by Anish SamanthapudiAs the newly elected mayor

of Yellowville, I’m pleased to announce that I’m going to make the following changes for our city to improve. I plan on introducing an effective garbage disposal system, more public transportation and new after-school activities for kids.

First, let me talk about the garbage disposal system. I’m going to make more garbage, recycling, and compost bins available. They’re going to be at parks, offices, and even sidewalks. This will help create a litter free environment which will help prevent animals from eating garbage and making the city more sanitary. Having a clean city is compulsory for the city to be ideal.

Next, I will incorporate more public transportation in Yellowville. I’ll do that by allowing more GO trains, city buses, and carpool lanes to be available to the public. This will help reduce pollution that is contaminating the environment. That’s why more public transportation will improve this city.

Lastly, I’ll introduce more after-school activities so kids and adults can get active. To promote this I will build more recreation centers and parks for the public. This will help people to be healthier, and they will not stay inside for a long time. Having access to more after-school activities will make this city be ideal.

I hope these changes will benefit you. I also hope to see that you will enjoy a clean, pollution free, and healthy city created by the changes that I plan on doing.

by Anna-Maria KenneyMy ideal city isn’t a city with

tall buildings that reach the sky, and its not a quiet little town with short houses that are close to the ground.

My ideal city can be big or small short or tall because Looks don’t matter its what on the inside that counts.

My ideal city would be a peaceful place but at the same time a lively one. Everyone would be happy comfortable, and energetic and no one would be meager, homeless and sorrowful. People would be kind and would not do illegal things like take drugs.

Children would laugh and play without worrying about bullies. People would follow their dreams and not care about others opinions. All people would feel safe and welcomed into the city and would be proud to call it their home. The streets would be clean and the air would be fresh, and the city would be

filled with nature. Even though my ideal city sounds nice it would take a lot of work and help from the community.

by Deacan PotterOne day a man named Max

was in his house watching tv. but then he got his mail for his property taxes. Max was so mad it was $250 dollars. He ran to city hall and demanded the mayor. Max told him that property taxes are too high in price. The mayor started to compromise with Max. The mayor said that he could increase minimum wage for jobs or to lower property taxes but the important things won’t always get done.

When Max got home after that long discussion with the mayor he fell asleep. One month later Max got his property taxes again and it was the same price. Max was terribly mad. He ran over to the mayor and demanded to lower real estate. Max was speaking for the whole city. But the mayor disagreed and left. Max then yelled “ I’M GOING TO RUN FOR MAYOR”. So Max did and he won.

When Max won the campaign for mayor he lowered the land prices but also lowered real estate.

When he did everyone loved him but a lot of work in the city wasn’t getting done. So Max realized that he wasn’t made to be mayor. He was made to be a normal citizen. So Max gave the mayor his job back and the mayor finally agreed to lower property taxes a bit, but not real estate.

When Max lost his mayor job a guy named John wanted to make property taxes higher. But the mayor disagreed and it just started all over again, but instead of John winning Max came in. Then World War Ill started.

by Isaiah SinclairThis is my opinion of what is

ideal city. The 2 things that I will be writing about are reducing crime and better transportation.

To help reduce crime, many things could be done. In Canada, we have the advantage of getting great education to better our lives, so that we can get a well paying job in the future. Some people join gangs and forget about how valuable their education is, by dropping out of College or University. So what I think we should do is have bright lights in dark areas to make dangerous places more safe. We could fix up these high crime areas by making them more inviting and offering on the job training at community businesses.

Remember reduced crime = more people can get an education. This means Kitch-ener can thrive!

Last, I will be writing about better transportation. In order to have a city to prosper we need cost effective ways to

help fix this issue. In England lots of people go to work on rental bikes. We could add more rental bikes and bike paths to Kitchener so that people can get to work in a cheaper and environmentally friendly way. We could add more connecting bus and ION routes that go to Universities and Colleges in order to have the students using the GRT/ION more. That is why I value great transportation!

In conclusion, I think this vision of Kitchener will make it a great, ideal city!

by Ivan UrquhartMy ideal city would have

three things in it. It would have more bike lanes, a well running Light Rail Transit, and parks with equipment rentals. I have been asked to write about my ideal city for my school.

My first opinion is about having more bike lanes on the road. I think we should have more bike lanes on the road

because it is more safe. People would get less hurt from riding their bike. Also pedestrians get mad when people ride on the sidewalk and if we can’t ride there we have to ride on the road which is not that safe. Thats why my city would have more bike lanes.

Next I want to talk about the LRT. I think that we should have the LRT because it would help disabled and elderly people get around to some places that are far away. It would only work if there are a lot of LRT trams going everywhere, so that people aren’t waiting at the stops too long.That is why the LRT would be a good thing to have in our city.

The third thing I want to talk about is equipment rentals in parks. I think that some parks should have this machine where you put in five dollars and a piece of equipment comes out and when you put the equipment back you get your five dollars back. This would help people who don’t have enough money to buy their own equipment. It would also get people more active on sunny days.

That is what would be in my ideal city I hope that you will agree with me because it will make our city be more safe.

by Luka UrosevicA such place with better

transportation, more education, and good sanitation is a wild dream, With that dream my ideal city can be formed.

My first idea that I would include is transportation. I think transportation is very important for my ideal city because, life in big cities is almost impossible without transportation. Public transportation would be very suitable for my city because, there would be less pollution to help us breath and to help the environment. Also there would be less accidents, people would be more socialized and would exchange experiences

and opinions. It would be less stressful to get to work on time.

Education plays a very important part in the lives of young people and education itself is very important. Without education there is no satisfied person. For people to live a comfortable life, and to make a happy childhood for their descendants, they need to invest in education. Fortunately, there will be no poor children in my ideal city, so it will able the children who don’t have enough money to be learning.

The last but not least thing that my ideal city would need is healthy sanitation. Water should be saved and not polluted because without water no living thing could live. Water resources need to be protected. My ideal city needs water to prevent diseases from spreading. Another way of sanitation is growing organic food which also allows life without diseases, and food without sprayed chemicals.

I hope you are pleased with my changes.

by Miriam Al FahedThere was a little kid named

Skyler, she loved the earth and environment. She went outside like usually. She inhaled the fresh spring air ‘What a beautiful day right?” She started walking to the park near her house. She didn’t need to tell her mother because always knows where she goes.

Skyler P.O.V (point of view)I was walking to the park,

hearing the birds sing as I walk. I then finally got there but....looks different. There’s garbage everywhere and just garbage. I had an idea, I started running as fast as my little feet can take me, it’s only a few blocks away.

I finally get home, panting “mother do you have a basket that you don’t use or in other words a BIG basket” I said in a questioning voice “yes honey in the garage” she smiled and continued washing the dishes. I walk to our garage and looked for the basket. Finally found it in the back. It was a white tall basket without damage or holes, it WOULD be perfect! I brang out all the paint I could find. I then started painting it neon colours and put a sign on it that said ‘Do not litter! Please put your garbage here!” I felt proud of myself, then I carried it with all my might.

I finally got to the park, man was that basket heavy for my 6 year old feet, I placed the basket near the park bench and tied it up beside it. Then I started picking up garbage and put it in the can. I think people that litter should get a fine.

What is Your Ideal City? In the third annual My Ideal City contest, students aged 10 to 12 years were invited to tell Kitchener City Council about their “ideal city” by submitting essays. Kitchener councillors and the Kitchener Citizen chose the 13 top essays, and those students were invited to participate in a mock council debate televised on Rogers Cable 20 on May 11. The Kitchener Citizen is proud to sponsor this event, which helps students learn about municipal politics in a fun way. Here are the winning essays.

Kitchener mayor Berry Vrbanovic gives student mayor Ivan Urquhart some tips on running a council meeting. The My Ideal City student debate will be shown on Rogers Cable 20 on May 11.

The writers of the 13 winning essays had their names put in a hat and a draw was held for their position around the council table for the May 11 Rogers Cable 20 televised debate. Matthew Cameron-Morton will represent Paul Singh’s Ward 6. At the practice ses-sion, Councillor Singh showed Matthew the parts of the council chamber, including the cameras on the walls that film each council meeting.

by Matthew Cameron-Morton

My Ideal City would be peaceful for people that lived in it.

Better Health Care.In My Ideal City there would

be better Healthcare. It would make the community a better place to live in because people that live in Kitchener are often sick and unhealthy. I think it would be nice if no one was sick and there were no viruses. There are many bad drugs in the world that people take that are bad for their health. Bad drugs don’t lead to healthy bodies. So in My Ideal City, there only be good drugs for medicine but locked away in a vault that only med handlers can get into.

More Veggies and less meat.

In My City, the people would be eating less meat so the animals don’t die everyday, so they would eat more things that don’t include meat in the food.

The Homeless.In the City the homeless

would not need to worry because they would have a home as well as the rich and everyone would be rich in my City.

No Crime.In The City, everyone would

not need to worry about dying because there would not be any killers or anyone that can hurt another person, but doesn’t mean we don’t need police because people might do something that they might not want to do.

And that is what my city would be the best city, because everyone would not need to worry about anything. Support it.

by Tom LloydIn my ideal city these are

some things I would do if I were premiere.

If I was premiere I would try to

get more parks so kids can get active and they have something to do instead of sitting around watching tv and playing video games. A park is a fun way for kids to get physical activity and to go outside. Every kid likes a park so if you have property its value can go up if you live near a park.

I would also try to get a bill thought saying people will no longer sell or buy cigarettes/cigars/pipes or any other thing you use for smoking. If a smoker gets caught they would pay a small fine of $2000. Now if you stop smoking less family’s will be poor because they won’t buy cigarettes and they won’t lose money for buying more cigarettes.

The last thing I would do is get rid of gas powered cars and make electric cars cheaper. They are very bad for the environment. With the electric cars people won’t have to mine for gas, not mining for gas = better environment.

This is the tip of the iceberg of things I would do if I were premiere. I might try to get a

law that makes candy cheaper (probably not).

by Raianne Dinsmore Hello, my name is Raianne,

I am 12, a student at Stanley Park Senior Public School and I’m in grade 7.

I love Kitchener but it could use some improvements. The number of homeless people, or how much vandalism and litter in our parks and schools that young children are playing in. The biggest problem is that many stores, banks, schools and homes are getting robbed or vandalised. Maybe when these people are brought to justice their punishment should involve paying it forward to the establishments that they have defaced.

I think that instead of selling properties, some properties that are abandoned could be used as homeless shelters. The homeless could shower and possibly they would look clean, and business’ would want to hire them. Maybe volunteers could to teach them simple jobs, such as a cashier or a waiter. Everyone deserves to earn money to feed themselves and their families. There are too many children coming to school without food and proper clothing. Please help them.

We should have a team of people that volunteer to clean up parks, litter, and vandalism around the city. Even schools and children can do this.

We should have more police officers around the city to catch the robbers, and vandalisers. I am so afraid of robbers that I don’t sleep well at night. This will make me and other kids feel safer.

Thank you Mayor Vrbanovic for this chance to express my concerns, I hope to hear from you!

by Ashlynne UttleyPeople dream of living in

city that is clean, safe and welcoming, an ideal city. An ideal city should live up to everybody’s needs.

Pollution is very common

in cities. It is caused by cars and factories. Everyday, people are breathing in dirty air which then causes difficulty breathing. For seniors and people with asthma, pollution makes their situation worse. Pollution can also cause heart problems including heart attacks and increase the risk of developing cancer. Pollution is life threatening. A way of decreasing the amount of pollution is by encouraging people to walk, ride their bikes or use public transit. Less pollution would help make an ideal city.

Children love to play outside and there is not a lot space to do so. Adding more parks would be ideal because it would mean that families would get to spend more time together and kids would be getting a breath of fresh air. Also, if more parks were added and they were spread around, families could walk or ride their bikes which would decrease the amount of pollution in the air.

Construction seems to happen all at the same time which is inconvenient for getting around the city. This can be frustrating for people who have a tight schedule. There is a way of preventing so much construction happening all at once… start with the most important projects and work down to the least important.

Finally, more shelters for homeless people are needed. After reading about The Out of the Cold program, I was surprised at what I saw. So many churches have backed out of the program. A way to fix this is for citizens to volunteer to work at churches. This would help the homeless because churches would stay in the program.

Making these simple changes would not only make Kitchener an ideal city to live in, but could improve other cities as well.

by Melissa DykstraIf I were to have an ideal

city there are a few things that would change that a

normal city would have but for sure that I would add! In my there would be free spay and neuter clinics. Free spay and neuter clinics wouldn’t just help animal owners but it would help animal shelters, to keep it from overflowing with animals. This will also benefit those who do not have the funds for spaying or neutering their pets. Having spaying and neutering free for the city would make it more enticing for irresponsible pet owners to get their pet spayed or neutered. In my ideal city I would have free bicycle transportation available for the public. In the Netherlands they have free bicycle transportation; it will complement public transportation so that if you don’t that close to a bus stop you take one bike and then drop it at the bus stop. And if you don’t have a car you could go to point a to point b without having to wait for the bus and wait while it picks up others. This will also get citizens active, and keep cars of the road! One thing my ideal city would do is build a hockey arena, so next time they add a NHL team we might get a team! Having a NHL team would attract tourist to make the city a sight to see, that would be great! Those are things that I would have in my ideal city!

by Madeline McDonnellMy ideal city is where cars

are nature friendly and you also get your exercise, schools are very fun for every kid and there is not just one person in charge.

All cars are not nature friendly and most people don’t get good exercise. So this is one of my big changes to make an ideal city. I thought we could try to make a car that would be powered off of exercise. You are probably be wondering how to do that? It is simple, we could make a car that runs off

of a treadmill and that would work is the treadmill would be set to 25 and that would make the car go 25 km an hour. That is one idea, there are two more.

Schools are not fun for some kids and they do not want to go to school sometimes, so I thought that we could make it fun and easy for kids and teachers. The things that I was thinking of was that the kids could play trivia. An example of that would be for grade 3 math the trivia would be what is 5 times 5 (and other questions) and they would play a game. The faster you are and if you get it right on the first try, you would get more points. The more points you have the more chance you have to win the trivia game that day.

I know some kids that think it’s not fair that they don’t get to be in charge for some of the time they are at home, school or somewhere else. So I thought we could make sure people have time to be in charge more than they are now. An idea that I have is they can have a time with their parents to let them be in charge (but with enough knowledge to be responsible).

Those are a few things that would make an idea city for me.

During the student tour of city hall, Ward 4 councillor Yvonne Fernandes explains where her ward is located in Kitchener.

Ward 9 councillor Frank Etherington explains to Mariam Al Fahed the rules for debate during a council meeting. Miriam will be representing Ward 9 in the student debate.

Ward 2 councillor Dave Schnider shows some of the students and their families the view from the 10th floor balcony at city hall.

The Kitchener Citizen is proud to be the

sponsor of the City of Kitchener’s

My Ideal City contest. Additional copies

of the May 14, 2015 Kitchener Citizen with the published essays

will be available at Kitchener City Hall or by contacting us at

debrone@sympatico.ca.

MY IDEAL CITY