 By Pepper Parr
February 15, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It is surprising how little we hear from Council members on the issue of improving the dangerously low economic growth of the city.
 The BEDC has a formula they use to go from the first hint, tip, request – whatever they get to track the opportunity. Is this a viable model? Are there better models out there? This one suggests we wait for people to call on us – do we ever go out and attempt to convince people to come to us? That’s how Hamilton took International Harvester off our plate and ate our lunch. Economic development for Burlington is done by a standalone unit that is not part of the city hall operation. The Burlington Economic Development Corporation is a unit that is subsidized by the city and charged with attracting new business to Burlington and retaining the business we already have.
Burlington is now at a point where its financial growth is not going to come from the residential housing sector. We are very close to build out – there are but two large developments left to get done, one in the east along Tremaine Road and the other in the west known as Eagle heights – after that it is infill and small pocket developments.
The city has a lot of land that is designated and zoned “employment lands”. The owners of much of that land would prefer to see it used for residential development where the profits are much higher. Residential development will attract new families but also add a significant burden to the city’s cost structure.
The industrial commercial sector not only returns higher tax dollars to the city but creates jobs as well. Those jobs attract younger people and for a city that has the largest growth in the seniors demographic in the GTA that growth is important.
In 2012 the city’s tax growth in the ICI (Industrial Commercial Institutional) sector was a negative number compared to 2011 and will be the same for the 2013 tax year. The prospects for the next couple of years are not a lot better.
Something had to be done with the BEDC – they just were not producing. Burlington has a great story to tell and we were doing a terrible job of telling our story and attracting new business. We don’t recall a single media release on a new business coming to town from the BEDC. We did get media releases from a few new business operations – Lowes being one.
If the BEDC doesn’t tell its story – then its story doesn’t get told and when anyone goes to the internet and enters Burlington new business – there won’t be much to see.
The organization has taken on a secretive approach – getting information out of them has been very difficult – they are not exactly media friendly. They tend to hunker down and hope that things will just blow over – an attitude and approach that applies to both staff and the directors. We recall two situations where we have asked for comment and were referred to the Executive Director who they later fired.
When the BEDC gets “repurposed” or “reinvented” or whatever they decide to call themselves they need to take on a good dollop of media savviness as well. They need to understand they are a sales organization charged with the responsibility of selling the city as a great place to live and do business. When Burlington was named the best medium-sized city in Canada to live in the BEDC immediately took out a full-page advertisement in a leading business magazine. It was the best they could do.
 Not much for the downtown core. Are we doing what needs to be done with the QEW Prosperity Corridor?  Is this the type of business Burlington wants? Did we go looking for them or did they call us? The administrative structure of the BEDC from about 2009 through to 2011 required them to raise a large part of their budget which they did with events. The focus often went to creating, marketing and then putting on a series of networking events. BEDC management couldn’t manage to operate on the two fronts and the attraction of new business suffered.
The BEDC kept producing reports which all too often suggested yet another report. Early in the fall the BEDC Board came to the conclusion that the Executive Director was not the man for the job and the two parted ways – but not before a Board member, who should have known better, made statements that added to the size of the separation package the city had to pay out.
The BEDC is now looking for a new Executive Director but can’t start that process until there is a clear, strong governance model in place. That task seems to be taking quite a bit of time and is in the hands of Gerry Smallgange, Burlington Hydro president and Pat Sugrue of Fearmans Pork Inc.; both BEDC board members.. Acting Executive Director Scott Stewart, who is also the General manager for the city of Infrastructure and Development, put it very bluntly when he said: “These gentlemen and the board owe you a report on this topic in April”. The BEDC board owes the city a lot more than a single report.
In the past year Burlington managed to lose one of our historically long operations – International Harvester, that got scooped up by Hamilton.
Some of the data presented to the Standing Committee earlier in the week suggests BEDC has upped their game and they are now doing the job they were put in place to do. Not everyone agrees with that assumption.
 It’s not a bad story – but is the story good enough and can we do better?  Looks like a lot of “speculation” on those development charges going forward. Stewart, serving as Acting Executive Director since November of last year took the Committee though the data pointing out that 2013 has been a “transition” year for the BEDC. Scott comments:
The governance model is expected to come up with a “completely re-constituted board”. The term for the current board ends at its AGM on May 29th
That base budget Stewart was delegating on was originally submitted in October by the previous and now departed Executive Director. The base budget is now set at $958,000 which includes a reduction of $22,000 that the BEDC was directed to remove.
In addition to the base budget there are three business cases council is being asked to consider for a total of $275,000
What is a bit surprising and disturbing is that the BEDC has had three months and to re-develop their raison d’êtreand craft a governance model – and there is nothing to show yet. This isn’t rocket science; these governance models are done in the private sector every day.
 Turning those opportunities into wins is the challenge.  There are some critical sectors we are not active in. How do we change that? A legitimate question would be – why hasn’t this been done by now and what have you been doing for the past three and a half months? There are three members of Council on the BEDC; the Mayor, Councillors Sharman and Dennison. Earlier in the day the BEDC delegation was heard Councillor Sharman had asked Rishia Burke, who was delegating on behalf of a Community Development Halton initiative, what she did each day. Ms Burke acquitted herself quite well – the same cannot be said for Councillor Sharman if he had been asked what he has done on the BEDC.
 The development Charges are interesting – but there has to be a commitment before those charges get levied. The citizens of the city just don’t hear what that board does; what the wins have been and what the problems are – and there are very clearly serious and significant problems. It appears that the problem has been a lack of both leadership and focus – this Board doesn’t seem to know what it is supposed to be. It is far too large a board and it isn’t clear where the leadership is coming from. For the immediate future the day-to-day operations are being led by a city General manager who spends half a day a week at that office.
 Are the council members on the BEDC the three moneys? As the Acting Executive Director Scott Stewart was the person that spoke for the BEDC at the Standing Committee meeting; not word from the Chair who was in the room and nothing from the council members who sit on that board. Stewart does the best that can be expected under the circumstances he has to work with.
Were those three doing a three monkey act: See you evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? What the public hears is that we have a Prosperity corridor and somebody is interested in some property over there.
Questions were asked at the Standing Committee by ward 2 councilor Marianne Meed Ward who said she had plenty of questions which she had sent to the BEDC board. They were not read out in the open meeting but here they are:
1. What is the result of the marketing funds the city gave the BEDC last year? Any new businesses locate here as a result? Any leads?
2. What is the current staffing, in terms of roles? Is there a full-time person devoted to lead generation/sales?
3. What is the current staffing requirement for events?
4. Could the BEDC get out of events this year (i.e. how many are already booked/paid for; can you release the balance so by 2015 there are no more events)? Which events remain on the books this year?
5. What are the marketing funds for the 2014 budget going towards? What are the measurables – i.e. what is the BEDC expecting in return for this investment? Jobs? Leads? Etc.
6. What’s included in the marketing and investment attraction “employment lands marketing initiatives” line item?
7. How many sales calls are staff expected to generate, leading to how many leads, leading to how many news jobs/business/sq ft in Burlington?
8. Where does the money in the innovate Burlington line item come from?
 9. Salaries saw an increase in 4.18%. Can you advise why? More staff? What’s the budgeted raise? At the city, the compensation amount is set at 1%. How much would your budget be reduced by if you also kept HR to 1%?
10. What are the contract services for corporate restructure, for both 2013 and 2014?
11. What’s in the parking line?
12. What’s the scholarship funding line item?
13. What’s the TEAM Burlington line item?
14. How many net jobs came to Burlington this year (how many left; how many came – are we up or down)?
15. Have the commuting patterns gone up or down versus last year (i.e. are more, or less, people commuting outside Burlington for work?
 16. What is the $40,000 for investment attraction, and why so low?
17. The 2014 budget is less than the 2013 actual. I assume that is because some projects in 2013 were one-time and not repeated? If so, which ones? If not, why is 2014 budget lower than 2013 actual?
Mead Ward says she is supportive of the BEDC and the city investment and is “looking for more detail on the specific budget items, with a goal to accelerate work on business attraction”. Her concern relates to any continued involvement in events, which take a huge amount of staff time to run.
The events part of the BEDC operation used to be run by Jackie Isada who got talked into joining the Mayor as his Chief of Staff. Isada once said that she had raised more than $2 million for the BEDC through events while she held that job.
 Stewart set out the problem better than he may have realized when he told the Standing Committee that “the board will need your patience as they determine what they want to be and will have to define their recommendation for you and put dollars to this final outcome”. He added that “you may see a re purpose of the proposed work in 2014.”
Not mentioned at the committee meeting on Thursday was that there is to be a Committee of the Whole on February 27th to provide an update on BEDC. The agenda for this meeting will be completed February 24th following a BEDC board meeting on February 21st.
City manager Jeff Fielding sits on the BEDC board as does the Mayor and Councillors Sharman and Dennison. There wasn’t a single question from any of the elected representatives on the BEDC board.
Up until November of last year there was an Executive board which was merged back into the full board which now consists of:
P.K. (Phil) Nanavati (Chairman) Fengate Capital Management – Broker of Record, an investment management firm specializing in originating and managing investments in the infrastructure and real estate sectors.
Alf Zeuner (Past Chairman), President AXYZ Automation Inc.; a global company manufacturing, selling and servicing computerized industrial machinery, specifically CNC router tables.
John Chisholm, CEO and Partner SB Partners LLP, a full-service financial services firm and trusted resource for assurance/advisory services, tax minimization, valuations, estate and succession planning, SRED tax credits, U.S. tax services, mergers and acquisitions.
Mayor Rick Goldring
Jeff Fielding, Burlington City Manager
Councillor Jack Dennison, owner of Cedar Springs Health Racquet and Sportsclub.
Councillor Paul Sharman, a professional accountant and has a successful career as a consultant and as President and CEO of one of the largest professional US-based associations of accountants in the world.
John Lever, Regional Vice President, Halton South, RBC Royal Bank. The bank provides services to the city of Burlington.
Gerry Smallegange, President & CEO, Burlington Hydro Electric Inc. –
Ruta Stauskas, Vice President, Human Resources, Boehringer Ingelheim Canada Ltd., one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
Louise St-Pierre, Senior Vice-President, Residential Services, Cogeco Cable Canada LP, the second largest cable system operator in Ontario.
Paul Subject, President, STANMECH Technologies Inc. specializes in innovative, customer-focused engineering solutions.
Patrick Sugrue, President, Fearmans Pork Inc., the largest pork packing company in Ontario and the largest employer in Burlington.
Ronald J. Weston, Partner, Feltmate Delibato Heagle LLP a team of innovative legal experts who cover wide-ranging areas of practice.
It is a very large board which former Mayor Goldring Chief of Staff Frank McKeown thought should be “blown up”.
During a tour of the employment lands in Burlington with the former Executive Director he commented that there were significant opportunities on the north side of the 407 for development. Might be, but there is a provincial policy that has those lands set aside a part of the Green Belt and if Burlington is to maintain its municipal integrity those lands have to be kept green.
 The BEDC doesn’t tell its story and when anyone goes to the internet and enters Burlington new business – there won’t be much to see.
 KPI’s – Key performance indicators. The 2014 targets will be hard to meet with the current leadership.  Hard to understand the significant increase in expected tax revenue when the square footage is close to the same. The organization has taken on a secretive approach – getting information out of them has been very difficult – they are not exactly media friendly. They tend to hunker down and hope that things will just blow over – an attitude and approach that applies to both staff and the directors. We recall two situations where we have asked for comment and were referred to the Executive Director who they later fired.
When the BEDC gets “repurposed” or “reinvented” or whatever they decide to call themselves they need to take on a good dollop of media “savviness” as well. This Board needs strong leadership which they are not going to be able to hire until they have a governance model in place that will guide whoever is brought in. Expect to see something come out of the Committee of the Whole later this month. Will someone within city hall suggest the existing Board be dismissed and the responsibility be brought in-house – at least until things are stabilized and we are where we should be and need to be? Is there a member of council with the courage to step forward and talk about some “out of the box” ideas. Surely Burlington can do better than this.
When Burlington was named the best medium-sized city in Canada to live in the BEDC immediately took out a full-page advertisement in a leading business magazine. It was the best they could do.
 By Pepper Parr
February 11, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It’s going to be tough to have the Delta Hotel that will grace Lakeshore road at the bottom of Elizabeth in time for the Pan Am Games – construction appeared to start earlier this week.
 A cement truck and a drill suggest someone is digging holes and filling them with concrete – what’s what construction is all about. Will we see the Delta Hotel and the Bridgewater open by the end of 2015? People out on the property with drills and cement trucks – sure sign of somebody doing something to the ground.
The Games are scheduled to run from July 10-26 with soccer being played in Hamilton and the multi million dollar New City Park serving as the practice field for the competing teams.
Burlington’s newest and its biggest park has basically been rented out to the Pan Am Games people – all we will see of the teams is the bus bringing them to the city passing by.
 Delta Hotel on the right and the 22 storey Bridgewater condominium on the left. Finally underway? The four star Delta Hotel was touted as an upper end hotel which the city wanted in place for the Games. Those who know construction tell us that it basically isn’t possible to get the building up and ready for occupancy in the time left.
“The big thing for us” said a usually reliable source “was to have the hotel in the city and operational.”
While there are construction workers on the property they appear to be on the side where the Bridgewater condominium will get built.
We will keep an eye on this for you.
 By Pepper Parr
February 10, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
With the city budget determined as both capital costs and Operating costs – it can still be very confusing.
Council members have tons of questions. Rather than have some questions asked several times city staff pull
together all the questions and consolidate them – letting staff dig out the answers and put the collection in front of council
– it runs to 25 pages.
 Markings identifying portions of the street intended for cyclists. Future plans for bike lanes:
Setting aside part of roadways for cyclists is still a work in progress in Burlington. The cycling advocates
lost the battle to have dedicated lanes on Lakeshore Road – something to be remembered come the
civic election.
Question: Provide a consolidated breakdown of capital funding sources and total cost to install bike lanes for the projects identified in the capital budget.
Response: Preliminary Bike Lane forecasted costs
Ref # 2 Appleby Line @ Harvester Intersection
$ Costs if part of road expansion
Standalone costs (no planned expansion)
Year 2018 $22,000 $822,000
Ref #
|
5
|
Harvester Road @ Guelph Line IntersectionYear 2017 |
$22,000 |
$148,000 |
| Ref # |
6
|
Harvester Road – South Service Road to CenturyYear 2017 |
Drive$161,700 |
$823,200 |
| Ref # |
7
|
Harvester Road – South Service Road to WalkersYear 2017/2020 |
Line$365,200 |
$699,500 |
| Ref # |
8
|
Lakeshore Road – Maple Avenue to City LimitYear 2015/2017 |
$451,000 |
$957,000 |
| Ref # |
11 |
North Service Road @ WalkersYear 2014 |
$187,000 |
$277,000 |
| Ref # |
12 |
Waterdown Road NorthYear 2016 |
$528,000 |
$818,000 |
| Ref # |
13 |
Waterdown Road WideningYear 2014 |
$72,600 |
$312,600 |
| Ref # |
16 |
Plains Road Reconstruction |
|
|
| Year |
2015 |
380 m @ $220 /m = |
$83,600 |
$1,005,000 |
| Ref # |
17 |
South Service RoadYear 2016/2017 |
$52,800 |
$209,600 * |
| Ref # |
19 |
Brant Street @ Plains RoadYear 2017 |
$22,000 |
$66,000 |
| Ref # |
20 |
Harvester Road @ WalkersYear 2016 |
$22,000 |
$272,000 |
| Ref # |
21 |
King Road – SSR to NSR |
|
|
|
|
Year 2019 |
$57,200 |
$2,532,000 * |
| Ref # |
23 |
Walkers @ DundasYear 2016 |
$22,000 |
$52,000 |
| Ref # |
24 |
Walkers @ Upper MiddleYear 2018 |
$22,000 |
$122,000 |
| Ref # |
25 |
Waterdown Road Bridge Widening at Hwy 403 |
$17,600 |
$1,500,000 * |
| Ref # |
28 |
Burloak Drive Grade SeparationYear 2020/2021 |
$44,000 |
$2,000,000 * |
| Ref # |
31 |
Lakeshore Road ReconstructionYear 2019 |
$37,400 |
$179,100 |
| Ref # |
32 |
Plains Road @ York Blvd RoundaboutYear 2023 |
$33,000 |
$83,000 |
| Ref # |
33 |
Walkers Line – Hwy 407 to No 1 SideroadYear 2020 |
$239,800 |
$824,800 |
| Ref # |
85 |
Eastport Drive Cycling ImprovementsYear 2017 |
$11,000 |
$1,000,000 * |
|
|
TOTAL
|
$2,473,900 |
$14,702,800 |
Harvester Road corridor:
Question: Harvester Road Corridor Improvements and Widening. Provide the total cost of all works proposed along the Harvester Road corridor.
Response: The total gross cost of projects along the Harvester Road corridor is $ 27,489,500.
 Sealing cracks on roads is one of the preventive maintenance tools before a road has to be rebuilt. Shave and pave have proven to be money well spent – and we are spending a lot of money on this tool. Road repairs – sealing cracks:
Question: Provide the list of suggested roads that will be crack sealed.
Response: The following table identifies the proposed 2014 crack sealing candidates
| Road |
From |
To |
| WILLOWBROOK RD |
PLAINS RD |
ENFIELD RD |
| GLENWOOD AVE |
NORTH SHORE BLVD |
TOWNSEND AVE |
| RICHMOND RD |
MAPLE AVE |
HAGER AVE |
| POMONA AVE |
LAKESHORE RD |
SPRUCE AVE |
| PINE COVE RD |
SPRUCE AVE |
NEW ST |
| ROCKWOOD DR |
WOODVIEW RD |
WALKER’S LINE |
| TURNER DR |
LONGMOOR DR |
BENNETT RD |
| GRAPEHILL AVE |
WALKER’S LINE |
STRATHCONA DR |
| MELBA LANE |
SPRUCE AVE |
STRATHCONA DR |
| LINDEN AVE |
HAWTHORNE AVE |
SPRUCE AVE |
| REEVES RD |
WHITE PINES DR |
TOTTENHAM RD |
| MAPLE |
LAKESHORE |
FAIRVIEW |
Downtown street lights:
Question: Is the sum of $884,000 in addition to the $1.9 million included in previous budgets to complete Decorative Street Light Restoration works on the downtown?
Response: The sum of $884,000 is new funding. The restoration project is to start in 2016 and continue yearly for 4 years with an expenditure of $222,000 per year. The previous Capital funding was for the reconstruction of Brant Street, burying utilities and installing Decorative Street Lights.
Central Arena Facility Renewal/Enhancements – Skyway
Question: Is money needed for these arenas? What is the future direction of Skyway?
Response: Funds for Central Arena are identified for 2015 and funds for Skyway Arena are identified for 2017. Staff will be conducting an ice needs review in 2014 to determine if the current inventory will meet customer needs for the next 5-10 years. The results of this review will be presented to Council. If the review warrants major renovations to either arena, staff will submit a business case in conjunction with the 2015 budget submission.
The capital budget will be recast in 2015. As such, the 2014 capital budget and forecast focused on 2014 projects. The project in the capital budget assumes a revitalization of Skyway Arena based on life cycle renewal requirements. However, prior to proceeding with this a strategic review of the need for this facility vis-a-vis ice user needs as well as other community needs will be under taken as directed by Council.
 Longer term thinking has city hall being replaced but for the immediate future improving the sound system in Council chamber – FINALLY! and improving some of the meetings rooms is where capital dollars will be spent this year. City Hall:
Question: What work is being done on the city hall building for the $250k in 2014?
Response: A City Hall Administrative Study is underway which will provide a recommended strategic option for City Hall needs. Funding identified in 2014 is to advance the high level option recommended in this study to design development including costing for capital budget purposes.
Looking at what to do with city hall long term doesn’t mean it will be left to disintegrate.
Question: Provide the detail of the work being done in 2014 for public meeting rooms and council chambers.
Response: (a) Meeting rooms on 3rd floor: Replacement of carpeting, furniture and technology. (b) Council Chambers: Audio equipment only.
 Now the biggest park the city has – and the furthest from the bulk of the population. City View Park:
It is now the biggest park the city has – but very few people get to use the place tucked away as it is in the north-west sector of the city – easier for Waterdown people to get to the place.
Once you are there – the site is wonderful. Many don’t like the plastic grass and argue that we will rue the day we have to pay for its replacement and cost of getting rid of it. It was hoped the location would be a big Pan Am Games attraction but all Burlington is going to get is a decent chunk of rent money for space soccer teams use to practice. The public will not be allowed onto the site during those practices.
Question: Outline the need for the 1.8 FTEs and $158K of operating requirements in 2016 and 2017.
Response: 2014 request of $5K supports the portable washroom facility required at the site. The amounts for 2016 and 2017 should be adjusted as follows:
Move request for $15K and 0.3FTE from 2016 to 2015 to provide a student for maintenance of the 3 premier sports fields starting in the Pan Am year. This student will work weekends and will provide a presence in the park, collect litter, groom fields as needed, inspect the trails and ensure the fields are being used as permitted. Three artificial turf fields have been built out and the large investment in this infrastructure requires a greater level of oversight and service.
Move request for $143K and 1.5FTE to 2019 when the Pavilion construction is scheduled. The FTE’s are for one permanent staff person (Equipment Operator) and one seasonal temp. With the build out of the pavilion, the washroom building will be open and the picnic areas. Much like other city parks (such as Central, Nelson, Sherwood Forest, Millcroft, Lowville) the investment in infrastructure combined with high use require increased staff levels to ensure that maintenance standards are met.
 Information technology is everywhere – but not always something you can put your finger on. Done well it will save most people time and the city administration a tonne of money. Expensive – yes – but we couldn’t exist without it. Information technology:
City hall is going to use the internet as much as it can to both improve its communication with its citizens and to reduce its costs. The Information technology department will be charged with delivering on the policy that Council decides upon.
There will be some bumps along this road – we don’t have an IT department that manages to be ahead of the curve in the IT field – to be fair few municipalities are able to keep up with the change. Major corporations stumble on this one. Add to that – that technology takes longer to complete – almost every time.
Project: E-Government Strategy Implementation
Question: a) How much funding has been committed to the E-gov’t program (to date and future)?
b) How many FTEs (permanent and temporary) are assigned by year?
c) With the money being spent, what will be the outcomes / transactions?
Response: a) The E-government program funding is:
Approved to-date:
$1.21 million (2011 – 2013 capital budget requests for software, hardware, implementation, IT staff costs). The projects supported with this funding are the web portal, e-commerce, public involvement, community calendar, service requests.
$490,000 (current budgets for business project staffing costs). These staff are supporting projects for recreation services, web design and migration and overall e-government program implementation. (one-time expense)
2014 capital request:
$240,000 to support projects in development services, open data and staff support.
Total of $1,940,000. This reflects what was requested in the 2012 budget in a 3 year capital program (2012 – 2014).
b) Staff assignments to E-Government Program:
Program manager 3 years, Business Analyst – 2 years, Application Analyst
– 2.5 years, P&R Business Lead – 1 year, Web Specialist – 1 year. The Program Manager and Application Analyst positions finish in 2015 and all others end in 2014.
All of the positions are temporary assignments done through secondment or contract.
c) E-Government Program deliverables are focused on enhancing and expanding our customers’ online experience. Our goal is to introduce more electronic service options for the public and enhance the information access/search ability with improved navigation.
Services delivered to date include: The online Live and Play guide with direct connection to program registration, Public engagement through MindMixer, Tax bill/statement electronic distribution and payment through EPost, Online Tyandaga tee time bookings, P&R program waitlist notification and receipt printing, Online facility availability, Online P&R membership registration.
City information data sets available through our Open Data project for developers and interested community members e.g. our transit schedule is now available through free apps to make it easier to know what bus to take based upon where you want to go.
Our future deliverables are:
Providing a single online reference point for Public Involvement opportunities with the City through a new web page
Online facility availability to meeting rooms and picnic spaces
Revitalized map views to make them easier to use and understand
More data sets for developers to create apps for our citizens to use e.g. cycling routes, construction plans, approved budgets
A new website with the ability to put more services and information online in an easier to access format e.g. service requests, development service permits and applications
An enhanced community calendar
A more user friendly and flexible e-payments solution
Emerald Ash Borer
This is one of those projects where we often don’t know that we are doing – but then no one else in the field knows all that much either. It is complex, based on science that we are still learning about and it is expensive. The hope is – and that’s basically all we have at this point – is that we can keep ahead of it. Not much of an upside but the downside is to lose thousands of trees – and if tax payers are concerned about property values – imagine a street that loses all of its ash trees. This is a tough one.
 This little creature is costing us a fortune – and we are not at all certain we are going to win the battle to stop the infestation. Question: a) How effective is the current program?
b) What were the results of the pilot program in Oakville?
Response: a) Although the effectiveness of the current program is still being understood, observations indicate that treatment has contributed to the prolonged life of ash trees. To date, the trees requiring removal have been primarily those that are untreated and there has not been a significant impact to treated trees. In some cases, non-treated trees have been removed beside treated trees that are still standing.
 How much damage can the Emerald ash bore do? Trees in Cambridge that are lost. b) Staff will request information from Oakville staff about the results of their pilot study and provide Council with this information as it is received.
The above are a few of the items in the capital budget for 2014. The numbers are for the most part place holders while the city totally re-casts the capital budget for 2015 – which is when the new budgeting tools begin to come into play. Service based budgeting, Result based accountability and new Business process management tools will become THE approach used at city hall.
Will they make a difference. You want to hope so – there are some costs coming our way that could cripple the 2020 taxpayers.
 By Pepper Parr
February 10, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Expect to hear much more about “business cases”, documents that set out what the city wants to do with your money.
The document the bureaucracy provides is pretty straight forward. It sets out what they want to do and how much they expect to spend. Some of the business cases are recommended by the Executive Budget committee while others are not.
 The arts and culture set knew what they wanted – what they weren’t sure of was – is city hall listening to them? The city wants to hire a Manager of Cultural Planning. There is currently a Cultural Planner on staff who worked half time out of the Parks and Recreation department. That position has been made full-time, however the planner is still doing quite a bit of Parks and Recreation work..
The intention is to have a Cultural Manager along with the Cultural Planner who will oversee the implementation of the cultural plan that has been approved by city council. What the public has not seen yet is the specifics of the plan that is to be implemented.
The city will spend something in the order of $120,000 for the manager and associated costs. Back when the Performing Arts Centre was a gleam in the eye of many Burlington had a small arts organization that got renamed Creative Burlington. It was the place that had what information there was on the arts and the people in the art business. They were heavily involved in the Taste of Burlington event but relied on Ontario Trillium funding. When that ran out Creative Burlington appealed to the city for $65,000 to stay alive while they worked on a funding formula to become sustainable. The city turned them down – now the same council is going to consider putting up $100,000 plus, for a full-time person that will be come part of the year to year budget.
 Jeremy Freiburger, author of a report that provided direction for the city’s cultural plan based on reams of data he had gathered. Now the city has to determine how it wants ti implement its Cultural Action Plan. About a year after that, the city put out a Request for a Proposal for some research and idea development on culture and the city. Jeremy Freiburger, head of Cobalt Connects brought in his Cultural Directions report that provided the city with all kinds of data based on extensive research and community input. It was some of the best data the city has every had available about culture. Freiburger was able to tell us how much we spend on culture, where we spend it and where there was opportunity for cultural growth in the city.
This at a time when the Performing Arts Centre had opened to mixed reviews and then went into a dive when it went to city council saying they needed twice as much money as originally thought they would need in the way of a subsidy. To its credit the Performing Arts Centre has recovered and while it will always require a subsidy management over there expects that to come in at below $500,000 perhaps as early as 2015
That resulted in the then Executive Director deciding that family was more important and submitting a resignation to the Board. The board itself realized it needed to up its game and recruited some new members –this time adding some much-needed business acumen and one member who at least dabbled in the arts.
 It was real art which the public liked and it was one of a number of elements that brought to the surface a desire for more in the way of cultural life in the city – and brought it from a community few knew all that much about. At about the same time the city took up the generous offer insurance executive Dan Lawrie made to pay for a large part of a sculpture that was to be erected outside the Performing Arts Centre. The Spiral Stella was unveiled on a bright sunny day – the audience oohed and awed and that was it. The thing just stands there with nothing more said or done about it.
This after a delightful piece of public art set up in a just plain dumb location – on a major traffic artery yards away from a railway underpass on Upper Middle Road.
We seemed to be going from one disappointment to another when –  Trevor Copp, who had been named Artist of the year delegated before city council and said he wanted to be able to perform in the community he lived in and didn`t want to always be “on the road”. His delegation was like one of those Chinese fire crackers that go one and on. Copp struck a chord that is still reverberating.
A meeting of arts types was called, there is some difference of opinion as to who actually called the meeting, but it took place with 20 people at the first one, then a second meeting with sixty people and out of that came the Arts and Culture Collective of Burlington with its own Facebook page that you have to be recommended to get in.
Suddenly the arts community had a voice and the bureaucrats had someone they could listen to. Prior to this, all the city had was those who wanted culture and those who didn’t think it was the city’s business to be doing all that much for the artists.
With all this early stage fermentation taking place there was then the No Vacancy art installation at the Waterfront hotel that was as avant guard as it gets and over the top for Burlington. It was a one night stand that was supposed to take place in a motel but got upgraded to the Waterfront hotel where management was scared silly that the vice squad was going to raid the place. The nude stretched out on the hotel room bed was a stunning piece of installation art. The event lasted a couple of hours and was a knockout.
Mixed in with the No Vacancy event was a bit of Slam Poetry – few even knew what Slam Poetry is, but here in Burlington there is a group of poets who perform once a month at the Black Bull on Guelph Line. They work with funding from the Canada Council and no one for the most part knew anything about them.
 A delightful work of art – but you may never see it – sitting as it does in the middle of Upper Middle Road yards away from a railway underpass. Councillor Lancaster argued that the thing wasn’t in her ward. Members of Council seemed thrilled that the city had such a vibrant arts community – one they knew very little about – so much for council members having their ears to the ground.
With all that by way of background – what will city council decide to do in the way of supporting this nascent community? Will they approve the hiring of a full-time Cultural Manager? And what impact will that have on the implementation of the Cultural Action Plan? And just what’s in that Plan anyway? And who is overseeing this cultural initiative?
Getting to this point has not been easy. There was a point at which Freiburger saw his efforts as being “trashed” by senior city hall management that didn’t bring an arts or culture background to their work. Most had come out of a gymnastics culture that many in the arts community felt didn’t understand what it is that makes the arts tick. The differences between bouncing on a trampoline and working the strings of a big Gibson guitar are not comparable other than they both require discipline and practice.
The Freiburger report landed on the desk of General Manager Kim Phillips who had her portfolio drastically cut when city manager Jeff Fielding moved finance, legal and information technology to his desk. Philips was left with Parks and Recreation, the Fire department and oversaw the management of the creation of a Citizen’s Charter – which has yet to be given life. Culture will also report to Phillips
The working relationship between the city manager and general manager Phillips is not the best – perhaps some additional “adjustment” to his senior team when a performance review takes place?
The cultural initiative is sitting in limbo until city council approves the expenditure for the Cultural manager who is expected to work somewhere outside city hall. The Executive Budget Committee (EBC) supports the expenditure which will become an annual expense.
 The cultural community wanted to be in on the ground floor of any decision-making – they made their voices heard – now they wait to see of council will fund culture in a meaningful way. The arts community will be out in force on the 13th when this item will be open for delegations. It is a critical decision for the city – the choice they make will pinch the growth of the arts and culture in the city or give it the room it needs to grow and flourish.
What will this person do? The Business case the city set out has the Cultural manager serving in a leadership role to “develop and maintain networks of cultural contacts including cultural Board and maintain cultural mapping on-line. This leader will use a community development model to develop an external non-profit organization that will be called the Burlington Arts and Cultural Council.”
“The Cultural Manager will be expected to ensure that the city`s cultural services: – festivals and events, public art, Burlington Teen Tour Band and the Burlington Student Theatre are delivered in a customer first service model and are well-managed with appropriate requests for financial and human resource support.”
The expectation appears to be that this manager would become the “service owner” for cultural services in the city.
The Sound of Music has their request in for $48,000 (they asked for basically the same amount last year – didn’t get it) and the EBC has not recommended the request this year but, Heritage Burlington is in for a tonne of money – one chunk with a $103,450 price tag and the other budgeted at $125,000 in 2013. Of that amount there is $97,228 that will be rolled over into 2014.
Next in this look at business cases series – the Burlington Economic Development Corporation and its ask for $275,000 – which has been approved by the Executive Budget Committee comes up for debate. Council has continued to throw money at the EBC hoping some of it will produce results.
Background links:
Arts community smells funding.
No Vacancy event revealed a different Burlington.
 By Pepper Parr
February 7, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Auctions are both a form of entertainment and a chance to learn more about art, see what you like and decide if you are prepared to pay the price the auctioneer has worked the audience up to.
Friday evening, Nello Romagnoli pulled $80,000 from a room that was packed.
Earlier in the week, an event that usually draws 250 people did manage to get 150 hardy souls to the CIBC Wood Gundy private reception in weather that had the city cancelling all its public events as Burlington buttoned down to weather yet another winter storm.
 Robert Bateman’s Coyote on Mt. Nemo was certainly the draw and for the most part the crowd pleaser but it didn’t pull what it should have pulled in the way of price. The bid came in by telephone – they got a deal. The draw for most was a very recent and much different Bateman than they’d seen in the past. Robert Bateman, who is in his 83rd year, has done a piece that is much closer to his Burlington roots. Titled Coyote at Mt. Nemo, the 30 x 43 cm oil on board resonates instantly with those who have taken the paths to Mr. Nemo.
The rock formations are identifiable not only to the eye but to the heart-strings as well. It is as if one was taken back to an old, familiar, comfortable place and there, almost in the shadows, is a coyote looking at a crevice between two rock formations and deciding if he can make the jump from one side to the other. Between the two sides of the crevice the green branches of trees are visible – that’s our Mt. Nemo.
 Art Centre Executive Director relays a telephone bid for the Bateman. Best he could do was pull in $13,000. A deal at that price. The painting is given a market value of between $15,000 and $19,000 – Executive Director Ian Ross had his phone pressed against his ear as the unknown clients settled at a bid of $13,000. That buyer got a deal.
The Bateman piece was one of 120 pieces of art that are part of the live and silent auction – the 35th put on by the Burlington Art Centre that will be going through a re-branding once the city budget is approved. John Duffy, who has done some impressive work in the past, has taken on the task of freshening the image of the Art Centre.
Auctioneers are at heart psychologists – they bring an ability to read a room as well as read a person and know if they can entice a higher bid. They can spot a bottom feeder a mile away and usually know when a bidder is about to top out.
 Hundreds of people dropped by the Art Centre to take their time and see what was in the catalogue and decide what they liked. Several excellent pieces went for well above the Estimated Market Value – eight items were withdrawn. A good auctioneer will ease a bidder up an additional $100 and the moment he has pulled that from you – he is off to the next person to see if he can entice them to take the price up $50 and if he does he will be back to the first person trying to coax an additional $50. – all the while casting his eyes about the room looking for that furtive hand that flicks its fingers – the sign that there is life and a wallet the auctioneer can get at.
Good auctioneers learn where the laughs are in the room and will choose people, often couples that he can use as foils to advance the bidding. Watching a good auctioneer is a little like watching a play – one in which the bidders are not just the audience but get drawn up on stage to play a small part.
 A Helen Griffiths piece went for less than the Market Value and will hang in the home of Burlington MP Mike Wallace. Good taste in art. So – who bought what? Well Burlington MP mike Wallace was seen walking out with three shrink wrapped pieces , one of which was a Helen Griffiths still life of six coffee cups. Griffiths is a local artist whose work will appreciate in value. Her portrait work is well worth looking for.
Someone asked Mayor Goldring if he was buying, and he replied that he was buying the pier. There was an “encaustic on panel” of the pier by Hamilton artist Ron Eady that went for $1600, but it didn’t look as if the Mayor was the buyer – so perhaps he meant he wanted to purchase the pier itself. Should he somehow manage to do that – well there are $50 million lottery tickets sold – the citizens of the city would be forever grateful, re-elect him for certain and probably name the thing after him to show their eternal gratitude.
 Hillside Homes went for its Market Value – most didn’t make that level. There was one art matron who held up her catalogue displaying her bid number more than once and on each occasion the auctioneer managed to coax an additional hundred dollars or so from her – then dart away to see if he could do the same thing to someone else. On at least two occasions this matron was the top bidder who just wiggled with delight at her purchase. For this woman it was the pleasure of the piece she was buying that moved her.
“Fly Fishing” was struggling at the $200 level when the auctioneer scowled at the audience and informed them that a fishing license costs more than the bid. He managed to get it to $250 and had to settle for that.
 A Life’s Journey by Doug Mays went for a little less than the Estimated Market value – a fine piece of work. Most of the final prices were considerably lower than the Estimated Market Value shown in the catalogue – which may have been deliberate. A total of eight pieces were withdrawn when the bids did not reach the minimum the artist had set. The price a piece is sold for determines the value the market places on a work – for budding artists there is a level they do not want to go below – if that isn’t reached they exercise their right to withdraw a piece.
For some artists, usually people who do not see themselves as full-time professionals will donate a piece to see just what value the market places on their work.
Frank Myers has a capacity to discover old buildings which he photographs – producing often evocative images. He did a tour of parts of Pennsylvania a number of years ago and came back with a very intriguing collection of pictures. His Turtle Rock photograph sold for more than the Estimated Market Value. William Warren, another NAME photographer, didn’t do quite as well with his Peace Lily Quintet
The surprise of the evening was Jodie Hart’s January Sunlight with Five Celementines, which went for more than $1000 over the Estimated Market Value. The buyer of this piece was very excited over her purchase; her friends can expect to be invited over for a private viewing.
 Those who wanted to catch the auctioneer’s eye sat in the front rows, placing heir bid numbers on their seats. Some local corporations buy a row of seats and use the occasion as a Staff appreciation event. One local architectural firm did this; they also bought a few pieces for their corporate collection. The delightful part of this was that one young couple bought their first piece of art. For those that understand how art enriches life – it is a pleasure to see young people buying something they like,
Was it a great auction? Watching an original Bateman go for less than $20,000 is disappointing, but it was a good auction for the Burlington Art Centre. It’s an annual event – something everyone should take in at least once in their life time.
The reception hall buzzed with a very healthy crowd. CIBC Wood Gundy has been the lead sponsor of this event since 1995 – that is more than commendable.
 By Pepper Parr
February 5, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Sometime before the snow is all gone – you will be able to hear the dulcet tones of the city manager when he speaks at city council meetings.
City manager Jeff Fielding has a very light voice – he tends not to raise that voice but he can should he choose to do so.
But when he is in the Council Chamber he can’t be heard because the microphones are absolutely terrible. Old fashioned megaphones would be better.
Council members struggle with the on/off button on the units in front of them and all too frequently staff members have to pass a microphone to the person beside them to get one that works.
It has been an embarrassment for more than two years and has made Burlington look like some hick town in southern Arkansas.
Those days have come to an end. The city has put a sumo of $30,000 in the capital budget that will cover the cost of new, much more efficient equipment.
From time to time there are inexperienced staff at the Clerk’s desk and they forget to flick the switch that will “light” the microphone used by speakers at the podium.
If the company that is brought in to do the job gets it right they will have microphones that work for shorter people and well as for taller people. We have watched from the media table as short people stand on their toes to reach the microphone.
 Town Crier David Vollick reading the message from Gazette publisher Pepper Parr at Council in December of 2011. Back in December of 2011 I was unable to attend a Council meeting and sent the Town Crier, David Vollick to speak on my behalf Dave read from a script we had prepared together.
It went over well – Council members were laughing in their seats as Vollick read aloud. Here is what he had to say:
Oyez Oyez Oyez
Your Worship Mayor Goldring, gentle lady and gentlemen of the council, members of the public gallery, I appear before you tonight at the request of, and on behalf of, that epitome of Burlington’s political reporting and punditry – Mr. Pepper Parr.
To his despair he finds that he is unable, not only to attend, to but to document, and disseminate the momentous deliberations and decisions of this the penultimate council meeting of the year of our Lord two thousand, ought ,and eleven.
He bids you to persevere in his absence, and to carry on as sagely, judiciously, and with all due prudence, albeit with the caution that he has come to expect of this august body.
Why you may ask has Mr. Parr sent a young stripling in his stead, and an answer you shall receive.
This very night, yea, in not so many hours hence Mr. Parr, in the precinct of Aldershot in that bastion British values in Burlington, will pledge his troth to his beloved Pia. Yes indeed he has chosen to splice his life line, join in nuptial bliss, to become as one, to slip on that golden ring, in short to join the ranks of married men.
So while it is with regret that he cannot be with you tonight; let it be known to one all that he is in the throes of rejoicing, rapture, possibly stupefaction, bliss, and / or terror as befits a gentleman of mature years, as he is about to embark on the good ship “Married Life”
To one and all who inhabit this hall he sends his true best wishes, but don’t despair he will be here as 2012 commences.
 The applause was real enough – but – No audio; a great moment lost. As funny as it was the recorded voice is forever lost – the microphone didn’t work that night.
It will be working properly before the snow is gone. Perhaps we will ask Town Crier Vollick to pronounce on our behalf again. Wonder what we can ask him to say then?
 By Pepper Parr
February 5, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It is odd how some politicians see themselves and the impact they have on their community.
Recently an observant reader sent us a note drawing our attention to a document released by Transport Canada on the way different issues relating to local municipal bylaws and provincial regulations were to be interpreted as they related to aerodromes. We did a short piece on the document and brought it to the attention of a senior staff member who trotted it along to the city’s legal department who then ensured that the details in the document were made a part of the city documents package that will get sent along to the Appeal Court in Toronto.
 Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster thinking through the answer to a question. Tends to be cautious. Sometime in the near future that Court will set a date and high-priced legal talent will don their robes and argue on our behalf.
The document was an Advisory Circular, something every government department puts out giving their staff directions on how certain issues are to be handled. In this situation the Advisory related to “Land Use and Jurisdictional issues at Aerodromes” which was of particular interest to Burlington given that we are in a long hard battle with the Burlington Executive Airpark Inc., over whether or not they have to comply with the city’s bylaws – they do by the way according to the lower Court Judge Mr. Justice Murray. It is his decision which is being appealed.
The Advisory states “that the Aeronautics Act does not grant immunity to an aerodrome operator/developer from complains with all other valid provincial legislation or municipal bylaws.”
Right on said the city’s legal department and that document got tucked into what they call a Factum and shared with the lawyers on the other side.
During the early days of the airpark kerfuffle the city of Burlington had some difficulty getting any air time with the Minster of Transportation who happens to be none other that the Hon Lisa Raitt, member for Halton just to the north of us. Ms Raitt seemed quite busy and wasn’t all that quick to return the Mayor’s urgent calls.
 Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster at a community event at the Burlington Executive Air Park. She didn’t take it up. There was eventually some communication between the Minister and the Mayor – we gather that Councillor Lancaster was in there somewhere.
During the discussion on the Airpark update – #9 if you’re counting – Councillor Lancaster said she wanted to thank Minister Raitt for all she had done for Burlington on this matter, leaving the impression that the Minister might have even ordered that the Advisory Circular be written and released.
It doesn’t work that way Councillor Lancaster. The Minister might have been vaguely aware of the document. She has had her hands full of oil train derailments which are much “sexier” issues.
Back in 2009 when Raitt was Minister of Natural Resources her press secretary at the time left a tape recording machine at a media event. The device carried a conversation Raitt and her press secretary had about the crisis then over the supply of medical isotopes used in the treatment of cancer.
 Hon. Lissa Raitt, second from the right at an Air Park event with owner Vince Rossi, second from the left. Minister Lisa Raitt called the medical isotopes crisis a “sexy” problem and wanted credit for fixing it, according to the audio. Isotopes were described as a confusing subject by the press secretary to which Raitt replied: “But it’s sexy,” Radioactive leaks. Cancer.”
Unfortunately for Burlington there was nothing all that sexy about a small runway in a rural area – and besides Raitt was palsy with the owner of the airport.
Nice try though Councillor Lancaster.
 By Pepper Parr
February 4th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Did you know that the distance between two cities is measured from where the city hall is located? A city hall is the core of a community and if you listen carefully to city manager Jeff Fielding when he speaks you will realize quickly that from his point of view city hall is downtown.
Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster spoke once of a visit to the Ottawa city hall where the place was “buzzing” – “there was a coffee shop in the lobby and it was busy” she told her fellow council members. Burlington city hall once had a small coffee shop but it was in an out of the way location, few members of the public knew where it was and staff didn’t seem to patronize the place – so they shut it down and the space is now a lounge with micro waves and vending machines for staff to use.
 The back end of city hall was added in 1986 and planned to accommodate an additional two floors – is that the solution to the space problems? Burlington has a city hall that was built in 1964, went through an addition in 1986 but that isn’t enough space for the number of people who work for the city. The city rents significant space in the Simms large binders and files tucked under their arms.
 Sometime referred to as “city hall south” the Sims building has housed a number of city departments for a long time. Lease is up in 2016 – does the city renew? Ward 4 councillor Jack Dennison thinks the city could have bought the Sims building with the rent money they have paid during the many years the city has used space in the building. The current lease runs out in 2016. Finance, legal, human resources, purchasing and some Corporate Strategic Initiatives work out of that building.
With the Sims lease coming to an end soon the city is looking at its options. The review is being led by general manager Scott Stewart with a lot of the spade work being done by Craig Stevens. These two handled the second run at the pier and oversaw the city part of the Performing Arts construction – they tend to get it right.
The city has engaged CBRE, one of the largest commercial real estate operations in the country to do a needs study that goes beyond the bums and seats approach to space management.
Their task is to review all the options and come forward with a recommendation.
One of the options is to add two more floors to the additional of city hall that was done in 1986. When that addition was put in place it was designed for two more storeys. That plan has become a bit complicated with changes in the building code that call for changes that were not anticipated back in the mid 80’s
The first task to figure out is just what the city has in the way of property and what it doesn’t have and match that up with what is needed both now and into the future.
Transit is housed on Harvester Road as is Roads and Parks Maintenance (RPM). The team revising the city’s web site works off site and the Cultural Planner will work outside city hall if that position is created. Spreading people who create policy over a number of different locations is not seen as good management. People need to be able to get to each other and to meet casually. Much gets done over the water cooler.
City hall isn’t seen as an efficient structure and it certainly doesn’t have the acronym LEEDS anywhere near it. What does one do with the structure? Enlarge it – there is adjacent land the city could acquire and the space could undergo a major refurbishment. But that doesn’t appear to be the direction the city thinkers are going in.
“What if we could convince a provincial government department to take over city hall, perhaps buy it from us so that the city could put up the kind of building they need” suggested a senior city hall staffer who spoke on background. It was suggested that the city could perhaps partner with a developer and get some class A office space in the city.
 It seemed like a good idea at the time but hindsight may teach us that the parking lot on Locust was not the smartest idea we ever had. Some people look at two significantly located pieces of property that could be re-purposed. The parking garage on Locust Street – part of the dream former Mayor Rob MacIsaac had for the city. The parking space was certainly needed but was property that close to Lakeshore Road with the potential view the smartest place to park cars?
The downtown core is still looking for the “vibrancy” everyone says it has. The impending construction of the Medica One project at John and Caroline will add some vitality to that part of the city and the hope is that additional development will begin to take place along the southern part of John street as well.
Parking lots 4 and 5 on John and Brant Street are locations looking for a purpose. There was a time when McMaster University was going to take up residence there but that one got away on us.
 It has been a number of years getting to the point where there are shovels in the ground but at least this project is going forward. We should see some digging on LAkeshore soon as well when the Bridgewater project begins. The Delta hotel won’t manage to open in time for the Pan-American games. But development and Burlington don’t seem to dance that well. The city is seeing a lot of condo’s and apartment units going up. Molinaro has a project on Brock that is under construction and a multi tower project is on Fairview beside the GO station is being actively marketed.
Project like that solve the direction the province has given the city to add more population. The problem for Burlington is that there are no jobs for those people in Burlington.
The Economic Development Corporation has done a terrible job of attracting new business even though Burlington has a great story to tell. Late in October the BEDC parted ways with their Executive Director – that was 90 days ago and to date there isn’t a hint as to when they will strike a committee to hire a replacement.
Without some serious economic development, all the talk of Prosperity corridors is just so much public relations. The city needs new business that will create additional tax revenue that is vital if residential taxes are to be kept competitive.
That needed economic development will also create new jobs.
Time to begin selling that “Canada’s Best mid-sized city” story to the rest of the world – and that can only happen if there are people who know how to do that kind of work. The kind of people who do that kind of work need to be led by a Board that can actually create a plan and then oversee its execution.
Burlington doesn’t have such a board in place right now. This has to be embarrassing.
 By Pepper Parr
January 30, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The cat is now out of the bag. The number wasn’t horrendous but it does take the cost of the pier that was over $14 million, and now has an additional $1,228,040 added to that. The actual amount spent was $1,349,952 but the city gets a tax rebate which results in a lower number. We will use that lower number.
And that is before there is any resolution to the legal disputes, which many expect to cost the city even more.
The city released the numbers at a press conference this morning and explained that while doing so went against the policy they put in place December of 2011, the impending decision from the Ontario Privacy Commissioner, forced their hand.
The city apparently decided that they were better off releasing the number of their own volition rather than being ordered to do so by the Privacy Commissioner.
With the legal expenses now public – the city has to consider its options. Settling this case is what seems to be in the offing but nobody is saying anything. There have been offers to settle but it takes two to agree and agreements just aren’t in place yet.
 Crane working at the pier site topples. Proves to be the point at which problems with the design became evident. The buzz in the community is that the city does not have a case against Harm Schilthuis and Sons (HSS) and that there is ample opportunity to settle with them. The folks over at HSS have been wanting to settle since day 1 – way back in December of 2010, days after the new Council was sworn in HSS published an open letter in which he said:
Harm Schilthuis and Sons would like to express how encouraged we are by the co-operative spirit we are seeing from the new council in the City of Burlington to resolve the issue of the Brant Street Pier.
HSS is also very pleased at the City of Burlington’s decision to replace Aecom as Project Manager for this project. This will allow the challenges we have raised with respect to the design of the pier to be dealt with in an independent manner. We stand confident that the design build proposal submitted to the City of Burlington earlier this year is the solution to a successful completion of the Pier. The team represents a group of the best companies capable of performing this type of work. Our design build project is ready to begin work in the Spring of 2011.
Also encouraging is the engagement of the City to communicate with the Bonding Company. We are confident that the Bonding Company will be delighted with the opportunity for dialogue. Prior to the election it was quite difficult to have good communications preventing many of the parties involved to understand the various positions. HSS is hopeful that this will be a new day from a communications point of view.
HSS has a number of claims before the city. It wants to be paid the $2 million plus that is due for work done and approved. The process was for HSS to submit their invoices to AECOM, the project manager and for the city. AECOM would approve the invoices and pass them on to the city who would pay those invoices. AECOM was the pier project manager for the city. Included in this $2 million plus are invoices that were approved but not paid and invoices that were submitted but not yet approved.
Where things got dicey for HSS was when AECOM bought Totten Sims Hubicki (TSH) – the company that designed the pier. When it became evident to HSS that the problem was with the design of the pier, it was difficult to argue with the project manager when the project manager now owned the company that designed the pier.
The design problems centered around a significant change back in 2005 when a pier that was to be close to 200 metres (656 feet) long got shortened to 136 metres (446) which is what the pier is now. The original design was much more expensive than the city had hoped it would be – remember, this was back in 2005.
Compromises appear to have been made then, in 2005 that made it impossible for HSS to complete the job despite numerous attempts to make changes
Marianne Meed Ward, who wasn’t a member of Council, was close to screaming when she was telling the public that the organizational arrangement of the pier construction was a problem. The people in ward 2 certainly believed her and now a large part of the city wants to see her as Mayor.
There is a second set of invoices that were submitted to AECOM but had not yet been approved before HSS advised the city that it would not complete the construction of the pier because of a faulty design.
 All the steel beams that had been installed are stripped out and construction starts on the second construction contract. The platform on the right is a trestle that was put in place for construction equipment to use. A reliable source informed the Gazette earlier this week that HSS had advised the city it could complete the work for an additional $400,000 – that was back before they sued the city. The offer took place during the Jackson administration and was rebuffed. Current council members Craven, Taylor, Dennison and then ward 5 council member Goldring were all fully aware of the offer HSS had made as was then Mayor Jackson.
Jackson lost the 2010 election during which three new members were elected to Council and a new Mayor was installed. It took this new Council some time to get a handle on the file, which was complex.
With the contractor now off the job, the city called the insurance bond HSS had put in place (they were required to do so) and the insurance company came back with a revised proposal to complete the pier. The city turned down that opportunity without telling the public how much the insurance company proposal was going to cost and decided to re-tendered the project which was given to Graham Infrastructure at cost of $6,429,700.00 and the work continued.
 New steal beams arrive – construction is underway and the Mayor announces the pier will be opened in July 0f 2013. Not everyone believes him at the time When the city sued HSS they also sued Zurich Insurance for the value of the performance bond. In attempt to mitigate their damages the insurance company put together a consortium that included Harm Schilthuis and Sons Ltd., the original contractor.
The city received the proposal through Zurich Insurance Inc. in April 2011, but needed time to review the document. City staff provided advice regarding the proposal to members of City Council in a closed session The Mayor then updated the public at the city’s May 11 Community Services Committee meeting.
 Every piece of the new steel used by the second contractor was inspected and then inspected again. The city was not going to get caught with sub-standard steel a second time. Her General manager Scott Stewart, project manager Craig Stevens and the fabrication plant manager close check a beam. “City Council gave careful consideration to what we saw within the proposal before making our decision,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “Council does not believe that this is the right solution to completing the Brant Street Pier. As such, the city will continue on its path to finding a new contractor.” City council chose not to make the reasons for turning down the proposal public from the insurance company and is proceeding with the plan issue a tender document for general contractors to complete the pier, with that tender expected to be released in July 2011.
All the steel put in by HSS was taken out – new steel put in place and the pier officially opened in June of 2013.
Now the city has to deal with the proverbial chickens that have come home to roost.
HSS claims they have done everything possible to settle the matter but has continually been rebuffed by the city.
City manager Jeff Fielding said at the press conference that there was a mediation date of June 14th but left everyone realizing that not much would happen on that date.
This is an election year for the city. When nominations close late in September city council will lose the power to enter into a settlement agreement. When nominations for public office close Council loses the power to approve any expenditure over $50,000.
The city might find itself facing yet another squeeze play similar to the one with the Privacy Commissioner. Does this Council want to get into an election and have to tell the voters they have been unable to settle the case when it appears that there was an opportunity to settle for one-third of what the to date legal costs have been?
This is an important point: The contractor wanted to be paid for invoices that were submitted and approved. They also wanted to be paid for those invoices that were submitted but not yet approved by then project manager AECOM. There wasn’t any known dispute over the amounts of that second set of invoices;
The contractor was also asking for an additional $400,000 to complete the construction. This addition was to cover the cost of changes that had to be made to rectify the compromises way back in 2005 when the length of the pier was shortened.
This is all very complex but it should not be beyond the capacity of the city’s communications people to explain. The public is not stupid – they know how to do simple arithmetic.
Fielding explained to the media conference that he was leading the event because the file is in the hands of the city manager – it is his problem to resolve based on the instructions he is given by Council.
It is clear then that this council, your council, has not yet given Fielding the authority to settle the matter. Fielding is believed to want to find a settlement the city can live with.
 It is a grand pier, a distinct improvement to the waterfront. It was part of the grand plan former Mayor Rob MacIsaac had for the waterfront. It ran into problems that MacIsaac’s replacement couldn’t manage. The current administration made mistakes of its own – the cost of which are not yet fully known. We do know what the legal fess amounted to It might be time for city council to get this behind them rather than face an expensive lengthy trial while the voters decide if they still want this council leading them.
The construction problems with the pier didn’t take place during the life of the current council. However, several opportunities to have the original contractor complete the work for less than has been spent on legal costs was spurned. Now, a Council that could have made better decisions on several occasions find themselves stuck between a rock and a very hard place.
 By Pepper Parr
January 29, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Brian Ferguson brings a very personal point of view to what the United Way means to the community. For many it is a charity that helps people less fortunate that we may happen to be.
We have extra money and we give it to the United Way or other organizations – because we want to help. (Why do we call this charity – it’s a social responsibility.) Ferguson makes the point that the United Way isn’t an organization that helps the less fortunate – it helps people who need help.
 Greg Jones, communications advisor with Newalta and Burlington United Way Chair Brian Ferguson go over a few points at a Campaign Cabinet meeting Ferguson’s mother was dealing with cancer; a terrible disease that strikes many homes and families. He was 15 years of age when his Mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Just after his 16th birthday his Mother’s cancer was so bad that she became bed ridden at home, that is when Brian’s family was referred to the Red Cross who would drop off medical supplies and equipment to the house weekly.
Ferguson didn’t know at the time that this portion of the Red Cross was supported by the United Way. “It wasn’t until I started running the United Way Campaign at VMware as the Employee Campaign Chair that I started to learn who the United Way supports, this is when I found out the Red Cross program we relied on was supported by the United Way.”
 Tara Brewer on the right keeps in touch with her co-workers during a meeting while Jason Lemaich gets a bit of work done during a break in a Campaign Cabinet meeting. This wasn’t the last time Ferguson was aided by the United Way. Years later Brian and his wife turned to ROCK for counselling for his family. To help them learn how to co-exist as a blended family while also learning how to deal with his wife having MS and the strain it puts on everyone. ROCK – Reach Out Centre for Kids – is a UW funded agency.
Brian Ferguson isn’t a poor man. He is gainfully employed by one of the sharpest Canadian companies in the high tech field. He travels frequently to California seeking out the best talent there is as a recruiter for VMWare. Are we going to call Brian Ferguson a charity case? He was a man with a problem he couldn’t manage on his own and sought the help he needed.
“From a young age”, Brian will tell you, “my mother taught me the importance of giving back and being an active member in my community. I see my role in the United Way as a way to live my Mother’s legacy while also teaching my children (almost 3-year-old girl and 15-year-old son) the importance of giving back. The motto I live by running the United Way is – our community is not truly great until it is great for EVERYONE.
The theme my United Way Cabinet runs under is: TWW (Together We Win).
 United Way president Len Lifchus appears to be trying to convince Lesley Allison (UW Campaign Director)
that an idea will work: she doesn’t appear to be buying that one. The United Way that Ferguson raises funds for is there in the blink of an eye when you need it the most. The focus this past campaign had three beams of light: From poverty to possibility; Healthy People build strong communities and All that kids can be.
One in three people will use a United Way funded service/program in their lifetime…mostly of the time not even knowing it. “This was me”, adds Brian Ferguson.
Now you know why he was asked to serve for a second year as chair of the 2014 Burlington campaign.
Background:
Fund raising in bits and pieces around the community.
Creating the team that brought in more than $2.1 million for 2013.
 By Pepper Parr
January 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The big news out of the city council meeting Monday night is that the city is going to go public on the Brant Street Pier.
A Standing Committee met earlier in the day and had what Councillor Sharman referred to as a full exchange of view – but those views were certainly not unanimous. While Council members had the opportunity to make comments on the meeting Councillor Meed Ward was the only one to speak at any length and she pushed at the city manager who we learned is going to hold a press conference on Thursday to: Cover the past, give the public an update on where things are and talk about what the city plans to do going forward.
 City manager Jeff Fielding once had his toe nails painted at a London, Ontario event when he was city manager there He will be doing some pretty fancy foot work next Thursday as he explains the situation with the city and the Pier. Meed Ward had to push to get city manager Jeff Fielding to add that he will be addressing the matter of just how much the city has spent on legal fees. Buy Band-Aids today – you’re going to want them on Thursday – we will all be bleeding a bit.
We are advised that Justice Fitzpatrick who is hearing the case has scheduled a meeting in May for the mediation attempt that must take place and that a possible trial date has been pencilled in for the month of June.
 Councillor Meed Ward wants the public to have all the information available on the pier and its legal problems. Wants the other council members to be accountable for their part in the mess. Meed Ward said that the information the public was to be given is “less than what could be offered” and added that each council member has to give an account of their position and not leave that task to the city manager.
Press conferences of this nature are traditionally given by the Mayor as the Chief Magistrate but if you recall how Mayor Goldring handled the press conference during the CN derailment a number of years ago – we know why the city manager has been instructed to be the mouth piece.
Time and place for the press conference were not announced. It should be a hot event.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 27 , 2014
It was one of those 8 in the morning meetings – and all hands were expected to be on deck – and except for one who was out of town – the full team was in the room.
Burlington’s United Way team was getting an update on the 2013 campaign, tying up the loose ends and planning for 2014.
 Brian Ferguson, 2013 Burlington Chair of the United Way campaign smiles as he looks back on a very successful campaign. Heads into 2014 with bigger plans. Brian Ferguson, chair of the Burlington campaign and charged with raising $2.1 million as his city’s part of the objective, runs a brisk operation. Burlington works with Hamilton n sharing the administration and overhead of running the United Way campaign in the two cities.
Burlington more than achieved its $2.1 million target – which Ferguson saw as “lower than it needs to be”.
Burlington missed its 2012 target by a disappointing $90,000 – Ferguson, a recruiter for VMWare in Burlington, who is out of the country frequently, runs a tight, focused, fun group that relies heavily on electronic communications. They tried to work with Google DOCs, software that allows for collaboration of a document but, as Ferguson put it “we need some training on that”.
The United Way team he has put together is more techie in terms of its content. It has an energy, a buzz, a “we are working at something that is important and we are going to get it done”, attitude that pervades everything.
The donours are the focus and are broken out by sector with Divisional managers in place and sector specialists working their client lists.
The team this year has many of the same people – but the drive is much different. With the target for 2013 basically met the focus now is on next year during which Ferguson will lead the charge again – not something that is done all that often. Rarely do chairs get asked to put in a second term. Ferguson felt his job wasn’t done yet and wants to double the size of his campaign cabinet and he is reaching out in some very interesting and significant way. There is a small team of MBA students from the DeGroote McMaster campus in the Cabinet.
 Laura Evans and Mark Evans representing the DeGroote campus of McMaster University where the graduate students have become active participants of the United Way drive. Ferguson is pleased with what the Cabinet has been able to achieve in 2013 but knows that if the targets he has in mind are to be reached in 2014 he will need a bigger team. He says he would like to double what he had in 2013 – which would be awesome – but he will need a bigger meeting room. The Cabinet meeting that I observed was spread over two large meeting rooms at the VMware offices.
The Cabinet that made the 2013 target happen consisted of:
2013 Co Vice Chairs: Jamie Edwards and Sheila Jaggard
2013 MBA Program Lead – Joe Burnham – Mark Evans will take this over in 2014; students do graduate and move on.
Business Division Chair – Jason Lemaich
Business Sector Chair – Bryan Chew
Education Division Chair – Lorrie Naar
Finance Division Chair– Samantha Shetty
Government Division Chair – Kim Phillips
Healthcare Division Chair – Sheila Jaggard
Manufacturing Division Chair – Greg Jones
Manufacturing Sector Chairs – Sam Ro & Tara Brewer
Legal / Professionals Division Chair – Chantel Goldsmith
Legal / Professionals Sector Chair – Carolyn McCarney
Sports & Recreation Division Chair – Kaylan Danton
Real Estate Division Chair – Mike Hyatt
Events Division Chair – Ryan Harrison
New Business Division Chair – Scott Robinson
Cabinet Marketing Chair – Laura Evans
 This is the million dollar team – make that the $2.1 million dollar team. The Burlingtom arm of the Burlington Hamilton United Way drive for 2013 Does doubling an organization this size make sense? The full organization doesn’t meet all that often; only to brief each other on what has been achieved and then to plan for the next level – and this group thinks in terms of new levels.
Jamie Edwards, a well-known realtor in town who has been around as long as the clock has been outside city hall will tell you – “ this is a young people’s game” and adds that they are doing it differently than we did years ago and they are making a difference.
For this crew it is all business. They have fun, the work hard at what they do because they are hard workers. Everything for them is about communicating and they all hover over their Smart phones; well perhaps not Jim Frizzle, who brings wisdom, as lower approach and a “ let’s think this through thoroughly” style to his contribution.
The Cabinet Brian Ferguson has developed, and remember he is one of the senior recruiters for a very successful high-tech organization, is there to get the job done. This isn’t a social club – they are in the room to deliver and for 2013 they did deliver.
They tend to keep their numbers close to their chests but they will have surpassed the $2.1 million they were expected to raise for 2013 by a substantial margin.
 Len Lifchus, the man who oversees both the Burlington and the Hamilton campaigns and then ensures that the funds raised go to where they are needed and can do the most for the community. The final tally for the 2013 campaign will get read out loud at the Evening of Celebration and Spirit of Community Awards that takes place late in February in Hamilton. That’s when this team will let their hair down and celebrate a magnificent achievement. It will be interesting to see if these people party as hard as they work.
The Evening of Celebration and Spirit of Community Awards will be both a celebration and an adieu – United Way CEO Len Lifchus announced his retirement a number of months ago. The evening will be a thank you for all you’ve done and all the best as you move on to your next challenge – which we are told is a step into retirement – hard to even imagine Len Lifchus retiring. Managing a little theatre group perhaps – but retirement – unlikely.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON
January 23, 2014
The email said:
Your credit card has been successfully processed.
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ELECTRONIC 7841615249
DATE & TIME / JANUARY 26, 2014, 20:15
ARRIVING / Washington
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I didn’t fly to Washington. There was nothing on my credit card.
 With enough information identity thieves can pretend they are you. And I did not respond to the email. Had I responded these thieves would have had way too much information about me and would have – could have, used it to take my money out of my bank account.
This is another example of the continuing Identity theft problem. Be vigilant and if it looks too good to be true it usually isn’t true.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON
January 23, 2014
It sounds really simple. It’s as direct as you’re ever going to get in terms of getting money into the hands of people.
All you have to do is care and can space a part of an evening four times a year and are willing to write a cheque for $100. Who does your money go to – you decide, along with the other women in the room.
Sort of like mainlining a donation.
 The Burlington Chapter of 100 Women Who Care will be holding its first meeting Wednesday January 29, 2014; bringing together women who care about the community, it’s people and causes and who are committed to community service. 100 Women Who Care is a concept that’s been taking root in many communities across North America and now it’s coming to life in Burlington.
The concept is very simple – 100 women (or more), $100 each (or more if you choose), 1 hour meetings 4 times per year. The goal is for 100 Women Who Care Burlington to collectively generate a minimum of $40,000 annually for local charitable initiatives. The impact is very powerful!
Donations from each meeting go directly to local charities. The idea appears to be efficient. The 100 woman meet, choose a charity, write the cheques, chit chat for a bit and go home.
In just over an hour some group that needs help has $10,000 they didn’t have an hour earlier.
Exactly how the group decides what the charity is going to be; does it all have to go to a single charity, are tax receipts generated? That all gets worked out at the meeting. Could be neat – could be very effective.
Meet for an hour.
Jointly select a local charitable initiative.
Each write a $100 cheque to the selected Registered Charity and watch how the group’s commitment turns into a $10,000+ donation.
Do that four times a year and witness how $40,000 improves the lives of our neighbours when placed in the hands of deserving grass-roots agencies working to serve the local community.
This Group Is Perfect For You If: you are committed to helping others in our community but are stretched for time; you want to be part of a powerful group of local women making an immediate, direct and positive effect on the lives of our neighbours; you want 100% of your donations to go directly to local charity;
The people putting this together in Burlington are: Marion Goard; Pat Grant; Megan Teall and Laurel Hubber. Click on their email address below if you’ve any questions.
Laurel Hubber: laurel@laurelhubber.com
Marion Goard: info@100womenwhocareburlington.com
Megan Teall: megan_teall@quadrachemicals.com
Pat Grant: patmgrant53@gmail.com
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 22, 2014
Doug Leggat is going to take the wheel when the Burlington Community Foundation (BCF) goes native at their annual fund raising event and dances the night away next October 25th – two days before the municipal election – that should be a howl!
 Doug Leggat to serve as Honourary Chair of the 2014 Masquerade Ball. Leggat, who probably sells more cars than anyone else in this city has been named the honourary chair of its Masquerade Ball, taking place on October 25th at the Burlington Convention Centre.
BCF celebrates 15 years of service to Burlington in 2014, during which time they distributed over $2.7 million in grants to a range of community needs.
Colleen Mulholland, President and CEO of the Foundation is delighted and “honoured to have Doug assume this key leadership role”.
Doug Leggat was the first Chair of BCF’s Board of Directors and the 2011 Philanthropist of the Year, so it is very special that he would be our Masquerade Ball’s honourary chair in our fifteenth anniversary year.”
The Foundation is a vital part of the community not only because they make funds available to groups that need the support but for their research and advocacy for the health of the community. In 2012 they issued their first Vital Signs report and followed that up with a second report in 2013.
 They wined and they dined and they had a great time – that was in 2013. The 2014 event will be the flappers of the 20’s along with a Speakeasy. The Masquerade Ball highlight is the honouring of the Philanthropist of the Year. Nomination forms will be on the BCF website on February 3rd, and the announcement of the honouree will take place in April. Along with Doug Leggat, past Philanthropists of the Year include Diana and Murray Hogarth, Kevin Brady and Don Smith.
 This year’s Masquerade Ball will continue with the allure of a masked gala, and will showcase the Roaring Twenties, a glorious decade of flappers, art deco, high fashion and the speakeasy.
Established in 1999 as a centre for philanthropy, Burlington Community Foundation collaborates with donors to build endowments, address vital community needs and support areas of personal philanthropic interest. To attend Masquerade Ball as a Proud Supporter or by purchasing a table or tickets, contact Sandra Baker, sbaker@burlingtonfoundation.org, 905 639 0744 x 223.
Background links:
2013 was a blast.
Hogarth celebrated at 2013 Ball.
Philanthropy about more than writing cheques.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 20, 2014
Progress: actual, real, certifiable progress – the Joseph Brant Hospital nudged forward a couple of inches last week when the province and the hospital announced a short list of three groups that are going to bid on the hospital redevelopment and expansion.
 weIf you were near the hospital in December and had a coat on – you got to sign the beam that is part of the Family Medical facility now under construction. Parking garage will be part of the Centre with a direct link to the hospital when the redevelopment and expansion is completed in 2018 A few weeks ago everyone with a coat slipped out of the hospital to the western side of the site to sign a beam that was hoisted into place for the Family Medical Clinic and the three storey parking garage that is currently under construction.
Don’t confuse the hospital redevelopment and expansion with the Family Clinic which is an offshoot of the McMaster operation that has the Region’s name attached to it.
The hospital itself is a bigger and a much-anticipated development. It is a sort of joint venture with the hospital corporation and the provinces Infrastructure Ontario working together to get the hospital into the 21st century.
The three short listed teams will design, build and finance the Hospital’s Redevelopment and Expansion Project. The new hospital construction is expected to start in early 2015 and the hospital is expected to be open in winter 2018/19.
innovaCARE Partners
- Kasian Architecture Ontario Inc.
- Graham Walsh Joint Venture
- Scotiabank
Integrated Team Solutions
- Parkin Architects Limited
- EllisDon Corporation
- Fengate Capital Management Ltd.
PCL Partnerships
- HDR Architecture Associates, Inc.
- PCL Canada Inc.
- TD Securities Inc.
 Assuming all the paper work gets done – construction of the redevelopment and expansion of the Joseph Brant Hospital should begin early in 2015. The project includes the construction of a new seven-storey patient-care tower, modern Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit and significant renovations to the existing space. This will provide the growing community with improved access to a larger, more modern hospital and a hospital-wide average of 70 per cent single patient rooms to meet the highest standards for infection prevention and control and quality of care.
The hospital recently announced a settlement with the families that lost members to the c-difficile outbreak that resulted in more than 90 deaths at the hospital – the highest number of death from the virus anywhere in the country.
Highlights of the project include: additional acute inpatient beds, nine modern operating rooms, expanded diagnostic services, a modern post-anaesthetic care unit, expanded ambulatory care programs, an expanded Cancer Clinic, renovated Special Care Nursery, a new main entrance and expanded medical, surgical and outpatient services
While the province is all over this project – we need their money, the facility, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable.
Infrastructure Ontario is a crown agency of the Province of Ontario that delivers large, complex infrastructure renewal projects. They have the expertise that in the recent past has been applied to 83 major projects valued at approximately $38 billion.
Burlington citizens were told by the province in 2011 that they had to come up with $120 million to pay for the redevelopment and expansion. Citizens are providing $60 million by way of a levy on their tax bills and the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation is raisin the other $60 million by way of public fund raising. To date the Foundation has raised in excess of $16 million.
Background links:
How the hospital Foundation got to $16 million.
Getting that first cheque from the province was not easy.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 17th, 2014
It was to be the focal point in the city for those doing cutting edge computer application work. It was going to be the place where all those geeks that do those marvellous new applications would gather. It was going to be the place where people could spend a couple of hours in an environment that had a bit of a buzz to it as well as a pace where the support needed was at your fingertips.
 If the coffee doesn’t give you a jolt – that wall will. It had a boffo opening night. Everyone that mattered in the city was there along with more than enough in the way of photo ops to satisfy any politician.
The Mayor touts the operation every chance he gets.
 Writing computer code is intense, creative work that the best coders need to get away from. Ping pong table have always been a favourite. Shaun Pennell put in hundreds of hours of work and close to $200,000 in capital costs just to get the doors open.
But it didn’t take off – it didn’t have one of those hockey stick shaped growth curves. It is growing and it will grow and in time it will find its market but it has ben and is a grind.
 A quiet corner where an individual can work alone or collaboratively with a small group. It was a new idea – something different and Burlington doesn`t do different all that well. While there are a number of top-notch, first-rate technology companies in the city, we really aren`t a technology ‘city. It is going to take some time for the HiVE to take off commercially but Pennell knew that going in. What he wanted to create was a place where those people doing that ground breaking work could come out of their basements and meet like-minded people.
Every new idea usually needs some level of support in the early days and Pennell thought the city would be involved in some way. Pennell wasn`t looking for a hand out but he did think the city would be an early subscriber to the service.
 Breakout space where people can relax, read or talk through a concept. The HiVe is a place for people who are perhaps working at home and need a place for meetings that is a little more upscale than their kitchen table. He put together a business model that allowed people to buy what they needed – and do so by becoming a HiVE subscriber. For a couple of hundred a month a person got access to very well dressed out premises where they can work for a couple of hours and store their equipment in a locker or spend the fill day taking potential clients or investors through their work.
 An entrepreneur who did his time in Silicon Valley and came home to help others do what he has done. Pennell also hoped that a number of professionals who live in Burlington but work in Toronto might from time to time use the location as a Burlington office.
There was hope too that the city and the Economic Development Corporation might take out memberships and on those occasions when a client is in town meeting with the city or the economic development people and needed some time and a place to upgrade or revise a proposal they could skip over two blocks and load up a computer and make the changes they wanted to make and zip it back to city hall.
For some reason the city didn’t feel it could play favourites and take out a membership at the HiVe and not with anyone else. There is no one else! While Mayor Goldring uses every chance he gets to talk about the place a little support from the city would help – and the city would get excellent value for its membership.
The city is looking into having the HiVe made a RIC – a Regional Innovation Centre, which would be close to a kiss of death. The words “innovation” and municipal administration don’t exactly fit into the same sentence. Innovation calls for risk – major risk and that is not what anyone wants a municipal administration to be doing.
Leave the entrepreneurs to themselves, don’t shackle them but where you can support them. The province does it, the federal government has large funding operations that do just this.
The city of Burlington had an opportunity to spend a couple of hundred dollars to take out a membership and send people to the location. The professionals that come to the city to do business want places like this – and there are some of them using the place now. Still time – do the right thing and promote the place. It deserves the recognition.
See for yourself – the HiVe is located on Elizabeth – doors away from the Dickens, on the very edge of Village Square.
 Perhaps the smallest film screening room in the province; a plus for those who work with visual material and want to demonstrate a feature to a small group of buyers. The location isn’t just for the nerds or the professionals who need a place to get some work done. Plans are underway for small cultural activities that will use the space on the weekends and in the evenings. Sara C ollaton has organized a unique event that has a trained and accomplished artists working with a limited number of people on the same painting. Well not exactly THE same painting – each aspiring artist will do their version of the same painting with guidance and direction from the visiting artist. This first event is sold out – there will be others that we will tell you about.
Everything is supplied – clothing to keep the paint off those designer jeans, all the paint you are going to need – and if you’re of age – a glass of wine as well.
That’s my kind of entrepreneurship.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 20, 2014
There were twelve entrants to the Tottering Biped Film Short Film Festival. They had a SOLD OUT night at the Burlington Art Centre. The best thing to be said about the event is that it was a first for Burlington and that it took place.
The Art Centre put a lot of their resources behind the event providing the space, the printing and the framing of the Award certificates and selling the tickets. They topped all this off with a $50 award to the winners in each of the categories.
 Christopher Giroux chatting with Katie. The venue was small, additional chairs had to be added to the space. Trevor Copp, the dancer who came up with the idea for a short film festival proudly announces that attendance was 110% – a total of 126 seats. Small, but a good start. Copp didn’t do this all by himself – he worked with Christopher Giroux who brought a background in short film to the table
 Angela Paparizo talks with Trevor Copp founder of the Tottering Biped Short Film Festival.we It was evident that more was needed in the way of volunteer support; some serious help on the technical side will be welcome next time out as well.
The winners in the six categories were:
Best Local Film: Wanderlust
Best Screenplay: Tomas Street, Kid’s Town
Best Director(s):Freddy Chavez Olmos, Shervin Shoghian for their film “Shhh”
Best Dark Film: Tasha And Friends
Best Picture: Yeah Rite
People’s Choice: Yeah Rite
Best Performer: Elizabeth Stuart of the film “Promise”
 Michael Penny on the set of Yeah Rite, a short film on Exorcism – sort of. Winner of the Best Film and the People’s Choices Awards. Yeah Rite, was the People`s Choice and the winner of the Burlington Gazette award for the Best Picture.
The Dark Film Award had a special sponsorship. Jim Riley provided money to pay the screening fee for all the films entered.
Judging of the 12 short films, that ranged from 4 minutes to just over 11 minutes, was done by Angela Paparizo and Nathan Fleet, an accomplished award-winning film maker out of Hamilton and Mayor Goldring. Quite why the Mayor was used as a judge is hard to understand. Other than being a nice guy who gets out to the odd movie like the rest of us the Mayor brings zip to the judging of a very specialized film genre.
Paparizo serves as the city hall staff member who manages cultural issues within the Parks and Recreation department at city hall. The only reason to put the Mayor on the judging panel had to be to curry favour with city hall.
The arts have to make it on their own merit – which they have certainly done in the past year. The creation of the Arts and Culture Collective brought the depth and quality of the arts community in Burlington to the surface and to the attention of city council that now has an opportunity to pump some money into the sector.
Burlington built the Performing Arts Centre, to the chagrin of too many people in Burlington. A building alone is not an arts community – it takes artists to bring life to the stages. That`s where people like Trevor Copp and the Collective come in. They will make it happen and in the process upgrade the level of cultural sophistication in the city.
They are however, never going to develop the Mayor`s film appreciation to the point where he can serve as a viable judge.
Background links:
Best Film Teaser
Best film – full video – 6 minutes long.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 17, 2014
And how did you get through the power outage? These events tend to recede from our memory unless the event was horrific or something close and personal happened.
For the people at Burlington Hydro (BH) it was very close and very personal. Most of the staff worked long hours on Christmas Day
Christine Hallas handles corporate communications for Hydro and like every corporation that deals with the public, Hydro decided they needed to begin tweeting. It was new information tool for BH and they are a cautious organization – they did their research and they did some testing and on the Thursday before the ice storm hit Christine advised the rest of the management team that they were good to go whenever the word was given.
At about the same time BH people were getting the word from different sources that we were in for a bit of tough weather. The people in the BH operations room listens to the radio like the rest of us but they also subscribe to a couple of weather information sources, which Dan Guatto, than in charge of engineering and operations for Burlington Hydro, admitted “weren’t all that good” but there was enough information for the senior management team to decide to open the tweet channel. In a matter of hours the rate went from 0 followers to more than 500 and BH hydro suddenly became an important source of information for the public.
And information was the one thing that the public didn’t have all that much of – and they wanted it. BH found they were getting pictures of trees down sent to them, the switchboard was overloaded – at one point they had logged 1500 calls and then the system crashed.
 Dan Guatto, doing his best to communicate in an environment where there are a lot of things not working very well. His cell phone got him through most of the problems – Burlington Hydro is currently working on a wen site that will provide much more in the way of information for the public. We live in a world” said Guatto where people Google the menu of the restaurant they are going to – there is the expectation that information is always available and available instantly.
It quickly became evident that while there were problems in the downtown core – it was the ice on the lines in the northern part of the city – on the inclines – where things were worst.
 A line down and a cable split on road after road after road. Hydro used up 1000 metres of cable doing the repairs. Ice on the lines left many of them sagging – the ice on the trees that was killing ever effort to get the lines operational.
Overall the grid, North American wide was working just fine –“ it was the really local stuff that crippled us. We would get two houses back on and then a house in between them would have branches come crashing down and we were right back where we started”, said Sm.
Trees were our biggest problem. People live in north Burlington because of the trees. People were prepared to be out of their homes for six days – but they were not prepared to have their tress cut down.
Burlington Hydro, like any responsible organization, plans and does practice scenarios. They will scope out what the worst possible consequences from a possible situation and then work out plans for how they will react, what equipment they will need and make sure they have it – close by
Gerry Smallegange, Hydro president, explained that “we would give people our best estimate which was often not much more than a guess, but it became close to gospel truth in the minds of many. When crews are out in the field it is like being on a construction site and we often just don’t know how long a task is going to take.
 Here is an accident waiting to happen. When the line going into Lowville went down explains Smallegange the crew going in to do the fix couldn’t get their trucks in far enough – so everything had to be hauled in by hand – over a distance of more than a kilometre. It took hours but they finally got it up and service was restored – which isn’t as simple as screwing in a new fuse and seeing the lights go on. There are significant safety precautions that had to be gone through – but the lights went on and the crews moved on to the next problem.
Within hours the line was back down and that work had to be done all over again. The new break had to be found, the power taken out of the line, a splice made to the wire, line tested and power restored.
Side road # 8 had to be totally re-built. It was the worst situation we faced said Smallegange who added that there are 20,000 poles in the hydro system but only 20 were broken during the storm. Millar Crescent was un-passable for a period of time and there were a number of situations that needed less than a quick glance to know that there was a problem just waiting to happen.
For people sitting in a cold house – there is little comfort in knowing that all these steps have to be taken. For the men in the field it was long hours in cold weather which isn’t easy to work in. Fatigue and working in bulky clothing and ground that was slick with ice are conditions that result in accidents – of which there were none for the hydro crews.
Hydro used up 1000 metres of cable to complete the repairs. They didn’t lose any generators and there was never a serious risk of running out of cable. All the hydro operations in the area have working agreements to purchase from each other. They also have consignment agreements from the supply manufacturers that keeps needed supplies in the hydro yard – masking it instantly available.
 Trees can’t last with this amount of ice on the branches. A mighty oak bends to the force of nature. We would like look at this in the spring and see what survived. The December outage was big and there was little in the way of the kind of warning the city got during the July problems.
What BH is beginning to struggle with is – how often are we likely to see situations like this – and that for much of the world is both a very pressing and a very vexing question. It all relates to risk analysis. It just isn’t possible to be fully geared up every hour of every day for something that might happen.
Christmas Day of 2013 was a fully geared up day for both Burlington Hydro and the city of Burlington. “It is the city manager Jeff Fielding who has point on this explained Smallegange – we get the job done but he calls the shots. There is a very solid working relationship between Hydro and the city – the city is the only shareholder but that’s not what makes the relationship work as smoothly as it does. The top people on both sides are consummate professionals and each knows what has to be done and they get it done.
The city got through the storm and while we will be picking up brush for a number of months and when the snow melts we will see twigs and scraps of wood that will have to be raked up and either burned in a fire-place or put out as waste.
Expect the Regional authority to revise the date for the last such pick-ups several times. That will be the least of our problems.
There were no fatalities, no really serious injuries. A major dent to Hydro’s financial statements but this is one you are not likely to feel. Burlington Hydro is currently in negotiations on the price of the hydro it buys; there will be a decrease in the price hydro pays for power as a result of these negotiations. How much of that price decrease works it way to your hydro bill is going to be impacted by the storm damage. The decrease you see will be just a little less than hydro had originally hoped to deliver to the public.
The cost of the outage in terms of additional monies for Burlington Hydro will come in at more than $1 million.
A lot of lessons were learned – the most important of which were on the communications side. With power out telephone service was down and cell service in the northern part of the city isn’t all that good at the best of times. There are parts of the city where there is basically no service.
 Worn down but not worn out. Burlington Hydro Gerry Smallegange and his chief of engineering talk to people at the Kilbride fire station on what was up and what wasn’t yet up in terms of power lines. Hydro is putting together a much different web site that will improve significantly on the information they can deliver – that along with their ability now to tweet at will result in better communications.
For Hydro’s senior management the biggest lesson was to fully understand what the public wanted in the way of information and then to find a way to get that information out with very necessary caveats and cautions attached to it.
You will like what hydro is going to release in the very near future. “Hopefully” adds Smallegange it will be up and running before the next catastrophe providing that doesn’t take place this month.”
The big wish for Hydro is a way to be able to trim those trees in such a way that the canopy is not lost but the hydro wires have a chance to stay up when the winds howl and the trees bend.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 14, 2014
Identity theft is a BIG business, and a rather successful one for some people as well. This message came floating in earlier today. What are the clues?
Well, first the receiver of the email is not an Apple product user, second look at the email address it was sent from and then note the date at the bottom of the email.
Look at the language – there is no way Apple is going to let a message that poorly crafted get sent out.
 If you use Apple products you might have thought this was a legitimate message. It isn’t – phony as a three dollar bill. The full message reads:
This is an automatic message by the system to let you know that you
have to confirm your Apple ID account information within 48 hours.
Your account has been frozen temporarily if order to protect it.
The account will continue to be frozen until it is approved And Validate
you account information. Once you have updated your account records
, your information will be confirmed and your account will start
to work as normal once again.
This will help protect you in the future. The process does not take more than 5 minutes.
To proceed to confirm your account information Click here
Copyright © 2013 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.
If you click there you are in the process of telling thieves, probably in Nigeria, more about you than they should know.
If the message doesn’t make sense to you – delete it.
Background:
Identity theft is a BIG business – the purpose of which is to steal your money.
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