BURLINGTON, ON January 4, 2013 They are just bears for punishment – or perhaps they want to have more time to do the city’s business while they are “live” on Cogeco Cable TV – which ever – City Council meetings will start at 6:30 p.m. in 2013. The traditional start time was 7:00 PM
Historically, standing committees (Development and Infrastructure, Budget and Corporate Services, and Community Services) would meet at 6:30 p.m., while council meetings began at 7 p.m.
“Two separate start times can be confusing for residents,” said Grant Bivol, manager of committee services. “Starting council and standing committee meetings at 6:30 p.m. makes it easier and more convenient for everybody, particularly members of the public who are unfamiliar with the city’s three-week meeting cycle.”
Is this crowd worth just over three quarters of a million each year? We are getting good value for the money we pay these people.
The council-approved change takes effect on the first council meeting of the year, Jan. 28, 2013.
There will however be occasions when a committee will not meet in the evening; Development and Infrastructure has such a heavy work load that they will now meet in the afternoons and in the evenings. Committee meetings which, committee chairs never tire of telling their audiences, is where all the “heavy lifting gets done. Much of what is done at committee gets rubber stamped by Council – although there are occasions when a committee decision will get reversed by Council.
Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison takes a break during one of his long bike rides. He pushes for bike lanes wherever he thinks he can get one put in; he also pushed his council members last year to allocate more money to the “shave and pave” process that saves on the cost of repairing our roadways and streets.
When everything that comes out of the committee meetings gets to city council meetings – the Mayor rushes through the reports and explains that the “heavy lifting” got done at the committee level. You never get told how each council member voted at committee. No record is kept by the city on those votes.
Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven digging out a business card for provincial Liberal leadership hopeful Sandra Pupatello.
Media have a difficult time figuring out whom voted which way; the clerks don’t ask for a clear count nor do they announce what the count is. Sometimes council members will slip their hand up – hoping the people at the media table won’t see how they voted.
Development and Infrastructure is getting busier; most of the challenging stuff has been slid over to General Manager Scott Stewart. That Standing Committee will now meet in the afternoon and in the evenings. One assumes those items that have significant public interest will be put on the evening schedule.
The city is currently on a three-week cycle for their committee meetings. The next week the cycle is run is the week of January 14th when they face four days of meetings. Two weeks later a city council meeting takes place to confirm everything done at the committees.
The most senior member of Council Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor is the most vocal on ensuring the public is informed. He gets emotional at times but he is bar-none, the hardest working council member the city has. Also the most transparent and the guy that should have Mt Nemo named after him – his consistent, tireless efforts at both city council and Regional Council ensure the provincial government never forgets – no road through the Escarpment.
Because each council member is also a member of the Regional Council, our significant seven have to haul themselves over to Oakville where they gather with the Council members from Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills.
City Council meetings are broadcast live on Cogeco Cable TV. Next to watching paint dry these have to be the dullest thing you use your eyeballs for.
The city does web cast all the committee meetings and while they aren’t live they are usually on the web site within 36 hours. And it is now easier to find a listing of the web broadcasts. Link. If that gets changed – go to www.burlington.ca – choose city hall from the tabs near the top of the page and look for web casts on the right. If it’s really late and there isn’t an infomercial that tickles your fancy log into the web cast listing and pick a date and watch how they get their work done.
Some call her disruptive, several of her colleagues think she asks far too many questions but Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward has certainly changed the way this Council operates. She advocated for more public involvement and she has brought about real change. Is she an effective politician or a populist aiming for the top job?
Council members are paid about $50,000 by the city and close to that amount by the Region for the work they do; which amount to something in the $100,000 range. There are a number of Executive Directors running sports organizations in this city who earn that much. The Mayor is paid just under $160,000 annually.
Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster may not know as much as she needs to know but she does understand what a photo op is. Is that enough ?
There is committee of citizens who determine what the city remuneration is to be. That committee has not met for some time. Burlington’s citizens consistently begrudge the reasonable amount we pay the seven people who run our civic government. Some do work harder than others; several have other jobs but, except for one, taxpayers get good value for their money. Despite what Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison maintains, being a council member is not a part-time job. He will say that he gives the job 120% – not true.
While these men and woman are entitled to a small increase you won’t hear a word uttered by any of them about what they are paid, which is really poor management. They are worth more than we pay them and that has to be recognized.
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman can be smooth as silk and tough as nails – he chooses which he wants to be to suit his purpose. The original bluster we saw during his first year in office has moderated a bit.
It is time for the Mayor to create another commission and give that Commission the task of setting a remuneration level for council members for the next term of office which will begin in late 2014. That Commission should be renewed every four years with the task of setting the remuneration level for the council that will be elected each term.
Currently council members are given a $9000 expense allowance (there are rules in place on what they can spend those funds on); the Mayor has a $31,300 expense budget. Goldring tends to not spend much of his expense allocation.
All seven members of Council are provided with a parking space and participate in the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement fund the way any other city employee does. They get all the health benefits every other employee gets. The Mayor is also provided with a leased vehicle. Every member of Council is provided with a cell phone.
Mayor Rick Goldring: He doesn’t hunger for power, he doesn’t have a politically motivated agenda – but he does want to see a better Burlington; a city he loves – the city he has lived in all his life. Nothing complex about the man.
If you think these are easy jobs with decent pay and worth taking a run for – give that a second thought. It is a hard job and the people who do it aren’t paid well enough. Some like the power and the public exposure the job gives them – and they certainly do have power locally. They get to make decisions that directly impact the quality of the life you live in this city. They also get to advocate and push ideas of their own. Dennison pushes for more bicycle use; Taylor is going to die defending the Escarpment. The Mayor, mis-guidedly at times, wants better ideas for the city and will give more than most on the environmental issues.
There was a time when people ran for public office because they genuinely wanted to “serve” – they still tout the term but there is less “serving” today than there was 20 years ago.
BURLINGTON, ON January 6, 2013 You live in Burlington; you shopped and therefore you shopped at the malls. I didn’t know Burlington had that many cars until I went looking for a place to park at Mapleview Mall Christmas Eve day – but I found a spot and, as is my habit, did all my shopping in less than an hour – knew what I wanted to buy and where it was being sold. Then I strolled along the different levels and saw a few things I had not thought of and that was my Christmas Shopping – done.
You didn’t pick up much Christmas spirit along this stretch of Brant Street if you walked along it during the holiday.
Earlier in the week I had occasion to be on lower Brant Street and wondered what had happened. There was nothing to suggest that it was Christmas – well yes, there were those pitiful little lights on the street lamp poles. Even Civic Square had a lackluster look to it – until the lights were on and then it looked decent enough.
I thought perhaps it was just the bottom of Brant Street that had been ignored – so walked north to Caroline and then on up to Prospect – and it was even more grim.
So what’s with this phrase we use about having a “vibrant” downtown core that is a pleasant place to shop and meet with friends?
Once the location for one of the better “hotels” in town this Emshih property doesn’t have even a Christmas twig on it.
The pictures that accompany this article show precious little in the way of Seasonal decoration – with the exception being the works who showed some creativity.
Last year the Burlington Downtown Business Association (BDBA) held a contest for the best displays– several of which were very innovative, Especially the one done up by the condo sales agency on Lakeshore. Did that competition get cancelled this year?
Even with the contest last year, lower Brant didn’t look all that well then either. Emshih Developments owns a number of the properties along Brant; one would have hoped they would put some of the profits back into the community. They found it useful to financially support the Mayor’s One Dream that we are told we will hear more about sometime in January.
The opportunity to do something really spectacular with this storefront was lost to one of the reputedly better marketers in the city. This was embarrassing.
The Works, a new franchise in town that created a buzz on their opening day by offering a free burger. They have the most innovative storefront look of the Season. Is that because they are new and don’t know any better – Burlington doesn’t appear to “do” Christmas.
It didn’t get any better when you got off Brant Street. One would have thought that a pub with the name Dickens would have taken the spirit of the season in its teeth and done the place up really nice. They opted to spend twenty bucks on stuff from the dollar store. Can you feel the vibrancy?
The Downtown Business Association used to support this effort financially – they had to cut back – Burlington Hydro took up the slack. So what is it that BDBA does for their members?
The BDBA had to tell the Festival of Lights people that the $5000 donation they traditionally made to that organization, which sets up the lights that are dotted throughout Spencer Smith Park and along Lakeshore Road would not be forthcoming in 2012. Fortunately Burlington Hydro came to the rescue.
During the Car Free Sunday last summer that saw Brant Street closed to traffic so that people could stroll the streets and ride bicycles in complete safety and shop if they wished – there were stores that didn’t bother to open. There were people at the Caroline – Brant Street intersection close to spitting nickels because of the traffic delays – had they known this was all to aid the objective of getting people out of their cars – and that some stores didn’t open; one wonders how they would have applied the word vibrant to that situation?
There seems to be a mis-alignment here. Is the BDBA an organization that has lost its drive or purpose? Anyone within the BDBA boundary pays a tax levy whether they like it or not. Are they getting value for what they are paying?
Those retailers also pay into a parking levy which in lieu of providing on site parking. That parking levy was used by the Bridgewater development on Lakeshore as the plank on which they built their argument about not having to provide parking space – instead they would pay into the levy just the way other downtown core business people do. With 150 + hotel rooms and two condo’s – there is going to be a parking need. A problem brewing there that someone at Planning hasn’t thought through.
The restaurants were doing a very brisk business on the Thursday and Friday leading up to the start of the seasonal holiday for city hall. Impossible to get a parking spot in the lot off Elizabeth Street.
In the fall the city held a Downtown Workshop that filled the Art Centre as people listened to a consultants report and took part in exercises where they got to trot out their ideas and visions. All good stuff – we suppose but one can`t see any new ideas on our main downtown streets.
Is it even possible to grow our downtown to the point where it is a busy, vibrant, profitable place for retail and serviced people to locate?
Sheila Bottin, the Deloitte consultant the city has hired to advise on what kind of commercial office space can be built on the John Street and Elizabeth Street parking lots has told the city to “forgetaboutit” – developers can’t get the rents they need to cover the cost of providing those underground parking places. And no one is going to take a bus downtown – they would rather take the GO into Toronto.
Brian Dean, Executive Director of the BDBA works his tail off for his association. Is he beating a dead horse
The Village Square is up for sale with much gnashing of teeth on the part of the public, or so we are told, but the location no longer works for many retailers. There was a time when it was THE hot spot in the city but some less than wise management practices resulted in many restaurants fleeing to Brant Street where rents were more manageable. Brian Dean, president of the BDBA, will tell you the biggest favour Jack Friedman, owner of Village Square, did for him was when he revised the rental agreements: “those people moved to Brant Street suddenly the downtown core had a future.
But that future is stymied. Management mistakes by others are not what one builds a business plan on. Dean is tireless in his work for his association – it would be nice to see his association members doing as much for themselves as he does for them. Perhaps Dean has done all he can do and someone else should take the helm? Something isn’t working.
Jody Wellings has toiled tirelessly at city hall on the city’s core commitment and never fails to bring a positive attitude to the job – but there don’t appear to be any solutions that are gaining traction. What is it we’re missing here?
Brant Street is a great place to be during the Sound of Music but RibFest and the Children’s Festival don’t do much for the retailers.
It might be too early to tell if the Performing Arts Centre has had the hoped for impact on the restaurant business. Melodia Mediteranean Cuisine and Bar opened and is getting decent reviews but Prime Rib announced a move from Brant around the corner to Locust, a stone throw from the Performing Arts Centre close to a year ago and it has yet to open its doors.
We’ve not seen solid attendance and audited numbers from the PAC people yet, so we don’t know what the attendance has been. The line-up has been impressive but everyone knew, or should have known, that it was going to be a long painful labour getting the place to the point where it had created a market for live entertainment and a following for specific kinds of entertainment.
For a retailer that sells poinsettias by the truck load this is just not a Christmas look.
The feel of Brant Street is in the hands of the retailers; they decide what they want to do to their store fronts. If they are bare and uninviting – people stay away. Yes, parking is a problem but it doesn’t take long to get a parking spot, just some patience. But one needs a reason to go downtown – and if the storefronts are as dowdy as they were in the photographs we took – heck I’ll drive to Oakville, which by the way got written up in a Toronto electronic magazine as the place with the nicest Christmas feel to it on the main street.
Mayor Goldring’s former Chief of Staff, Frank McKeown, may have figured out the solution when he said “Forever Elvis” will work. If all else fails – perhaps?
BURLINGTON, ON January 5th, 2013 A 39-year-old Burlington resident didn’t wait to be identified by those who knew him; after robbing a Burlington convenience store New Year’s Eve and being captured on a videocamera, waving a long knife and tapping it on the store counter, Adam Craig Cipolla walked into the Waterfront Hotel on Lakeshore Road at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 5th, 2013, approached the reception clerk and demanded money
He left empty-handed after learning that there was no money accessible. The clerk immediately called the Halton Regional Police. No weapon was seen and the clerk was not injured.
Minutes later, the man was seen nearby and was arrested by uniform patrol officers
Look closely – that is a very large knife this robber is threatening a store clerk with. Police believe the robber to be Adam Craig Cipolla who later attempted to rob a desk clerk at the Waterfront Hotel.
Adam Craig Cipolla, 39 years, of Burlington has been charged with: Robbery, Robbery with a Weapon and is being held for a Bail Hearing.
Police released security camera footage on Friday and asked the public for help in identifying the convenience store robber. The footage is shown below.
Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to contact the Burlington Criminal Investigations Bureau at (905) 825-4747, extension 2315; 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).
BURLINGTON, ON. January 4, 2013 On January 3, 2013, at about 3:20pm, the Halton Police received a complaint of an erratic driver in the area of Appleby Line and Dundas St in Burlington.
Halton Police located the male party who was subsequently arrested for impaired driving. Breath tests revealed the driver had more than five times the legal limit of alcohol in his system at the time of his arrest.
Charged with Impaired Driving and Driving with Over 80mgs of Alcohol per 100 ml of Blood is:
BURLINGTON, ON. December 31, 2012 When the Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee (WAPAC) was set up it wasn’t intended as an experiment. There was a lot of hope in the air – the community was at last going to have something they could be a significant part of – the waterfront would be saved for the public.
They could be called the Pump House crew.
The committee that then Ward 2 candidate Marianne Meed Ward used to sail into office: Save our Waterfront (SOW) said proudly : Members and supporters of Burlington Save Our Waterfront achieved a major victory for community engagement Monday, as city council unanimously passed the Burlington Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee.” SOW then began doing what they could to ensure they had at least one of “their” people on that committee. In that they succeeded when Sarah Banks was appointed.
There were two representatives from each ward in the city. During the first few months of their existence Councillor Rick Craven chaired the committee which then chose Nick Leblovic to be chair and the re-elected him for their second year of existence.
Our Burlington began covering the committee meetings early in 2011 and was the only media to do so. When the committee decided to invite former Toronto Mayor David Crombie to speak to them about how you get the community behind the development of a waterfront and not allow the developers to just take over it looked like they were going in a positive direction.
It took sometime to get former Toronto Mayor David Crombie in front of WAPAC but when he did appear he didn’t disappoint. Mayor Goldring joined Crombie but didn’t manage to pick up much in the way of enthusiasm for the idea of a design competition.
It took a couple of months to get Crombie to a meeting, which Chair Leblovic saw as a big feather in his cap, and when he arrived he proved to be worth every penny of the $500 honorarium he was given. Rick Goldring was now Mayor and he sat beside Crombie but really didn’t buy into much of what Crombie was suggesting. While Goldring was still getting the feel of his job it was clear that he and Crombie had significantly different operating styles.
Crombie chastised the city for not following through on the once excellent reputation the city had for its participation in the Waterfront Trail; that was a lead the committee never picked up on.
It was also evident at that meeting that Leblovic was not going to be anywhere near as outgoing or as bold as Crombie. Nevertheless, the committee was quite pumped with what they heard from Crombie and took on his idea of holding a design competitionn. It was a great idea and was put in the hands of Sarah Banks who wasn’t up to the task – which should not be seen as a reflection on either Banks’s enthusiasm or competency. She, along with everyone else on the committee knew nothing about how to host a design competition. When the idea got to city council – it didn’t get much help there.
Unfortunately the Planning Department didn’t step forward and offer any help. Banks floundered and wasn’t given much help from her chair other than to be told she could not speak to media. That was a ‘privilege’ apparently reserved for the chair and Our Burlington did indeed have numerous Saturday morning talks with Leblovic.
The idea for a Design Competition was to attract architects internationally who would look at the site and return with ideas and proposals – there was not much more to it than that – which in itself was enough. The objective was to get the public thinking about what it wanted and not wait until developer had assembled the land and then did what they wanted to do.
Banks didn’t have the help she needed and appeared not to know where to look for the help. Sarah Banks was the kind of person who would walk into a room and radiate enthusiasm which made life in Burlington less than satisfactory for her and she later left the city and moved to Ottawa; Burlington wasn’t her kind of town.
Gary Scobie took on the task of getting a Design Competition going and came close to pleading with a city council committee to fund the $45,000 WAPAC felt was needed. City council wasn’t adverse to the idea but they needed more in the way of a business plan from Scobie – and that wasn’t forthcoming. They ran out of steam and in hindsight that can be seen as a turning point for the committee.
The WAPAC committee was made up of representatives from every ward in the city. The problem was the committee met on Friday mornings which made participating very difficult for younger people with full time jobs. A Saturday morning meeting schedule would have drawn an entirely different group of people. They didn’t promote their activities, they never held a meeting at which the general public could attend at a convenient time nor did they come up with a way to involve the public. They saw themselves as “the” public and they would speak for the city.
Mohamed Alizadeh on the left with Bob Wingfield at the final meeting of WAPAC
Most of the committee members were well over 50 and closer to 65 in age. The energy levels weren’t what they could have been.
As chair Leblovic would give every committee member more than ample opportunity to speak – sometimes for too long. He didn’t limit speakers – his approach was to listen to everyone.
Leblovic chose to use the first year learning what the issues were and what the city was up against in terms of developing the waterfront. The committee brought in speaker after speaker – all of whom knew their subjects very well. City Planner Bruce Krushelnicki spoke to the group and appeared again at their next meeting to clarify what could be done with properties that were on the south side of Old Lakeshore Road. They learned more about a piece of property that was once owned by Tim Horton’s Corporation than they really needed to know, including that it was once a gas station.
A committee put in place to advise had turned into a Friday morning class where you could learn a lot about what other people were doing with their waterfronts but WAPAC hadn’t gotten to the point where it was ready and perhaps not able to give any advice.
Senior city staff began to chaff at meetings that didn’t achieve anything and didn’t seem to have a purpose. City council began to despair and during the end of Q1 in 2012 came to the conclusion that the committee wasn’t going anywhere and decided to bring it to an end. There was much gnashing of teeth on the part of the WAPAC chair and several of the committee members who felt they had indeed done something useful – and they did do some very useful work for the city.
The development that is going to make the biggest difference to the waterfront in the next five to seven years was one that had been cast in stone before WAPAC was created. Could they have done anything about the scale?
But the “grand vision” for the waterfront that many expected wasn’t forthcoming. There is no vision for the lands to the east of the Spencer Smith Park other than saying OK to the committee of adjustment changes the developers of the Bridgewater project that will see a 22 story condo; a seven story condo and an 8 story hotel begin construction hopefully sometime during the second half of 2013.
WAPAC didn’t have much to say either in terms of advice about the Beachway Park other than to say the residents should be allowed to remain. For an issue that is central to the completion of what the waterfront looks like in the next ten years WAPAC was disturbingly quiet.
The properties to the east of the Bridgewater project, in an area referred to as “the football” because of its shape, are owned by some 12 different people. The WAPAC committee found that there wasn’t much in the way of opportunity for these people to work together and allow a land assembly, and without a land assembly there wasn’t going to be much in the way of development.
One of the things about land is that sooner or later a developer sees an opportunity and takes bold steps as well as financial risk and buys the land, then hires the specialists needed to convince city council to give them what they want in the way of Official Plan and zoning changes.
The Planners who work for developers are much more motivated than those at city hall and they bring a level of creativity that just doesn’t come from municipal planners. It takes a level of municipal leadership to get in front of situations like this and have the city heavily involved with the development process. This isn’t the kind of planner Burlington has in Bruce Krushelnicki. The city does have one of the best thinkers in the planning field and he knows the process as well as anyone else out there – but he doesn’t see himself as the person to advocate for a particular direction. Maintain what we have and ensure that the rules are followed is the planning department mantra.
There were far too many missed opportunities. All that said – the WAPAC people did some significant work and took recommendations to city council – where absolutely nothing was done.
In their final report to the city, (which is set out below in bold with our comments beneath each) WAPAC said:
Development of Old Lakeshore Road
Council has our recommendations relating to the future development of the Old Lakeshore Road precinct. These relate to design criteria including public space and access to waterfront, incorporation of Waterfront Trail, design conformity of buildings and mixed use commercial/residential. The recommendations stressed the importance of the Old Lakeshore Road (OLR) being a welcoming and eye-catching eastern entrance to the Downtown Waterfront.
The Committee recommended ongoing dialogue with the OLR stakeholders concerning the development criteria and the ongoing participation of staff and Council representatives in this process.
The Committee initiated a staff direction (approved by Council) to make the OLR a specific focus area in the current Official Plan (OP) Review. The New Committee will work with OP Review team on this initiative.
With the Official Plan Review now leaderless, the Old Lakeshore Road precinct may not get the attention it deserves.
Beachway Park Master Plan
The Committee made recommendations on suggested uses for the Pump House (pub and/or coffee-house), animation of the Beach and walking path and incorporation of the Freeman Station on the Beach as well as recommendations to remove hydro towers/lines from the beach. Hydro is studying this aspect on Council’s request.
The Committee has given preliminary consideration to the issue of the existing residential community in the Beachway Park precinct. Based on the information provided to the Committee to date, there is a general consensus supporting the continuation of this community. However no final recommendation can be made on this matter until the issue of the final reports of the Region and Conservation Halton addressing applicable health, environmental, safety and other relevant considerations. The New Committee will review these reports when issued and provide a final recommendation to Council.
Converting the Pump House on the Beachway into a destination as a coffee shop/wine bar with an outdoor patio was close to the best thing the committee did. When it was being discussed by WAPAC there was considerable consternation behind the scenes with several members of the committee becoming more than agitated at what they saw as foot dragging by the chair.
Waterfront Encroachment of Public Land by Private Homeowners
The Committee has made recommendations to Council on Windows On The Water improvements (proper signage, public access, lighting, benches, vegetation trimming and trash receptacles). We have requested enforcement of current encroachments bylaws to maintain public access to these Windows. Council has directed staff to design a comprehensive encroachment policy and bylaw this. The New Committee will review the draft policies and by-laws when available.
The Committee has also suggested that a similar encroachment by-law be enacted by the Region in respect of waterfront property owned by the Region.
WAPAC created a subcommittee that traveled from one end of the city to the other along the lake’s edge and identified a number of properties that were public but not very accessible. It was a solid report with excellent field work done. It sits on a shelf somewhere at city hall where key people over there responsible for acting on this hope it never leaves the shelf it is on. When Bob Peachy spoke to the WAPAC people he commented that “this isn’t one of my favourite files” and it is a tough file. There are some very influential property owners along the edge of the lake who don’t want to share those public spaces. There are pieces of property the city owns and the public should have access to but property owners make it awkward, if not outright impossible for the public to sit at the edge of the lake and enjoy a picnic lunch.
It is going to take someone with courage and innovative ideas to give the public access to public property and right now that doesn’t exist.
Rock Wave break at La Salle Park Marina
The Committee recommends that the appropriate modifications be made to the final design in order to accommodate the Trumpeter Swan population that resides in the vicinity of La Salle Park.
A nice recommendation that doesn’t have the full support of several WAPAC members. When Beverly Kingdon made her second presentation to WAPAC she asked again for support to ensure that the planned wave break would not harm the habitat the swans had created for themselves. Kingdon was quietly listened to and then sent on her way. Once she had left the room committee member Les Armstrong said quite forcefully that the only reason the swans came to the LaSalle Park part of the city was because people fed them. “Stop feeding them and they will find someplace else to get food”, said Armstrong. The Halton Conservation Authority is concerned over waterfront pollution to which the swans and geese are major contributors – no one bothered to bring that concern up with Kingdon. The biggest factor in making the water unsafe for the public is the waste from the geese that people continue to feed. There are signs along the edge of the LaSalle Marina property asking people not to feed the geese; the swans appear to get different treatment – why? Animal waste is animal waste.
While Armstrong’s remarks were valid – they should have been made while Kingdon was in the room – the chair should not have let that happen.
Public Boat Ramp(s) on Lake Ontario
Committee has expressed a desire to work with the City, the Region and the HRCA in determining future sites for recommendations. The New Committee will work on this project.
A natural beach created when land jutting out into the lake was formed – some think the “mini-beach should have a boat dock dropped into place.
Burlington has wanted additional boat ramps for some time – the political will to make this happen just isn’t in place. Many think there will be boat ramps as part of the development of the Brant Street Pier. There was discussion for a small set of docks that would be taken out in the winter as part of the pier and located in the mini-beach that got created when the pier pilings were put in place. That got shot down quickly when the city’s Director of Engineering mentioned the $100,000 + cost.
Acquisition of Waterfront Land
The Committee has recommended that Council develop a policy concerning future acquisition of waterfront lands for public use as and when they become available including how and when to use park dedication and section 37 of the Municipal Act. The New Committee will work with Council on this issue.
City council didn’t need a reminder from an Advisory committee on this one; what the city needs is some bold thinking on the part of this council to create a land acquisition fund and perhaps agree that a percentage of every surplus be put into the fund. When the hospital tax levy ends this Council might move to cut that back by half with the remaining half going into a Waterfront Land Acquisition Trust Fund. They could do that tomorrow if they wanted to.
Waterfront Access and Protection
As per the recommendation of the Committee the Waterfront is to be an area of specific focus within the OP Review. The Committee has provided City staff with various examples of plans and studies of other Ontario waterfront communities in relation to the development and public use of their waterfronts which will be part of the best practices review being undertaken as part of the OP review of the Waterfront. The New Committee will work with OP Review team to add citizen views and expertise.
This one will go wherever Council and the people who head up the Official Plan Review want it to go. In the past, WAPAC was able to ask city hall staff to make presentations and take part in discussions; that is a courtesy not likely to be extended to what will quickly be seen as a political arm of a Council member.
Support for New Committee
The Committee supports the future work of the New Committee in providing ongoing citizen input and advice on issues relating to the Burlington Waterfront. The Committee recommends that the Council and City staff recognize the New Committee as the natural successor to the Committee and that they give appropriate recognition and support to the New Committee and any future advice and recommendations coming from the New Committee.
What is now going to be called the Burlington Waterfront Committee is a council member initiative that Ward two Councillor Meed Ward created when the decision to sunset WAPAC was made. It is basically a group of citizens who care about the waterfront and want to see something replace what was sunset.
At the time Mayor Goldring said he would create a Mayor’s Roundtable on the Waterfront but nothing came of that idea. However, you can bet the Mayor will have quite a bit to say about the waterfront in his One Dream report that is due sometime in January.
Meed Ward’s initiative needs to be seen for what it is; part of her 2014 re-election platform and the organization she will use to launch her bid for the office of Mayor, perhaps in 2020.
Expected to take part in the “new” Burlington Waterfront Committee are, from the left Bob Wingfield, Gary Scobie, Jeff Martin and Marianne Meed Ward, Councillor for Ward 2 who will chair the committee but not have a vote.
And there you have it – the rise and fall of an Advisory Committee that spawned a few good ideas, and a whopper of a libel suit. The Pump House idea has gotten as far as the city advertising for expressions of interest. Those are now being evaluated and we could hear something around the time the pier opens in June. Any commercial venture will have significant short-term risk; longer term there is significant potential.
City council and staff have let themselves think someone is going to come riding in with a great offer that will not cost the city a dime. The level of risk is such that the city is going to have to come up with some serious coin – and we are nearing an election year. With the pier costing close to three times what it was originally going to cost and they have yet to contend with the legal fights that will get serious in February – don’t look for much in the way of appetite at council for a subsidy. Someone out there is going to have to get very creative and somehow squeeze a long, long-term contract out of the city – and maybe ask that a tax break be thrown in as well.
Have we been too tough on WAPAC?; expected too much of them perhaps? We don’t think so and we look to the Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee that is in the process of resolving a major community problem for the city. The working relationship between the city and the Heritage committee is superb; the Heritage chair has a strong working relationship at both the political level as well as with the bureaucrats. Jim Clemens talks regularly with the city manager. I doubt WAPAC chair Nick Leblovic even knew who the city manager was never mind meeting with him.
When the WAPAC committee members complain about how they were treated they might be well served to look at what Heritage Burlington has achieved and compare the leadership over there with the leadership they had. Had WAPAC had the courage to install Bob Wingfield as chair and then asked the city to give them another year to fix the problems – WAPAC would be celebrating today instead of licking its self-inflicted wounds.
It’s that quiet time of year when people make the social rounds and look back at how their year has gone. For those in retail, the rush is over, all the credit card processing has been done and they have a pretty good idea how decent a year it has been.
The politicians have made their Christmas rounds and the visits with different groups. Time during the few days left in the year to think about what got done and what one wants to do in the New Year.
Last meeting of the Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee (WAPAC) with, from the left Bob Wingfield talking to Gary Scobie while Jeff Martin talks with Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward who has formed her own, independent waterfront committee.
Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward made an early start on her plans for 2013 when she attempted to have the balance of the funds in the Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee (WAPAC) account transferred to the new waterfront advisory committee she has formed.
The WAPAC comes to a quiet end in a day or so after holding their final meeting earlier in the month where they gave chair Nick Leblovic a hearty round of applause and congratulated themselves on what they had managed to get done – and if the city didn’t appreciate all they had done – well that was just bad manners on the part of the city.
During the final meeting members discussed how they were going to morph into a new organization that would keep an eye on waterfront developments and meet as a group working out of Meed Ward’s office at city hall.
In their final report to city council, which I think will get noted as received and filed and that will be the end of that experience, WAPAC said: The Committee supports the future work of the New Committee in providing ongoing citizen input and advice on issues relating to the Burlington Waterfront. The Committee recommends that the Council and City staff recognize the New Committee as the natural successor to the Committee and that they give appropriate recognition and support to the New Committee and any future advice and recommendations coming from the New Committee.
Whenever city hall creates an Advisory committee it gives each of them an annual budget of $5000. The WAPAC people spent very little of the financial allotment each year. The city allows each Advisory committee to spend up to $200 on a Christmas event; some use the privilege, others don’t.
Nick Leblovic, chairing his last WAPAC meeting got a robust round of applause from his committee members – a first for this committee that was often at serious odds with its chair. After the city shut down the committee it seemed to pull together and work as a team that complained bitterly about city council not seeing the excellent work they had done. And they did do some excellent work. If the Pump House on the Beachway ever gets turned into a coffee shop/pub it will be because the idea came out of WAPAC.
As Chair, Leblovic was fiscally responsible and just didn’t use the funds unless he had a good reason. He did approve an allocation of $500 as an honorarium for former Toronto Mayor David Crombie when he spoke to the committee. Getting Crombie for a couple of hours for $500 was a real bargain. Had the committee followed through on his idea to hold a design competition – it would have been the bargain of the century for this city. Leblovic did approve a spread of sweet cakes and coffee for their last meeting
So there was WAPAC, about to bring their existence to an end, with close to $5000 in the bank so to speak. Meed Ward apparently felt that if she was going to form a new waterfront advisory committee then she could use the funds the committee about to be sunset had not used.
Apparently her fellow council members didn’t see it that way. We don’t recall hearing this discussed at the council committee level but it did get suggested and it got sunk very quickly.
There will be a new advisory committee; one that will not have any standing at city council. The plans were to incorporate as a non-profit but that proved to be too expensive.
Prior to WAPAC being formed there was a committee that once had 4000 members called Save our Waterfront (SOW) that Meed Ward used very effectively in her successful run at public office when she defeated Councillor Peter Thoem. Meed Ward remained chair of SOW during the campaign and then resigned once she was in office.
No one has explained why SOW was not just revived and used to promote the reasonable development of the waterfront. Might be because there is an executive of SOW already in place that might not share Meed Ward’s current political objectives.
When WAPAC was created by then Mayor Jackson, SOW crowed on their website, which is no longer very functional, that: “Members and supporters of Burlington Save Our Waterfront achieved a major victory for community engagement Monday, as city council unanimously passed the Burlington Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee. As soon as we get information on how you can apply to serve on this committee, we’ll post it.”
Brian Jones on the left talks with fellow WAPAC member Les Armstrong, centre and Ward 2 Councillor Rick Craven.
That was in February 2010. Now, at the end of December 2012 that committee has been shut down by the city with nothing official to replace it other than this end run of Meed Ward’s.
So far, many, but apparently not all the members of the WAPAC that is about to be sunset (it’s not official until December 31st), have become part of the new organization that has met on two occasions. While this new committee is to be a public committee we don’t recall seeing any public mention of the meetings and we’ve not seen any mention of those meetings in the Meed Ward newsletter either.
Meed Ward clearly has plans for this committee. At the time it was formed she said she would serve as chair but would not be a voting member. The next meeting of the “new” waterfront committee is scheduled for January 7th in room 305 at city hall. That date was given to us as tentative.
With Meed Ward in place as chair of this new committee, it will be a much different operation. Quite how it will work with city council isn’t clear. Based on the rules in place – the best they are going to get in terms of face time with council is when they delegate. Will Council choose to assign tasks to the committee the way they have with Heritage Burlington? Not likely – this new waterfront committee is the creation of a council member who has chosen to do this on her own and in her own way. It could serve as a watching brief on waterfront development but any effort to go west of Maple and into the Beachway Park debate that is coming forward means Meed Ward will cross into Ward 1 – which is not something Councillor Rick Craven is going to tolerate. No love lost between those two.
Something to keep an eye on. The one significant difference with what Meed Ward is doing with this committee is holding the meetings in the evening when the public can attend. Will that make a difference?
Waterfront is not all that Meed Ward focuses on.
While looking out for the waterfront for the people of Burlington, Meed Ward has also kept up her practice of keeping her residents informed of other developments.
The following is an email she sent to her list of contacts. The information is related to the project to be built by the Molinaro’s on the site immediately south of the Burlington GO station and immediately east of Wal-Mart on Fairview. The content itself isn’t of much interest but what is of interest is that Meed Ward has gone into this level of detail with this developer on this project. Scrolling through it will make the point. Reading all of it – well, go ahead, knock yourself out.
Last week, planners for the Molinaro Group submitted a site plan to the city, incorporating over a dozen ideas from the design workshop with residents in October. The site plan application implements the Ontario Municipal Board decision with respect to this property, and has been designed to comply with all of the regulations in the Zoning By-law approved by the Board.
In addition, they submitted a number of studies in support of the application. Those are detailed below.
I have obtained permission from the Molinaro Group to post these studies online so residents can view them. Once the information is up, I will circulate the link to residents. You can also make an appointment with the planning department to come in to City Hall and view the hard copies on file.
Once the application receives conditional approval an approach will be made back to the Ontario Municipal Board for the issuance of the final Board Order. This will allow the Molinaro Group to move ahead to finalize its site plan approval and move forward with an application for a Building Permit. As outlined at the November public meeting, the Molinaro Group hopes to achieve conditional approval of the site plan by April 1, 2013.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely, Marianne
The submission package includes the following: 1. Five (5) complete sets of drawings each including:
a. Prepared by Graziani+Corazza Architects Inc.
(i) A set of Site Plan drawings: Cover, A.101, A.101a, A.101b, dated December 10, 2012
(ii) One (1) set of Floor Plans: A.201, A.301-A.306, dated December 10, 2012
(iii) A set of Detailed Phasing Plans: A.311, A.312, dated December 10, 20
(iv) One (1) set of Architectural Elevation drawings: A.401-A.406, dated December 10, 2012
(v) One (1) set of Coloured Elevation Drawing: A.406, A.407, Angular Plane Study: A.501, Perspective Drawing: A.601, dated December 10, 2012
(vi) An Urban Design Brief including a Sun/Shadow Study, dated October 2012.
b. Prepared by S. Llewellyn & Associates Limited, dated November 2012
(i) A Servicing Plan: S-1
(ii) A Grading Plan: SG-1
(iii) An Erosion and Sediment Control Plan: E-1
c. Prepared by Seferian Design Group:
(i) A Landscape Development Plan L-1, dated November 19, 2012;
(ii) A Landscape Development Plan L-2, dated November 19, 2012;
(iii) A Courtyard Landscape Plan L-3, dated November 19, 2012;
(iv) Landscape Details L-4, dated November 19, 2012;
(v) A Vegetation Summary, dated September 11, 2012;
2. Four (4) partial sets of drawings including:
a. Prepared by Graziani+Corazza Architects Inc.
(i) A set of Site Plan drawings: A.101, A.101a, A.101b, dated December 10, 2012
b. Prepared by S. Llewellyn & Associates Limited, dated November 2012,
(i) A Servicing Plan: S-1
(ii) A Grading Plan: S-6
(iii) An Erosion and Sediment Control Plan: E-1
c. Prepared by Seferian Design Group
(i) A Landscape Development Plan L-1, dated November 19, 2012;
(ii) A Landscape Development Plan L-2, dated November 19, 2012;
(iii) A Courtyard Landscape Plan L-3, dated November 19, 2012;
(iv) Landscape Details L-4, dated November 19, 2012;
(iv) A Vegetation Summary, dated September 11, 2012;
3. One (1) additional copy of each of the following prepared by Seferian Design Group, dated November 19, 2012:
a. Landscape Development Plan L-1
b. Landscape Development Plan L-2
c. Courtyard Landscape Plan L-3
d. Landscape Details L-4
4. Two (2) copies of Property Survey prepared by A.T. McLaren, dated May 31, 2012;
5. Two (2) copies of Noise and Vibration Impact Study prepared by HGC Engineering, dated December 6, 2012; and
6. A copy of an Acknowledgement of Filing of Record of Site Condition (RSC) from the Ministry of the Environment, dated August 22, 2005.
That is a lot of information that we pass along to make the point that Meed Ward now clearly has a close working relationship with the developer. There is at least one member of council who holds the view that Meed Ward is a little too close to this particular developer and refers us to a video Meed Ward has up on YouTube in which Meed Ward talks about how she feels developers should be handled.
Meed Ward will argue that she has brought this developer to the table where they have worked with the community to bring about significant changes to the scale and scope of a development. That is certainly true of her relationship with Molinaro. In the past she has battled with them mightily over the Brock and Elgin development as well as the Strata development on Maple Avenue, but there doesn’t seem to be the same vigour in her discussions with Molinaro on the Fairview development. A change for sure – for the better? The council member certainly has the developer at the table – are they on different sides of that table ?
The eight lots on Ghent Street that are going to have 58 townhouses built on properties that have a creek running at the south end of the properties are deep with more than 120 trees on the property. The scope and scale of this proposed development is very out of sync with the rest of the street. The debate on this one comes back to council committee in February – but if what we’ve heard at the last session where this was debated – it looks as if the developer is going to get away with what they want to do. The city does have some clout left – let’s see if they use it and let’s see what Meed Ward has to say at the next meeting.
While campaigning for the ward 2 seat in 2010 Meed Ward was adamant in saying to her campaign committee that she would not accept any funds from developers: will that position hold for the 2014 election?
The Brant Haven Homes Fairview project on Ghent is one that doesn’t have Meed Ward working with the developer. This project is so out of scope and scale for the community it is going to be dropped into that one would expect some of the Meed Ward well-aimed rage against this type of project that we saw when she was running for council.
Perhaps we will see that ‘fighting for the community’ when this matter returns to city council in February.
BURLINGTON, ON. December 29, 2012 With city hall shut down for the holidays, the city manager off on a much deserved vacation and the Mayor in Los Vegas with friends, things are in the hands of General Manager Scott Stewart and Deputy Mayor Marianne Meed Ward – which means we are OK – right?
City Manager Jeff Fielding talked with Our Burlington about his first full year on the job; what he felt he got done and what he thinks about the city he now calls home.
“Some of the friendliest people I’ve ever worked with” was the best way Fielding could put it. He just loves the place and the people he works with; is it all perfect? Not by a long shot but being in Burlington is a lot healthier than London where the Mayor there is facing criminal charges for the misuse of federal funds.
City manager Jeff Fielding always starts his conversations with a smile – but don’t let that lead you to believing he is a push-over. This man wants and expects data that supports the recommendations staff brings him.
Fielding brought a lot of new ideas to the city when he left London, Ontario just over a year ago. His view is that the tax payers are customers and they deserve to be treated as people who pay taxes in return for services. Fielding uses the phrase: “make the business case”, by which he means he wants to give city council the upside and the downside impact on any decisions they make based on recommendations the administration puts forward.
He also focused almost immediately on upgrading the skills of his senior staff members. It was back to the classroom for many of them as he introduced new approaches to running the city. That idea didn’t go down all that well with at least one council member who wanted to reduce the $80,000 Fielding was asking for to pay for this training. Meed Ward wanted to reduce that amount to $50,000 – she lost that one.
When asked what he’d gotten done in that first year, Fielding went through a list that included a Memorandum of Understanding in place with the hospital; the construction of the pier under control, an agreement in place with the Seniors and the King Road underpass close to completion. Burlington didn’t have all that much to do with the King Road underpass; the problems with the city portion of the hospital funding were resolved for the most part before Fielding arrived and General Manager Scott Stewart stick handled the problems with the pier.
When city manager Jeff Fielding showed up at the Senior’s Centre to talk about the new Memorandum of Understanding that would have to be put in place the seniors must have thought he had a bag of cash for them. Turns out he did have a lot of money for the group and here Joe Lamb, on the left, is explaining to Fielding just how grateful the seniors were
Fielding did take on the problems with the seniors and in the process gave them everything but the kitchen sink. We are advised that Fielding was a large part of the BEDC decision to name Pat Paletta the entrepreneur of the Year. The rationale apparently was to put out an olive branch to the Paletta’s and hope they would be a little less aggressive with the city on how their very significant property holdings are developed.
Developers and olive branches are words that don`t go together all that well in Burlington. Ken Greenberg, a noted Toronto based community planner, spoke at one of the Mayor`s Inspire series and pointed out how some developers are working well with municipalitiesand working towards a common goal – that approach hasn’t reached Burlington yet.
Fielding points out that Burlington might well have negative assessment growth in 2015 unless something is done to improve the growth on the Industrial and Commercial side. Tax assessment is the amount of money the city pulls in from tax payers. Those funds pay for the services the city delivers. As it is it looks as if assessment growth for 2013 will be less than 1% – .87 appears to be the number the finance people are looking at.
City manager Jeff Fielding brings a significantly different approach to the managing of the city. Business case studies and performance measurements are tools he believes make for better decisions.
“Developers can sell anything residential they build in Burlington” said Fielding. Getting them to make their lands more available for industrial and commercial development is another matter.. The thought that giving Pat Paletta an award will make a difference is either pure naiveté or a complete misunderstanding of the way developers operate. It will be interesting to see how the presentation of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award events works out and what the video usually done for the event has to say about what the Paletta’s have done for the city. Will it be the Mother of all snow jobs or a fair and balanced look at what the Paletta’s have done?
Tickets for that event can be had at the BEDC office. The web site over there hasn’t been updated yet to reflect Jackie Isada’s departure to serve as the Mayor’s Chief of Staff or the announcement of the Paletta Award – they will get to that task in their own time and in their own way.
Fielding will tell you that the city has a big agenda. The budget is not going to be a cake walk. The Mayor wants to keep the increase at not more than 2.5% – which is going to be a stretch; we are probably looking at something closer to 4% unless council learns how to say no to some of the plans on the table.
Fielding for his part is focusing on performance measurement. He wants to be able to give council data that sets out what the public is getting for the tax money they send to city hall. “If we can measure the performance of each tax dollar we spend it is much easier to decide where to spend the dollars we have” explains Fielding.
Getting into “performance measurement” and “making the business case” for everything they do is a significant shift in the culture that has prevailed at city hall. Fielding sees 2013 as a “set up year” during which he does his best to shift the culture to one that embraces the changes he thinks are vital.
Between the two of the them, city manager Jeff Fielding, on the right and city general manager Scott Stewart are bringing about a change in the culture of city hall.
He is also restructuring the list of services the city provides and putting each of them through a business case and expects to engage a consultant to work with senior staff in looking at everything the city does and asking: is this something we should be doing and how many tax dollars do we use to deliver the service and is that good value for the money we spend.
The biggest surprise for Fielding was the very positive attitude at city hall. While he saw some changes that had to be made in the culture – he was very impressed with the attitude and the positive approach staff brought to work. It appears all they needed was leadership – and that’s something they are certainly getting from Jeff Fielding.
We asked Fielding what the biggest disappoints were. THE biggest was that he doesn’t have a house to live in yet. Selling the home he and his wife and their children had in London took much longer than expected and by the time that was done they were into an apartment and have decided to stay there until the spring. Fielding likes the “bird land” part of Aldershot.
Right now he can walk to work in less than five minutes and he finds that he passes people on the street and gets a smile. Fielding and his wife Tara are getting to know the city and just love everything they see and experience. A large part of that is the attitude he brings to what he does; he is positive in his approach and looks for the best in people believing that everyone can grow and improve.
This trio, from the left, city manager Jeff Fielding and General Managers Kim Phillips and Scott Stewart ensure that the city gets run smoothly and the services are delivered.
There have been some significant changes in the upper tier organization of city hall. While Council had some reservations over the change Fielding put forward when the city moved from a three General Managers model to just two and ended up with a lot more on his plate than any previous city manager has taken on in the past – he rationalizes and says that it is for a relatively short period of time.
Fielding has taken on a lot of the files that were with one of the General Managers: Finance, Legal and IT – all critical files for the city, are now run from the desk of the city manager. General Manager Scott Stewart didn’t get a raise in pay but he did get a new title and is now clearly the strongest of the General Managers with responsibility for the files that need tough, direct and immediate action.
City hall watchers are seeing a city manager who can be very blunt and direct when a situation calls for some discipline. He once blurted out to council that they had to “do your jobs”, which stunned a couple of the council members and delighted those that watched the council session on the web cast.
The measure of a person’s performance is often seen in how they are treated by their peers. Fielding was called back to London recently to be awarded the first ever award given by the Local Government Alumni Society at Western University to a civil servant for excellence in his field.
“The Local Government Program Alumni Society is one of Western’s most influential and active alumni groups. The establishment of an award of excellence for both alumni and non-alumni is another example of their leadership in recognizing and honouring great public service throughout Canada”, said Josh Morgan, Recruitment and Development Officer, Western University.
Fielding knows that council is going to have to learn to say “no” to some of the requests that come forward. The city recently agreed to forgive the $44,000 + that the Burlington Humane Society owed in taxes and went along with an $85,000 grant to Community Development Halton for some “community building”.
He also finds himself as perhaps the strongest proponent for an Engagement Charter – which city council all but walked away from when the Engagement Charter team made their presentation. Fielding was not prepared to see council shelve the document and he asked that it be deferred to a council governance committee meeting which will take place sometime in the New Year. “Council needs to learn what they’ve been given by the Charter Team” he said. “There is no turning back now but everyone does need some time to think”
While serving as the city manager in London, Ontario Jeff Fielding took part in community events. Here Fielding gets his toe nails painted.
And that just about sums up what Burlington has in the way of a city manager. A very decent man; someone who understands the fiscal situation the city faces and believes he knows what has to be done to deal with what has to be managed.
A man who believes he has a very good staff and is prepared to argue for the resources to upgrade their skills to meet the new reality of a city that must intensify residential development and gets its employment lands to the point where they can be part of the job creation the city also needs.
Jeff Fielding sees 2013 as the year in which he gets things set up so that the changes we are already into can be managed properly. “When we are into 2014 we are looking at a municipal election and the game changes then”, said Fielding.
BURLINGTON, ON. December 27, 2012 The eighth floor at city hall isn’t going to be quite the same when the building opens up after the Christmas holiday – which for city hall types went from December 21st to January 2nd – sweet.
The Mayor’s Chief of Staff is to be filled by Jackie Isada who replaces Frank McKeown who advised the Mayor last August that he was ready to move on. McKeown was one of a very small group of people who convinced Rick Goldring to run for the office of Mayor and then wrote much of the platform the Mayor ran on.
McKeown was fundamental to Goldring getting a grip on just how one serves as Mayor, especially when there was next to nothing in terms of co-operation between the outgoing Mayor and the new one. There was some advice given to Goldring by Jackson that Goldring saw as very damaging to the city. Goldring was not prepared to “blow-up” the pier.
Frank McKeown trying to make a point with Councillor Paul Sharman during the Strategic Plan sessions; the two seldom saw eye to eye on all that much.
With McKeown gone there is a gaping hole in the intellectual side of the office of Mayor – McKeown was the best thinker on the top floor of the building.
Ms Isada leaves the Economic Development Corporation where she headed up marketing and did a superb job. She has one of the friendliest dispositions in the city but municipal politics is more of a blood sport that focuses on attaining power and the wielding of that power. The learning curve for Ms Isada will be steep. Chief of Staff for a Mayor that faces a number of challenges during the balance of his term is not going to be a cake walk.
During the more than eleven half day meetings that went into the creation of the city’s Strategic Plan, McKeown participated fully – he got to be referred to as the seventh city Councillor, which didn’t go down all that well with a number of the very senior people at city hall. Other than the Georgina Black, the facilitator of the meetings McKeown was the smartest person in the room.
At basically every council and council committee meeting McKeown sat in the back row, observing what took place and meeting with the Mayor the next day to go over just what got done and what didn’t get done and reviewing the positions taken by other Council members and how staff had performed.
He was much more than the Mayor’s right hand man.
McKeown’s take on what impact and effect he had on the operation of the city is not all that positive. McKeown isn’t that talkative a person but he will tell people that his experience was such that he found few people within the civic administration were prepared to listen to new ideas. That “isolated” culture is one that McKeown found he wasn’t very effective in changing.
So, with two years of less than satisfying experience, Frank McKeown leaves the eight floor to send time on his other interests, at which he was very successful, and travel some with his wife who has retired.
Did Frank McKeown server the city well? Very, very well; he brought intellectual energy to the discussions that took place and got a neophyte Mayor through his first two years in office.
McKeown had the ability to focus on the real elements of a discussion and had little time or room for the emotions many politicians bring to the work they do. He understands all too well that the way municipalities are administrated is far from efficient and that because they don’t have to adhere to the market forces the private sector must deal with they can continue their merry way and raise taxes to cover their costs until the electorate figures out what is going on and votes them all out of office.
While one can get rid of the politicians – it is not possible to get rid of the bureaucrats – they are there for life. City Manager Jeff Fielding put it exceptionally well when he once said at a council committee meeting that “all we have to do is wait them out”. The remark was said more in jest, but the hard bald fact is that the politicians come and go while the bureaucrats spend their careers in the bowels of the building. They see no need to change and there is certainly no incentive to do so.
Late in January the Mayor will deliver his State of the City address. In the past it was possible to see the hand of Frank McKeown all over the document. Many will watch for the differences in the 2013 speech.
This occasion may well be the opportunity the Mayors takes to deliver the results of his “One Dream” for the city. McKeown didn’t have much to do with that misguided effort.
McKeown will go back to what he was very successful at – creating new business opportunities and new wealth. The city lost a good one.
During his first year in office the Mayor didn’t go very far without Frank McKeown at his side. Here, during a budget preparation meeting McKeown, to the Mayor’s left, meets with finance department staff to go over some of the numbers. Budgets were something McKeown would treat as vital and something he fully understood. You did not want to get Frank McKeown going on the city’s finances and a balance sheet.
McKeown has said that public office is not out of the question for him and Jack Dennison’s Ward 4 has attracted him in the past. McKeown is a good fit for the ward but his personality and his skill set are much more suited to the world of entrepreneurship where new ideas meet with risk and reward – something that just isn’t part of Burlington’s city hall.
There may come a time however, when Goldring needs someone to write a report with recommendations on which he can base decisions. Should that happen – Frank McKeown is his man.
Former Mayor Cam Jackson turned to the late John Boich and another former Mayor Walter Mulkewich to write the Shape Burlington report in 2010. That report is still reverberating around city hall.
Frank McKeown should be appointed to the Economic Development Corporation as well as Burlington Hydro. Were our Mayor wise enough to commission McKeown to write a business plan on how best to develop the economy of the city and to deploy the resources we have McKeown would do the job for $1. And the city would be very well served.
Hopefully we have not seen the last of Frank McKeown at city hall.
BURLINGTON, ON December 24, 2012 How do the Homeland Security people in the United States get to decide what you can see about a project that took place in this city; that you paid for and that has been shown at a public meeting of your city council – but it can’t be shown to you on television or in print, or on Our Burlington either?
Well that is just what they have apparently done.
Last Thanksgiving the city took part in the building of a grade separation on King Road. It was a monumental undertaking that took place over a three day period and called for close to minute by minute timing. There were experts from around the world on site to watch the event take place.
The grade separation became necessary when the number of trains running through Burlington increased significantly, due in part to the opening of the Aldershot GO station.
The city asked CN Rail to put in a grade separation on King Road. The railway said – if you want a grade separation – go ahead and build one. The city said the only reason we need a grade separation is because you are running more trains and the road is closed to local traffic too often.
That’s your problem said CN Rail. The city sued the railway and took their case to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) which provides regulation, mediation, and dispute resolution for the Canadian transportation industry.
The Agency ruled that CN had to put in a grade separation but that Burlington had to pay for 15% of the cost. CN was not happy with Burlington. If you are into the minutia of this kind of thing – take a peek at the CTA decision.
The markings show where train tracks were to be cut, a trench dug, the 5000 tonne tunnel slid into place and the tench filled in and the train tracks put back in place – all over the Thanksgiving weekend. It was a massive construction challenge that was done on time. City wants to brag about the accomplishment but the railway doesn’t want the city to release video footage that was shown a a public city council meetings. Our Burlington is going to try and get that video for you.
With the legal fight out of the way the railway got on with planning for the building of the grade separation and the city got on with its part of the project. It was quite the project – with problem after problem but they were all resolved and come last Thanksgiving weekend the construction took place.
Burlington’s Engineering department had every reason to be very proud of how well the King Road grade separation project went. They needed some good news – the construction of the pier has been the biggest stinker that has come out of that department in a decade.
The King Road project had a 5000 tonne concrete tunnel built and then literally slid it into place beneath the CN rail line during a marathon weekend engineering feat.
Burlington didn’t do the actual move – that was a CN job but the city was all around the project – so you could call it a joint effort.
The city decided, rightly so, to let the public see as much of the work being done as possible. They arranged for three cameras to be set up that would show everything going on – literally minute by minute, and streamed it over the internet. The city also set up a small set of bleachers people could sit in to watch the work take place. The seating was such that it wasn’t possible to see very much but a city staffer filmed some of the work on his iPad and would scoot over to the seating area and let people see on his iPad screen what was taking place. That staffer had taken customer service to a level not often seen in this city.
One of those huge construction trucks, the one with wheels higher than most tall people, would come roaring into the hole that was being dug, swing around, back in, get loaded and be out – all in less than two minutes. They worked at it all night long. It was an immense construction task.
Our Burlington covered the event with several stories in which we included a number of photographs. At one point during the construction, one of the cameras went dark. At the time we thought there was a technical glitch then learned that CN had a problem with what was being shown and they ordered that one of the cameras, the one showing trains going through while the construction was taking place, go dark. This happened at the front end of the construction work – it wasn’t the time to argue.
Job done; everyone is slapping everyone else on the back and Burlington’s engineering department has a little less egg on their face.
Couple of months later city engineering staff show up at a city council committee meeting and run a two minute clip of the construction work. What they showed was a film clip that compressed three days’ work into two minutes. What we saw was a piece of video that was fantastic. In the video everyone is scurrying about very fast but because the time had been collapsed you could actually see the tunnel slide into position.
It was really a fantastic bit of film work and the city had every reason to be proud. So proud were they that they announced the engineering department was going to make presentations to two different engineering conferences where the video would be shown
Along with the two minute version it turned out there was also a ten minute version that was not shown.
Those of us sitting at the media table were very impressed and Our Burlington began to make arrangements to get a copy of both the two minutes and the ten minute versions of the video and post them to the web site. The video would then be available to anyone for the next twenty five years or longer.
Then – well, here is where Burlington’s problem with keeping its citizens informed comes into play.
We wrote our contact at city hall, Bob Jurk, who was the point man for us and one of the most excited guys we talked to during the project. Bob was always available, candid and upfront with us. He was also the guy who presented the video to the city council committee. And he was the guy we asked to send us a copy of the video.
No can do says Bob. Not allowed to
What do you mean we asked; that video is public information. It was screened at a public meeting – it’s public; send is a copy.
No can do says Bob. CN says we can’t give anyone a copy.
At just after midnight of the Saturday, as one construction crew clocks out and a new crew takes their place, a CN freight train slows to a crawl and slides over the diversionary rail line Excavation is well under way – with the moving of the tunnel into position scheduled for 5:00 am on Sunday. Shortly after this view was seen on-line, CN rail ordered the camera shut down – they didn’t want the public seeing their trains moving.
Turns out – are you ready for this, the railway has said that United State Homeland Security Department doesn’t want the public to be able to watch the video and be able to determine how many trains go by because they might learn what the traffic flow is like along that stretch of track.
This was the view that was available during the first part of the project that slid the tunnel you see to the left of King Road. The CN rail line is shown at the top of the picture. CN Rail saw the showing of that rail line and the movement of freight trains through the construction site as a security risk and advised the city that any video taken could not be released to the public. But the city did release a video to the public when they screened a two minute time compressed version at a public meeting. Our Burlington wants to to have a chance to see some really incredible construction work being done. After the mess the construction of the pier has been for the last five years you deserve to see some good work being done.
Someone out there had to be kidding – but nope – here are the words Bob Jurk sent us:
Unfortunately CN has placed very tight restrictions on our use of the videos. They have sighted Homeland Security as a major concern. As a result, we are unable to release the videos.
Our immediate response was: Anyone who wants to know what the train traffic is along that stretch just has to sit there for a few days and count the trains going by.
We pressed a bit but Bob Jurk wasn’t able to do anything. He wasn’t the guy making the decisions. He was just stuck in the middle, proud as punch of the job that was done and just itching to tell anyone who wants to listen about the success. CN was saying you can’t do that.
We took our request further up the food chain at city hall and came face to face with General Manager Scott Stewart who did his best to bring us onside by explaining that things with CN were kind of touchy at times. They are a big part of the way train traffic flows through town; the city has to work with them and needs a strong positive relationship so that when there is a problem it gets worked through. The derailing of that Via Rail train awhile back is an example. The city just has to work with them.
Apparently, when CN Rail says the US government doesn’t want us to do this – the city sort of hangs its head and like a puppy that has been slapped on the nose for doing what it shouldn’t do on the kitchen floor and then skulks back into its cage.
Our Burlington doesn’t see this quite the way the city says it has to. Our view is that the event was filmed by a crew hired by the city and shown on an internet link the city arranged to have put in place. Anyone who wanted to stay awake for the three days could see what was taking place. Admittedly, they couldn’t see the CN traffic moving along.
The tunnel is in place and most of the earth underneath the bypass rail line that was put in has been removed. The city has let the contract for the paving of the road that will go in and before long we will all be able to drive underneath the rail line and never again have to wait for a train to go by on King Road. The construction work that made all this possible over a three day period last Thanksgiving weekend was made by the city and compressed down to a two minute version and a ten minute version of the three day task. Fabulous piece of video that you may never get to see.
The city had a fabulous video and screened that video at a public meeting. That folks means it was then public property and the city could have and should have said it was going to make the video available to the widest possible public.
But the city folded when CN said you can’t.
We are going to try and not fold.
We think it is possible to ask a Judge to order the city to make available copies of a video that have already been shown to the public available to any and all media that want a copy.
Doing this is going to cost more money than we have – but we will work on that problem and see what we can do.
What amazes us is that we have to fight this battle. We think the city is the one that should be hiring the lawyers to ensure that you get to the information you’ve paid for.
Burlington’s legal department seems to focus on hiring lawyers to keep information away from you. You still don’t know how much the city has spent on legal fees for the two court cases it has going on related to the construction of the pier.
Your council members know – the city’s solicitor Nancy Shea Nicol divulges those numbers to council members during regular closed sessions of council. The lawyers appear to argue that telling the public how much they have spent on fighting the claim they are making against the contractor that walked off the job and the company that designed the pier will damage and limit their court case.
The only thing that is going to get damaged when those numbers come out is the hides of the council members that kept them from the public for so long.
BURLINGTON, ON. December 24, 2012 There will be two new structures in this city of ours in the first half of this year. One will be a full four stories tall and will alter the skyline seen from Spencer Smith Park and put the Skyway Bridge into a different perspective. Burlington will have its own structure.
The pier will have cost us a small fortune and when the true price and the full story of how the pier got built is known, some of the pride we deserve will slip away – but the pier will be there for the next hundred years and will shed the “mistake on the lake” moniker it was given during its darkest days.
DetailosWe have a view of Hamilton on our skyline – once the pier is completed and the four storey node is in place there will be a different view of Burlington from Hamilton. when the Bridgewater 22 storey condominium is completed in 2015 Hamilton will see a much different Burlington.
Sometime in, perhaps late March, a truck will glide into the city with what amount to a four story structure tightly strapped into place. That structure will be the “node” that will be set out on the pier. The “node” (it does need a better name doesn’t it?) was to have a wind turbine on top but that got thrown under the bus by a city council that plainly did not completely understand how the turbine was going to supply the power that would light up the pier at night. Director of Engineering Tom Eichenbaum dropped the ball on that one and had his city manager apologizing for a less than expected performance.
Cancelling the wind turbine part of the pier allowed numerous other costs to get hidden – we tell you how city hall pulled that one off below.
This part is a good news story. The steel beams are now all in place; the concrete deck will have been poured. Given the kind of winter we appear to be having the construction team can get more work done than they expected.
When in place the “node” will rise four storeys above the deck of the pier. There will be a set of stairs up the side of the node to get people to an observation deck. Rising out of the observation deck will be a decorative tower that will have LED lights on it. The original plan called for a turbine to be atop the tower but that got cut – mostly because city council didn’t under just how the turbine was going actually save money; long story.
The node, which will be circular, will have a stairway going up the side that will allow the public to get up a little higher and see further out into the lake and more of the southern edge of the city. The observation deck won’t be very big and once wedding parties become aware of it you may never get a chance to get on the stairs – they will be used all the time to photograph brides with their grooms. It is going to be quite spectacular.
Soaring above the observation deck will be an long oval shape that was to contain the shaft that would have transmitted power from the wind turbine down to the electrical room that is built into the pier on the east side. That by the way is the room that had – maybe it is still has – the meters that were to measure the amount of electricity the wind turbine. That oval part of the structure is now purely decorative. The failure to deliver on the turbine left a black mark on the city, it’s mayor and his environmental aspirations – he apparently chose not to walk his talk on this porject.
The construction of the pier ran into problem after problem; a crane that fell over and revealed that sub-standard steel was being used. Then the purchase of steel that failed to meet standards and finally steel from two suppliers that was acceptable. The city just didn’t want any more “mistakes” and so brought in some of the tightest “quality control” and “quality assurance” protocols the construction industry has seen. Above are the markings made by quality control people on one of the steel beams. Every weld on every beam was inspected.
Because of all the past construction failures the city is spending a fortune on quality control and quality assurance and to some degree slowing down the work the construction team needs to get done – but that doesn’t matter one hoot – the city is not going to let anyone get sloppy and have another accident on their hands. Cost be damned – the tax payers are just going to have to suck it up and pay the bill – but the pier will get built and it will open to great fanfare.
The drawings for the hand rails that will line each side of the pier have been or are about to be approved; any last minute changes needed for the node are being done. Come the new year construction will begin and the rails will be shipped and then attached to the deck.
The guys that get things done at city hall have moved out of the “ready for the next crisis” stage they were in and are now talking about just how they can really make a “boffo” event of the Official opening.
There is a lot to be outraged about. Every couple of weeks the city published an Update on where things are with the pier construction. This document got created because the public was screaming mad over not being fully informed and there was no one focal point for news and information about the pier.
The document usually gets trotted out at the end of the Development and Infrastructure Committee meetings and there isn’t much discussion – unless there is a problem, which was certainly the case when the decision to not include the turbine in the project was made. There is a line in the most recent Update report that reads like this:
PMT is adhering to the Council approved process regarding approved change work orders. PMT is the Project Management Team.
When the decision was made not to include the wind turbine that meant there was a savings – right? Well, not really. The money saved is kept on the books as it were. Sort of like a credit that can be used to offset any debits that come along.
Thus, when there is a “change work order” the cost of that order is taken out of the credit that was created when the city decided not to proceed with the building of the wind turbine.
A change work order is created when the owner of the project – that’s you and I, wants to contractor to do something different – make a change. Contractors love change work orders – that means more revenue for them. ‘You want another thingy put in here – no problem, just give us a change work order and we will have that in there as fast as you can say Cam Jackson.’
The cancellation of the wind turbine created a pretty big credit that s slowly being used up. That credit is what allows the city to say in each update that the pier is on time and on budget – which technically it is.
Ya just gotta love the way these things get done don’t ya?
Look for some significant announcements, probably late in January on a community group that will play a large part in the opening of the pier.
If you happen to be in city hall, which is closed for the holidays, you will see a piece of art work with hand prints on a piece of canvas. Those hand prints were part of the Lasting Impressions event that took place a number of months ago when the city took the first step of a public process that was created to involve the citizens of the city more closely in the creation of the pier. It was time to have the public made a part of the structure and who better than the very young people – they are the ones who are going to bear the tax load that pays for the thing – and the costs aren’t all accounted for yet.
Set in a very prominent part of the pier will be a platform that has a couple of hand prints cast in metal along with part of the story of the pier. The city has to be given credit for taking an idea that was passed along to them and developing an event that was the beginning of the shift from looking at problems to beginning to see the pier as something that will significantly enhance the waterfront.
BURLINGTON, ON December 24, 2012 There is going to be another enhancement to the city – the public art that is to be placed outside the Performing Arts Centre on Locust Street just to the west of city hall will be announced very soon. You probably won’t hear anything about this until city hall re-opens – the politicians will want to milk this announcement as much as they can. The last public art announcement fell kind of flat..
The In the Round submission is far more complex, and intriguing, than evident in this picture. That globe graphic is made up of more than 15,000 small figurines. Interesting approach but the location and the height of the art will need some consideration.
The Spiral will be 16 feet tall and include in the bronze casting artifacts from the community that could well make this one of the most intriguing pieces of art in the city.
The Cooke-Sasseville submission is certainly the most colourfull of the three. How will the bright colours stand up to weather over the long haul?
Cobalt Connection, knows which side of its bread the butter is on, and do everything through the city hall. And city hall hasn’t been saying very much about this project recently.
While it is the city that is overseeing the project, the art is going to be part of the Performing Arts Centre and they’ve not said anything publicly recently either.
Much of the project is being funded by Dan Laurie, a local insurance broker, who just wants to see the art work put in place – he’s the guy paying for much of the thing and last we heard he wasn’t all that happy about the way he was being treated.
Clearly there is more to be learned about who the artist is going to be and when the art will actually be in place. We thought the art was going to be placed on the plaza that is right outside the large glass eastern wall. Apparently the art is going to be quite a bit closer to the street, which happens to be directly above an oil pipeline that runs through the city. Art in front of the Performing Arts Centre is a great place.We thought the orchids could have gone here.
At this time, the preferred highway expansion options include:
Widening existing highways in the Hamilton to Halton area
Widening the QEW in the Hamilton to St. Catharines area to eight lanes
A new highway corridor south of Welland, connecting Highway 406 to the QEW near Fort Erie
No mention of a road through the Escarpment in those options.
The comments were in a letter from Bob Chiarelli, Minister of Transportation for the province sent to every Mayor from St. Catharines through to Oakville and all the required bureaucrats as well.
The letter brings to an end, for now, any provincial government plans to ram a highway across the Escarpment. Burlington residents appear to have succeeded in convincing the provincial government that a highway should not be built on the Escarpment.
That of course does not mean the provincial government will not at some point return to the idea but for now it is reasonably safe to say – no road on the Escarpment. The public groups opposed to any highway think they are finally being listened to – the letter the Minister of Transportation sent to all the municipalities was also sent to the citizen`s groups, which hasn’t happened in the past.
The provincial government is in the final part of Phase 1 of their Environmental Assessment that was expected to come to a conclusion early in 2013.
This has been a long battle for Burlington. The current council had just been sworn in December 2010,when they were advised that the province had plans for a road that would cut through the communities of Kilbride and Lowville.
Burlington called two public meetings that packed the Mainway community centre – the sentiment that there be no highway was consistently strong. The Region has always been onside as well.
It is however, not over. Don’t forget that the current provincial government is a minority one and they would very much like to have a majority – and that means first getting to the point where they can justify calling an election and then winning that election.
There are close to half a dozen people scurrying around the province seeking the leadership of the Liberal Party in Ontario. Two have visited Burlington so far, two more are scheduled for January.
Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor says “there is something strange going on”. “First we see a letter from the Ministry setting out what the options are as he sees them and then we hear that the Environmental Assessment process might be brought to an end.”
Taylor, the longest serving member of Burlington’s city council is wary – he isn’t totally sure what’s taking place but does note that the Southern Ontario Gateway group sent a letter to the Minister commenting on a meeting that took place December 3rd.
The Southern Ontario Gateway Council (SOGC) is a transportation and economic development forum, whose members include most of the major transportation providers in Southern Ontario. They are lobbyists for the transportation industry and for them having roads that trucks can use is paramount. They are a very effective lobbying group that have solid relationships with the provincial government.
They have been advocates for a road through the Escarpment and when they make presentations they put up all kinds of data that at times suggests the world might come to an end if trucks cannot move goods.
The Stop Escarpment Highway Coalition (SEHC) is a citizens organization with 14 member organizations that have 8000 individuals members. Thus group, along with consistent support from Burlington Council member John Taylor have managed to keep the public informed and to pack local meetings at which the public is given every piece of information they can dig out.
They have served the community exceptionally well .
The next step in this saga is a staff meeting that will take place late in January. That meeting, with Ministry of Transportation people and staff people from all the municipalities that are touched by this, will set out what has been done and give the municipal and Regional bureaucrats a more detailed view of plans and progress. Bruce Zvaniga Director of Transportation Services will represent Burlington.
There is a planned Public Information Centre sometime late in February at which the public gets brought up to date. At some of the earlier PIC`s, there was an opportunity for public input through “open mike” sessions. Those have not been part of recent PIC events which suggests the public gets to just listen. There may be some people who have different ideas about that approach.
Taylor thinks the best approach is for Burlington and the Region to be bold. “It is time”, said Taylor “ for this matter of any kind of a highway through the Escarpment to be put to bed.” The Escarpment he added is part of the provincial Green Belt and while there are provincial policies that make strong mention of the need for roads – the Escarpment just isn’t one of those places.
“If we are bold enough”, suggests Taylor “we can secure the Escarpment as a place that remains natural.” That will come as a hard blow to farmers that are sitting on property waiting for the day that a developer drives up the lane way with a cheque book in hand.
Taylor and the SEHC people want that part of the city, basically everything north of Dundas, left as it is – rural. Part of the problem is that there is precious little farming in that part of the city. The equestrian people have a strong presence but there are only so many young people who have parents that can afford those riding lessons.
If we want that land to be rural then we have to do something with it that is rural and that means a bit more than strawberries and pumpkins.
Taylor is sponsoring a Rural event January 19th in Kilbride that will look at just what rural means and what the community wants to do – should be an interesting day.
BURLINGTON, ON. December 20, 2012 The past few days we’ve all seen the television news and watched saddened grief stricken parents bury their children – after a senseless brutal shooting spree that an apparently disturbed young man went on at an elementary school in his community.
We wonder why things like this have to happen and we struggle to understand.
Sharon McGregor understands the hurt, the loss and deals with the hole in her heart every day of her life
During the upcoming holiday blockbuster movie season, thousands of people enjoying a night out at the movies in Halton will get to see a powerful 30-second video highlighting the painful consequences of impaired driving on an Oakville mom.
The video alternates between smiling images of 17-year old Matthew McGregor and heart-wrenching statements from his mother about how his sudden death has impacted her and her family.
Matthew victim of a drunk driving a car.
“The powerful testimonial of Matthew’s mother, Sharon McGregor, will hopefully make people pause to stop, think, plan ahead and not drive impaired,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr. “We want Halton drivers to feel safe on our roads. Road safety is a top priority for Halton Regional Council and by partnering with the Halton Regional Police Service, we’re working together to make sure this holiday season is a safe one for everyone.”
The video, created by Halton Region and the Halton Regional Police Service, will be shown to more than 125,000 movie-goers in theatres. A three-minute companion video featuring more details about Matthew’s story and what people can do to stop impaired driving will soon be available on the Region’s web site.
“Matthew’s story is a tragic and unfortunate real life example of what can happen when alcohol and driving mix,” said Halton Deputy Chief of Police Bob Percy. “It demonstrates that tragedies have occurred in our own backyard and are not simply some random clip we see on the news. We need to commit to ongoing attention to road safety to ensure everyone has a safe holiday season.”
Through the Halton Drive SAFE (Safety Awareness for Everyone) program and the Safe Roads…Your Call campaign, drivers can see signs throughout the Region reminding them to call 911 if they see a suspected impaired driver on the roads. Impaired driving is a crime in progress and one call could save someone’s life.
Most residents are also familiar with the Holiday R.I.D.E. (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) campaign conducted by the Halton Regional Police Service. During last year’s campaign from December 1-31, 2011, Halton Regional Police stopped 17,396 vehicles; administered 564 roadside breath tests and made 37 arrests for impaired driving.
There is a dedicated police team that has a crew out on the roads every day and night between now and the first days of January. The police know where the hot spots are and, this year, much like last year and the years before that – the police will arrest people who should not be behind the wheel of a car.
Drink if you wish but before you reach for your car keys – think of Sharon McGregor and the day she had to bury her son Matthew. That accident didn’t have to happen. You, yes YOU can prevent the next death by calling a cab or asking a friend to drive you home.
BURLINGTON, ON. December 18, 2012 The province released a statement earlier today setting out, from their perspective, just what the issues are in the current labour differences between the province and the Elementary School Teachers Federation of Ontario as well as the Ontario Secondary Students Teacher’s Federation.
The province is just one side of the story. We have had email from several dozen parents with view points but there has not been an article they could comment on.
Here is the province’s position as sent to us by the Liberal Party of Ontario.
Appreciate that the Liberal Party is in the midst of a leadership contest and that the candidates will jockey for position and favour from those that have registered as members of that political party. It will be interesting to see what we get in the way of comment from the teaching profession.
I will bet a decent lunch that we hear from Cory Judson within an hour of publishing.
Elementary school students in the public system have shut down schools for a day as they rolled out their strike action across the province. Do they have a tenable issue?
Since 2003, we’ve worked together with our teachers to raise student achievement — test scores and the graduation rate are way up and our schools have been called the best in the English-speaking world. When people talk about excellence in education, Ontario is part of the conversation along with places like Singapore, Finland and South Korea. This progress for students and parents was achieved in partnership with teachers — and that’s why we raised teacher pay and improved working conditions more than any previous government. Here’s what you need to know:
Thirteen years of NDP and PC governments left Ontario’s teachers under appreciated, undervalued and underpaid. When we had the privilege of forming government in 2003, we made a commitment to improve teachers’ working conditions. And we did.
Prior to 2003, teacher compensation had not kept pace with their contributions in the classroom. That’s why over the last nine years, teacher salary rates have increased by 22 to 25 per cent.
Prior to 2003, teachers did not have enough prep time. That’s why over the last nine years, teachers have been provided four hours of paid prep time outside the classroom, up from about 2.5 hours.
Prior to 2003, teachers did not have the support they needed to provide individual attention to our students. So we hired 13,400 more teachers to make class sizes smaller and 11,745 support staff to help. There are also 4,500 more specialist teachers now working in elementary schools, helping with music, drama, art and physical education.
As some teachers now engage in one-day legal job actions aimed at our government, it’s important to note that the legislation they protest is the same legislation that will protect their wages, prep time and jobs for the next two years.
The recession has left Ontario with a deficit, and the global economy is still uncertain, so we need to make wise choices, while protecting these gains in education. We choose to increase spending in the classroom and keep full day kindergarten while freezing teacher pay for two years.
In February 2012, as we sought negotiations with teachers on a new collective agreement, we asked for a two-year pay freeze and an end to the practice of paying out up to 200 banked sick days upon retirement. It was a tough negotiation with one union taking their leave from the table after less than an hour of negotiating, never to return.
Others persevered and the government reached negotiated Memorandum of Understanding with our Catholic and French teachers and some support staff. And as the school year got underway, we introduced the Putting Students First Act, Bill 115, which is based on these negotiated agreements.
The Hudak PCs have been clear — they’d cut full-day kindergarten, firing teachers and sending 4- and 5-year olds home. The NDP would give teachers a pay raise — they can’t say “no” to their union supporters, and that means they’d have to take money out of the classroom.
For the past nine years we’ve supported our teachers with real tangible things that they asked for — higher pay, more professional development time, better working conditions and increased time to prepare. We made things better for teachers and that’s made things better for students.
Now — as Ontario families and businesses work hard to overcome a tough global economy — we need to be fair to all Ontarians in recognizing what we can’t afford right now. And our government looks forward to working with teachers on the goals we share: building an education system that’s better for our students, better for our teachers and among the best in the world.
That’s the provincial governments position – what’s your take on all this?
BURLINGTON, ON. December 18, 2012 New Year’s family fun that is out of this world. Residents of all ages will have plenty to do at the city’s annual New Year’s celebrations. The City will host two days of fun that is out of this world. Central Park will be overrun with spaced-themed fun on Monday, Dec. 31 from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. and the celebrations continue at Tansley Woods Community Centre on Tuesday Jan. 1, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Both days feature Spaced Out!—a show by Kristi Heath and Greg Tarlin, as well as the Mad Science Fire and Ice Show. Families are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite space characters.
More than enough for the kids to do on both New Year’s eve and New Year’s Day in the city
The New Year’s Eve excitement begins at Central Arena with a Tim Horton’s free skate (wristband policy in effect to maintain safe capacity levels), and continues in the auditorium making alien slime with Mad Science, and over-sized board games for all to enjoy. The event will also feature an outdoor showing of E.T. Extra Terrestrial™ on a 25-foot screen. Bundle up and bring a lawn chair for this unique winter experience at 8 p.m. The evening concludes with a countdown to fireworks at 10 p.m.
If it’s noise you want – it’s noise you’ll get. Children know how to celebrate the New Year as well as adults – and the city is providing a lot for them to do.
The celebration continues on New Year’s Day with an afternoon of free fun and entertainment. Join us in the pool for the Tender Choice Foods free swim, in the gym for soccer with Burlington Youth Soccer, mini-golf with Putting Edge and in the preschool room for more crafts with Momstown. Visit community sponsor and vendor booths and face painting stations throughout the facility and play with games, puzzles, balloons and more.
For more information, including the full program schedule, Email festivalsandevents@burlington.ca or phone 905-335-7766 if you have questions.
BURLINGTON, ON. December 18, 2012 The Burlington Animal Shelter is hosting “A home for the holidays”, an event to promote cat adoption this holiday season.
There are too many cats and kittens at the the Burlington Animal Shelter. The managers thought this would be a good opportunity to place at least some of the feline creatures in loving homes.
Provided the person getting the pet as a gift really wants the animal and providing they know how to and are prepared to care for the pets – it could be a very good idea.
How did these guys get those balls off the Christmas tree?
The city is making it a little easier to adopt at this time of year by reducing the prices significantly. Adult cat adoptions are $34.60 including taxes and kitten adoptions are $91.92 including taxes.
You could probably get both kittens – the one on the right is certainly ready to leave the animal shelter.
In 2011, there were 218 cats adopted from the Burlington Animal Shelter. This year, 321 stray cats have entered the shelter and only 210 have been adopted. That is a lot of stray cats to find homes for.
Each cat adoption includes: Age appropriate vaccines, Dewormed/ de-flead, Microchip, Bag of food, Pet insurance for 6 weeks, Complimentary vet exam and a cardboard carrier to take the creature home in. Santa does not deliver pets.
“The holiday season is a great time to adopt,” said Kristina Cooper, animal care and licensing attendant. “Residents will be spending more time at home with their families and can help their new pet get accustomed to their surroundings.”
Adopters giving homes to older cats will also get a better idea of what their personalities are like. Kittens, although cute, can be quite a handful for most families or individuals.
Top five reasons to adopt an adult cat:
1. They have matured to a quieter and more loving version of their younger wild selves
2. Less supervision needed around the house
3. They are already used to household life and living with people
4. They are more likely to sleep when you are out of the house, leaving your furniture intact
5. An adult cat adopted from a shelter will most likely be house trained, spayed or neutered and have up to date vaccinations making the adoption process worry-free.
The older cats tend to have that almost desperate look to them – and yet once they have a new home they settle in very well. This one has lovely colouring.
BURLINGTON, ON December 18, 2012 This woman takes no prisoners. She is tough, very tough. Smart as well and not that hard to look at either.
Her name is Sandra Pupatello and she wants to be the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, and if she succeeds she will immediately become the Premier of the province – no glass ceiling for this lady.
Liberal leadership candidate Sandra Pupatello met with local members this week. Burlington Provincial Liberal Party president Roland Tanner, centre, ensures that the candidate gets to meet everyone.
She was in town Monday evening to meet and greet local Liberals. They gathered at Sotiris on Harvester Road. Monday night being American football night, may have been behind the turnout – which wasn’t bad, but it didn’t suggest these guys are really excited about Pupatello.
Kathleen Wynne was in town the week before and she managed to meet and greet local Liberals at their Christmas Party. Wynne has certainly been no great friend to Burlington in the past. She jerked both the city and the Region around considerably during the Niagara GTA discussions.
Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven hands out his business card to Liberal leadership candidate Sandra Pupatello
Pupatello gives a good speech; she is direct and you get the sense that you do not want to tangle with this woman.
Gary Carr, who in a previous career was Speaker of the provincial Legislature said he had to “name” Pupatello on two occasions. Naming a member of the Legislature means they have to leave the chamber, sort of like being sent out to the woodshed.
Pupatello says that only happened once. In the event that she wins the leadership contest Tim Hudak will not know what hit him.
Pupatello told the audience that she is a fiscally competent Liberal. She said she is prepared to spend when there is money in the bank and, she pointed out, when the tax money was rolling in the Liberal government was very good to the teachers in the province.
“You conked us on the head in the last election and we have heard what you had to say” declared Pupatello.
“Trust and respect are more important than anything else” said Pupatello “and you know where I come from. With me, what you see is what you get.”
The leadership candidate admitted that there are some challenges with the teachers but for Pupatello the prime issue is jobs and getting the Ontario economy back on its feet. Can she do the job? The power brokers in this province seem to think so. When Pupatello spoke to the Economic Club in Toronto recently she got a standing ovation because she was speaking their language.
Sandra is Italian. When she speaks she tends to round off her words and will say “goin” rather than going. She is impressive, this woman doesn’t shy away from anything.
While part of the McGuinty Liberal team she served as Minister of Community and Social Services, Minister of Education, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues, Minister of International Trade and Investment and Minister of Economic Development and Trade.
She chose not to run in the 2011 provincial election and instead went into the private sector where she worked with Price Waterhouse as their director of business and global markets.
Does Liberal leadership candidate Sandra Pupatello want to ring Councilor Craven’s neck or does she want to recruit him?
“Eight months ago I did not know I would be seeking the leadership of the Liberal Party” but that is what I am doing today”. Oddly though Pupatello didn’t come right out and ask for support. Everyone knew why she was there – but she didn’t ask for their support.
She did say that she didn’t want to see an election right away. She said she didn’t think Ontario wanted another election right away but did say that Ontario needs a majority government. “Nobody wants an election but if we get hustled into one, then we will fight for the majority the province needs.”
The lady will be a tiger on the campaign trail.
Strong enough to sweep the province?
Strong enough to deliver the Burlington seat?
Were there potential candidates in the room last night?
BURLINGTON, ON December 17, 2012 HalTech, one of those catchy names that governments are using to let you know they get it and that they understand. This latest one links the Region of Halton with Technology, which as everyone knows is the sector that is going to save our economic bacon – everyone knows the teachers aren’t going to do it for us and we seem to have forgotten about the automotive sector which was once the engine of the province’s economy and therefore the economic engine of the country.
HalTech is new to the Region but in their short lifespan they have managed to network like crazy and, under very difficult circumstances, held the 2012 Halton Entrepreneurship Week that was a success and an example of how people with an entrepreneurial bent can pull things out of the fire when they have to.
Karen Sievewright President of the Region’s Innovation Centre, HalTECH, spoke at a Sheridan College Applied Research and Innovation event.
Karen Sievewright was given a sheet of paper with absolutely dismal numbers on it and pulled her staff into an office and said – ‘Team – hits the phones – these numbers are not what I have in mind’ and within the ten days she had left before the event was to take lace Sievewright and her team goosed their registration to a very respectable 120+ people.
Gumption they’ve got. Now do they have a future and just what is it they are going to do for the economy of the Region?
Anything that has a link to the provincial government has several layers of bureaucracy attached to it and HalTech is no different. They are part of the Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE) which is a collaborative network of organizations across Ontario, designed to help entrepreneurs commercialize their ideas. HalTech is one of 14 Regional Innovation Centre’s (RIC’s) that want to attract the innovators, the technology-based businesses, entrepreneurs and researchers and connect them to services , and programs that will help them get their ideas beyond just talking about it and struggling to find a way to get the thing off the ground to the point where it has been launched, has revenue and can employ people.
Ralph Benmergui, a former Stand Up comic, has gone legit and is telling community college academics how to get innovation and creativity into the classroom.
For those that have launched their business, HalTech can help them get to their next level. If it is about technology and entrepreneurship then Karen Sievewright and her team want to talk to you.
How do they help? They start by asking a lot of questions to get a sense of just where you are with your project and then direct you to the help you need.
You have someone who is prepared to invest in you? What do you need to know before you accept the investment? What is written on the Term Sheet (and if you don’t know what a Term Sheet is )– you do have to meet with HalTECH people)
The have three EIR’s (Entrepreneur’s in Residence), people who know what entrepreneurship is all about and can serve as a guide for you. The HalTech people are not there to hold your hand but they are there to move you along and give you the support that your bank is never going to give you.
They aren’t banker’s either and they aren’t going to write you a cheque but they can direct you to people who do write cheques and they can tell you who you need to talk to and the questions you need to ask.
HalTech wants to talk to entrepreneurs in three groups: Growth companies – those with existing revenue who need support to expand their sales.
Pre-revenue companies – those that have developed their products and business innovations but need to acquire their first three to five customers and Start Ups those who need help with the basics of launching a new business and navigating the grant and application process.
Julie Lukkarila runs the Client Services Liaison part of the operation. Her role is to gather basic information and then plug you into the appropriate people at the right level.
The Regional Innovation Centre concept is certainly on the right track. But a good idea and solid execution of the idea and delivering on the promise fits into that “between the lip and the cup” category; one does not automatically mean the other will follow.
It was a standing room only event when Ralph Benmurgi spoke to faculty at Sheridan College recently about innovation and creativity becoming the driving force in the new economy.
Ontario fully understands the economic challenge it faces; moving the province’s economy from the days when the automotive sector was the engine for the province and the province was the economic engine for the country . Well – those days are gone aren’t they? Now it is all about APPS – if you’ve got an APP, you’re part of the new economy. The problem is that there are hundreds of people developing APPS with very few making a living at it.
Sievewright and her team have a huge challenge in front of them. Having the right people on the team is the first and most important step. If we can round up enough of the directors who guide the HalTech operation in the next year we will ask them how they think this challenge can be met.
Your part in all this, if you’re of an entrepreneurial bent and have an idea that is more than some scribbles on the back of an envelope, is to get in touch with the HalTech team – they’re there to help. You can reach them at info@Haltech.ca
HalTech is new and they need clients just as much as the budding entrepreneur – so if you happen to have something that is hot, has some sex appeal and on paper at least looks strong – give them a call – quick – they are hungry and need a winner as badly as you do. That’s call a win-win. Go for it.
BURLINGTON, ON December 17, 2012 The number is getting to a level that indicates success is not far off – Burlington is at the 65% level in its drive to reach $2.1 million for the Burlington/Hamilton United Way 2013 Fund raising drive. There is now $1,360,141 in the bank account for use in the Burlington community in the year we will be going into
Len Lifchus shows CHCH TV personality Sean Cowan how you wrap a Christmas gift
Last week United Way staff worked a gift wrapping counter at the Burlington Mall with local celebrities. Traffic was consistent, people stepped up and watched United Way president Len Lifchus show CHCH television personality Sean Cowan how to properly wrap a gift. He is a nice boy – he got it eventually.
The United Way however didn’t get what it should have gotten and could have gotten from the gift wrapping event – the donation box was sitting on a shelf behind everyone working at the counter. These things have to be right out front where people can see them and use them.
The task for the United Way for the next month is to be kind but relentless in its drive to pull in the funds that will be needed come January when staff have to decide who will get how much for the year they are going into.
The need is real and it has never been possible to raise as much as is needed.
BURLINGTON, ON December 15, 2012 They opened in September and held their first fund raising drive last weekend – and expect to have pulled in more than $10,000 – the value of the items that were set out for the Silent Auction amounted to something over $18,000 which is a pretty impressive sum for a new school in a new community, one that still has muddy roads and construction equipment littering some streets.
The Alton Village Public school set out in the northern end of the new community pulled parents into the school gymnasium on a Saturday afternoon and in a few short hours they had achieved their objective.
With more than $18,000 worth of product to choose from there was something for everyone. The Alton Village Public School expects to raise $10,000 from the Silent Auction.
It was perhaps the first time everyone in the community with children in the school pulled together as one. Many took part in the choice of name for the school but that event wouldn’t have had as many children running around and having a good time.
Mother checks her raffle tickets to see if her number has been called. Not this time.
The organizers of the event made good use of raffle tickets as well as 50/50 draws.
Ross Gligic in the centre with Principal David Purcell handling the microphone get ready to announce there are five minutes left to the Silent Auction at Alton Village Public School.
Her name is Mia and she thinks she can top up the bidding for the exclusive use of a parking lot for the school year.
The coup for this crowd however was the idea to auction off a parking spot on the east side of the school that would be reserved for the school year to the person who wrote down the highest amount. Ross Gligic kept pressing others interested in the parking spot by upping the bid by hundreds of dollars at a time – this item wasn’t going to go cheap.
Hockey sweaters were a big attraction at the Alton Village Public School Silent Auction
School principal David Purcell, served as the chief microphone, calling out the winning raffle numbers as both children and parents scanned the numbers on the tickets they held.
Just call it a melt down – it had been a long day and this one had reached her limit. Mommy slowly, patiently and successfully talks her down.
Overall it was a good day for a new school – with just one incident that caused everyone to pause. Someone couldn’t find their daughter and the principle called out the name of the child and the room went strangely silent until the child was found.
The gymnasium wasn’t huge, the school was in a safe neighbourhood, there were all kinds of parents around – this was a very safe place – the safest of places – wasn’t it? We don’t live in that kind of world anymore do we?
Waiting patiently to see if he won a draw. Successful Silent Auction at Alton Village Public School.
Perhaps in this safest of places we can learn to look out for each other, be aware of the differences and be a kinder society.
The Alton Village School got off to a great start – let’s see what principal Purcell and his staff do in the next couple of years.
The school has much more ethnic diversity than most I’ve seen in the city. The colours didn’t matter – it was a room full of people there to support the school that was educating their children. In Burlington on that Saturday afternoon it was a nice place to be.
By Pepper Parr
