Waterloo mayor Dorothy McCabe delivers second state of the city address

With more than a full year under her belt as the mayor of Waterloo, Dorothy McCabe took to the stage at Lazaridis Hall to deliver her second State of the City address on Thursday.

During her speech, McCabe touched on topics such as the expanded transportation network, the city’s three-year budget and upcoming additions to existing public spaces.

She also emphasized the city’s relationships with the three post-secondary institutes, noting that “Waterloo would not be Waterloo without them.”

“Waterloo is fortunate to have three globally recognized post-secondary institutions in our City — home to over 50,000 students who are a progressive force for our future-ready community, for our non-profits, community organizations and businesses,” she said.

Some of the accomplishments include being the first council last year to set a target of net zero emissions by 2050 and success and feedback on the Community Conversations initiative

Upcoming additions to public spaces include consultation on upgrades to Waterloo Park, the creation of the Laurel Greenway linear park, enhancements on Willis Way and the opening of the new autonomous public washroom on Heritage Green, are other accomplishments.

“We are literally putting the ‘Loo’ in Waterloo,” joked McCabe.

On the topic of housing, McCabe applauded council’s decision on Monday to begin the process of converting 25 acres at 2025 University Ave. E. from employment lands to residential. She said the lands are the size of 14 soccer fields and would accommodate 700 housing units.

“We are clear, Waterloo is open for building homes,” McCabe said. “A supply of safe, affordable and attainable housing is one of the top issues facing Waterloo and our Council.”

Waterloo’s provincial housing target is 16,000 new housing units by 2031. McCabe said that there were over 23,000 housing applications “within the planning pipeline.”

“Our community will meet this goal,” said McCabe.

McCabe finished off the State of the City address with multiple video presentations from the winners of the “Council for a Day” contest, where fifth grades gave ideas on how they would make Waterloo a better place.