 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. May 1, 2013. Burlington is holding the second “neighbourhood character” study, which is part of the Official Plan Review. The first study was done with the people of Indian Point where there are some differences as to what can and what shouldn’t be permitted in terms of lot severances and the kind of housing that can be built on a piece of property.
The ‘what kind of housing’ gets built is one of the reasons these “neighbourhood character” studies are done. People who live in a neighbourhood chose to live there and take offence to anyone who wants to come in and build a house that they feel is “inappropriate.
Who gets to decide what’s appropriate? The person who owns the property, the neighbours, the planning department?
 Roseland is made up of large two and a half storey homes on great lots that were built before the depression.
 The community also has large and small bungalows that were built after the depression and on into the 40’s. Who decides what a neighbourhood’ s character actually is? The people who live there or course – but you know that within the residents there will be differences in view point.
A few days before Roseland goes through its own ‘character” study the Roseland Community Organization held an event and did a SWOT exercise and looked at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to their community,
Each of the 40 some odd people at the meeting wrote down their thoughts under each term on Post-It notes and put them up on a board where everyone could read them. They are set out below for you to review and think about how your community would rank and be reflected under a SWOT analysis.
These are the results, unfiltered.
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Strengths
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Weaknesses
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Trees
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Trees – age
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Neighbours who care
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Continued development on Rossmore north
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Trees and landscaping
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Homes being built are too homogenous
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Tall trees
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New houses look like a subdivision
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Safe streets where kids can play
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New houses
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Quiet street
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Neigbours do not know each other as before
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Proximity to Lake
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Roseland Club different
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Trees
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House flipping
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Family culture
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Overly large house on lots
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Traditional architecture
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Power outages
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Grand property sizes
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Old hydro poles
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Lots of green spaces
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Loss of old trees
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Roseland Community Organization
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Old trees that are weak or sick causing damage
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Mature trees
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Not enough support from community
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Open spaces
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Water table, flooding
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Beauty due to variation in styles, character, trees, lot sizes and boulevards
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Aging trees
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Friendly
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Some apathy to selected lots and absentee landlords
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Not gated – open visitors, walkers, bike riders
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Too attractive to developers
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Friendly neighbours
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Starting a feeding frenzy for developers to move through an area – their activities pushing neighbours out, allowing more homes too big
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Safety
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Unclear development guidelines
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A good investment for a home owner
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No or little pre consultation
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Trees
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Decaying trees
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Large lots with setbacks allow large tree
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No guidelines to Committee of Adjustment – have too much leeway to interpret the by-laws
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A forest in the City with a neigbourhood in the woods
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Weakness in the City in terms of protection of ambience
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A real neighbourhood – a sense of community, a history as a community
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No protection trees on private property
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RCO
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New homes totally out of scale, devoid of design to fit neigbourhood
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Neighbours
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Street lighting
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Overall Ambience, especially trees
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RCA membership too low
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Spaciousness of lots and space between the houses
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Construction madness – it goes on and on in some areas – weak or no enforcement, the developers skirt the law on the street blockage
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Varied architecture
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Inappropriate severing
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Role of Roseland in history of Burlington as a prestige neighbourood
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Traffic as motorists avoid Lakeshore traffic
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A place for visitors from far and wide to walk, walk their dog, to drive and ride through
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Existing by-laws too weak or not enforced
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Keystone properties that set the character of the area
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Garages in front lawns – suburban style
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Diversity and scale of architecture – houses fit their lots
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Developers put enormous homes on small lots , so that smaller neighbourhood homes are dwarfed
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Neighbourliness
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Too many developers interested, killing the goose that lays the golden egg
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Good Neighbours
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The culture in this seems to be to roll over, giving them variances they want
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Roseland Club
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Intensification mandates
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Parks
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Existing by-laws
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Great place to raise a family
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Pass through traffic
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Wide boulevard streets
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Roseland park
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Sense of community
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Excellent lot to dwelling proportions
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Attractive homes of character
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Lot width and space between houses
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Places for kids to play safely
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Wonderful people and neighbours
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Unique home designs – not a subdivision
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Trees
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Roseland Park
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Wide streets
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Opportunities
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Threats
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Community events
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The stakes are so high, it is worth it for a developer and his consultants to always try, and to go to the OMB – relentless
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Acknowledge the history of Roseland development from 1925
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Due to large lots, the threat of severance always hangs there
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More control of development
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Roseland being stereo-typed and not listened too
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Stronger protection in the Official Plan
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Uncontrolled development, severances
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Better and stronger direction to the Committee of Adjustment
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Over-development
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Careful selection of Committee of Adjustment members to be sensitive to communities
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Lot severances
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Replace aging infrastructure
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Infill
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A tree maintenance and plating project – a public private venture
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Old hydro poles
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Clarity on appropriate development
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Uncontrolled development
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Need by-laws to protect lot sizes, to make by-laws hold, and not be undercut
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Desire or market demand to over build- greed
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Replanting
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City planning – intensification
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RCO provides an opportunity to maintain the unique quality of the neighbourhood
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Developers profiting from the ambience of the neigbourhood they are destroying
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Think of ways to bring everyone together again – use the Club
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Only planting dwarf trees as replacements
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Ability to be vocal on problems – the community has much capacity to react
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Having water table changed with super size basement
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We need to use political clout, stay organized
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Monster homes, gorilla additions
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Increase commitment to maintain qualities of Roseland
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Insensitive infill
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Tree maintenance
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Loss of neighbourhood loyalty
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Official plan study
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Over-sized Homes on rebuild lots
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Tree by-law
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Loss of character homes
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Push City to pass tree by-law
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New builds that lack elegance, imagination and variation
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Keep “variances” minor
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 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. May 1, 2013. Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison arrived, uninvited, to the semi-Annual meeting of the Roseland Community Organization last Thursday. He was not a member.
Dennison applied for membership one half hour after the Press Release was sent to media; he had made no effort to join the organization before that time. RCO has been around for a year now. The group was organized to appeal a Committee of Adjustment decision to the Ontario Municipal Board.
 Dennison’s behaviour at a Roseland Community meeting – to which he was not invited was seen as “aggressive”. “Dennison’s membership application was declined for reasons that should be apparent”, said a member of the RCO`s Board.
That same member said Dennison was there to hand out flyers to our Members. I needed to ask him to remove himself from his position beside the sign in table at the door. “His efforts”, added the Board member, “did not have the desired result.”
This Board member said: “I came early anticipating he would show up and he did not disappoint. About twenty minutes prior to the start of the meeting, I saw Mr. Dennison and his girlfriend walking through the parking lot toward the door. I was unaware that they had actually followed me in until I went to bring out a chair for the sign in table. I did ask him to leave and he excused himself to the main lobby of the Church. His girlfriend did remain behind sitting in a chair about 15 feet from our meeting door. Our meeting was 15 minutes late as he was engaging members at the door with his literature.”
“His attendance was considered to be aggressive. It is always desirable to have personal boundaries and be respectful. I did not interfere (as I drove by) with his street canvassing on this issue. His attendance did not have the result he was looking for. You can well imagine the response from Members.”
“It is clearly his last term or he would not be acting in defiance of a neighbourhood who has supported him in the past. I look forward to the overdue, delayed Roseland Study and trust that there is no mechanism other than his being a resident, to shape future planning policy for Roseland.”
“Official Plan reviews are rare events and the requested Roseland study is a first. The neighbourhood does not deserve to have to deal with any legacy effects from his own attitude toward severance.”
Roseland will be the location for the second neighbourhood character study that takes place at the Roseland Park Country Club, 3079 Princess Blvd.E – event starts at 6:30 – and you don’t have to be a member to attend this event.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. April 30th, 2013. The Organic Farmer’s Market will open for the first time this season on May 11th and operate on Sunday’s from 9 to 12ish.
Traffic last year was decent but many people found the Friday a difficult day; people who worked weren’t able to stroll over and enjoy the setting.
 Last season tables were laden with fresh vegetables, organically grown Expect to see an even wider selection this season. Barry Imber, the energy behind this project said “ the hope is that the hood will stroll over in the mornings and take their time to enjoy the people and the various things that local farmers have to offer.
“We will also have a few new vendors in addition to possibly a breakfast vendor and Tamp Coffee doing his specialty pour over coffee for the crowd. We’ll have the picnic benches out and will encourage everyone to chill out and take their time.
 The Chef’s Shootout last year. A light rain didn’t stop the event – the food was delicious. Burlington Tourism is looking for ways they can get behind the project. While the market is hosted in a commercial location, in the parking lot behind Centro’s on John Street, the net result is a place for community and Imber hopes it is cherished and embraced as well as promoted to make it stronger.
The closing event last year was a great idea – A Shootout between two Chef’s from Spencer’s on the Waterfront – took place even though it was raining. The Chef’s did a great job and the 40 or so people stood there with their umbrellas enjoying the food.
Wet but fun. Hopefully Imber will hold at least one of these Shootouts this year.
The market is set up behind Centro’s on John Street. Downtowners can just stroll on over and nosh.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. April 29, 2013. If you’ve a creative bent to you or your children are good with a set of crayons – there are two opportunities to get you name in lights and be known for being creative.
The city of Burlington wants to celebrate National Public Works Week and the Region wants to promote tourism in the Region. Both give you an opportunity to express yourself artistically.
The city wants you if you are a resident 18 years of age or younger to put your artistic talents to use as part of an art contest. Participants are being asked to create a piece of art that celebrates this year’s theme: Because of Public Works…
 The city is looking for people under the age of 18 who want to show what Public Work’s is all about. If they know and can draw – send in your best effort. Scott Stewart, general manager of development and infrastructure, who couldn’t draw a straight line with a ruler explains that the public works departments play an important role in the building and shaping of our communities”. He should know – he oversees those departments. “Recognizing public works week through the art contest and other activities helps us share with the community the important role public works functions play in running a city. Events like this also give us an opportunity to showcase the various career choices available to our youth in public works.” It also softens up the image of the department when they fall behind on road repairs.
Entries for this contest will be accepted up to May 10, 2013. A panel of local judges will select winners based on the relevancy to this years’ theme: Because of Public Works…, composition and creativity. Winners will be selected from three age categories: six to nine years, 10 to 13 years and 14 to 18 years of age.
Artwork will be displayed at City Hall during Public Works Week, May 19 to 25, 2013. The winners from each category will be recognized at the City of Burlington’s National Public Works Week Touch-a-Truck event on Saturday, May 25, 2013, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
That event will be held at the city’s road and parks maintenance facility on Harvester Road. Children of all ages will have the unique opportunity to get up close and even sit in the driver’s seat of many of the city’s vehicles including a fire truck, snow plow and a hybrid aerial truck.
Contest rules and an application form are here: or call 905-335-7600 ext. 7770.
The Region is focusing on tourism with their contest. They have decided that Spring starts here! And they want you to “Spring into action” with your camera and tell the Region’s story as you see it.
This contest is open to both residents and visitors – and there is a cash incentive – a chance to win a $100 Mapleview Mall gift card.
Share your favourite local spring activities in a new “Spring into Action” photo contest. Submit a photo during the month of May with your favourite spring outdoor activity or location for a chance to win a $100 Mapleview Mall gift card.
Regional chair Gary Carr calls Halton a true four season community and he wants people to share photographs of things they have done in the Region.
 There might be hundreds of people submitting picture for the Regions Spring photo contest. If there is just the one – you could win the $100 Gift Card. Send then your best shot. The communications people plan to use the pictures that get sent in as part of their social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to share submissions. All photographs will be judged by Halton Tourism staff on the basis of originality and seasonality.
Other prizes include copies of Halton Hikes and a Family Day Pass to Conservation Halton Parks.
Learn more about the contest, which runs May 1 to 31, here: or dial 311, or, if you can handle ten digits give them a call at 905-825-6000, toll-free 1-866-442-5866 or TTY 905-827-9833. These people are doing everything they can to make it easy for you to reach them.
 By Ray Z. Rivers
Ray Rivers will write weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat after which he decided to write and has become a political animator.
BURLINGTON, ON. April 29, 2013. ‘Root-causes’ you say? Justin Trudeau dared to utter that phrase in his interview with Peter Mansbridge, shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings. Trudeau was “committing sociology”, the Prime Minster accused, as if that was one of the unforgivable crimes the PM had included in the government’s new ‘safe-streets’ legislation.
 Afghan women being taught some of the basics through funding provided by the Canadian International Development Agency – getting at the root causes of political violence. National Post right-wing columnist Barbara Kay had earlier taken her aim and fired a volley at the young leader – showing his ‘inner sophomore’, she accused. She went on to draw a comparison to his father, when as PM he brought out the army to quell the FLQ hostage crisis of 1970. True enough he activated the War Measures Act, but Pierre also dealt with some of the “root-causes” – the disenchantment and estrangement of Quebecers’ from their rightful role in the federation. Lest we forget, he introduced official bilingualism, regional economic development, and the inter-provincial equalization program.
Of course Kay and Harper are playing politics, aren’t they? Everybody knows that for every effect there is a cause…and a root-cause. I mean why else is Canada providing social and economic aid to Afghanistan, except to remove the kind of ‘root-causes’ that contributed to 9/11, right? Under Stephen Harper, Canada, proudly, has become one of the world’s top donors of economic development and educational assistance in Afghanistan, raising the levels of education, ensuring greater food security, and regional development of that nation, one of the world’s poorest.
In 2011, Canada assisted over 1600 schools graduate almost 50,000 students, 85% of them girls. And we helped Afghan small and medium businesses create over 20,000 new jobs, injecting $325 million in the national economy. These are very impressive stats for a government that doesn’t believe in ‘committing sociology’ and in considering and reducing ‘root-causes’.
Comments from a casual observer.
BURLINGTON, ON April 27, 2013 A real sign of spring is kids selling lemonade and one of our readers spotted this trio out at Elizabeth Gardens where they raised $20 while he was there.
 Spring has sprung! The grass has riz, these Kids have gone into the Lemonade Biz! The three in were doing a pretty good business Saturday selling chocolate chip cookies and lemonade. By 2:30 in the afternoon they had made better than twenty bucks, and I had to wait my turn. Don’t know if they’re looking to audition for dragon’s den or not, but I’m sure they’ll be back soon.
As will our reader. Does this mean Spring is truly here?
 By John Mellow
BURLINGTON, ON April 22, 2013. On Friday April 19th, a crew headed up by Jeremy McCulloch from our building mover contractor, Laurie McCulloch Building Movers, delivered the steel beams necessary to move our 1906 former Grand Trunk Railway Burlington Junction/Freeman Station.
 Two of the four steel beams that will be placed underneath the Freeman Station are laid out ready to be moved into position. The structure is going to be moved less than 200 yards – directly behind the man in the orange vest and to the right on a concrete pad where it will sit while restoration work is done. Two long 66 foot steel I-beams capable of transporting the building for the move arrived on site. These were placed beside the station ready to be placed under the building very soon, subject to co-ordination with the Burlington Fire Department as some staff vehicles will need to be temporarily parked elsewhere during this process.
This is the first real action taken toward the eventual move which is expected to occur in a few weeks’ time. Building of the foundation and restoration of the station will begin once at the new location on the property of Ashland Water Technologies on the east side of the BFD headquarters.
 Blocks will be used with the steel beams to transfer the weight of the structure onto the truck where it will get moved less than 200 yards. The following pictures show the steel arriving on the truck, the blocking being unloaded by tow truck driver Brian, the next two are of the steel being unloaded, and finally the two pieces sitting in position ready to be moved under the building.
Our thanks go to Jeremy, Terry, Brian and the remainder of the crew, for their efforts on a cold windy and sometimes rainy day. They were done and gone in one hour. Well done!
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. April 17, 2013 Teresa Seaton has been working with stained glass for more than 10 years. “I have been moving my studio around my house since 2001, starting in the furnace room to the spare room in the basement to the basement itself. Gobbling up more and more space from the family. When I began to threaten a move upstairs to the great room the family said I had to go”
 A Re-Opening – interesting way of putting it – new location for Seaton, a move next door for Edy Roy – either way – delights for the eye at both. And go she did – all the way out to a spot steps away from Royal Botanical Gardens where the room is bright and there is a sunset to die for. Seaton works late – just to be able to watch that sunset.
“I had been eyeing a space in front of the RBG for over two years. Luckily I just happened to be able to squirm my way in there thanks to both Matt and Kyle of Edy Roy and the acceptance of Jerry the owner of the property.
 This is a 20 ft x 6 ft. work table; weighed a ton – made out of solid wood. Set up where the view is superb, the sunsets are great – Seaton may never go home So here we go! Seaton was off. “One of my biggest expenses was my work benches. Thanks to Joseph Bauman and his team my dream has come true. I have waited 10 years for this.”
The official studio hours are Thursday through Sunday 11-7, but you’ll find Seaton there most days. If the SUV is out front she is in the shop. Feel free to drop in.
While the move is a huge and very welcome change for Teresa Seaton, it just might be the beginning of a small artist colony in the west end. Seaton’s operation is right beside Edy Roy where some of the best glass work being done in this country is on display.
 When it comes to glass art – it doesn’t get much better than this. Work like this is sold in New York, Milan and Paris. Burlington is fortunate to have an artist of this calibre in the city. Kyle Books – some of her best. Having the two beside each other (and having Easterbrook just down the street) makes this an irresistible reason to Go West.
 Matt Robertson tends to be playful with his glass. Light, exceptionally well executed, his work will catch the eye of many. The “official opening of the two studios when they will show off all kinds of glass is Thursday April 25th.
Expect to see more from Seaton – she has been commissioned by the city to do the awards that will be given to the city’s BEST at the Civic Awards later this year. Novel work.
 By Pepper Parr.
BURLINGTON, ON. April 17, 2013 Starting today, the city’s E-Government program will be launching the first of several new online services. For the first time, the city’s parks and recreation department’s Live & Play Guide is available online, allowing people to view program information and directly register for recreation programs of their choice at any time, day or night, from the comfort of their homes.
Wow! Is this as good as it sounds?
“Posting the very popular Live & Play Guide on the city’s web page is an important step for the City of Burlington’s E-Government program,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “The people of Burlington have told us online service is an important option, and we are listening.” That’s good – having a Mayor that listens is good.
 Two pages of the electronic version of Live and Play, the city’s magazine on all its recreational programs. Convenient once you get the hang of the thing. Was there a real savings? We did save some trees. The on-line version of Live and Play will allow people to search, bookmark and tag favorite pages. The content is to be Mobile-friendly, which means you can book something from your smart phone while travelling on the GO train. That’s very good.
You can set things up so that you get information via email and social media sites. City hall has in the past been a little reluctant with social media. There was the sense a year back that staff couldn’t be trusted to send out sensible messages. That appears to be shifting.
In the media release the city says” “People are now busier than ever. The introduction of the online guide and its features will give residents user-friendly recreation information, whether at home or on the go,” said Chris Glenn, director of parks and recreation. “The online guide will provide easy access for residents to register for a variety of programs.”
 What you used to get in your mailbox is now on-line. Really slick, fun to use but allow yourself some time to get the hang of the thing. The city’s E-Government strategy will be delivered through 10 projects put in place over three years. Over the next couple of months, the city will launch epost in conjunction with Canada Post for property tax billing and tee time bookings for Tyandaga Golf Course.
Brent Stanbury, E-Government program manager, who built the first web site for the city before he went to work for the federal government, came back to Burlington to take us from the entry-level web site to something much more sophisticated and, it might be added, a lot harder to create.
There wasn’t enough space within the IT department at city hall to house the team.
Now – about the site. It is slick but it is going to take some getting used to. There are all kinds of tabs on the sides and it will take you some time to get used to it. When you move from page to page there is a sound effect that is all but identical to flipping the pages of a magazine.
Is it too complex? Many will have problems with it – but it appears to be all there – you just have to get used to getting around the thing. Best approach: put your ten year old in front of it and let them tell you how it works.
 Navigational Tool – takes a bit to get used to them but they work very well. It does work. There is an event on the Seniors’ Centre page that kind of interested me: a day trip to Toronto to take a Tall Ship Cruise. I clicked on the spot I thought I should have clicked on and that brought me to a page that had all the information – and told me that I had to come back June 1, to register. I didn’t figure out how to get the program to remind me to come back June 1 – just put that into my Outlook calendar and that will remind me.
It looks as if the thing is going to work well.
Did notice though that the publication doesn’t appear to be on the city’s web site and the media release didn’t tell you where to go to get to it. There was a link in the media release – but few people get that document.
So – if you want to get to the Live and Play CLICK HERE.
Make a point of bookmarking that page when it comes up on your screen – you will want to go back to it.
That website address suggest Live and Play, in its electronic edition, is on some other website and that the city is paying a fee to keep the thing there. Is that fee less than the cost of printing the magazine and having it distributed? The media release makes no mention of any cost – but there are no free lunches.
At first blush this looks like a superb effort – now some time and effort has to be made to help people learn how to use it – or am I just showing my age? Hope not.
We will be back to tell you more about this one.
 By Walter Byj
BURLINGTON, ON April 16, 2013 Over the past number of years, the PBS station in Buffalo ,WNED, has run a series called Our Town, highlighting communities in northwest New York and southern Ontario. These hour-long broadcasts were the result of volunteers putting on film the way they saw their city.
 WNED producer Lynne Bader previews the Burlington production for the videographers who took part. Bader on the left with Joe Veitch in the centre. Our Burlington’s reporter Walter Byj was one of the participants. The project started September 5th and 6th last year at the Central Library when a number of volunteers from Burlington met with senior producer Lynne Bader of WNED TV. After discussing various program ideas and receiving tips for video shooting, each individual was given two weeks in which to submit their unique story with at least 55 minutes of raw data.
On September 21st and 22nd, the volunteers submitted their recordings and gave a quick on camera interview about their topic.
The project is now finished and I was able to view the finished product on Tuesday night; the tone of the stories reflects Burlington. With the short window we had to film some of the major Burlington events were not covered. However, the overall show does reflect well on Burlington.
Golf was covered in some detail – I did a segment on the golf courses in Burlington – waiting now for Hollywood to call me.
It all goes on air Tuesday April 23rd at 9:00 pm on WNED TV channel 31 on the Cogeco dial.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON April 11, 2013 The weekend of April 20th BurlingtonGreen hopes to have 10,000 people out on the streets, the ravines and the vacant lots picking up trash that has accumulated or been left on the ground by irresponsible people.
They call the event their CleanUp, GreenUp and this year they have added a new, interesting twist that gives the GreenUp part of the event real oomph. BurlingtonGreen, in partnership with the City of Burlington and Conservation Halton will be hosting a Green Up event at Beachway Park thanks to the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund.
 Part of the team that is going to be out on the Beachway planting shrubs and native plants Saturday April 20th. Up to 100 people can sign up to participate in this rewarding stewardship event to improve the coastal environment of Lake Ontario’s shoreline by picking up litter, removing invasive species and planting native grasses, shrubs and trees. Those interested in participating are asked to register.
Why Green-up? The removal of invasive species is important because they compromise the ecological balance of the region and put native species that exist in the area at risk. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, invasive species move into ecosystems and take over, killing some native species. They disrupt food webs, degrade habitat, introduce parasites and disease and lead to species at risk. Globally, only habitat loss is a bigger threat to biodiversity.
Advantages of planting native trees, shrubs and grasses will help to restore the area by providing food and habitat for native wildlife, protecting water quality by controlling soil erosion and they add beauty to the landscape while preserving our natural heritage.
 It is locations like this at Beachway Park where the vegetation is sparse and the sands constantly shift that shrubs and flora native to the sands will be planted Saturday April 20th. Beachway Park is a special place, sometimes referred to as the jewel of the city. It is a popular spot for walking, beach activities and special events. The beach itself is part of a formation called a Baymouth Bar, which is a pure sand feature, formed through natural processes of erosion and deposition.
The Beachway community is currently the focus of a study being done by the Region along with Conservation Halton to determine what kind of a community people want in that part of the city. It’s clear what BurlingtonGreen wants – a place that is as natural as it can be with flora that works with the land mass.
If you have what it takes to bend over and plant shrubs – put your name down for this one – and let the family know that you will be in the tub for an hour or so after you’ve done your shift.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. April 10, 2013 It was 33 years ago this Friday that a young man dipped his foot into the Atlantic Ocean and starting off on his remarkable Marathon of Hope.
A short 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), after wetting that one good foot we lost Terry Fox but today have one of the greatest examples of what hope and the human spirit can achieve.
 Terry Fox, dipping the one foot he had into the Atlantic ocean. He died 143 days later and taught us what hope could achieve. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$500 million has been raised in his name.
 Can’t say much more than that – can we? Burlington holds its annual Terry Fox run where hundreds of people show up. Fine event.
The Terry Fox organization that raises funds for a cancer cure is encouraging all Canadians to mark April 12th with a Terry Fox inspired activity – go for a walk with your family, help someone out, share your feelings about Terry on social media.
Let them know what you did by posting a story and/or a picture on the Terry Fox Facebook page on Friday.
Ray Rivers was seen pontificating with a bunch of Burlington Liberals Saturday morning before he headed into Toronto for the Liberal Party of Canada Showcase where the six candidates running for the leadership of the party were giving their final speeches. We asked Ray to give us a first person report on the event. Ray, still with a belly full of fire for politics, reports:
 By Ray Rivers.
TORONTO,ON. April 9, 2013 I could feel the mood as I descended the stairs from old Union Station to the near vacuous bowel of a structure, that is the Toronto Convention Centre. Trudeau volunteers were everywhere, waving their skinny balloons, and making rallying noises. They were mostly young people, which was so delightful to see. The woman on the TV the night before, told us the Liberals would have trouble filling the seats at this event, and she was right. The rows of seats were dispersed as best they could to disguise that the attendance was not what had been hoped.
At $150. per ticket, for which didn’t even get a bottle of water, let alone coffee and a doughnut, the low turnout was not a surprise but a disappointment. There was this overly lengthy tribute to departing interim leader Bob Rae – sure, he deserves recognition, but hey, I thought we were coming to listen to the candidates. Then the organizers allowed twenty-five minutes for each of the butt-numbing speeches. They were all good, of course, though I have to admit that I ran off to an ad hoc meeting and missed the last two speeches. But then, like the rest of the crowd there, I was pretty sure that it wouldn’t matter. Somebody in the Party needs to take a serious look at how they plan these events.
Joyce Murray had the most effective video and gave a very good speech. She cautiously and slowly walked the crowd through her vision of co-operating with the NDP and Greens in order to beat Harper at the polls next time. But it is a complicated matter, and so innovative, that I doubt some of the regular folks got it – or felt comfortable with it. Joyce spoke of her commitment to small business and the environment and I couldn’t help thinking what a brilliant environment minister she would make in the next Liberal government.
 The country watched as another Trudeau headed towards the leadership of a political party Then came Justin, with a huge gaggle of groupies, Trudeau scarves casually around their necks, clapping their skinny balloons and chanting, as their hopeful gracefully climbed onto the stage and proceeded to inspire everyone with his speech. He was confident and positive and delivered his well-written speech with passion and power. Knowing the question was in everyone’s mind he commented about his father, saying that his campaign was about Pierre, then added just as it was about all of the parents (of the younger of us, I guess) – that it was about restoring Canada to the glory days before Stephen Harper screwed it up. Perhaps he was just anticipating the Tory attack-ads coming the Monday following the vote count, but it certainly struck a chord with me – nice twist on a theme.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON April 8, 2013 When Murray Hogarth was named Burlington’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010, he was inducted into the Economic Hall of Fame by himself. This year the Burlington Community Foundation named Murray and his wife Diana as the Philanthropists of the year – they will be celebrated at the Masquerade Ball in October.
Murray Hogarth is the founder and President of Pioneer Energy, Canada’s largest independent gas station chain.
 Murray Hogarth, president Pioneer Group and Burlington’s Philanthropist of the year. “Diana and Murray Hogarth, their family, and their corporation, Pioneer Energy, exemplify all this award represents including consistent and significant giving over a number of years and sectors, illustrating outstanding community leadership and volunteerism. We truly look forward to celebrating the Hogarth’s philanthropy at our Masquerade Ball.” says Colleen Mulholland, President and CEO, Burlington Community Foundation.
Established in 1999 by a group of local volunteers and philanthropists to improve the quality of life in Burlington, Burlington Community Foundation gives grants, collaborates with donors to build endowments, and connects community leadership. For Masquerade Ball tables, tickets or to become a Proud Supporter, contact Sandra Baker, sbaker@burlingtonfoundation.org, 905 639 0744 x 223.
 By Pepper Parr
 No one knows how many times this vote button was pushed. Often enough to bring $20,000 to Burlington. BURLINGTON, ON April 5, 2013 Goderich managed to get more votes for themselves than Burlington and they get the $100,000 Kraft – The Games Goes On award – but Burlington was most definitely in the race and will be given a $20,000 award for the Burlington Lions Optimist Minor Hockey Association (BLOMHA)
John McNeil was the Burlington “poster boy” for this feat when Kristen Priestner nominated him as the “manager extraordinaire” and that got McNeil in as a finalist.
The contest, which was open to any community in the country that ran a minor hockey team that met the Hockey Canada criteria, was based on nominations that came in from individual communities. The country was broken out into five regions, with Ontario being one of them Once all the nominations from each region were in, Kraft narrowed down the list to five from each Region. Burlington was up against Goderich, Lakefield, Cornwall and Stittsville.
Just over 18 months ago Goderich got hit with a major hurricane that tore apart the centre of that city – the community had to pull together and that experience would have had them well-oiled for the Kraft – The Game Goes On contest.
The selection was based on “votes” but these were not like the usual vote – in this game a person could vote as many times as they wanted and for whoever they wanted. All you had to do was log in click the vote button, key in the code to ensure that you were a human being and not some computer out there dialing in. Then all the user had to do was click on the vote button.
And then did it all over again until your were numb with exhaustion.
 There it was – proof positive that BLOMHA was in the winner’s circle. No one knows yet what the individual counts were for each community – the total for the country was reported at 750,000 which seems quite low.
Dirk Wolterbeek from Goderich, Ontario, received the most votes and is being recognized today with a $100,000 award to the Goderich Minor Hockey Association. The other four inspiring Ontarians earning a $20,000 award for their selected minor hockey associations include Mike Goble from Lakefield, Rod McLeod from Cornwall, John McNeil from Burlington and Cathy Bureau from Stittsville.
Burlington’s nominee, known as a “Manager Extraordinaire,” John McNeil was described by his nominator, Kristen Priestner “as going above and beyond for the Major Atom A Burlington Bulldogs. Whether fundraising, coordinating tournaments, hosting the Parents’ Christmas Social or organizing this year’s Ontario Hockey Federation Playoffs, McNeil is the heart and soul of his team.”
 As we reported on this event during the two-day race to get as many votes as possible – the picture that told the story for us was this one. The kids are focused and just clicking away. That guy in the middle is going to be playing the game – real soon. The voting started at 9:00 am last Saturday and other than a small hiccup at the start it went smoothly. Burlington parents were involved in their hockey end of season games. Besides driving to London twice and getting their kids out to two games in Burlington this band of parents had to hustle anyone they knew with a keyboard to dial in and vote.
 Working from a “hot spot” on the 401 and a cell phone – these “bulldogs” managed to vote frequently. “We used a cell phone to find a “hot spot” on the 401 and had kids on-line via the cell phone to vote as a parent drove” explained McNeil.
The winners of awards were announced Monday night during a Flyers -Canadiens game (Montreal lost which was not a good sign) and Kraft announced the $100,000 winner for Ontario – Goderich.
 Well – they certainly no where their bread is buttered. A $20,000 prize tends to pull smiles like this. This is the BLOMHA core that made the award possible – there are probably a couple of bodies that didn’t make it. I want to know – which one is Kristen Priestner? For fans – it is all about the game and $20,000 is nothing to sneeze at. McNeil who doesn’t control the award does expect the BLOMHA executive to use the funds to defer fees for kids who can’t afford to play and to buy equipment for those who need better than what their families can afford.
The core team did gather at McNeil’s house to watch the results – “it was a school night and we had practice last night, practice tomorrow, all the parents are going to a community fundraiser Friday night and we have a game Saturday…. Busy busy.” And they still managed to bring home $20,000 worth of bacon.
McNeil hopes Kraft releases the numbers. “we would like to see how we fared against the other communities – it will give us a sense of where our strength is and where we can improve”, said McNeil. Ever the analyst – he wants data.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. April 1, 2013 You will see the T-shirt first.
517 People. 25 Vendors. 344 Comments. 158 Photos. What Next?
Indeed – what next. James Burchill has managed to take an idea and use Social Media to build an audience and a network into something that approaches 2000 people. He is a shameless self-promoter. His events are described by him as “epic”. He emails like the service was going to end tomorrow but this guy managed to get more than 500 people out to an event at the Performing Arts Centre to just network. The bar prices were on the high-end and the selection was limited but the people were there and the door prizes were good and the Mayor said nice things about what he was doing. That was enough for James Burchill this time out.
 Business in Burlington is all about business cards which identify the more than 2000 people who are part of a unique collection of people who meet once a month. Burchill runs the Business in Burlington (BiB) “Meet Up”. It is what is says it is – a place for people to meet and talk business. It’s not a place to find the man or woman of your life or even for the next weekend. Certainly not a singles set up.
The way we relate, the paths we walk along to get where we want to go, the people we meet and then choose to meet are all part of the way the society we live in works. We organize ourselves into groups; it used to be Scouts and Girl Guides but those organizations didn’t keep up with the needs of families and the pedophilia within the Boy Scouts certainly didn’t help that crowd.
We join golf and country clubs, or a book study group; maybe the Chamber of Commerce or the YMCA. New organizations come into existence to meet new needs.
 They didn’t fill every square foot but there were certainly enough of them to create a buzz. The display tables on the mezzanine were very busy. Burlington has one of those unique situations where there are four Rotary Clubs – each meeting the needs of different groups of people. Many people use Rotary as a touch point and refer frequently to their fellow Rotarians. It is almost as if you have to belong to the Rotary to be real.
Sports is a big part of family life in this city. We put athletics ahead of scholarship and are relentless when it comes to funding events in the community with galas and gatherings.
In Burlington the Chamber of Commerce , which is fairly described as the mainline business organization, has committees and represents the commercial sector. BiB doesn’t do any representing nor does it seem to involve itself with the larger community.
Is this the direction Social Media is taking us in?
The ‘mini-trade show at the Performing Arts Centre was such a success for Burchill that he has already booked the date for the next such event – March 20th, 2014.
The last one went so well that Burchill is holding an event at which he will tell you how he pulled it off – he says he is prepared to tell you about what worked; what didn’t work and the mistakes along the way.
Here’s how Burchill shills for this event:
Finally, when you pull off an event this big on your own, people begin to wonder how you did it. A couple of popular questions are: How do you keep growing the networks? How do you get such high engagement and turn-out?
Would you be interested in attending a private presentation about this event and how I put it together, how I marketed it, the tools I used, the strategies I deployed and so on?
I’ll take you behind the scenes and show you the successful parts … and the screw ups (there were a couple of good ones!) It’ll be a candid experience and one I think will open your eyes to the marketing power of local networking events.
You can let me know here:
 Networking – right. It was an “epic” event for Burchill. So good that he is going to do it again next year. He promotes: shamelessly, consistently, a little outside the Burlington character but his people love him and they tend to leave satisfied and plan on returning.
Burchill has moved his monthly event from the Waterfront Hotel to Ivy on the South Service Road. Next time up is this Wednesday 5 to 7 pm. It is certainly a nice location and the parking is free. It will be “fabulous” when they are out on the patio.
Business in Burlington – if you want to know how to exploit Social Media to its fullest – listen to Burchill.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON March 29, 2013 The nominations for Burlington’s Best awards are in, and in just six weeks the winners will be revealed at a gala event – Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. at the Burlington Convention Centre,
The 2013 gala event is proud to welcome local blogger and unabashed promoter of Burlington, Trent Schwartz, as the keynote speaker.
Keith Strong, chairman of the nominating committee is pleased with the buzz building around Burlington’s Best awards,.
“With an impressive group of nominees, the new look of the awards and an exciting ceremony coming, we think this year’s awards will help raise awareness of the importance of volunteering in the community. These nominees all help make Burlington a better place for all of us.”
Awards will be given for the following seven categories:
Citizen of the Year
Junior Citizen of the Year
Arts Person of the Year
Seniors Person of the Year
Community Service Award
Environmental Award
Heritage Award, this is a new category for Burlington.
This year’s nominees are:
Susan Busby, Mary Dilly, Joey Edwardh, Ancilla Ho-Young, Jane Irwin, Bev Jacobs, Ross Kay, Morgan Muscat, Robert Narejko, Noah Parker, Amy Schnurr, Joe Veitch
All award winners will be announced at the event.
 Civic Award winners last year; from the left: Michelle Bennett, Sam Kawazoye, Trevor Copp, Mayor Goldring (he won the election) Wendy Hager, Dan Taylor and Jim Frizzle The Planning Committee is composed of 10 voting members, including: 6 citizens from the community, and 4 representatives from media and information agencies.
Tickets to this event are $35 per person; a table of the 10 sells for $280. The event includes a light buffet and cocktail reception. Tickets are available from the clerks department at City Hall, 426 Brant St. or by contacting Roxanne Gosse at 905-335-7600, ext. 7855 or Roxanne.gosse@burlington.ca
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON March 28, 2013 Bob Jurk, currently a Senior Project leader in the Engineering department, remembers the day when he put the actual clock fixture into the Burlington Blue cast iron structure that has been standing outside city hall since 1999.
 John Bouwman is said to be the person who decided that Burlington needed a clock outside city hall and he knew just the kind of clock the city needed. That was the starting point for the clock that has been on location since 1999. One of the reasons we made this picture as large as we did is because of the reflection in the shop window. You can see the Google car driving by and photographing every street of every city in North America. Look closely and you can see the camera mounted atop the car.  They are going to lift the clock off its base and get it into the shop for a check up. The clock has been in place since 1999 – and has apparently never missed a beat. Keith Strong remembers too how people in the community came together to get the clock in place. John Bouwman, operator of the Clockmaker on John Street, is said to be the person who came up with the idea and Mrs. Carol Wardle of Wardle Insurance offered a generous contribution and before you knew it – the clock was a done deal. All it took was the typical Keith Strong, roll up your sleeves and get it done approach, and close to fifteen years later that clock is out for a fix up.
It’s going to take a couple of weeks to complete the job of refurbishing the device – so if you are depending on the sound of the chimes to get to work on time – leave home a little earlier.
The clock was installed in 1999 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Burlington’s incorporation as a village. The city gave twin city Itabashi, Japan, a replica of the clock as a friendship gift in 1999 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the cities’ twinning agreement.
In 2014, Burlington and Itabashi will celebrate 25 years since the cities originally signed a twinning agreement.
Civic Square also includes a millennium fountain, built and installed to mark the year 2000; a bronze statue built to honour soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War, installed in 1986; and a drinking fountain built to commemorate a visit by the Prince of Wales and installed at the site in 1977.
A lot of history in a small space.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Marc h 28, 2013 It was almost sweet. The Community Services Committee was meeting to discuss a report on the upgrades being made to Lowville Park and talk about the revenue problems at Tyandaga Golf Club where a surplus of $75,000 just wasn’t good enough for Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison. On the agenda as well was a discussion about the Cultural Action Plan that is being worked up and on which we should see something more concrete later in the year.
What wasn’t on the agenda was a Memo from Councillors Dennison, Sharman and Lancaster who wanted funding for a pet project they thought had been included in the budget but was not.
Last year the city held two “car free Sunday event; one on Appleby Line and the other on Brant Street. Appleby Line was a limited success worth doing a again. Brant Street was not worth the effort, the time or the cost.
Councillors Sharman and Dennison led the charge last year with the Mayor along for the ride. There were a number of photo ops as well. Councillor Lancaster wanted to get in on the game this year but they discovered that the car free Sunday was not in the budget much to their surprise.
 Traffic barriers in place on Lakeshore for the Car Free Sunday last year were expensive and not really used. The event was poorly attended. So they began to see if they could make it happen on their own and soon realized that they would need funding from the city – to the tune of $10,000 for two events – one that would take place on Appleby Line Sunday June 9th and the other on Palladium Way in the Alton Community June 23rd.
 No problem spending a bundle on Car Free Sundays last year – but 2013 was going to be different. Councillor Meed Ward wanted Council members to pony up some of the cost from their expense accounts. Didn’t happen – but she did try. These three Musketeers, Councillors Sharman, Lancaster and Dennison, then asked their fellow Council members to join them in voting to “Authorize the Director of Finance to transfer up to $10,000 from the Tax Stabilization Fund to an account in support of Car Free Sunday.
Not so fast piped in Councillor Taylor. You can use the Tax Stabilization Fund for a one time expenditure. This is your second kick at the can – can’t use that fund.
 The Appleby Line Car Free Sunday was better attended than the one on Brant Street several weeks later – but neither event was a huge success. That wasn’t going to stop Councillors Sharman, Dennison and now Lancaster from giving it another go. Ooops said the three Musketeers. Councillor Meed Ward wasn’t part of this initiative but did say she would support the effort if each of the Council members used some of the $9000 expense account to support the effort. Lancaster didn’t like that idea but did say she would use $500 of her expense money and might go up to $1000 if she had to. Meed Ward then turned to Councillor Dennison to see what he was prepared to put up. Dennison wanted none of that and he bobbed and weaved and did everything he could not to answer the question.
Councillor Craven, who was also not involved sat there smirking for a while and then pointed out that there was an event in Aldershot that was getting his community into this type of thing incrementally. There was going to be a “Jane’s Walk in Aldershot May 5th and he would support the motion if they would add in $500 for the Aldershot event. That would bring Craven on board and give the group the four votes they needed.
Because this was a sort of Parks and Recreation project members of Council asked Parks and Recreation director Chris Glenn if he could fund this. Nope – I’m broke was the gist of Glenn’s answer. And besides he added – this is more of a Transportation matter. The “buck” was being moved from department to department.
Councillor Taylor thought he had a solution. “You must have more than 10,000 reserve funds – just take $1 from each and pay for this that way.
Still no takers.
 General manager Kim Phillips saved the day for the three Council members who wanted to promote a pet project and have the city pay for it. She found $10,000 that wasn’t being used. General Manager Kim Phillips did observe that the Executive Budget Committee noticed Councillor initiated events were ending up as projects that “you expect us to take on.”
Phillips, always ready to be helpful, suggested there was some money in the Strategic Plan Implementation Fund that wasn’t spoken for – would that help. Now getting a Car Free Sunday event defined as part of implementing the Strategic Plan is a stretch – but they did find a way to stretch this one by saying that it would contribute to Vibrant Communities which is one of the Strategic Plan pillars.
But before they got to that point in the discussion, Meed Ward pointed out that when there was a role for the city in Councillor driven events, some of the funding could come from the individual council member’s expense account and she went back after Councillor Dennison and asked again how much of his expense money was he prepared to put into the project. She almost had him.
But then he Mayor said: “We have much bigger fish to fry this evening” and Dennison added “let staff find the money”.
Blair Lancaster moved the motion – they had the four votes they needed – and so there will be two car free Sundays in the city – one June 9th and the other June 23rd.
Now you know how Burlington works. Meed Ward did hold their feet to the flames.
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