candidates running to be Peterborough-Kawartha's next MPP. 

In this episode, we chat with Jen Deck, who is running for the Ontario New Democratic Party.

Ontario is heading to the polls on February 27, 2025, and Peterborough Currents interviewed three of the candidates running to be Peterborough-Kawartha's next MPP. 

In this episode, we chat with Lucas Graham, who is running for the Green Party of Ontario.

Ontario is heading to the polls on February 27, 2025, and Peterborough Currents interviewed three of the candidates running to be Peterborough-Kawartha's next MPP. 

In this episode, we chat with Adam Hopkins, who is running for the Liberal Party of Ontario.

Welcome to Peterborough Currents' podcast coverage of the city's 2025 budget process! 

In this episode, Brett Throop and Will Pearson discuss what's behind next year's proposed tax increase and how the city might solve its budget troubles without resorting to tax hikes. We also discuss a couple of key topics we've reported on, including the city's capital shortfall and discretionary benefits for social assistance recipients.

TIMESTAMPS

• (0:00) Community rallies against cuts to arts and community grants
• (6:38) Why are citizens facing a big tax hike for the second year in  a row?
• (17:26) Councillors met for two days to bring the tax hike down. It went up instead.
• (29:24) Why Mayor Jeff Leal sees high taxes as an economic development issue
• (37:34)  Property taxes are over a century old. Is there a better way to fund cities?
• (42:10) The city's capital budget and  growing infrastructure backlog
• (56:55) Transit riders face higher fares for the same service next year
• (1:03:47) Should the city fund health benefits for people on social assistance?
• (1:14:56) Millions more for homelessness next year; is it sustainable?
• (1:23:52) A "beautiful vision" of what budget season could be

SPECIAL THANKS
Thanks to Will Ward for the wonderful piano improvisations.
Thanks to Eddy Sweeney from Trent Radio for audio of the Community Not Cuts rally.

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM
Our in-depth and community-centred journalism takes a lot of resources to produce. We can't do it without you. If you want to see Peterborough Currents grow (and make more podcasts!) please sign up as a financial supporter:

 https://peterboroughcurrents.ca/support-us/

In 2023, the City of Peterborough implemented two new initiatives to respond to homelessness in the city and to offer low-barrier services for people whose needs were not being met by the existing shelter system at the time.

Those two initiatives were the modular housing community on Wolfe Street, where 50 sleeping cabins replaced a tent encampment, and the Trinity Community Centre, which was funded to provide overnight shelter for six months of the year and a daytime drop-in program year-round.

In February 2024, four people who were instrumental in designing and delivering these two initiatives participated in a panel discussion to share what the process was like, what they learned, and what challenges remain. The panelists were: Alex Bierk, Christian Harvey, Auden Palmer, and Jessica Penner.

The panel was part of the Community Symposium on Housing and Homelessness, which was hosted at Trent University by the Research for Social Change Lab, the Peterborough Drug Strategy, and United Way Peterborough and District. 

Peterborough Currents is sharing highlights from this panel discussion in this podcast episode.

UPDATE: This discussion was recorded on February 23, 2024. At the time, the Trinity Centre's overnight shelter was set to close for the season on March 31, and mention of this closure is made a couple of times in this podcast. On March 25, 2024, One City Peterborough confirmed to Currents that the shelter will remain open until at least the end of April with support from United Way Peterborough and District.

CREDITS: This episode was produced by Will Pearson. Audio recording by Ayesha Lye. Intro music by Jordan Cook.

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT LOCAL JOURNALISM: At Peterborough Currents, our mission is to serve the citizens of Peterborough with in-depth and community centred news. If you value our work, please support us financially: https://peterboroughcurrents.ca/support-us/

Peterborough has a budget! Councillors gave it their final approval at the city council meeting on December 11, 2023. 

During the council meeting, councillors made a couple of last-minute changes to lower the tax increase  to 7%, including dipping ever further into the city's reserves and voting to raise transit fares by $0.25 per ride.

Sebastian, Abbigale, and Will discuss what the implications of these decisions might be. Then, they reflect on the budget process as a whole.

Thank you so much for listening to this podcast series. We can't wait for the 2025 budget!!

MUSIC: Thanks to Will Ward for his piano improvisations.

CREDITS: Hosted by Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay, Abbigale Kernya, and Will Pearson

PLEASE SUPPORT PETERBOROUGH CURRENTS: This podcast was a labour of love. But we still have bills to pay. To help Peterborough Currents produce more in-depth and community-centred journalism, please support us with a monthly contribution. Here's where you can sign up: https://peterboroughcurrents.ca/support-us/

Episode four of our series on the 2024 municipal budget, which we're producing in partnership with Arthur Newspaper. In this episode, we dive into the capital budget.

We start this episode on Sherbrooke Street near the city's western limit, where there's stretch of road that is nasty to navigate as a pedestrian. Folks who walk along this part of Sherbrooke wish the city would build a sidewalk to make their commutes easier and safer.

But it doesn't look like they'll get their sidewalk any time soon. That's because the city is struggling to keep up with its infrastructure costs and is prioritizing other road projects first. During November's budget talks, city councillors voted down a proposal to spend $1.8 million on a temporary sidewalk to help pedestrians out until the city pays for a more permanent fix.

According to the city's budget documents, Peterborough faces a $70 million infrastructure shortfall every year. That's forcing councillors to make tough choices about which projects they fund and which ones they delay.

In this episode of our 2024 Budget podcast series, Brett Throop and Will Pearson dive into the city's capital budget. We cover:

• The $70 million hole in Peterborough's capital budget
• Major capital projects for 2024, including the new twin pad arena
• Why councillors voted to kill Peterborough's traffic calming program
• The sidewalk on Sherbrooke Street
• Should we think of trees as capital assets?
• And more!

City council is expected to give its final approval to the 2024 budget on December 11. We'll have a final wrap-up episode of the podcast series after that. Thanks for listening!

CREDITS: This episode was produced by Brett Throop. It was hosted by Brett and Will Pearson.

MUSIC: Thanks to Will Ward for his piano improvisations, which were recorded at The John, the event space at Sadleir House.

PLEASE SUPPORT PETERBOROUGH CURRENTS: It's not just the city that is budgeting for 2024. So are we. We're making big decisions for the coming year right now. Can we afford to hire new staff and produce more journalism? Or will we have to cut back and produce less? Everything is on the table. If you want us to continue producing in-depth, community-centred journalism next year, please support us if you are able. Here's where you can sign up: https://peterboroughcurrents.ca/support-us/

City councillors went through the 2024 draft budget page by page and line by line last week. By the end of the process, they'd whittled the proposed property tax  increase down from 9.59 percent to 7.38 percent. But they accomplished that by shifting some of the tax burden away from residential property owners and on to business property owners — they didn't make any major cuts to the 2024 spending proposed by city staff.

The budget process reveals so much about the city and how it works. In this episode of our podcast series on the 2024 municipal budget, we're covering five stories that came up during councillors' budget deliberations.

Why is the city's airport losing millions of dollars every year? 

Why are city staff taking a "calculated risk" with funding for social assistance medical benefits? 

Will bus riders see any transit improvements next year? 

Is the city's bureaucracy too "top-heavy"?

And why are the City of Peterborough and Trent University still at loggerheads over the development of campus employment lands?

In this episode, Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay and Will Pearson will answer these five questions and share what your city councillors had to say about them as well.

PRODUCED AND HOSTED by Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay, Abbigale Kernya, and Will Pearson

MUSIC by Will Ward

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 — Intro
2:44 — Peterborough Transit
6:26 — Social Assistance Discretionary Benefits
11:12 — The Organizational Structure of the City
20:10 — Cleantech Commons
27:40 — The Peterborough Airport

PLEASE SUPPORT PETERBOROUGH CURRENTS
We're a grassroots, audience-funded journalism outlet serving the people of Peterborough, Ontario. To help us produce more journalism, sign up as a supporter here: https://peterboroughcurrents.ca/support-us/

In this episode of our podcast series covering Peterborough's 2024 municipal budget deliberations, we discuss the November 14 and November 15 finance committee meetings, where citizens and community groups addressed city council about the draft budget.

What happened? A variety of community groups pleaded with councillors to reverse a proposed cut to their municipal grants. The proposed 3.6% cut to community service grants would save the median household $0.67 on their tax bill next year. Meanwhile, Chief of Police Stuart Betts made the case for a 15.3% police budget increase that would cost the same household about $106 in additional taxes next year.

EPISODE HOSTS: Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay, Will Pearson and Evan Robins.

APPEARING ON THIS EPISODE: Will Pearson, Evan Robins, Leslie Menagh, Patricia Wilson, Tegan Moss, Andy Cragg, Tricia Clarkson, Su Ditta, Rob Hailman, Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay, Drew Merrett, Stuart Betts, Nicola Koyanagi, Camila Duarte, Keith Riel, Alex Bierk, Joy Lachica, Randy Mellow.

MUSIC: Will Ward

PLEASE SUPPORT PETERBOROUGH CURRENTS: We rely on audience funding to produce our journalism. If you value what we do, please contribute financially so we can continue serving the community this way. Here's where you can sign up: https://peterboroughcurrents.ca/support-us/