River Gardens Retirement residents host Mayor Ritsma for breakfast
- Gary West
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Every year at the end of December, Stratford Mayor Martin Ritsma accepts an invite to have breakfast with all the men who live in the much-decorated River Gardens Retirement Residence.
Ritsma gives those attending an outlook on what the city is working on for the future, and answers questions from those residents with what concerns them at the present time.
The question came up about when the much dilapidated “Golden Bamboo” building on Ontario Street might be coming down, since it is a particular eye sore as people enter the city.
The mayor said there was now a new owner and developer and council is just trying to come to terms with how many floors the proposed future buildings might be, in order to comply with neighbours beside the location proposed and the zoning bylaws that are presently in place.
The mayor talked about doctor and nursing staff at Stratford and area hospitals, and said the Huron-Perth Healthcare Alliance, under the guidance of CEO Andrew Williams, is in much better shape than other immediate areas of the province, and this area continues to attract doctors and nurses.
He said he has talked to many in the medical field and most say the city has what they are looking for: schools, churches, recreational areas, farmers markets, seniors programs, top quality eating establishments and, of course, the area’s best theatres.
When the question came up about the Grand Trunk renewal project and the buildings there, he said the 18 acres will continue to be used as the city’s bus terminal, and also parking, and knows projects like a new public library and new YMCA building are projects city council would like to see at the site, if possible.
Ritsma said the advisory committee that had been set up offers area residents a say in what they would like to see at that Cooper site, where railway locomotives once called home.
He said, as with other cities, adequate housing continues to be an area council is always trying their best to improve and knows many projects are now underway on all sides of the city, that will help alleviate some of those issues.
He sad the city continues to work hard on rent-geared-to-income housing, where he knows it is an ongoing issue to manage.
He knows there are many workers at manufacturing plants in Stratford that travel to and from work outside of Stratford, and with more housing, those workers could stay in the city and raise their families here, and they would spend their money here, instead of out of town.
With 2025 figures for construction in the city not yet available, in 2024 Stratford completed 119 infrastructure, road and building projects, for a total expenditure of $37 million.
In 2026 there are 190 projects in the pipeline for a $56 million city expenditure.
He stated that if council and staff don’t tackle aging infrastructure like water, sewage waste and streets, down the road there could always be disasters lurching, if problems aren’t looked after before they become an even bigger problem.
In closing, the mayor said he was adamant at holding the budget to a 3.5 per cent increase for the cities taxpayers (it ended up being a 3.19 per cent increase), and hopes that future years will be even less, if possible, while maintaining services that residents have come to expect, from its leaders in the picturesque Festival City.