 By Ray Rivers
August 9th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
There is nothing conventional in the race for the US White House this year. The chief contenders are anything but conventional.
One is exceptionally qualified, and the other not at all, so the choice should be easy. But none of that seems to matter to an electorate tired of the ordinary and mundane and looking for something new, fresh and exciting.
Not unlike the bi-polar school teacher in the 1977 movie version of the book “Looking for Mr. Goodbar”, there is a new fascination with someone who isn’t part of one’s conventional experience – a new exciting high to be achieved by toying with the prospect of danger – the fantasy and the reality. Which brings us to Donald Trump, a man who has shown no comprehension of the job before him, though if nothing else he is exciting.
  As outgoing president Obama made emphatic, there is no better qualified candidate than Hillary Clinton. And if qualification and experience were all that mattered there would be no contest, and the tired but somewhat boring and compromised Hillary would be the shoo-in victor on election day. After all, she is running against a man with a dubious record in his business ventures and one who has never even run for public office – let alone the highest office in the land, in all his seventy years.
But America is a divided people, red and blue states that rarely change their colour, beset with long suffering prejudices on all sides. Despite electing a black president two terms in a row, America is still conflicted with racism. It is a violent place with more guns per capita and greater incarceration than any other.
Despite having the most super rich, the US is only 44th in health care efficiency, 24th in literacy, 14th in education, and arguably has the second highest level of social ignorance among developed nations. Surprisingly at least one survey tags the USA at 46th in press freedom.
And if Trump’s plan to make America great again included dealing with those issues – every thinking American should consider voting for him. But it doesn’t. There is nothing of such to be seen in all his diatribe on America First and making it great again, nothing about introducing gun control, promoting economic and social justice, and furthering education and awareness. Hillary’s plan comes closer to those goals, in fact.
  Donald Trump cleaned-up in the Republican nomination race by simply being himself. His victory was more of a fluke than a deliberate strategy. He just plumbed for and echoed the deepest, darkest recesses of the worst of America, and spewed racism, homophobia and insults as no American politician had done before. The more outlandish his comments, the more he gained notoriety and support among disciples who mistook his words of prejudice for plain-speaking. He was/is different and exciting. But what makes him dangerous is his lack of detail – what he actually would do.
Once he scored the candidacy of his party one would have expected a whole new playbook, more befitting of a presidential candidate in the big arena. But Trump doesn’t have one. He has nothing to offer but his swagger, a revisionist unfunny Roger Dangerfield for our times. Whether that will continue to propel him is the big question. Hillary has not been able to cripple the significant public support he continues to garner. And so, like other irrational outcomes of public will, such as Rob Ford’s election and Brexit, Trump should not be discounted.
An interesting aspect of this race is the Russian card. Putin has confessed admiration for Trump and vice-versa. Trump’s campaign manager is pro-Putin, having advised the ousted pro-Russian Ukrainian leader, and the Donald’s musing about NATO and Crimea should be unsettling to an America once ready to nuke the Russkies to smithereens, and likewise. But Trump is the inveterate teflon-man and even flirting with Putin has not bothered his core followers, including many veterans and those raised during the cold war.
As the election gets nearer and Trump continues to poll well, Americans will need to ask themselves some hard questions. The first being how badly do they want the kind of change Trump is promising – isolation and a radical shifting of alliances. Do they really want to give him a carte blanche to reverse the past half century of American foreign policy?
Going to bed with Putin might be an exciting idea.
But where will this dangerous fantasy lead? Is Putin really Mr. Goodbar?
Editor’s note:
The conventions are over and the general election has officially begun. In the primaries, Bernie Sanders received 1,846 pledged delegates, 46% of the total. Hillary Clinton received 2,205 pledged delegates, 54%. She received 602 superdelegates. Sanders received 48 superdelegates.
The Democratic party, based on these numbers, is not as united as they would have us believe. These are very dangerous times for the United States. Rivers will write next on what he thinks Canada can and should do to protect its interests.
Ray Rivers is an economist and author who writes weekly on federal and provincial issues, applying his 25 years of involvement with federal and provincial ministries. Rivers’ involvement in city matters led to his appointment as founding chair of Burlington’s Sustainable Development Committee. He was also a candidate in the 1995 provincial election
Background links:
Mr. Goodbar – Clinton Qualified
Putin-Trump Axis
America’s Global Ranking –
 By Staff
August 8th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Notice of Construction –
Brant Street, Hemmingway Drive and Upper Middle Road, August to December, 2016
The Region of Halton is installing and replacing water mains on Brant Street, Upper Middle Road and Hemmingway Drive from August to December 2016.
 New street got a new layer of asphalt after a full month of dust and traffic delays while water maims and sewage pipes were upgraded. New Street from Guelph Line east to Martha had water mains replaced in July – the dust was terrible – and traffic delays were annoying. They did lay down a new layer of asphalt – nice road now.
Contract Number: W-2898B-16
Scheduled Start Date: August 2016
Scheduled Completion Date: December 2016
Contractor: Ground Breakers Contracting Ltd
Project Manager: Gabrielle Feuvrier
905-825-6000, ext. 7417
Gabrielle.Feuvrier@halton.ca
 By Staff
August 8th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
In 2016, the city chose to discontinue the sand castles content event in the Beachway that they had been hosting since 2008.
 Some of the sand castles done in 2015 were very complex. The event, which had a following of its own, was initially created to bring both awareness and visitors to the Burlington beach. This highly successful, award-winning event has done just that. Now the city is looking for a new a host in the community.
The city has received an event application to host a similar event on the beach for 2017. The organizer noted that they did not feel that they had sufficient time to plan the event for 2016.
 Clearly a labour of love. So – it looks as if there will be a sand castle event on the Beachway in 2017.
Not having the event this year was perhaps a piece of good planning luck – with Lakeshore shut down completely while the road is being rebuilt and raised by about as much as a metre in some place – traffic could not have gotten to the Beachway very easily. The map below show how messy traffic is down there.
 It would not have been easy to reach the Beachway Park this year if there had been a sand castle contest.
By Pepper Parr
August 7th, 2016
BURLINTON, ON
It was a small, dignified ceremony on a lovely sunny summer afternoon at HMCS Star aboard the retired Tribal Class destroyer HMCS Haida.
There Colonel Roger Vandomm, of the French Consulate pinned a medal on the chest of Bill McConnell. The media release had Bill down as William (Bill) Basil McConnell RN (retd)
 HMS Ramillies firing all four 16 inch guns While aboard the British Battleship HMS Ramillies, Bill, as what we would call an electrician today, climbed up into the Aloft Directory of the ship to fix an electrical fitting when the four 16 inch guns of the battleship roared.
Bill was not able to put his hands over his ears because, as he put it, “you can’t cover both ears, hold the ladder and your tool kit at the same time”. He was instantly deafened, completely in on ear and seriously in the other.
Battleships were huge ships and carried four 16 inch guns that sometimes were fired so often that the paint burned off the barrels. We rattle off that phrase “16 inch guns” quickly when we are talking about a big bullet that measures more than a foot wide.
The roar of the shell coming out of a barrel, four of them at the same time, pushes that battle ship sideways.
The guns had huge range and required a crew of gunners, fitters and electrical types to maintain it. Bill was one of the electrical type, known then as an electrical artificers,
Bill joined the navy at the age of 11. He was at the Royal Hospital School, which was part of the British Navy at the time. It was basically a boarding school where the students wore uniforms. The students got seven weeks of vacation each year. Bill’s father was a Gunnery Chief Petty Officer, these were tough men.
Bill served on a number of ships – the one that he served on the longest was HMS Ramillies, a First World War battleship that was deemed to be good enough to put to sea.
The electrical types were seen as better educated than other ratings – thus when it was clear there was going to be a war in 1938, Bill found himself doing paperwork related to reserve naval types being called up. It was a situation where 15 year old boys were doing the paper work that brought men, some 60 years of age, back into the service.
 HMS Ramillies was part of the naval support on DDay. She was tasked with taking out German guns at Benneville shown on the far right. They needed just 80 minutes to destroy most of the German guns Ramillies was part of the D Day landing in June of 1944. She was to use her big guns to take out a German battery with six 6” guns at Beneville, France to the east end of Sword Beach. The Ramillies took out four of those gun batteries in 80 minutes. The British shells coming in meant the Germans had to do their best to return fire and were not able to train their guns on the troops landing on the beaches.
It was during this battle that Bill had to go aloft to the Aloft Director to repair some electrical equipment. The Aloft Director is the station high up on the ship that was used for observation.
The Allied landings on the Beaches of Normandy France were ferocious battles; thousands of men were lost. It was however the battle that turned the tide and the beginning of the Liberation of France.
 Legion d’Honneur awarded by the President of the republic of France. On the 70th Anniversary of the war ending the French government decided to make anyone who was involved in the landings a member of the Legion d’Honneur – the Legion of Honour.
During the ceremony on Sunday Colonel Vandomm read a document that said: “By order of the President of the Republic of France, you have been awarded the rank of Knight of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour.
 Chief Petty Officer William Basil McConnell being awarded the French Legion of Honour by Colonel Roger Vandomm. The smile of appreciation on the Colonel’s face told the story.
“This distinction, the highest national order of France, illustrates the profound gratitude France would like to express to you in recognition of your personal involvement of the liberation of our country during World War II.”
Bill kept his eyes closed for much of the presentation – no doubt recalling the roar of those guns and the huge risk he was under.
While the guns were blazing three torpedoes sped past the battleship – two on one side, one on the other.
Bill stayed in the Navy after the war and left in 1953 after fifteen years of service.
His skills were quickly put to use as he worked for the next sixteen years in the development, installation and acceptance testing of guns and missile controls.
While on a vacation to Canada he found a job working on the “Sea Sparrow” missile control systems for the Canadian DDH280 destroyers.
Bill moved from working on ships to becoming part of the team that established sites, did equipment installation, commissioning and acceptance trials for the Anik geostationary satellite TV receive and telephone transreceiver stations in the far north and the Maritimes.
In 1977Bill joined the Canadian Department of Communications doing sub contract work for the Hermes satellite operations group,
In 1986 he was part of the Canadian Astronautics organization that designed and assembled high gain extendable array antennas.
After overseeing the construction of three satellite receiving stations in Goose Bay, Labrador, Churchill and Edmonton Bill returned to retirement.
He spent several years travelling and then spent eight years in a French Canadian farming village.
He moved to Burlington in 2008 to be nearer his only Canadian relative.
 Bill McConnell, speaking to an audience after being made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour. He was aboard HMCS Haida in Hamilton. Burlington MP Karina Gould and Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring took part in th ceremony. As a 93 year old Royal Navy retired Chief Petty Officer, William Basil McConnell climbed the steps of the gangway to board HMCS Haida where he was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.
A long way from his experience as an 11 years old Electrical Artificer.
 By Pepper Parr
August 7th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
The woman who badgered a Cabinet Minister to ensure that Burlington residents had access to ODRAP – Ontario Disaster Relief funds – announced Friday that Ontario is investing $237,000 in a pilot project that will help Burlington homeowners reduce the risk of basement flooding from severe weather events associated with climate change.
Eleanor McMahon was a backbencher MPP when the flood hit the city in 2014; today she is a member of the provincial Cabinet responsible for Tourism, Culture and Sport
 Burlington’s MPP, Cabinet Minister Eleanor McMahon announcing the Home Adaptation Assessment Program program. In her announcement McMahon said: “Ontario’s people and businesses are already feeling the effects of climate change. It has damaged the environment and has caused extreme weather events such as flooding, which can damage basements and homes and increase insurance rates.
“After experiencing substantial residential flooding in August 2014, Burlington was selected as the ideal location to run the first large-scale basement-flood risk reduction program. Developed by the University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, the Home Adaptation Assessment Program will:
Assess the vulnerability of 4,000 Burlington-area homes to flood damage
Make recommendations to help homeowners avoid costly damage from extreme weather
Collect the data needed to inform potential expansion of the program to communities across the province.
 This kind of flooding hit both the residential and the commercial community. Lessons learned from the pilot program in Burlington will inform a broader roll-out of the program across Ontario. The joint pilot is between the provincial government, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, City of Burlington and participating homeowners who will be asked to pay a small fee for the inspection work done on their homes.
City Council has approved contributing an additional $50,000 the first year with opportunities to reassess in 2017.
The program, Home Adaptation Assessment Program (HAAP) will announce the names of the designated neighbourhoods and registration details this fall.
 Basements throughout the city were cleared of wet soggy warped property and sent to the dump. The media release added that: “Over the past decade, an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme rainfall events, aging municipal infrastructure and inadequate flood protection measures at the household level have all contributed to significant increases is basement flood damage costs across Canada. More specifically, property and casualty insurance claims have more than doubled in the past decade, with basement flooding being a central cause.”
That statement makes it sound as if the home owners were the ones to blame for problems with down spouts and letting the natural swales between houses build up.
A large part of the problem was with storm sewers that could not handle the huge and sudden flow of water. Home owners just did not know what they were supposed to do. The fire department puts out a regular flow of fire safety information – the same needed to be done about climate change.
The city knows now of a number of homes that cannot remain where they are in a specific flood plain; the information is in a city report but those specific home owners have not been informed.
The Home Adaptation Assessment Program (HAAP) is a basement-flood risk-reduction program. The program integrates international best practices for household flood prevention with input from homeowners and municipal engineers.
One-on-one support is available to individual households through a Home Adaptation Assessment. For a small fee, a trained HAAP assessor will take homeowners through a 50-point examination of potential water entry into the home and help develop a prioritized action plan to reduce risk. A customer help-line, follow-up surveys and seasonal maintenance reminders provide additional support to homeowners. HAAP’s approach is developed in consultation with local government, conservation authorities and community groups, ensuring that HAAP enhances and is complementary to existing flood-risk-mitigation programs.
 Dumpster bins were in the driveways of hundreds of home in the city in August of 2014 The first large-scale phase of the development of HAAP will be carried out in Burlington where 4,000 home assessments in designated neighbourhoods will be completed by the end of 2017, with the first 500 to be completed in this year. These will be carefully selected to be representative of neighbourhoods across Ontario (based on home size and age, age and type of municipal infrastructure and past experience with flood risk). Lessons learned from HAAP delivery in Burlington will inform a broader roll-out of the program across Ontario.
The 2014 flood played no favourites. Both the Mayor and the federal member of parliament at the time had their basements flooded.
Related article: Insurance and pension fund sectors need better risk assessment tools to manage financial impact of climate change
By Pepper Parr
August 6th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Most of us experience reasonably good health – but we all know someone whose health is not good. We hope for the best for them.
When I was a boy, just after the war (the Second World War) polio was the scourge. Dr Jonas Salk had not come up with his polio vaccine yet. Wheel chairs, braces, iron lungs were part of the news stories before the vaccine was discovered.
My Mom was a cook at a YMCA camp; she took me and my brother and sister with her every summer.
In the summer of 1946 I became ill and a smart former army nurse said: This boy just might have contracted polio. She was a tough lady and insisted that I be driven to the local train station where they stopped a freight train with fresh fruit on it and got me into Montreal where I was transferred to the Montreal Children’s Hospital where a spinal tap was done.
I can still hear myself screaming away when the stuck that needle in me. But it worked – the doctors knew what they were doing because research was being done on polio and I benefited from that research.
I was days away from becoming a cripple that would have either a brace on my legs or have to live out of a wheel chair. I still shudder when I am near a person who has to wear a brace and I hear it snap into place.
It was medical research that kept me out of a wheel chair. I have a little difficulty touching my toes but other than that I am reasonably well; at one point was a long distance runner.
Medical research matters – and now those of us who live in Burlington are going to be given a chance to support cancer research.
The man who will entertain us on the 20th of August is dying of an incurable brain cancer. He will be on the stage giving it everything he has.
 Gord Downie, lead singer of the Tragically Hip, giving it everything he has. The Hips final concert on their Farewell Tour that will take place in Kingston is to be simulcast to the stage set up in Spencer Smith Park We have an opportunity to give as well.
Go without something and put as much as you can into one of the two opportunities that have been set up.
This city raised just shy of $1 million two years ago for flood victims. The needed 100 days to make that happen. We have about 15 days – we can raise a lot of money in that time frame.
Don’t let Gord Downie down.
The huge screens will be set up on a stage immediately to the west of the Naval memorial – the event starts at 8:30 – this is a rain or shine evening – bring a blanket or a chair. There will not be any alcohol available at this event nor will there be any sponsorship announcements.
Just the best the Tragically Hip has always done – being broadcast across the nation.
To donate to the Canadian Cancer Society (Halton Chapter) click HERE or visit https://bit.ly/2azm5AN
To donate to the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation click HERE or visit https://bit.ly/2auf6Yc
 A pensive Gord Downie will entertain tens of thousands in a CBC broadcast of the final concert of the Farewell tour on August 20th. 
If you want to keep up to the second on how the arrangements for the concert on the 20th are rolling out follow the #HipatSpencerSmith
 By Pepper Parr
August 5th, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
The Air Park has taken on a legal life of its own that just may see Court cases that make their way to the Supreme Court of Canada – the issue is that significant to the municipal sector.
The judiciary and economic development are tied together, not always in the nicest or the most comfortable manner. One tends to bump into the other when interpretations of a bylaw or a regulation is needed. That bumping into each other has kept the city’s legal department busy
 Trucks dumped tonnes of land fill on the air park site without having a site alteration plan approved by the city. There are people in Burlington who see very significant merit in their being a small well run airport in the rural part of the city.
 Fill from the Air Park tumbles down a slope and rests against the property line fence of the Cousin’s farm on Appleby Line. Water run off has flooded parts of the farm. Most of the residents in north Burlington don’t have a problem with the air park – they do have a problem with what the owner of the property wants to do with the almost 200 acres of land that had 500,000 tonnes of land fill dumped on it without permission or acceptable testing by the municipal government.
Business people, especially those in the development field, understand what they call the long game – find property that will increase in value and has significant development potential and invest in it. Developers look for that patient money; the site one which the Bridgewater condominiums are being built first came to the public eye when Mayrose Tyco assembled that land in 1985.
The air park has been around for a long time; for the past decade or more it has been a contentious operation. The owner has brought a unique business style to how he has chosen to develop the opportunity he feels the site has and in the process has alienated his neighbours and run afoul of the city and to a lesser degree the Regional government.
The development game has changed; it is a lot more collaborative and developers are learning that municipalities have strengths they have not utilized in the past.
And Burlington is beginning to realize that citizen groups do not have to be just reactive to things they do not like but can be proactive and advocate for levels of change.
In Burlington the Sustainability Advisory Committee has real clout and influence; Heritage issues were basically outsourced to the Heritage Advisory Committee who put together a program that council liked. When the outline of that program was first revealed city council came close to giving the advisory committee a standing ovation.
There is room and opportunity now for responsible citizens groups to do their homework and take well researched proposals to city council.
While it will be a bit of a challenge for this city council, the time is ripe for city councils to listen more closely to some of the ideas that are brought forward.
There are also new and more collaboratively minded city staff who are capable of listening to the people who provide the money to meet the payroll.
Municipalities are at that talking the talk when the mention transparency – citizens have chosen to believe what they said and now expect those people to walk their talk. Done properly it comes out as responsible government – on of the corner stones this province was built on.
 All the key players in the Airpark dispute: The time is not right yet to expect the kind of leadership that is needed from the elected officials; too much dead wood on the current Burlington council. But it is time and the opportunity is there for the private sector that is much more responsible than the development community has been in the past to quietly develop ideas and opportunities to advance potential
Getting any air park development in rural Burlington from economic developers is going to require more than just an initiative from the economic developers and consistent nudging from the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
The city itself has to realize the potential and want to see that potential grown and the people in rural Burlington are going to have to be a significant part of that process.
 During a council chamber foyer conversation, city manager Jeff Fielding made it very clear to Glenn Grenier, second from the left that the city did not share his view that the Air Park did not have to comply with city bylaws. Grenier had positioned himself as a leading expert in aeronautical law and that the city should respect their rights. The city didn’t believe the Air Park actually had the rights they said they have; that view was upheld by both a Superior |Court judge and an Appeal Court decision. The city’s legal counsel stand to the right. A very small percentage of the people in Burlington are fully aware of the current air park issue and the legal battle that has been going on for more than five years. The upside to that battle is that it hasn’t cost the city all that much – their legal counsel keeps winning the court cases and getting costs on a rather financially attractive basis. It isn’t a profit centre but it is a nice way to do business.
When the rural community became aware of what at was going on they did what every community does; they formed an organization – the Rural Burlington Greenbelt Coalition, which itself is a collection of citizen interest groups – and delegated to city hall – very effectively. Monte Dennis had years of experience battling the development of the once planned airport at Pickering; he was part of that crew that did everything possible to prevent the destruction of a community when the province expropriated hundreds of acres of land for an airport development in Pickering. That was 40 years ago – the houses and community are gone – but there is no airport in Pickering.
 Vanessa Warren delegated to city council on the landfill work being done at the Air Park and the impact it will have on her property – and the larger community as well.  Monte Dennis delegating before city council. If it wasn’t Dennis delegating for the RBGC at city hall or the Region, it would be Vanessa Warren who was always exceptionally well prepared: she tended to know more than anyone else in the room.
Despite the talent within the RBGC they have yet to capture the public imagination. A large part of that is their all but total reliance on social media to get their message out.
Social media has its place but it isn’t the silver bullet that always delivers.
Going forward one can hope that the RBGC people can learn to partner or at least collaborate with the better parts of the economic development community and make the best possible use of the air park property for both the land owner and the wider community without any development distorting or damaging the community.
Few in rural Burlington have a problem with a small private aircraft air park- many very close to the air park kind of like the sound of the light air craft landing and taking off.
 Vince Rossi, believed to be the sole owner of the Air Park. There are opportunities for some “good jobs” economic development at the air park. Small engine maintenance – even possibly some mid-size aircraft maintenance. Properly managed the air park could handle much more small craft traffic.
RBGC needs to be before city council regularly, prodding and poking and providing the visionary leadership that is badly needed. They certainly have the talent and if they are consistent they should over time bring about the shift that is needed.
One wonders where the Regional government is in all this. There are dozens of municipalities that oversee the operation of small airports in their communities. Neither the chair or the region’s administration appear to have much in the way of appetite for an air park in Halton and Burlington’s city council representatives at the Region have never been able to pull together as a single cohesive voice that takes a position and makes it stick.
There is much work to be done.
Could the air park already be in play without the owner even knowing about it?
Full disclosure:Pepper Parr, publisher of the |Gazette, Monte Dennis and Vanessa were sued by the Air Park Inc for libel in 2013. The case has yet to get to trial.
By Staff
August 5th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
If the heat doesn’t get the best of us – something else will.
We are told that a batch of mosquitoes trapped this week in Burlington have tested positive for West Nile virus (WNV).
This is the first WNV positive batch of mosquitoes collected from the city. An additional five batches of WNV positive mosquitoes were collected in Oakville. This year in Halton, there have been seven WNV positive mosquito batches to date.
 “Halton is committed to being safe and healthy and reducing West Nile virus in our communities through both education and preventative programs like larviciding,” said Dr. Hamidah Meghani, Halton Region Medical Officer of Health. “Until the hard frosts of fall set in, Halton residents should continue to protect themselves against mosquito bites and remove mosquito breeding sites.”
Urban areas are more likely to have mosquitoes that carry WNV. The types of mosquitoes that transmit WNV to humans most commonly breed in urban areas in places that hold water such as bird baths, plant pots, old toys, and tires.
The following are steps that residents can take to protect themselves and their families from mosquitoes:
• Cover up. Wear light-coloured, long-sleeved shirts and pants with tightly-woven fabric.
• Avoid being outdoors from early evening to morning when mosquitoes are most active and likely to bite, as well as at any time in shady, wooded areas.
• Reduce mosquito breeding sites around your home by getting rid of all water-filled containers and objects, where possible. Change the water in bird baths at least once per week.
• Use an approved insect repellent, such as one containing DEET or Icaridin.
• Make sure your window and door screens are tight and without holes, cuts or other openings.
A map showing the locations of standing water sites that have had larvicide applied this year is available at halton.ca/wnv.
To report standing water at public facilities or for more information about West Nile virus, please visit halton.ca/wnv, dial 311or e-mail wnv@halton.ca.
 By Staff
August 5, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Might be a little early to make solid plans – but you could pencil this one in as a possible – the city is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Children’s Festival on Sunday, August 21 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Spencer Smith Park.
 As they get a little older – they are ready for bigger challenges. This group works there way through a children’s obstacle course. “We are hosting a huge birthday party for children of all ages to help mark this special occasion,” said Chris Glenn, the city’s director of parks and recreation. “This festival is consistently named as one of the Top 100 festivals and events in Ontario and is the perfect opportunity for families to get out, be active and enjoy some time together at Burlington’s beautiful waterfront.”
Presented by Rocca Sisters and Associates, the theme of this year’s festival is a birthday party. Children at the event can enjoy a number of activities and shows on the main stage, presented by Family Jr.:
 Kids + water = fun and noise – all part of a day in the park. • Main stage shows with Interactive DJ, Isabella Hoops, Mega Magic and Mystic Drumz
• Meet the characters from Paw Patrol and Star Wars from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m
• Roaming entertainment with Jungle Jack, Nick’s Juggling Family, CLaroL the CLown and stilt walkers
• Face painting and balloon animals
• Crafts
• Inflatables
• Kids’ marketplace
• Play zones
Admission to this accessible event is free. Consider walking or riding a bike to the festival.
 By Pepper Parr
August 5th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Our political correspondent, Ray Rivers, is working up a pair of articles on the United States presidential race and comparing the situation down there with how our democracy is working in Canada.
 When Rivers writes, as publisher he and I trade notes and thoughts on the direction his thinking is taking. My role is to support the writer. As I was reading through my own sources I came across a book On Bullshit, by Harry G. Frankfurt, a professor of philosophy emeritus at Princeton University and recognized as one of the world’s most influential moral philosophers
Here is what he has to say on that subject:
“One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, as Harry Frankfurt writes, “we have no theory.”
Fareed Zakaria, writing in the Washington Post said: “Frankfurt, one of the world’s most influential moral philosophers, attempts to build such a theory here. With his characteristic combination of philosophical acuity, psychological insight, and wry humor, Frankfurt proceeds by exploring how bullshit and the related concept of humbug are distinct from lying. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all.
“Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner’s capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”
This viewpoint and the role bullshit plays in our political lives at every level is not limited to the United States.
The book was a New York Times #1 Best Seller. No bullshit!
 By Pepper Parr
August 4th, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
Once you’ve taken in the Jazz event Friday evening at the Performing arts Centre, at which Brian Dean, chief honcho for the Downtown Business Association will be MC – you might want to mosey on over to the same location and try Intersection Dance.
And what, you might ask is that? Intersection Dance is an open air celebration of dance for all! Each event will be part performance and part dance lesson. Come and see incredible dance in a summer setting and learn some moves from the artists.
Saturday, August 6 from 3:00pm – 4:30pm on the Plaza at 440 Locust Street
 One of the most impressive free form dancers we have seen will be leading the group through an original dance piece being created for the by Lisa Emmons, Artistic Director of Form Contemporary Dance Theatre.
You will get to see the work in progress. Lisa will be collaborating with a collective of dancers representing three communities: Burlington, Milton and Oakville. After the performance the collective will receive “notes” and invite the audience to comment or make suggestions. These ideas will be considered as the piece is finalized for performances during Culture Days in the fall.
They will certainly be animating Locust Street Saturday afternoon.
By Pepper Parr
August 4th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
This time two years ago thousands of families in the city were scrambling to recover from a rainfall that flooded their homes while the city moved into serious damage control mode.
The rain began in the early afternoon of the August holiday, it seemed at first, like just another summer rain storm but it shut down the events at LaSalle Park where Joseph Brant Day was being celebrated.– at about 4 pm people began to realize there was a serious problem.
It was a holiday weekend and a lot of people were out of town. The Mayor was at his cottage, the acting city manager was at his cottage and out of cell phone reach. Then city general manager Scott Stewart was holding the fort and pulling in all the senior people he could find.
 The data available several weeks after the storm showed just how local it was. Tony Bavota, the fire chief, was getting reports but wasn’t experiencing as much as a drop of rain where he lived.
Underpasses were filling up with water.
 Every creek in the east end of the city broke its banks pushing branches and tree stumps that became battering rams that did major damage. The creeks on the east side of the city had burst their banks and could not manager the torrent of water that was roaring down.
Tuck Creek, Sheldon Creek along with the others in the eastern part of the had burst their banks and were doing significant damage.
There was very little in the way of media. The publisher of the Gazette was bailing water from the basement of the house he lived in.
The police at the Burlington detachment had to move all their vehicles to higher ground. Officers working at the desk had to walk on squishy floors.
The city got 191 mm of rain in just hours – most of it went looking for a place to flow – the creeks were a natural route to take.
Weeks after the event all kinds of data was available but the days of the flood and several days after that there was nothing but confusion.
 Drivers found the water rising far more rapidly than they expected – many had to abandon vehicles. The Region did move very quickly and made some short term funds available to several hundred people. The city turned to the province for help and learned about a thing called ODRAP – Ontario Disaster Relied Aid Program that called for the city to declare there was an emergency and then create a committee to raise funds locally that would be matched on a two for one basis by the province.
The program rules required the city to back away and let the local community organization handle the raising of funds.
Meanwhile the city began repairing the damage to the city infrastructure – the creeks has to be cleaned up, sidewalks that were literally lifted and moved yards down the road had to be repaired. The city was responsible for fixing the infrastructure – social services was a regional responsibility.
 Retired police officer Peter Hodgson took charge of the Red Cross effort which was to look at every home in the flood area and determine the level of damage. The Red Cross was brought in to do the immediate survey work to determine what the damage was on a house by house basis. The members of council for the east end of the city found themselves wading through basements with water up to their knees – but there wasn’t much else they could do.
The Burlington Community Foundation (BCF) was given the task of raising the funds needed and in a short 100 days raised just shy of $1 million.
 There was no missing the message – the city mobilized itself very quickly to help. There were some delicate backroom differences of opinion between the city and the province over whether or not Burlington was going to get any provincial support. Newly elected MPP Eleanor McMahon had an opportunity to deliver some choice words to her provincial government peers on what Burlington needed.
The BCF did superb work helping people fill in the appropriate forms and convince dozens of corporations to write cheques. All but one of the major banks came through big time. A major consumer products company, who shall go nameless, couldn’t find as much as a dime for the people that clog their store regularly.
 Fortinos turned their fund raising software over to the community and had their cashiers asking for donations. One of the supermarket chains made their back end computer system available for the collection of donations.
There were hundreds of small kind acts done. One woman went door to door with green garbage bags offering to take in laundry for people who had lost their washers and driers.
One citizen found some warehouse space where donated furniture could be stored for those who would need it later.
 The people of Elwood Street lined up to buy the cupcakes and the T shirts and the hot dogs to raise funds for their neighbours. One street decided to hold what they thought was going to be a small fund raiser for a senior who needed some help – the Burlington Teen Tour Band came marching up the street the day of the event bringing tears to they eyes of man.
That small street managed to raise more in the way of real cash than one of the major service clubs. The city was experiencing its citizens coming out to help.
 There wasn’t an arm that Ron Foxcroft didn’t twist to raise the close to $1 million needed in a 100 day period. Ron Foxcroft began to look like that Energizer bunny in the battery advertisements – he was everywhere chasing cheques and badgering people to add a couple of zeros to what they were giving.
What was remarkable about this natural event was that it ruined some families and at the same time people just blocks away experienced nothing.
It was like one of those tornadoes that ripped through a street, tore out five or six houses and left everything else standing. The city had never experience anything like this before.
We learned that the downspouts that took rain from the eaves troughs were pouring water into a system of pipes that couldn’t manage the flow. We leaned that those catch basis in back yards that had been covered by grass really were an important part of storm water management.
We learned that those swales between our houses were there for a purpose.
And we learned how to pull together as a community to help each other.
After some of the finest work any community organization has done – the Burlington Community Foundation did a re-branding and took the word community out of their corporate name – go figure.
By Pepper Parr
August 3rd, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
This story has been revised – the number of hotel rooms is closer to 300 + than 500 as originally reported.
Frank McKeown has got part of it figured out.
He is tasked with bringing corporations to the city that will employ people in high tech, high paying jobs – the sort of thing that L3 Wescam does on the North Service Road. Few people know they produce some of the best visual surveillance equipment in the world.
Here is how they tell just a part of their story.
WESCAM has an airborne portfolio of multi-sensor, multi-spectral systems that are deployed worldwide, at varying ranges, and with overlapping fields-of-view, creating the opportunity for uninterrupted surveillance of boarders, forward operating bases, airfields and other vital assets.
McKeown wants more of that kind of company here. But, he will tell you, “companies don’t just up and move every day of the week”.
 The structure on the corner is going to be a nine storey building with 150+ rooms and convention facilities. A 2018 opening date is the plan. He knows that Burlington has a great story to tell any organization thinking about a move – and the Burlington Economic Development Corporation does a darn good job of getting the story out – but there is only so much that can be done in terms of promotion.
McKeown will tell you that it is pretty much a belly to belly business. You need to be in front of the people who make the decisions – which isn’t easy.
 Tear this one down – build a new one of at least 20 stories along with a second structure close to the water and you have a small cluster of accommodation that can attract small conventions. But McKeown thinks he has an angle that will work for him and for the city.
The city has a stunning development going up along Lakeshore – the Bridgewater condominium with its 22 stories that will soar into the sky and will be part of a three tower complex that will include a four star Marriott hotel with several hundred rooms.
Yards to the west there are plans for a major redevelopment of the existing Waterfront Hotel. The thinking is for a two or three building project that will be oriented to the west with the view right along Spencer Smith Park’s Naval Promenade.
With two hotels that will have something in the order of 300 rooms and a Performing Arts Centre that can hold 700 people in its Main Theatre, Burlington is suddenly well positioned to become a small convention destination.
 Frank McKeown, former Chief of Staff to Mayor Rick Goldring is now the Executive Director of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation. Making this work for the city will mean a total transformation of the current Tourism office operation. More selling power on the team – and then getting out there and learning who is holding their convention when and making a pitch for their business.
Burlington has a very unique story to tell and a lovely setting.
 A great locale for small convention events – has the Performing Arts Centre team begun to think how they will work with the Tourism office and the two new hotels we will have within five years? That Marriott hotel isn’t open yet but it isn’t too early to start pitching for that convention business. Is there anyone in the Tourism office talking to the hotel people and planning on how that convention business can be brought to town?
McKeown will be away for some holiday – and he is said to be taking up Wednesday golf in a serious way. Great business gets done on golf courses.
We will wait to hear what the Tourism office has in terms of a work plan for the balance of 2016 and 2017.
By Staff
April 3rd, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
The Performing Arts centre people have upped their game. Hard on the heels of a very successful event last summer they have expanded the program from a number of evenings of Jazz on the Plaza to a series of events that includes Sunday programs for families and a Tuesday evening that covers a number of musical genres.
 That plaza will be packed on Tuesday, Fridays and |Sunday during the month of August as the Performing Arts Centre shows its appreciation for the just under $1 million subsidy they get from the city. A free evening of entertainment every Tuesday in August, featuring musical performances across a range of genres. The bar will be open and a variety of snacks available. In the event of rain, the performance will be moved inside.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2 Stacey Lee Gusé
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9 Dave Barrett Trio with Michael Sadler (SAGA)
TUESDAY, AUGUST 16 Bravura
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23 Poor Angus
Friday is the Jazz evening – on the Plaza from 6:30pm – 8:30pm Bar will be open – cash only.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5 Ricochet – Led by Adrean Farrugia
FRIDAY, AUGUST 12 Rob Tardik
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19 Barbra Lica
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 Vincent Wolfe and The VegasNorth Seven
SUNDAY FAMILY FUN Sunday afternoons – 2:00pm – 5:00pm – free family fun, from music, to dance, to games, to sing-a-longs and more, there will be something for everyone! A variety of snacks and drinks will be available to keep youngsters and their parents energized throughout the afternoon. In the event of rain, the performance will be moved inside.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 The Monkey Bunch / Mark Correia
SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 Singalong Tim and The Pacifiers / The Sentimentalists
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21 Sonshine and Broccoli / Phil The Magic Guy
The program was very popular its first year – it was hard to get a place to sit.
The city shuts down streets for many events – it would create a lot more space for people to sit and enjoy the music if that short block of Locust was traffic free for these events. It could double the capacity.
By Staff
August 3rd, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It is all going to the dogs!
The woof woofs just might be getting one of the places in Burlington with a view that is to almost die for – Bayview Park.
The city is asking: Do you and your canine best friend use the leash-free area in Bayview Park?
If you do, the City of Burlington wants to hear your opinion about a possible leash-free area for small dogs.
We are looking at:
• Expanding the size of the total leash-free area from one hectare to 1.5 hectares
• Creating a separate leash-free area for small dogs only
• New six-foot (two-metre) high chain link fence with two double gate entrances
• Relocating the entrances
• Providing an accessible pathway from the existing parking lot into both of the leash-free areas
• Installing a new shelter in the small dog leash-free area.
Bayview Park at 1800 King Rd. is also known as W.A.G. (Where Animals Gather) Park. If you use the park, please take a moment to answer this short poll at www.burlington.ca/leashfree.
 The park has one of the best views of the Skyway bridge – you can see the ships coming and going. King Road is also the road that the city closes in the spring so the Jefferson Salamanders can do what they do to increase their population. The road closure takes place further up King Road. There is an added feature in taking your dog to this park – it is a nice way to get out of the city and on occasions a model Airplane club sends their small craft soaring through the skies. These guys are serious people and they have some pretty impressive model airplanes.
 This off leash park is in Toronto. The parks offer a different level of civil society – not even a hint of stress. Must be nice. Vote for the park – convince the city to make it as big as they can so the woof woofs have all kinds of space to run around. Convince them to create a shelter as well.
 By Pepper Parr
August 3rd, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It will take place – right here in Burlington – a simulcast of the CBC broadcast of the last stop on the farewell tour of the Tragically Hip band; an event that is pregnant with the knowledge that Gord Downie, the band leader lives with an incurable brain cancer.
The Hip resonated with a certain demographic – they were our band and they spoke our language and we believed that like the Rolling stones they would go on forever.
He is giving it everything he’s got – and then some! But it isn’t going to work out that way. The last song that is played on the simulcast will bring tears to the eyes of many – probably most.
While the tears might be part of a life experience, what is really necessary is a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society.
The Burlington Downtown Business Association, which has been a large part of the driving force behind getting the broadcast to Burlington, where it will be put up on huge screen in Spencer Smith Park, have set up an account at the Royal Bank of Canada Branch downtown at Lakeshore and Pearl.
It is a “deposit only” account; funds collected will be equally divided between JBH Foundation (in support of the Hospital’s cancer care clinic” and The Halton chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society (focusing on education and prevention).
Gord Downie – The Tragically Hip The event is going to be bitter sweet – there will be a man on the stage suffering. The disease that is eating away at his brain is at this point in time incurable. Cancer treatment has come a long way in the past decade – basically because of the continuing ongoing research – which costs a lot of money.
You get a chance to put your money where your heart is going to be on August 20th. Just walk into the Royal Bank and make a donation. The account and transit number is set out below. Just do it.
Account # 100-427-4
Transit # 00622
The BDBA is working quickly to establish a tool for online donations as well. The Gazette will publish those details as soon as they are available.
 By Pepper Parr
August 3rd, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
The Burlington Performing Arts Centre is accepting submissions from local artists for the Culture Days celebrations in the Theatre Lobby to take place on Sunday October 2nd, 2016.
These are curated performances event taking place from 12pm -4pm, in conjunction with other activities. The call is for artists in the community to have a 15-minute performance highlight on the lobby stage. There are only eight slots available.
 The Family room being put to spectacular use – the Performing Arts Centre wants to make the space available to local talent during Culture Days in the fall. As part of the Community Initiative for Culture Days in Burlington, we are looking for amateur talent in Burlington and surrounding areas to showcase our local artists or acts and to introduce these artists to our patrons and to a wider audience as well as to showcase culture in Burlington.
This can also assist any local artist or group who are on their way to becoming better known in the community or even pursuing the goal of becoming professional.
There is an honorarium for these performances and the artists will get an opportunity to promote their brand at that time, while reaching a new audience. The artists may also be added to the City of Burlington’s Artists database, with their permission.
We are looking for singer/songwriters, singers of pop, jazz, blues, folk, musical theatre and classical music, bands or combos, instrumentalists and soloists: classical, jazz, etc.
Please submit by email to: BPACsubmissions@burlington.ca with Culture Days in the Subject line. Includde a couple of photos, a short bio and some background information along with a short description of the act or performer, any links to YouTube videos, if you have them, and of course, contact information.
Dateline for submissions is August 26th, 2016.
There are only eight spots available; only those acts or artists selected will be contacted.
Costin Manu, Community Engagement Manager for the Centre, has been working at getting something going in the lobby of the Performing Arts centre since he arrived. It will be interesting to see how this works out – it will also be interesting to see how the city and the Performing Arts centre manage to collaborate on making the Cultural Days event in Burlington work. There didn’t seem to be all that much co-operating between the two – each sort of did their own thing – and it showed.
The Centre has a strong Jazz program on the plaza during August – details in the next edition of the Gazette.
Earlier this year the Art \gallery of Burlington rented the Main Theatre and put the lobby – which we thought was named the Family Room – and put it to excellent use.
 The Burlington Teen Tour Band took over the Family Room of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre the day the city turned the building over to the community. When the Performing Arts Centre opened there was an afternoon when all of the Burlington Teen Tour Band marched in through the east side sliding doors and gave that space life and energy it has never seen before.
The Centre management has yet to “animate” the space as well since.
By Staff
August 2nd, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Progress we think – and as one of those people who lived at the intersection of New Street and Guelph Line – we are all mighty pleased that we no longer have to dodge construction equipment and work our way around pot holes that pull hub caps off the vehicle
Many of us think the Regional chair owes us at least one car wash – the dust was incredible.
 Director of Transit for the city of Burlington, Mike Spicer serving as a Court Jester? The city transit people has announced schedule adjustments that begin August 14 upon completion of New Street construction.
Schedule adjustments effective August 14, 2016.
Routes 10 and 20 will return to normal routing upon completion of the New Street construction project. Minor adjustments have also been made to select trips on routes: 1, 11, 80 and 101.
 The intention is to replace water and sewage pipe lines all along New street and add bicycle lanes on a trial basis as well east of Guelph Line. Use the new Trip Planner and Next Bus link to know when the bus will depart in real-time. Add tripplanner.burlington.ca to your favourites or call the automated phone system 905-639-0550 and enter in your Stop ID.
The last we heard was that the Trip Planner and Next Bu link were getting a technical touch up. We never heard back from the transit people.
We will now give that service a test and let you know how it is doing.
By Pepper Parr
August 2nd, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It will be interesting to see the look on Mayor Goldring’s face when a poem written by Hanz Mirck, Apeldoorn’s resident poet, is read to him at the Different Drummer Books on August 12th.
The poem was commissioned by the Apeldoorn City Poet Committee, a group that is very active.
Our Mayor is a little uncomfortable with things emotional. Sitting in a room while someone reads a poem directly to him will be a different experience.
 Mayors of Apeldoorn and Burlington Our relationship with Apeldoorn is very strong – city staff have met with Apeldoorn city employees and there is the potential for some economic development between the two cities.
 Apeldoorn has this palace – we have Spencer Smith Park A look at the cultural activity in Apeldoorn suggests they are much more advanced than we are with local culture. It is an older society with a richer and more appreciated heritage and culture.
The event takes place Friday, August 12, 2016, 2 to 3 p.m., at the A Different Drummer Books.
At some point in the future perhaps Burlington will commission Tomy Bewick to do a poetry piece that he can present at the Poetry Slam and then have it read to the Mayor of Apeldoorn
 By Pepper Parr
July 30th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
The Airpark has served notice on the city that it is going to appeal the decision made in the Superior Court of Ontario which decided that they must file a site alteration plan for the air park where thousands of tonnes of land fill was dumped between 2003 and 2008.
And why are we not surprised?
This is what you do when you need to buy time.
 The black lines show the size of the Air \Park property. The properties on the left side along Appleby Line suffered significant flooding from run off after the land fill had been dumped on Air Park property. The Air Park had 30 days in which to decide what they wanted to do – file a site alteration plan or appeal the decision.
They chose to appeal – and if this appeal is anything like the results of the last court decision the Air Park appealed it will be a very short court case.
After speaking for close to an hour on why the original decision should be set aside (that was the decision that said the air park did have to comply with municipal bylaws) the Court of Appeal decided they didn’t have to listen to the city’s argument. They recessed for a short period of time and chose not to set aside the Superior Court decision.
This second court case had the city of Burlington asking the court to compel the Air Park to file a site plan for the city to approve – and that of course is where the rubber hits the road – what if the city doesn’t approve the site plan that is filed?
The City will now discuss next steps after learning that the Burlington Airpark Inc. has appealed the decision of Mr. Justice M.R. Gibson dated June 30, 2016 to the Ontario Court of Appeal.
 Vince Rossi, president of the Air Park and believed to be the sole shareholder of the private company, met with north Burlington residents. He took all the comments made “under advisement”. The appeal, attached, states:
“THE APPELLANT ASKS that the judgment be set aside and judgment be granted declaring City of Burlington By-Law 64-2014 to be ultra vires, or inapplicable to the operations of the Appellant, Burlington Airpark Inc., and in particular to the placement of soils in and about aircraft runways and aircraft taxiways at the Burlington Airpark (the “Airpark”) prior to April 27, 2013.”
The City of Burlington site alteration bylaw 64-2014 regulates the placing, dumping, cutting and removal of fill or the alteration of grades or drainage on a piece of land. Individuals doing this type of work must first submit an application to the city for a site alteration permit.
 The Air Park at one point had plans to locate a helicopter station on the property. On June 30, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled in favour of the City of Burlington’s application to compel Burlington Airpark Inc. to submit an application for a site alteration permit to comply with the bylaw. With the court ruling, the Air Park was required to file an application for a site alteration permit for the fill deposited between 2008 and 2013 before August 31, 2016.
The court has also ordered the Airpark to pay the city’s court costs.
The Air Park itself is not the issue – it is what the current owner of the air park has dumped on the land. They have argued that the land fill was brought in to level the property for future development.
Most people took the position that the land fill was brought in because it was very profitable to do so – and indeed it appears, with what little evidence there is so far that dumping land fill on the site was profitable.
During the first court case lawyer Ian Blue, acting for Burlington, managed to get on record that there were large sums earned from the land fill that was dumped, but that the corporate records were not available to show just where those millions of dollars had gone.
All the key players in the Air Park dispute: On the left standing is assistant city solicitor Blake Hurley, seated in front of him is Ian Blue, the lawyer the has hired to represent them in court. Leaning over th chairs is former city general manager Scott Stewart along with Roger Goulet, Ken Woodfruff and Monte Denis. Leaning over th three gentlemen is former ward six candidate Vanessa Warren. At one point in these proceedings the Air Park sued three Burlington residents and a local on line newspaper (the Burlington Gazette) for libel. That case is still churning its way through the judicial system. The defendants, Denis, Warren, Parr and the Gazette have asked the Air Park to show their financial records. The Air Park has refused to do so. A Judge has heard arguments from the Air Park and the defendants on why the Air Park should make its financial records available. They are waiting for a decision.
There are people involved in economic development matters who feel the air park is an important part of what kind of development takes place on the 200 acre site. A small regional airport is seen by these people as a useful and there are reported to be people interested in acquiring the air park which is believed to be wholly owned by Vince Rossi.
There are others who feel the airport should become something owned and operated by the Region. However there does not appear to be much in the way of an appetite at the Region for them to become operators of an Air Park. There are a number of municipalities who have done just that.
Might the air park find itself with new owners? There is more than one individual interested in that possibility.
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