BURLINGTON, ON – April 18, 2012 – It’s a start – but a web site isn’t going to get me on my bicycle to pedal down to city hall – not when I have to cycle through that war zone on Guelph Line between Mainway and Fairview. That is just a dangerous place to be and a large, very large part of Burlington lives north of the QEW.
A press release the city released said: “One of the goals city council identified in Burlington, Our Future was to increase the number of people who cycle, walk, and use public transit for recreation and transportation,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “We are providing the facilities and encourage the community to take action and use them.” Sorry your worship – but I`m not buying that one. I see far too many parking lots full and your administration has a policy that pays for staff parking. Need to be quite a bit tougher if you want real change.
The addition to the city web site of an environmental section isn’t going to do much to bring about change – but take a look at what the city is trying to do. City of Burlington is launching a new and improved environment section on the city’s website www.burlington.ca/environment.
There are bike lanes on Guelph Line and there will be lines painted on Walkers Line and Appleby Line later this year but as I travel those streets I don’t see very many bicycles being used. A few though and it does all has to start somewhere.
Getting Burlingtonians out of their cars is not going to be easy – some very creative and imaginative thinking is going to have to be done to come up with alternatives that offer an alternative people can live with.
One of the events that will make a change in both attitude and the climate we are going to have in the future is the 300 trees that will be planted out along North Shore Road opposite LaSalle Park and down along the waterfront near the marina.
The Burlington Green Youth Network will be out early Saturday morning, Earth day preparing the site and laying out the trees that will be planted. They expect some 60 people to show up to plant the trees.
Burlington is hosting their big annual Community Clean Up, Green Up Event Saturday April 21st run by BurlingtonGreen. This annual citywide event provides an important (and fun) opportunity for citizens, schools, groups and businesses to come together and take pride in our City by cleaning it up.
Literally thousands of people will be out gathering up trash that has accumulated around the city. Last year a record number of participants (more than 5000) signed up to participate and cleaned up Burlington by collecting: 2800 kg’s of garbage, 25 tires, 85 kg of metal that was recycled, 200 kg recyclables, 2 Green totes with compostable paper coffee cups & dirty newspapers, 12 bags of yard waste plus LOTS more litter collected by schools & businesses.
Sign up today and show pride in your city at https://www.burlingtongreen.org/
The following is a list of places where clean up crews will be working: Centennial Bikeway from Martha to Sherwood Forest. ( could be done in 10 sections) ie 1 group from Guelph Line to Walker’s Line Beaches, Prospect Walkway across from Canadian Tire., Nelson Bike Park Dirtjumps, Kerncliff Park, Fairview & Maple s.e.corner, Ontario Street pathway to Richmond, Sheldon Creek, Sherwoord Forest and Tuck Creek
When the trash has been collected everyone is invited to join the Eco-Celebration that will take place outside city hall from noon to mid-afternoon. There will be a BBQ on site and a chance to win great eco-prizes.
Raw Materials will have a booth where you can bring along your used household batteries to be properly disposed.
On behalf of BurlingtonGreen I would like to extend our sincere appreciation to you for your recent articles about our organization, events and our wonderful Youth Network. Spreading the word about all we do and the various opportunities available for folks to get involved will help us grow and in turn allow us to make an even stronger impact in helping the planet locally.
Green Regards, Amy