Shane Ward

Member since 24 October 2025

I am an Adult ADHD Coach and neurodiversity advocate.

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Shane Ward4 weeks ago There has been much said about how residents are not understanding the proposed changes - but at the same time the City has been less than honest in its "education".Note - there is a significant change from the 2021 bylaw wrt registration and tariffs. In 2021 this applied only to excess pets. The proposed 2026 change now makes registration and a tariff mandatory for ALL pets, and additional tariffs for excess.Both clauses for Dogs 2(5)(6) and Cats 3(5)(a) (yes, is inconsistent numbering in the proposal) indicate that registration and tariffs apply to ALL pets.The fact that the current tariff (unallocated) is not active is not enough because a simply budgetary line item change will enact a fee payable for registration without further consultation (smaller line items are rarely deemed necessary when budgets are "consulted" on).These clauses should be removed or clarified to align with the current "reassurance" that the city is not looking to introduce a pet tax for any pet, either now, or in the future.Furthermore collaring dogs on property is unnecessary, focus rather on responsibility of pet owners for their pets off property.

Shane Ward11 months ago Any transport demand programme has to have absolute buy-in from employers - especially in the CDB.Past experience suggests that companies limit flexibility which makes lift clubbing impossible. Lift clubbing is supported by fixed times and defined calendars - meetings running late or scheduled at cob defeat the idea of lift clubs.Flexibility is also often restricted to a subset of employees who usually have the means to get in and out at will, or have resources to alleviate personal responsibilities (children et al). If your only means of transport is public transport then your children have to be catered for as a separate cost.TDM is a good idea, and definitely can benefit from Covid's lessons learnt BUT business will have to be THE key player to ensure that all employees have the right to flexible movement that does not further disadvantage their position.As an slightly left field caveat - as a neurodiversity advocate lift clubs are not always an optimum solution *if* lift clubs devolve into random ride and share. For some of us ride and share with consistent strangers makes the motivation to share more difficult and stressful.

Shane Ward2 years ago As residents intending to comment on proposed amendments there is very little information provided that assists in making an informed decision. Having only been alerted to this proposal yesterday, how is this public participation? Our Ward councillor, who works regularly with our BRA, has not informed us as to the ramifications of the these amendments to real service delivery. As a resident we have already seen a decline in service responses to material impact on the suburb, notably wrt decisions made at council and provincial level that have ignored the impact on residents. While I realise that we'll hear "that's not in our purvey", the role of the councillor is key in ensuring that all stakeholders have a say in the developments that make for an effective and happy suburb. But in the past 5 years what we have seen is a decline in support of the Bothasig SAPS satellite station (not enough reportable incidents!?), the underhanded installation of Bothasig High School and continued lack of Council support to ensure effective Planning permissions that have resulted in community under fire - a situation that neither CoCT nor WCED are showing any interest in resolving, an increase in heavy traffic flow due to the enhanced Plattekloof extension impacting already stressed roads and water pipelines (a notable increase in water outages due to stressed infrastructure) to name a few. How will collapsing Ward 5 into a bigger subcouncil ensure that we have more attention rather than less? How will this impact decision making on big projects - will residents have any influence, let alone impact? With the little budget allocation already afforded a big Ward be adequately protected under a new subscouncil or will it be dissolved? I don't believe that this is a valid public participation efforts as there are questions that need to be answered, and these should be addressed through the councillors with their respective Resident Associations BEFORE any final decision is made. I request that all comments in this process be minuted as part of the broader discussion and made available if a decision is made without a proper participation forum.

Shane Ward

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Misleading public information and future proofing no consultation

Employer Buy-in is critical

Public Participation?