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Cinestarz - SHOWTIMES August 21 to 27 , 2015

Cine Starz Upper Canada Place
460 Brant Street,

Burlington, ON

WWW CINESTARZ.CA

SHOWTIMES August 21 to 27 , 2015

VACATION 14A
Fri to Thur 11:00 1:00 3:00 5:35 7:40 9:40

SOUTHPAW 14A
Fri to Thur 1:00 3:15 5:00 7:20 9:40

INSIDE OUT G
Fri to Thur 11:15 1:15 3:15 5:15 7:20

IRRATIONAL MAN 14A
Fri to Thur 11:10 1:30 5:35

MAGIC MIKE XXL 14A
Fri to Thur 9:40

PAPER TOWNS PG
Fri to Thur 11:15 1:15 3:20 7:40

SPY 14A
Fri to Thur 11:00 1:10 3:20 5:30 7:30 9:35

TERMINATOR GENISYS 14A
Fri to Thur 11:15 7:15 9:30

AMY 14A
Fri to Thur 3:15 5:20 9:20

Despite delays with critical reports there are solid reasons to be excited about the development potential and the way city hall is run.

By Pepper Parr

August 18, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Part one of a two part feature on the development potential for the city

Each city council, at the beginning of its term, meets for a number of weeks and hammers out a Strategic Plan.

That Plan sets out what the city council wants to get done during the four years they are going to serve the citizens.

There is very little in previous Strategic Plans worth remembering, except for the plan approved in 2011. For the most part they were a collection of pictures and motherhood statements.

I had the opportunity to look at six or seven previous Strategic Plans – something I doubt the majority of the current Council bothered to do. Councillors Taylor and Dennison were at the table when those documents were approved.

The Strategic Plan approved by the previous council, which was made up of the same people we have in place now, was a very impressive departure from anything done before.

Both Council and staff worked very hard – sometimes at cross purposes – to produce a document that served the city well. There were some very moving occasions when we got to hear how Councillors felt about the city they were leading.

In the closing session Councillor Jack Dennison spoke very emotionally about the need to ensure that the downtown core was given the attention and the resources needed to grow and become a large part of the focus for Burlington.

We also got to see some of the character traits from some of the Council members that were disturbing then and disruptive now.

The city was fortunate to have an excellent facilitator who not only led the group but educated several of them on what works and the way Strategic Plan development gets done.

Perhaps hoping to build on what was achieved the last time around Council set out to craft the Strategic Plan for this term of office. It is not going very well.

It may well be 2016 before the Strategic Plan is approved. will it be as good as what this Council did in 2011?

The city hired KPMG to direct them in the creation of the Strategic Plan for the current term but did not manage to get the same facilitator.

There is now a team in place that is going to do tonnes of research and bring back a large handful of options. Unfortunately,

Georgina Black did a superb job of getting a new city council through the creation of a significantly different Strategic Plan. Councillor John Taylor loved every minute of it.

Burlington wasn’t able to get Georgina Black back – she was the facilitator who did such fine work with council in 2011. Much of the work that KPMG is going to do was already being done by Frank McKeown, the Executive Director of the Economic Development Corporation. McKeon wasn’t able to attend the meeting at which all the research work KPMG is going to do was discussed.

McKeown explains that he wasn’t told of the meeting until two days before it took place and that he was already committed to be elsewhere.

McKeown adds that he had not seen the agenda. When it was brought to his attention – I think we heard him gulp. McKeown will resolve that problem and will have the needed discussions with KPMG.

The creation of the 2014 – 2018 Strategic Plan is not off to a very good start. Council will not meet on this matter until the second half of October. They will have been in office for a year by that time

There are going to be some very sticky Governance issues that do not look as if a reasonable resolution is going to be found. Despite the comments made regularly by Mayor Goldring – his is a very fractious council that is deeply divided on some critical issues.

The amount of time, attention and financial resources to be given to community based initiatives will be limited by budget constraints due in no small measure by the cost of the 2014 flood.

Some exceptional work has been done within the cultural sphere – the city now has two new people running major cultural institutions. Robert Steven is running the Art Gallery of Burlington and Susan Haines will take over the running of the Performing Arts Centre in September. Hopefully the Centre Board has retained retiring Executive Director Brian McCurdy to serve as a consultant for three to six months to oversee the transition.

The Performing Arts Centre had gotten itself to the point where it was finally stable financially and the program being offered was working. Community groups were now a real part of the program offerings. There is every reason to believe that Haines can continue the work McCurdy did and eventually grow her board to the point where she can put her own stamp on the place.

The concept might have merit but there is no way this kind of an installation is going to work on a single lane road that is the main entrance to the hospital once the redevelopment has been done. Lakeshore Road has to be widened for the hospital traffic.

The Museums have their work cut out for them but it doesn’t look as if they are going to draw on the city for financial support. There is however, some very hard thinking to be done on just what happens to the Joseph Brant Museum. The plans on the drawing board are just not going to work – someone needs to have the courage within the Museum Board to look at the facts and the changes that are going to take place on Lakeshore Road when the hospital re-development is done.

Ireland House on the other hand is a gem; it offers some exceptionally good programming.

Development: what does the city want and where does it want any development to take place – and what kind of development as well.

Waterdown Road is being widened – a precursor to some significant development. The Aldershot GO station was named a transportation/development hub – the developers may get their shovels in the ground and have walls up before the city arrives at some decisions.

There is all kinds of development taking place in Aldershot – there is some dissension amongst the more active citizens and the council member does need to learn to listen a little better. Understanding who he represents would be a useful contribution Rick Craven could make to the quality of civic government in this city.

Councillor Meed Ward continues with her, unique for Burlington, approach to involving the people she represents.

There are two areas of development that can re-shape the kind of downtown core Burlington is going to have – both are in her ward.

Before going into any detail on those two opportunities – the culture at city hall needs a closer look.

There are departments that work exceptionally well – finance is perhaps the best run shop at city hall. The team if focused and well led. They were given the task of revamping the way budgets were prepared and presented to the public and told to make personal accountability part of the way city hall does business.

Scott Stewart and former city manager Jeff Fielding – they were quite a tag team for as long as it lasted. Fielding always let you know what was in the works – the new city manager has yet to reveal a management style.

Then city manager Jeff Fielding challenged the finance department to bring about the change – then he departed for greener pastures and became the city manager in Calgary to the work that gets done.

The finance department did deliver; unfortunately there isn’t a champion on city council to ensure that the work done is continued and that staff get the direction they need.

A significant cultural change is taking place within the planning department; the hiring process for the new city planner is at the short short list. That decision may have already been made.

This is a critical choice – the department is in the middle of completing a much delayed Official Plan Review; we may not see that document until the end of the year.

A rapt audience listened to an overview of the 2014 budget. What they have yet to have explained to them is the desperate situation the city will be in ten years from now if something isn’t done in the next few years to figure out how we are going to pay for the maintenance of the roads we have. Add in the cost of the 2014 flood and the city has a whopper of a budget to explain.

Public engagement is a sorry mess – few remember the recommendations that came out of the Shape Burlington report that every member of this council heartily endorsed and then forgot about. There are reports of an initiative the city will announce in the fall that is neighbourhood oriented – it will be interesting to see the details.

The current city manager doesn’t seem to have all that much appetite for real public engagement, the communications department is asking the public what they think about City Talk, a magazine format distributed to every household, that does more for the members of city council than anyone else.

Council members love the thing; the communications department spend endless hours making revisions and the public for the most part doesn’t know it exists. There is a savings opportunity there.

Now to the development potential in ward 2.

Part two of a two part feature.

Lane Restrictions on Plains Road East until Aug. 21

By Staff

August 17, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON
Temporary lane restrictions are in effect on Plains Road East, between Falcon Boulevard and Sanford Drive, until Aug. 21, 2015 due to utility work.

Plains Road - aerial includes Waterdown + GO

Plains Road has all kinds of work being done and a number of development projects in various stages. It is the busiest part of the city in terms of development work – which means upgrades to the utilities. The red circle on the right is the location for a planned apartment and townhouse project by the ADI Group 0 the while elliptic is a part of the road that was being given a planning review – the residents didn’t like what they heard about either project – but then that’s Aldershot.

Waterdown Road is also closed – it’s going through a major upgrade.

Scugog forces air park operator to remove soil believed to be contaminated - could Burlington Air Park be next?

By Pepper Parr

August 17, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

The Rural Burlington Greenbelt Coalition keeps a close watch on anything to do with small air parks and the rules and regulations that apply to them.
They recently passed along some information on a “conditional approval” for a remediation deal to begin cleanup at Greenbank Airways.

Greenbanks Airways is an operation in the Township of Scugog that had what was believed to be contaminated soil being dumped on the land.
RBGC and a number of others felt the same thing had been done at the Burlington Air Park. It took a number of months to get the city to take some action – there was a court case which the city won, an appeal of that decision which the city also won.

When the city took action asking a judge to compel the Air Park to submit a site plan the Air Park managed to find a constitutional issue and the case has been booted back to sometime late in the year.

Sooner or later the Air Park will run out of legal options and they will have to submit to the rules everyone else has to comply with.

Will the Air Park eventually be forced to remove much of the fill they dropped on their property without the required permits?

The clean-up deal at Lake Scugog will see D.L. services remove most of the contaminated soil from 30 areas on the site. It will then be tested and treated. As well, one area that cannot be removed, will be treated with microbes to degrade any gasoline found there.

D.L. Services originally submitted the plan to Scugog in June, and a conditional approval letter was awarded to the company.

“The cleanup won’t take long. What has taken long is just having to deal with all of the politics invloved,” explained Mr. LeBlanc. Those are words the people along Appleby Line would just love to hear – if it can be done at one small air park – it can be done at another.

Mayor Tom Rowett said that the township’s firm stance on Table 2 soil standards is justified. “I think the hardline stance is important because whenever you are dealing with a contract like this, you can’t send a mixed message,” commented Mayor Rowett.

Airpark-testing-for-contaminents-again-2-BEST

Bore hole testing: were enough holes drilled and were they drilled in the right places?

In March, borehole testing on the site conducted by Golder Associates found that 22 of 45 soil samples exceeded the township’s table 2 standards.

Vanessa Warren, one of the RBGC founders, has argued strenuously in the past that the table 2 standards were critical. Vince Rossi, president of the Air Park has disagreed with her, as have his lawyers. A Superior Court Judge, and an Appeal Court panel sided with the city.

Our day will come.

Funeral procession along Lakeshore Road on Sunday for Henrietta Markham

By Pepper Parr

August 16, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

It was a wonderfully hot day but if you were at the edge of the water the breeze made it all bearable – certainly so for the hundreds of kids and their parents who had taken over Spencer Smith Park.

If you were walking along Lakeshore Road between say between John Street and the Art Gallery of Burlington shortly after noon you would have come across a procession of people carrying what might have looked like small tree branches painted vivid colours.

They were being led by a young man playing a saxophone – if you thought it was some kind of a procession – you were right – but a funeral procession?

The funeral mound of Henrietta Martin.

Bit of a stretch but if you were in on the event from the beginning when it started at John Street you would have known that it was an “installation art” funeral procession for “The Beloved Departed”

There were no hymns; there was music. This was a very “white” event.

The parasols covering the funeral mound of Henrietta Markham were later used by those in the procession to the Art Gallery of Burlington.

Words were spoken. A few lines from the 17th century poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick were read:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.

Then the procession along Lakeshore Road.

It was whimsical, it was a Kyle Tonkens piece of interactive installation art done in the memory of Henrietta Markham, who in a letter said to come from the grave, said:

In the eyes of those whose lives you’ve touched,
You are a heavenly gift.
Beautiful and awe inspiring.

Extreme heat warning for Sunday and the following two days issued by Environment Canada.

By Staff

August 15th. 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Environment Canada reports that extreme heat and humidity expected to start Sunday, August 16 will result in temperatures that will reach at least 31 degrees Celsius with overnight temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius for two days along with a humidex of 40 or higher is expected for two days.

Even short periods of exposure to these weather conditions can cause serious health problems. This warning is intended to inform the general public and community agencies, to keep residents safe and healthy during the heat and to recommend that precautions are taken when temperatures are high.

Anyone can be affected by extreme heat-related weather conditions. Those especially at risk include: older adults (over the age of 65), infants and young children, people who work and exercise in the heat, people without adequate housing and those without air conditioning. People who have breathing difficulties, heart problems, kidney problems or take heat-sensitive medications are also especially at risk of preventable heat illness. If you or someone in your care experiences rapid breathing, headache, confusion, weakness or fainting, seek medical attention right away.

You can prevent heat-related illness by staying cool; avoiding strenuous outdoor activities; seeking shade from the sun; spending time in air-conditioned places, such as shopping malls and community centres; and drinking plenty of cool liquids, especially water. Call or visit friends and neighbours who may be at risk and never leave people or pets in your care unattended in a car.

Surveillance pictures indicate the robbers made sure it was going to be hard to identify them.

By Staff

August 15th, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Suspect has made sure he will be very hard to identify

This photograph helped police determine the height of the suspect.

In an update to an earlier report Halton Regional Police aded the following:

“Investigators continue to review several surveillance images of the suspect in these incidents, which are believed related. It would appear that the suspect has a lighter / olive coloured skin tone which differs from the description initially provided to investigators.”

It is pretty obvious these people don’t want to be seen or identified.

These are the pictures the Halton Regional Police were able to recover from the surveillance cameras in the convenience stores that were held up at gun point in the early, early hours of Saturday August 15th.

Armed and dangerous might be a good way to describe them.

Scary and dangerous situation for those clerks working a late shift in a convenience store.
Previous police report:

Two convenience stores in different municipalities robbed by bandit with a handgun; police believe the same person is responsible.

By Staff

August 15, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

The Halton Regional Police were kept busy in the early hours of today – at approximately 2:15 am, a lone male suspect attended the Mac’s Convenience store located at Guelph Street and Delrex Boulevard in Georgetown.

This suspect, who was armed with a handgun, approached the clerk inside the store and demanded cash and cigarettes. The clerk complied and turned over a quantity of money and cigarettes to this male. The suspect fled the store on foot in an unknown direction. Police responded and a search of the area failed to locate the suspect.

A short time later, at approximately 4:00am, a lone male suspect entered the Mac’s Convenience store located at 4021 Upper Middle Road in Burlington. The suspect, who was brandishing a handgun, approached a store clerk and made a demand for money. The suspect also took several cartons of cigarettes and packed them into a black bag before fleeing the store to a waiting vehicle. There is no description of the vehicle at this time.

The store clerks were not injured during either incident.

Investigators believe that the same suspect is responsible for both robberies.

Suspect Description: male, black, large build, 6’0” to 6’2” in height and approximately 200-210lbs

Clothing: dark coloured hoodie, hood and dark coloured scarf hiding face, black t-shirt, grey pants and white shoes. The suspect also wore black/white coloured gloves.

Anyone with information that would assist in this investigation is asked to contact members of the Halton Regional Police Service Criminal Investigations Bureau; Detective Tom Hockney (Milton) at 905-825-4747 extension 2491 / Detective Phil Vandenbeukel (Burlington) at 905 825-4747 extension 2313, through Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637(crimes).

Why publish this picture? With all the rain we deserved a bit of sunshine.

Sunflower field on the North Service Road east of Appleby Line

Sunflower field on the North Service Road east of Appleby Line
Sunflower field on the North Service Road east of Appleby Line

Are we about to actually see some development with that 22 storey condominium on the south side of Lakeshore Road

By Pepper Parr

August 14th, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

The earth just may have moved – a little bit.

Bridgewater from the north looking south

Drawings of what the developer wanted the buildings to look like. View is from Lakeshore Road looking south.

The development of that 22 storey condo on Lakeshore Road along with the smaller seven storey condo and the planned hotel have been “in the works” for years. The project was being talked at Council when Walter Mulkewich was Mayor – he gets the nod for approving the project while he was Mayor – something some of his colleagues seldom let him forget.

The Gazette got a note from a citizen advising us that trees were being cut down on the east side the of the Waterfront Hotel on Lakeshore Road

A note was sent to the writer who had expressed a concern about the recent tree removal along Elizabeth Street. The ward councillor’s office explained:

The tree removals were approved by Council in 2006 as a part of the re-zoning of the Bridgewater site and related reconstruction of Elizabeth Street. The required compensation and approvals are in place and include new street tree planting along the reconstructed street, as well as tree planting in the new park area along the shoreline.

In addition to this tree planting, compensation has been provided to allow tree planting in other areas of the City.

Does the cutting of the trees suggest that there is going to be some construction movement ?

Other than the construction of a sales office on the site – there hasn’t been any activity. Maybe that is because there may not have been enough activity on the sales side?

There hasn’t been a peep from the planning department on just where this project is in terms of development.

With the financial demise of the original developer (fancy word for bankruptcy) and the acquisition of the project by Jeff Paikin and his New Horizons organization some people thought the project would go forward with a little more energy.

Selling condominiums often means working with people who see the property as a long term investment. There are people at the Region and city hall who maintain that Burlington’s rental market is the result of condominiums that were purchased by investors.

The 22 storey structire that is due to be built on the waters edge will forever change the look of the city. For the better?

The 22 storey structure that is due to be built on the waters edge will forever change the look of the city. The plan is for a three structure development

The market for condominiums is wicked in Vancouver and almost out of control in Toronto. All this while financial analysts talk of a correction in the housing market – which makes it very difficult for the private sector that takes the risk when the starting putting shovels in the ground and cranes on the skyline.

Interesting times. The taking down of those trees at the bottom of Elizabeth street suggest there just might be some movement.

Noted area author announces plans for a film using local talent in front of and behind the camera.

By Pepper Parr

August 14th, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

When there is a media release from Margaret Lindsay Holton we read it with both interest and anticipation – for we seldom know where she is going to come from or go to next.

Holton is a writer, an artist, a photographer and in her own way a political activist – add to each of these a passion that is usually very focused. With Holton you know you are going to have a robust conversation.

Margaret Lindsay Holton Photo by Jeff Tessier

I recall the piece she wrote for the Gazette on a gas station attendant who put more gas than she wished to purchase in her vehicle; she wanted him to take out the portion she did not intend to purchase.

Holton’s next initiative is a film based on a published short story Holton wrote.

The Frozen Goose, first published in the critically acclaimed cross-country World War One anthology, ‘Engraved: Canadian Stories of World War One‘ , the story follows a back-woods Canadian family as they cope in the aftermath of The Great War …Their lives have been shattered. There has been Great Loss. And then – a horrific incident occurs that tests the very last shreds of their Survival Capabilities …

Holton will direct; cinematography will be handled by local photographer Mark Zelinski. The intention is to shoot in the first week of February, 2016.

The cast includes two veterans of the local stage; Leslie Gray, co-founder of Koogle Theatre Inc, and Rod McTaggart – known for his recent performances at The Burlington Performing Arts Centre and Theatre Aquarius.

Newcomers to the set include Evan Cook and the brilliant young starlet, Hannah Ralph – of Hamilton.

Holton intends to contribute a percentage of the net revenues to support The Red Cross of Canada. “Without The Red Cross” said Holton,” life would be very bleak for many throughout the world.”

However, before the cameras can roll funds have to be raised. Holton is launching an IndieGoGo campaign which is an online approach to raising funds.

CineStarz issues revision to playbill for August 14 to 20 , 2015

Cine Starz Upper Canada Place
460 Brant Street
WWW CINESTARZ.CA

SHOWTIMES August 14 to 20 , 2015

Films shown in red are revisions to the original schedule.

IRRATIONAL MAN 14A
Fri to Thur 11:40 1:30 3:30 5:30 7:40 9:30

PAPER TOWNS PG
Fri to Thur 1:00 3:10 5:15 7:20 9:20

INSIDE OUT G
Fri to Thur 11:10 1:05 3:00 5:20 7:20

MAGIC MIKE XXL 14A
Fri to Thur 11:15 7:40 9:45

TERMINATOR GENISYS 14A
Fri to Thur 11:00 3:00 5:00 7:20 9:35

SPY 14A
Fri to Thur 11:00 1:10 3:20 5:30 7:20 9:20

AMY 14A
Fri to Thur 1:20 5:20 9:30

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS PG
Fri to Thur 11:10 1:15 3:40

Lauren, Olivia and Poppy get ready for their day at the CNE Rising Star competition.

By Pepper Parr

August 12, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Now that we know a little about the three young girls in Burlington who will be taking part in the CNE Rising Star Talent contest – we can tell you something about what they are facing at this competition.

There are several hurdles these young girls have to go through to make it to the top.

Olivia Koren on the left and Poppy Munro on the right loosen up as they get ready to take part in the CNE Rising Star event at the end of the month.

They got into the competition by sending in an application with a video – judges looked at everything and invited specific people to attend.

There are 48 contestant in the Junior class and 72 in the Youth class.

The Rising Star contest is for singers and dancers. Michael Bubble, the crooner, was a winner in the singing competition many years ago

All the girls from Burlington are in the Junior class; thy are all dancers.

All the action is on the International stage at the Enercare Centre on the CNE grounds. No cost to get in but you do have to pay to get into the CNE.

Lauren Salt’s pink cast will be gone by the time she is ready to take her place on the stage at the CNE Rising Star Talent event at the end of the month

All the shows take place at 6:30 pm

Preliminary judging takes place on August 21st to the 24th
Semi finals are on August 31st and September 1st
Finals for the Junior level are on September 5th.

The contestants will be judged on their natural ability – 20%
They will be judged on the staging and showmanship of their performance; 20%
The audience will tell what they liked – 20% of their mark comes from the audience
The judges give 40% based on the quality of the performance.

The Gazette will follow their progress and let you know how they do.

Three Burlington girls from two different dance schools to take part in CNE talent event

By Pepper Parr

August 12th, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Being a kid can be fun, if you have the friends you want and really interesting things to do.

For hundreds of young girls in Burlington that fun and those friends are in the dance classes they take.

The city seems to have dozens of dance schools that have these girls burning off energy and keeping very fit.

For some the classes are recreational and for others there is a long term goal and for other it is quite competitive which leads to some travel and for three Burlington girls from two different dance schools the competition takes them to the Canadian National Exhibition’s Talent event that has taken place for the last 29 years.

Poppy Munro will dance with her friend Olivia at the CNE Talent contest

Olivia Koren will be a contestant at the CNE Talent event

Poppy and Olivia practice at Creative Dance and Lauren works out at The Dance Station where Mindy Mosey and her sister Melissa run the program at a school that has been in operation for ten years.

Lauren, a grade 7 student at St. Christopher Elementary School spends about 15 hour a week at The Dance Station where the core of just about every program is ballet. Mandy, who once danced professionally sees ballet as the core for all dance.

Olivia Koren and Poppy Munro, who will be doing a Hip Hop piece at the CNE attend different schools; one is at Tuck and the other at Central.

They are at that point in life where they believe they will be in dance for the rest of their lives.

Lauren Salt on the parallel bar with her instructor Mandy Mosey

Both girls seem remarkably at ease over the upcoming competition – something for which they have been putting in months of practice.

Tomorrow we will tell you more about the actual competition they will be taking part in.

Bandits fall short; and so ends the season - they lose 5-3 to the London Majors.

April 12, 2015

By Justin Lethbridge

BURLINGTON, ON

Despite giving London everything they could handle, the Bandits were unable to complete the comeback and were eliminated from the playoffs after a 5-3 loss. After two straight wins and a rain delay, Burlington and London met at Labatt Park for game seven on Tuesday night where the Majors punched their ticket to the semifinals.

Coach Kyle grew the team to the point where they put up a solid fight against a team they were not able to beat all season – pushed them to a seven game playoff series.

Burlington put up a good fight thanks to another RBI by leageue leader CF Shaun Cooper and runs by SS Keith Kandel, DH Adam Odd and C Kevin Hussey. Bandits pitchers Dylan Perego, Blake Weston and Brandon Catena allowed a combined nine hits and five runs while earning two strikeouts through eight innings.

London only needed eight at bats to come away with the victory thanks to another strong performance from pitcher Luis Pina who had six strikeouts while only allowing six hits and three runs through 7.2 innings of work.

Offensively CF Chris McQueen led the way with two runs and one RBI.

Bandits owner Scott Richardson saw his team make the London Majors work for the quarter finals win. The Bandits didn’t make the finals last year – progress.

Despite entering the playoffs 0-5 against London, Burlington came within a win from semifinals.

Burlington’s success came off of CF Shaun Cooper’s league leading four home runs and 12 RBI’s.

Unfortunately for the Bandits, London’s pitching was just too good with Luis Pina and Oscar Perez combined for 33 SO’s.

The Bandits proved to be a plucky team when they got into the playoff rounds – they battled back again and again; pretty good for a team that wasn’t in the playoffs at all last year.

London plays the Kitchener Panthers in the semifinals starting Thursday in Kitchener.

The other semifinal got started with the Barrie Baycats etching out a 1-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

CineStarz: SHOWTIMES August 14 to 20 , 2015

Cine Starz Upper Canada Place
460 Brant Street
WWW CINESTARZ.CA

SHOWTIMES August 14 to 20 , 2015

IRRATIONAL MAN 14A
Fri to Thur 11:15 3:30 5:30 7:40 9:30

PAPER TOWNS PG
Fri to Thur 1:00 3:10 5:15 7:20 9:20

INSIDE OUT G
Fri to Thur 11:10 1:05 3:00 5:20 7:20

MAGIC MIKE XXL 14A
Fri to Thur 11:15 7:40 9:45

TERMINATOR GENISYS 14A
Fri to Thur 11:00 3:00 5:00 7:20 9:35

SPY 14A
Fri to Thur 11:00 1:10 3:20 5:30 7:20 9:20

AMY 14A
Fri to Thur 1:10 1:20 5:20 9:30

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS PG
Fri to Thur 11:10 1:15 3:40

Burlington Bandits London Majors game postponed due to weather.

By Staff

August 11, 2015

BURLINGTON,

The seventh game in the first round best out of seven games series between the Burlington Bandits and the London Majors was cancelled due to weather.

The game will be played Tuesday in London, Ontario.

KooGle Theatre still looking for dancers with a yen for jazz

By Staff

August 10, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Leslie Gray over at KooGle Theatre Company is still looking for strong jazz style dancers in their 20’s, 30’s for the Culture Days event on Sept 27 at 1pm.

Rehearsals begin Sunday August 23; they want to get the team in place as soon as possible.

These are usually fun events – email Leslie at info@koogletheatre.com

Burlington imports a new executive director for the Performing Arts Centre from Richmond BC; Susan Haines starts September 1st

By Pepper Parr

August 10, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

The Performing Arts Centre has a new executive director.

Suzanne Haines will assume her new role effective September 1st replacing Brian McCurdy who has held the position since August 2013.

The Executive Director is charged with developing an effective economic operating model for the performing arts centre, balancing between community-based arts groups, the Centre’s presenting series of programs and other community and corporate usage.

Haines will be the third person to hold down the job since the Performing Arts Centre opened in the fall of 2011.

“We received great interest in this position from across the country and beyond, and feel we have chosen an individual whose experience and qualifications are best suited to lead us into our 5th Season and beyond,” said Theatre Board chair Ilene Elkaim.

Haines was previously employed as General Manager of the Gateway Theatre, a $2.4 million operation in Richmond, B.C. As the only professional performing arts organization in that community, which has a large east Asian population, Gateway produced and presented theatre, acts as a cultural venue for the community through rentals and year-round youth educational and outreach programming.

As CEO of the organization, Suzanne was the community builder, and the face of the organization to the community. She is credited as being successful in converting the Gateway Theatre into a highly engaged community centre.

You can get your name on one of those seats and Brenda Heatherington will thank you and flash one of her smiles your way as well.

Brenda Heatherington had a great pedigree on the content side – many felt she didn’t get the support she needed on the finance and administration side.

McCurdy ran a tight ship took moderate risks that paid off. He is going to be missed – not only because he was a decent guy but because he had the chops to do the job right.

“This is an important leadership role and while we are disappointed to see Brian leave us, we are grateful for his contribution and dedication. We wish him all the best and hope he will return to visit soon, as a patron and to witness first-hand the impact he has had here in Burlington and on this wonderful facility”, said Theatre Board chair Ilene Elkaim.

“Brian provided great leadership and direction and guided us forward with a strategic focus for the next three years”.

The opening night for the Performing Arts Centre was a glamorous affair – the place has yet to live up to its original billing.

Indeed, McCurdy steadied the ship and brought some financial discipline to an operation that was bleeding more red ink than city council could stomach.

Haines ran the Gateway for 12 years. She announced in April that she would be leaving the theatre. Brian McCurdy announced his plans to retire the second half of May.

The Gateway switchboard said they did not think they should be saying anything about Ms Haines other than that she left in April.

The Gateway has two theatres: a 540 seat Main Stage and a 100 seat Studio B. They also offered year-round acting, musical theatre, and technical training classes for youth aged 6 – 18; adults classes were also available.

The current Performing Arts Board is working from a Strategic Plan that McCurdy’s thumb prints are all over – that’s the good news. If the board can stay on that course and the marketing team continues to do the job they’ve done in the past – we could be OK – I think

Burlington Mother and daughter team plan to make their Brant street stores the centre of the vegan food universe.

By Pepper Parr

August 10th, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Cupcakes from Burlington being sold in Dubai. Wow – could that actually happen?

Kellys - Mother and daugter - kelly lk down - not all bd

Erinn Weatherbie and her Mon Kelly Child look over the schedule for the day – their marketing mantra is set out on the white board behind them

Well the actual cupcake may not get made in Dubai but the recipe and the concept will have come from the agile mind of Kelly Child who has operated Kellys Bake Shop with her daughter on Brant Street for the past two years.

The operation was recently voted 3rd (and only Vegan bakery) on BuzzFeed’s list of top 25 cupcake shops in the world. It’s an amazing story for a Burlington based business.

What is BuzzFeed? If you are into social media – and isn’t everyone – you will know who they are. For those who don’t know, BuzzFeed labels itself as the “Most Important News Organization in the World,”

BuzzFeed seems to have found a business model that allows it to enjoy “true journalistic independence.” (That model is “sponsored content”—copy that is produced jointly by BuzzFeed and an advertiser to blend in with editorial copy, with a small, inconspicuous identifier of the sponsor.)
After the Boston marathon bombing sent a surge of traffic to the site, BuzzFeed brought over Lisa Tozzi from The New York Times to build a breaking-news team. It also hired Miriam Elder, a correspondent for The Guardian in Moscow, to create a world desk; it now has a dozen reporters and editors stretching from Mexico City to Nairobi. In 2013 BuzzFeed formed an investigative unit as well.

So BuzzFeed would appear to have clout and worldwide reach – which explains why Kelly and her daughter and their publicist are all a twitter over the thousands of people who walk through their doors.

Delicious – without the guilt – or so they say. Childs wants to become the Martha Stewart of the vegan food world.

This all got started with the opening of a restaurant in March of 2010 called Kindfoods, a new restaurant concept conceived from a deep inspiration of healthy vegan (plant-based), and gluten-free eating and ultimately living in harmony with Mother Nature.

KindFoods got renamed and is now known as “Lettuce Love Café” ; their food is 100% authentic vegan, gluten-free, peanut-free – the healthier choice is the way Kelly and Erinn put it and add that their business is not just a food choice but a lifestyle choice as well.

The restaurant proved there was a market for vegan food in Burlington – the cupcakes were an extension into a product that had become very very popular.

Pink prevails in a spotless kitchen where cupcakes get produced by the thousands.

Their publicist says their cupcakes are delicious, stand head to head with the fat and sugar laden varieties, but these are guilt-free – vegan, gluten-free, peanut-free – the healthier choice

Kelly has a rapidly growing on-line following; #kellystribe who follow not just for food advice but also for inspiration and to be part of a community of life minded, health conscious eaters.

Childs adds that “It’s good for the soul when we know it’s local, fair-trade and organic and kind to living things and the planet.” She adds that great food does make a difference.

Kelly and Erinn are both very savvy and walk the talk about their insights and food philosophies. All of their food is 100% authentically Vegan – not just by way of ingredients, but also in the way they think about the planet and being socially conscious – kind food.

Kelly is a “marketer” – the product happens to be something she is passionate about but the strength is that of a big picture marketer. Erinn has a degree in political science that she earned at McMaster. Her Mom lived in Toronto at the time and followed Erinn to Burlington where they are in the process of building an empire on cupcakes that are vegan.

They are working on their first cookbook which will be published by Random House in 2016. There are literally thousands of cook books out there – to have Random House pick up your book is a big big deal

To have investors in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates express a financial interest in what you are doing is also a big deal. Are there dollars on the table – not yet but Kelly and her daughter Erinn are looking far beyond the borders of Burlington.

Kellys - counter of cup cakes with people

Exceptional marketing savvy are creating a brand that is becoming known around the world.

When a small shop on Brant Street draws several thousand people on a weekend and gets written up in one of the hottest news sources you know something is happening.

The underlying product will be cupcakes but that appears to be just the beginning.

Kelly Childs, who is exceptionally fit, does yoga and appears to have tapped into all the progressive approaches to running a retail operation, is clearly on a roll.

Where does she see all this going? She wants to become the Martha Stewart of healthy food choices and the cookbook is going to be the launching pad for that world reach effort.

The Martha Stewart of vegan food eh!, from Burlington you say. Keep an eye on this one

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