 September 23, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It was going to be Maurice Desrochers jump from operating properties he had bought up as “executive rentals” into a fully-fledged developer who would develop a city block west of Brant street in a part of the city that is settled and knows what it wants and knows very well what it doesn’t want. And they didn’t want the development Desrochers was proposing for a stretch of Caroline Street between Hagar and Burlington Streets.
 Residents believe the developer has focused solely on the positive nature of the aesthetic – they are concerned about density and the intrusion of anything other than single family homes. Desrochers had bought up a number of properties and then developed a plan that he felt fit in exceptionally well with the neighbourhood. Somewhere along the way there was a major disconnect between the developer and the community – when more than 70 residents showed up for a Saturday morning meeting in May to give the idea a big thumbs down.
The resistance in the community was too much for the developer who we understand has decided to sell off some of the property purchased and either move on to some other project or stick to the “executive rentals” business.
 Desrochers did one project for which Burlington has been and will continue to be forever grateful and that was the saving of the Gingerbread house on Ontario Street. Desrochers wasn’t able to translate the good will generated from that project into acceptance from the community that he could build housing that would be consistent with the way most residents saw their community.
Barry Imber, one of the people leading the group, explained the concern at the time when he said: “Communities evolve over time during which small changes take place and are absorbed into the community and a new norm gets created”. “These are incremental changes” he adds. “What Desrochers wants to do is something revolutionary – he wants to tear down a complete block and put up housing that is not permitted under the existing Official Plan or the zoning.
Desrochers was looking for both an Official Plan change and significant rezoning. Councillor Marianne Meed Ward made it clear that she would support the rules that are in place now.
The rules in place for the part of Burlington west of Brant are complex. When Burlington did its last Official Plan Review, completed in 2008, it created a number of precincts in the city. Brant Street was given a zoning of 7 storey’s as of right now with the possibility of going to 12 storeys.
 Residents believe the developer had focused solely on the positive nature of the aesthetic – they were concerned about density and the intrusion of anything other than single family homes. The thinking behind the creation of the Precincts back in 2008 was to create communities with a clearly defined zoning by law set in place to protect the character of the community. They called the land between Brant on the east and close to Maple on the west and from Baldwin on the north down to the Lake – the St. Luke’s Precinct – which was anchored by St. Luke’s Anglican Church which has land that gives it a view to the Lake. That property was given to the Anglican Church by the Joseph Brant family.
The precinct boundary has all kinds of wiggles and squiggles in it but it is basically west of Brant. The community has many styles; some single story, some two and two and a half. There are some apartment buildings as well but the core is single family homes and the residents want to keep it that way. That’s what the Official Plan gave them in 2008 and they don’t want to give that away.
 Maurice Desrochers talking to residents about his Caroline street project during a Saturday morning community meeting. Was this an inappropriate development or a tussle between a developer and a group of citizens who didn’t like the pace of change that was being proposed? We will never know. Hopefully Desrochers will have realized some capital gain on the purchase and sale of the properties. Failing that all he has for this effort is invoices from consultants and some nice poster board with drawings of the dream.
Maurice Desrochers did not make himself available for comment.
 September 20th 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The Premier was in town for a Roundtable event facilitated by the Chamber of Commerce at which she listened to some 30 + area business people talk privately about jobs and the economy – which has been the anvil Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak has been banging his steel hammer on for the past couple of years. The Premier is clearly moving in on territory he had staked out.
The visit was the Premier’s second visit to Burlington this month – does she think the Burlington seat can be won?
Taking part in the Premier’s Roundtable in Burlington were: Tom Hughes, President –EarthFresh; Brad Wiseman, CFO EarthFresh; Sylvia Parr, 1st VP – Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies, and poultry farmer; Ken Forth-Local Farmer and past President of Canadian Horticultural Society; John Sawyer -Oakville Chamber of Commerce; Orla Johnston, Oakville Chamber of Commerce; Wendy Rinella -First Canadian Title; Rocco Delvecchio, Siemens; James Rowland, Ford Canada; Roland Tanner, Tanner Ritchey Publishing; Rick Goldring -Burlington Mayor; Ian Cameron, Burlington Economic Development Corporation, Paul Subject, CEO Stanmech Technologies, Ted Lee, Javelin Techologies; Hani Kaissi, VP-Anaergia; Steve Watzek; CEOAnaergia; John Dehne, President L-3 Wescam; Jean Jacques-Rousseau, Senior Manager AmerisourceBergen; Keith Hoey, President Burlington Chamber of Commerce; Eric Blinkhorn – Konecranes Canada Inc; Gerry Kavanaugh – Apex Composites; Glen Russell – Kontek Ecology Systems Inc.; Heather Gerrie Kwant, Gerrie Electric Wholesale Limited; Heidi Cowie, Stresschat Inc.; John Goodwin-MTE Consultants Inc.; Laurie Nadeau, Bevsupport Corp; Nancy Moore , Centre for Skills Development and Training; Marty Staz, Marty Staz – Royal LePage Burloak Real Estate Services; Michael Clothier, Inter Mune Canada; Sharon Jackman, Service First Forwarding Inc. and Jonathan Levy
Earlier in the week Premier Wynne announced a panel of prominent people who were going to take a deeper look at the public and municipal responses to The Big Move recommendations. You remember that one don’t you? The announcement that we needed billions to upgrade the transportation infrastructure so that we could get people out of their cars and put at least a dent in the grid lock that at times turns the QEW into a parking lot.
The Big Move report estimated $34 billion would be needed to upgrade public transit in the heavily congested region. The problem with that report was there was no consensus on whose pockets that money was to come out of. We all know whose pocket it is going to come from eventually – what’s going on now at all the political levels is none of them wants to be seen as the one that asks for the money.
When the Big Move report got to Burlington’s city council they all sat glumly realizing there wasn’t a thing they could actually do and fearful that the city would be given the job of sucking the money out of your wallets.
The Premier, doing her bit to ease the load on the QEW took GO to Burlington.
That has happened to Burlington before: while health is a provincial responsibility that didn’t stop the province from advising the Mayor that he had to come up with $60 million to pay a share of the cost of re-developing Joseph Brant Hospital. The Mayor gulped because that was all he could do.
Creating a panel to dig through the mounds of reports and find a consensus in there that will keep the public from voting them out of office is a monumental task. Hoping for a decision in December of this year is as close to a pipe dream as you’re likely to get.
This Premier needs an issue that makes her the clear favourite when she goes to the polls and she would like to choose the issue rather than have one slapped on her plate. Tricky business but that is what the art of politics is all about. The good ones are great at it – and this country has had a couple of great ones. Too early to tell if Kathleen Wynne has greatness in her.
She has managed to keep a fractious Legislature under control – no mean feat. While jobs is her biggest challenge resolving the transportation issues has to get done first and that isn’t a two year task. Wynne needs a quick political fix, one of those rabbits that get pulled out of a hat.
Can the panel she appointed do it? Anne Golden, the woman selected to head the panel, is certainly an accomplished and politically savvy social animator. Running the Toronto United Way and then the Conference Board of Canada and now at Ryerson certainly stands her in good stead. Can she make a 1% increase in HST sound palatable? Probably but a five-cent-a-litre regional gas tax is going to choke us. We are then in the $1.50 a litre realm. Add to that the $350-million-a-year business parking levy they have in mind and an additional $100 million a year in development charges and one begins to wonder just how much pain the public can handle. Was the appointment an attempt to stall the inevitable? Four months isn’t much of a stall. Do we have a Premier whistling as she walks by the cemetery?
Is there a consensus in here somewhere?
“I’ve always been opposed to revenue tools and I continue to be opposed to revenue tools,” said Ford. “People are taxed to death enough, and revenue tools is just a tax.”
The Progressive Conservatives criticized the Liberals for appointing a panel to study the recommendations from Metrolinx instead of making decisions about which revenue tools they want to use to raise the transit funding.
“I guess this is another study group, wrapped in a committee, buried in a panel,” complained PC Leader Tim Hudak. “When you call 13 political appointees to study this, that’s Liberal job creation, I guess.”
The New Democrats agreed transit expansion has to be funded, but said they would not support it being done on the backs of already overburdened workers, while the government is giving tax breaks to big corporations. They don’t believe the government’s plans to dig into the pockets of everyday families who are already feeling the pinch is going to be a successful strategy.
“This is a culture shift for this region, it’s a culture shift for the North American context, that people think not in terms of the automobile, they think about transit,” said Premier Wynne. “So we need to make sure that we make the fairest choices possible.”
 And Wynne desperately wants to do whatever she can to ensure that it doesn’t become a provincial election issue either. Quite how you hit the tax payers for $34 billion (that’s $34,000,000,000.) without making it an election issue is astounding.
Government studies show people in the greater Toronto-Hamilton area spend an average of 82 minutes a day commuting, and forecast that will jump to 109 minutes a day by 2031 if nothing is done. There’s an incentive for you.
Next year municipalities in Ontario choose their leadership. Transit will be an issue for Burlington – perhaps not as big as many may think. The transit people have handled the reallocation of services, an awkward situation, rather well. Cutting back on some routes and beefing up others is having an impact – quite how big an impact isn’t known yet but there are promising signs.
Meanwhile Burlington transit plugs away at improving its performance and the level of service it offers. About six months ago city manager Jeff Fielding looked at the transit financial and realized immediately that this wasn’t sustainable and called for less service on the under performing route and more service on those routes that showed potential for growth. The transit advocates didn’t like that decision but it was implemented and Mike Spicer, Director of Transit was given some breathing room and a more of a budget to revitalize transit – it was a city service that had lost its way.
 September 20th, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. These days you just never know – do you? Conservation Halton issued the following Watershed Conditions Statement – Flood Outlook today at 3:30 p.m.
Environment Canada is advising a period of extended rainfall over the next 24 hours due to the train of a slow-moving cold front. The rain is expected to begin this evening and continue overnight and into tomorrow morning. Rainfall accumulations of 15 to 25 mm are expected across the watershed along with the potential for some isolated thunderstorms which could increase the rainfall values.
 One of the several reservoirs in the Region:  As a result of the rainfall our rivers and streams will result in higher than normal water levels and flows, creating dangerous conditions. Widespread flooding is not currently anticipated. Our reservoirs are still in range of our seasonal levels and have storage capacity available.
Conservation Halton is asking all residents and children to stay away from all watercourses and structures such as bridges, culverts and dams. Elevated water levels, fast flowing water, and slippery conditions along stream banks continue to make these locations extremely dangerous. Please alert children in your care of these imminent dangers.
Conservation Halton will continue to monitor stream and weather conditions and will issue further messages as necessary.
This Watershed Condition Statement will be in effect through to Sunday September 22, 2013.
Note: A Watershed Safety Statement – Flood Outlook is an early notice of the potential for flooding based on weather forecasts calling for heavy rain, snow melt, high wind or other conditions that could lead to high runoff, cause ice jams, lakeshore flooding or erosion.
 September 20, 2013
By Ray Rivers.
BURLINGTON, ON. They are romantic little fishing villages dotting the coastline of this Island province, the last to join Canada. The quaint, brightly painted houses and boat shacks are all well maintained and clean. It is as if the clock had been turned back a half century or more – except for the quiet. An eerie silence pervades, almost like being in an episode of the Twilight Zone. Perhaps it just seems that way because the sea is empty. There are no boats in the harbours; nobody selling their catch-of-the-day on the docks; no seagulls dodging and diving for discarded fish guts; and nobody fishing off an island that was founded on the cod fish.
 The cod almost jumped out of the water and into the boats. It was a phenomenal resource that sustained a province – until the bureaucrats got the numbers wrong. The almighty cod fish which attracted settlers and fishers from all around the world; which led to the discovery of Newfoundland; and that provided the income and livelihood for its inhabitants… is gone. The cod fishery collapsed in the late 1980‘s, though it took the federal government until 1992 to actually declare a total moratorium. Thirty thousand workers lost their jobs overnight and now Newfoundlanders are allowed only a three-week window to catch a few lonely cod for their own tables.
The expert government scientists really blew this one. They over-estimated the cod stock, underestimated the impact of the fishing vacuum cleaners, called factory trawlers, and then nodded politely as their masters applied political pressure to keep the fishery open, long after it should have been closed. Now, over two decades later the stock has still not recovered. Locals do express hope for the cod, some optimism, unlike they do for the wild Atlantic salmon which is truly gone forever.
Thank God we have agriculture. But now we have more expert scientists guiding our policy makers, as they support Monsanto and other companies creating the new and exciting genetically modified organisms (GMO). It was only1994, less than two decades ago, when the first commercially available GMO food, a tomato, was approved by the US FDA. Yet today there are 25 GMO plants being grown around the world, and almost all of the corn and soybeans (90%) grown in the US are GMO. Canada is not far behind this trend.
Some of the genetic material spliced into these foods simply allows the plants to defend themselves against pesticides like Monsanto’s Round-up, which does such a deadly job of cleaning up the weeds. Some GMOs have altered biological processes, such as the tomato, which now ripens slower than nature had intended – keeping it fresher-looking on the grocer’s shelf. And the latest GMO being developed claims to enhance the nutritional value of food (golden rice), thus offering the promise of feeding the masses being born into hunger in the less developed nations of the world.
 The remaining category of GMO foods actually contain pesticides within their DNA, such as bt corn and bt potatoes . Every time we eat these foods we intake the same pesticide DNA that kills or wards off predatory insects, fungal diseases, etc. Now the agriculture and health agencies and their scientists tell us that these products are safe. But I worry that, like the fisheries experts, they are missing something and haven’t grasped the bigger picture – and that we should be moving slower and more cautiously. GMOs have been critically labelled ‘franken foods’ by the organic industry because their process of gene splicing is unlike anything which occurs in nature.
I confess, I used to be an organic producer and I managed an organic certification agency here in Ontario – so that is my bias. Like others, committed to organic foods, I am concerned about how much testing has gone into these GMO products, given how soon after development we move these foods into production, the market place and our stomachs. What if we discover a problem in due course, will we have enough non-GMO seeds to change back? I am annoyed that there is no labeling where we purchase food, informing us whether we are getting GMO, thus purposely blocking us from exercising our rights to choice as consumers. And I do worry about the cumulative effect of eating foods with poison in their genetic make-up.
 Once, I ran out of soybean seeds for some garden-variety edamame I was planting. Rushed, I inquired about organic seeds at my local farmers’ supply store. But the only kind they had were ‘Round-up Ready’ by Monsanto. These seeds came with a contract I needed to sign confirming that, though I bought and grew them, they were Monsanto property into perpetuity. I just shook my head and contacted an organic grower to help me out.
 There was nothing modified about this natural resource. All we had to do was responsibly preserve and wisely harvest. We failed to do that. I know our agricultural scientists are well-educated and have our best interests at heart when they tell us they believe that GMOs are safe – and time may well prove them to be right. But then I think back to those meetings with the well-respected federal fisheries biologists, when we used to finalize and allocate fishing quotas. They were convinced that the northern cod stock was strong and growing, and that despite all the fishing pressure it was facing, would never collapse.
 Ray Rivers was born in Ontario; earned an economics degree at the University of Western Ontario and earned a Master’s degree in economics at the University of Ottawa. His 25 year stint with the federal government included time with Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, Agriculture and the Post office. Rivers is active in his community; has run for municipal and provincial office and held executive positions with Liberal Party riding associations. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.
 September 19, 2013
By staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Earlier this week a 13-year-old Burlington girl was walking home on Palmer Drive near Newlands Crescent when she sensed she was being followed.
While walking, she turned to see a man walking behind her and quickened her pace to create some distance.
A few moments later her wrist was grabbed and the man spun her around and touched her inappropriately. The girl fought off the man and ran home.
The victim did not report the matter to police until earlier today, September 19th.
The suspect is described as white, older than 20 years of age, wearing a baseball cap, light coloured t-shirt and jeans. The suspect may have had piercings in his mouth area, known as ‘snake bites’.
This is the second incident of public molestation of young girls in the city in less than a week.
Police offer the following prevention tips when walking:
Walk with a purpose
Be alert and attentive of your surroundings at all times
Avoid unlit streets and shortcuts through parks and/or vacant lots
If you suspect you are being followed, cross the street, scream if necessary
IF YOU FEAR FOR YOUR SAFETY, CALL 9-1-1
Call the police as soon as you can to report the incident; they can move very quickly and be in a neighbourhood in minutes.
 September 18, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It was an event held at perhaps the most prestigious site in the city. It had relatively little to do with Burlington and at the same time it had everything to do with Burlington.
 Marlaine Koehler, part of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust that created the Waterfront Trail that first opened in Burlington just east of the Canal on Mother’s Day in YEAR Some of the best minds in the province were in the Discovery Room overlooking the lake and Spencer Smith Park with the pier at the east end. There were people from municipalities and government agencies across the province. They were there to honour two women: Marlaine Koehler and Vicki Barron who, together, were the driving force behind the creation of the Waterfront Trail that today stretches from Niagara on the Lake to the Quebec border and has begun to include large parts of Lake Erie.
 Vickie Barron, one of two women given the David Crombie Award bu the Canadian Urban Institute in Burlington earlier this week. Nothing like this had ever been done before. The initiative came out of a Royal Commission led by Crombie that resulted in a Waterfront Regeneration Trust; an organization that holds waterfront property or the right to walk on properties in trust for the public.
There was a time when Burlington was a leader in the development of the “waterfront”, something David Crombie reminded us of when he was in the city a few years ago talk to the Waterfront Advisory Committee.
Crombie was back to witness the awards being given and took advantage of the opportunity to chat up the Mayor on how he was doing with the plans for the Beachway Park. This park is where the Waterfront Trail used to begin. The series of pictures set out below show – well, check the body language. Crombie was having some difficulty with comments Goldring was making.
Mayor Goldring is struggling with this issue. I think his heart is in the right place, which is more than can be said of some of his council members, but setting out a vision and then executing the leadership to make the vision a reality is not our Mayor’s strong suite.
The pictures are shown in the sequence they were taken in – minutes apart.
 David Crombie, centre, likes everyone he meets and has a soft spot for Burlington. Crombie listen, he listen carefully. Mayor Goldring is on the left with the chair of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust on the right.  The conversation was about the lakefront, the Beachway and Spencer Smith Park. Crombie who has vast experience with how to make the waterfront accessible to the public and at the same time include community makes a point. Is Goldring listening?  Crombie thinks about the responses being made by Mayor Goldring.  The folded arms tell the story – and the expression on Crombie’s face suggest he doesn’t like what he is hearing. The city will have a better idea of what Mayor Goldring thinks when he speaks at Council Monday. The city’s position on the Beachway Park, which will the go to Regional Council, will be made known on Monday. Ms Koehler told the small audience something about the day, it was a Sunday, a Mother’s Day when the Waterfront Trail was officially opened. “we got calls from Hamilton asking if the trail could be stretched to their part of the province and we explained that Hamilton had not taken part in the planning and making a last-minute change just couldn’t happen”.
The event was one of those things that take place to honour our best in this country. What made this event particularly poignant was the presence of former Toronto Mayor David Crombie. The award was given in his name and he had worked for many years with the two women. Crombie has been the strongest argument in the province for making our waterfronts livable places.
Burlington is on the cusp of making a decision that will define for a century what kind of a waterfront we are going to have as decisions get made about what Burlington wants to see done with the Beachway Park – a location that was at one point thought of as a bit of a slum; a place where biker gangs held court and where houses were yards away from a railway line and hydro towers loomed over everything.
Council Blair Lancaster told a committee meeting that when she was a young woman she “wasn’t allowed to go to the park”. Janet Turpin Myers, a recently published Burlington author, said that “when I was young you were behaving really badly if you went to that place. It was seen as a ‘wild’ place.
The vision parks and recreation staff has put forward is “plastic”. It has no life, no vitality and no colour and no imagination. It is what you would expect from bureaucrats. The limited vision that came out of Parks and Recreation is far from final and there will be some good work done to make the park much more vibrant.
What is missing is the strongest thing the park has going for it and that is the “community” that is already there and one that should be grown.
It took Torontonians a couple of years to get to the point where homes were allowed to remain on their islands – making it one of the nicest, safest places to visit in that city.
 The city wants to create four zones within the park that will allow for the protection of the sensitive sand dunes and for the creation of better parking. The current plan to to take four properties that are currently privately owned and turn them into park space. There are three structures on the four properties. On the plus side, the city has limited the land grab it wants to do to four pieces of property with four structures.
What Marlaine Koehler and Vicki Barron did with their Waterfront Trail work was change the mindset. They were the beginning of the movement that brought the lake back into the hands of the public and made it a living breathing place. Ms Koehler told her audience that her mother saw the lake as a place where “dead fish being washed up on the shore”. Koehler and her children visit Burlington frequently and swim at Beachway Park. My children see that body of water much differently than I did when I started working on it. They see it as a place that is rightfully theirs. My generation had to fight to get it back into the hands of the public. The Waterfront Agency in Toronto has spent seven years getting three km of the trail through the downtown part of that city. It is still a struggle but courageous people with innovative ideas have shown it can be done.
Burlington can have a Beachway Park that will become the envy of the province; a place where community, a protected environment and activities for all ages can be enjoyed.
As people were getting ready to leave the event a large ore carrier was seen coming out of Hamilton’s harbour. Crombie pointed to the ship and said: “I want to go home on that”. Minutes earlier Crombie said to me that Goldring needed to be cautious because he was about to make a long-term decision.
 September 17, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Enbridge Pipelines turned over a cheque for $7500 to the Burlington Fire Department as part of the corporations Safe Community Program. The funds will be used to equip a new simulation lab, which will be accessible by all of the regional departments including emergency planning crews. Some of the new equipment includes computers, software and training gear.
 Fire department accepts a donation from the company whose pipeline plans the city opposes. How did that happen? “We are pleased to support the fire department in Burlington because they help keep our community safe,” said Ken Hall, Senior Advisor, Community Relations, Enbridge. “The new simulation lab will help firefighters and emergency planning crews be better prepared to respond to urgent situations.”
 The Enbridge pipeline cuts across the rural part of Burlington. Should there be a leak or a break in that line – which is more than 40 years old – much of the water that runs off the escarpment would be threatened. One of those urgent situations could be a break or a leak in Enbridge’s Line 9 which cuts right across Burlington between Side roads 1 and 2.
 In a statement Enbridge said: “The safety of the people who live and work in communities where Enbridge operates remains the company’s highest priority. That’s why Enbridge is proud to support organizations that are focused on community safety.” In her day my Mother called statements like that “whoppers”.
In November 2012, Enbridge filed an application with the National Energy Board asking the board to approve the reversal of the segment of Line 9 between North Westover, Ont. and Montreal, Qué. in addition to requesting an expansion of the entire Line 9 capacity from Sarnia, Ont. to Montreal and a revision to the Line 9 Rules and Regulations Tariff to allow transportation of heavy crude.
Enbridge has already obtained approval to reverse the pipeline’s flow for the section running between Sarnia and North Westover, in south-western Ontario.
 At its April 8 meeting, City Council passed a resolution directing staff to request participation rights in Enbridge Pipelines Inc. Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project application was passed.
The city was granted permission from the National Energy Board to submit a letter of comment, which the city did on Aug. 6, 2013.
Burlington, along with just about every other community the pipeline passes through, opposes the Enbridge plans. In its comments to the National Energy Board that will be holding hearings on the application Enbridge has made to reverse the flow of Line 9 and to increase the volume of Alberta bitumen through the line Burlington said: “Upon review of Enbridge’s application the city continues to be concerned that the issues we have previously raised are not adequately addressed,” said Scott Stewart, general manager of development and infrastructure. “We want more than just assurances that our residents and natural environment will be protected.”
The city’s letter of comment requests that further analysis and review is done in the following areas:
Enbridge’s overall approach to minimizing the likelihood of a release
In the event of a release, that an effective and coordinated response plan is in place This plan must leverage the capabilities of local emergency response teams
Enbridge’s accountability, both financially and operationally, for any event.
As part of the City of Burlington’s letter of comment, resolutions from Halton Regional Council and the Town of Oakville were submitted. Also included in the submission were the notes from a community meeting held in February. “The community raised a number of concerns at this meeting with Enbridge, and we felt it was important to share them with the NEB as they review Enbridge’s application,” said Scott Stewart.
 Right through the Escarpment. Will the fire department use the Enbridge donation to figure out how they will get onto this land to soak up the oil if there is a leak or a break in a line that is 40 years old? Has Burlington harmed its credibility in accepting the Enbridge donation? Some municipalities chose not to accept donations which Enbridge is apparently handing out to anyone with an outstretched hand. Is Enbridge doing to Burlington what colonial Canadians did to the native population – got a lot of land for some coloured beads and cases of whiskey?
Are we in 40 pieces of silver territory?
 September 17, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. At a time when Burlington’s city council struggles with what it wants to do with the Beachway Park the man, who created the Waterfront Trail that runs through the park and most of the province as well, will be in town for a presentation and a media event.
 If there was ever an occasion for Mayor Goldring to seek the opinions of others on the Beachway Park – now is the time to do it and on Wednesday he will have an opportunity to listen to one of the best minds there is on waterfront development. Former Toronto Mayor met with Mayor Goldring at a Waterfront Advisory meeting a number of years ago. Time for another chat. Mayor Goldring will be in the room for the event that will honour two people who have been instrumental in keeping the Waterfront Trail alive. Former Toronto Mayor David Crombie will be taking part in an event that will see an award in his name given to Marlaine Koehler and Vicki Barron in recognition of their significant contribution to the public realm over many years in their roles with the Waterfront Regeneration Trust.
The David Crombie Award is given in recognition of people and initiatives that provide collaborative solutions to the complex problems facing Canada’s largest urban region – the Greater Golden Horseshoe, and, through engaging community members with government and private sector partners, support the repair, regeneration and/or enhancement of the region’s public realm.
That comes close to describing the problem and the opportunity Burlington faces with the Beachway Park. The event could be a dream come true for the residents of the Beachway Park who are struggling to keep a community in the park. Crombie suggested to the city sometime ago some of the options it had with waterfront development. Hopefully he will remind the city again during his visit.
Burlington is currently trying to figure out what it really wants to do with the homes. While it looks as if expropriation and tearing the homes down is off the table – the current residents don’t feel at all comfortable with what they suspect is the city’s long term plan – which appears to be to let all but three of the existing structures stay and hope that over time the owners will eventually sell out to the city, the Region or Conservation Halton.
 The Beachway residents are putting up a good fight and their efforts have brought about some changes. But the battle isn’t over yet. What the city needs, as it thinks its way through what the Beachway Park could be, is a solid shot of imagination. When David Crombie was last in Burlington, speaking to the Waterfront Access Protection Advisory Committee he asked if the city had a collection of oddballs that could think imaginatively. Perhaps he was talking about the current residents of Beachway Park.
 Is there anything for Burlington to learn from what was done with the Toronto Islands? At one point that city wanted to tear down all the homes and make it a gigantic park. Marlaine Koehler and Vicki Barron work with the Waterfront Regeneration Trust, the organization that created the Waterfront Trail, that is in a bit of a shambles in Burlington right now. Few Burlingtonians know that there was a point when Burlington was a leader in the creation of the Trail. The two women being honoured on Wednesday oversaw the development and management of several innovative partnerships that made a dramatic contribution towards the regeneration of the Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River waterfront.
For thousands of Ontarians, summer would not be complete without enjoying some time strolling, sunning, biking, running, or otherwise recreating along various stretches of Lake Ontario’s waterfront. And yet, only 20 years ago there was no waterfront trail that existed, outside of some imaginations and a Royal Commission report with recommendations that the Waterfront Regeneration Trust was established to implement.
In 1993, the Trust launched the Waterfront Trail and Greenway, the organization’s signature project, with a multi-faceted program that included sponsorship, major events, publications, and a collaborative branding program. By 1995, The Trust had accomplished the opening of the Waterfront Trail, a 350-kilometre, virtually continuous trail along the Lake Ontario shoreline, connecting hundreds of parks, historic and cultural sites, wildlife habitats and recreation areas from Stoney Creek to Trenton.
From 2003 to 2008 the Lake Ontario Waterfront Investment Program delivered over $27 million of public and private investment to the Lake Ontario waterfront. By 2008 the Waterfront Trail was 720 km from Niagara to Quebec, and connected 41 communities and over 182 parks and natural features. This year also saw the start of the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure, an annual ground-breaking public engagement program that encourages active transportation. It is a fully supported recreational bike ride passing through the 27 communities along Lake Erie, Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, where participants can explore the communities along the trail over the course of a week.
In 2013 the Waterfront Trail will expand westwards along Lake Erie, adding a second Great Lake and 27 new waterfront communities along a signed, mostly on-road route. This work has been accomplished in partnership with communities in south-west Ontario, Carolinian Canada Coalition, Transportation Options and Share the Road.
A panel will discuss the impact that waterfront revitalization can have on connecting communities, and the various challenges and innovations along the way. The key word there is “communities”: Burlington needs some help in seeing the bigger picture.
Ken Greenberg, one of the speakers Mayor Goldring brought to Burlington as part of his Inspire series will be on the panel. Greenberg fully understands the importance of community – perhaps he will leave more of his wisdom on Burlington’s doorstep.
 September 16, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Halton’s Chief of police must have shaken his head several times this morning when he signed off on the report that stated there were more than 1900 charges laid during Project Safe Start, the police initiative to make streets close to Regional schools safe.
Police laid over 1900 charges including:
Speeding 1152
Seatbelts 142
Stop Signs 158
Other 456 (including at least 28 Distracted Driving charges)
 Signs are pretty clear. Police still nabbed 1152 speeders during an All Hands on Deck which has the Chief of Police out writing up tickets. The two officers shown here were kept busy. While the project has come to an end the need to be vigilant when driving near schools is always necessary. Take extra care in and around School Zones and Community Safety Zones.
 Halton Regional Police Chief Stephen Tanner talks with Sgt Davies, the man who heads up the accident reconstruction unit. The two of them would really like to see fewer accidents. During the enforcement phase, several suspended drivers were taken off the road, two commercial vehicles taken out of service for severe mechanical defects and at least one person was charged with Stunt Driving. Keep in mind that all of these charges occurred within School Zones and Community Safety Zones!
Vigilance and due care and attention should always be paramount when driving; not just when police hold special campaigns such as Project Safe Start. Enforcement officers will still be out 24/7 keeping an eye on our roads to ensure safe travel for all.
 September 16, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Just after 5:00 pm, on Sunday, a 42-year-old Milton man was cycling down an incline on Britannia Road just east of Cedar Spring Road in the City of Burlington. The male lost control of his bicycle and crashed onto the paved roadway. A woman came across the injured cyclist and called emergency services.
Although he was wearing a helmet, the male was rushed to a nearby trauma centre with life threatening head injuries.
Due to the nature of the injuries, the Halton Regional Police Collision Reconstruction Unit attended the scene and took carriage of the investigation. Any witnesses are asked to call the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 905-825-4747 ext 5065.
 September 14, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Three white males are being sought by police for an assault that took place on Upper Middle Road and Walkers Line at approximately 11:00 pm on Friday
 Plaza on the south side of Upper Middle Road near Walkers Line where an assault is believed to have taken place Friday night. A male and female pedestrian were near the plaza at 4021 Upper Middle Road when the occupants of a passing motor vehicle began a verbal altercation. After a brief exchange, the suspects exited the vehicle and assaulted the 26-year-old male victim. In addition, the suspects damaged the motor vehicle of a passerby who attempted to intervene. The victim was treated in hospital for minor injuries. The suspects fled in their vehicle and were observed in the area driving in a dangerous manner.
The Halton Regional Police are looking for any help they can get identifying three people responsible for the assault.
All three suspects are Caucasian males between the ages of 18-20 years. One suspect is bald/shaved head while another has short, spiked dark hair. No further descriptors available at this time.
The involved suspect vehicle is a black SUV, possibly a Toyota Highlander, with tinted windows and a tan leather interior.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Three District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4747 ext 2315, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), www.haltoncrimestoppers.com, or text “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes).
 September 12, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. After years of struggle. After battling a civic administration that really didn’t want the thing saved and working around a city council that couldn’t come up with a solution even though they had federal funding to pay for a move – the Friends of Freeman station watched the structure move a couple of hundred yards from beside the fire station on plains Road to a spot in a field where they can begin the renovation and restoration work.
It was a very satisfying day for a small bunch of people.
 Leaving a place that was not very nice – station begins one of the shortest trips it has ever made.  The station is eased into a large excavation. She wasn’t being buried – just put into a location where a foundation can be put beneath the structure.  Construction equipment gets out of the excavation and the crews prepare the ground for the station to be eased down the slope.  The station is eased into a space where its foundation will be built.  All settled in. The tractor will unhitch and drive away. Those huge yellow beams will get pulled out once the station is lowered onto a set of cribs that will hold it in place while the foundation is built.  These are what are known as “Happy Campers” or Friends of Freeman Station. They are, from the left:John Mellow (Chair, Restoration & Relocation) , Alan Harrington (Treasurer), Bev Jacobs (Board Member) Brian Aasgaard (Vice President), Jacquie Gardner (Publicity), Reg Cooke (Secretary), and James Smith. President.
Now, as they put it, the real work can begin. There is some settling of the building to be done but that is just a detail.
It is in place, temporarily if the Friends of Freeman have their way, and over the next three to five years the work will get done.
During the lengthy debate over how the city wants to see the Beachway Park develop, city staff provided some pictures and layout on how the place would look when it is more like a park than it is now – there wasn’t a hint of a place for the Freeman Station. Unfortunate. That will get changed.
 September 13, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Wednesday, shortly after 5:00 p.m., two young girls were shopping at the Burlington Mall when they were inappropriately touched by the same man.
 The girls, aged 8 and 10, were at the Dollarama store when they were approached by a man who engaged them in conversation about toys.
The girls moved to another aisle, followed by the man, and while looking at hair products both girls were inappropriately touched by the man.
The girls moved further down the aisle and were again touched by the man who had followed.
Neither girl realized the other had been touched until they were proceeding to the register and had a discussion.
The man is described as: white, early 30’s, 5’7″, reddish-brown short hair with a goatee. He wore knee-length shorts, a light coloured t-shirt and a backpack.
Detectives from the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Unit are continuing their investigation into this incident and are asking anyone with information to contact them at 905 465-8970, Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting ‘Tip201’ with your message to 274637(crimes).
 September 13, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Burlington’s Development & Infrastructure Committee meeting rejected the pursuit of a private property tree bylaw for city but that doesn’t mean those who fervently believe this is what the city needs are going to give up.
Committee reports go to city council meetings for ratification and final decision. On Monday, the 23rd the committee decision will come up and there will be a delegation with an independent survey setting out how the public feels about this issue.
At the committee meeting the advocates of a private tree bylaw argued that the survey work done for the city in the past was flawed and that the question was never really put to the public. Council members were arguing about the 22% of the 54% – or something to that effect – and it all got a little silly.
What was clear is that this Council just does not have the will to even try to put forward a private tree by law nor are they prepared to direct staff to try some alternatives that would give the city some data on what is being cut down on private property and where trees are being cut down.
David Auger, fingers behind the Burlington Beat, a tweet site, thought it might be worthwhile to do an independent survey online to see how people in Burlington feel about such a bylaw. Auger is “concerned that the City does not appear to have actually asked that question.”
So, a survey has been developed by BurlingtonBeat with the counsel of a veteran market research professional who has worked in, but doesn’t live in Burlington. No other individual or group had influence on its content.
The survey will be conducted online over the next ten days and the complete findings will be sent to and presented to City Council September 23rd.
Here’s the link to the survey: – will this be the final question on this issue. If the results indicate that people just do not care or if the response is tepid, – will the matter be left to rest? If the results are crystal clear will this city pause and listen?
 September 12, 2013
By Milla Pickfield
BURLINGTON, ON. Bad driving… We all hate it, and yet it is still a problem. Last Tuesday Halton Regional Police Service Chief Stephen Tanner and other Senior Command Officers were outside the Hayden High School to enforce safe driving in the school zone.
 Gazette reporter interview Halton Regional Police Services Chief Stephen Tanner, while police officer in the background hands out a speeding ticket. Their being there was part of the “All Hands on Deck” program; officers were actively handing out tickets to anyone driving recklessly. The real question is why do we drive recklessly?
We did not learn these habits in driver’s school yet drivers still speed, text, refuse to wear seat belts, ignore school bus signs and crossing guards, and drive in an aggressive manner. So why do we do all of the above? We get annoyed when others perform those tasks and turn around and do them ourselves.
 Chief aims his radar gun – didn`t get a speeder this time. Many of us, at the age of sixteen, were ecstatic to get our G1 driver’s license. We welcomed the freedom that came along with the ability to drive. A year later we finally got the G2 license allowing us to drive without an adult present in the car. Finally, after what felt like forever, we achieve our G license. But what we may forget is that a license is a privilege. In an interview Chief Tanner told me: “A driver’s license can be taken away.”
After all that hard work and tests to finally get our driver’s license why do we forget to be cautious? I mean on one hand YES! We’re done but on the other, we now don’t have anyone telling us not to cut in front of that other driver or stick up one of our fingers because we are frustrated. “I think it’s because we think of our car as our own personal space and we can do whatever we want in it”, suggested one Burlington citizen I talked with. It is true. We feel infinite and almost untouchable until we get a speeding ticket. Then we’re just annoyed.
It is rushing to get somewhere that results in what the police call reckless driving. People don’t want to be late and start to panic while driving, and we all know we wouldn’t be so panicked if we left five minutes earlier. The more panicked and impatient we are the more reckless our driving becomes. So why not just leave earlier? Is it because we want to spend as much time at home with our devices?
Our devices… What would we do without them? I know one thing we would do without them, be better drivers! I’ve sat in the backseat of my car and watched my parents’ text, email, or call while driving and let me tell you it does not help their driving at all! They don’t see the light when it turns green; they don’t pay attention to the other drivers on the road; and they do this weird head thing where they look down at their phone and then quickly back up to the road, they look about as panicked as I feel just watching them. I mean the fact that they look at their phone longer than the road does not reassure me at ALL!
“Texting has become such a cultural thing that you don’t think about it.” Chief Tanner said. He’s right, I know when I hear that buzz from my phone, I drop everything and check the message. I suppose it’s because we think that the message that just came in could potentially save the world and hold all the answers to life itself… but it really doesn’t and is it worth putting yourself in danger?
Chief Tanner explained to me that texting when you drive “ you put others and yourself at risk”
That also raises a good argument that we’ve all heard a thousand times. How many times have you heard someone say; “Don’t text and drive! You put yourself at risk as well as others.” I’ve heard it close to a thousand. It’s almost as common now as; “Don’t drink and drive.” The funny thing is that we don’t think about the consequences until we are facing them.
 Speed limit sign is clear – so are those radar guns in the hands of two police officers waiting for someone to break that speed limit. It was an All Hands on Deck day in Burlington earlier this week as police were out in force making the point that driving carelessly in school zones was not going to be tolerated. “Often people feel invincible and they think they aren’t going to get caught.” Chief Tanner explained. I know that’s how I feel when I do something I’m not supposed to. For example passing notes, or as teenagers refer to it, texting in class. When we do get caught it comes as a shock because we have done it so many times before that we think it is acceptable and we can get away with it. But we can’t because eventually we do get caught.
That is the most prominent point of the police task. While I was interviewing the chief, other police officers were writing up tickets for people they had pulled over for driving 50 to 60 kmh in a 40 kmh zone.
The police are out there trying to make the roads safer by trying to get us out of old habits that have become instincts.
 September 12, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The residents in the Beachway Park have won their battle to keep their homes. At the Community Services Committee of Council, during a mammoth session with more than 20 delegations, Council was given information that some of them just did not have.
Information that Council members should have dug out more than a year ago was brought to the surface by some of the most impressive delegations this reporter has heard in the last three years.
City hall staff were prepared for an overflow crowd and had set up speakers in an adjoining room. While the Council chamber was packed – there was room for everyone.
 Community meetings, lobbying, challenging city hall positions eventually paid off. Here residents talk about the Beachway community as they wanted to see it continue.
On a very sad note, the woman in the orange and green sweater, Charlotte O’Hara Griffin, a long time city staffer who was involved in the Beachway project, died earlier in the week. She would have smiled at the results. A couple of the delegations were at the podium for extended periods of time while complex matters of property titles, willing buyers and willing sellers and zoning were given a thorough going over.
What was clear is that a determined, focused and persistent electorate can bring about changes in early drafts of city policy.
 Laura Durant, on the right, and her husband Glenn Gillespie, center, talking to a meeting facilitator who was prepared to evict them from a meeting. These two were a consistent and persistent part of the community effort to see a change in the minds of city council. It was a full evening and there is a lot to tell. Four points stick out: (1) the draft of a motion Councillor Dennison clearly plans to present, details below; (2) the excellent comments lawyer Katherine Henshell made when she demolished the myth of a willing seller and a willing buyer situation that council members and staff at both city hall have bandied about; (3) the comment Real Estate agent Betty McMahon made when she said the value of property in the Beachway will jump 50% when the zoning mess is cleared up – and finally, this is true: (4) Councillor Craven, whose behaviour was less than sterling was seen being escorted to his car by the security staff. Who was he afraid of?
In the dying minutes of a four and a half hour meeting Dennison read the following: Recognize the continued existence of the residential community as adding value to the park experience and Update the Official Plan and zoning to reflect low-density residential.
Authorize the Director of Parks and recreation to work with the Halton Region and Conservation staff to complete a concept plan, environmental management plan, and detailed design for the Beachway Park component of the Burlington Beach Regional Waterfront Park that focuses on land already in public hands; build a plan based on existing publicly owned lands, with the exception of former residential sites in between private homes on either side of Lakeshore Road. Offer these sites for sale.
Authorize the Director of Parks and Recreation to send correspondence to Halton Region requesting that Halton`s Regional Council support the city of Burlington`s “Vision” for Beachway Park and authorize regional staff to work with the City of Burlington and Conservation Halton on an implementation plan focusing on lands already in public hands.
Dennison told the audience that he had three other Council members who would support his motion when it is formally presented. Councillor Meed Ward and Councillor Taylor will be onside. It was not immediately evident that the Mayor was one of the three but expect him to jump on this wagon very quickly.
On this issue a plan, that was never really a policy but was always thought to be what the city would eventually do, was beaten back. The will of Council responded to the wishes of the people – backed up by some solid data and even sounder common sense.
The Council Committee will resume their deliberations Thursday afternoon at 1:00 pm. They could lose the will that was evident last night and have a change of heart – which would set this city up for a battle royale at city council September 23rd.
It was a good night for the city of Burlington. We will report in more detail on this story once council completes its committee session. We understand Councillor Craven got home safely.
 September 11, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON The first we heard of the problem was when city manager Jeff Fielding casually mentioned at a city council committee meeting a couple of months ago that he suspected the city would experience net negative growth with ICI taxes.
ICI taxes is the tax revenue to city gets from the Industrial, commercial and institutional sector. The ICI sector pays more in taxes on their assessed value than residential properties pay.
In a sentence that means the city brings in more money from ICI properties than it does on housing. Just as important to the city is that they spend less in providing services to the ICI sector than they do to the residential sector.
So – from the city’s perspective building more ICI and less housing is a good thing. More money comes in and less money has to be spent.
And that for Burlington is now a problem. There hasn’t been very much in the way of ICI growth – meaning no big tax dollars coming in. Worse still – we are losing some of the big industrial companies. International Harvester will move to Hamilton shortly. There is no one with plans on the table to put up a large industrial, commercial or institutional structure. – and because the city cannot have a deficit it has to either cut costs or get more from some other source. That other source is YOU – the city will begin charging fees for everything that moves.
The one commercial structure that is well past the drawing boards is getting tied up in red tape – the issue on that one is whether there should be affordable housing in the downtown core.
The city can dip into its reserves – and Burlington has very healthy reserves, but the province requires municipalities to maintain high reserve levels so those fat piggy banks can only be looked at enviously. If the reserves fall too low – the city’s cost of borrowing rises.
That “other” source is taxes on residential housing or increases in service fees. And they can only go so far with fee increases – so guess where the ax falls? On the necks of the residential property owners and in cutbacks in services.
In the 2008/09 taxation year the commercial industrial growth was 1.9% over the previous year. In the 2009/2010 tax year the growth was 1.73% over the previous year. In 2010/11 the growth over the previous year was 1.99%. In 2011/2012 the growth over the previous year was .46% and in 2012.2013 the growth was .17%.
 The trend is not good and as Fielding told council, the city appears to be moving to a negative rate of growth – a situation that is not sustainable.
When this issue came up at a Development and Infrastructure meeting earlier this week – there was no sense of alarm – they yammered away about a private tree bylaw.
The data the treasury department has shown that people who live in Burlington have jobs – but those jobs are not in Burlington. They travel to Oakville, Hamilton, Mississauga and Toronto. And they spend their dollars while there are in the communities within which they work.
That point was a key one in the Cultural Directions report the city is using to develop a Cultural Action Plan.
In 1996 there were about 73,000 people in Burlington employed. In 2016 the number of people employed is projected to be at the 100,000 level but in 2031 the estimate flattens severely and is projected to come in at 105,00 people in Burlington with jobs.
In the five-year period between 1996 and 2001 – 8,800 net new jobs were created. In the five-year period between 2026 and 2031, only 1204 jobs are forecasted to be created.
 This sign tells the sad story of Burlington’s commercial development problems. Developers want to take land out of commercial zoning and move it into residential. They fight like crazy to get the zoning changed – all the way to the Ontario Municipal Board – where they all too frequently win. Why are we not creating new jobs in the city? Because corporations and organizations that employ people are not opening offices in Burlington. Why is no one opening up new offices in Burlington? Because no one is building new office space. Why are new offices not being built? Do we not have the land to build offices on? The city has plenty of land that is zoned commercial/industrial but the owners of those properties do not want to build office buildings – they want to build residential housing because there is much more money on residential.
 Zoned commercial, spitting distance to the QEW, minutes from downtown – owner wants to rezone and make it residential. But residential housing costs the city more to service than that city has been able to collect in taxes.
This is pretty close to one of those Catch 22 situations – where the city does not appear to be able to win.
It gets worse. The age of a building determines to some degree the assessment rating applied to the property. About 2% of the housing stock was built before 1946; 26% was built between 1946 and 1969; 22% was built between 1970 and 1979. Between 1980 and 1989 20% of the residential housing we have was built, with 12% of what we now have built between 1990 and 1999. The figure for 2000 to 2005 was also 12% with 6% built between 2006 and 2011.
That’s a lot of numbers but the net result is that the city has a lot of housing, and infrastructure that goes with it, that is going to need to be replaced at a time when the amount of money coming into the city is lessening. That’s a problem that needs a solution.
 Developers don’t want to put up this kind of building – not enough money it. Tye city loves properties like these – they create jobs, keep people in the city and they are less expensive than residential properties to service. Our problems resolving this problem with the developers as us stymied – and in the process of going broke as well. It is just as bad on the commercial/industrial side. At present about 41% of the ICI buildings were put up before 1980. Older buildings have a lower assessment value and that assessment translates into the amount of tax revenue the city receives. Put in different language – the city’s best tax payers are getting older and they aren’t paying as much as they used to in taxes – but the city needs that money now more than ever.
During a discussion with city manager Fielding and city treasurer Joan Ford, Fielding commented that the “platform is certainly not on fire” but these numbers are certainly red flags that we have to pay serious attention to.
 Upper Middle Road looking east towards Burloak – prime commercial. No takers? Interestingly, Fielding made the comment about potential negative net ICI revenue on two occasions but I don’t recall any Council member picking up on it and asking for more information. The numbers part of the city’s business is not a strong point for either Councillors Meed Ward or Lancaster but Sharman, who would have you believe he is the smartest guy sitting around the horseshoe, and Dennison who will remind you frequently that he has an MBA, have yet to mutter a word. Something is amiss.
This year we saw the Alton Village complex go up – that will add to the assessment base won’t it? Nope; schools, public property and churches do not pay property taxes – so while the project was massive – it does nothing to the city’s revenue position.
And the housing in those communities is costing us more than it is paying us.
 The city has been managing the IKEA file for some time now – they recently passed a new by-law relating to the property and repealed one that had passed previously. This photo shows the size of the problems – North Service Road as it is cannot handle the traffic IKEA will draw, nor can the Walkers Line intersection. Mammoth problems to resolve – will IKEA decide they can’t make a move work to the North Service Road and take a walk? It’s a question they have to be asking themselves. The city manager was right to issue a note of caution. He may need a megaphone to get his words into the ears of the seven people who serve as your council. Is this an election issue?
And – what is the city doing to get things actually moving on the economic development side? And – is there a chance that IKEA will decide things are just not going to work for them on the North Service Road and take a walk?
 September 11, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. On Saturday, September 14, Halton Region will host the annual Fall Compost Give Away from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Halton Waste Management Site (HWMS) located at 5400 Regional Road 25 in Milton. During the one-day event, Halton Region encourages residents to pick up compost free of charge.
“Through participation in waste diversion programs like the yard waste collection program, Halton households continue to divert 60% of waste away from the landfill, up from 40% in 2007,” said Gary Carr, Regional Chair. “These efforts help to conserve our landfill, a savings of $15 million to taxpayers.”
 Composting – best way to get a garden to really produce – and this time it is free. Through the participation of Halton residents, approximately 31,000 tonnes of yard waste (e.g. leaves, garden trimmings and brush) was collected in 2012 and turned into rich, garden-friendly compost at HWMS. The resulting compost is now ready for residents to use in their own gardens and landscaping projects.
Bring their own bags or useable containers (e.g. garbage bags, yard waste bags, trailer) and shovel. A maximum of seven bags (or equivalent) of compost may be collected during the event.
You are responsible for shoveling and bagging their compost.
You are encouraged to bring a cash donation or non-perishable food items.
In 2012, 4,600 residents came to compost give away events at HWMS and picked up approximately 2,000 tonnes of compost. Residents also donated 6,000 kilograms of food and $10,650 for local food banks.
 September 10, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Safe Start – getting the kids back to school safely was started in 2006 and focuses on education, awareness and enforcement. Tuesday morning was enforcement – and half a dozen police officer gathered on the street with radar guns in hand waiting for some poor luckless driver to come around the curve.
 The Chief of police aims – but the driver in his sights was driving below the speed limit. Better luck next time Chief! Stephen Tanner, Regional Chief of police was on hand as part of the All Hands on Deck part of a program to change established driver behaviour. Officers focus their efforts on speeding and aggressive drivers, proper use of seatbelts and laws relating to the use of hand-held communication devices.
Early in the campaign police stopped a vehicle travelling on Louis St. Laurent Avenue in the area by Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School in Milton. The driver was captured on radar travelling at 103 km/hr. in a posted 50 km/hr. zone. The vehicle was impounded and driver’s license suspended for a period of 7 days. The driver was charged with speeding and racing under the Highway Traffic Act.
Nothing like this happened in Alton Tuesday morning – but it is behaviour like this the police struggle to change. The speeding tickets help as does the notice from your insurance company that the rates are going up until you get all your points back.
 September 10, 2013
By Pepper Parr
It is going to be very tough to get a private tree by law in this city. The dean of Council, John Taylor, summed it up when he said “the will is just not there”, the public just doesn’t want this” and try as they might BurlingtonGreen and Ward 2 Councillor Meed Ward, who pushed as hard as one can push, could not get this through the Development and Infrastructure Committee that met Monday evening.
Staff took Council through a review of the Urban Forest Management Plan and said basically, that the way to maintain the urban tree canopy we have is to just plant more trees – but didn’t say that it takes decades for the trees we plant, to get to the point where they are a significant part of the urban cover, that we have now in some parts of the city.
In its report the Roads and Parks Maintenance department took the position that “…many view a private tree bylaw as a means to protect trees and the urban canopy. It is one potential component of an effective urban forest management strategy. Recognizing the significant resources required to administer and enforce a private tree bylaw it is recommended that resources are better focused on a continued implementation of the recommendations of the Urban Forest Management Plan.”
In a phrase – a private tree bylaw wasn’t worth the paper and the work it would take to get it up and running.
Staff did support an Annual Symposium that would educate the public and would present a business case for this expense when they get into the budget cycle. Lip service.
Meed Ward and Mayor Goldring picked up on the loss at the July meetings where Council basically said this is not something we want to do. At that time Meed Ward and the Mayor determined to press on and get something on the table.
But Taylor had it right: Council, reflecting the public frame of mind, was not going to require people to get permission to cut down a tree in Burlington.
As a last-ditch effort Meed Ward put forward a proposal that would require nothing more of a property owner than filling in a form so that city hall could at last gather data on how many trees are being cut and where the cutting is taking place.
 Councillor Paul Sharman, centre in the blue shirt, has been a staunch and consistent advocate for having verifiable data in hand before making any decisions. Given an opportunity to gather that data at very little cost to the city, the Councillor folded and let his ideology get in the way of common sense. Even Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman, often referred to as Mr. Data (he just will not make a decision without adequate data) would go along with this one.
The best those who wanted to see something proactive done to protect the urban forest in Burlington could get was a Symposium at which some public education could take place.
 BurlingtonGreen president Ken Woodruff found himself admitting that he had not read one of the reports that was being discussed by a city council committee. A no, no – gotta do the homework. There were two delegations: BurlingtonGreen, who found themselves admitting that they had not read one of the reports they were delegating on and Albert Facenda, a local developer, who has yet to find a situation that cannot be stretched into a pretty wild exaggeration. Last night he brought up a problem in Oakville that involved a city owned tree and the difficulty he had in getting it removed for his client. Albert had the cost to his client exceeding $10,000. He was aided in his efforts by Councillor Sharman who kept asking leading questions helping Facenda make a point about an issue in Oakville when the committee was talking about Burlington’s trees. Go figure.
Councillor Meed Ward did introduce the idea of creating Tree Protection Areas – the idea had merit but got beaten back when too many Councillors complained about the paper work that would be involved.
There was the suggestion that residents could use the Heritage Protection process we have and take the tack that trees and vegetation are part of a landscape and that landscape is part of Heritage. City Planning Director Bruce Krushelnicki did say that might be possible but that he’d never seen it done anywhere. He certainly didn’t champion that idea.
Councillor Taylor did like it and one can expect him to follow-up on that one.
The long and the short if it is that Burlington is not going to see any kind of a bylaw that calls for the public to get permission to cut down a tree on their property. If a person owns a piece of property that has a tree and the owner doesn’t like it – they can cut it down – even if the reason is that they don’t want to have to rake the leaves.
My Mom had a phrase for doing things like this. “So you’re going to cut off your nose to spite your face are you?” It looks like that’s what Burlington is going to do. Both the Mayor and Councillor Meed Ward, not natural allies, are pulling together on this one, but the wagon they are pulling isn’t going to budge. There is more politics and ideology behind the reluctance of the other councillors to doing anything. Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven, who chaired the meeting, offered no opinion or comment whatsoever. He knows where his bread is buttered.
 This is what most people in Burlington want; a gorgeous urban tree canopy that shades our streets, improves property values and gets some of the pollutants out of the air. But at the same time people want to be able to cut down a tree on their property if they don’t like them. We can’t have it both ways – can we? We frequently use a photograph of Belvenia Street with that gorgeous canopy of trees that are both private and public that line the street. This is what Burlington has and what most people want to keep. Many think that the direction we take now may get us to the point where we don’t maintain this kind of urban canopy.
A symposium might not be enough.
There may be one last effort on the part of BurlingtonGreen to get more information in front of Council at its September 23rd meeting. It won’t make a difference. The city is getting prepared to go down the municipal election road and anything that impedes on the perceived rights of the property owners doesn’t get the vote returning them to office these Council members need. Rather than argue this issue on the door steps next summer this council is going to tuck it under the rug hoping it will stay there.
Council voted to receive and file the report.
Perhaps in 2015 it can be revived.
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