 November 28, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It was a natural! With a men`s clothing store and a golf tournament – you can just imagine how wild the guys are going to get with those brightly coloured trousers.
 Scrivener’s and Jeff’s Guy Shop organized a golf tournament that raised $55,000 for the hospital. This was their 3rd tournament. Women can wear bright colourful clothing almost any time they wish – men get stuck with the blue suit – with stripes if you think you`re really important, and maybe a snappy tie, but that`s about it for the guy side.
Mix in a golf tournament fund-raiser for the hospital – and you add another $55,000 to the $60 million the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation has to come up with.
Scrivener`s, the more sedate side of clothing men and Jeff`s GuyShop have raised a total of $135,000 during the three annual golf tournaments they have sponsored.
 November 28, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It has been a banner week for BurlingtonGreen. They held their annual meeting, installed a very strong board and heard a stirring story about how a quarry proposal in Dufferin County was defeated. Later in the week after a very bumpy ride through several Standing Committees they got a sole sourced agreement with the city to continue developing the community garden concept that has done so exceptionally well.
 Gloria Reid, on the right with her husband – a welcome addition to the BurlingtonGreen board. Let’s take this one step at a time: The new board is made up of: Todd Mooney, Gloria Reid, Neil Sentanie, Vanessa Warren, Ken Woodruff, Chuck Bennet, Colin Brock, Susan Fraser and Paul Haskins who will serve as president.
 Vanessa Warren will add to the already impressive delegation skills BurlingtonGreen takes before various levels of government. BurlingtonGreen has become the go to community organization you want to be part of in this city. This year two of the impressively active community leaders joined the board: Vanessa Warren who formed the Rural Burlington Greenbelt Coalition that brought the landfill dumping in north Burlington to a grinding halt when she delegated to Burlington and Regional Council and Gloria Reid who brought some impressive thinking to the creation of a Community Engagement Charter. We wish Ms Reid had stayed with that project and gotten it out of the clutches of the upper reaches of city hall where is will suffocate from the dust on the shelves it sits on.
The BG AGM brought in Donna Tranquada to talk to them about the successful effort to stop the application for a quarry permit in Melacanhom Township which is north of Caledon and south of Collingwood.
 Monte Dennis in conversation with BurlingtonGreen guest speaker Donna Tranquada. Dennis was part of the Pickering airport battle more than 25 years ago. He could tell Tranquada some real horror stories. What was really interesting and odd was that Ms Tranquada made no reference to the PERL success with the Nelson Aggregate fight – that win paved the way for the change in the way the public reacted to any expansion of quarries and their development . The Nelson win was the first time a quarry looking to expand was turned down. The Food and Water First people knew a good thing when they saw it though: they had Sarah Harmer out to their events as well
 Donna Tranquada had a great story to tell. A year to the day of the BG AGM, a group that was formed to protect thousands of acres of farmland from a planned massive quarry operation learned that the company had withdrawn its application to develop a quarry. It took more than a year to beat back the proposal put together by an American, Boston-based hedge fund, that was buying up property in the township.
When that company began buying up farm land they said they wanted to create a large, world-class potato farming operation. Property by property they told farmers what they were doing and got to the point where they had purchased more than 30 farms. “It didn`t take long” Tranquada explained “for word to get out in that rural community that something was going on.” The company, called Highland had been incorporated in Nova Scotia, and had begun using pressure tactics on some of the holdouts – meeting with farmers and putting a cheque for more than $1 million on the table and saying the offer was good for just 24 hours. The community began to get uneasy.
Then came the announcement: Highland had filed an application with the province for the largest quarry in Canadian history on some of the best farmland in Ontario and at the headwaters of five river systems. The mega Quarry would have sprawled across 2,316 acres and would have plunged 200 feet below the water table on a 15,000 acre plateau of Class 1 farmland. The massive open-pit limestone quarry would have put rare agricultural soil and precious water resources at risk in Melancthon Township.
One of the studies showed that the quarry would have to pump out 600 million litres of water a day forever. You had to be in the room when Tranquada used the word forever. She is a bit over 5ft 5 inches and she literally spit out the word.
 You start with a great location for a public gathering. Donna Tranquada`s talk was “meat and potatoes” for the protest movement crowd – it was a crowd like this that stopped the Spadina Expressway in Toronto; that stopped the extension of the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto through the Beach community and parts of Scarborough. The same demographic stopped the first attempt to put in an international airport in Pickering.
When Burlington was threatened with a highway being rammed through the Niagara Escarpment close to 400 people showed up at the Mainway Arena on Walkers Line – and the province eventually backed off. The province will have another go at an Escarpment highway and it will take a different generation to fight that battle.
The Melancthon Township battle used ideas that pulled together the interests of the rural communities with the needs of the urban dwellers – then used food as the bridge between the two.
Chefs from Toronto and other urban centers made soup, thousands of bowls of soup that was both a fund-raiser and the way to connect farmland where food is grown and the stomachs of the people in cities who have to eat. The event became known as SoupStock and it drew crowds in the tens of thousands.
It was a magnificent collection of ideas and dedicated people who showed once again that the public can prevail. Highland had employed one of the biggest public relations companies in North America who knew they were up against a public that was driven and focused – rarely can that kind of energy be beaten.
 That draws great crowds. Tranquada said that on one Saturday there were 40,000 people who dropped into a large park in the east end of Toronto to hear the story about the quarry application. If you believe in an idea and you can get your troops out – you can prevail.
Burlington has a fight on its hands that is critical for the city and relevant to every municipality that has a small airport and problems with landfill sites. While many expect the city of Burlington to prevail through the several levels of appeal that can be expected of the decision that decided the city had the right to have its site bylaw adhered to, the bigger question is – what des the city do with that property once the Court issue is resolved. There are hundreds of tonnes of landfill in the more than 100 + acres of property and a runway that is in the process of being paved.
Tranquada, surprised some people who asked where they could get one of the signs that she had with her. “I just have the three “she explained – “that was all I was able to carry on the subway and the GO train. A high-profile media personality trudging from Toronto to Burlington on the GO train is what they call “waking the talk”.
Tranquada is now part of a group that goes from community to community with the message: “There aren’t a lot of victories these days, but the mood-altering blocking of the monster quarry in Melancthon Township in potato country a year ago was a brilliant model of how to get stuff done. The alliance of urban ecos, farmers, foodies and chefs showed the power of partnering, bridged the messy city-country divide and ultimately triumphed over a Boston-based hedge fund… Plus, it made the point with the mass soup-athons, that protests can be jubilant and very digestible – and that determination and positivity are our best weapons.”
 And those crowds sign a petition – and with public reaction like that – the company wanting to quarry prime farmland withdraws their application. With the farmland in Dufferin County saved, the group, known as Food and Water First, decided to get to the real core issue which was the Aggregate Resource Act – it sets the rules for the extraction of aggregates. Turns out Ontario has the weakest regulatory environment governing resource extraction in Canada, enabling anyone to pillage the very resources Ontario needs to drive parts of its own economy.
The Food and Water First people have taken the position that the aggregate producers require a “social license”, that is the permission of the wider community, to do what they do. That concept will be hard for some of the old-timers in the industry to digest but it is a changing world – Global Warming is real and both food and water will become the most critical elements of our society continue to exist.
There is legislation and policy that govern the activities around resource extraction in Ontario. The Ontario Sand, Stone and Gravel Association (OSSGA) chose to push for keeping things as they are instead of helping to create a document that would lessen rural strife and have them become a responsible corporate partner. OSSGA members will continue to be challenged by communities in which they want to do business and will have to defend their businesses. Instead of doing better and voluntarily recognizing that prime farmland and source water regions should be off-limits, OSSGA has clearly belittled the efforts of thousands of Ontarians who have so reasonably engaged in this policy development process. The public at large will continue to withhold that social license until there is modernized legislation.
Nothing in the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) review document would prevent another Mega Quarry application tomorrow, destroying forever thousands of acres of our most productive farmland and putting the control of unbelievably vast amounts of Ontario’s fresh water in danger.
Food and Water First wants to see new legislation that recognizes prime farmland as a strategic provincial resource and protect source water regions by eliminating industrial extraction in those regions.
These social activists believe that as an engaged public, both urban and rural, we have had all kinds of assurances from MPPs that the thousands of people had been heard. Now is the time for those MPPs to act, not just speak.
A productive board meeting; the story of a community action that saved precious farmland – and the week wasn’t over. BurlingtonGreen went on to get the city behind their community garden project – but that’s another story.
 November 28, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Ray Rivers will not be with us this week. He will be on stage at The Pearl Theatre in Hamilton as part of the crew performing Modern Times, Almost a Musical.
The production is described as – these are their words not ours – Lost souls, smart phones, unattended packages. Saints, sinners, and an angel on call. Original music performed by Charly Chiarelli and Venesio De Salvo. Drama provided by Ray Rivers, Mike Queripel, John Darling, and Kaime Woody Sherman. Written and directed by David Laing Dawson. Produced by Gallery on the Bay.
A play that asks the question, “Is it possible to love Rob Ford and Mike Duffy at the same time, and, if not, well, who wants that last piece of pumpkin pie?”
Sounds like a bit of a lark for sure. If you’re a Rivers fan – and there are a lot of them – attend. If you’re not a fan and there are a lot of those as well, attend and throw buns on the stage. It’s all happening at The Pearl in Hamilton
 November 26, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Diane Leblovic is not happy with Mayor Rick Goldring and gave him a piece of her mind in an email that was part of the City Council agenda Monday evening.
Diane and her husband Nick have been protesting the running of the Chilly Half Marathon along Lakeshore Road in March of each year because the race prevents a lot of people from getting out of the streets they live on that exit onto Lakeshore.
The Leblovic’s delegated as a tag team along with a half-dozen other Lakeshore residents – not everyone was opposed to the race being run along Lakeshore.
What had Lady Leblovic in a snit was comments the Mayor made after she had left the room. The discussion on the use of Lakeshore road for the chilly Half Marathon was still taking place but the decision that was going to be made was pretty evident so they packed up their papers and left.
 There were at least 3336 runners last March running close to the Oakville border and back. And just as many will be there in March of 2014 Mayor Goldring was not aware that the Leblovic’s had left the Council Chamber. It borders on unreasonable to leave a meeting at which your reason for being there is still being discussed and then later taking exception to comments made by the Mayor.
The Mayor did say that he had offered to meet with the Leblovic’s and when he realized they had left the Chamber he stopped talking. Mayor’s Goldring’s response was fair and decent. For Ms Leblovic to suggest the Council’s behavior was “unparliamentarily, unfair and inappropriate “ and that their not being in the room “provided a limited and one-sided picture of events and circumstances” is stretching things.
The Chilly Half Marathon delegations took up more than two hours when it was abundantly clear that staff had looked at the options and come to the conclusion that Lakeshore Road was the best place for the race.
In her email to a city hall staffer Ms Leblovic asked that the matter be deferred to the December 9th meeting because they will be “out of the country on the 25th for an important and long-standing personal commitment.”
 They just keep on coming – and making Burlington one of the most popular racing events in the province. The recommendations made at the Standing Committee were approved by Council – the Chilly Half Marathon will take place in March of every year for the foreseeable future.
Council approved a policy that has staff automatically approving events that take place each year. If a matter goes to a Standing Committee – it will be because staff felt something should be brought to the attention of Council.
The Leblovic’s can now plan for an event early in March of 2014 and arrange to be out-of-town. They could also walk part of the race or follow the lead from the Pastor of the Lutheran Evangelical Church and be out on Lakeshore road offering fresh fruit to the 5000 + runners.
Additional news stories on Chilly Half Marathon debate.
2013 race video
Standing Committee delegations
 November 25. 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. A city hall with a sense of humour? We didn’t see that when a resident sent in a proposal that would turn a Council member’s home into a park – but that’s another story.
 For the month of December you will be able to park here free and then for every Saturday during the year. Sound of Music week as well? Downtown Burlington has had a problem with parking and decided to change the channel and get people to focus on the downtown experience and forget about the parking.
To get people into this new way of looking at the parking issue the city decided there would be no cost to park downtown for the month of December and once we are into the New Year there will be no cost for parking downtown on Saturdays. That’s good news – the trick now was to get the news out.
Someone out there came up with the idea of doing a short video – it is a hoot. See for yourself.
Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward got herself all worked up when she said: “You asked for it; we delivered: Park FREE in downtown Burlington on street and in city lots/parking garage for the month of December, and every Saturday starting in January. Free parking starts one day early this year, Sat. Nov. 30, in time for Black Friday and Shop the Neighbourhood events.”
Let’s see if it makes a difference. Will free parking get you downtown? Will the merchants along Brant Street decorate their stores this year – few did last year – and make it an experience. The price for the parking is right – now let’s see what the Burlington Downtown Business Association does with this new tool to draw the good people of Burlington into the downtown core.
 November 25, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Oh dear, that was embarrassing. Brand new sign, new buildings, one of which is a high school and the wording on the sign has a mistake. Ouch!
 The sign installation wasn’t completed until just after 3:00 am the day of the public opening. How long will it take for someone to spot the error? We missed it – a reader brought the mistake to our attention. That will get fixed; perhaps someone will be told to sit in the corner and write out the word welcome 1000 times.
The credit for this “expose” belongs to Allan Harrington, who by the way. Has on more than one occasion pointed out some of our spelling mistakes. Don’t you just hate people like that?
 November 25, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. This Saturday the place was wide open. The complex of buildings in the Alton community: a high school, recreation centre and library that are stitched together into one long structure, held their public opening and even though we saw the first bit of snow in the afternoon the crowds were more than decent in size and the kids were all over the place – along with their parents, some of whom looked lost at times.
 Two dozen people donned custom T-shorts to greet the more than 1000 people who walked into the complex on opening day for the community. The politicians were out in full force. Chris Haber, the man who paid big bucks to have his name put on the building had settled into a table and looked like he was going to set up shop.
 New signage makes the complex official. Kids of all ages were in the gyms, the library was filled with people and there were a couple of dozen people on hand to show you around and ask questions.
 These three were prepared to give volley ball lessons to anyone who walked into their gym. Three young girls wanted to teach me how to play volley ball – they were pretty good players themselves – it was that kind of day – everyone just had the run of the place.
Snappy signage was in place – we were told that some of it got the finishing touches at 3:00 am in the morning – but there were in place with flags snapping away in the brisk breeze.
People were setting in nicely and in time the complex could and should become more of a community centre. It badly needs a coffee shop and having a small Post Office in the building would be a real convenience for the community.
The complex is the responsibility of the three organizations: Board of Education, Library Board and the city’s parks and recreation department – which means there has to be an oversight committee in there somewhere.
 Alton has a very rich diversity that results in a cultural mix some schools don’t have. It would be interesting to see how much that group is prepared to stretch the envelope and make the location a place where all kinds of services are available. Could some of the Regional Services be available in the complex. The police currently have a presence in the building and there are a few commercial services in the building.
 There are computers sprinkled throughout the library with units equipped for young users. One would expect the ward Councillor to begin holding community meetings in the space. Could the theatre be made available to drama groups that need a place to practice and perform? Great place for a film club! The objective should be to use the complex as a safe place for students to grow and play as well as a place for their parents to be at in the evenings.
On Saturday a coffee shop would have been a welcome addition.
 November 24, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It is fast becoming the focal point – the place to see new and interesting art in this city. There was a time when the Village Square held that title but ever since Teresa Seaton opened up her stained glass gallery on Spring Garden Road, a stone’s throw from the RBG, the centre of gravity in the art world has worked its way west.
Seaton was smart enough to create a large wall that she calls the guest space where she displays the works of local artists who have new work that needs to be displayed, seen and sold.
Seaton was one of the founders of the Art in Action Studio Tour that just completed its 11th successful season. The event is a must include if the arts in this city mean anything to you. If you do decide to take in the Studio Tour – always the first weekend in November – allow a full day.
 Cheryl Miles Goldring’s “Still Waiting” to be shown at the Fine Art Stained Glass studio on Spring Garden Road Next Sunday, December 1st, Seaton will be featuring the work of Cheryl Miles Goldring, an artist that we have watched grow over the past couple of years. Last summer she and her husband spent some time in Newfoundland. Cheryl is married to THAT Goldring, the one that wears the Bling around his neck at city hall. We thought the Mayor would be calling on different Mayors on the Rock but there was apparently time for Cheryl to spend some time at different docks in that province.
 An earlier Goldring piece shown during the Studio Tour. This is the first time we have seen any of her work that was seaside/water based – it will be interesting to see more of her work and appreciate the progress.
The showing takes place December 1st; 1pm – 4pm
The Santa Claus parade, which is now being called the Christmas Parade, begins at 2:00 pm on Sunday, so the Mayor is going to have to hot foot it across town if he is going to be in that event – and he will be in that event; 2014 is an election year.
 The evening view from the Gallery on Spring Garden Road. The Seaton Fine Arts Gallery was the location of the Art in Action launch of the Studio Tour this year. With the exceptional glass art work at the ED Roy gallery right next door to the Seaton gallery, there is clearly a little community growing out there.
The Goldring work is well worth your time.
 November 22, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Has a Convention ever come to Burlington? Even a small one? Doesn’t look as if anyone in the corporate or association world has ever seen Burlington as a destination. Wonder why?
Part of the reason is the city didn’t really have anything in the way of facilities for a small convention. All Burlington has is geography – properly promoted one can go a long way with how you look. Other than water falling over the edge of a cliff – what else has Niagara Falls got going for it?
 Team Burlington: Flying the flag for the Mother Corporation – or just blowing smoke? Team Burlington made its annual report to the Development and Infrastructure Standing Committee last week – my colleague at the media table slipped me a note while the presenter droned on – “terrible” she has scribbled on the agenda. Dismal was my thought.
Team Burlington was formed in 2001, one of the former Mayor Rob McIssaac’s ideas that hasn’t quite jelled – it needs a hard look. That isn’t likely to happen for some time – the administration is going to have their hands re-formatting the way the city works.
The idea in 2001 was to “bring the major city economic development organizations together to form a dynamic team that is focused on the creation of a progressive and vibrant city with a unique Approach to business development services. Partners include: the Aldershot Business Community, Burlington Downtown Business Association, Burlington Economic Development Corporation, Burlington Chamber of Commerce, Burlington Hydro, City of Burlington and Tourism Burlington.” Only a public relations flack could write a sentence like that.
The city is a bit conflicted with what it wants. The chilli Half Marathon brings 5000+ people into the city – downtown is certainly vibrant when they are there, but there is a bunch of people who live along Lakeshore Road who want the city to have the marathon run somewhere else. That Marathon is one of the best things the city has going for it. Many people don’t realize that Burlington is seen amongst the running crowd as the place with some of the best races in the province.
In 2012 Team Burlington lists the Mayor’s One Dream as an achievement. Not something most people would put on their resume. That event was poorly thought through, was a bit of a disaster from an operational point of view and after spending $50,000 there is yet to be anything in the way of ideas from the two-day event.
The Team Burlington Report says the event – that event did no such thing.“solidified the direction of the city’s Strategic Plan and reinforced the work. Poppycock
 With the Economic Development Corporation getting a face lift as well as a couple of major organ transplants the purpose of Team Burlington is no longer clear. The city will learn about that when the BEDC format is unveiled. Production at BEDC has been pathetic and it is going to take at least six months to stabilize that place.
Everyone in this city talks about the vibrant, progressive downtown – I’ve never managed to see it. The city does have a small Tourism office that is filled with brochures telling you everything you ever wanted to know about what is going on in town and the people behind the counters smile and are helpful.
After sitting through the Team Burlington presentation – “uninspired” is an understatement.
There was no information – just a recitation of what are close to mickey mouse events. They had a Christmas gathering – really. There was one very good event that pulled together hospitality related groups to tie them into the War of 1812 celebrations. The presenters were as good as it gets, there was a lot of very useful information. But there was a problem – just one person from the hospitality sector showed up. The woman who put on the event for Tourism Burlington was a “fire cracker”: focused, motivated, and innovative – but she left town, a decision she made.
The report has statements like this:
“Team Burlington continues to evolve and be recognized as a leading edge and unique business development model, both within our City boundaries and beyond. The Team plans to continue this mandate to support and increase economic development in the City.” Corporate happy talk at its best.
Why do the people who sign off on these reports let things like this get out to the public?
Not sure where the credit for the new signage that is popping up all over town should go -good looking stuff – the information needed is all up there. There are some who quibble with the design.
 November 19, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The item on the Agenda was to approve the Special Events Team plans for 2013/14. The Staff report recommended that Staff be given authority to approve events that have taken place previously and have gotten a successful post event reports and that they be given the authority to automatically approve minor events.
There are 151 events on the calendar with attendances that range from less than 25 to more than 200,000 people. More than 635,000 people took part in events during 2012.
The creation of the Special events Team has streamlined the process with everything coming to the one committee that includes: Parks and Recreation, Roads and Parks Maintenance, Fire, Building, Transportation, Transit, Health Department and Halton Regional Police Services. This gets everyone at the same table. The process now has staff from Parks and Recreation and Transportation meeting and passing information along to others. It wasn’t working.
The city came up with a collection of “process improvements” that Council has been asked to approve. After a long and arduous meeting the Standing Committee agreed to receive and file the report which will bring it back to Council on the 25th where it should get approved. Much needed changes were made; Kudos to staff on this one.
The following are new events scheduled for 2013/14: Ride for Betty, St. Timothy’s Run, Move – a-thon, Yoga by the Pier, Epic Ride, Spin for Limbs, Miles for Smiles, This Magic Moment Concert and the Marque d’Elegance Street Festival
There was a two-line mention in the report about the Chilly Half Marathon that has taken place in March of each year since 2009.
“Chilly Half Marathon has been questioned by a resident affected by the event. The resident who is requesting rerouting will be delegating at the committee meeting.” That was an understatement. Lakeshore residents turned in a petition with 150 names and had 10 people delegating to the Standing Committee – they did not want the Marathon being run along Lakeshore Road. After more than two hours of delegations and discussion they were still at it.
 The race is a major event for the city. The Esso station at the eastern end of the race losses out but the downtown core does exceptionally well. The race “officially” starts at 10:05 which puts it smack in the middle of church time. It is scheduled to run for 3 hours and 15 minutes. And that’s the problem for the people whose streets run into Lakeshore from the south side – they are basically land-locked for the duration of the race. Starting the race earlier is an option – some suggested starting as early as 7:00 am and being done by 10:00 am. That would take away from the excitement and momentum that builds up and probably cut down on the attendance.
Is there a compromise out there that will work? Were people willing to meet with open minds? There wasn’t much of that to be seen at the Standing Committee meeting.
When the Santa Clause parade takes place on Guelph Line and New Street a lot of people get locked in and there is nowhere near the number of complaints that the Chilly Half generates. Why the difference? Mostly attitude on the part of the people who are inconvenienced. Those along New Street see the Santa Clause parade as part of the season they take part in. The Lakeshore people don’t see the Chilly Half Marathon as something they are a part of.
Not everyone was opposed to the event. Colin Cameron, Pastor at the Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church took the position that if you can’t beat them – then work with them. He stands out on Lakeshore Road during the race offering Blessings and fresh fruit to the runners as they work their way back towards Brant Street – all 5000 of them.
The good pastor told of an 80-year-old parishioner who took issue with a police officer who wasn’t prepared to let her drive her car along Lakeshore Road. When asked what she would do her response was: “Well they are going to have to catch me aren’t they?”
Pastor Cameron in his refreshingly amusing comments referred to those who take part in the marathon as member of the St. Mattress and All Sheets parish. He talked as well about how his church coped with all the runners on Lakeshore on that Sunday in March.
Other residents objected to being locked in their homes while the marathon takes place. Traffic from all of the side streets on the south side of Lakeshore Road have their access limited while the race takes place. That can be very frustrating and a significant concern as was evident from several of the delegations.
Dr. Rita Moeinafar-Combden wanted the race organizers to be more forthcoming with their for profit agenda and stop hiding behind the veil their modest donations to the hospital.
Carol and Ian Milne Smith pulled Edmund Burke into the debate with his remark that “All government …is founded on compromise and barter” and the Milne-Smith don’t see much of either.
Nick and Dianne Leblovic delegated as a tag team – she spoke first and complained that the public process has failed and she wants city council to be responsive to public input – which if they delegations were fully understood they wanted the road opened so that caterers could get to the streets that run south of Lakeshore road.
Ms Leblovic maintained the city reneged on a commitment they made last May which was when they decided to do their own research and knock on doors and hold meetings.
 They do flood the streets. They met with the churches, they got names on a petition and while they believe it is a great event they want a change in the route. The Leblovic research revealed that the amount donated to the hospital was far less than many people imagined and that seems to have changed a lot of minds.
Ms Leblovic argued that more than 5000 people are locked into their homes for more than four hours. People do have limited access to Lakeshore Road while the race is being run. Traveling along Lakeshore Road this past three months has been limited due to the new water and sewage pipes being put down.
Ms Leblovic would like to see the race started much earlier and points out that sunrise on March 2, 2014 is 6:54 am. Is a change in the start time an accommodation the race organizer and the city can make? Ms Leblovic also pointed out that some consideration has to be given to “rolling openings” as well as putting caps on the number of participants. Her list of concerns has merit: what it doesn’t have, apparently, is enough meat on the bones to attract city staff to meeting with her to bring about some changes.
Nicholas Leblovic followed his wife to the podium and presented three alternate routes that he felt had merit. One was a loop around Mainway that would have the runners going through an industrial community; a second along the Waterfront Trail to Confederation Park in Hamilton and a third that used parts of Lakeshore Road and the North Service Road.
None compares all that favourably to the current Lakeshore route, however the Waterfront Trail route does have merit.
Mr. Leblovic wanted to see a committee created with representation from VR Pro, city staff and the Leblovic group. Staff doesn’t want to see any such committee and VR Pro will take part only if they have to.
As we listened to the delegations it was apparent that there is some significant hardship for some people. It was also evident that many of the Lakeshore residents just plain don’t want that race in their community and evident as well that the city isn’t going to do all that much about the complaints.
The Leblovic’s and the community they represent have a legitimate concern that is not being addressed. Both Diane and Nicholas could see the writing on the wall and left the Standing Committee meeting before all the talking between council and staff had been completed.
Councillor Meed Ward did feel that a committee could be struck that would have staff and the Lakeshore residents meeting to iron out the problems – and there are some problems. She couldn’t get anyone to vote with her for a committee. Staff was happy with what they have, Kelly Arnott loves the situation and it looks as if things will not change. There are people living south of Lakeshore Road who are being short-changed. Will this become a political issue in the Oct 2014 election? Think you can bet on that.
Greg Pace who organized the Moon in June event delegated as well. He has gone along with a change staff suggested that will have his event rolled into the Sound of Music Festival. What got Pace all kinds of brownie points was the revelation that 41% of his race revenue goes to a charity. Pace did ask Staff to reserve the date he had last year so that he can go back to that date if things don’t work out with his race becoming part of the Sound of Music program.
 The finish line Kelley Arnott of V-Pro also delegated and did her best to answer the questions put to her. There was a lot of spin to the answers given. Many people thought the Marathon was an event to raise funds for the hospital. The hospital does get some money from the marathon – it was difficult to nail Arnott down on exactly how much had been given in donations and she wasn’t prepared to let anyone near the financial records of the organization but she did say she would make financial statements available to council members on a confidential basis.
What the public saw was two sides with markedly different interests. The Lakeshore residents who resent Lakeshore Road being closed led by the Leblovic’s who deeply resent the closure. One Council member described Diane Leblovic as a determined activist. You can bet on her not giving up on this issue.
One the other side there was Kelly Arnott who runs a very popular and profitable race; that is the business her company is in and they do this very well. VR Pro appears to organize about a dozen races each year. Their Chilly Half race is seen as the standard for the running community. Arnott put out the figure of $3 million as the amount they have raised for charities. What she would not say is what percentage of the revenue raised gets into the hands of the hospital.
 VR Pro pricing schedule VR Pro earns its money from registration fees which come in at basically $75 per racer for the Chilly Half Marathon. The number of actual racers seemed to vary. One report had it at 5000, Arnott seemed to be saying it was 4000 and there was a projection of 6000 for the 2014 event. Use the lowest number and multiply that by the $75 fee and you come up with a substantial $300,000 in revenue. Yes there are expenses but the Chilly Half Marathon is one hot revenue generator for VR Pro.
Arnott said her revenue was $340,000 from the race in 2012 and that expenses came in at $300,000
The Burlington restaurants love the event. The operator of the No Frills supermarket on Brant has no love for the event NAME says the runners park their cars in his lot and plug it up leaving no space for his regular customers.
The Esso station at the turning point for the run doesn’t like it – he closes his gas station for the day – no one can get to his station and he resent losing a day’s revenue.
City staff want the event to continue and have come to the conclusion that the current route is the best one available. The runners love the route – it is flat and the view along the road suits them just fine.
Despite several attempts on the part of Council members to have a committee formed staff said again and again that a committee set up to guide their thinking was not needed.
 Nick Leblovic has been a part of civic life for a long time. He served as the Chair of the Waterfront Access Protection and Advisory Committee/ Diane Leblovic once served as a school board trustee. In this photograph Leblovic is seen on the right. Mayor Goldring told the meeting that he and Councillor Dennison had offered to meet with the Leblovic’s but the offer was turned down which was enough for Councillor Craven. He took the position that the city offered to help – the offer was turned down – and that was it. The Leblovic’s are adamant – if you don’t want to talk about a route change then there won’t be much of a conversation with them.
The Leblovic’s have an ongoing issue with public access to property. An article in the Orangeville Citizen, a community newspaper that has been around since 1974, reported that a “property squabble can be traced to 2001, when Nicholas Leblovic, a Toronto lawyer with a summer home on Balm Beach, made the first application under the Boundaries Act to extend his property line to the water’s edge. But the Marion’s are the only ones to cordon off their property — even though any of the others could do the same, transforming the beach into barricaded corridors.”
The news article went on to say: “Thankfully, Kim Craitor, Liberal MPP for Niagara Falls, has introduced a private member’s bill, the Great Lakes Shoreline Right of Passage Act, which would guarantee the public’s ability to walk all the shorelines of the Great Lakes. It’s now awaiting committee review and surely should be approved, either as is or as a government bill with the same purpose.”
The news article concluded by saying: “As we see it, this should be a matter for our legislators, not the courts. Provincial law should reflect a clear (overwhelming?) public interest in having all the Great Lakes shoreline accessible to everyone, not just a relative handful of rich property owners.”
The Standing Committee received and filed the Staff report which one can expect to see made final at Council on the 25th. Chilly Half Marathon will take place on Sunday March 2, 2014.
 November 18, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Has a Convention ever come to Burlington? Even a small one? Doesn’t look as if anyone in the corporate or association world has ever seen Burlington as a destination. Wonder why?
Part of the reason is the city didn’t really have anything in the way of facilities for a small convention. All Burlington has is geography – properly promoted one can go a long way with how you look. Other than water falling over the edge of a cliff – what else has Niagara Falls got going for it?
 The Delta Hotel will give the city some first class convention space that could radically change the way the city is seen by the small corporate convention community. Add the Performing Arts Centre to the portfolio and the city has a good offering. Now to put a team in place that could work with the Delta Hotel organization.. We don’t have that in place today. Burlington now has the Performing Arts Centre and should see shovels in the ground in 2015 when construction starts on the Delta hotel that is part of the Bridgewater development on Lakeshore Road. The Delta wanted to be open to participate in the Pan Am Games in 2015. So there is convention potential – even if it is small.
Team Burlington made its annual report to the Development and Infrastructure Standing Committee last week – my colleague at the media table slipped me a note while the presenter droned on – “terrible” she had scribbled on the agenda. Dismal was my thought.
The Team Burlington partners include City of Burlington, Burlington Chamber of Commerce, Burlington Economic Development Corporation, Burlington Downtown Business Association, Tourism Burlington, Aldershot Village BIA, and Burlington Hydro.
Team Burlington was formed in 2001, one of the former Mayor Rob MacIsaac’s ideas that hasn’t quite jelled – it needs a hard look. That isn’t likely to happen for some time – the administration is going to have their hands re-formatting the way the city works. The Tourism potential is there – creating a contact point within the city and promoting the opportunity could begin – even if the city brought someone in on a part-time basis.
The idea in 2001 was to “bring the major city economic development organizations together to form a dynamic team that is focused on the creation of a progressive and vibrant city with a unique approach to business development services. Only a public relations flack could write a sentence like that.
The city is a bit conflicted with what it wants. The Chilly Half Marathon brings 5000+ people into the city – downtown is certainly vibrant when they are there. But there is a bunch of people who live along Lakeshore Road who want the city to have the marathon run somewhere else. That Marathon is one of the best things the city has going for it. Many people don’t realize that Burlington is seen amongst the running crowd as the place with some of the best races in the province.
For 2012 Team Burlington lists the Mayor’s One Dream as an achievement. Not something most people would put on their resume. That event was poorly thought through, was a bit of a disaster from an operational point of view and after spending $50,000 there is yet to be anything in the way of ideas from the two-day event.
The Team Burlington Report says the event “solidified the direction of the city’s Strategic Plan and reinforced the work”. Poppycock – that event did no such thing.
With the Economic Development Corporation getting a face lift as well as a couple of major organ transplants the purpose of Team Burlington is no longer clear. The city will see some clarity when the revised BEDC format is unveiled at the April 2014 AGM. Deliverables at BEDC has been pathetic and it is going to take at least six months to stabilize that place.
After sitting through the Team Burlington presentation – “uninspired” is an understatement.
 Located in the lower levels of the municipal parking garage on Locust many of the Team Burlington members have modern offices and a decent restaurant with a sidewalk patio. There was no information – just a recitation of what are close to mickey mouse events. They had a Christmas gathering – really. There was one very good event that pulled together hospitality related groups to tie them into the War of 1812 celebrations. The presenters were as good as it gets, there was a lot of very useful information. But there was a problem – just one person from the hospitality sector showed up. The woman who put on the event for Tourism Burlington was a “fire cracker”: focused, motivated, and innovative – but she left town, a decision she made.
The report has statements like this:
“Team Burlington continues to evolve and be recognized as a leading edge and unique business development model, both within our City boundaries and beyond. The Team plans to continue this mandate to support and increase economic development in the City.” Corporate happy talk at its best.
Why do the people who sign off on these reports let things like this get out to the public?
Not sure where the credit for the new signage that is popping up all over town goes. Good looking stuff – the information needed is all up there. There are some who quibble with the design.
Everyone in this city talks about the vibrant, progressive downtown – I’ve never managed to see it. The small Tourism office is filled with brochures telling you everything you ever wanted to know about what is going on in town and the people behind the counters smile and are helpful.
 November 16, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. This is what you would call a `”coup” The Different Drummer is bringing Margaret Atwood to town. The Drummer along with, Bryan Prince Bookseller and Random House of Canada will have Atwood at Royal Botanical Gardens on Thursday, November 28 7pm
 Margaret Atwood; one of the country’s finest writers. Ian Elliott, the guy behind the counter at the Drummer is “deeply honoured” to announce what is a rare local appearance by an international, leading literary figure.
 Atwood will discuss her work and the issues at the heart of the final volume in her enthralling dystopian trilogy, MaddAddam.
Tickets are $10. Please contact us at (905) 639 0925 or diffdrum@mac.com to reserve.
 November 10, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Hayden High was opened to media for a tour – what a collection of facilities: a library, a high school and a recreation centre all set on 15 acres of land.
The partners in this venture will hold an open house Saturday November 23rd. The city runs the Recreation Centre, the library is operated as part of the Public Library system and the school is run by the Halton Board of Education.
 It’s not the kind of high school you were used to – There is a fully equipped kitchen which students learn the fundamentals of food, nutrition and preparation. It wasn’t clear who did up the pots and pans when the class was over. Burlington managed to bring in a cool $1.3 million spread out over 20 years from Haber and Associates – which is not exactly chump change, for the right to put their name on the building. It may prove to be the bargain of the decade for the Haber family.
 Maureen Berry, CAO of the Burlington Library system talks with Andrew Haber who turns out to be a relative. Berry didn’t ask if he had a library card. The library is there for both the public and the high school students at Hayden High where grades nine and ten are now conducted. Grade 11 will follow in 2014 and grade 1`2 the year after that.
Rather than list all the features one might ask – what don’t they have. The place is filled with light and uses 20 different types of glass in various colours.
There is a kitchen – that is miles from the home economics classes some of us used. There is a cosmetics room, a garage that had two cars inside and half a dozen engines for students to work on.
There is a fully equipped wood working shop with more drills on the walls than you see in an average Home Depot.
Hallways are wide with students plopped down on the flow working over their laptops. The building has WiFi throughout and all kinds of nooks and crannies where students can talk, work on their laptops or read a text-book.
Thirty six washrooms with 90 toilet stalls – so that problem is well taken care of. The media tour took place on a Friday which we assume is a “casual dress” day for the school. Principal Jacqueline Newton wore flame red jeans and had a habit of high fiving a number of her students as she passed them in the some of the widest hallways I’ve seen in a school.
 Part of the massive gym set up in the Haber Recreation Centre The gymnasiums are set up in both the high school and the Recreation Centre with a combined 34,000 sqft of sprung maple gym floors. The recreation facilities were designed to handle provincial competitions with 38 to 40 foot ceilings and loads of natural light.
Each of the 208 rooms in the building has names, not numbers. In the high school the names were chosen by the students that opened the place.
 The students decided to call it The Forum – it could have been called The Roost – a place where anyone can gather and just sit and watch or talk and kid around. Someone in the media tour suggested it looked like one big detention room. There is a section set up in one of the hallways – sort of like bleachers at a ball park, where students can just roost like birds. A lot of use is made of concrete and wood and yet the place doesn’t feel cold or bleak.
The desks in the classrooms are not what most of us are used to. They are designed to give the word “collaboration” real meaning. Modular in design they can be grouped as two- three – as many as eight in a configuration that lets students work side by side.
 No more desks set out in neat rows. The classroom furniture is now such that students can sit by themselves or in groups of two or three – up to eight. The objective was to create situations where the students learn to work as groups and to collaborate on a problem – question or assignment. Blackboards went the way of separate entrances for boys and girls. The rooms now have white boards and make extensive use of visual projections. The media spent a few minutes in an art history class where students were looking at the works of Salvador Dali, Picasso and MC Esher and learning about the surrealist movement.
 The instructor in this class didn’t seem to have a problem with a student using her cell phone during the class. The place is fully wired. Embedded in the hallway floors are different types of tile and markings that tell a student they are at a decision point and have to decide which way they are going to go. There is 200,000 square feet of space in the place.
There is parking for just over 400 vehicles, racks for 130 bikes on the property with room for another 100 across the street at Norton Park.
Does the place work as a building? A little too early to tell but it has all the makings of a different approach to high school that suggest it should work very well. The building is not yet fully used – there are two more grades to be added – so there is space for different community groups. The Regional Police have some space, the Regional government has space and a driving school has some space.
 The 200 seat theatre is part of the high school with walls that are built to control sound. The place has everything any parent could ever want in a place for their children to get the education they are going to need. There are two rooms for community groups; a 200 seat theatre, cafeteria and a server operated by a company owned by the school board. That should cut down on the quality of the food complaints. Add to the food operation is a collection of vendor machines which Principal Jacqueline Norton said she would certainly like a cut of that revenue.
 The library has some of the books on the shelves -but just a portion of what will eventually be available. Maureen Berry CAO for the Burlington Public Library system explains that furniture is still arriving but that the community has taken to the library very well. Great sports facilities, a library led by one of the better librarians in the province who, during the tour learned that she is related to the Haber family which bought the naming rights to the recreational centre. Maureen Beet and the Haber’s are first cousins twice removed or something like that. For a while it felt like old home week down on the farm.
 Jennifer Johnson, city project manager on the site, admits to shooting some hoops in the gymnasium when no one was round. Guiding the tour was the city’s project manager Jennifer Johnson, who kept trying to hurry people along – there, was just so much to see. The Board of Education was the lead on this project with each partner having their own hands on person. Jennifer Johnson was the lead for the city and admits to shooting a couple of hoops in the gym while the place was under construction.
Open House November 23rd – the place will be packed. Expect to see students from the other high schools prowling the halls of Hayden High drooling with envy.
 October 28th, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It’s that time of year again – Halloween yes – but much more interesting is the Annual Art in Action Studio tour which this year will include 29 artistes in eight locations.
 This Studio Tour event is now in its 11th year. There are some of the old standards and at couple of places that might better be given a rest but this is still very much a superb opportunity to get out and see what the city’s arts community has to offer.
 Premier Arts event for November in the city. Not to be missed. If this event is one that you’ve done in the past there is an opportunity to see the growth in artists you’ve watched and see how they have perhaps grown and changed.
There are two we have been watching and appreciating the changes, the growth and the new directions they are going in. Last year there were a few that weren’t on the tour and we missed them.
The tour lasts two days. You will find yourself bumping into the same people at different locations and striking up friendships and talking about what you saw that you liked.
November 2 and 3.
 A Helen Griffiths piece. This artist continues to both surprise and delight. Art in Action runs the Studio Tour which gives artists exposure which never hurts. The organization also has a scholarship is gives each year. Last year $1,500 went to Michelle Nguyen, a Robert Bateman High School graduate studying landscape architecture at the University of Guelph.
 Fratesi has pieces at the Burlington Art Centre where her work can be rented from the Art Bank Cheryl Goldring and Don Graves handle fundraising for the group which pay for studio tour advertising and scholarships.
New to the Studio Tour this year are: Tamara Kwapich (Studio 5), Lois Shaw (Studio 6) and Donna Fratesi (Studio 1) and Rachel Quinteros (Studio 4)
 October 30, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It sold out last year and has sold out frequently before that – so if you want to be at the table this year – make your reservation.
The Burlington Art Centre (BAC) fundraiser will celebrate both culinary and ceramic art this year, as restaurants donate soups and salads and potters donate handcrafted soup bowls. There will be celebrity servers and a full-course dinner sitting as well.
 Individually hand crafted bowls done by artisans across the province. Enjoy a special gourmet soup and then take the bowl home. Running from November 14 to 17, this popular BAC tradition will feature all of the favourite Soup Bowl elements – beautiful handcrafted bowls donated by potters from across Ontario ready to be filled with gourmet soups from some of Burlington’s finest restaurants – and some surprises.
“We’ve added to the Soup Bowl fun this year by recruiting celebrities to serve guests,” says Ian Ross, Executive Director at the Burlington Art Centre (BAC). Another new feature is a full-course dinner on November 15 at 6 pm, which will include special entrée selections and a glass of wine, as well as the soup bowl selection, gourmet soups, salads, bread, desserts and coffee/tea which are served up at lunch sittings. A cash bar also is available throughout the event.
Tickets are on sale now: $50 ($40 for BAC members) for lunch sittings; Friday dinner tickets are $75 ($65 for BAC members). The full-course dinner on November 15 at 6 pm, will include special entrée selections and a glass of wine, as well as the soup bowl selection, gourmet soups, salads, bread, desserts and coffee/tea which are served up at lunch sittings. A cash bar also is available throughout the event.
Tables of eight can be reserved. Order tickets online at theBAC.ca/soup, by phone (905-632-7796, ext. 326) or at the BAC, 1333 Lakeshore Road, Burlington.
The Arts Burlington Christmas Sale will take place at the same time. The Sale features a wide variety of handcrafted items produced by the Guilds of Arts Burlington with Christmas in mind. It is open to everyone on November 14 from 11 am to 3 pm; November 15 from 11 am to 9 pm; and November 16 and 17 from 11 am to 4 pm.
The Burlington Art Centre is located at 1333 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, and is an accessible facility with lots of free parking over the course of the event. The 2013 Soup Bowl is sponsored by Utter Morris Insurance Brokers Limited and Wendy and Don Smith, Smith’s Funeral Homes.
 October 29, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The four Burlington Rotary organizations in Burlington got trashed by local media and people involved in the Santa Clause parade when all they did was advise the parade committee that they were changing their priorities.
Burlington’s four Rotary Clubs have put up $1250 each year for the past ten years to support the annual Santa Claus parade that is organized by a citizen’s committee chaired by Gunther Kaschuba. The parade committee says they were blindsided – the Rotarians didn’t see it that way and will be dealing with the parade people in due course.
Rotary pays full freight for a float of their own in the parade plus putting a cheque for $5000 on the table each year. In the past they have asked for some corporate recognition as Rotary moves forward with plans to enlarge their membership and re-focus their projects.
 The Santa Claus parade has taken place for more than 45 years in Burlington. Organized by a citizens group that works out of the city’s Festivals and Events office it is the premier holiday event in the city. The elves have got a spot of trouble to manage with one of their benefactors this time around. Like any organization, Rotary continually looks at its program and reviews the effectiveness of what they are doing. They apparently came to the conclusion that the Santa Claus parade was no longer part of the way they wanted to interact with the community. Rotary has yet to issue a statement. Because there are four different groups in Burlington – it is not always easy to come up with a single voice but the message to the Santa people was that the end of their participation had arrived.
One might quibble that perhaps more time could have been given but the parade organization, which has never issued a financial statement that we are aware of, has in the past been somewhat high-handed with the way they manage the event.
 Colorful to say the least. For Rotarians right relationships are paramount and, after listening to a number of people, one gets the impression that there was more wrong than right with the way the Santa parade people managed one of their biggest benefactors.
The parade will take place Sunday, December 1st beginning at 2:00 pm at the intersection of Prospect and Guelph Line. Somehow the financial problems will get worked out. Remembering to thank people for their contributions and not to take them for granted is one of the life lessons most of us get at our parents knee.
 October 27, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It was a SOLD OUT event. No numbers yet on exactly how much was raised but the auctioneer was really busy for a part of the evening.
 Angelo Paletta worked the room of the Burlington Community Foundation Masquerade ball like a politician running for office. It was a fun night where Angelo Paletta, this year’s Patron for the Burlington Community Foundation annual fund-raiser, worked the tables so well one might have thought he was running for office.
 There were there to dine, to dance, to raise additional funds and just have a good time. The setting made all that possible. The Burlington Convention Centre was very nicely decorated with the event where the masquerade theme dominated.
The evening was part social, part fund-raiser and the occasion when Murray and Diane Hogarth the Philanthropists of the year were celebrated and honoured for what they have given back to the community.
 This wasn’t an occasion to take name of identify the “usual suspects” but a time to catch people in an environment they are comfortable in. Deals and conversations are always part of the social mix. The Burlington Community Foundation is an organization that works on several levels for the city. Besides holding a boffo ball – it has a structure that serves the people who want to donate some of the wealth and their talent to the community. The Hogarth’s are the first couple recognized as philanthropists in Burlington and they are the fourth to be so honoured. Predecessors were: Don Smith, Kevin Brady, Doug Leggat and now Diana and Murray Hogarth.
The Foundation collaborates with individuals and corporations to build endowments, give grants and connect community leadership. There are currently more than 55 funds overseen by the Foundation with Donour Designated, Donour Advised, specific fields of interest; scholarship based and unrestricted funds.
Philanthropy is not just people giving money – it is service to the community where talent is as relevant as the size of the cheque that might be written.
Each year the Foundation produces a Vital Signs report setting out where the city is on a number of different socio-economic levels and highlighting areas of specific concern to the community.
 That is a great smile! Mental Health was highlighted as a very serious concern and one that will be given more attention through a Roundtable the Foundation will sponsor in the New Year.
There are other organizations that use the Foundation to distribute funds into the community. The Halton Heros leave the funds they have raised with the Foundation and have the organization deliver the funds when there is a need. The service allows an organization to focus on fund raising and not get bogged down with the investment and management of the funds raised.
 How two women can have a conversation and ignore a Bobby Orr sweater defied understanding – well male understanding anyway.  When it came to bidding for items it was clear this woman knew what she wanted.  Foundation Executive Director Collen Mullholland makes sure the event Patron Angelo Paletta stays on track  Fist full of dollars. One unique auction item was a high end purse stuffed with cask. The winning bidder got the purse and a tax receipt for the cash which went to the Foundation.  He needed just that much more – and the deal might have been done or perhaps it was just that much more for the golf ball to go into the hole. We will never know which.  A ball is a social event – where people spend as much time walking as they dancing and dining. Gives everyone a chance to check out the gowns as well.  You dance with the person who brought you – and dance they did.  Do the masques hid the beauty?   This wouldn’t be a Burlington organization if there wasn’t an invitational golf tournament as well. The Foundation distributes funds to an extensive list of organization including ArtHouse, Bay Area Restoration, Bruce Trail, Burlington Art Centre , Canadian Mental Health Association, Conservation Halton Foundation, Danielle’s Place, Easter Seals, Food for Life, Habitat for Humanity, Halton Food for Thought, Reach Out Centre for Kids ROCK, , Start2Finish and the YMCA.
Later in the week the Foundation will announce what was raised and move on to the next project which in a few short months will be the Roundtable on Mental Health and the impact that is having on our community.
We asked Ashley to cover the Masquerade Ball, seen as the premier social event in Burlington, where the funds raised go to the Burlington Community Foundation.
One table insisted on posing for the camera – something we don’t do much of. We prefer to catch people as they are rather than what they want the camera to see. But this bunch of happy campers had bid on a Bahamas Cruise and invited our photographer to tag along and do an expose on the crowd. This might be a Burlington Ashley Sloggett could get used to
 A night out doesn’t mean the home front doesn’t have to be looked after – this couple work the phones – perhaps to determine just where the kids are. I’ll call this one – you call that one.
 October 26, 2013
By Ray Rivers
BURLINGTON, ON. There was time when the only way you could place a bet was to go a horse race. That was before Trudeau liberalized the criminal code, in 1969, bringing us into the modern age and decriminalizing abortion, homosexuality and lotteries all in one fell swoop. Prior to that it was strictly illegal to place a bet on anything.
I recall watching my parents stash away tickets they held for the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes, a complicated lottery based on horse races, illegal pretty well everywhere but Ireland, but which earned its big money overseas.
 Slot machine revenue subsidizes race track operations. Gambling is now very big business. In 2011 Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) turned in $6.7 billion. Another quarter of a billion came from horse racing. Horse racing is mostly located in rural areas and so less accessible to the average urbanite. The forms and betting are complicated, the seasons periodic and the industry heavily regulated. So, it was inevitable that horse racing would get dwarfed by the dollars rolling in from slot machines and the lotteries, especially when they co-located.
But horse racing is more than just gambling, it is part of our culture. If slots and lotteries didn’t exist, it is a safe bet that racing would be far more popular. When slot machines were introduced at race tracks a portion of the money they brought in was used to help finance the racing business. However, when former Premier McGuinty set up the Drummond Commission to help him cut the deficit, the subsidies for horse racing were high on the list of things to eliminate.
Despite the need for subsidies, horse racing is an important agricultural industry which generates significant employment underpinning the existence of many of Ontario’s rural communities. It is estimated that over 30,000 jobs are associated with the horse racing industry which expends over $1.2 billion a year, making this Ontario’s third largest agricultural industry. Ontario claims to have more race events than any other jurisdiction in North America. So when the axe fell and the cuts were announced, horse farmers and the agricultural community mounted a public relations campaign to save their industry.
 The horse racing community mounted a strong protest and the government took a second look – out came a compromise which the racing community calls a partnership. A little over a week ago Ontario Premier Wynne responded to that campaign by bringing forward a plan to restructure Ontario’s horse racing industry to make it more sustainable and economically viable. The settlement is not everything the industry wanted, these things never are, and some people had already exited the industry. Still a subsidy was re-instated and funding was guaranteed for a five-year period, giving stability to the industry.
Gambling is a big revenue earner, which is why even the Bob Rae New Democrats embraced it back when Ontario was suffering its worst recession since the dirty thirties. Annually about $2 billion of the money that comes in goes back out to help fund our health care system and other government priorities. Another $2 billion supports local economic development where Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) facilities are located and about $65 million is spent on gambler education, research and treatment.
One could argue that gambling is a natural process. Every time we get behind the wheel or into an airplane we are gambling with our lives. And what is the stock market or any investment but a gamble by another name. Placing a bet is a voluntary action by individuals supposedly responsible enough to manage their affairs. And if not, there are programs to help the chronic, problem gamblers get their lives straight again.
 There are trotter training operations dotted throughout rural Ontario. Over two-thirds of Ontario residents gamble at least once a year, although that might involve no more than purchasing a lottery ticket. And the poor are believed to gamble more than the wealthy thus leading to the label, gambling is a tax on the poor. Interestingly enough the rise in gambling activity over the years has been associated with the increasing gap between the wealthy and the poor in our North American society. But it would be a huge overstatement to blame gambling for that sad consequence. Clearly erosion of the progressive tax system and the introduction of regressive consumer taxes in Canada have weighed-in heavily on that phenomena.
Horse racing is an ancient sport. Its origins date back to about 4500 BC among the nomadic tribesmen of Central Asia, who first domesticated the horse. Since then, horse racing has flourished as the sport of kings. In the USA horse racing is one of the most widely attended spectator sports; over 50 million people attend racing events and wager billions.
That we came close to losing our horse racing industry here in Ontario is frightening. Hopefully the new plan will allow the industry to focus on attracting more participants to watch the magnificent horses and, if so inclined, to bet on the races. I enjoy doing both, the latter in moderation.
 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.
Addtional information
Horse racing subsidies
Guaranteed funding for a five-year period.
 October 24, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. You know that culture has some traction in Burlington when city council members ask what a Poetry Slam is and when Councillor Jack Dennison suggests the he might even drop by the Black Bull on Guelph Line and hear how Tomy Bewick, a construction worker delivers his message.
Bewick runs the Burlington Poetry Slam, an event most Councillors knew absolutely nothing about; yet it is an organization that has been given a Canada Council grant to bring together Slam poetry artists from across the country. In Burlington, whoda thunk?
After a close to brutal session at the Regional offices in Oakville where council members took part in a vote that marked the beginning of the end of the Beachway Park community, council met in Burlington to discuss the basics of a Cultural Action Plan and then decide what they wanted to do.
 Teresa Seaton, center, organizer of the Art in Action Tour, thinks through a response at one of the Cultural Action Plan sessions. She is one of 250 people organized as an Arts and Culture Collective in Burlington. They didn’t make any decisions – it was far too late and everyone was far too tired to be able to make sensible decisions, but Burlington did get to see the outline of a community that few really knew existed. The Arts and Culture Collective, a group of more than 250 people organized on-line, didn’t really know each other but they have become a voice and they want a seat at the table where the decisions are made. Nine of their members delegated and laid out their aspirations for a Cultural Action Plan. They have certainly “informed” the plan the city wants t create but there is still some distance between the bureaucrats and the artists.
 The Collective had done their homework – they knew what they wanted – now to actually get it – that’s their challenge. The delegations were listened to, heard and engaged. This is not something that happens for many delegations at our city hall. All too often Council members sit there close to mute as people take their case, their concerns and their hopes the city’s leaders. That wasn’t the case Wednesday night.
Organized as the Arts and Culture collective in July the thing grew from some 20 people who took part in the first meeting to the 250 people who exchange thoughts and ideas on-line and have learned how to deal with city hall and bring about changes.
The process began a couple of years ago when the city hired Jeremy Freiburg to prepare a report on just what Burlington had and didn’t have going for it in terms of culture. Everyone knew about the newly minted Performing Arts Centre and everyone knew about the Burlington Art Centre but few of the many ever went to the place to look and see and feel the art over there.
Freiburger’ s report dug up all kinds of data on where Burlingtonians spent their cultural dollars – far too much of it gets spent outside the city. He mapped where people go and how much they spend. He told us what people wanted in terms of culture.
What he revealed was a city that really didn’t have a solid cultural tradition. We saw a city that chooses to go elsewhere for its culture and entertainment, partly because, they feel, there isn’t anything they like here.
Some thought Freiburger was going to deliver a set of recommendations on what the city should do next – but he chose not to do that. Instead he gave them the data they needed to begin to figure out what they want to do.
And that is when the Collective began to form. The people who met, first wanted to be able to do their art here in this city and not have to go to Hamilton or Toronto – but there was no place, no space, nor any expectation, that there was indeed a local arts community. The city didn’t know they were there and they didn’t know each other.
The group – the Collective – had surfaced and is telling the city that they are here and they want to be involved.
 The artists came from every possible discipline. They met to talk through what the city should include in its Cultural Action Plan – then they had to figure out how to actually control that plan once it’s established. Artists don’t march to the same drummer that the rest of us do – schedules and rules aren’t their strength and it was difficult for the collective to pull together a large number of people.
Because many of the artists were working by themselves they didn’t know many of the people who were doing the same thing. Trevor Copp, who ended up being the leader/spokesperson for the group came up with the idea of holding a Speed Dating event at a local pub. The idea was that people would gather and sit with others for a couple of minutes and then move on to another table and meet someone else. Such is the state of relationship building in this world. It was a good idea, novel and it had the potential to work. But very few people showed up. Copp didn’t miss a step – he chose to see the upside, the bright side and pulled together a meeting that saw less than a dozen people talk about what they wanted in the way of an arts community.
That conversation will get reported on at greater length at another time – what we saw was a group that is thinking this through and while the plan is still in the formative stage city hall now has to work with people who are the arts community – we just didn’t know they were there.
Bureaucrats being bureaucrats they decided to have Copp become part of the Steering Committee that was to fashion a plan out of the data the Freiburger report provided and once a plan is in place, put together a schedule and time frames to implement it.
One of the major beefs the artists had, was that there were no artists on the steering committee. The addition of Trevor Copp and Rosanna Dewey to the Steering Committee that had people who administer funds but didn’t “do” art was a significant step. The challenge now is to ensure that Copp and Dewey don’t get co-opted and turned into bureaucrats. Power can be very seductive.
Dewy is an artist in her own right and part of the Burlington Fine Arts Association, which has a temperament quite a bit different from that of many of the members of the “collective”.
That there is a change taking place in the cultural temperature of the city is evident. Freiburger maintains that the change began with the unveiling of the Spiral Stella outside the Performing Arts Centre – debatable. One of the occasions that signaled the change was the “No Vacancy” event that took place at the Waterfront Hotel.
This was “avante garde” for Burlington and while the event lasted less than four hours and experienced a small loss it brought out people who hunger for depth and maturity in their cultural menu – the No Vacancy – which will take place again next year, showed that it can happen in Burlington and is happening in Burlington.
 Performing Arts Centre Brian McCurdy makes a point with the Mayor. He is making points all over the city as he brings about a different working relationship with the Centre and the city. City Hall and the Tourist people see the arts as something that could perhaps attract people to the city. The Executive Director of the Performing Arts Centre has been in town long enough to have figured out what we have and don’t have and has already shown that his institution is able to be flexible with the performance community.
All good signs – but like a great recipe, there is something to the way you flick the rest to get that meal on the table and make an occasion to be remembered.
Council will meet early in November to get down to the nitty-gritty of spending money – and at the rate this council is spending the artists had better move quickly or there won’t be any left.
With a little luck the artists will be at the table helping people whose experience is in parks and recreation learn how to move beyond swimming schedules and volleyball games to events that stir the soul. Mind you, watching Maurice “The Rocket” Richard put another one past a Toronto goal tender is certainly something to stir the soul.
 October 21, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Burlington has a signage policy and a design standard that is applied to all the signs that get put up throughout the city directing people to different places.
 The city has modern looking, informative signage throughout the city. The design is neat, modern looking and conveys the information more than adequately.
Where those signs get put up and where they don’t get put up is something that has confused many people.
 No city signage on this piece of city owned property. Plans are in place to make a proper Window on the Lake at this location. The two road allowances, one on Market Street and one on St. Paul south of Lakeshore Road have been in place for more than 50 years but there has never been a sign indicating that the property is public.
On the contrary people have gotten away with putting up boulders and driveways on what is city land without city hall doing anything.
 There is excellent signage on Northshore Blvd where there is a Window on the Lake. The city has known about the road allowances for years. The former Waterfront Access Protection Advisory Committee (WAPAC) was the group that in recent times took action to get something done about the way public property was almost being denied to the public – most people who walked in the area did not know the land was owned by the city.
It almost appears as if the city actually wanted it that way.
 Good signage at Sioux Lookout on LAkeshore Road – a short distance from the Market Street and St. Paul Street road allowances that should have been marked as public property. While the sale of the city owned land behind the three homes that front onto the lake is not yet a done deal, the Windows on the Lake are a done deal and the public can expect to see signage and benches in place. Councillor Dennison wanted the benches to be minimalist – like one bench – let’s not encourage people to actually use the space.
The deliberate decision to do nothing to make those road allowances open to the public should shame all members of Council. The Mayor, Councillor Meed Ward and Councillor Craven sat on WAPAC and they were certainly aware of the issue.
It was the hard work of Les Armstrong and his colleagues that got the hard data in place and a document with recommendations in front of city hall. It took more than a year for the WAPAC recommendation to turn into a Staff Report that Council debated last week – but at least a wrong has been righted
The sale of the city owned land has been a very recent issue – one that sort of snuck up on the public. Was it planned that way? If the residents who are looking for a way to get this issue before a tribunal for a fairer loo succeed the citizens of Burlington might win on all levels.
 When the city wants you to go somewhere they put up excellent signage. When there is no signage – could that be because the city doesn’t want you on the property – or could it be because the adjacent property owners don’t want you there? The upside of this mess is that the Windows on the Lake can be created any time now. They don’t have to wait until the land sale gets settled.
Might we see those two Windows on the Lake in place for the spring of 2014?
|
|
