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May 3rd, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON Due to continued wet conditions all natural grass sport fields (diamonds and rectangular fields) are closed for today. With reports of heavy rain in the next few days – those playing fields might be underwater for the next while. We will keep you posted.
May 2, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON A second advisory went out earlier today saying all the fields were to be closed for a second day.  If the playing fields are closed due to all the rain – perhaps the city will open up some streets for the kids to play on. This on Brant Street opposite city hall during one of the street festivals.
May 2, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
The new outdoor pool currently under construction at Nelson Park will open this summer. The new pool at Nelson Park is 50-metres long with eight lanes. It will include a beach-entry leisure pool and a new splash pad located beside the pool.  Artists rendering of the Nelson pool now under construction. Scheduled to open this summer. Construction of this new pool is being done by Schilthuis Construction – the people who were hired to build The Pier and had to walk away from the job when they found the design was such that they believed The Pier could not be constructed from the plans the contractor was give, There were also issues with the specifications for the steel that was used. The problems with the steel came to light when a crane on the site toppled over. An inspection of the badly bent steel revealed that it did not meet the specifications.  Concrete pour at the splash pad part of the new Nelson pool That’s when everyone involved in the project sued everyone else. In the long run it all got worked out and after a settlement worked out by a Judge who did not want this matter going to trial. Then everyone claimed they had won. Schilthuis was not to blame for that mess – but his reputation took a serious hit and he had to struggle for some time to get his business back to where it should have been. Henry Schilthuis will give the city great value for the money they are going to spend. An opening date for the new outdoor pool will be announced later this spring.
May 1st, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
The city will never be the same. Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and her husband, Professor Pieter van Vollenhoven, will pay an official visit to Canada from May 13 to 16, 2017. They will visit Brampton, Stratford, Goderich, Hamilton, Burlington and Toronto.
The Princess and her husband live in Burlington’s twin city of Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. A private visit with local students, including an Apeldoorn and Burlington student artwork display Residents are invited to the tree-planting ceremony at Apeldoorn Park on Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 2 p.m. The event includes a plaque unveiling and greetings from Mayor Goldring and Princess Margriet. Local members of federal and provincial parliament, Halton Region and Burlington City Council will attend. The Brant Street Pier will be lit orange during the evening of the official visit. Burlington’s Mundialization Committee manages Burlington’s twin city relationships with Apeldoorn, The Netherlands and Itabashi, Japan. The committee strives to connect Burlington to the world through events and initiatives and to promote the City of Burlington as “A World Community” dedicated to the United Nations’ philosophy of peaceful co-operation among the peoples of the world and to encourage community understanding of different cultures global issues.  Princess Margriet at the 2012 London Paralympics – they all wear orange. There will probably be a run on any male of female clothing that is orange – the Dutch national colour. Where will the couple stay – what do we have that is acceptable accommodation for Royalty. That means her Highness might get to experience Canadian traffic grid.
May 1st, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
Scouts from the Halton Region worked on Arbour Day planting trees at the Regional Waste Management site.  From left to right: Co-Founder of the Birdhouse Foundation, Tim Withers; Conservation Halton Vice-Chair and Regional Councillor, Cathy Duddeck; Halton Beaver, Jack Kowalchyk; Halton Regional Chair, Gary Carr; Co-Founder of the Birdhouse Foundation, Connor Withers; Regional Councillor, Mike Cluett; Conservation Halton CAO, Hassaan Basit and Scouts Canada Special Event Coordinator, Bob Collison. “Halton Region is preserving and protecting the natural environment for all residents to enjoy,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr. “I am proud of the joint efforts of our local partners—Conservation Halton and Scouts Canada—who help contribute to the sustainability of our community.” Chair Carr delivered remarks before presenting a commemorative birdhouse—built by the Birdhouse Foundation with reclaimed material from the HWMS—to recognize the effort of the volunteers. The birdhouse is permanently mounted in the planting area. Conservation Halton CAO, Hassaan Basit, also took part in a brief opening ceremony at the event. Scout’s Canada Special Event Coordinator, Bob Collison, was also in attendance to join the scouts, many of their leaders and family members as they planted trees. “Conservation Halton has planted more than four million trees since 1956 working in collaboration with wonderful community partners like Halton Region and Scouts Canada at events such as this one,” said Hassaan Basit, Conservation Halton CAO. “We thank all the Scouts and their families for coming out today to plant trees to help create a healthy and thriving ecosystem.” Over the last 16 years, Halton-area scouts have planted more than 5,000 native, mixed-species trees. This initiative has contributed to the Region’s ongoing tree planting and maintenance program at the Halton Waste Management Site, closed regional landfills and commitment to environmental sustainability.
May 1st, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
All natural grass sport fields (diamonds and rectangular fields) are closed May 1. The report from city hall does not say why (rain most probably) nor do they say when the fields will re-open (when the rain stops probably.
May 1st, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
Back to square 1. The Theatre Board of The Burlington Performing Arts Centre has announced the appointment of Tammy Fox as the incoming Executive Director. Ms Fox will assume her new role effective July 4, 2017, succeeding Interim Executive Director Brian McCurdy. McCurdy has served as Executive Director where he did a superb job. He retired and was brought back as interim. One suspects McCurdy would like to make a retirement complete. Hopefully this time it will work.  Tammy Fox appointed the new Executive Director of the Performing Arts Centre. Ilene Elkaim said the Theatre Board received great interest from across the country for the position. “ We have chosen an individual whose experience and qualifications are best suited to lead us into next Season and beyond.” Tammy joins The Centre from an accomplished career in the professional arts presentation and artist representation industries. Tammy held the position of General Manager of Peterborough’s not-for-profit Showplace Performance Centre. She continued her passion for connecting artists and audiences by starting her own artist representation company, Fox Entertainment Agency. Renowned in the performing arts industry, Tammy has facilitated programming seasons for Mirvish Productions, The Stratford Festival, the National Arts Centre and the Lincoln Centre in NYC. Her contributions have earned her the inaugural “Agent of the Year” award from Ontario Presents as well as numerous other accolades from her peers and the industry alike. She is thrilled to be transitioning back to performing arts management where she feels at home fostering relationships between artists and audiences. Brian McCurdy’s tremendous contribution is complete. Hopefully he will stay on long enough to give Ms Fox a detailed look at the really solid work he has done on two occasions. The city owes him much. The upcoming 2017-2018 Presenting Season will be shown to subscribers on May 17th, – they get first crack at the tickets. Sale of tickets to the general public starts May 24.
April 28th, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
It is going to be a whole new product line. Media were invited to check out – a new truly comprehensive Medical Wellness Center. Dr. Ira Price, internationally renowned for expertise in cannabinoid medicine is announcing a new Synergy Health Services clinic to serve Burlington area patients. An exciting new concept, the new clinic truly is a comprehensive Medical Wellness Center, adding vape yoga, massage, acupuncture, exercise therapy and a ground-breaking Cannabis Exploration Center to the Synergy model.
Catering was to be provided by JONNY BLONDE, a celebrated local eatery known for its chef inspired, locally farmed, anti-biotic-free ethical eats. Members of the local business community who donated many great prizes for the exciting raffles that were to take place throughout the evening were going to be on hand. This had the look of a great evening; something to talk about for weeks.  It is going to be a whole new product line. Dr. Price seems to have come to term with the three-month suspension for misconduct given to him by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, for altering a medical record and misleading a college investigator. Synergy Health Services’ website lists Price as an assistant clinical professor, Division of Emergency Medicine, at McMaster University. We weren’t able to “celebrate this innovative new addition to the Burlington health landscape” – we had to work the next day.
April 28th, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
Like a growing number of people these days, I almost never read a newspaper anymore, though I seem to be searching for more information than ever before. Oh sure a couple papers get delivered to the end of my laneway most days. That gives my dog some practice retrieving and allows me to pull off the sudoko. But the rest of the newsprint and advertising material make it to the fire-starter box mostly unscathed.  Guys like this really existed once – and they really wore hats like that. Like so many, I just don’t have time to read any one paper anymore because I don’t get all I need from a single paper. There are so many potential sources of information of varying quality out there today such that that a single daily no longer does the job. So why pay for fire-starter? Besides restricting oneself to only one paper, no matter how objective it claims to be, can’t but influence attitudes and beliefs. Editorial slant and policies are just as important as the topic at hand – sometimes more. So if the Toronto Sun and National Post are biased to the right and the Star too far left, does that mean we should all subscribe to the Globe and Mail? It’s not that simple. The US leading network, Fox News, has long called itself ‘fair and balanced’, when we all know it is anything but. But then MSNBC, its politically polar opposite, is apparently even more opinionated. More opinion and less news – that is the trend today. Then there are late night talk shows. Former ‘Daily Show’ host, Jon Stewart, used to brag about more people getting their news from his comedy show than the regular networks. Indeed, coupling news with entertainment may be the most effective way to deliver information to the public.  There was a time when Toronto had three daily newspapers – each having several editions. It was a battle royal until the “Telly” folded. Thanks to technological evolution it now only takes only a couple of keystrokes to find anything on almost any topic of your choice. And that will eventually bring the traditional news networks and papers to their natural conclusion – and perhaps spin-off some other medium. Sure there will be still be some real news on the internet but you’ll have to search to find what you want among the blogs, opinion columns and fake news stories. Objectivity is in the mind of the beholder these days, it seems. Otherwise how could so many seemingly intelligent people who look at the same facts come to alternate conclusions. Was the crowd at Trump’s inauguration larger than the one at Obama’s? Did Russia really hack into US political party computers? Are the high costs of electricity in Ontario due to Mike Harris’ deregulation or McGuinty’s green energy? Trump has coined the term ‘fake news’ though we all know he is the master of all fakers. Truth can be what we want to believe it to be. And the guy who has become the US president, like in the fable about former president Washington, cannot tell a lie. But the folks who make and run much of the internet are trying to do something about fake news. Google and Wikipedia, and even a United Nations agency, have stepped up to the plate promising to find ways to identify and reduce that problem. Good luck to them.  Milla Pickfield started an internship as a journalist interviewing the Chief of Police. She aced it. Bottom line is that it is everyone for themselves when it comes to information and mis-information. And perhaps the quickest way to authenticate a story is check who else is carrying it. Peer review for professional journals includes the consideration of bibliographic sources, above and beyond the essence of the story itself. So shouldn’t we all be as careful? And that means it becomes our responsibility, each and every one of us, to exercise vigilance over what we read and what we believe to be true. The old adage that ‘news is what’s in a newspaper’ is no longer valid. It might just be fake reporting or unsupported opinion. This weekend the Canadian Association of Journalists is holding its annual convention and awards for Canadian journalism in Ottawa. I’ll be there looking for some answers on this topic, but I won’t be holding my breath.
Background links: Newspapers – Newspapers Dying – Columnists vs Bloggers – US Fairness Doctrine – Truth – Tump’s Truths – Media Bubble – Google and Fake News – Wiki and Fake News –
April 27, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
It is now an annual event. The evening that the folks at the Performing Arts Centre do their annual “reveal” of what the fall program is going to look like. The past two years have had the Chief Cheese of the Centre on the stage with a personality doing a pretty dismal chit chat about the program. Badly staged, badly scripted with some decent visual of the artists that will be taking to the stage. The following year Executive Director Suzanne Haines was on stage with Costin Manu touting the fall line up. Those two should have been given the hook after the first act – but they continued and the audience at least got to hear what the fall lineup was. As things turned out – Haines did get the hook about a year later – there are things one should not do in their office – in the privacy of one’s home is the preferred location.  Not to be missed. This year – expect it to be very different and much more entertaining. Ty Howie could have been a comedian – he is responsible for bookings at the Performing Arts centre – and is one of the more entertaining speakers in the city. During the farewell for Brian McCurdy when he left the PAC the first time Ty Howie was the Master of ceremonies. He was excellent Expect a really good performance from him on May 17th wen the program for the fall is announced. The Board that oversees the operation of the Performing Arts Centre has been searching for a new Executive Director – an announcement should be coming soon – they have been at it for a while.
April 27, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
Sound of Music Festival presented by Tim Hortons is proud to announce the Festival’s 2017 free concert schedule! Once again this year, festival-goers will be able to enjoy FREE SHOWS on Father’s Day Weekend, June 15-18. Concerts will feature artists USS, Finger Eleven, The Trews, Moist, The Road Hammers, Wintersleep, Steven Page, Bleeker, Doc Walker, The Mahones, Harrison Kennedy, Terra Lightfoot, illScarlett and Danny Michel.
Events and activities include Downtown Streetfest, Club Series, Silver Series and Family Zone. Plus, you can look forward to another day of free shows on June 11 to celebrate Canada’s 150th, in partnership with The City of Burlington. The June 11 line-up will be announced on June 1.
April 26, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
By 2031 Halton will have a population 1 million people; its population today is about 550,000. That is the kind of growth the Region is going to experience -and Burlington is going to get a significant share of that growth. While Burlington doesn’t yet know exactly how much the city’s population is going to have to grow; the current population of 183,000 is expected to grow beyond 210,000 within 25 years. Some see that as a conservative number. The urban boundary is set – nothing significant is going to be built north of the 403 – Dundas line except for mall small pockets of development in Lowville and Kilbride. The rest of the population growth is going to be located south of the 403 Dundas line that separates the rural from the urban.  Study area with the many precincts the planner created. City hall no longer talks about Burlington being suburban; we are an urban city and our growth is going to have to be up because there isn’t any significant land available to grow out for residential development. The Downtown visioning exercise that took place at the Lions Hall last week, and on which we reported on in some detail yesterday, was in part to learn what the public feels about different aspects of downtown development. The city has a Downtown Core commitment that sets out its vision for the core; there is a precinct system that sets out specific neighbours and applies specific zoning for those precincts. The (BDBA) Burlington Downtown Business Association (what has seen its border move north quit a bit, that has its policies and objectives. and there are policies for what the city wants to see in terms of the street-scape – wider side walks, benches or people to sit on and retail at the ground level The Planning department has released a draft version of the Official Plan. The Plan that is in place now was first crafted 23 years ago. Efforts to revise that plan were abandoned by the new Director of Planning, Mary Lou Tanner who has been with the city for HOW LONG. She joined the city at a point where staff were doing a revision of the existing Strategic Plan, a document that is created by each Council that sets out what it wants to do during its term.  The audience paid close attention to the material that was on display. Somewhere along the way council and the planners decided that instead of a four year plan they would craft a 25 year Strategic Plan and spent a considerable amount of time engaging the public to review the document. Council has Burlington as one of the citys’ with the best level of citizen engagement in the province and uses every opportunity to tout that claim.  Groups of people gathered to ask questions of planning staff or the consultants that were in the room and to exchange opinions as well – and there were a lot of opinions. There was indeed very significant public engagement but one would be hard pressed to find five out of every thousand residents who can tell you what the four pillars on which the Strategic Plan is based actually are. In this part two article on the event, we have set out a number of the visuals the audience was shown to give people a sense of all the variables the planners are looking at; the audience was then asked: The question the audience was then asked was : “What’s here? What’s not? What’s missing? What would you add? How would you make it better?”  The mobility hub is the black dotted line; the pink line demarcates the primary and secondary WORDS  The study area boundary is demarcated by the pink line – the straight green line on the right is where the Elgin promenade will be located – that will link the downtown core to the Centennial trail. Each graphic builds on the previous one.  The environmentally sensitive areas are added.  Heritage buildings get dropped into the picture.  Existing landmarks and cultural features are added.  The significant site lines to the lake are shown – don’t think people realize just how few corridors with a direct look at the lake there are. We just assume that every street shows the water when it is really just Maple, Brant and Burlington. Elizabeth isn’t indicated on the graphic.  In a development proposal that will get its public statutory meeting in the very near future the planning consultant they hired advocated using Brant Street as the spine that would be the location for many of the tall buildings that are expected. The orange marks show where those tall buildings are now.
This is your city – this is what you have to work with. What do you want to see done? The Planners are looking for feed back from the public; they appear to be open minded and ready to listen.  Getting a close look. The information they gathered last Thursday evening will be compiled and blended into a second presentation that will take place June 21st. The public will get to see just how well the planners have listened.  Councillor Marianne Meed Ward listening intently. It was an active meeting – small crowd given the importance of the event – but it was a rainy night and the room couldn’t have held many more people. The audience was told that there would be little in the way of changes to the existing employment lands. Meed Ward explained that developments pop up and get presented to the Planning department and added “you want to be in charge of that”.
April 26th, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
On my way to run errands I spotted a group of people walking with banners and signs eastwards from the downtown core on Lakeshore Road. As an amateur photographer I saw a terrific photo opportunity, quickly turned my car around, caught up to the group who were now past Seneca Rd on Lakeshore. They’re quick. When asked if I could take a photo and what their message was I was met with bright smiles and a glowing welcome. A conversation started. The Pilgrimage for Indigenous Rights (PFIR) is a group of dedicated walkers on their way from Kitchener, ON to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to call on all members of Parliament to vote yes to enact Bill C-262 – “An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”.  A stop in Burlington for those walking a pilgrimage for the rights of the Indigenous people. They are walking from Kitchener to Ottawa. The private member bill was drafted by Romeo Saganash (Cree Nation) the NDP MP for Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou. The Bill was tabled in the House of Commons on April 21, 2016 for First Reading where it still sits today. The group consists predominantly of Christians from various churches. Their mission “we are seeking to make right our relationships with host peoples in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.” PFIR reports there is a total of 50 registered walkers. Not all will be taking on the entire challenging journey. This group of 21 walkers had just had a lunch break at Spencer Smith Park and were on their way to Oakville. A van followed them with supplies and acted as a safety vehicle. They have a busy schedule each day. At night they have arrangements with various churches along their route. The church provides them dinner, a place to sleep, breakfast and then they are on their way again. Their excitement was contagious. Their message is important – do all of us understand what we did to the indigenous people of this country from the late 50’s to 1985? It wasn’t something to be proud of – there is a need to make those mistakes right. Terry Fox once ran through Burlington – look at the difference he made – the rest of us are in a position to do something equally as important. Something to remember. Donna Fleming Zaffino is a Burlington resident with a camera and a passion to capture images of important events.
April 24th, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
The Mayor opened up the event with a short overview of the changes taking place in the city and how the need to intensify and create an Official Plan that would deliver on the promises made in the Strategic Plan. The audience of something under 100 people on a very rainy night filled the Lions Hall where people were told that what people enjoy about living downtown is: 1.The Waterfront (29.85%) Research told city planners that the first transportation choice was Walking (37.78%) The meeting was to have people take part in a Downtown Mobility Hub Visioning Workshop. Mobility hubs were defined as: Neighbourhoods within a 10 minute walking distance of major transit stations that will support new residents and jobs in a transit, pedestrian and cycling focused environment.
There were interesting with surprising results. Appreciate that these were ward 2 people for the most part answering questions about the downtown core. The Planners intend to take this road show into every community that will have a mobility hub. The workshops will see a return visit to each community once the Planners have had a chance to evaluate the data they collect. The initiative will take about six months to cover each of the four mobility hubs. The next session for the downtown hub is scheduled for June 21st.
 The strong agree support doesn’t appear to align all that well with the opposition to bicycle lanes on New Street.
 No surprises here.  Very mixed views on this question.  Vehicles were not included in the question.  The street names don’t show up on this map – the white box is the mobility hub area.  This view – from what was a ward 2 crowd contrasts with what the Bfast people think. More thinking to be done on transit matters.  Compare this with the question on more affordable housing.  A mixed view here.  This response comes as no surprise. Following the formal presentation the audience was invited to take part in the four information stations where planning staff were on hand to answer questions. The groups that clustered around the information stations were at times intense – in a positive way. They had a lot of questions and the planning staff took a lot of notes. Director of Planning Mary Lou Tanner and Anne McIlroy, the consultant the city has hired to guide this process watched and listened intently.  All the charts and data set out got very close inspections. There are two parts to this feature article on the visioning exercise. The second part which will follow tomorrow reviews the visuals on the elements of the downtown core and what the planners have to work with.
April 25, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
For the 12th year in a row the Halton District School Board is presenting the elementary art show, called Elements and Expressions, from Tuesday April 25-Thursday April 27, 2017. The popular event will showcase the artistic flare of Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8 students, as all kinds of artwork will grace the Brock Room at the New Street Education Centre, located at 3250 New St. in Burlington.  These two tykes were showing what they produced while at the Art Gallery of Burlington. The school board exhibit will open at the New Street Educational Centre on Tuesday. The mediums include paintings, sculptures, puppets, paper maché, crayons, pastels, ink, fabric, 2D and 3D pieces. The exhibit pieces are selected by the classroom and art teachers to highlight art curriculum expectations. The purpose of the art show is to showcase student artwork and to share it with peers to hopefully inspire and encourage others in their creative endeavours. Nearly 2,500 students are expected to visit the New Street Education Centre to tour the works of art. Throughout the three-day exhibit, professional artists from the Burlington Art Centre will be demonstrating various art techniques such as pottery, weaving, spinning, photography, fine art and more. The artists will give students hands-on opportunities to show them that art can have a place in their future. “Elements and Expressions provides an opportunity for students to share their work with visitors in an art-gallery like setting” said Kevin McConvey, the Board’s Instructional Program Leader – The Arts, K-12. “The art displays show the tremendous amount of work and effort students have put into the creative process. Exposure to a wide variety of creative approaches, from paintings to papier maché, is a great way to broaden the horizons of student artists and spectators alike.” • Tuesday April 25: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. New Street Education Centre .
April 24, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
To make sense of this article you have to understand Walt Rickli. He lives in Lowville, he is an artist, he works with stone. He is passionate about everything he does. He told us earlier today that…”Many years ago some of the original founding families of Lowville decided there needed to be a park for kids to play in. Land was severed and the community got together and built what is now Lowville Park. “I am sure they never imagined the positive impact it would have on people some 50 years later. It’s this type of visionary dreaming that I believe makes the world a better place. “Fast forward to 2017… I discovered that the River Ruin property is for sale….the real estate agent Don Robertson is a friend of mine. This property has been our communities best kept secret, the walk to past the ruins (a side trail to the Bruce Trail) is magnificent… the old Cleaver house ruins are a testament to the stone masons of the time and is an important part of our heritage.  The property is listed at $699,950.
 Known locally as the River Ruins So… This Thursday April 27th, 8:00 to 9:00 ish, at the Lowville Schoolhouse there will be a gathering of people do discuss this idea. It will be an informal meeting where we can openly discuss the concept and see if there is a spirit to continue. My thought is that at the very least our community would get together for a night and dream…how cool is that. This concept of community is not limited to imposed city boundaries…what I am saying is…it doesn’t matter if you don’t live in Lowville. If the vision excites you, you are welcome to join in. If you are not able to attend and would like to be part of this please let me know. I will send out a note after the meeting to inform interested and excited people as to what the outcome of the meeting was… Also if there is anyone who you know might be interested please pass along an invitation.” Rickli closes with the word: Somnium – Dreaming in Latin You can reach Walt at: walt@waltrickli.com> They do things like this in Lowville.
April 20, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
They are now incorporated as a non profit; they are organized and they are selling memberships. ACCOB lives!
What will people get for their money?
ACCOB’s purpose is: To increase public understanding, knowledge and appreciation of arts and culture in Burlington and surrounding area by providing information about performances, exhibitions and other activities of an artistic and cultural nature. To provide educational seminars related to arts and culture. To be a catalyst to inspire, engage, connect and advocate on behalf of members of the artistic and cultural communities, to support a vibrant and creative artistic and cultural community in Burlington and surrounding area. To promote and foster artistic and cultural development and appreciation of, and participation in, arts and culture for the benefit of Burlington residents. All that! Artists – be they painters, musicians, dancers need space to work in. They need marketing help. The city has been a major help with their public art program – which is great for the visual artists. The performing artists could use a much better break from the Performing Arts Centre on the cost of renting space. There is one organization that has done very successful program at the Performing Arts Centre that find they may have to go somewhere else – the prices are just too high. Worse, the organization does not want their name used – they fear repercussions. Being afraid to speak up and speak out is not an ingredient for a place where healthy dialogue can take place. The arts get lip service when they appear before city council. The operations that the city owns – even if at an arm’s length basis – get solid funding. The Art Gallery of Burlington, the Performing Arts Centre, the Museums know how much money they are going to receive from the city each year. The plants that decorate the roadways in the city get paid for.  The Arts Collective Family photo – this lot organized themselves and are now the Arts and Cultural Council of Burlington. If the Arts and Cultural Council of Burlington wants to get more than a polite pat on the head and a “we really appreciate what you are doing” they are going to have to be stronger than this. Send them your cheque TODAY and you will become a Founding Member – something you can add to your resume. They don’t tell you on their web site where to send the cheque – the web site is still “under construction”. It is a start.
April 19th, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
City hall is asking residents to vote online and help select the movies that will be featured this summer during Movies under the Stars. Running every Thursday night between July 6 and Aug. 17, Movies under the Stars will present a new film each week in a different City of Burlington park.  Decent crowd – better than a drive in movie. Residents can vote online on Twitter @BurlEvents or through the City of Burlington’s website at www.burlington.ca/movies. An online poll for each park hosting a Movies under the Stars event will be posted every week and open for seven days. Voters can choose from three movies titles.
This year, in honour of Canada 150, the city has chosen a selection of movies that have a link to Canada. They want your help choosing this summer’s movie lineup by voting online over the next few weeks.” All movies at Movies under the Stars events are shown on a 7.62 by 4.27 metre (25 by 14 foot) outdoor screen. Movies under the Stars is presented by Tim Hortons. Follow Burlington Events on Twitter @BurlEvents
April 20th, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON REVISED A close to Classic example of the left hand not talking to the right hand. The city announced earlier today their hosting of six tree-planting events across the city in April and May.  BurlingtonGreen is the strongest advocacy group in the city. They have put Burlington on the may environmentally. Burlington Green is holding their annual Clean Up Green Up event when tens of thousands of Burlington residents take to the roads and ravines and clean up the city on the same day as the first of the six tree planting events. Planting trees is a great initiative – but why would the city kick off this event on the same day that Burlington Green is doing its Clean Up Green Up. The tree planting events will be held on: Saturday, April 22, 2017
- Sherwood Forest Park, 5270 Fairview St. In their media release the city invites residents to be a part of adding to the urban forest through these free events by planting a total of 2,400 saplings. All events begin at 10:30 a.m. with the exception of the planting event on May 6 at Paletta Lakefront Park, which begins at 9 a.m. No pre-registration is required but attendees are asked to register upon arrival at the event. This event is great for families. What to wear/bring: Burlington Green tells its side of the story: I just saw your latest posting and wanted to let you know that not only is BurlingtonGreen fully aware of the City’s great community tree planting events taking place this Spring but we have been actively promoting them and will be participating as well, including having a few of our volunteers joining in the fun at Sherwood Park this Saturday. We are very happy they are hosting a tree planting event this Saturday and the City kindly consulted with us before including the April 22nd opportunity in their line up of event dates. It will be wonderful to have people both cleaning up our communities while others plant some trees. Those planting trees will be wrapped up around noon with plenty of time to head over to our Eco-Fair Celebration to have some fun there too. Hope to see everyone on Saturday. Bring some sunshine please
April 19th, 2017 BURLINGTON, ON
Will the evening be remembered as one of the historical moment in the cultural life of the city of Burlington – or will it be just another non-profit organization that seemed like a good idea at the time? Only time will tell but the Arts and Cultural Council of Burlington (ACCOB) was launched in the lobby of the Performing Arts Centre on April 18th, 2017.  The formative Board of the Arts and Cultural Council of Burlington, ACCOB: Left to right: Kim Verrall, Teresa Seaton, Robert Mayor, Rob Missen, Ancilla Ho Young, Donna Grandin, and Tim Park at the microphone. There was a city council meeting that evening and just about every member of Council was in the lobby of the PAC up to watch the momentous occasion. There were enough of them in the lobby to form a quorum – they could have gathered in a corner and conducted the city’s business on the spot. There weren’t just members of city council in the room. A local youth choir sang and a lovely young girl from an Orchard community school played her violin flawlessly – giving the audience a rendition of a Vivaldi Concerto. Yoanna Jang was a delight to listen to.  ACCOB vice chair, Ancilla Ho Young Getting an Arts Council set up is an organizational matter. They now have to determine what their mandate is and how they want to execute on that mandate. This all started back in 2013 when Trevor Copp stood before city council and said he wanted to be able to work in his home town and not have to toodle along the QEW to earn a living. The irony of the evening was that Copp could not be on hand – he was out of town doing a show. There were a number of arts community stalwarts – Teresa Seaton, Tim Park, Rob Missen Mayor Goldring and former Mayor Walter Mulkewich were on hand – Goldring might have been thinking through how much ACCOB was going to want in the way of funding. The important point is that the organization has moved beyond an idea – now it is up to them to lobby the city; seek funding and advocate for the Arts. Will they mount programs of their own? Will they find people within the city that will support the arts in general? Will they hold the well-funded Performing Arts Centre the Art Gallery of Burlington and the Museums to account? Burlington doesn’t have an arts or cultural profile even though the city has produced and been home to some very significant talent. The late Gordy Tapp lived here; the Spoons came out of this city, Walk Off the Earth has roots in the city. Robert Bateman worked from Burlington for some time.  Trevor Copp, the Burlington actor who mobilized the arts into a Collective makes a point on leadership while Executive Director of the Burlington Museum’s operation listens. There are countless others. What Burlington has not been able to do – yet – is pull the history and the story of Burlington into focus and draw people to the city. Burlington has relied on the Sound of Music and Ribfest to draw the multitudes – both are looking a little warn and have not managed to achieve a refresh and create a new life for themselves. In the past Burlington has been a place where things happened. There is a spot along the waterfront, in Spencer Smith Park that is referred to as “pebble beach”. It is a collection of large stones – but, as Councillor Jack Dennison will tell you – if you look closely you might see some of the old pilings that once held up the Brant Inn – which in its day was a jumping spot – the place to be. Many of the black musicians would take the train to Burlington and play in a place where they could eat, sleep and work in the same building and not be treated as second class citizens. The city has not managed to build on that illustrious and colourful past. ACCOB has its work cut out for it – the good news is that there are some very good people on that board – they could make it happen.
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