Culture/Fun/The Arts « Burlington Gazette - Local News, Politics, Community

Great idea – the new deadline will give people a decent chance to participate in September.

The deadline for this event has been moved to February 15th

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON.

January 8^th, 2014

While it is one of the tightest deadlines we have ever seen, a week to pull together pictures of your work, write a statement setting out what you do and add a resume as well – BUT the event is certainly worthwhile.

The Burlington Art Centre (BAC) , the Region’s Newcomer Strategy and the Multicultural Council have combined their efforts to create an event that will focus on the contribution newcomers to Burlington can make to the arts and culture of the city.

If you know anyone who is new to the community and the surrounding region – let them know about this event. As newcomers – they probably won’t know much about local media. Perhaps they are your new neighbours. Clue them in

Great idea – the execution is just poorly done.

Having gotten that off our chests – here is the event: An International Art & Craft Festival that will take place on Saturday September 6, 2014 to Sunday September 7, 2014 at the Burlington Arts Centre.

It has been planned as a weekend of arts, crafts and multicultural performances. The BAC would like to invite musicians, dancers and performers who are newcomers to the region to submit a proposal to take part in the festival. Each performer or group will be allotted 10-20 minutes to perform a show based on their own culture of origin.

Performers should submit the following as part of their proposal:

A list of 2-5 links to videos of your performances posted online.

A copy of your resume including a list of your performance experiences.

A one page performer’s statement describing your performance and how it represents your culture of origin.

All submissions will be reviewed by a jury for selection.

The deadline for submitting proposals is January 15, 2014. Proposals are to be emailed to: Denis Longchamps, Director of Programs longchampsd@thebac.ca He can be reached at (905) 632-7796 ext. 303.

Along with performers the Festival wants to hear from artists and craft makers who are newcomers to the region. Submit a proposal to take part in the festival. The theme for the Arts and Crafts part of the Festival is Sharing.

Get your material into the same people.

Performing Arts Centre going through a quiet evolution that has much more small group involvement that most people realized.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON.

January 8, 2014

Brian McCurdy has a big job ahead of him for 2014 – and that is dispelling a bunch of myths that have grown up around the Performing Arts Centre.

The public talks about the budget problems, they talk about the acts that come to the city with little understanding or appreciation for how the entertainment business operates. Burlington is a small market that is not high on the list of prime venues for the groups that put together a tour across the province or the country. The Copps Coliseum fits into that category – Burlington has to fit in with a bigger picture.

The first myth he wants to dispel is that non-profit groups are not using the Performing Arts Centre. “We have had more than 165 non-profit groups use the space. Their use doesn’t appear on the Centre’s web site so people don’t see the activity and other than the people involved and attending – most people don’t know what takes place.

The Centre wasn’t telling its story and if you don’t blow your own horn – no one gets to hear your music.

The Centre recently held a Poetry Slam which was certainly new to this city. Later this month there will be a short film festival. Unfortunately with just 12 days before the event no one has learned what the film offerings are going to be.

You could probably get space at the Performing Arts Centre on a Monday or a Tuesday evening – other than that the place is pretty heavily booked. Turning a profit? Not yet – it wasn’t supposed to.

McCurdy, who brought years of experience with him to Burlington when he drove up the 401 from Kingston, has a sense of the dynamics he has to work with and has settled into his new gig.

He has a consultant working up some data that will get shaped into a Strategic Plan. Brian Arnott, a cultural consultant who was in town doing some work for the Burlington Arts Centre (BAC), stayed a little longer and did a number of one-on-one interviews with people to get a sense as to what the community wanted and didn’t want and what the issues were when it came to the Performing Arts Centre and culture and the city.

McCurdy arrived in Burlington at a point in time when the cultural community began to show itself. One of the first inklings that they even existed was when Trevor Copp delegated to city council and said he resented having to drive into Toronto to practice his craft and make a living. He wanted to see a change.

At about the same time the city was getting the early draft of the Cultural Discussion report Jeremy Freiburger had put together.

Angela Papariza, started work with the city as a Parks and Recreation Planner bur has been shifted to a Cultural Planner; part of the city’s plan to create more cultural presence at city hall. Trevor Copp, on the right, shook up city hall when he told council he wanted to be able to ply his trade in Burlington and went on to be part of creating the Arts and Culture Collective that lobbys at city hall.

Copp was not prepared to stop with a delegation to council. He, along with others, called a meeting and invited every arts person they could think of – 20+ people showed up. That resulted in a second meeting that brought 125 people to a meeting and Burlington’s Arts and Culture Collective was born and the city began to hear from a focused voice.

As the city moved from the report Freiburger had prepared into the creation of a Cultural Action Plan the Collective improved its organization and pushed to get a seat at the table where the decisions were being made.

The city is now working up a Cultural Action implementation plan that will be part of the 2014 budget deliberations and there is now representation from the artists.

McCurdy has three small white boards on his office wall that set out what’s coming to town and there aren’t a lot of open spaces. You can book a Monday or a Tuesday but there isn’t much more than that available stretching into 2015 – which is the point where McCurdy thinks he might be able to get by on a little less than the more than THE $500,000 subsidy that comes from the taxpayers.

Brian McCurdy is kind of pleased with the bookings he has for the Centre.

What the public is seeing under McCurdy’s had is much more community use of the space. Last week the first ever Ontario wide Poetry Slam took place at the Performing Arts Centre. Except for a very small, select group of people, Burlingtonians didn’t even know what A Poetry Slam was.

Next week a free dance workshop will take place at the Centre. Nova Bhattacharya will use lecture and demonstration to take participants on a journey through dance from the classical Indian style and demonstrate how it has evolved into contemporary dance with a South Asian sensibility.

Later the same day she will be offering a 90 minute master class to those interested in learning the basics of bharatanatyam. That’s another cultural phrase that hasn’t exactly rung in the ears of the city’s cultural community.

The basics of bharatanatyam will be taught at the Performing Arts Centre.

The dance class is part of the Performing Arts Centre’s outreach is funded by an Ontario Arts Council grant and delivered by the KooGle Theatre Company.

The Performing Arts Centre went through a bit of a bumpy start. The Theatre Burlington Board which provides oversight of the Centre beefed up its membership and added some needed talent; they actually have a working musician on the board – in the past that board has been made up of people with a financial background. The Board along with some senior staff have taken part in two retreats where they looked at everything.

The Centre did part ways with the first Executive Director and brought in Brian McCurdy. If the funding plans that are being worked over at city hall actually get through city council, 2014 could prove to be an interesting year for culture in this city.

However, Brian McCurdy is not depending on the city to keep his growth plans alive. He intends to develop a membership program that will be part fund-raiser and part developing the depth of the cultural community in the city. Membership will include priority seating, a pre-purchase program and opportunities to meet some of the performing artists in a social setting.

McCurdy has some thoughts on corporate sponsorship as well. His management style is quiet, he develops relationships over time so don’t expect much in the way of flash from this guy. Do expect significant solid ideas and plans he actually delivers on.

Background:

BPAC board gets beefed up.

It was certainly a different program: Ten Rooms.

Artists showing at the Seaton Gallery

I didn’t know that – didn’t want to know THAT. Ontario has fewer civil servants than anyone else. Fees for almost everything to go UP^

By Staff

December 31, 2013 BURLINGTON, ON. Ontario has the lowest number of public sector employees per capita. In 2012, Ontario had 6.5 public sector employees per 1,000 people, compared to a national average of 9.7 employees per 1,000 people.

Tim Hudak, Progressive Conservative leader at Queen’s Park believes the civil service is too big – government says we have the smallest per capita in Canada.

So much for Tim Hudak’s “bloated government” claim. Now we know why we can never find anyone at the end of a telephone line – they aren’t there.

At 6:00 am, on the Eve of the New Year the Office of the Premier did us all a dirty and released the following list of Regulation and Fee Changes Coming into Force Jan. 1, 2014

Agriculture and Food: The Ministry of Agriculture and Food is amending a regulation under the Food Safety and Quality Act to clarify language in the regulation and make requirements more flexible while preserving food safety. In addition, amendments were made to exempt the following operations from requiring a meat processing licence:

Facilities that prepare food products that are not primarily meat-based, such as a pasta business that makes sauces with meat.

Handling of food regulations are being upgraded.

Businesses that only prepare lower-risk meat products and wholesale less than 25 percent or 20,000 kilograms of meat products per year – such as grocery stores.

Businesses that are primarily geared toward food service, such as restaurants or caterers.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food is amending a regulation under the Food Safety and Quality Act to change the way supplementary inspection fees are set out in the regulation and making them consistent with current practice for when to begin charging for supplementary inspection.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of the Environment are amending a regulation under the Nutrient Management Act to require signage that includes contact information to be posted at all regulated, mixed anaerobic digestion facilities (farm-based facilities that break down organic material to produce biogas that can be used to generate electricity, renewable natural gas or heat). The regulation number of the Building Code, which is referenced in the regulation, was also updated.

Attorney General: The Ministry of the Attorney General is amending a regulation under the Liquor Licence Act that will remove Ipperwash Provincial Park from the list of Ontario parks that bans alcohol on and around the Victoria Day weekend in May as it is no longer classified as a provincial park.

Paralegals will be able to take on more of the legal work in smaller matters.

The Ministry of the Attorney General is amending regulations under the Courts of Justice Act regarding court rules for civil, small claims and family courts to allow people to hire a lawyer for only a portion of a case, to allow paralegals to officially receive court documents on behalf of their clients, and to streamline various court processes.

Community Safety and Correctional Services: The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services is amending regulations under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act that will give fire officials the power to carry out at least one annual fire safety inspection in every regulated retirement home, long-term care home or other residence caring for vulnerable Ontarians. The change will also allow fire inspectors to conduct a fire safety inspection when a complaint or request is made.

Consumer Services:The Ministry of Consumer Services is amending a regulation under the Vintners Quality Alliance Act to allow “Moscato” and “Primitivo” to be used as synonyms for two grape varieties, bringing Ontario in line with other jurisdictions.

Energy: The Ministry of Energy is amending a regulation under the Green Energy Act to set new or enhanced energy efficiency requirements for 25 products such as water heaters, boilers, household appliances (refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers), televisions, fluorescent lamps, and small motors. The amendment also updates required references to test standards and allow manufacturers the option of complying with upcoming efficiency requirements prior to their effective date.

The original regulation also sets energy efficiency requirements for certain types of windows manufactured after Jan. 1, 2014, intended for low-rise residential buildings.

Regulations related to water heaters are being beefed up.

A regulation the Ministry of Energy previously amended under the Green Energy Act prohibits 100 and 75 watt incandescent light bulbs manufactured after Jan. 1, 2014, from being sold in Ontario.

Environment: A Ministry of the Environment provision in a regulation under the Environmental Protection Act comes into effect after Jan. 1, 2014, that will increase the number of collection locations for pharmaceuticals and sharps from 80 per cent of retail and pharmacy locations where these products are sold to 90 per cent in 2014.

In addition, the Ministry of the Environment is amending several regulations that will:

Add a French version of the regulation

Rename the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food

Rename the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation to the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment

Update references to the new Building Code and remove references to outdated or repealed acts

Finance: The Ministry of Finance is amending a regulation under the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act to update the list of dealership financing corporations that are exempt from licensing requirements. The list was out of date due to name changes, wind-ups, corporate reorganizations and entities no longer engaging in any activity that would require an exemption.

The Ministry of Finance introduced a regulation under the Pension Benefits Act to allow public and broader public sector pension plans to enter agreements that would give eligible members and pensioners who were affected by past government divestments the opportunity to consolidate their benefits in the successor plan. This process was previously unavailable under Ontario pension rules.

The Ministry of Finance introduced a regulation under the Pension Benefits Act to facilitate the restructuring of pension plans affected by corporate reorganizations (e.g. sale of a business, public sector divestments). It sets out the requirements to be met regarding funding, filings, benefit changes and disclosure to obtain approval from the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) for such a transfer. It is expected that this framework will ensure more efficient and timely transfers, while protecting the benefit security of plan beneficiaries. No similar framework existed prior to this regulation. Previously, asset transfers were made at the discretion of the Superintendent of FSCO. FSCO policy required exact replication of benefits.

The Ministry of Finance also introduced housekeeping amendments to an existing regulation to reflect the pension-related regulation changes. These amendments implement changes that give the Superintendent of FSCO discretion, if circumstances warrant, to extend deadlines for certain filing requirements, to add flexibility to the transfer process.

Ontario amended the Employer Health Tax Act to increase the employer health tax exemption from $400,000 to $450,000 of an employer’s annual payroll for private-sector employers or groups of associated private-sector employers. The exemption will be eliminated when their annual payroll exceeds $5 million. Registered charities, at all payroll sizes, will be able to continue to claim the exemption.

Health and Long-term Care: The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is amending a regulation under the Health Protection and Promotion Act to change the term “regional veterinarian” to “director”, consistent with recent changes made to the Food Safety and Quality Act.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is proclaiming into force a provision in the Nursing Act to authorize registered nurses (RNs) or registered practical nurses (RPNs) to dispense drugs on the order of a physician, dentist, chiropodist, midwife or nurse practitioner. This change will recognize RN and RPN competencies regarding dispensing a drug by clearly saying that dispensing a drug is within the scope of practice of nursing.

Nurses will be permitted to dispense drugs on instructions from a doctor.

The College of Nurses of Ontario made a regulation under the Nursing Act to clarify that a RN or a RPN who is authorized to dispense a drug may not delegate that act to another person.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is bringing in a regulation under the Independent Health Facilities Act and amending a regulation under the Local Health System Integration Act, 2006 to allow Independent Health Facilities to receive funding through the Local Health Integration Networks.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is amending three regulations under the Health Protection and Promotion Act to refer to the current version of the Ontario Building Code.

Labour: The Ministry of Labour is bringing in a regulation that changes the method that the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is required to use to calculate its assets for the purpose of reporting its sufficiency ratio. The ratio measures whether there are sufficient funds to meet the WSIB’s future projected claims payouts.

Municipal Affairs and Housing: The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is amending regulations under the Building Code Act to:

Building code revision come into force,

Ensure specific requirements are met for care facilities such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities and retirement homes licensed under the Retirement Homes Act. It complements amendments made to the Ontario Fire Code that require retrofits to provide sprinklers in existing care facilities and retirement homes

Correct minor technical and administrative errors in the 2012 Building Code and revise references to standards in regard to wood-burning appliances and exterior insulation and finish systems, as well as heating, cooling and ventilation systems

Ontario is amending nine regulations under the Environmental Protection Act, Ontario Water Resources Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Health Protection and Promotion Act to ensure references to various Building Code Regulations refer to the new 2012 Building Code.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is amending regulations under the Planning Act to give more municipalities local planning approval authority. The amendments would:

Provide 20 municipalities across northern Ontario and Pelee Island with approval authority for plans of subdivision that allow for the creation and sale of multiple lots

Provide eight municipalities across northern Ontario with consent granting authority for the creation and sale of one or two lots

Allow four municipalities in northern Ontario to exercise their authority to validate title to a property and to exercise a power of sale of land

Provide clarification of exercises of power of sale to one municipality in Ontario

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is amending a regulation under the Housing Services Act to require municipal service managers to provide annual progress reports on their 10-year housing and homelessness plans to the public and the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is amending a regulation under the Housing Services Act to update the Household Income Limits and associated High Need Income Limits for social housing.

Natural Resources: The Ministry of Natural Resources is amending two regulations under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act that will:

Let people follow rules outlined in regulation to hunt raccoon at night, or fox, coyote and wolf during the day, and allow the release of chukar partridge and ring-necked pheasant that were imported or bred from stock imported into Ontario

Make aquaculture-related licences valid for the length of time specified on the licence, where currently the term is only set out in regulation, and clarify that operators of aquariums open to the public and at educational facilities do not need an aquaculture licence but must follow rules outlined in regulation

The Ministry of Natural Resources is establishing a new regulation under the Public Lands Act that will let people follow rules outlined in regulation to relocate rocks on shore lands, dredge shore lands that were previously dredged, remove limited amounts of native aquatic plants in areas other than the Canadian Shield, and remove invasive aquatic plants. People will also be able to register with the ministry and follow rules outlined in regulation to maintain, repair and replace existing erosion control structures and to construct or place and buildings on a mining claim.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is amending a regulation under the Endangered Species Act to identify protected habitat for the bogbean buckmoth, four-leaved milkweed, Fowler’s toad, Laura’s clubtail, queensnake, and rusty-patched bumble bee, update the description of protected habitat for the pale-bellied frost lichen, and make administrative changes to the existing regulatory provisions for the American ginseng, redside dace, barn swallow, wind facilities, and butternut. The changes will also update language by replacing multiple definitions of the term “land classification for southern Ontario” with one definition.

Office of Francophone Affairs: The Office of Francophone Affairs is amending a regulation under the French Language Services Act that will designate Collège d’arts appliqués et de technologie La Cité collégiale, Sudbury East Community Health Centre and St. Gabriel’s Villa of Sudbury as agencies that provide services in French. These organizations asked to be designated as agencies that provide services in French.

Seniors Secretariat: The Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat is bringing into force sections of the Retirement Homes Act, 2010 and its regulation to further safeguard seniors living in retirement homes. These provisions include:

Making police background checks mandatory for staff and volunteers before they work in the home

Putting a formal complaints process in place within the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority (RHRA) including a new independent Complaints Review Officer

Making additional expense insurance mandatory to ensure retirement homes can cover the costs of residents’ accommodation and care during most emergencies

Making Emergency Fund payments available to current and former retirement home residents for eligible costs in the event of an emergency that disrupts services and/or their accommodation at the home

Appointing an independent Risk Officer to review and assess how effectively the RHRA is administering the Retirement Homes Act

Allowing the RHRA to conduct inspections in response to retaliation of threats against whistleblowers

Transportation: The Ministry of Transportation is amending two regulations under the Metrolinx Act to allow municipalities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to continue sharing the costs of GO Transit’s growth and expansion and collect development charges to offset them until Dec. 21, 2016.

The following fees come into effect on Jan. 1, 2014:

The Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Ministry of Labour, will introduce a new fee to charge 20 per cent to an employer to recover wages owed to an employee under the Employment Standards Act. This provision already existed, but was not enforced until now.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is amending a regulation under the Line Fences Act that provides a process for neighbouring landowners to resolve disputes about fences on property lines. The amendment will increase the fee to file an appeal from $50 to $300. The fee will be indexed to inflation and adjusted every year.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is amending the Building Code to:

Increase the application fee for Building Code qualification examinations from $80 ($70 online) to $150.New fees will also be established for Building Code Commission applications ($170) and requests for Minister’s ruling authorizing the use of innovative products, systems and building designs ($560). The Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be applied on the Building Code Commission application and Minister’s ruling fees going forward.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is increasing fees for the hunter education exam from $5.71 to $10 and the hunter education manual from $18 to $20 to support delivery of the Hunter Education Program.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is increasing fishing licence fees and hunting fees for Ontario residents and non-residents. The amount of the increase depends on the type of licence purchased. The increases range from 25 cents for a Resident One Day Sport Fishing License to $10 for a Non-Resident Moose Licence. Fees charged for hunting and fishing licences are used for fish and wildlife management purposes only.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is increasing fees for car camping in provincial parks by $1 to cover increased costs for utilities such as electricity, fuel, sanitation, maintenance, waste management, enforcement and wages. Fees for off-season rental of some provincial park lodges and staff houses will also increase depending on the location and range from 75 cents to $2.75 per person, per night.

Tour bus fees in Niagara Parks to be raised.

The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport is amending the Niagara Parks Act to update annual fees that have not changed since 2006. These include fees for sight-seeing vehicles, such as motor coaches that regularly make two or more trips a week and whose itinerary has been approved by the Niagara Parks Commission. The changes are as follows: Class 1 from $100 to $250, Class 2 from $150 to $375 and Class 3 from $45 to $50. Guide licences will increase from $50 to $65.

The Ministry of Transportation is increasing permit, registration, validation and plate fees as follows:

Registering an off-road vehicle (for example, an all-terrain vehicle) will increase from $36 to $37

Registering a trailer (which includes the permit, plate and one-time validation) will increase from $40-$46

A replacement permit and number plate for a trailer (in the case of loss or destruction) will increase from $23 to $26

Registration of Off the road vehicles fee to be raised by $1. That’s it? Why bother?

Range for a 10 day special permit, which allows vehicles to be temporarily exempt from Ontario registration when travelling in Ontario, will now be $20 to $175. The previous range was $17 to $152. Vehicles requiring special permits could include commercial vehicles and trailers and vehicles purchased at authorized auto auctions

Range for validation for farm vehicles will now be $107 to $848. The previous range was $93 to $737

Registering a motorized snow vehicle will increase from $31 to $32.

Just over a day left to make your United Way contribution if you want the tax return for 2013.

December 30, 2013

By Staff

BURLINGTON, ON. Has all the wrapping paper been cleaned up and put out for the waste collection people? Are the toys, the ties and the bright socks that are always bought as gifts tucked away? Are the kids out on the hills sliding around on the new boards they got or out on the ice with new skates or just any skates for that matter?

For those sensible enough to stay home and avoid the bargain Boxing Day prices for things you really don’t need, today is a day to realize that you did put on some weight and you survived another season. As long as you’re not in retail or a hydro line worker or a forester you got some time at home with family and friends or making phone calls or perhaps exchanging photographs with distant family and friends via the internet.

There are in Burlington tens of thousands who will remember the days when you had to book the long distance call you wanted to make; some people even dressed up to listen to the Queen’s Christmas message. Those were distant days and different times.

One of the things that is not part of the past – it is still very much with us today – and that is family who do not have enough. There are children who got one or two gifts and a Christmas meal that was adequate but the plates definitely were not heaping.

From the left: Lisa Hepfner, Leslie Stewart from CHCH and Sunni Genesco of KLite wrapping gifts for Burlington Mall shoppers

Each year the United Way holds a Gift Wrapping event at the Burlington Mall where they bring in local celebrities who cheerfully wrap a gift you bought.

Each year, Burlington’s MP, Mike Wallace makes the rounds of the Senior’s homes and has a gift wrapped at the Mall. This year Commie Smith happened to be on hand to adjust hit Christmas tie for him and wrap his package.

Wallace enjoys making the rounds. He tends to take a laugh into each room he walks into – although this year he got a bit of a jolt when one female senior told him he had worn the same time last year.

Connie Smith adjusts MP Mike Wallace’s Christmas tie at the United Way gift wrap counter at the Burlington Mall. Expect to see Wallace in a newer tie next year – at least one senior told him she had seen it the year before.

The Gift Wrapping service is one of many events the United Way holds to draw attention to its annual fund raising drive.

One of the advantages for United Way donors is the tax receipt – but if you want to use that deduction on your 2013 tax return – you’ve got a bit more than a day to send your dollars winging towards the United Way. Through the magic of technology and the internet you can make a donation – a sizable one if you don’t mind – with just a couple of clicks.

Scoot on over to the United Way web site – make your donation and bank that tax receipt – and take some satisfaction know that you are helping fund 130 different programs that 65,000 people in the Burlington Hamilton community reply upon.

That puts a little bit extra in the giving column.

Ray Rivers looks at 2013; saw scandal, corruption, a new Pope and a political leader who will expand our smoking choices.

December 30, 2013

By Ray Rivers

BURLINGTON, ON. There is no question that Rob Ford was Canada’s newsmaker of the year. The chief magistrate of Canada’s largest city, by his own admission, smoked illegal substances and hung around with criminals and drug dealers. He lied to everybody about these and other nefarious activities, and then was forced to apologize ever so insincerely when his back was up against the wall. His antics have made him and his city an international laughing-stock.

2013 was, indeed, a year of scandal and corruption. Montreal’s city hall, arguably, was worse than Toronto’s, though not nearly as colourful. Then there was the Senate fiasco. Stephen Harper’s political maneuvering of Duffy, Wallin, Brazeau and Wright came back to bite him. The pawns doing his bidding were cast aside with the Machiavellian flare of which he is so capable. T he king doth protest too much, me thinks.

The country seemed to experience one calamity after another. Oil cars running along railway tracks totally out of control.

This was also a year of calamity. Call it global climate change or not, 2013 had its share of extreme weather events, including the worst flood event in Alberta’s history, more flooding in Toronto, deadly and record tornado activity in the US and Australia, and finally southern Ontario’s Christmas ice-capade.

The damage to north Burlington was nowhere near that of Quebec’s Lac Megantic – ours had a certain beauty to it.

The federal government, in an unprecedented action, allowed a tycoon to steam his oil-laden train with only a single operator, contributing to the loss of downtown Lac-Mégantic and the deaths of many of its residents

Edward Snowden claims the title of international news maker for 2013. Ironically granted refuge in near-totalitarian Russia, his revelations of US (and Canadian) Orwellian spying activities will secure his place in history as a hero for freedom and the right to privacy. Iran started talking to the rest of the world this year, and agreed to temporarily halt its nuclear program. Syria has agreed to allow the US and Russia to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile. And Russia has shown uncharacteristic tolerance in releasing our Greenpeace activists and its own Pussy Riot punk band members in advance of the winter Olympics.

Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.

Baby George has brought the promise of renewal to the Royal family and, though less regal, I was blessed with a new granddaughter this year. Ontario’s Alice Munro won the Nobel prize for literature, making her Canada’s greatest living writer. The global economy continued to slowly recover as Europe dug out of the Euro zone crisis, and the worst Congress in US history narrowly avoided another economic meltdown.

Kathleen Wynne inherited Ontario’s Liberal leadership, and with it a very messy legacy from her predecessor. Her abilities and demeanour have become assets in dealing with the gas plant fiasco, a dysfunctional City of Toronto, and a public sector that places its own financial well-being ahead of the public interest.

The new pope Francis brought a breath of fresh air and hope to a religion on the path to eternal irrelevance. The Supreme Court struck down dated laws which had made the oldest profession one of the most dangerous. Justin Trudeau announced his party’s policy to legalize marijuana, following the lead by the US states of Washington and Colorado. Quebec’s PQ government has opened a bridgehead in the fight for sovereignty with a ‘social values’ charter, as a complement to the decades’ old language law in that province.

And then there were the rest of us. The devastation of the ice storm just a few days ago has been met by an even greater force – the unsung heroes in our community. Whether it be the tireless power workers, coming from across the province to turn our light back on; my favourite Milton Councillor who emailed everyone she knew and opened her heart and home to them in their time of need; or a dear friend who directs a non-profit organization committed to housing needy seniors, spending his holidays tending to their needs in the wake of the storm and its aftermath.

Is 2014 going to be a great year for Burlington, for Canada and for the world?

2013 – We didn’t experience one of those – what an improvement for the better events, but we managed to keep ourselves afloat. I’ll come back with the view I have from my perch on what 2014 could do for us.

Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.

Who serves on city council and how did they get there. You could be there – think about it.

December 28, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. The holiday Season is often used as a time of year to look both back at what you managed to get done and forward to think about what you would like to get done.

Family, finances, career and whatever you have in your bucket list that gets at least some thought and attention.

Think career for a bit – how is yours going? Promotion perhaps? What about a total career change?

Some of these Council members may not get re-elected. Two already have candidates who have announced they will run against sitting members. Of the seven there is just the one that is rock solid; all the others could be beaten if the right candidate came along.

Does public service have any interest for you? Do you see yourself sitting as a member of city council? Think about it. Many people work for corporations that are civic-minded enough to see a person leave the company for an extended period of time and serve the community and the return eight years later in a new capacity.

The larger corporations like the idea of having someone return with a deep understanding as to how local government works. Well just what is local government and what role does a council member play.

Lots of reading is something you would be doing a lot of – and the opportunity to think through real problems that need solutions. Local government needs people with some business experience and a capacity to see the larger picture. Burlington currently has a very significant infrastructure deficit – there are miles of roads that are going to have to be re-built in the not too distant future and we don’t have the money to pay for that work right now.

If your current background is in marketing – see the city’s problem as refurbishing an existing product that is essential but has a tired worn out look. How do you convince your customer base to go along with a price increase?

We took this …

… and replaced it with this. Was this good planning?

Burlington has to grow its population. It may not be something many people in the city want to see happen – but the province has ruled that our population is to increase. Developers see those decisions as an opportunity to buy up older properties that have a single small bungalow on a large piece of land and assemble them into a single property on which they will build housing that will be home for a larger number of people.

This is what city building is all about. Seven young Burlingtonians made plaster impressions of their hand prints which were then engraved on the marker that tells the story of the pier and its construction. Despite its construction woes and legal problems the pier is a magnificent addition to the city.

When this kind of development takes place the decisions a city council makes results in a different look to the city; more congestion if you will. What a council is really doing is “city building” – which when you think about it is pretty exciting stuff.

The planning department works with the developers to come up with the best design and use of land but the final decision is made by city council. You are in that seat making decisions on the kind of city that your children and their children will eventually live in. You are making decisions on where your parents will live when they decide to move out of that big house they no longer need and can’t handle into something that is smaller and more manageable.

If you check the city skyline you will see those tall construction cranes at construction sites – many of which are locations for new retirement homes. They aren’t what they used to be. The baby boomers are approaching retirement and they are going to do that part of their life differently – and why not, they did everything else differently. In Burlington, your city council is wrestling with a couple of retirement residences that make a lot of sense when you look at them carefully – but they represent change which isn’t something we human being handle all that well.

The managing of differences is a large part of being a council member. Politics is all about finding a balance between the various interests and having the strength of character to listen, discern and make decisions that benefit the community at large. Read up on the differences between various groups who live along Lakeshore Road and don’t want their road clogged up with runners for half a day once a year. The city loves the 4000 plus people who come to the city for that day and spend major dollars. Is it too much to ask a group of residents to give a bit so a major event can take place? Some certainly think so. What would you do were you a council member and had that one dropped into your lap?

It was the biggest event of the year for the city. The Pier finally opened. Most people love the place – but there are still some legal problems. Is the Pier likely to become an election issue?

The city is involved in some extensive costly litigation related to the pier. Would you want the public to know how much is being spent on legal fees? Two of the seven members of this current council have come out publicly for telling the public – the others want to wait until the various court cases are over. What would you do? These are not minor matters. As media people we believe that an informed public can make informed decisions. We also believe that it is vital for the democratic process we use to choose our leaders be one that consistently brings in new people. We have two council members who have been in place for more than 20 years each. Of the seven in place now three were newly elected last election. Some people are cut out for public service others are not. Fortunately the public gets to decide on who should stay and who should not be returned.

It’s pretty tough stuff at times – but it is what makes the city you have chosen to live in work the way it works. Poorly run cities depress the value of property and they become places people choose not to live in.

Becoming a Council member means you face a pretty steep learning curve. You are not just a member of city council but you are also a member of the Regional Council. You will work some nights. Better like people.

The money isn’t bad – you will earn something a little over $100,000 and have an assistant to help you do the job. You will have a territory – see it as a sales territory with a quota – you want to keep at least 50% of the customers happy so you can be returned to office. Promise the community you will serve two terms – no more – then stick to the promise.

Is it something you would like to do? Log into the city’s web site, rummage through the various documents and go through the Burlington Gazette archives. The council you will read about needs some new blood and there is nothing more satisfying than truly serving your community.

Thicken up your hide – no room for the thin-skinned in this game. If you want better local government – be part of it. And if you decide to file nomination papers – let us know right away – we want to tell your story.

Background:

No place for the thin skinned.

7 parks – 7 perks; no Hoopla New Years Eve: Conservation closes everything except Glen Eden – they lower some prices.

December 29, 2013

By Staff

BURLINGTON, ON. Darn – it was a good idea – it’s still a good idea but it isn’t going to happen for 2014

The New Year’s Eve Hoopla held at the Mountsberg Conservation Area has been cancelled.

All Conservation area parks – except for Glen Eden – are closed until January 2 due to damage from the ice storm.

Time to look for something else to do on the eve of the New Year.

Silent solitude – snow on snow. Why would anyone want to leave this for Florida?

The good news from the Conservation people is that the fees for 2014 which includes annual memberships, daily fees, group camping and picnic rentals and fees for education programs at Crawford Lake and Mountsberg Conservation Areas.

The price of a Halton Parks individual membership is being reduced from $90 to $50; while the Halton Parks family membership remains at $115 (plus HST).

The other notable fee change will see Daily Entrance fees at the recreation parks (Hilton Falls, Kelso, Mt. Nemo and Rattlesnake Point Conservation Areas) increase by 25 cents across all categories.

The rates at the Education Parks, Crawford Lake and Mountsberg, are staying the same – $7.50 Adult, $6.50 Seniors and $5 for Children.

The Conservation Authority has taken on some marketing expertise and come up with a catchy new marketing name: 7 Parks, 7 Perks

There are two types of Halton Parks Memberships available, individual and family, with discounted pricing of 15 per cent off the rates available for Seniors age 65 years and over. A family membership will admit all the people in the vehicle who are traveling with the family membership holder. Your Halton Parks Membership includes the following perks:

Special member-only invitations and discounts for select Conservation Halton lectures, workshops, and events
One complimentary Friends and Neighbours special day pass for you to share
15% discount at Mountsberg and Crawford Lake gift shops
15% discount for rentals, including boats, skis, snowboards, and snowshoes
15% discount for camping and picnicking sites
Monthly eNewsletter and eBlasts
One complimentary 2-for-1 lift ticket to Glen Eden.

It’s there – out at the edge of the horizon – the CN Tower.

And that is about as much as you ever wanted to know about the parks the Conservation Authority operates. For people new to Burlington – a trip to Mt. Nemo and a walk up to the lookout where you gaze east and realize that you are higher off the ground that the top of the CN Tower which can be clearly seen. It’s worth the couple of bucks the ask for at the gate.

All Conservation Halton Parks closed until December 27th , Glen Eden scheduled to reopen December 26th – Boxing Day

December 24, 2013

By Staff.

BURLINGTON, ON. All Conservation Halton Parks and Glen Eden are still without power at the end of Monday the 23^rd. Due to the loss of electricity in the area, our staff’s ability to communicate via phone and email is limited at this time.

Great snow – most hills are open

Glen Eden will remain closed from December 23 to 25 and is scheduled to reopen on Boxing Day (December 26). Anyone who has missed programming, such as Lessons or Rentals, will be provided with other options.

All other Conservation Halton Parks will remain closed on December 24th, 25th and 26th. They are scheduled to reopen on Friday, December 27. Please note that the parks may have limited services available when they reopen, and they may not all open on the same day – we will post updates.

Special Note Regarding Cancellation of Christmas Town

Unfortunately the remaining Christmas Town programs for December 23 and 24 are cancelled. Staff will offer full refunds as well as provide other options to all our customers who were scheduled to attend on these days. We apologize for this cancellation; however we are unable to offer a quality experience without electricity.

Important Trail Safety Notice

Conservation Halton’s seven parks are also closed for safety reasons as the trails may be treacherous or have downed trees and limbs from the ice storm. Conservation Halton staff are inspecting the trails and doing any necessary maintenance.

We strongly advise everyone to stay out of the parks and off the trails until we are able to safely reopen. Users are also advised not to access trails under ice-covered trees and avoid trails until further notice on other lands that conservation Halton own/manage. These include all seven primary Conservation Areas – Crawford Lake, Hilton Falls, Kelso, Mount Nemo, Mountsberg, Rattlesnake Point and Robert Edmondson – as well as Clappison Woods, Waterdown Woods (Waterdown), Wildflower Woods (Oakville), 16 Mile Conservation Area (Oakville/Milton) and Carlisle Conservation Areas.

It can be very dangerous out there under the current conditions.

Is a sole source contract the only option for delivery of a service? Apparently so. More transparency from the contractor perhaps?

December 19, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. Does a sole source contract fit in with the values of an organization like BurlingtonGreen? Would one not expect a higher degree of transparency from leaders with a strong moral ethic?

Should one expect to see a fully detailed financial statements of the funds BurlingtonGreen (BG) gets and has on hand? And should the public they ask to support them financially get a better look at their financial statements? How much of the BurlingtonGreen funding actually comes from dues paying citizens?

The city is negotiating a two-year sole provider contract with BurlingtonGreen bu the public knows nothing about the finances.

We expect our city Councillors to tell us how they spend the expense allowance they are given and to post the receipts on the city website – but we don’t call for BurlingtonGreen to do the same. Why not?

This issue came to the surface when, at a Standing Committee meeting, Councillor Craven was talking about the plans to add additional community gardens to the existing, and very successful Central Park operation one might add, run by Burlington Green.

The staff report being discussed has BurlingtonGreen as the sole provider for services that could reach $50,000 a year; Councilor Craven commented that he wasn’t all that comfortable with just the one provider being considered.

BurlingtonGreen is the strongest advocacy group in the city. They have put Burlington on the may environmentally.

A number of years ago BurlingtonGreen applied for a provincial grant to open a community garden that is now tucked in behind the Seniors’ Centre north of New Street. In order to get the grant BG needed the city with them as a partner. It took some fast footwork but BG eventually go the city to make the needed contribution as an in-kind offering – the city put in the fences and did the early prep work on the plot of land that has 29 individual garden sites that are rented out for $50 a year.

The city is committed to the idea of community gardens. It had to decide which of several delivery models it would use. The possibilities were: Community based operations; operations handled by a service provider and operations run and delivered by the city. The BG community garden program was designed to be a resource for other community groups that wanted to start a garden.

The official opening of the Central Park community garden. It was a pivotal point for BurlingtonGreen that wasn’t evident at the time.

The provincial grant covered the administration costs and an individual was hired to do the work. We don’t recall ever seeing a “public” call for someone to do the job. It was just given to the person that did all the work to get the grant. Were city hall to do something like that – there would be howls of derision – some of which would come from BurlingtonGreen.

BG has an Executive Director; a very competent individual. We assume this is a paid position but the public has no idea how much the Executive Director is paid. That figure should be a public number and the public should know as well the length of any contract in place.

We don’t have a problem with BurlingtonGreen as an organization. But we do have a problem with the level of transparency they have chosen to settle for.

We covered the BurlingtonGreen AGM recently. They had a very good speaker. We did not hear anyone talk about the financial affairs of the organization nor did we see any financial statements set out on the information table. We covered the previous AGM and was told later that the financial information was not public

There is a cardinal rule for organizations that accept as much as a dime in the way of public funding – the kimono is thrown wide open; the public gets to see everything. It’s called accountability.

The Central Park community garden has been so successful that the city decided to look for ways to do more of them. It developed several models to meet the different situations that were presented.

A group in the Francis Road part of the city wanted a garden but there was a problem getting access to the water needed. Rather than installing a municipal water source at a cost of between $25,000 and $30,000, the city is working with RealStar Property Management who have offered a water source for the community garden. The cost to design and construct the community garden will be $21,500.

In September 2013, ward 3 Councilor John Taylor provided Parks and Recreation staff with correspondence from residents, along with 64 signatures, requesting consideration for a community garden in Amherst Park. Preliminary discussion with the Taylor suggests the group doesn’t wish to form as an organization to administer and operate the garden.

It is becoming clear that there is an interest in community gardens and that the Community Development policy that includes leisure services has merit. Determining how best to actually deliver on the policy is where some thinking has to be done.

City staff along with significant input from BurlingtonGreen has resulted in three different models.

Michelle Bennett checking out a community group model garden in the east end of the city.

Community Group based: An identified group willing to deliver a community gardens leisure service as guided by the Community Development Policy. This model has the group handling the administration and operation of a Community Garden.

The group would work directly with city hall for any help they might need in getting started. There are groups within the city that have been around for some time and operating quite well. The city’s Community Development/Leisure Services Policy was designed to encourage additional groups to come forward and develop new gardens. The objective is to have community gardens in every ward in the city – at least in the urban parts of the city.

The Service Provider model is considered when there is an identified group or organization willing to deliver a community gardens leisure service as guided by the Leisure Services Policy. This approach would be considered when the local community just isn’t able to take on the administrative tasks, may not have the expertise or local leadership to get a project off the ground. At this point in time there is just the one service provider – BurlingtonGreen.

City Direct Operation is an approach used when there isn’t an identified group or service provider willing to deliver a community gardens leisure service as guided by the Community Development Policy or Leisure Services Policy.

This is a situation where the city finds itself in the business of delivering a service that can often best be done by others. It is not likely to be a service we will see much of, especially at a time when the city is looking at everything they do and asking the question: Is this a service we should be providing? The answer to the question will be heavily impacted by where the money to pay for the service is going to come from.

BurlingtonGreen has done much of the early stage work; were it not for their initiative in getting the provincial grant and convincing the city to work with them – there wouldn’t be much, if anything, in the way of a community harden program. That was the purpose of the provincial grant they were given. They developed an on-line registration process to receive gardener’s requests and conduct a lottery to award garden plots then manage the waiting lists. Many of those people became volunteers.

The city reports they did not receive any negative feedback from the 118 applications for the 29 plots that were available in the first year.

BG collected the fees and provided the city with revenues which was used to offset the cost of municipal water. They recruited and trained volunteers. In the first year: 41 adults and 7 children volunteered an estimated 274 hours of time to garden operations. They also pulled in approximately $3,690 was provided through gifts in kind and funding.

BurlingtonGreen provided day to day oversight of the Central Park community garden ensuring adherence to the user agreements and regulations. No reported incidents of conflict were reported, suggesting BG were effective in conflict resolution. They were the primary contact with gardeners handling day to day inquiries, conducted gardeners meetings and website updates. BG proved they could be successful in establishing effective communications with the gardeners.

As the moves forward with its Community Development/Leisure Services Policy the costs have to be considered. Working with the three models it has been estimated that the costs for various numbers of sites would break out as follows:

OptionsPresented	(2- sites)	(3-sites)	(4-sites)	(5-sites)	(6-sites)
Option 1-CommunityGroup Based	$3,410	$5,500	$6,800	$8,900	$10,200
Option 2-Service Provider	$31,610	$36,075	$40,175	$45,575	$49,425
Option 3-City Direct Operation	$17,660	$20,378	$22,306	$25,536	$26,967

BurlingtonGreen’s responsibility for the Central Park community garden concludes at the end of 2013. The current budget and capital impacts of continuing to administer, operate and build new community gardens will be part of the 2014 budget.

That pilot was a success, primarily attributed to the administrative efforts, oversight and program provided by BurlingtonGreen. In particular staff believes a presence on site made a significant contribution to the success.

Considering the options in the context of the Community Development/Leisure Services Policies, the following were considered in providing the recommendation:

A group is currently not identified to operate the Central Park garden as a Community Based model

The Warwick-Surrey Community organization have indicated they don’t have the capacity to operate the proposed Francis Road garden under the Community Based model

There is a service provider (BurlingtonGreen) that is interested in providing the service of community gardens

The BurlingtonGreen proposal includes program elements that may not be considered necessary to administer and operate the community garden

There is merit in negotiating the scope of the tasks and costs of working under the Service Provider model with BurlingtonGreen to meet the city’s requirements

The city now wants to consider BurlingtonGreen as a sole source provider within the Strategic Alliances Policy that is in place to establish, maintain, or enhance partnerships with external agencies to ensure a cooperative approach to service delivery.

Does the city want to continue with this model?

City staff recommended the Service Provider model for administering and operating the existing and future Francis Road community gardens for the next two years. They did so for the following reasons: The model is consistent with Community Development/Leisure Services policy; it provides oversight that limits staff requirements along with guidance and customer service. Staff was confident that an appropriate scope of tasks and costs could be negotiated with BurlingtonGreen and that any agreement provides an opportunity to work with other groups who might want to operate under the community based model

The recommendation had BurlingtonGreen as a single source provider, which is where Councilor Craven voiced his concern. Right now BurlingtonGreen is the only known group that can provide the service the city is looking for and so city staff asked that Council authorize the Director of Parks & Recreation, Manager of Purchasing and City Solicitor to negotiate and sign a sole source agreement with BurlingtonGreen to provide a service to administer and operate city community gardens for the 2014 and 2015 seasons with an option to extend the term of BurlingtonGreen’s services.

If acceptable terms cannot be reached with BurlingtonGreen, staff will request Council authorize them to administer and operate the Central Park and Francis Road community gardens for 2014 and 2015 season, through the City Direct Operation model for the 2014 and 2015 current budgets.

This allows staff to operate the existing garden and undertake the process of Community Development to increase the opportunity of community groups coming forward to operate community gardens. If community interest is not evident, Parks and Recreation will conduct a Request for expressions of interest to provide the service of community gardens for the 2016 season.

The Central Park community garden was a success because of the site oversight of BurlingtonGreen. It is now clear that an organization with the experience and commitment to community gardens is needed. What is also needed is an organization with a commitment to transparency. BurlingtonGreen has yet to show that kind of a commitment.

Background:

The seed of an idea is planted.

Community garden opens.

Finally a reason to go to the Farmer’s Market in the downtown core. Province wants you to buy Ontario wines at these markets.

December 16, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. The provincial government has been popping out media releases faster than most rabbits give birth to little bunnies. The latest has some interesting potential for the small but growing Farmers’ Market that operates during the warm weather on John Street just in behind Centro.

Imagine – maybe a couple of Ontario wine tasting tables set out at the Downtown Farmer’s Market. Province says it could happen.

The province wants to make it easier for consumers to choose Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) Ontario wine by expanding the LCBO’s new “Our Wine Country” destination boutiques and allowing VQA wines to be sold at farmers’ markets through the renewed Wine and Grape Strategy.

I’m certainly on for easier access to provincially grown grapes and I really like the idea of a couple of those wine tasting stations being set up at an outdoor market.

Is that man on the right about to become the chief sommelier at the Downtown Farmer’s Market next Spring. That would be an achievement.

The province is throwing $75 million at a Wine and Grape Strategy to help the sector grow. That chunk of change is spread out over five years. There is going to be a Wine Secretariat to be a one window point for discussions between the province and industry and identifying ways to reduce red tape to help make grape growers and wineries more competitive.

The winery’s would certainly like the LCBO to be at that window and make their lives a little easier.

Ontario has significant winery developments in the Niagara Peninsula, Prince Edward County and Lake Erie North Shore.

Ontario’s wine and grape industry contributed an estimated $3.3 billion to the province’s economy in 2011.

Background

Chef’s battle it out at Farmer’s Market.

Farmer’s Market move to a Sunday schedule.

Skating pond at Spencer Smith Park opens this Friday afternoon.

December 12, 2013

By Staff

BURLINGTON, ON. All that cold weather we have been experiencing will begin to pay off for us Friday afternoon.

The pond at Spencer Smith Park will open at 4:00 pm where the skating is free to everyone.

Pond opens to the public Friday afternoon.

The pond is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. with patrollers working on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The holiday schedule includes:

Christmas Eve, December 24^th : 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

CLOSED Christmas day

New Year’s Eve December 31^st 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

New Year’s Day January 1^st 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Please remember that you must wear skates to be on the ice and children 6 years of age and under must wear a helmet.

You can call the Pond hot line for ice conditions – 905-634-7263 or visit the web site for temporary closure information, updates on pond conditions.

Leblovic’s manage to get at least a part the hearing they’ve wanted on the Chilly Half Marathon route.

December 12, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. They weren’t exactly made welcome at the city council Monday night. At one point it looked as if it was going to be just the one person speaking about the Chilly Half Marathon that is run on Lakeshore Road every March.

Diane Leblovic was before city council to follow up on her Standing Committee delegation over the route used for the Chilly Half Marathon that runs along Lakeshore Road every March – some 4000+ strong.

A popular race that brings thousands to the city; Unpopular to some of those who live south of Lakeshore Road.

Ms Leblovic had asked if the Marathon portion of the Festivals and Events could be deferred to a date she was available and Council agreed to do so. Last night was to be her opportunity to deliver some additional “significant” information. It wasn’t going to be quite that easy for Ms Leblovic.

The list of delegations had three names of people who were to speak about the Marathon which is not the way Councillor Dennison saw things playing out. He took the position that it was Diane Leblovic who asked for the deferral and it was Diane and Diane alone that was to speak.

That brought out the liberal in John Taylor who was close too aghast that a city council would limit the right of a person to delegate to their city council.

Much toing and froing on that issue with the Clerk being brought in to read through the various pieces of correspondence and the decisions made at previous council and Standing Committee meetings. Taylor managed to get in several Points of Order and told Council he was going to challenge the Clerk’s decision. Mayor Goldring finally brought the matter to a close: Diane Leblovic, her husband Nick and Donald Belch were to each get their five minutes at the podium.

It was worth listening to; both the Leblovic’s dumped on just about everyone.

Diane was there to tell Council that the concerns they had raised were valid and that changes to the marathon race were both possible and reasonable without affecting the integrity of the event..

Ms Leblovic reminded council that on May 21^st, Council, without prior notice or discussion, reneged on its earlier commitment to hold a public consultation on this event.

Ms Leblovic explained that their group needed to clearly understand the reason for this unexpected reversal of position. She asked the Mayor to meet wither and he did so along with Councillor Dennison on May 28^th.

As race directors, the VR Pro people are good at their job. Working with difficult situations – perhaps not as good.

At that meeting Mayor Goldring said he had been told by Kelly Arnott, a principle in VRPro, the company that organizes the race that they were about to get a new name sponsor for the event and that the sponsor, who turned out to be Trillium College, would not sign on if there was going to be a public meeting or any controversy relating to the race.

It was at that point that an offer was made, according to Diane Leblovic, for another meeting which would involve the Mayor, Councillor Dennison, Kelly Arnott and Peter Peebles, a staff member who knows the most about setting up this kind of race event.

Ms Leblovic said she had two concerns with any ‘next’ meeting. She apparently didn’t like the idea of an “open agenda which would permit consideration and discussion of all aspects of the race”. Ms Leblovic sent the Mayor a list of proposed agenda items and the Mayor provided a detailed response in which “he either rejected or put limitations on many of our suggested agenda items”.

The second issue was to determine the reason for Trillium’s sensitivity over a public consultation about the race. Ms Leblovic explained that her husband Nick, who was to delegate later, called the president of Trillium College and learned that the College had never heard of the Leblovic group and their efforts to have a public meeting held and denied ever putting pressure on VRPro.

The cat was now out of the bag.

Ms Leblovic explained that the working group was “very unhappy with the outcome of these two events and “concluded that any meeting would be a waste of time” – it would allow the Mayor to “check the box” saying he had met with the group and “that would be the end of the discussion”.

Ms Leblovic wasn’t done yet.

“We are deeply disappointed that the Mayor and four members of Council and city staff supported a process that was flawed and unfair and that there was an appearance of favouritism to a for profit private business over the legitimate concerns of residents which Leblovic underlined by telling Council that Kelly Arnott was the first name on the list of delegations and should have been the first person to speak at the Standing Committee meeting but “I have it on good authority” she said “that Councillor Sharman who chaired the meeting directed the Clerk’s office to move Arnott’s name to the bottom of the delegation list thus giving her an unfair, tactical advantage to listen to and rebut the presentations of prior delegations.”

Ms Leblovic still had more arrows in her quiver. She advised the Council meeting that Councillor Dennison sponsors the Chilly Half Marathon and that his place of business is used for another VR Pro event.

More yet: Ms Leblovic told Council that VR Pro sponsors the Healing for Woman’s Cancers of which Kelly Arnott is the race director. The race, according to Ms Leblovic benefits Breast Cancer Support Services whose Chief Executive Officer is Blair Lancaster. Councillor Lancaster had advised the Mayor at the beginning of the Council meeting that while she did not believe she had a conflict of interest she was nevertheless not going to take part in the debate and would not be voting on the matter. And she didn’t.

Wow! Diane Leblovic had done her homework and did a very impressive scorched earth exercise. Council had yet to hear from her husband Nick.

Nick and Diane Leblovic have been “players” in the political life of the city for some time. Diane served on the school board of trustees and Nick was the chair of the Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee created by former Mayor Cam Jackson as the city was heading into the 2010 municipal election.

That committee had its life cut short when city council sunset the thing in December of last year. At the time it didn’t look as if that committee, which many felt wasn’t all that effective, was going to have anything in the way of a legacy. Some of the material they pulled together on possible uses for the Beachway Park and the excellent work that was done by Les Armstrong and his sub-committee on public access to the lake and the Windows on the Lake program, proved to be useful during the debate on the waterfront property on Lakeshore Road between St. Paul and Market streets. The city has not heard the last of that matter.

Of the two, Diane Leblovic is the better speaker but the lawyer in Nick Leblovic came across strongly when he pointed to what he called a fundamental flaw in a report put out in 2009 when the race was being proposed. At that time, according to Nick, the report had the eastbound lane of Lakeshore Road closed for 90 minutes – from 10 am to 11:30 am. while the race was run. Leblovic released email that confirmed this information and added “as we all know now the eastbound Lakeshore road has been closed each year since 2010 for between 4 and 4.5 hours” – which Leblovic maintained was not some kind of a “rounding error” but it almost 300% longer than estimated.

Leblovic wanted to know: “How did this occur?” Was it incompetence? Or was there a subsequent change to the event that required a significantly longer closure period? Or was the time intentionally underestimated in order to get the new route by Council?

“Given the size of the discrepancy” asked Nick “one would have thought this issue would have been raised in the post-race evaluations…”. Nick Leblovic could find nothing in any of the documents he was able to read.

Leblovic asked some leading questions: “Would you have approved the route change in 2009 if the report had contained an estimated closure of Lakeshore Road east of over 4 hours rather than 1.5 hours?”

Nick wanted Council to do two things. Find out why the 1.5 hour race time grew to 4 hours and require than in future Lakeshore be closed for no more than the 1.5 hours in the original plan.

The length of time Lakeshore Rod as closed is not the only issue for the Leblovic`s and their working group. The Community Care access organization (CCAC) people who meet the care needs of people who are unable to get out f their homes for the care they need, work to very tight schedules. They drive from location to location with next to no wiggle room in the schedule. Nick Leblovic pointed out that there are people who have to go without the care they need for a full day because the CCAC people are not able to double back to drop in on a person just because the road id closed.

Leblovic maintained the one situation they brought forward was not an isolated one and that there is a high concentration of seniors in retirement homes and multi-residential buildings in the east end. Like most lawyers Nick was able to see the potential liability to the city were someone to suffer an injury because their care givers were not able to get to their residence. “You are now on notice of this problem and cannot ignore it” he intoned.

Nick had one last suggestion for Council: “One obvious solution would be to eliminate the back and forth aspect of the race which would permit a normal traffic flow along Lakeshore during the race.”

They come by the thousands.

Well that didn’t happen. Council which had approved all the other Festivals and events at a previous meeting – they had agreed to defer a decision on the Chilly Half Marathon to meet the interest of the Leblovic’s – voted to proceed with the race based on the route used in the past. Councillor Lancaster had advised earlier that she would not be voting on the matter. Mayor Goldring, Councillors Sharman, Dennis and Craven voted to follow the Staff recommendation and keep the race route for 2015. Meed Ward and Taylor voted against the Staff recommendation. It was a recorded vote – expect Meed Ward to use that as she campaigns for re-election in Ward 2 and sets herself up for a run as Mayor in 2018.

In comments made before the vote Meed Ward was passionate about what the Leblovic’s had had to put up with and applauded them for having the courage to come back to Council again and again to argue their concerns.

What we did learn was that the Ms Leblovic met with City Manager Jeff Fielding who is apparently going to arrange a meeting with Arnott and Ms Leblovic – that should be fun after the mudslinging Ms Leblovic did in her delegation.

Why this issue has ended up on the City Managers desk does raise several serious questions. The Lakeshore residents had real issues that needed to be dealt with. One cannot hold people hostage in their homes while several thousand people run a race.

Yes, the date of the race is known well in advance, and the average person should be able to make other arrangements but there are people who are not average in that part of the city; there are people who have special needs.

Imagine for a moment there were e death that a Coroner’s Inquest decided was preventable if a care giver had been able to get to a residence. Do you want to guess how fast that race would be cancelled forever and would you like to guestimate what the lawsuit might be?

The city has general managers who have direct oversight over how the various departments work. It does not require a degree in rocket science to figure out ways to get help to people who cannot leave their homes or who have other sound reasons for being able to get out of their streets that are on the south side of Lakeshore Road.

Someone at city hall hasn’t been doing their job on this one. The race is a hugely popular event, brings in thousands of visitors who spend their money in the city and has to be hugely profitable for the race organizers. Good for business and good for the city – now find a way to manage the problems of a small group of people. It’s just a matter of better communication and being sensitive to the real needs of people who need help. .

At the same time let us not see a situation where the genuine needs of a few people are used as a ruse to bring to an end an event that benefits thousands because a neighbourhood does not want to give up a portion of one day in the year.

Last Council meeting for the year – another kick at marathon route and hidden in the agenda is a potentially big tax increase.

December 8, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. It will be the last time this city council meets this year. Along with the usual reports from the Standing Committees there is an item that was deferred from the last Council so that a delegation can appear to urge the city to re-review the decision to have the Chilly Half Marathon run along a different route.

Nick and Diane Leblovic delegated at the November 13 meeting of the Community Services Committee.

After considerable discussion on November 13^th the Standing Committee decided to stick with the staff recommendation which was to continue to have the race run along Lakeshore Road. The Leblovic’s provided extensive written material in the form of a petition, emails and letters. Councillor Meed Ward put forward an amendment to the Staff Direction that would create a committee to “organize discussions between City Staff, VRPro and members of the Lakeshore residents working group to consider changes to the Chilly Half Marathon to, among other things, minimize the negative impact of the race on Lakeshore area residents.”

It is a hugely popular event. It takes place on a Sunday morning every March – and it is in all probability going to take place in March of 2014 along Lakeshore Road.

It was pretty clear at that meeting that city staff saw no need for a meeting with any working group – they had done their homework and advised city council Lakeshore Road was the best route.

The Meed Ward amendment was defeated and at that point the Leblovic’s left the meeting. Discussion on the issue however continued during which time Mayor Goldring mentioned that he and Councilor Dennison had offered to meet with the Leblovic’s but that they were turned down. In their request to have the vote on the Chilly Half Marathon deferred the Leblovic’s said the took exception to “the Mayor’s action in making this statement after we had left the meeting. The Mayor could have raised this issue in questions to me which would have provided me with an opportunity to provide important background and context to his statement.”

The Leblovic’s went on to say “the Mayor failed to disclose significant additional information concerning to an earlier meeting with him and Councillor Dennison and to related discussions and communications which took place during May and June of this year.”

The Leblovic document went on to say that: “ If the Mayor had made his statement when questioning me I would certainly have provided this additional information in my responses which would have provided a clearer and more complete understanding of the positions of the parties and the reasons for the decisions that were taken.”

What one wonders is why this “significant additional information” was not given during their 10 minute delegation.

City staffs were very clear in their recommendation – the Lakeshore Road route was the best location for an event that draws well in excess of 4000 people.

It was evident that more attention needs to be given to handling the individual problems that crop up. Some people have care givers that need to be able to get into their property – surely such situation can be managed.

The Leblovic’s said the “actions of the Committee in having this debate in our absence is not only un-parliamentary, unfair and inappropriate but provides a limited and one-sided picture of the events and circumstances in question.” They asked that the final vote be deferred – and it was. That final vote will take place Monday evening at which time there is no reason at this point to expect anything other than to see the Staff Recommendation approved.

The Chilly Half Marathon dates are known close to a year in advance; it should be possible to organize one’s personal life to accommodate a major sports event. New Street gets shut down for several hours every year for the Santa Claus parade and some people are locked in – admittedly not as many as during the marathon.

A slight change of subject:

The current council set itself a goal of not more than a 10% tax increase during their four-year term. For 2011, 2012 and 2013 the total tax increase on residential property amounted to 8.65% – this included the hospital levy.
When you add in the 4.66 that is a preliminary projection to that total, citizens are looking at a 13.31% tax increase over the four-year term. That is going to take some explaining as this Council heads into an election year. The preliminary numbers were in a report on “economic drivers” discussed at a Council Standing Committee last week.

Council meetings at times appear to be a races to get through the Standing Committee reports. Within those reports are some critically important documents that need both public attention and discussion. There are problems on the not so distant horizon that need attention.

The report from the Committee of the Whole that met on Thursday will get all of two minutes – but tucked inside that document was the suggestion from the city manager that Burlington residents could be facing a 4.66% tax increase in 2014 – which would blow the promised 10% increase for the term of this council right out of the water.

The significant seven are heading into an election year and this is not something they want to talk about – not at this time.

Is ward 1 shaping up to be a hot race before nominations are even opened? Could Councillor Craven be in trouble?

December 8, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. “Talk about a one issue candidate” was the first comment I got when I asked a colleague what she thought of the announcement Katherine Henshell made of her plans to run for the ward 1 council seat in the October 2014 municipal election.

Many see Henshell as a Beachway community advocate who owns property in that part of the city and didn’t like the plans the Region made to eventually buy up all the property and turn every square foot of the space into a park.

Henshell published an idea to turn another part of the city into a park and set out a decent social and economic argument for turning a piece of property into a place where people could observe the birds that call Royal Botanical Gardens home. What some didn’t realize was that the piece was a very tongue in cheek poke at the current ward Councillor – the land Henshell was suggesting being turned into a park was the home of Councillor Craven.

Katherine Henshell trudging along to a practice on a Saturday morning.

The idea managed to get some traction in other media – the Toronto Star carried the story and a friend suggested to Henshell that she should run for Council. That planted the seed that has a woman who is a mother with a 15 month daughter, a lawyer with an active practice, a regular hockey player as well as a Seminary student gearing up to run for public office.

Henshell once played as goalie – she now plays defense. Now wants to run interference on city council

A native of Sault St. Marie Henshell has been active in sports all her life. Highland dancing, volleyball, basketball – anything physical had her out of the house. When she graduated from high school it was straight into university and then on to graduate work. Henshell wasn’t sure if she wanted to do religious studies or law. The legal profession won out. It was while she was studying law at Osgoode – York University – that she decided to live with her sister who lives in Burlington that she got to know this city.

It would be reasonable to describe Henshell as competitive and probably a type A personality. During her high school sports years she played at the all Ontario level in several sports.

She appears to be a joiner as well. Active in both the Burlington and Hamilton bar associations Henshell served on the Regional Crime Prevention committee where “we talked quite a bit about appropriate behaviour for young people today”. For Henshell it is about being responsible for your own behaviour. Her view that “We each have responsibilities we need to meet, budgets that we need to live within” comes through very clearly. Politically Henshell describes herself as conservative but she has not been active politically.

What she does appear to have is an incredible energy level and a capacity to soak up ideas quickly. It doesn’t take Henshell long to drill right into an idea and ask questions.

If she doesn’t understand something – she asks questions. Actually she doesn’t ask questions – she peppers a person with questions.

Henshell doesn’t come from a family of means. As a kid she didn’t get to enjoy the trips to Disneyland – when she and her husband were first married they took a trip to Disney in Florida. “No kids” she said “we didn’t have any yet.”

There are no pretensions to this woman. What you see is what you get.

Henshell seems to be able to connect with people easily. Why politics – why now – and is she a one issue politician?

Weekends and some evenings on an ice rink keep the mother of a 15 month old with an active law practice in shape.

Henshell wasn’t comfortable with her delegation to city council. “I had the sense that they weren’t listening and their understanding of the “willing buyer/willing seller” line the Region was using made absolutely no sense. The people in the Beachway are being robbed of the opportunity to earn the 5% to 7% annual appreciation of their property that most people in Burlington realize. They are being held hostage by a set of rules their municipal government put in place – Henshell wonders how many other situations where people are not being treated fairly by city hall.

This woman will be a formidable candidate. The race in ward 1 will not be a cake walk this time around for Councillor Craven. He might want to take a close look at the provincial seat should there be a provincial election before there is a municipal election.

Background:

Henshell proposes new park for east end of the city.

Free parking downtown was for customers – not for staff. Parking lots full before stores and services were open.

December 4, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. Isn’t working out quite the way it was supposed to.

The people who work on making downtown a better place for shoppers worked very hard to have December be a FREE parking month within the downtown core. The belief was that people objected to paying for parking when it was free at the malls – so they made all of December a free parking month in the downtown core.

The city came up with a really smart promotional piece that set a great tone. The city even advanced the free parking plan by a day to tie in with an additional marketing program that was brought to the city by the Yellow Pages people.

So – how is it working so far? Are people coming downtown in droves to shop? They must be – you have to look to find a parking spot – especially at the Brant and Elizabeth street parking lots.

On my way to a Standing Committee meeting at city hall when there are usually dozen of spaces available I had to drive around to the far side to find a space. There were six spaces left in the Elizabeth lot. Great I thought – then I paused – it’s just 9:10 am – no one is downtown shopping yet.

The plan was to have the parking spaces as free for shoppers – not for the merchants or service providers on Brant Street.

I picked up my car at just after 4:00 pm – the lot was still full but I’d walked along Brant and there was not much in the way of street traffic. Then I figured it out – the people who work downtown were using the parking lots – they could stay there all day and not spend a dime. The people from the Buzz barber shop had figured that out and obviously a lot of other people as well.

Brian Dean, General Manager of the Burlington Downtown Business Association (BDBA) figures the people working downtown knew the rule was a two-hour limit on the street so they would park in the lots. Someone needs to have an up close and personal; one-to-one conversation with the people who work downtown. Use the parking garage on Lotus. There were 120 spaces available when I passed the building at 3:20 pm.

For retail and service provider staff to use popular parking lot space for personal reasons is akin to shooting yourself in the foot. A lot of work has been put into making downtown an attractive, welcoming place to shop. Free parking was meant for the people they want to attract.

Santa was there, the kids lined the sidewalks and snow at least hinted that it was in the air.

December 2, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. The weather worked – you could see your breath when you exhaled. The rain held off but that little flutter of snow that would have made it a ”real” Christmas parade just didn’t appear. Other than that I t was fine 48^th annual Christmas parade through the streets of Burlington.

This time there were live animals as well – ok so they were a pair of bedraggled looking ponies – they were there.

This picture sums up the season. It is about a birth.

Do you know how cold that pavement was?

There is a reason for the season – and it isn’t shopping until you drop or your credit card gives up. A Christmas Eve service at the Performing Arts Centre.

What do you call it – a bi-directional vehicle? It was quite the thing to watch the way the cab got steered.

The Rocca Sisters cosponsors sign at the head of the parade told of the shift in who is putting up a good chuck of the money – there are still Rotary noses that are out of joint; justifiably so one might add. It will take a bit of time to unravel that mess and perhaps make changes to the parade’s organizational structure.

Its official when the Town Crier comes marching down the street – Santa follows.

A standard in any parade for kids.

Other than that all the “usual suspects” were in place. The city’s Town Crier led the event and the Old Boy himself brought it all to a close.

Lots of hot chocolate consumed after this parade.

Miles-Goldring exhibits at the Seaton Gallery while hubby trudges the streets looking for loose coins.

December 2, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. It was her third show in her career as an artist. This time Cheryl Miles- Goldring was exhibiting the work that came out of her trip to Newfoundland last summer. Water, particularly steams and falls, are a challenge for the artist but she clearly caught the sense of the out ports that are bed rock of Newfoundland cultural history. There is something about a clothes line with items flapping in the breeze that has Newfoundland written all over it.

Everything about Newfoundland somehow gets summed up in a painting of a clothesline flapping in the salt air wind.

Miles-Goldring has a tendency to create small triptychs. She has done this in the past to wonderful effect and did it again with her Newfoundland collection.

Earlier in the week we crossed paths with the Mayor and asked how he was going to cover both the Santa Claus parade and be at the exhibit on Sunday – they were being held on opposite sides of the city. “I know where my responsibilities lay” said the Mayor who added that the parade is not something that requires his attendance. Well he got that one wrong – the Mrs. made it clear that the Mayor will be in the parade and he can scoot over to the exhibit when his day job is done.

We saw the Mayor at close to 3:30 in the afternoon trudging along James Street with Burlington Old Timers Hockey League paint can collecting donations within sight of city hall. It was going to be a bit of a dash to get to the Seaton Gallery out by RBG before the exhibit ended.

The Seaton Fine Arts Gallery has created a space where artists can hang their work during exhibits. Teresa Seaton, head honcho of the gallery does her stained glass work in the gallery as well.

The work that Miles – Goldring does is always shown at the Art in Action Studio Tour but is has a greater reach than just art shows and the walls of the people who buy her art.

Miles – Goldring makes small prints of some of her work and has ‘hasty notes’ made up with some of her art on the front.

As you can imagine her art adorns a large portion of the walls in the Mayor’s office as well. There is a tradition in the municipal world for small gifts to be given to visitors who call on the Mayor in some official capacity. Miles-Goldring came up with the idea of giving the Office of the Mayor a selection of framed prints and boxes of hasty notes that he could give as gifts to visitors. She pays for the framing and the printing and keeps meticulous records should anyone even suggest she is being paid for the gifts. The pity is that Miles-Goldring feels she has to keep records at all. If she said she pays for the work done that should be more than enough.

The Friends Wall featuring the Cheryl Miles-Golding Outport Tour collection.

The exhibit at the Seaton Fine Arts Gallery seems to be part of an initiative to make that location the place to exhibit local and visiting artists. The announced closure of the Artists Walk in the Village Square doesn’t leave too many locales for artists. The Village Square by the way is no longer for sale – was it ever really for sale?

What baffles many is the difficulty in booking the Fireside Room at the Burlington Art Centre. We hear far too many artists complaining about that problem. Is it just a scheduling problem?

For Miles Goldring the question is – what will she schedule next?

Ward councillor introduces fashion line into her campaign. Is she declaring? Yup – she says she’s in for another round.

November 29, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. Every Council member does everything they can to meet with their constituents. They take telephone calls, the use email and every other communications tool they can find. While I’ve yet to see a member of this Council walk around wearing a sandwich board – you never know.

Smart politicians create a brand for themselves – Lancaster, who has always had a smart sense of style, appears to have gone for the “red bag look”. Might work.

Members of Council hold meetings in their wards and they go to events. The Mayor has gone to more than 300 events so far this year. Meed Ward holds what amounts classroom sessions in Ward 2 while Jack Dennison holds meeting at the sports club her operates n a room with a fireplace and bowls of popcorn set out.

Last weekend the Alton Campus opened and we wondered when the Ward 6 council member would hold a meeting in the spanking new campus. It didn’t take long – Blair Lancaster invited her constituents to meet with her in one of the community rooms.

There she was, patiently waiting for someone, anyone from the community to show. After waiting for an hour a constituent did show up. We left at that point.

Started as a model and kept the ability to talk to the camera.

Lancaster explains that in Alton people are busy, they are commuters and they have families to feed – and she added, she did meet a lot of people at the Campus Open House.

Lancaster finds that she gets an audience when there is an issue an on at least one occasion she has had people lined up outside a meeting room waiting to get in.

Each council member has their own style, approach and relationship with their Council member. John Taylor gets a good turn out from what is to a large degree a rural community. His meetings are almost like a crokinole game being held in a church hall. They know him, they like him, they respect him and they trust him.

Former model charms reporter into showing her latest fashion statement.

Lancaster is still working out her relationship with her ward – with Alton being as new as it is it will take some time for them to get to know her and her to get to know them.

With an election less than a year away – Lancaster does have her work cut out for her in Alton. She has a Carol Singing event planned for the middle of December – the 16^th – but wait for confirmation on the date and time. Hot chocolate and cider are on the menu.

Background:

John Taylor’s type of ward meting:

Free parking and yellow bag promotions – but ya gotta have a bag and you have to shop to get one.

November 28, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON. The city advanced the FREE PARKING in December by a day to give the downtown merchants a chance to get it on the Black Friday craze.

This year – look for this decal in the windows of stores in the downtown core.

if you were a member of the BDBA attending the Awards night – you didn’t get to leave without a couple of dozen yellow bags to use as part of the shop the Neighbourhood promotion. Jenn Walker – head of the Marketing Committee hands them out.

The merchants in those stores might put your purchase in a small yellow shopping bag. And, if you choose to stroll along Brant Street swinging that bag someone might approach you and pop a small gift item into your bag.

The downtown merchants have used special shopping bag promotions in the past. Last summer we all got to see BDBA General Manager Brian Dean in shorts that must have been on sale somewhere.

It’s part of the Burlington Downtown Business Association’s Shop the Neighbourhood – a promotional tie in with the Yellow Pages people who piloted in Oakville recently. Shop The Neighbourhood is an initiative of Yellow Pages Group (YPG), a company with a century-long legacy of working with Canada’s small businesses, helping them attract customers and contributing to the growth of local economies.

BDBA has done this sort of thing in the past – quite successfully.

This season with free parking for all of December the major push on the part of city hall to get people downtown adding an additional promotional consideration won’t hurt.

It’s a one day push – the idea is to get people to be downtown and not be ticked off with having to pay parking.

Burlington has let itself get charmed into that free parking at the malls – which isn’t free but rather a cost built into the rent merchants in mall locations pay.

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