 By Pepper Parr
March 3, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
 There are still a few dollars left to be counted, however, the 2013 United Way campaign announced that the combined total for Hamilton and Burlington was $6.82 million for the 2013 campaign. This was short of the $7 million goal. Burlington however exceeded its goal by 10% raising a record setting $2.25 million. All the money raised in Burlington stays in Burlington.
The goal for 2014 has yet to be set – that will be done around the May/June timeframe, explains Brian Ferguson the chair of the 2014 campaign, who adds “ we are obviously pushing to do more”.
 Newalta and Brian Ferguson, chair of the exceptionally successful 2013 campaign will lead the 2014 campaign. Ferguson pulled together a team of cabinet members two weeks ago for a planning session and fleshed out with four main focus areas for 2014
1. New Business Development: This division will focus on reaching out to workplaces and networking groups in Burlington who have not supported the United Way to run workplace campaigns or special events.
2. Current Business Development: The purpose of this focus area will be to work closely with our current workplace campaigns to encourage them to do more by increasing their payroll deduction participation and sharing their campaign best practices to be shared with other workplaces (new / current).
3. Special Events: The purpose of this focus area will be set focused on special events / programs. We already have a 1st ever United Way Burlington golf tournament planned for June 4th at Crosswinds, we will be the headline charity for the Beerfest. This group will also focus on providing presence at local events, partnering with sports / recreations leagues, and running programs like the Art Easel as Coinboxes.
4. Branding / Awareness: The purpose of this group is pretty self explanatory. We need to do a better job of creating awareness of the important of the United Way in Burlington and branding it accordingly through social media campaigns and media presence. We may have made history in 2013 but there are many more programs and services we can fund in Burlington if we raise more money. A community is not truly great, explains Ferguson, until it is great for EVERYONE!
“We also need to recruit more passionate volunteers to assist in all of these areas. So help spread the word we are looking for good people” asks Ferguson who is lead a fresh group with new ideas and a lot of new energy. A lot of the old timers, people who have doing the UW campaign because it was one of the things you do, are prepared to see the younger set come in. Jamie Edwards who has been part of the United Way as long as he can remember said “they are younger legs and they bring a drive I used to have; I’m happy to let them take over.” Edwards will be around, prepared to make calls but 7:30 campaign meetings are something he might take a pass on.
 Tara Brewer on the right is one of the two co-chairs for the 2014 campaign. The campaign cabinet for 2014 is going to be structurally quite different from what was in place for 2013. “I want to run it like a business where people have responsibilities and are accountable. In the past the UW was quite like a networking club that some people used to pad a resume.
 Scott Robinson will serve as co-vice chair of the 2014 United Way campaign. With the four focal points in place, members of the 2013 team can choose which sector they want to be in. People have been told that if they want to come back – and we hope they do – this is the structure – choose where you want to fit in.
Rebecca and Jamie West will be running the Hamilton team for 2014. Brian Ferguson will continue to lead the Burlington side. He will be supported by Scott Robinson, owner of the Burlington Bandits and Tara Brewer, an MBA graduate who is part of the VMWare human resources team.
 Weeks before the 2013 United Way campaign came to an end Brian Ferguson, standing, urges his team to make it happen this year – and they did – a record $2.25 million. Retiring United Way CEO chairman Len Lifchus, centre, looks on proudly. Ferguson is delighted with the support he gets from Mayor Goldring and is looking forward to some serious involvement from the Economic Development Corporation once it has completed its restructuring. If the BEDC can get some of the drive Ferguson has shown and come in with numbers as good as his – everyone is going to win.
Ferguson had a phenomenal year because he created a team and gave them the leadership they wanted. The personal passion he brought to the job was what rally made the difference. Ferguson fully understands that a community is not truly great until it is great for EVERYONE!
 By Pepper Parr
March 1, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
He’s a normal, little bit on the shy side boy of 8 (9 in September), in grade three with a Mother who teaches and a Dad who manages a restaurant – and three older sisters.
 Soft brown eyes and a quiet smile: Connor Withers, bird house builder. He’s got soft brown eyes and an artistic streak in him. He doesn’t avoid eye contact but he doesn’t stare. When he does look at you his gaze is very direct and there is a quiet sweet smile.
Connor Withers has a business card with his name and title: he is a Bird house builder with the Bird House Foundation, an organization that uses recycled wood to make birdhouses.
 First corporate customer – Connor Withers delivers the Voortman Cookie Birdhouse to Harry Voortman. The bird houses get sold and the funds donated to the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation – to date very close to $13,000 has been donated. Connor and his Dad Tim have a target of $25,000 Getting to that target meant going corporate and that has resulted in some very attractive bird house with corporate logo and designs which go for upwards of $200
Connor is the recipient of a 2013 Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Award and is the poster boy for the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation.
 Connor does a turn at setting up the power saw – power lines are disconnected during his training. The project started last summer when Connor and his dad collected discarded wood put out for garbage collection along Burlington streets this summer. The pair spent hours together in their workshop turning the refuse into birdhouses. Connor sold the birdhouses on his front lawn at a sale last July, raising $200.
The Withers family, Mom Christa, sisters Sydney, Abigail and Meagan, decided the money should be donated to the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation. All four children were born at Joseph Brant.
Last week Connor was given Certificate of recognition by Mayor Goldring at a council meeting. The Mayor told Connor that he didn’t have to stay for the rest of the meeting – the family left the council chamber but on the way home Connor said he would have liked to have stayed for a while.
The Birdhouse Foundation has its own Facebook page with 347 followers and a slew of pictures – it’s a sort of family scrapbook.
When it was becoming evident that the “business” had taken off help was needed and wood as well. There are limits on how much scrap wood one can find at the roadside in Burlington.
Turkstra Lumber offered a load of wood which they delivered to Robert Bateman high school where the students taking shop cut the wood to size to be taken back to the Withers garage where the bird houses were assembled.
 Part of the production line – bird houses partially painted. Swiss Line Industries said they could paint a couple of hundred of the houses – just ship them over and we will paint them for you. Paint from the RONA recycle bin was used.
Various organizations donated tools and a large number of corporations asked how they could help. Many bought a bird house, had a corporate design put on it and then off Connor and his Dad would go to deliver the finished product and have pictures taken.
 Connor Withers with his dad Tim who teaches his son how to properly use a drill press. The sports world took part as well – Connor and his dad trucked into Toronto and met just about every one of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey players.
Connor doesn’t seem at all overwhelmed by the attention but what he has seen says his father is the power of what one person can do. The grade three, French immersion student at Orchard Park elementary school is a thoughtful boy; reflective, whose favourite subjects are art and music.
Christa, who said she manages the household, comments that the project took off so fast. It started with what was basically a yard sale and just took off – getting the point where more people were needed – and sure enough the neighbours showed up and picked up pieces of sandpaper and helped with the assembly.
The project has become a family event which has Tim spending much more time with his son – “the two of us work together on things and when there is something to be thought through Connor and I do that together. It wasn’t quite what I expected but the time we spend together is great”, said Tim.
Both parents are also seeing a young boy who is now much more confident. During the presentation at city hall Connor paused for a moment when the Mayor gave him the certificate of recognition and slowly put his hand out to shake the hand of the Mayor.
 Local bird house builder thinking of extending his product line to bee houses What next? Well Connor has taken an interest in honey bees and can tell you much more than you really wanted to know about the “orchard mason bee” and thinks this is a product line he would like to pursue.
Would you like your own bird house? Slip over to Connors Facebookpage – facebook.com/thebirdhousebuilder
 By Pepper Parr
February 28, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Council met as a Committee of the Whole and used a workshop format to listen to the people doing the thinking behind the new economic development organization the city manager thinks should be put in place.
It was a fantastic meeting – we heard some of the smartest people this city has seen sitting at the council chamber horse shoe explaining to council how economic development could be improved.
The direction is to create corporations that will be owned by the city and charged with bringing new companies to Burlington. City general manager Scott Stewart and Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) board member Pat Sugrue led the explanation while lawyer Charles Keizer explained the rather intricate collection of corporations that would be formed. Lest anyone think this was going to be a group of people picking up fat fees it was made very clear that these were going to be very lean organizations with a mandate the improve growth.
 Is the city about to begin a process that brings real economic development to town? Do the parking lots offer economic development opportunities and will there be better relationships with the development sector? Two points came close to jumping off the page. Gerry Smallgange pointed out that BEDC does not have a “deal maker”; has never had a “deal maker” and that the city has to re-think the way it has zoned its employment lands. City manager Jeff Fielding made the point that the Bronte Creek lands are going to have to be mixed developments if there is ever to be any development on those lands. He also pointed to the Navistar property at th corner of Guelph Line and Harvester Road and said there was never going to be another operation similar to what is on the site now.
Fielding said the city needs to begin working with Emshie Development to get something on that property – and at the same time find a way to work with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to overcome some of the obstacles as to what can be built in and around the major traffic intersections leading onto the QEW.
It was a two-hour meeting during which some startling opportunities were laid out. We knew that changes in the structure and purpose of the BEDC were vital – this was the first the public got to see as to how bold these people seem prepared to be.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his seminal book, The Tipping Point, that events build up and can reach a point where a direction can be changed. Burlington just might be approaching a badly needed tipping point.
Burlington is in one of those awkward situations where much of the developable land is in the hands of a few corporations who are just sitting on it. Most would like to see their holdings converted from “employment lands” to places where they can build residential housing.
Burlington doesn’t need any more residential housing – it needs new businesses to move to the city – and that hasn’t been happening. It needs better working relationships with the development sector, it needs better working relationships with the agencies that the city. In time it will become evident that one of the biggest hurdles the IKEA opportunity on the North Service Road could not overcome was the Conservation Authority.
Add to that some of the near toxic “bad blood” that exists between the Paletta corporation and the city. General manager Scott Stewart said the city needs to “get the problems of the past behind us” which is going to call for a different approach on the part of both the city’s planning department and the key people at Paletta.
Some time ago the BEDC chose Pat Paletta as the Entrepreneur of the year and hoped that wold be a first step in the “kiss and make up” process that is necessary. Son Angela Paletta was asked to be the Honorary Chair of the Burlington Community Foundation where he did a superb job and worked the room as well as any politician we’ve seen.
What became very clear during the Committee of the Whole meeting was the need to significantly upgrade the way the BEDC has done business – Pat Sugrue, who ran Fearman’s Pork when it was bought in November 2010 by Sun Capital Partners from Maple Leaf Foods Inc. for $20 million.
Sugre told the meeting that Sun Capital moved very quickly and scooped another off that was on the table because they were able to commit to the deal in seven days and close it within 45 days. Burlington hasn’t see a deal like that in the last century.
Sugre made another important point: municipal people do not, cannot and should not be in the deal making business. It takes people with skills sets that don’t exist in a municipal environment.
There is a lot more on this story – for the moment the time line the city wants to work to on this is very aggressive they want to have it all wrapped up before the BEDC AGM late in May.
They are going to squeeze some public information sessions in there somewhere. The Gazette was the only media in the room for this meeting of Council. We will keep you posted.
 By Pepper Parr
February 26, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
One doesn’t often see exceptional cooperation between a developer and the city’s planning department. A proposal from the Hamilton District Christian Senior Citizens Home Inc. to put up a 148 unit, 6 storey apartment building for seniors on property assembled at 3260-3306 New Street somehow managed to go through two Public meetings – this second one lasted three hours and city council made a wise decision that is going to positively impact the lives of a lot of people. We may well see more proposals like this one.
 The developer came in asking for out – saw that wasn’t going to work and came back with a seven story proposal. That didn’t work either. The massing of the building on a street that just doesn’t have any high buildings was too much for everyone – even the planners. The original proposal was for an 8 storey, 176 unit apartment building which got cut down to 7 storeys when the developer realized that a totally different approach was needed to the look of the building and the impact it was going to have on the neighbourhood.
It was at this point that the developer began to have deep discussions with the planners – how does one get away from that massing with a 7 story structure that is five to six lots wide? Out of those discussions came the 6 storey design with a wide opening between the two.
With a much more satisfactory design that still wasn’t enough to change the minds of most of the people who delegated.
 The six storey version of the project did away with the massive look of the building Graham Tower just plain doesn’t want a 6 storey building next to his house up – it’s too high and not compatible with the existing neighbourhood – and that is true. The planners tried to explain that communities change and that this was an appropriate change for this community.
Ward 2 Councilor Marianne Meed Ward wanted something that was at the four storey range. Ward 1 Councilor Rick Craven pointed out that when a six storey structure was proposed for Plains Road was announced there was exceptionally strong opposition in the Aldershot community. Today, said Craven, everyone says this is the route to go.
When Maranatha first went to council in December 20, 2012 the proposal was for an eight story structure – and it was a pretty brutal looking building. A community meeting in January 8, 2013 at Central Public library attracted 80-100 people.
The developers behind this project currently manage a 3-storey, 63 unit seniors apartment building that backs onto the General Brock lands – some of which is owned by Burlington and the rest by the school boards.
The property at 3260 New Street, to the immediate west of the proposed development, contains an 3-storey, 63 unit seniors apartment building.
It is easy to confuse the two organizations discussed at the meeting. Maranatha Homes is under different ownership than Maranatha Gardens
Maranatha Homes is a not-for-profit Christian aging-in-place community that aims to provide a variety of affordable and interconnected housing options including affordable rental units that will provide a variety of assisted living services and facilities to meet the social, therapeutic, and recreational needs of the residents.
 Cumberland would serve as the common entrance point to the two projects both managed by the same people. The set back from New Street is substantial and the two levels of underground parking means the grounds won’t look like a parking lot. Maranatha Homes was built under Section 27 of the National Housing Act and was administered by Canada Mortgage and Housing (CHMC) until 2001 when the administration of housing was downloaded to municipalities through the Social Housing Reform Act.
CHMC currently holds a mortgage on 3260 New Street, the Homes, with an expiry date of August 1, 2026.
Maranatha Homes, Residence and Seniors Care was approved as a charity on December 27, 2012.
The original plan proposed a stepped building that was 8 storeys on the west side, stepping to 7, 6, 5 and 3 storeys at the east side. The last revision was for a six storey apartment building, containing 9- one bedroom units, 116- one bedroom plus den units and 23- two bedroom units on the assembled lands that will consist of two towers connected from floors 1-3 with a separation at the 4th floor to reduce the impact of the building massing. The existing driveway serving the Maranatha Homes building, south of Cumberland Avenue will serve as the main signalized access to the site.
There will be two levels of underground parking along with surface parking that will be shared by both Maranatha Homes and Gardens visitors.
Proposals like this have to go through all kinds of hoops – there is the Official Plan Amendment and Rezoning applications that are subject to the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (Places to Grow), the Region of Halton Official Plan (ROP), the City of Burlington Official Plan (OP), and Zoning By-law 2020.
 The issue for Burlington and this city council was – what kind of housing do we want for the seniors in the community who want to “age in place”. Many seniors (there are already more than 100 people who have asked to have their names placed on the waiting list for units in the building) want to move out of a house that requires upkeep they can no longer manage but they want to remain in the community where they are comfortable, where they are active in the community and close to family. The problem was there just wasn’t much in the way of housing for these people.
Burlington currently has 9,000 people over the age of 80 – which represents 4% of the population. That number is projected to triple in 30 years. Burlington has more seniors (as a % of the population) than any other city in the GTA. More than 17% of the current population is over 65.
It doesn’t take much more than a grade 5 math level to figure out where we are going. Knowing that today – we can plan for tomorrow. That point didn’t seem to have any traction in the minds of most of the people who spoke last Monday evening.
The choices seemed to be – learn to live with a larger than normal structure in an established community or begin thinking of other ways to house seniors who want to move out of the single family structures they are currently in and no longer want to maintain. With 148 units available and more than 100 people on the waiting list – the market seems to be saying something.
Mayor Goldring felt the development was a great idea that met the needs of a growing senior’s population. The development is in ward 4 but Jack Dennison, the councilor for the ward, had little to say. Dennison had come up against the residents at the community meetings – he knows when to keep his head down.
Councilor Taylor hardly spoke.
Councilor Sharman saw it as a good project.
These apartments are not going to be cheap: There will be 140 one bedroom and one bedroom with a den that will measure 79-98 m2 and be priced at $2074 a month.
There will be 8 two bedroom units that are between 103 and 130 m2 priced at $3677 a month.
 Question were raised by some concerning adjacent road network capacity was it capable of absorbing the additional traffic generated. The capacity of a typical urban travel lane is 800 vehicles per hour. New Street has two lanes in each direction, therefore the capacity of New Street is 1600 vehicles per hour in each direction.
New Street is serviced by Burlington Transit’s Route 10 with bus stops on both the north and south side of New Street; the New-Maple route provides cross-town connectivity to the downtown bus terminal, Mapleview Mall, Burlington Go Station, Appleby Mall and the Central Park area which includes a large concentration of community services.
The site is located approximately midway between Guelph Line and Walker’s Line where there is a variety of neighbourhood conveniences. The site is also located a short distance by car (1.7 km) or bus to the Central Park area which includes a large concentration of community services geared at different demographics including the Burlington Seniors Centre, the Central Public Library, Burlington Music Centre, the Burlington Curling Club Central Arena and the YMCA.
An apartment building use differs from a retirement home whereby it does not supply meals to occupants in a common kitchen and dining facility and where other communal facilities may be provided. The proposed use will contain apartment units with their own kitchen facilities.
Maranatha Homes property and Maranatha Gardens lands will be under the same management but different ownership.
The people behind this development are not getting and discounts or special deals. They will pay all the fees and charges that every other developer pays as well as be required to provide the city with securities to ensure that the work is completed.
City development charges may be payable, Educational Development Charges are payable; Regional Development Charges and Surcharges are payable
As progressive as the project is – there was and still is – some very vocal local opposition to the project. Graham Tower lives in the home on the east side of the project – and he just plain did not want a large building next door to him and he feels the development will impact very negatively on the value of his property. The developers staged the height of the east side, have plans for trees – Tower wasn’t happy and is not likely to ever be happy.
Anup Ogale, who lives on Pine Cove gave the most detailed delegation. He mentioned a sink hole that would hold the Titanic; an engineer spoke later and explained it was a hole in a drive way and was found to be above ground that had utilities running beneath it.
He added that the building was going to be set on bed rock and if there was any “quicksand” in the area it would not be underneath the structure.
 Both the Maranatha Homes and the Maranatha Gardens back on to the Brock lands – residents managed to convince themselves that something was up for the development of that property. The proposed development faces New Street with a substantial set back from the road. Mr. Ogale had done quite a bit of research; each matter he brought up was answered by the planning staff. What planning staff could not do was fully explain why they would not go for eight storeys or even seven storeys but would accept six. The planner explained that he felt that was an appropriate height for that location – and the area residents just weren’t buying that argument.
A Myers Lane resident, whose name we shall withhold, managed to embarrass both herself and anyone who knows her, with comments during her delegation that were just plain rude and disrespectful. Mayor Goldring mentioned that he drives by the site most days on his way to city hall and he had not found the traffic to be impossible. He signaled the committee chair that he wanted to speak and the resident cut in and told the Mayor to wait – she was speaking.
Asked by the committee chair to respect the process the resident said “you respect us… we voted you people in and we can vote you out.”
 It went downhill from there. The resident pointed to council and said “I see all kinds of attitude here .. it seems as if you have decided and that you know what is best…No you don’t” and with that the delegation walked away from the podium.
She did return to answer a question from Councilor Meed Ward who wanted to find out just what it was the woman was opposed to; with that she returned to the podium and said: “We don’t want the re-zoning”. That was certainly obvious.
The Standing committee voted 6-1 to accept the staff recommendation; Meed Ward, who wanted four storey structures and perhaps a bigger footprint, did not vote the recommendation. This item comes to city council March 17th – the question is will it move on to the Ontario Municipal Board. It shouldn’t.
 By Pepper Parr
February 26, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It became evident early in the development of the Alton community that it was going to be different. Many who now live in the new community see it as the “new” Burlington where people made it on their own.
Hayden high school opened last September with the library following that by weeks and the Haber Recreation Centre opened shortly after that. All three share the same structure which the city calls the Alton Campus. The Norton skate park across the street from the campus make the place a very active part of town.
A city Standing Committee held the required public meeting to review an application for a zoning by-law amendment submitted by Emery Investments for 4853 Palladium Way. The intention of the developer is to build two five storey towers attached to each other with a two storey atrium.
 Two towers in phase 1 – finished project is projected to result in 1280 professional jobs, The property is at the intersection of Appleby Line and Palladium Way in the Alton community where Urban Design Study and Guidelines for the Alton Central East Community are in place.
It is a two-phase project with phase 1 being the construction of the office towers and phase 2 the construction of three industrial buildings. The 5.2 hectares property is currently vacant.
 The two five-story structures will be joined b a two storey atrium. The developer is seeking approximately 24,964m2 in the office towers and, in Phase 2 to create three industrial buildings, with a combined total of approximately 12,245m2.
The Burlington Economic development Corporation (BEDC) estimates this development will create about 1,280 professional jobs.
Blair Lancaster, the ward councilor determined that a neighbourhood meeting would not be required. Public notice of the statutory public meeting and recommendation report were provided 14 days in advance.
The Standing Community approved the application unanimously; that recommendation goes to city council March 17th.
Once approved the developer appears to want to get shovels into the ground quickly. They will lay down the two levels of underground parking and get the first tower up – they’ve yet to decide when they will put up the second tower. The market for quality space is tight in Burlington – this project might move very quickly.
 The development will be done in two phases. The developers are building the project as a speculative development. It is the first decent office development project the city has seen in some time. While the Economic Development Corporation beavers away at producing reports and working towards whatever shape and purpose it is going to have in the near future – this development came to the city on its own – and it isn’t within any one of the “prosperity nodes” the economists created.
Background Links:
Alton campus opens.
How Alton got started.
 By Pepper Parr
February 21, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
There isn’t going to be a Cultural Manager in Burlington during 2014 – perhaps in 2015, but a Standing Committee just didn’t see a compelling case for hiring a new person for a job that wasn’t as clearly defined as it could have been.
The arts and culture community brought its existence to the surface – the city learned a lot more about who they were, what they are and what they do. Their lobbying efforts blew hot and cold. They certainly pulled the Mayor into their circle – but that wasn’t enough.
Staff, particularly general manager Kim Phillips, who is the lead on culture in the city, didn’t do all that much to support the creation of the position.
Council seemed to feel that a full-time cultural planner was enough for now and would revisit the needs of the cultural community next year.
 What was nascent and budding – has been stunted at the administration level. It is going to be up to the artists to create whatever structure is needed. What the city will see is various initiatives – and there is some very solid work being done by individual artists, but people who are not always the best at administrative stuff aren’t going to be able to market and move the idea that Burlington is a legitimate cultural centre forward very much.
There is some hope but it doesn’t exist at council nor at the senior staff level.
 The unveiling of the Spiral Stella outside the Performing Arts Centre on a bright summer day was thought to be the beginning of a breakthrough point for the arts and cultural community. Hasn’t worked out that way, yet – but art perseveres – their day will come. Discussion on this item that was on the books for $128,000 + a one time set up cost of $8,320 started with Councillor Lancaster saying she was not on for this one – mostly because she didn’t think there was all that much to manage –and on that point she was right. The arts community saw this as a person who would do some ground breaking and seed planting.
Mayor Goldring followed Lancaster saying he would not support the expense – at least not this year. Councillor Sharman said he was where the Mayor is – not at this time.
Councillor Craven wanted to know what the impact would be without a Cultural Manager – he seemed to think that with the cultural planner in place whatever had to be done would get done.
General manager Phillips conceded that the Cultural Action Plan that Council has approved will certainly proceed much slower. She added that there is some cultural mapping being done –people are adding data on who they are and what they do to the web site.
Councillors Taylor and Dennison took a pass – made no comment.
 The city’s cultural planner is all the arts community has at this point. There is some cultural mapping being done – which is useful in itself but won’t do all that much to build the tremendous potential culture has in this city. Angela Papariza will use her well-developed culture background and training to work with people like Trevor Copp – not likely to see much more in 2014. For Councillor Meed Ward – it was also a “not now – re-evaluate later” an odd decision given that much of the cultural activity is in the downtown core which is her bailiwick. Meed Ward could see where this was going.
The question now is – what is the cultural planner going to do? The current occupant of the position certainly has cred within the arts and culture community but Burlington has had good people working the culture file in the past – and they have all moved on.
The hope for many was that with the surprising energy that was seen within the arts and culture community (it was always there – just not seen or appreciated) the time had come to get serious and develop the opportunity.
The Arts and Cultural Collective did as much as they could – and then some. Trevor Copp sent out a last-minute plea to the Collective membership: “Without this position, Arts & Cultural Grants, an outside Arts body, use of space and bylaw reviews in our favour is seriously jeopardized. All our work may go up in smoke. Let them know how you feel please”.
What happens next will depend on the kind of energy and leadership that comes from the general manager handling this file. Don’t get your hopes up.
Background links:
Turns out the art community didn’t get anything from the cookie jar.
 By Pepper Parr
February 21, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
In the old Soviet Union, if you didn’t deliver they took you out and shot you. The Soviets have cleaned themselves up and the Koreans now do that. Sweden has always been a kinder softer country – but bet everything you have on someone at IKEA having to refresh their resume over the massive screw up on the decision to look at the North Service Road property as a possible new home for them in Burlington.
Multi-national corporations don’t make mistakes like this. IKEA has a brand, we now call all the strong brands iconic these days, that they promote heavily. They wanted that brand visible from a roadway where there is loads of traffic. Thus the decision to find a property along the QEW. That part of the decision making process IKEA went through may have been the only part that made sense.
There were problems galore with the site – there were also a lot of problems with the way IKEA said they wanted to situate the buildings and parking on the site.
 A portion of our prosperity corridor – IKEA had picked a spot close to Walkers Line. The Burlington Tourism office will tell you that IKEA was close to the #1 tourist attraction in the city; they drew from a dense and very rich market. We are the only IKEA operation west of the GTA core.
A five minute drive along the North Service road made it very clear the road would have to be widened to at least four lanes. We did that back in June of 2012 and reported on that.
A little research would have revealed that the Ontario Ministry of transport wanted more room to expand the width of the QEW and the only width available was to go north – which meant pushing the North Service road back – which would eat into the property IKEA had taken an option on.
The property has a barrier on the north side – a railway line. Walkers Line was known to be close to its capacity – so there was work to be done there. Creating a turn from Walkers Line onto the North Service Road – going both east and west was a challenge
Add to all that – the Creek that runs along the eastern side of the property.
IKEA is taking the public position that the site is not quite what they need – take that position with a grain of salt. The IKEA spokesperson assured anyone who asked that the decision was strictly based on the site. She added IKEA Canada is doing well financially.
 Mayor Rick Goldring Burlington’s Mayor is “discouraged” but adds that the IKEA application “did identify a need for infrastructure improvements”. It did much more than that; it showed land that was being very much under-used. Goldring does see a “silver lining” – the IKEA application showed that the transportation corridor either side of the QEW had to be improved. Did we have to wait for the IKEA application to figure that one out. The economic development master minds should have known that – and the planners could have at least suggested we pay some attention to that part of town. McMaster moving to the South Service Road should have been hint enough.
The city has managed to convince itself that IKEA pulling out has given us an opportunity to create a shovel ready site for anyone who wants to move to Burlington. Has anyone seen the line-up of people wanting to move to Burlington?
In the world of property development – two things matter: location and timing. Why it took IKEA a couple of years and perhaps as much as $1 million to arrive at the conclusion that the site wasn’t what they needed is a tough one to get ones head around. IKEA had made a decision to move. The objective was to have space for the headquarters office. They also wanted to expand the sales side and offer WHAT. All those IKEA plans are still relevant. IKEA’s intention was to WHAT and the city rezoned the property so they could do that.
IKEA lives in a competitive environment – they fight every week for market share. What they sell in this market works its way all the way back to the head office in Helsingborg, Sweden, where they are now asking a lot of questions. If some IKEA heads don’t role there are surely bonuses that will be a lot smaller.
 IKEA wanted to be bigger and a whole lot better – and that plan isn’t going to change. sooner or later – they will move from this site. IKEA has a very interesting corporate structure. At the top is a holding company in Luxembourg, tax reasons for that, with group services in Belgium, Franchise in the Netherlands, retail Centre Division in Denmark, and Finance in Sweden. The company appears to work as a series of national franchises – wonder who owns the Canadian franchise? The whole operation is owned by two parties: 51% Inter IKEA Group and 49% INGKA Group. Complex!
Burlington is trying to put the best face possible on the disaster – and make no mistake – this is a disaster for Burlington. Not only is there a major client that is not happy, even though much of the mess is their own fault, there is revenue that is lost to the city and we are now in the unfortunate position of having to pay for all of the changes needed on Walkers Line by ourselves. IKEA was going to be picking up a lot of that expense.
We have also done ourselves a lot of damage in terms of reputation. The development community knows we parted ways with the former Executive Director of BEDC. There aren’t that many job opportunities in that field; there are some good people out there but they don’t want to align their careers with loser communities and right now Burlington isn’t looking all that good.
Heaven’s Hamilton is seen as one of the top ten development growth communities and we all know how dysfunctional that city council is. Burlington has to figure out quickly what it needs to do and then do it. The problem is that the only people who can manage this type of problem are up to their arm pits with other tasks that are just as important. The city manager is a) re-casting his capital budget, b) totally revamping the way services are to be delivered and making people personally accountable –talk about a culture shift; c) reviewing the work force the city has and aligning it with the human resources we have and are going to need. He doesn’t have the time to resolve this problem and the one person he has that can do the job has his plate more than full as well. The city manager unfortunately doesn’t have the bench strength he needs to run the place and it is going to take him three years, at a minimum, to re-develop all of the human resource side of the city.
 Heck BEDC can’t get themselves to the point where they are ready to go to market and find the person they need. They have to restructure and get that approved at the May AGM.
Thinking that we can wait until the BEDC AGM in May is what a high school student might try. Is that our level of sophistication?
The Mayor and Councillor Dennison seemed to have found a silver line in all this; if IKEA couldn’t work through the difficulties with the location what makes us think someone else will? The forthcoming staff report will sum up everything – but that’s about all. Bet on someone finding a way to thank someone for all the hard work that was done.
There is trouble in paradise. The silver lining the Mayor is talking about might be a thought to put the new city hall on the site. The late James Gandolfini of The Soprano’s fame had a word for ideas like that – “fu-ge-da-boud-it”
There are three IKEA stores in the GTA market, Burlington, Etobicoke, and North York. There is a store in Vaughan and a store in Ottawa. There is room to the west of Burlington for an IKEA store and Hamilton’s demographics are becoming a lot more appealing to IKEA.
While IKEA has made a decision to remain in Burlington, that may well be just a place holder. They wanted bigger and better and they put their money on the table to get that. The deal couldn’t be closed – someone else, somewhere else might come along with an offer IKEA just can’t refuse – and don’t for as much as a second think that there aren’t people out there right now figuring out how to cook up a deal.
Hamilton took International Harvester right off our plate. Are we going to see a repeat of that kind of play?
One of the smarter commercial real estate types we talked to said: “this is embarrassing”; it might also turn out to be very expensive. Add this one to the egg on our face with the pier and we aren’t looking so good right now.
Background links:
North Service road couldn’t handle traffic load.
 By Staff
February 19, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
We won’t know until next Spring if these four are true heavy hitters but the Burlington Bandits who have been on a bit of a roll when it comes to signing up players announced that Jordan Boston, Kyle Bolton, Dylan Perego and Evan DiMichele have been signed to the team for the 23014 season.
 Part of the 2014 lineup for the Burlington Bandits: from left to right Kyle Bolton, Dylan Perego, Evan DiMichele and Jordan Boston Boston comes into his first season with the Bandits after a collegiate career with Alcorn State in Alabama. The 6’2”, 205 pound player from Brampton, ON previously played with the Ontario Blue Jays and Team Ontario in the Premier Baseball League on Ontario. Most impressive was his time with the prestigious Junior National Team in 2009 and 2010.
Bolton, a right-handed pitcher from Burlington, ON is returning for his fourth season with the Bandits. In 2013 with the Bandits, Bolton had an ERA of 8.62 in 14 games.
Perego, a right-handed pitcher from Waterdown, ON will join the Bandits for his second season. In his debut season with the Bandits in 2013, Perego had an ERA of 4.54 in 14 games.
DiMichele, also a right-handed pitcher from Oakville, ON returns for his second season with the Bandits after joining the team in 2013. Last season, DiMichele had an ERA of 5.79 in 16 games.
The Burlington Bandits season opens on the road when they visit Toronto on May 4th.
The club will then return home the following weekend for their home opener on Saturday, May 10th versus the Hamilton Cardinals; game time 1:00pm.
Season and individual tickets are on sale now! For more information about these signings or how to purchase tickets, contact the Bandits at info@burlingtonbandits.com or 905-634-3725.
 By Staff
February 18, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
If you were around the John Street bus terminal on Tuesday you might have been approached by people asking you to sign a petition asking the provincial government to take their announced plan to raise the minimum wage from $10.25 to $11.00 an hour in June.
The Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage (CRMW) points out that an increase of 75 cents an hour will not get minimum wage earners out of poverty.
The private sector maintains that $14 an hour will cripple them and it is certainly a significant increase – but we can’t pay people $11 an hour and expect them to live a decent life. Food banks, and landlord tenant issues are part of the $11 an hour world.
 There are a lot of people struggling to get by on $11 an hour. The push now for more is much stronger than it has been in the past. Those on minimum wage would like to see the province come up with a schedule that gets the rate from $11 in June to $14 over a 24 to 30 month time frame and at that point link the minimum wage rate the Consumer Price Index.
Changes like this get made when there is political pressure. Ontario’s current premier has said $11 is a done deal – can she be pushed further? Will NDP leader Andrea Horwath bring her political clout to bear and get something decent in place.
If there is enough political pressure it can happen.
Start making phone calls – forget the Progressive Conservatives – they are talking up a Million Jobs policy – with many at $11 an hour. Horwath and the NDP is the pressure point.
 By Pepper Parr
February 19, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
After a CLOSED SESSION of city council Tuesday evening the city puts out a press release saying IKEA Canada has announced the retailer will not relocate to a proposed site at Walker’s Line and the North Service Road but will stay at its Plains Road East location.
 The property to the left was to be home for a newer and bigger IKEA with great visibility along the QEW. More parking space, more retail space and more head office space. Not on this location. “We were planning to relocate the existing store,” said Paul Ekelschot, properties manager with IKEA. “However, IKEA has assessed that the site is not the best solution for our needs and that we will continue to provide our valued customers with a great shopping experience in the current location at this time.”
Came to the conclusion that it couldn’t be made to work is a better explanation.
 This property is still for sale. With IKEA out of the picture the Hopewell people will be looking fr a buyer. Gonna take a while. City hall says: “IKEA began working with the City of Burlington and other agencies, including Conservation Halton, Halton Region and the Ministry of Transportation, in 2011 to start the process of rezoning and approvals linked with relocation to the North Service Road location.”
They add that: “City staff worked with staff from the provincial Ministry of Transportation to determine the necessary road improvements required to accommodate the city’s growth projections and to ensure the continued safe and efficient operation of the Walker’s Line/QEW interchange.”
They don’t say how much the city spent on trying to make this opportunity work.
“While much hard work has gone into preparing a site for the relocation, that work is not in vain,” said Scott Stewart, the city’s general manager of development and infrastructure. “We have created a solid scenario for future economic development at Walker’s Line and the North Service Road.”
Stewart’s got to say something to account for the time spent on this project. The reality of the site was pretty clear to anyone who drove along the North Service Road – it isn’t anywhere near wide enough to accommodate the traffic IKEA would create.
The site has some benefits but before much gets done on the North Service Road between Guelph and Appleby – a lot of hard thinking has to be done. That portion of the city was given the slick marketing moniker of our “Prosperity Corridor”
Meanwhile, IKEA says that it’s business as usual for shoppers in Burlington where the Plains Road store opened in 1991.
“We are grateful to the City of Burlington and other government agencies for trying to make this work,” Ekelschot said. “IKEA has a good working relationship with the City of Burlington. We are a proud member of the Burlington business community and our plan is to remain in Burlington.”
 Those Swiss meatballs are still on the menu – getting a table on a Saturday morning was the challenge. IKEA needed a move – just didn’t have the right location. Would Mr. Ekelschot perhaps accept an invoice from the city to cover part of the staff time put in on this project? The Planning department along with the rest of the senior people at Infrastructure and development might have been wiser to have had a frank but cordial face to face with the IKEA people back in 2011 and said – guys – this isn’t going to work.
Wonder how this news will fly at the Committee of the While next week when council and city staff meet to discuss the future of the Economic Development Corporation.
Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven must have felt quite a bit better last night when he drove home from the council meeting – his biggest business was not going to leave town after all.
Background links:
Now we know why IKEA was on the agenda,
 By Staff
February 19th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
IKEA gives up on move to North Service Road – announces it will remain in Aldershot.
More to follow.
 By Pepper Parr
February 19, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
You can`t fault Councillor Jack Dennison for trying – and try he does. During a Standing Committee last week when discussions on the capital projects the city will take on in 2014 as they spend the $67 million plus that council is expected to approve Tuesday evening, Dennison felt there were opportunities that were being missed and wanted the city to consider selling the Tyandaga Golf course property.
 Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison always has an eye open for an economic opportunity – sees a great one for the city: sell the golf course. “This isn’t a business we should be in” Dennison commented, echoing remarks city manager Jeff Fielding had made more than a year ago. While Tyandaga is currently running at a bit of a profit that was not the case a couple of years ago. At that time the golf course juggled its business model and tightened up its management practices and the profit and loss statement began to look better.
Dennison just doesn`t think the city should be in the golf course business and pointed to the “40 golf courses” in the surrounding communities – that number might be a stretch, but Burlington certainly has its share of golf clubs that are a 15 minute drive from the downtown core. Should the city be in a losing business when there are plenty of very good private golf clubs in the community?
 Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison sees 200 homes on the Tyandaga golf course property and thinks the Catholic Diocese property that front on Brant Street could be made a part of the project as well. Dennison saw the 110 acre Tyandaga property as prime residential development land and talked of being able to get something between $12 and $18 million for the land alone. He added to that the immense development charges that would accrue to the city and then the tax assessment which he pegged at $200 million.
Dennison told his colleagues that the property had 33 acres of land that could be developed and because of the location he saw at least six houses on each acre getting pretty close to 200 homes on a prime site that would have 76 acres of parkland.
Before we knew it Dennison had $1.6 million in additional tax revenue in the city’s coffers.
 The golf course wants to spend $150,000 this year on upgrading parts of the golf course – Dennison wanted to defer that spending while the city took a closer look at the property and the opportunity he felt it offered.
The rest of Council wasn’t as gung-ho as Dennison. They Mayor said it looked like a “cash grab” to him but didn’t explain what was wrong with wringing cash out of an underperforming asset.
The rest of Council didn’t get very excited either. Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven was delayed in getting to the Standing Committee meeting and missed a discussion that would have taken a major public recreational service off his plate.
Councillor Sharman took the high road and said the selling of the golf course had to be looked at in a “broader context” but didn’t elaborate on what that meant other than to say that the city was “not ready for the discussion”.
Councillor Meed Ward piped in with her view that adding residential assessment isn’t always a good deal for the city. “For every dollar of tax revenue we pull from residential properties we end up, over time, spending a $1.40 Dennison came back with “that argument doesn’t really hold all that well”.
Council needed some input on just what the planned spending on the golf course was for and called Director of Parks and Recreation Chris Glenn to the podium. Odd as it may sound Glenn wasn’t able to say just how many golf courses there were in Burlington, nor could a member of his staff come up with a solid number.
 Were anyone to ask a privately operated golf course what their competition was you would expect them to tell you exactly how many competitors they had and be able to tell you which were their closest competitors in terms of course usage and revenue. The mindset of the private sector is a lot different from the mindset of the public sector where the renewal of an asset is based on a chart or a schedule that dictates when an asset has to be renewed. The private sector operator would wring every possible nickel out of a piece of equipment. Any expenditure comes out of the bottom line which tends to be the owners pockets.
Glenn explained what the $150,000 was going to be used for – and added that it wasn’t really a capital expenditure from the city’s point of view – the expenditures were going to come out of reserves the golf course had in place.
For Dennison it was an opportunity that was being missed; he wanted to see the asset being used in a much different way. He didn’t manage to convince his colleagues to go along with him – the motion to defer the item was lost on a 4-2 vote. But Dennison did manage to plant a seed – the city manager is way ahead of him on this one. When city council decides what businesses it wants to be in – the golf course business is not likely to be one of them.
Another question is: will Jack Dennison be on Council to see this kind of development take place.
At the Tuesday evening Council meeting the Capital budget was approved for 2014. There are loads of items in the longer term capital budget that will be getting a much different look during the year. City hall will begin the process of totally recasting capital expenditures as it reorients itself to its new financial reality. Among the projects in that capital budget that will be getting a closer look are the railway underpasses on Mainway and Burloak – neither is going anywhere in 2014 – both will be getting a closer look as the longer term capital budget gets its remake.
On the books for the 2015 to 2023 capital spending is a massive $494,012,195 in capital spending. City manager Jeff Fielding looked at the cookie jar and knew pretty quickly that the number wasn’t possible – thus the decision to totally recast what we want to do, what we have to do and what we can do in the way of capital spending for the next 15 years.
 Lori Jivan, on the right, Acting coordinator budget and policy with the city explains the 2014 budget at a public meeting. With the capital budget of $67,973,902 nailed down – let’s look at where the money is going to come from: Lori Jivan, Acting coordinator budget and policy explains:
External other: These are monies the city gets from other place, could be the provincial government, the Region or some other municipality we are doing a joint project with. If Tremaine Road was having work done on it – because it is our border with Oakville they might be paying part of the cost. We pick up $10,089,000 from this source.
Debt: We sometimes decide to borrow money to pay for a capital project. This year the city projects they will borrow $6,903,000
Cash from the current budget: This is tax revenue – money the city collects as taxes. A portion of the tax money gets pushed into the Capital account. For 2014 they are moving $16,684,000 into capital expenditures
IRRF – this is the Infrastructure Recover Fund which amount to $2.000.000 the city gets from Burlington Hydro. It comes to the city from Hydro as a dividend which the city places in the Infrastructure Recovery account. $2,000,000
SCD: Special Circumstances Debt. This is an estimate of the amount of debt the city will have to take on for special project – one time situations that might get taken on. The Performing Arts Centre is an example of a one time Special debt.
FGT: Federal Gas Tax. The portion of the federal gas tax that the city receives. For 2014 that is set at $4.774,000
Provincial Gas Tax PGT: The portion of the provincial gas tax the city receives. For 2014 that is set as $850,000.
Reserve funds will be used with $20,648,000 coming from the development charge reserve and $5,027,00 coming from what the city calls “other”.
 By Pepper Parr
February 19th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Council meetings in Burlington tend to be quickies – the tough slugging gets done for the most part at the Standing Committee level – but from time to time there are some news gems to be picked up.
At the Tuesday evening council meeting there was a single delegation and a last-minute item that got pushed onto the agenda.
The last-minute item was a need to go into a CLOSED SESSION – which usually happens when there is either a property matter or a human resources issue.
 A prime concern has always been the width of the North Service Road and how traffic to the new IKEA location would be managed. This time it was a property matter – which in itself is not unusual but when the Mayor said the words IKEA – ears perk up. What could there be that is a property related matter on the IKEA project – which if you will recall is the struggling effort to move IKEA from their current Burlington operation out in Aldershot to a new location on the North Service Road between Walkers Line and Guelph Line.
There was every indication that the property issues had been resolved and that the Ministry of Transportation wasn’t giving an inch on the work that had to be done to the Walkers Line intersection that needs major work if traffic is going to get to the new IKEA location.
 The property IKEA has chosen for their new location is quite deep but the north side of it isn’t all that pretty. A rail line runs along the northern edge. Could the problem be something related to Conservation Halton and the problems with the creek that runs along the eastern side of the property?
Or has someone finally realized there is going to be a major problem with traffic on the North Service road unless major changes are made to the width of that road?
Whatever it is – the problems are inside one of the three in binders General Manager Scott Stewart took to the horseshoe as the media left the room. Stewart has been managing this file since its inception – and it has begun to get messy.
IKEA tends to be very tight-lipped when it comes to talking about his project which hasn’t been as smooth as one would expect from a major multi national corporation.
IKEA decided some time ago that they needed to move out of Aldershot and settled on the North Service Road location because it was available and it would give them the QEW exposure that IKEA tends to want.
Getting the matter before council on basically no notice and not waiting until the next Standing Committee meeting suggests there is something up. Quite what – we don’t know.
Let’s see what a little digging can do.
Background links:
IKEA move gets tangled up in the paperwork.
IKEA move takes longer than expected.
IKEA announces a move out of Aldershot.
 By Pepper Parr
February 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Marianne Meed Ward set the scene when she explained as Chair of the Community and Corporate Services Standing Committee that they were there to “listen today”.
This was the day council members were going to hear delegations. There were 12 of them and at ten minutes each we knew we were going to be there for a while. Several were exceptionally good – all added to the process in a measurable, meaningful way and at the same time gave us an insight as to how your council works on your behalf.
Culture, economic development, caring for the community and transit got coverage. In this series we will run three articles and focus on what happened and what it all means for the economic and social health of the city.
 Culture was clearly the biggest concern: with delegations from the Art Centre, who had a very spiffy presentation, Sound of Music, who finally shared their audited financial statements, Heritage Burlington who came up with a new logo that cost less than $2000, which made Councillor Dennison smile. And then the decision as to whether or not to hire a full-time Cultural Manager to implement the Cultural Action Plan council had already approved.
We will focus on culture in this piece and follow-up with two additional pieces on Economic Development and services to the community.
 Great crowds, great weather, great music – Burlington’s Sound of Music Festival – a standard since before 1996 The Sound of Music wants $44,000 from the city in addition to the $54,101,00 that is already in their base budget. Council appears ready to go along with getting those additional dollars. Dave Miller, Sound of Music Executive Director said in his delegation that he wouldn’t come back looking for money for five years if the city agreed to put the additional funds into the base budget. That`s the kind of deal this council just might take him up on. Miller has been at this Council almost since they were sworn in. He has been relentless.
While the event is probably the largest that takes place on the waterfront, Dave Miller didn’t get much in the way of respect from this city council. In this his third year before council seeking financial support the SOM hasn’t managed to convey the size of the economic impact the event has on the city. Council can’t see beyond the more than half a million dollars they have on their balance sheet. Miller hasn’t succeeded in convincing this council that the funds are vital – all it takes is one year of bad weather and the SOM would take a huge hit.
 They come in droves for the biggest free music festival in the province. Miller pushed all the usual keys: the excellent ratings from visitors, the quality of the performances, the demographics, the accessibility of the event, the awards they continually get; the constant improvements they make to the environment with their clean up practices and that the SOM is a fun safe event. He trots out cute pictures of kids and talks up what the event does to Burlington’s profile and the support the event provides for emerging bands. He was talking to people who are deaf to the upside of what the SOM does for the city. Council sees all that money on the balance sheet and drools.
Miller adds that the SOM is the driving force for more than $6 million in economic activity with 45,000 of the attendance defined as new visitors to the event; 40% are from outside Burlington and according to Miller 80% of the people attending have been to the event before. Something in those numbers doesn’t quite add up – but that’s not the point. Try taking it away: What would happen if the SOM folk decided that they have been at it for many years and need to take a break for a year and re-think what they are doing and how they do it? This council would howl.
 What Miller hasn’t managed to do is make the city his partner. The SOM doesn’t have a champion, a true spear carrier on council. An organization with 800 volunteers, a very strong balance sheet and a solid record of achievement deserves the nomination they got from the Chamber of Commerce as a best business operation.
The SOM financial statements point to;
$35,900 + that they pay the police security
$13,946 + they pay the city for permits
$22,381 they pay the Parks and Road Maintenance for material, equipment and repairs to the park grounds.
The SOM pays the Performing Arts Centre $8,300 + for the use of their space.
The event results in $8,000 in parking revenue plus a significant boost in parking tickets.
SOM says they add $15,000 to transit revenue.
The Sound of Music has a strong story on the performance side as well. In 1997 there were 47 performances – in 2013 there were 100. Attendance in 1997 was 90,000 that number rose to 215,000 in 2013
The city`s financial contribution rose as well; from$25,000 in 1997 to $54,000+ in 2013. In terms of what portion of SOM revenue came from the city – that number slid from 13% in 1997 to 4% in 2013.
Miller has been at this since 1996 when he joined as a volunteer and earned the position of Executive Director some time after that. Miller gets paid but doesn’t have a pension. SOM has more than 800 volunteers, many that use their vacations to “do the festival”.
Miller keeps wanting to grow the event – which led to Councillor Lancaster asking last year when was “enough enough?” There has been some reluctance to see the event grow to anything bigger than it is which suggests Miller and his organization have some relationship building to do.
Miller needs the funding from the city to qualify for funding from other levels of government. Governments ted to want everyone to be in the tub at the same time, sharing the same bar of soap.
 The Sound of Music Festival parade gets the annual event off to a strong start. Sound of Music for 2014 will begin June 7 with the parade that will have a slightly different route and then moves into their usual four-day event that brings great music to the city and hundreds of thousands of people to the waterfront – and loads of revenue for almost everyone in the city.
And yet the Sound of Music can`t get a miserable 4% of their budget from the city. Not coming up with the cash is sort of like throwing the baby out with the bath water – isn’t it?
 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?
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