 By Pepper Parr
February 5, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It is odd how some politicians see themselves and the impact they have on their community.
Recently an observant reader sent us a note drawing our attention to a document released by Transport Canada on the way different issues relating to local municipal bylaws and provincial regulations were to be interpreted as they related to aerodromes. We did a short piece on the document and brought it to the attention of a senior staff member who trotted it along to the city’s legal department who then ensured that the details in the document were made a part of the city documents package that will get sent along to the Appeal Court in Toronto.
 Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster thinking through the answer to a question. Tends to be cautious. Sometime in the near future that Court will set a date and high-priced legal talent will don their robes and argue on our behalf.
The document was an Advisory Circular, something every government department puts out giving their staff directions on how certain issues are to be handled. In this situation the Advisory related to “Land Use and Jurisdictional issues at Aerodromes” which was of particular interest to Burlington given that we are in a long hard battle with the Burlington Executive Airpark Inc., over whether or not they have to comply with the city’s bylaws – they do by the way according to the lower Court Judge Mr. Justice Murray. It is his decision which is being appealed.
The Advisory states “that the Aeronautics Act does not grant immunity to an aerodrome operator/developer from complains with all other valid provincial legislation or municipal bylaws.”
Right on said the city’s legal department and that document got tucked into what they call a Factum and shared with the lawyers on the other side.
During the early days of the airpark kerfuffle the city of Burlington had some difficulty getting any air time with the Minster of Transportation who happens to be none other that the Hon Lisa Raitt, member for Halton just to the north of us. Ms Raitt seemed quite busy and wasn’t all that quick to return the Mayor’s urgent calls.
 Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster at a community event at the Burlington Executive Air Park. She didn’t take it up. There was eventually some communication between the Minister and the Mayor – we gather that Councillor Lancaster was in there somewhere.
During the discussion on the Airpark update – #9 if you’re counting – Councillor Lancaster said she wanted to thank Minister Raitt for all she had done for Burlington on this matter, leaving the impression that the Minister might have even ordered that the Advisory Circular be written and released.
It doesn’t work that way Councillor Lancaster. The Minister might have been vaguely aware of the document. She has had her hands full of oil train derailments which are much “sexier” issues.
Back in 2009 when Raitt was Minister of Natural Resources her press secretary at the time left a tape recording machine at a media event. The device carried a conversation Raitt and her press secretary had about the crisis then over the supply of medical isotopes used in the treatment of cancer.
 Hon. Lissa Raitt, second from the right at an Air Park event with owner Vince Rossi, second from the left. Minister Lisa Raitt called the medical isotopes crisis a “sexy” problem and wanted credit for fixing it, according to the audio. Isotopes were described as a confusing subject by the press secretary to which Raitt replied: “But it’s sexy,” Radioactive leaks. Cancer.”
Unfortunately for Burlington there was nothing all that sexy about a small runway in a rural area – and besides Raitt was palsy with the owner of the airport.
Nice try though Councillor Lancaster.
 By Pepper Parr
February 4th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Did you know that the distance between two cities is measured from where the city hall is located? A city hall is the core of a community and if you listen carefully to city manager Jeff Fielding when he speaks you will realize quickly that from his point of view city hall is downtown.
Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster spoke once of a visit to the Ottawa city hall where the place was “buzzing” – “there was a coffee shop in the lobby and it was busy” she told her fellow council members. Burlington city hall once had a small coffee shop but it was in an out of the way location, few members of the public knew where it was and staff didn’t seem to patronize the place – so they shut it down and the space is now a lounge with micro waves and vending machines for staff to use.
 The back end of city hall was added in 1986 and planned to accommodate an additional two floors – is that the solution to the space problems? Burlington has a city hall that was built in 1964, went through an addition in 1986 but that isn’t enough space for the number of people who work for the city. The city rents significant space in the Simms large binders and files tucked under their arms.
 Sometime referred to as “city hall south” the Sims building has housed a number of city departments for a long time. Lease is up in 2016 – does the city renew? Ward 4 councillor Jack Dennison thinks the city could have bought the Sims building with the rent money they have paid during the many years the city has used space in the building. The current lease runs out in 2016. Finance, legal, human resources, purchasing and some Corporate Strategic Initiatives work out of that building.
With the Sims lease coming to an end soon the city is looking at its options. The review is being led by general manager Scott Stewart with a lot of the spade work being done by Craig Stevens. These two handled the second run at the pier and oversaw the city part of the Performing Arts construction – they tend to get it right.
The city has engaged CBRE, one of the largest commercial real estate operations in the country to do a needs study that goes beyond the bums and seats approach to space management.
Their task is to review all the options and come forward with a recommendation.
One of the options is to add two more floors to the additional of city hall that was done in 1986. When that addition was put in place it was designed for two more storeys. That plan has become a bit complicated with changes in the building code that call for changes that were not anticipated back in the mid 80’s
The first task to figure out is just what the city has in the way of property and what it doesn’t have and match that up with what is needed both now and into the future.
Transit is housed on Harvester Road as is Roads and Parks Maintenance (RPM). The team revising the city’s web site works off site and the Cultural Planner will work outside city hall if that position is created. Spreading people who create policy over a number of different locations is not seen as good management. People need to be able to get to each other and to meet casually. Much gets done over the water cooler.
City hall isn’t seen as an efficient structure and it certainly doesn’t have the acronym LEEDS anywhere near it. What does one do with the structure? Enlarge it – there is adjacent land the city could acquire and the space could undergo a major refurbishment. But that doesn’t appear to be the direction the city thinkers are going in.
“What if we could convince a provincial government department to take over city hall, perhaps buy it from us so that the city could put up the kind of building they need” suggested a senior city hall staffer who spoke on background. It was suggested that the city could perhaps partner with a developer and get some class A office space in the city.
 It seemed like a good idea at the time but hindsight may teach us that the parking lot on Locust was not the smartest idea we ever had. Some people look at two significantly located pieces of property that could be re-purposed. The parking garage on Locust Street – part of the dream former Mayor Rob MacIsaac had for the city. The parking space was certainly needed but was property that close to Lakeshore Road with the potential view the smartest place to park cars?
The downtown core is still looking for the “vibrancy” everyone says it has. The impending construction of the Medica One project at John and Caroline will add some vitality to that part of the city and the hope is that additional development will begin to take place along the southern part of John street as well.
Parking lots 4 and 5 on John and Brant Street are locations looking for a purpose. There was a time when McMaster University was going to take up residence there but that one got away on us.
 It has been a number of years getting to the point where there are shovels in the ground but at least this project is going forward. We should see some digging on LAkeshore soon as well when the Bridgewater project begins. The Delta hotel won’t manage to open in time for the Pan-American games. But development and Burlington don’t seem to dance that well. The city is seeing a lot of condo’s and apartment units going up. Molinaro has a project on Brock that is under construction and a multi tower project is on Fairview beside the GO station is being actively marketed.
Project like that solve the direction the province has given the city to add more population. The problem for Burlington is that there are no jobs for those people in Burlington.
The Economic Development Corporation has done a terrible job of attracting new business even though Burlington has a great story to tell. Late in October the BEDC parted ways with their Executive Director – that was 90 days ago and to date there isn’t a hint as to when they will strike a committee to hire a replacement.
Without some serious economic development, all the talk of Prosperity corridors is just so much public relations. The city needs new business that will create additional tax revenue that is vital if residential taxes are to be kept competitive.
That needed economic development will also create new jobs.
Time to begin selling that “Canada’s Best mid-sized city” story to the rest of the world – and that can only happen if there are people who know how to do that kind of work. The kind of people who do that kind of work need to be led by a Board that can actually create a plan and then oversee its execution.
Burlington doesn’t have such a board in place right now. This has to be embarrassing.
 By Pepper Parr
January 30, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The cat is now out of the bag. The number wasn’t horrendous but it does take the cost of the pier that was over $14 million, and now has an additional $1,228,040 added to that. The actual amount spent was $1,349,952 but the city gets a tax rebate which results in a lower number. We will use that lower number.
And that is before there is any resolution to the legal disputes, which many expect to cost the city even more.
The city released the numbers at a press conference this morning and explained that while doing so went against the policy they put in place December of 2011, the impending decision from the Ontario Privacy Commissioner, forced their hand.
The city apparently decided that they were better off releasing the number of their own volition rather than being ordered to do so by the Privacy Commissioner.
With the legal expenses now public – the city has to consider its options. Settling this case is what seems to be in the offing but nobody is saying anything. There have been offers to settle but it takes two to agree and agreements just aren’t in place yet.
 Crane working at the pier site topples. Proves to be the point at which problems with the design became evident. The buzz in the community is that the city does not have a case against Harm Schilthuis and Sons (HSS) and that there is ample opportunity to settle with them. The folks over at HSS have been wanting to settle since day 1 – way back in December of 2010, days after the new Council was sworn in HSS published an open letter in which he said:
Harm Schilthuis and Sons would like to express how encouraged we are by the co-operative spirit we are seeing from the new council in the City of Burlington to resolve the issue of the Brant Street Pier.
HSS is also very pleased at the City of Burlington’s decision to replace Aecom as Project Manager for this project. This will allow the challenges we have raised with respect to the design of the pier to be dealt with in an independent manner. We stand confident that the design build proposal submitted to the City of Burlington earlier this year is the solution to a successful completion of the Pier. The team represents a group of the best companies capable of performing this type of work. Our design build project is ready to begin work in the Spring of 2011.
Also encouraging is the engagement of the City to communicate with the Bonding Company. We are confident that the Bonding Company will be delighted with the opportunity for dialogue. Prior to the election it was quite difficult to have good communications preventing many of the parties involved to understand the various positions. HSS is hopeful that this will be a new day from a communications point of view.
HSS has a number of claims before the city. It wants to be paid the $2 million plus that is due for work done and approved. The process was for HSS to submit their invoices to AECOM, the project manager and for the city. AECOM would approve the invoices and pass them on to the city who would pay those invoices. AECOM was the pier project manager for the city. Included in this $2 million plus are invoices that were approved but not paid and invoices that were submitted but not yet approved.
Where things got dicey for HSS was when AECOM bought Totten Sims Hubicki (TSH) – the company that designed the pier. When it became evident to HSS that the problem was with the design of the pier, it was difficult to argue with the project manager when the project manager now owned the company that designed the pier.
The design problems centered around a significant change back in 2005 when a pier that was to be close to 200 metres (656 feet) long got shortened to 136 metres (446) which is what the pier is now. The original design was much more expensive than the city had hoped it would be – remember, this was back in 2005.
Compromises appear to have been made then, in 2005 that made it impossible for HSS to complete the job despite numerous attempts to make changes
Marianne Meed Ward, who wasn’t a member of Council, was close to screaming when she was telling the public that the organizational arrangement of the pier construction was a problem. The people in ward 2 certainly believed her and now a large part of the city wants to see her as Mayor.
There is a second set of invoices that were submitted to AECOM but had not yet been approved before HSS advised the city that it would not complete the construction of the pier because of a faulty design.
 All the steel beams that had been installed are stripped out and construction starts on the second construction contract. The platform on the right is a trestle that was put in place for construction equipment to use. A reliable source informed the Gazette earlier this week that HSS had advised the city it could complete the work for an additional $400,000 – that was back before they sued the city. The offer took place during the Jackson administration and was rebuffed. Current council members Craven, Taylor, Dennison and then ward 5 council member Goldring were all fully aware of the offer HSS had made as was then Mayor Jackson.
Jackson lost the 2010 election during which three new members were elected to Council and a new Mayor was installed. It took this new Council some time to get a handle on the file, which was complex.
With the contractor now off the job, the city called the insurance bond HSS had put in place (they were required to do so) and the insurance company came back with a revised proposal to complete the pier. The city turned down that opportunity without telling the public how much the insurance company proposal was going to cost and decided to re-tendered the project which was given to Graham Infrastructure at cost of $6,429,700.00 and the work continued.
 New steal beams arrive – construction is underway and the Mayor announces the pier will be opened in July 0f 2013. Not everyone believes him at the time When the city sued HSS they also sued Zurich Insurance for the value of the performance bond. In attempt to mitigate their damages the insurance company put together a consortium that included Harm Schilthuis and Sons Ltd., the original contractor.
The city received the proposal through Zurich Insurance Inc. in April 2011, but needed time to review the document. City staff provided advice regarding the proposal to members of City Council in a closed session The Mayor then updated the public at the city’s May 11 Community Services Committee meeting.
 Every piece of the new steel used by the second contractor was inspected and then inspected again. The city was not going to get caught with sub-standard steel a second time. Her General manager Scott Stewart, project manager Craig Stevens and the fabrication plant manager close check a beam. “City Council gave careful consideration to what we saw within the proposal before making our decision,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “Council does not believe that this is the right solution to completing the Brant Street Pier. As such, the city will continue on its path to finding a new contractor.” City council chose not to make the reasons for turning down the proposal public from the insurance company and is proceeding with the plan issue a tender document for general contractors to complete the pier, with that tender expected to be released in July 2011.
All the steel put in by HSS was taken out – new steel put in place and the pier officially opened in June of 2013.
Now the city has to deal with the proverbial chickens that have come home to roost.
HSS claims they have done everything possible to settle the matter but has continually been rebuffed by the city.
City manager Jeff Fielding said at the press conference that there was a mediation date of June 14th but left everyone realizing that not much would happen on that date.
This is an election year for the city. When nominations close late in September city council will lose the power to enter into a settlement agreement. When nominations for public office close Council loses the power to approve any expenditure over $50,000.
The city might find itself facing yet another squeeze play similar to the one with the Privacy Commissioner. Does this Council want to get into an election and have to tell the voters they have been unable to settle the case when it appears that there was an opportunity to settle for one-third of what the to date legal costs have been?
This is an important point: The contractor wanted to be paid for invoices that were submitted and approved. They also wanted to be paid for those invoices that were submitted but not yet approved by then project manager AECOM. There wasn’t any known dispute over the amounts of that second set of invoices;
The contractor was also asking for an additional $400,000 to complete the construction. This addition was to cover the cost of changes that had to be made to rectify the compromises way back in 2005 when the length of the pier was shortened.
This is all very complex but it should not be beyond the capacity of the city’s communications people to explain. The public is not stupid – they know how to do simple arithmetic.
Fielding explained to the media conference that he was leading the event because the file is in the hands of the city manager – it is his problem to resolve based on the instructions he is given by Council.
It is clear then that this council, your council, has not yet given Fielding the authority to settle the matter. Fielding is believed to want to find a settlement the city can live with.
 It is a grand pier, a distinct improvement to the waterfront. It was part of the grand plan former Mayor Rob MacIsaac had for the waterfront. It ran into problems that MacIsaac’s replacement couldn’t manage. The current administration made mistakes of its own – the cost of which are not yet fully known. We do know what the legal fess amounted to It might be time for city council to get this behind them rather than face an expensive lengthy trial while the voters decide if they still want this council leading them.
The construction problems with the pier didn’t take place during the life of the current council. However, several opportunities to have the original contractor complete the work for less than has been spent on legal costs was spurned. Now, a Council that could have made better decisions on several occasions find themselves stuck between a rock and a very hard place.
 By Pepper Parr
January 29, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Brian Ferguson brings a very personal point of view to what the United Way means to the community. For many it is a charity that helps people less fortunate that we may happen to be.
We have extra money and we give it to the United Way or other organizations – because we want to help. (Why do we call this charity – it’s a social responsibility.) Ferguson makes the point that the United Way isn’t an organization that helps the less fortunate – it helps people who need help.
 Greg Jones, communications advisor with Newalta and Burlington United Way Chair Brian Ferguson go over a few points at a Campaign Cabinet meeting Ferguson’s mother was dealing with cancer; a terrible disease that strikes many homes and families. He was 15 years of age when his Mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Just after his 16th birthday his Mother’s cancer was so bad that she became bed ridden at home, that is when Brian’s family was referred to the Red Cross who would drop off medical supplies and equipment to the house weekly.
Ferguson didn’t know at the time that this portion of the Red Cross was supported by the United Way. “It wasn’t until I started running the United Way Campaign at VMware as the Employee Campaign Chair that I started to learn who the United Way supports, this is when I found out the Red Cross program we relied on was supported by the United Way.”
 Tara Brewer on the right keeps in touch with her co-workers during a meeting while Jason Lemaich gets a bit of work done during a break in a Campaign Cabinet meeting. This wasn’t the last time Ferguson was aided by the United Way. Years later Brian and his wife turned to ROCK for counselling for his family. To help them learn how to co-exist as a blended family while also learning how to deal with his wife having MS and the strain it puts on everyone. ROCK – Reach Out Centre for Kids – is a UW funded agency.
Brian Ferguson isn’t a poor man. He is gainfully employed by one of the sharpest Canadian companies in the high tech field. He travels frequently to California seeking out the best talent there is as a recruiter for VMWare. Are we going to call Brian Ferguson a charity case? He was a man with a problem he couldn’t manage on his own and sought the help he needed.
“From a young age”, Brian will tell you, “my mother taught me the importance of giving back and being an active member in my community. I see my role in the United Way as a way to live my Mother’s legacy while also teaching my children (almost 3-year-old girl and 15-year-old son) the importance of giving back. The motto I live by running the United Way is – our community is not truly great until it is great for EVERYONE.
The theme my United Way Cabinet runs under is: TWW (Together We Win).
 United Way president Len Lifchus appears to be trying to convince Lesley Allison (UW Campaign Director)
that an idea will work: she doesn’t appear to be buying that one. The United Way that Ferguson raises funds for is there in the blink of an eye when you need it the most. The focus this past campaign had three beams of light: From poverty to possibility; Healthy People build strong communities and All that kids can be.
One in three people will use a United Way funded service/program in their lifetime…mostly of the time not even knowing it. “This was me”, adds Brian Ferguson.
Now you know why he was asked to serve for a second year as chair of the 2014 Burlington campaign.
Background:
Fund raising in bits and pieces around the community.
Creating the team that brought in more than $2.1 million for 2013.
 By Pepper Parr
January 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The big news out of the city council meeting Monday night is that the city is going to go public on the Brant Street Pier.
A Standing Committee met earlier in the day and had what Councillor Sharman referred to as a full exchange of view – but those views were certainly not unanimous. While Council members had the opportunity to make comments on the meeting Councillor Meed Ward was the only one to speak at any length and she pushed at the city manager who we learned is going to hold a press conference on Thursday to: Cover the past, give the public an update on where things are and talk about what the city plans to do going forward.
 City manager Jeff Fielding once had his toe nails painted at a London, Ontario event when he was city manager there He will be doing some pretty fancy foot work next Thursday as he explains the situation with the city and the Pier. Meed Ward had to push to get city manager Jeff Fielding to add that he will be addressing the matter of just how much the city has spent on legal fees. Buy Band-Aids today – you’re going to want them on Thursday – we will all be bleeding a bit.
We are advised that Justice Fitzpatrick who is hearing the case has scheduled a meeting in May for the mediation attempt that must take place and that a possible trial date has been pencilled in for the month of June.
 Councillor Meed Ward wants the public to have all the information available on the pier and its legal problems. Wants the other council members to be accountable for their part in the mess. Meed Ward said that the information the public was to be given is “less than what could be offered” and added that each council member has to give an account of their position and not leave that task to the city manager.
Press conferences of this nature are traditionally given by the Mayor as the Chief Magistrate but if you recall how Mayor Goldring handled the press conference during the CN derailment a number of years ago – we know why the city manager has been instructed to be the mouth piece.
Time and place for the press conference were not announced. It should be a hot event.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 27 , 2014
It was one of those 8 in the morning meetings – and all hands were expected to be on deck – and except for one who was out of town – the full team was in the room.
Burlington’s United Way team was getting an update on the 2013 campaign, tying up the loose ends and planning for 2014.
 Brian Ferguson, 2013 Burlington Chair of the United Way campaign smiles as he looks back on a very successful campaign. Heads into 2014 with bigger plans. Brian Ferguson, chair of the Burlington campaign and charged with raising $2.1 million as his city’s part of the objective, runs a brisk operation. Burlington works with Hamilton n sharing the administration and overhead of running the United Way campaign in the two cities.
Burlington more than achieved its $2.1 million target – which Ferguson saw as “lower than it needs to be”.
Burlington missed its 2012 target by a disappointing $90,000 – Ferguson, a recruiter for VMWare in Burlington, who is out of the country frequently, runs a tight, focused, fun group that relies heavily on electronic communications. They tried to work with Google DOCs, software that allows for collaboration of a document but, as Ferguson put it “we need some training on that”.
The United Way team he has put together is more techie in terms of its content. It has an energy, a buzz, a “we are working at something that is important and we are going to get it done”, attitude that pervades everything.
The donours are the focus and are broken out by sector with Divisional managers in place and sector specialists working their client lists.
The team this year has many of the same people – but the drive is much different. With the target for 2013 basically met the focus now is on next year during which Ferguson will lead the charge again – not something that is done all that often. Rarely do chairs get asked to put in a second term. Ferguson felt his job wasn’t done yet and wants to double the size of his campaign cabinet and he is reaching out in some very interesting and significant way. There is a small team of MBA students from the DeGroote McMaster campus in the Cabinet.
 Laura Evans and Mark Evans representing the DeGroote campus of McMaster University where the graduate students have become active participants of the United Way drive. Ferguson is pleased with what the Cabinet has been able to achieve in 2013 but knows that if the targets he has in mind are to be reached in 2014 he will need a bigger team. He says he would like to double what he had in 2013 – which would be awesome – but he will need a bigger meeting room. The Cabinet meeting that I observed was spread over two large meeting rooms at the VMware offices.
The Cabinet that made the 2013 target happen consisted of:
2013 Co Vice Chairs: Jamie Edwards and Sheila Jaggard
2013 MBA Program Lead – Joe Burnham – Mark Evans will take this over in 2014; students do graduate and move on.
Business Division Chair – Jason Lemaich
Business Sector Chair – Bryan Chew
Education Division Chair – Lorrie Naar
Finance Division Chair– Samantha Shetty
Government Division Chair – Kim Phillips
Healthcare Division Chair – Sheila Jaggard
Manufacturing Division Chair – Greg Jones
Manufacturing Sector Chairs – Sam Ro & Tara Brewer
Legal / Professionals Division Chair – Chantel Goldsmith
Legal / Professionals Sector Chair – Carolyn McCarney
Sports & Recreation Division Chair – Kaylan Danton
Real Estate Division Chair – Mike Hyatt
Events Division Chair – Ryan Harrison
New Business Division Chair – Scott Robinson
Cabinet Marketing Chair – Laura Evans
 This is the million dollar team – make that the $2.1 million dollar team. The Burlingtom arm of the Burlington Hamilton United Way drive for 2013 Does doubling an organization this size make sense? The full organization doesn’t meet all that often; only to brief each other on what has been achieved and then to plan for the next level – and this group thinks in terms of new levels.
Jamie Edwards, a well-known realtor in town who has been around as long as the clock has been outside city hall will tell you – “ this is a young people’s game” and adds that they are doing it differently than we did years ago and they are making a difference.
For this crew it is all business. They have fun, the work hard at what they do because they are hard workers. Everything for them is about communicating and they all hover over their Smart phones; well perhaps not Jim Frizzle, who brings wisdom, as lower approach and a “ let’s think this through thoroughly” style to his contribution.
The Cabinet Brian Ferguson has developed, and remember he is one of the senior recruiters for a very successful high-tech organization, is there to get the job done. This isn’t a social club – they are in the room to deliver and for 2013 they did deliver.
They tend to keep their numbers close to their chests but they will have surpassed the $2.1 million they were expected to raise for 2013 by a substantial margin.
 Len Lifchus, the man who oversees both the Burlington and the Hamilton campaigns and then ensures that the funds raised go to where they are needed and can do the most for the community. The final tally for the 2013 campaign will get read out loud at the Evening of Celebration and Spirit of Community Awards that takes place late in February in Hamilton. That’s when this team will let their hair down and celebrate a magnificent achievement. It will be interesting to see if these people party as hard as they work.
The Evening of Celebration and Spirit of Community Awards will be both a celebration and an adieu – United Way CEO Len Lifchus announced his retirement a number of months ago. The evening will be a thank you for all you’ve done and all the best as you move on to your next challenge – which we are told is a step into retirement – hard to even imagine Len Lifchus retiring. Managing a little theatre group perhaps – but retirement – unlikely.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON
January 23, 2014
The email said:
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I didn’t fly to Washington. There was nothing on my credit card.
 With enough information identity thieves can pretend they are you. And I did not respond to the email. Had I responded these thieves would have had way too much information about me and would have – could have, used it to take my money out of my bank account.
This is another example of the continuing Identity theft problem. Be vigilant and if it looks too good to be true it usually isn’t true.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON
January 23, 2014
It sounds really simple. It’s as direct as you’re ever going to get in terms of getting money into the hands of people.
All you have to do is care and can space a part of an evening four times a year and are willing to write a cheque for $100. Who does your money go to – you decide, along with the other women in the room.
Sort of like mainlining a donation.
 The Burlington Chapter of 100 Women Who Care will be holding its first meeting Wednesday January 29, 2014; bringing together women who care about the community, it’s people and causes and who are committed to community service. 100 Women Who Care is a concept that’s been taking root in many communities across North America and now it’s coming to life in Burlington.
The concept is very simple – 100 women (or more), $100 each (or more if you choose), 1 hour meetings 4 times per year. The goal is for 100 Women Who Care Burlington to collectively generate a minimum of $40,000 annually for local charitable initiatives. The impact is very powerful!
Donations from each meeting go directly to local charities. The idea appears to be efficient. The 100 woman meet, choose a charity, write the cheques, chit chat for a bit and go home.
In just over an hour some group that needs help has $10,000 they didn’t have an hour earlier.
Exactly how the group decides what the charity is going to be; does it all have to go to a single charity, are tax receipts generated? That all gets worked out at the meeting. Could be neat – could be very effective.
Meet for an hour.
Jointly select a local charitable initiative.
Each write a $100 cheque to the selected Registered Charity and watch how the group’s commitment turns into a $10,000+ donation.
Do that four times a year and witness how $40,000 improves the lives of our neighbours when placed in the hands of deserving grass-roots agencies working to serve the local community.
This Group Is Perfect For You If: you are committed to helping others in our community but are stretched for time; you want to be part of a powerful group of local women making an immediate, direct and positive effect on the lives of our neighbours; you want 100% of your donations to go directly to local charity;
The people putting this together in Burlington are: Marion Goard; Pat Grant; Megan Teall and Laurel Hubber. Click on their email address below if you’ve any questions.
Laurel Hubber: laurel@laurelhubber.com
Marion Goard: info@100womenwhocareburlington.com
Megan Teall: megan_teall@quadrachemicals.com
Pat Grant: patmgrant53@gmail.com
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 22, 2014
Doug Leggat is going to take the wheel when the Burlington Community Foundation (BCF) goes native at their annual fund raising event and dances the night away next October 25th – two days before the municipal election – that should be a howl!
 Doug Leggat to serve as Honourary Chair of the 2014 Masquerade Ball. Leggat, who probably sells more cars than anyone else in this city has been named the honourary chair of its Masquerade Ball, taking place on October 25th at the Burlington Convention Centre.
BCF celebrates 15 years of service to Burlington in 2014, during which time they distributed over $2.7 million in grants to a range of community needs.
Colleen Mulholland, President and CEO of the Foundation is delighted and “honoured to have Doug assume this key leadership role”.
Doug Leggat was the first Chair of BCF’s Board of Directors and the 2011 Philanthropist of the Year, so it is very special that he would be our Masquerade Ball’s honourary chair in our fifteenth anniversary year.”
The Foundation is a vital part of the community not only because they make funds available to groups that need the support but for their research and advocacy for the health of the community. In 2012 they issued their first Vital Signs report and followed that up with a second report in 2013.
 They wined and they dined and they had a great time – that was in 2013. The 2014 event will be the flappers of the 20’s along with a Speakeasy. The Masquerade Ball highlight is the honouring of the Philanthropist of the Year. Nomination forms will be on the BCF website on February 3rd, and the announcement of the honouree will take place in April. Along with Doug Leggat, past Philanthropists of the Year include Diana and Murray Hogarth, Kevin Brady and Don Smith.
 This year’s Masquerade Ball will continue with the allure of a masked gala, and will showcase the Roaring Twenties, a glorious decade of flappers, art deco, high fashion and the speakeasy.
Established in 1999 as a centre for philanthropy, Burlington Community Foundation collaborates with donors to build endowments, address vital community needs and support areas of personal philanthropic interest. To attend Masquerade Ball as a Proud Supporter or by purchasing a table or tickets, contact Sandra Baker, sbaker@burlingtonfoundation.org, 905 639 0744 x 223.
Background links:
2013 was a blast.
Hogarth celebrated at 2013 Ball.
Philanthropy about more than writing cheques.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 20, 2014
Progress: actual, real, certifiable progress – the Joseph Brant Hospital nudged forward a couple of inches last week when the province and the hospital announced a short list of three groups that are going to bid on the hospital redevelopment and expansion.
 weIf you were near the hospital in December and had a coat on – you got to sign the beam that is part of the Family Medical facility now under construction. Parking garage will be part of the Centre with a direct link to the hospital when the redevelopment and expansion is completed in 2018 A few weeks ago everyone with a coat slipped out of the hospital to the western side of the site to sign a beam that was hoisted into place for the Family Medical Clinic and the three storey parking garage that is currently under construction.
Don’t confuse the hospital redevelopment and expansion with the Family Clinic which is an offshoot of the McMaster operation that has the Region’s name attached to it.
The hospital itself is a bigger and a much-anticipated development. It is a sort of joint venture with the hospital corporation and the provinces Infrastructure Ontario working together to get the hospital into the 21st century.
The three short listed teams will design, build and finance the Hospital’s Redevelopment and Expansion Project. The new hospital construction is expected to start in early 2015 and the hospital is expected to be open in winter 2018/19.
innovaCARE Partners
- Kasian Architecture Ontario Inc.
- Graham Walsh Joint Venture
- Scotiabank
Integrated Team Solutions
- Parkin Architects Limited
- EllisDon Corporation
- Fengate Capital Management Ltd.
PCL Partnerships
- HDR Architecture Associates, Inc.
- PCL Canada Inc.
- TD Securities Inc.
 Assuming all the paper work gets done – construction of the redevelopment and expansion of the Joseph Brant Hospital should begin early in 2015. The project includes the construction of a new seven-storey patient-care tower, modern Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit and significant renovations to the existing space. This will provide the growing community with improved access to a larger, more modern hospital and a hospital-wide average of 70 per cent single patient rooms to meet the highest standards for infection prevention and control and quality of care.
The hospital recently announced a settlement with the families that lost members to the c-difficile outbreak that resulted in more than 90 deaths at the hospital – the highest number of death from the virus anywhere in the country.
Highlights of the project include: additional acute inpatient beds, nine modern operating rooms, expanded diagnostic services, a modern post-anaesthetic care unit, expanded ambulatory care programs, an expanded Cancer Clinic, renovated Special Care Nursery, a new main entrance and expanded medical, surgical and outpatient services
While the province is all over this project – we need their money, the facility, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable.
Infrastructure Ontario is a crown agency of the Province of Ontario that delivers large, complex infrastructure renewal projects. They have the expertise that in the recent past has been applied to 83 major projects valued at approximately $38 billion.
Burlington citizens were told by the province in 2011 that they had to come up with $120 million to pay for the redevelopment and expansion. Citizens are providing $60 million by way of a levy on their tax bills and the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation is raisin the other $60 million by way of public fund raising. To date the Foundation has raised in excess of $16 million.
Background links:
How the hospital Foundation got to $16 million.
Getting that first cheque from the province was not easy.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 17th, 2014
It was to be the focal point in the city for those doing cutting edge computer application work. It was going to be the place where all those geeks that do those marvellous new applications would gather. It was going to be the place where people could spend a couple of hours in an environment that had a bit of a buzz to it as well as a pace where the support needed was at your fingertips.
 If the coffee doesn’t give you a jolt – that wall will. It had a boffo opening night. Everyone that mattered in the city was there along with more than enough in the way of photo ops to satisfy any politician.
The Mayor touts the operation every chance he gets.
 Writing computer code is intense, creative work that the best coders need to get away from. Ping pong table have always been a favourite. Shaun Pennell put in hundreds of hours of work and close to $200,000 in capital costs just to get the doors open.
But it didn’t take off – it didn’t have one of those hockey stick shaped growth curves. It is growing and it will grow and in time it will find its market but it has ben and is a grind.
 A quiet corner where an individual can work alone or collaboratively with a small group. It was a new idea – something different and Burlington doesn`t do different all that well. While there are a number of top-notch, first-rate technology companies in the city, we really aren`t a technology ‘city. It is going to take some time for the HiVE to take off commercially but Pennell knew that going in. What he wanted to create was a place where those people doing that ground breaking work could come out of their basements and meet like-minded people.
Every new idea usually needs some level of support in the early days and Pennell thought the city would be involved in some way. Pennell wasn`t looking for a hand out but he did think the city would be an early subscriber to the service.
 Breakout space where people can relax, read or talk through a concept. The HiVe is a place for people who are perhaps working at home and need a place for meetings that is a little more upscale than their kitchen table. He put together a business model that allowed people to buy what they needed – and do so by becoming a HiVE subscriber. For a couple of hundred a month a person got access to very well dressed out premises where they can work for a couple of hours and store their equipment in a locker or spend the fill day taking potential clients or investors through their work.
 An entrepreneur who did his time in Silicon Valley and came home to help others do what he has done. Pennell also hoped that a number of professionals who live in Burlington but work in Toronto might from time to time use the location as a Burlington office.
There was hope too that the city and the Economic Development Corporation might take out memberships and on those occasions when a client is in town meeting with the city or the economic development people and needed some time and a place to upgrade or revise a proposal they could skip over two blocks and load up a computer and make the changes they wanted to make and zip it back to city hall.
For some reason the city didn’t feel it could play favourites and take out a membership at the HiVe and not with anyone else. There is no one else! While Mayor Goldring uses every chance he gets to talk about the place a little support from the city would help – and the city would get excellent value for its membership.
The city is looking into having the HiVe made a RIC – a Regional Innovation Centre, which would be close to a kiss of death. The words “innovation” and municipal administration don’t exactly fit into the same sentence. Innovation calls for risk – major risk and that is not what anyone wants a municipal administration to be doing.
Leave the entrepreneurs to themselves, don’t shackle them but where you can support them. The province does it, the federal government has large funding operations that do just this.
The city of Burlington had an opportunity to spend a couple of hundred dollars to take out a membership and send people to the location. The professionals that come to the city to do business want places like this – and there are some of them using the place now. Still time – do the right thing and promote the place. It deserves the recognition.
See for yourself – the HiVe is located on Elizabeth – doors away from the Dickens, on the very edge of Village Square.
 Perhaps the smallest film screening room in the province; a plus for those who work with visual material and want to demonstrate a feature to a small group of buyers. The location isn’t just for the nerds or the professionals who need a place to get some work done. Plans are underway for small cultural activities that will use the space on the weekends and in the evenings. Sara C ollaton has organized a unique event that has a trained and accomplished artists working with a limited number of people on the same painting. Well not exactly THE same painting – each aspiring artist will do their version of the same painting with guidance and direction from the visiting artist. This first event is sold out – there will be others that we will tell you about.
Everything is supplied – clothing to keep the paint off those designer jeans, all the paint you are going to need – and if you’re of age – a glass of wine as well.
That’s my kind of entrepreneurship.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 20, 2014
There were twelve entrants to the Tottering Biped Film Short Film Festival. They had a SOLD OUT night at the Burlington Art Centre. The best thing to be said about the event is that it was a first for Burlington and that it took place.
The Art Centre put a lot of their resources behind the event providing the space, the printing and the framing of the Award certificates and selling the tickets. They topped all this off with a $50 award to the winners in each of the categories.
 Christopher Giroux chatting with Katie. The venue was small, additional chairs had to be added to the space. Trevor Copp, the dancer who came up with the idea for a short film festival proudly announces that attendance was 110% – a total of 126 seats. Small, but a good start. Copp didn’t do this all by himself – he worked with Christopher Giroux who brought a background in short film to the table
 Angela Paparizo talks with Trevor Copp founder of the Tottering Biped Short Film Festival.we It was evident that more was needed in the way of volunteer support; some serious help on the technical side will be welcome next time out as well.
The winners in the six categories were:
Best Local Film: Wanderlust
Best Screenplay: Tomas Street, Kid’s Town
Best Director(s):Freddy Chavez Olmos, Shervin Shoghian for their film “Shhh”
Best Dark Film: Tasha And Friends
Best Picture: Yeah Rite
People’s Choice: Yeah Rite
Best Performer: Elizabeth Stuart of the film “Promise”
 Michael Penny on the set of Yeah Rite, a short film on Exorcism – sort of. Winner of the Best Film and the People’s Choices Awards. Yeah Rite, was the People`s Choice and the winner of the Burlington Gazette award for the Best Picture.
The Dark Film Award had a special sponsorship. Jim Riley provided money to pay the screening fee for all the films entered.
Judging of the 12 short films, that ranged from 4 minutes to just over 11 minutes, was done by Angela Paparizo and Nathan Fleet, an accomplished award-winning film maker out of Hamilton and Mayor Goldring. Quite why the Mayor was used as a judge is hard to understand. Other than being a nice guy who gets out to the odd movie like the rest of us the Mayor brings zip to the judging of a very specialized film genre.
Paparizo serves as the city hall staff member who manages cultural issues within the Parks and Recreation department at city hall. The only reason to put the Mayor on the judging panel had to be to curry favour with city hall.
The arts have to make it on their own merit – which they have certainly done in the past year. The creation of the Arts and Culture Collective brought the depth and quality of the arts community in Burlington to the surface and to the attention of city council that now has an opportunity to pump some money into the sector.
Burlington built the Performing Arts Centre, to the chagrin of too many people in Burlington. A building alone is not an arts community – it takes artists to bring life to the stages. That`s where people like Trevor Copp and the Collective come in. They will make it happen and in the process upgrade the level of cultural sophistication in the city.
They are however, never going to develop the Mayor`s film appreciation to the point where he can serve as a viable judge.
Background links:
Best Film Teaser
Best film – full video – 6 minutes long.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 17, 2014
And how did you get through the power outage? These events tend to recede from our memory unless the event was horrific or something close and personal happened.
For the people at Burlington Hydro (BH) it was very close and very personal. Most of the staff worked long hours on Christmas Day
Christine Hallas handles corporate communications for Hydro and like every corporation that deals with the public, Hydro decided they needed to begin tweeting. It was new information tool for BH and they are a cautious organization – they did their research and they did some testing and on the Thursday before the ice storm hit Christine advised the rest of the management team that they were good to go whenever the word was given.
At about the same time BH people were getting the word from different sources that we were in for a bit of tough weather. The people in the BH operations room listens to the radio like the rest of us but they also subscribe to a couple of weather information sources, which Dan Guatto, than in charge of engineering and operations for Burlington Hydro, admitted “weren’t all that good” but there was enough information for the senior management team to decide to open the tweet channel. In a matter of hours the rate went from 0 followers to more than 500 and BH hydro suddenly became an important source of information for the public.
And information was the one thing that the public didn’t have all that much of – and they wanted it. BH found they were getting pictures of trees down sent to them, the switchboard was overloaded – at one point they had logged 1500 calls and then the system crashed.
 Dan Guatto, doing his best to communicate in an environment where there are a lot of things not working very well. His cell phone got him through most of the problems – Burlington Hydro is currently working on a wen site that will provide much more in the way of information for the public. We live in a world” said Guatto where people Google the menu of the restaurant they are going to – there is the expectation that information is always available and available instantly.
It quickly became evident that while there were problems in the downtown core – it was the ice on the lines in the northern part of the city – on the inclines – where things were worst.
 A line down and a cable split on road after road after road. Hydro used up 1000 metres of cable doing the repairs. Ice on the lines left many of them sagging – the ice on the trees that was killing ever effort to get the lines operational.
Overall the grid, North American wide was working just fine –“ it was the really local stuff that crippled us. We would get two houses back on and then a house in between them would have branches come crashing down and we were right back where we started”, said Sm.
Trees were our biggest problem. People live in north Burlington because of the trees. People were prepared to be out of their homes for six days – but they were not prepared to have their tress cut down.
Burlington Hydro, like any responsible organization, plans and does practice scenarios. They will scope out what the worst possible consequences from a possible situation and then work out plans for how they will react, what equipment they will need and make sure they have it – close by
Gerry Smallegange, Hydro president, explained that “we would give people our best estimate which was often not much more than a guess, but it became close to gospel truth in the minds of many. When crews are out in the field it is like being on a construction site and we often just don’t know how long a task is going to take.
 Here is an accident waiting to happen. When the line going into Lowville went down explains Smallegange the crew going in to do the fix couldn’t get their trucks in far enough – so everything had to be hauled in by hand – over a distance of more than a kilometre. It took hours but they finally got it up and service was restored – which isn’t as simple as screwing in a new fuse and seeing the lights go on. There are significant safety precautions that had to be gone through – but the lights went on and the crews moved on to the next problem.
Within hours the line was back down and that work had to be done all over again. The new break had to be found, the power taken out of the line, a splice made to the wire, line tested and power restored.
Side road # 8 had to be totally re-built. It was the worst situation we faced said Smallegange who added that there are 20,000 poles in the hydro system but only 20 were broken during the storm. Millar Crescent was un-passable for a period of time and there were a number of situations that needed less than a quick glance to know that there was a problem just waiting to happen.
For people sitting in a cold house – there is little comfort in knowing that all these steps have to be taken. For the men in the field it was long hours in cold weather which isn’t easy to work in. Fatigue and working in bulky clothing and ground that was slick with ice are conditions that result in accidents – of which there were none for the hydro crews.
Hydro used up 1000 metres of cable to complete the repairs. They didn’t lose any generators and there was never a serious risk of running out of cable. All the hydro operations in the area have working agreements to purchase from each other. They also have consignment agreements from the supply manufacturers that keeps needed supplies in the hydro yard – masking it instantly available.
 Trees can’t last with this amount of ice on the branches. A mighty oak bends to the force of nature. We would like look at this in the spring and see what survived. The December outage was big and there was little in the way of the kind of warning the city got during the July problems.
What BH is beginning to struggle with is – how often are we likely to see situations like this – and that for much of the world is both a very pressing and a very vexing question. It all relates to risk analysis. It just isn’t possible to be fully geared up every hour of every day for something that might happen.
Christmas Day of 2013 was a fully geared up day for both Burlington Hydro and the city of Burlington. “It is the city manager Jeff Fielding who has point on this explained Smallegange – we get the job done but he calls the shots. There is a very solid working relationship between Hydro and the city – the city is the only shareholder but that’s not what makes the relationship work as smoothly as it does. The top people on both sides are consummate professionals and each knows what has to be done and they get it done.
The city got through the storm and while we will be picking up brush for a number of months and when the snow melts we will see twigs and scraps of wood that will have to be raked up and either burned in a fire-place or put out as waste.
Expect the Regional authority to revise the date for the last such pick-ups several times. That will be the least of our problems.
There were no fatalities, no really serious injuries. A major dent to Hydro’s financial statements but this is one you are not likely to feel. Burlington Hydro is currently in negotiations on the price of the hydro it buys; there will be a decrease in the price hydro pays for power as a result of these negotiations. How much of that price decrease works it way to your hydro bill is going to be impacted by the storm damage. The decrease you see will be just a little less than hydro had originally hoped to deliver to the public.
The cost of the outage in terms of additional monies for Burlington Hydro will come in at more than $1 million.
A lot of lessons were learned – the most important of which were on the communications side. With power out telephone service was down and cell service in the northern part of the city isn’t all that good at the best of times. There are parts of the city where there is basically no service.
 Worn down but not worn out. Burlington Hydro Gerry Smallegange and his chief of engineering talk to people at the Kilbride fire station on what was up and what wasn’t yet up in terms of power lines. Hydro is putting together a much different web site that will improve significantly on the information they can deliver – that along with their ability now to tweet at will result in better communications.
For Hydro’s senior management the biggest lesson was to fully understand what the public wanted in the way of information and then to find a way to get that information out with very necessary caveats and cautions attached to it.
You will like what hydro is going to release in the very near future. “Hopefully” adds Smallegange it will be up and running before the next catastrophe providing that doesn’t take place this month.”
The big wish for Hydro is a way to be able to trim those trees in such a way that the canopy is not lost but the hydro wires have a chance to stay up when the winds howl and the trees bend.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 14, 2014
Identity theft is a BIG business, and a rather successful one for some people as well. This message came floating in earlier today. What are the clues?
Well, first the receiver of the email is not an Apple product user, second look at the email address it was sent from and then note the date at the bottom of the email.
Look at the language – there is no way Apple is going to let a message that poorly crafted get sent out.
 If you use Apple products you might have thought this was a legitimate message. It isn’t – phony as a three dollar bill. The full message reads:
This is an automatic message by the system to let you know that you
have to confirm your Apple ID account information within 48 hours.
Your account has been frozen temporarily if order to protect it.
The account will continue to be frozen until it is approved And Validate
you account information. Once you have updated your account records
, your information will be confirmed and your account will start
to work as normal once again.
This will help protect you in the future. The process does not take more than 5 minutes.
To proceed to confirm your account information Click here
Copyright © 2013 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.
If you click there you are in the process of telling thieves, probably in Nigeria, more about you than they should know.
If the message doesn’t make sense to you – delete it.
Background:
Identity theft is a BIG business – the purpose of which is to steal your money.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 14th, 2014
More than one hundred works of art and fine craft by Canadian artists will be up for auction at the Burlington Art Centre on February 7. The event is a fundraiser for the Art Centre that gives anyone with a ticket an opportunity to be the highest bidder on original artwork and take home a new treasure.
 The Burlington Art Centre wants you to imagine what an original piece of art would look like in your home. A total of 600 artists were invited to submit recent works for the auction, including internationally acclaimed wildlife artists Robert Bateman – who has agreed to put up an original work – and Chris Bacon, noted Japanese dollmaker Komiko Koyanagi, Hamilton ceramist Reid Flock. Juried artwork from both emerging and well-established artists adds further depth to the exceptional selection. There is something for everyone on this special evening.
Auctioneer Nello Romagnoli brings a light and entertaining touch to the auction welcoming bids from both novice and experienced art buyers and collectors.
Live and silent auction previews will take place at the BAC, 1333 Lakeshore Road, on February 5 and 6, 11 am – 9 pm, February 7, 11 am – 5pm. The previews are free and open to everyone interested in deciding in advance the artworks they want to bid on during the auction.
 Every art collector starts somewhere. They tend to grow! New this year is a Free Pre-Auction `How to Start a Collection` Seminars led by Denis Longchamps, Director of Programs and Jonathan Smith, Permanent Collection Curator. They take place Wednesday January 29th: 7 p.m. and Thursday February 6th: 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The actual auction is a ticketed event: BAC Member $35. Non-Member $40 and $45 at the door. Advanced bids and telephone bidding are welcome, but must be arranged ahead of time by calling 905-632-7796, ext. 302.
Previews: Wednesday, Feb. 5, 11:00 am – 9:00pm, Thursday, Feb. 6, 11am – 9:00 pm Friday, Feb 7, 11 am – 5pm There is no charge for the Auction previews
Friday, February 7th Doors Open 6 pm. Catered Reception through to 8:00 pm. Silent Auction closes at 8 :00pm. Live Auction starts at 8:30 pm
Your ticket includes:
• Opportunity to attend a free How to Start a Collection seminar
• Fete of Local Food and Wine Tasting Reception
• Entry to the Art Auction and Previews
• Full-colour Catalogue
• Bid Number
Visit the BAC website for additional details or call 905-632-7796 x326
If all your questions have not been answered pop a note along to Kim Varian.
variank@thebac.ca
 The Burlington Art Centre has celebrated its 35th Anniversary. Formed by groups of artists who are now resident at the Art Centre as Guilds the operation is now part of the city of Burlington’s cultural offering. The Centre is open seven days a week and has an Art Etc shop that has an amazing variety of arts and crafts items on sale. The Art Centre has one of the largest collections of ceramics in North America and is sought out by ceramic artists frequently.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 13, 2014
There they were, all seven of them, smiling and apparently happy to be back at their desks after a rather protracted holiday absence. Your city council was in session as a Standing Committee
And they were busy little beavers as well.
 City council wants to seriously consider turning the Mt.Nemo Plateau into a Heritage Conservation District. Further study was approved at a Standing Committee earlier today. More detail will follow but the city is taking a hard serious look at creating a Heritage Conservation District on property north of Dundas, west of Walkers Line to the municipal border and north to Britannia Road.
A total of $50,000 has been spent on a report that sets out the cultural heritage of that part of the city and the reasons why this part of the city should be considered as a Heritage Conservation District.
The first thing that happens when this is approved – and it look as if it will be – it got through the Standing Committee unanimously – is the implementation of an Interim Bylaw that would freeze all development while the matter is studied. That is a huge step.
More on this one later in the week.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 12, 2014
“When people use the services we offer – they are buying me” is the way Jason Boelhouwer explains the franchise business he operates, which is the providing of services to people who need help taking care of themselves.
And Boelhouwer wants the people of Aldershot to buy him in the 2014 municipal election because he thinks it’s time for a change. The incumbent has been in place since 2000 and, Boelhouwer, a believer in term limits, would like to see current Councillor Rick Craven step aside.
 Jayson Boelhouwer wants to represent Aldershot at city council. He thinks its time for a change. Boelhouwer has been involved in Aldershot civic affairs for some time. He sits on the Plains Road Village Vision, right beside Craven; sits on the Aldershot Business Improvement Area, along with Craven.
Boelhouwer maintains that he had a chat with Rick Craven back in 2010 and let him know then that he was interested in running for the seat at some point. Boelhouwer says Craven led him to believe that the 2010 term might be his last. “I talked with him again about 18 months ago and began to realize that he might well run again so I decided 2014 was going to be the year I ran for the council seat” said Boelhouwer.
Councillor Craven commented at one time to this reporter that taking a run for the office of Mayor was not out of the question. Given that he has yet to file his nomination papers – we may see a race for the job of Mayor but it isn’t something I would count on.
 The old Mercedes-Benz site was developed into a small housing project. Councillor Craven supported this kind of growth. Boelhouwer doesn’t have a strong position on development other than wanting enough people to draw a supermarket to the west end of the ward. Jason Boelhouwer is Aldershot born and bred. He brings all the strengths and weakness a small town produces in a personality. High school was in Aldershot followed by the earning of a degree at Brock University in St. Catharines.
Boelhouwer would not do all that much canvassing door to door. “You spend three hours covering a street and you get to talk to maybe 30 people, that’s not very effective” said Boelhouwer.
He isn’t all that keen on lawn signs either – doesn’t think how a person is going to vote is anyone’s business. Boelhouwer would choose to put really large signs at major intersections where there is a lot of traffic and speaks the way only someone who knows everyone can speak. My friend at – and names an intersection – will put up a big sign for me. He believes as well that having a small sign in the windows of commercial establishments will do the trick.
 Will Pluckers become campaign central for Jason Boelhouwer? He kind of likes the fireplace inside. Boelhouwer plans to sit in front of the fire-place at Pluckers on Plains Road and let people know he is there ready to talk to them. Id he picks up the bat tab for those that drop by – he will do well. Otherwise B will not come before C in the final vote count.
Boelhouwer will tell you that there are seven hair dressers in Aldershot but no LCBO or supermarket in the west end of the ward. The supermarket he understands is because there isn’t the population needed to justify that kind of investment by one of the chains but Boelhouwer points out there has been significant growth in Aldershot population – but he doesn’t speak as if he expects a supermarket in the near future.
Local politics are about pot holes and swimming pools and keeping the roads plowed. Boelhouwer complains about the parking laybys that don’t get the snow cleared out of them making it difficult for people to park in front of the library for example.
Boelhouwer wants to see a Seniors’ Centre in Aldershot. “Oakville” he explains “has three locations for seniors but Burlington has just the one” and that is too tightly controlled for Boelhouwer’s liking.
Aldershot really doesn’t have all that much in the way of destinations – there is IKEA at the east end and the RBG at the west end – other than that it’s Tim Hortons if you want to get together with people.
 Planters along Plains Road have given what used to be a provincial highway a much more suburban look. Hasn’t slowed traffic down enough for most people – except for those who drive through the community. Don’t talk to Boelhouwer about traffic – its bumper to bumper starting at about 3:30 he will tell you and they want to cut the west end of Plains Road down to just two lanes – ridiculous from Boelhouwer point of view.
Boelhouwer will give Craven credit for what he has done. He has achieved what he set out to do – the Waterdown Road ramp to the 403 is in place and the King Road grade separation is done. Boelhouwer sits on the BIA board and thinks Craven has far too much influence on the job that Bob Meehan does as Executive Director of the association and adds that it was the same with the previous occupant of the job.
Boelhouwer isn’t a fan of the Performing Arts Centre, he wouldn’t have approved the pier. He did serve on the Museum Board for a period of time. While Boelhouwer has toured the Performing Arts Centre he has not attended an event.
Earlier in life Jason Boelhouwer played soccer; today that sport is now one he coaches. Jason and his wife have two children, a daughter in first year at Carleton University in Ottawa and a son at Assumption High in Aldershot. His wife teaches at the same high school.
So what does he want to see Aldershot grow into? That’s not entirely clear. He doesn’t want to see five and six storey buildings going up along Planes Road that come right out to the edge of the sidewalk. He wants to see more localized transit for people. He would like to see a Seniors Centre added to the Arena and changes made to the transit service so that they could get to the location. Boelhouwer still calls the place the Kiwanis rink.
Boelhouwer believes he can build his name recognition. His wife teaches at Assumption, he attended Holy Rosary. His Mother was once a columnist for the Gazette when it was a print publication. His is a strong parish member and an active participant in the Men’s club there.
While Boelhouwer will tell you he does not have an identifiable political affiliation – all his advisers are Tory’s which may be more a reflection of Aldershot than Jason Boelhouwer.
 More candidate than Craven could manage? Sandra Pupatello on a trip through town looking for local support for her Liberal leadership bid. Craven was prepared to let the party romance him. Craven is a known active Liberal, who has toyed with the idea of running against Jane McKenna – he thoroughly trounced her when she took a run at municipal politics in 2010.
Boelhouwer expects it will be difficult to reach the under 40 voters. “They are a disparate group and they are very busy people. He hopes he can catch some of them at Fortino’s in the east end and at the Aldershot Go station as well.
Boelhouwer comes across as a likeable guy. Folksy, friendly very much a part of his community. He isn’t going to set the world on fire, there is no burning objective, there is no “plan”. What he does want to make very clear is that he isn’t a copy of Rick Craven.
We look forward to what he has to say during the campaign.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON
January 11, 2014
If the idea of short, short films – some not much longer than a television commercial, appeals to you Burlington’s first ever Short Film Festival might interest you.
The list of films, there are 12 of them being screened in a two sessions schedule on the same evening.
The evening, Friday January 17th , begins with a 6:00 pm reception at the Burlington Art Centre.
Session 1 is made up of six films which run from as short as 4 minutes to 16 minutes.
The line up is:
Promise – 8 minutes: Longing to be reunited with her dead husband a grieving widow visits his grave for one last goodbye when a phone call changes her life. Directed by Collin Chan & Johnny Chocolate
Wanderlust – 4.5 minutes: A young boy searches near and far for his purpose. Directed by Mike Martins
 Vanessa Crosbie Ramsay will present her 11 minute short film on the a day in a record store.
Allusion – 11 minutes: So many out-of-the-way things had happened lately that Alice had begun to think that things indeed were really impossible. “Allusion” is the story of a day in the life of a girl who works in a record store and the odd people who visit during the day. Directed by: Vanessa Crosbie Ramsay
New Domain – 11 minutes: A commentary on Generation Y relationships online. Directed by Andre Rehal
Wade’s World – 16 minutes: Wade faces the long awaited trials and tribulations of being an imaginary friend when his best friend, 29 year old Dan, falls in love. It ain’t easy being imaginary. – Directed by Matthew Yipchuck
Kids Town (Episode 5) – 12 minutes: 12-year-old Brian Russell is the new kid in town, again. As he navigates another set of unwritten rules of the school yard Brian finds himself tangled in the strings of small town politics when he clashes heads with the Mayor’s son, the local press owners youngest, and the Librarian’s pretty daughter. A family series as much for adults as their children, KID’S TOWN is about young love, friendship, small town civics, power struggles and the universal need to figure out one’s place in the world. – Directed by Mikelle Virey
The organizers scheduled the program to allow for break; a chance to mingle with people, meet some of the directors and decide which films should be award winners.
Session 2 opens with Tasha and Friends – 15 minutes: Local children’s show host, Tasha, decides to shut the show down. Her puppet co-stars, however, want to shut her down…permanently. Directed by Greg Kovacs
 Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi director of For Clearer Skies. For Clearer Skies – 7 minutes: A man struggles to decide whether or not to pursue survival as his race nears extinction. Directed by Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi
One More For the Road 17 minutes: A married couple go on a road trip to rekindle their marriage, leading to disastrous results. Directed by Navin Ramaswaran
4 – 11 minutes: Four alternative versions of one young man deal with various conflicts in their everyday life – all involve confronting someone about something that has been taken from him. Directed by Mike Chantaj, Sydney Cowper, RJ Kemp and Cameron Veitch
Yeah Rite – 6 minutes: An atheist and a blind priest perform their first exorcism. – Directed by Michael Penney
Shhh – 12 minutes: Shhh is a fantasy/horror short tale about a young boy, Guillermo, who uses his imagination to overcome his bully: a hair-eating monster. Tired of being scared, Guillermo eventually takes matters into his own hands. It’s only then that we realize the monster might not be as fictitious as one may have thought. Directed by Freddy Chavez Olmos, Shervin Shoghian
 The Burlington Short Film Festival plans to pay the directors for their participation. The Short Film festival organizers have committed to having every film producer getting paid and will announce the awards at the end of the program – then it is a short walk along Lakeshore to SB Prime (on Elgin across from the Queen’s Head) for the after performance party. A media release from Tottering Biped, part of the organizing group, said: “In a move that is a departure from major international Festivals such as TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) where no fees are allocated to the films, the Tottering Biped Film Festival will be compensating Artists for their work.
Will the organizers of the event come up with a party that compares with what takes place at Cannes or Toronto’s TIFF? One never knows. A year ago even the idea of a film festival in Burlington would have been resulted in polite snickers but Burlington is changing and we are seeing a much different cultural community that wants to be recognized and at the table where cultural policy is determined.
A great party might be just the thing to make an impression.
Tickets, which include the pre-screening reception and after party, are available either in person at the Burlington Art Centre (905) 632-7796 or via paypal
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON.
January 8, 2014
The people who believe they matter in this city are going to travel to Queen’s Park and tell the Burlington story to just about anyone who will listen. They plan to do this “ in the Spring”.
The Mayor will lead the parade. Perhaps they will form a “congo line” from Union Station and dance up University Avenue and into the Legislature – they will travel by GO train won’t they? As for the rest of the people on that GO train city hall is “still finalizing but there will be Council and senior management team representatives.
Is this team of stellar player travelling into the big smoke to ask for money? The Mayors Chief of Staff advises “There will be an ask for support but this would include a combination of things. Anything specific we asked: “There will be multi prong objectives to the meetings”. And if you have figured out what that means – tell us, because we don’t see any information in the statement.
 Is Burlington the Rodney Dangerfield of Ontario municipalities – continually looking for suspect? Burlington is sort of like the Rodney Dangerfield of smaller Ontario communities. Tucked in between rough, tough, gritty Hamilton and snooty Oakville, Burlington continues to boast about its splendid waterfront (which it is prepared to sell a portion of, if the price is right, or you can scare city council with a law suit – but I digress) and the Escarpment that a lot of people want to drive a road through.
How does a city go about changing the way it is perceived? City hall thinks our story should be taken to Queen’s Park where they can talk to the people who make things happen in the province and see how they feel about the development charges we have raked in.
Or we could tell them about how we managed to put up a pier that was to cost something in the $6 million range but got ramped up to $14 million and we still have a court case to settle.
 Not exactly growth is it. Burlington tax revenue from the Commercial sector is falling and there are no clear signs that it will improve in the very near future. Revenue has to come from somewhere – residents are an obvious source. Burlington wants to tell its story – but no one is quite sure just what that story is. If there is a vision – it’s tough to see it – unless you are looking at all the “happy talk” that comes out of city hall. Try this for size: “Burlington is widely recognized as a great Canadian city. Not only do 95 per cent of Burlington residents rate their quality of life as excellent or good, but MoneySense magazine has named Burlington the best mid-sized city in Canada and the third best city of any size for 2013.”
 The sources of tax revenue. The yellow and the blue columns have to be grown – no one is sure just how he city is going to do that. But how do we stay great? , the city asks. In the future, the challenge will be to maintain service levels and high quality of life without significant tax increases. We need to do this in the context of more modest growth, which means we must be proactive in planning and developing resources, especially our land base.
All too true but we have at least one land holder who refuses to work with the city to develop in a moderate intelligent manner. Paletta International wants to convert lands currently zoned as employment lands into residential where the return on the investment is much more attractive.
There is another developer who has come up with a unique, interesting – even intriguing approach to development that doesn’t follow the traditional pattern. Evergreen has been sitting on a piece of property at the intersection of Dundas and Tremaine Road for more than ten years that stretches all the way to Hwy 407. This development has gotten stuck in that quagmire that includes differences of opinion between the Regional Official Plan, Burlington Official plan and the plans that Oakville has – the property sits on the border of the two communities – and Ontario Municipal Board hearings.
“We need to transition: says city hall “from an expanding suburban community to one that “grows in place,” finding new and innovative ways to grow revenues – especially the assessment base – in sustainable ways that recognize the challenges posed by growth limitations.”
That “grows in place” phrase is one you are going to read a lot about in the next few years. It needs a little more drill down to be fully understood.
“Burlington needs to sustain its revenue base, while maintaining the service levels and quality of life residents have come to enjoy and expect.”
 City of Burlington is going to take its story to Queen’s Park in the Spring To capture some of those challenges, the city has created The Burlington Story. It tells the story of where we’ve been, where we are today and where we’re going. Watch for Mayor Goldring to grab this story and use it to as one of the major planks of his re-election platform. That assumes of course that the Mayor will be challenged in his decision to get re-elected next October.
Is the “Burlington Story” the revised version of the Mayor’s vision?
Residents of the city will get their first look at just where our Mayor wants to go when he delivers his State of the City address January 23, 2014. The event is hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, tickets are available at the Chamber of Commerce.
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. January 6, 2014
The Free P is over. You have to put coins in those parking meters today and the rate for that spot to park your car went up 25 cents an hour as well.
Burlington took a brave step when it offered free parkingin the downtown core for the month of December, as part of a drive to entice shoppers to visit the downtown merchants over the holiday season.
Couple of bumps during the first few days when people who work downtown decided they could now park for free and took up many of the spaces that were intended for shoppers.
 Free parking ? For who? It got so bad the first few days that city manager Jeff Fielding had to send an email to everyone employed by the city explaining the parking spaces were not for city employees but for shoppers who wanted to come downtown. It wasn`t just city employees abusing the free parking – several merchants were parking their cars in the free spaces.
Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward put a lot of her political capital on the line when she pushed for the free parking and the Burlington Downtown Business Association (BDBA) got behind the idea with everything they had.
Did it work? It could have and it should have but there is no data so far and without data no one will ever know. Did the public like the idea? We don’t know yet.
 East side of Brant Street xx days before Christmas 2013. Not exactly festive was it? Malls were much better. Here however is what we do know: For the second year in a row the majority of the downtown merchants did precious little to decorate their store fronts and give the streets something in the way of a festive look.
 The Planning department made a decent effort to make their public counter attractive and festive. City hall didn’t do much better. The Civic Square was close to pathetic and inside the building it was as if December was just another month. There was a tiny little tree beside one of the entrance doors and poinsettia set out around the building. The people in the Planning department did gussy up their counter a little – they are on the second floor where other than contractors getting permits there wasn’t much in the way of public exposure
Retailers love to see some snow on the ground a week or so before Christmas; that is said to draw out the shoppers. This year we go snow – we really got snow and icy rain as well those very last few days and then the city moved into survival mode to get through the hard weather.
There is something decidedly unhealthy about the state of retail in the downtown core. Is it the retailers themselves who just don’t want to put themselves out or is it a leadership problem with no one developing good ideas or programs for the retailers to follow-up on.
 The Yellow bags were there for the taking – problem was not that many of them were taken. Good idea badly executed? Or just a bad idea? The BDBA hopped on a wagon that wasn’t going anywhere when they took part in the Yellow Bag program sponsored by the Yellow Pages people. The idea had been run in Oakville where it was said to be a mistake. Based on what we saw in local shop windows it was as bad a mistake in Burlington.
It doesn’t matter how much drive Councillor Meed Ward puts into getting programs that goose up things in the downtown core – it is the merchants who are going to have to make it happen. And based on what was visible on the streets – it didn’t happen this year.
Did the cash register go “kaching” a lot this year? Not sure if the merchants will make any of their data available. Does the DBDA have a data collection program in place that would allow them to publish figures? We’ve not seen anything coming out of that office.
The city wants to upgrade the parking meters it uses and is having a little difficulty getting that process going the way they want it to go. Two Requests for Proposals have been issued – both were withdrawn. The most recent withdrawal was due to some significant misunderstandings between the city and those responding to the RFP.
There is some fantastic technology available now that could tie the parking meters into loyalty programs merchants could take part in – ways for merchants to pay for the parking on behalf of their customers – but all the technology in the world won’t make a difference if the retailers don’t behave as retailers and do some intelligent marketing.
 Two poinsettia on a counter do not a Christmas look and feel make. The city could have put two decent size Christmas trees to the right and left of the reception desk and made it a social evening for staff by having everyone down to the lobby to decorate the two trees. Civic Square didn’t look all that festive either. The city has done everything it can to help the downtown core overcome the difficulty parking meters create in the minds of shoppers. Parking appears to be free at the malls – it isn’t but it also is not seen as a direct cost to a shopper.
New language was developed to move the focus from the parking meters to the idea that shopping downtown is a destination and an experience – which is great. But that experience needs wasn’t there last December with retail shops almost devoid of any sense that it was Christmas time. On that level the malls beat the core.
There is some serious work to be done if this city is going to manage to get its act together and make the downtown core actually work. We should set aside the word vibrant for the next while because it just ain’t so.
Background:
The Free P video – hilarious.
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