By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON March 30, 2011 – This is really hard to believe but maybe they didn’t know about the “mistake on the Lake”. Whatever, Burlington is still seen as the third best place to live in Canada by MoneySense. This is the second time we have been given this award.
In a city press release we are told that “The City of Burlington is fortunate to have the Niagara Escarpment, a world-recognized natural feature, as well as Lake Ontario in our backyard,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “We are a city with low crime, and high community engagement. Our citizens get involved and help make Burlington the beautiful city it is, and a great place to live, work and play.”
 Could this be the third best place to live in Canada?
Burlington came in Ottawa-Gatineau and Victoria, BC and is the only GTA city to appear in the top 10. In 2010, Money Sense also named Burlington the third best city in Canada, up from fourth in 2009 and eighth in 2008.
“We keep getting better,” said Kyle Benham, Executive Director of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation. “Economies succeed based on the availability of a talented workforce. When you are one of the best places to live, it helps to attract and retain the work force needed for today and into the future.”
Money Sense measured 180 cities, up from 179 last year. To come up with the ranking, Money Sense gathered information on Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) and Census Agglomeration areas that had a population of 10,000 or greater (and for which the required data was available). They then broke up the CMAs of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Quebec City, Hamilton, St. Catharine’s-Niagara, Oshawa, Edmonton and Kitchener into their component cities of 50,000 or more in population.
Money Sense grades cities in categories that include:
- Walk/Bike to Work: This represents the percentage of people who walked or took their bike to work.
- Weather: Ideal volume of precipitation is considered to be 700 ml per year. Source: Environment Canada.
- Air quality: Data was from monitoring stations in or nearest to each city as reported by the National Air Pollution Surveillance Network.
- Population growth: Higher creates problems, lower means less opportunities. Cities with negative growth received 0 points. 2006 figures from Statistics Canada.
- Unemployment: 2010 data from Statistics Canada when provided and 2011 estimates derived from Canadian Demographics.
- Housing: Average house average prices from reports and listings by MLS, Canadian Real Estate Association, and the Real Estate Boards of Toronto, Fraser Valley, Vancouver and Quebec. Time to buy was derived from average price divided by average 2011 estimated household income sourced from Canadian Demographics.
- Household income: 2011 estimates as per Canadian Demographics.
- Discretionary income: Discretionary household income as a percentage of total household income derived from 2011 estimates as per Canadian Demographics.
- New cars: 2008-2010 model year vehicles as a percent of total vehicles as per Canadian Demographics.
- Income taxes: Cities ranked (lower is better) according to the rate of combined federal and provincial (or territorial) income tax paid on a single person income of $50,000 as per www.taxtips.ca.
- Sales taxes: Cities ranked (lower is better) according to the rate of provincial or territorial sales tax.
- Crime: Violent crime rates, total crime rates per 100,000 people and crime severity rates for 2009 from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. (Lower is better in all three cases.)
- Doctors: Number of general practice and specialist physicians per community provided by the Canadian Medical Association and converted to doctors per 1,000 people.
- Health professionals: Percentage of people in each city who are employed in health occupations according to the 2006 census.
- Transit: Based on the percentage of the workforce utilizing public transit according to the 2006 census.
- Amenities: One point each for a hospital, university and college.
- Culture: Based on the percentage of people employed in arts, culture, recreation and sports.
Not quite sure how many points we got for people taking transit to work – that doesn’t seem to fit with the conversations around transit at council committee meetings.
Now, if that Pier were built can you just imagine – we could have been THE best place to live in Canada – and what if the Ti-Cats had decided to call Aldershot home? We would have become just impossible to live with.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 31, 2011 – They are about to book the Burlington Teen Tour Band for sometime in June of 2013 to march down Brant Street and out onto the Pier to mark the official opening.
Words like “celebration” and Grand Opening” were floating around the Council Chamber Wednesday evening as Council got an update on just where things are with the Pier – and it would seem that things are pretty darn good.
 Scott Stewart has stick handled the Pier project through some tough phases. He knows now that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
There is clearly a new, much more professional level of file administration behind this one. You will be pleased to know that 17 contractors picked up a copy of the RFP. Those interested have to get their numbers in by April 7th which will be followed by a “short list” meeting on April 11th and meetings with those who make the short list on the 13th of April. Things are moving right along.
One council member said to me recently that his concern was that no one would choose to bid on the project. The city however isn’t sitting still waiting for someone to decide they want to complete the building of the Pier. The city has hired a “procurement specialist” who is overseeing every step. The site has been inspected by civil, structural and electrical inspection engineers to ensure that no damage has been done. A “condition” survey will get done by the middle of April and then an underwater inspection to make sure that the pier foundations are solid.
While the city is in the business of issuing building permits to others they have to comply with a tight set of rules for their own projects and all the work done has to be surveyed to ensure that it is up to all the codes. The city is going to make sure that there isn’t another construction “accident”.
 Expect to see work crews out there any time soon. Be in town for the Opening June of 2013
The words “design phase” gets used but the Pier isn’t going to be re-designed. Engineers have advised the city that the Pier can be built using the original design but that some steel beams have to be removed. Lots of paper work to get done but in the fall of this year the site will be prepared for removal of the steel that was found to be sub-standard. While the old steel is being removed the new steel will be fabricated and prepared for deck and beam construction the Spring of next year.
It does seem like long time but ensuring that what is in place is sound and then getting all the drawings that will be needed drawn and available to the different trades who will be doing the job does take time and all kinds of permits and inspections have to be done.
The site will have to shut down in December of 2012 for the winter but the plans call for an opening in June of 2013.
The city’s public affairs staff have already started planning for the probably week long celebration that will see the Pier open to the public. The city intends to “inform and consult” the public throughout the months that construction is to take place. They will be creating an “Ask the Engineer” section on their web site that will have Tom Eichenbaum, Director of engineering, answer questions about what is being done through the various stages of development. The mood around the Pier is upbeat and positive.
All the pessimism and doubt that has plagued the city and this council began to fade away a bit Wednesday evening. Things were happening, a contractor will be in place very soon and it wouldn’t be long before we hear the sound of construction crews hammering away.
Those who wanted the thing to be town down failed to understand the grit and determination this council brought to finishing the Pier. It is actually going to happen.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 30, 2011 – For those who are new to the business of running for elected office an election campaign can be quite overwhelming and it takes a bit for even the most experienced to get up to speed.
For those running as candidates for the provincial seat in the October election the challenge is greater than normal. They have to find a place to be seen and heard when there is a federal election going on and at a time when Burlington is in the process of figuring out its budget.
Earlier this week the provincial government delivered its budget, the last one before the October election. We felt it good news policy to ask each candidate for a short comment on the budget. We did not seek a comment from the sitting member, Joyce Savoline, because a) she doesn’t communicate with us and b) she is not running in the fall election. So we went our request for comment to each of the known candidates: Brian Heagle and Brad Reaume for the Progressive Conservatives, Karmel Sakran for the Liberals and Peggy Russell for the New Democrats. The response was disappointing.
 Getting the hang of provincial politics. Treated the budget as a political document.
Russell came back with: Not available this evening…I was tied up all day with my 3 grandchildren and will need to do some research tomorrow to get caught up. The chances of Burlington electing a New Democrat to the Legislature are thin, extremely thin – but Bob Rae did form a government in 1990 – so you never know.
Brian Heagle got back to us with: The Provincial Liberals tabled a budget which tells us much about their style of leadership. In particular, the McGuinty budget increases spending, adds debt and delays the hard decisions – yet calls that being fiscally responsible. It also sets the stage for even more tax hikes. Ontario deserves better.
The budget reflects why we need a change in leadership to Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Party.
 Sakran needed time to prepare a comment on the provincial budget – lawyer needs to catch up with his reading.
Heagle is learning to play the game. He was once a serious Liberal being groomed as the Liberal candidate but underwent a ‘conversion’ and is now a blue, blue, blue Tory.
Karmel Sakran said he needed a few days respond.
The Liberals felt that with the incumbent, Joyce Savoline, deciding not to run again and The PC’s not having a clear heir apparent – that maybe the Liberals had a shot at winning the seat.
Well, needing a couple of days to figure out a response to a provincial budget that was clearly a political document as much as it was a budget won’t cut it for any of the candidates.
Stay tuned.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 29, 2011 – It was a long, long, long day but your city council managed to approve its Capital Spending budget – and we will have detailed numbers on that for you later in the week.
There were then nine delegations looking for money – ranging from an ask for free use of a room for the Civic Rose people, to a bit of a break for the synchronized swimming people, The Age Friendly Burlington people wanted $30,000 which they said would be matched by the United Way. It wasn’t clear to several council members just what the Age Friendly people were going to do with their money.
Creative Burlington needs $65,000. to stay alive. Ward 1councillor Meed Ward asked what that could be ground down to and was told $40,000. would help. More later in the week on how Creative Burlington wants to morph itself from a support group for artists to an Arts Council which would be in the grant dispensing business.
The city does not currently have a grants policy and city Manager Roman Martiuk advised council not to dispense any money until there was a policy in place. “Without a policy” he advised “all you do when you give out any money, is encourage others to ask for funding.” Council felt it had to at least listen to the delegations.
Council felt they were no longer in the grant game but former Mayor Walter Mulkewich informed them that they were in that game and gave them a nice, concise backgrounder on why they had to be in the grant game.
All the requests were noted and at some point, in the line by line look at the budget. My guess is that some of the groups will get some money and then there will be a direction to staff to come back with a policy so that council doesn’t get caught up in a situation like this again.
The council meeting, which went from 9 am to 3:30 pm – did get a little testy as the day wore on. Chaired by Ward 4 councillor Paul Sharman, his gavel got passed over to the vice chair a couple of times when Sharman, who can be very direct – one might say blunt – at times, was determined to get his two cents worth in.
 Spoke to his council and explained that no one is going to get everything they want but that everyone should get some of what they want.
The meeting started with Mayor Rick Goldring explaining that he realized there was not complete agreement on what the tax increase should be but after speaking to each council member he felt it was possible, if there was some give and take all around the council table, that they could arrive at an increase that would keep everyone happy.
Earlier in the year Sharman made it quite clear he wanted a 0% tax increase in year 1 while the Mayor was on record as seeing a 2.5 increase as what would be needed. There appeared to be enough votes for Sharman to have his way – but that appearance is a little like ships sailing in a fog. They appear to be there – but then suddenly they aren’t there.
This council has a little caucus of three – Sharman, Taylor of Ward 3 and Dennison of Ward 4 that are strong fiscal conservatives and they can usually bring Lancaster of Ward 6 along with them – which is enough votes to carry an item.
But we are now getting into the nitty gritty and council is learning it isn’t quite that easy. Partly because the budget document they are working from was based on the premise that 2.5% was going to be the tax increase. Sharman has thrown a wrench into those gears and in doing so really stressed staff. Roman Martiuk, City Manager, who is a bit of a magicians when it comes to “working the numbers” is at times totally perplexed with what staff asks him to do.
 Goldring was more assertive in trying to bring his council around to the point where they could get something done. It had been a long day.
And he isn’t always able to come back with the response council wants as quickly as some council members would like him to. It was getting a little testy in the afternoon and then downright ridiculous late in the afternoon. For the first time, Goldring was louder than I’ve ever heard him before and very assertive.
He wanted council to “get out of the way” and let staff do their jobs. “all this nonsense, there is no relevance to it. Staff` gave us what we asked of them. We are just going to have to hold our noses and live with what we have”.
Staff indicated they needed nine to ten months to create a budget, which drew a stern glance from Sharman. They are going to have to produce budgets in a much shorter time frame in 2012 – and that seems to be what this council is going to do.
They appear to be heading for a situation where the city will have a budget that requires quite a bit less than 2.5% but it doesn’t look as if Sharman is going to get his 0% – even though with the very significant $9.3 million surplus from last year, it looks as if a 0% increase could be achieved. Sharman argues that this council was elected to lower taxes and cut costs.
Well they will certainly do that and in the process push staff in a way they have never been pushed before – and they will be a better staff for it. Credit for that does belong to Sharman who is well supported by Taylor and Dennison.
Goldring doesn’t lead that way. His style, which is still evolving, seems to be to let people have their way and to listen carefully to what they want to see accomplished and then to create an environment in which the wishes of each council member can be met.
Goldring is not an iron fist in a velvet glove kind of leader – but he does lead. He is not confrontational in the way Sharman is and he does not get as emotionally attached to issues the way Taylor does. There is a humanness to Goldring that is becoming clearer.
 Sometimes you have to pause and think about where you want to get to.
That didn’t go down very well with a couple of the guys with sharper pencils on council. The city has hired an average of 18 new people every year for the past ten years and this council realizes that has to stop. Sharman wanted to freeze that staff compliment at the 2010 level. He got voted down on that but council did agree that the staffing compliment would be frozen at the 2011 level and before a new hire was made, city hall staff` had to figure out who was not going to be in place. No one talked about firing anyone but it was very clear that the city manager had to work with what he had in terms of staff compliment and still deliver the same service and program levels.
There was a lot of deep breathing being done by Roman Martiuk. He is supported by a good staff who know their numbers and while they tend to be cautious – no venture capital people in the building, they are administrators who haven’t been stretched the way this council is stressing them. They know, or they should know, that they are being led and that council is focused.
Ward 1 councillor Rick Craven wasn’t able to get much in the way of traction on any of his issues and when he was “pronouncing”, which he is want to do, he doesn’t seem to get heard. He can get a little acerbic at times and at one point told his fellow council members that they were “naive and simplistic” and that we were headed for “civic chaos”.
There isn’t going to be any civic chaos. What there is going to be is a budget that could be at 0% for year 1, will probably be at 1% – maybe a lit less. And this is the really significant part of what your council is doing now. They are positioning themselves to be able to put together very solid budgets for the following three years of their four year term that meets the real needs of a changing city. This council wants to get this budget behind them – even if it means holding their noses for parts of it – and get into the Strategic Plan,through which they will figure out, with the citizens of this city what we really want – and then they will craft a budget that makes the wants possible.
The day the capital budget was approved and the day the operating budget was gotten into Money Sense magazine declared that Burling was the #3 best Canadian city to live in. and the only city in the GTA in the top ten. Take that Oakville!
Now that award is not all that it seems, but for a city that just loves getting and handing out awards – they will milk this one mercilessly
Ward 2 councillor Meed Ward is still in learning mode – she asks more questions than anyone else and isn’t the least bit shy about letting you know what she doesn’t know. And if what she says come out as a bit silly – she just laughs it off. She is there to serve her people and to learn – and she certainly has her fan club. How effective is she – too early to tell.
Blair is Blair. Blair Lancaster, a quiet, well intentioned woman who wants only the best for everyone and will go to considerable lengths to quiet troubled waters. She seems to have been given the role of the “person with the microphone” at any public event where someone has to lead. Lancaster is Burlington’s girl; their Beauty Queen who is serving her citizens. At that level she is very effective. She is also very fiscally prudent and will not let this city get itself into financial disarray.
The showdown issue for the first significant session on budget making was a vote on a Direction that was to go to staff which read:
That for 2011 Council consider each of the budget proposals and approve, decline or amend
That for 2012-14 staff develop budgets:
At the 2011 approved complement level
For each additional position a reduction be identified
The budget documents outline the service impact for Council’s consideration
Increases in FTE be considered should higher cost positions be replaced with lower cost positions.
An FTE stands for a Full time employee.
Not a particularly elegant document but it showed that the clout Sharman has been using up until now may not have that much heft to it. Sharman wanted future budgets to be based on the staffing compliment of 2010 – and except for Councillor Craven no one else voted for using the 2010 number. But don’t count that 0% tax increase out yet.
Eighty percent of the city’s budget goes into payroll. If there are going to be savings it has to be at the payroll level. Sharman wanted the level that everything gets started at to be 2010. He has had to settle for the 2011 numbers and that is what the battle will be over the next few days.
 Tracy Burrows, by Law enforcement officer, taking citizens through a budget input session held at the Burlington Arts Centre
Council is not all that driven to reduce spending – and much of that is based on the results of the community input meetings that were held. These were staff` led events that were really very poorly attended – less than 50 people at one Saturday morning event. Included in the Agenda for the Budget and Corporate Services Committee was three and a half pages of comment recorded by staff. The list is a mix of ideas and thoughts but there were no burning issues brought to the surface. There was no anger evident. The group just wanted better administration and value for the money being spent but there was no suggestion that spending had to be reduced hugely.
With that kind of evidence in their pockets council members can feel free to tinker and tighten and leve it at that. Sharman seems to be the only one who wants to go down deep and cut.
What Sharman has managed to do is shake up city hall staff in a way they have never been shaken before. This crowd has burned a lot of midnight oil with dozens of Sunday afternoon phone calls. They got a good taste of the corporate world this round.
To be fair to staff – and on this everyone agrees – staff has done a great job of complying with the demands of council. Their job isn’t over yet – but the wind has shifted a bit and they are no longer sailing into icy winter winds blowing off Lake Ontario. There is a hint of that warmer wind that has been out there teasing us into believing that Spring is truly here.
… staff has done a great job of complying with the demands of council.
And when the Toronto Maple Leafs win a crucial game against Buffalo to keep the hope for a Stanley Cup playoff spot alive – well who knows. There just may be a new day coming. The Big smoke to the east of us will become unimaginably insufferable should they actually make it to the playoffs. They aren’t going to win – are they? Meanwhile, Burlington will become a little more smug with its third place ranking and city hall staff will stand taller knowing they have met a significant challenge.
What would Toronto do if the Stanley Cup was paraded down Yonge Street? Implode probably.
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By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON March 29, 2011 – It was certainly the shortest full City Council meeting in this term of office and is probably one of the shortest on record for the city of Burlington. Les than two minutes.
 All those power lines along the west Beach bring power to your door step.
But it had a huge chunk of change attached to it – the city approved and is therefore on the hook for $18 million in interim financing made available to Burlington Hydro Inc, which you the tax payer own. Now we didn’t spend that amount of money, in fact we didn’t even have that amount of money – what the city did do was set up a line of credit with the TD bank so that we could pay our hydro bill.
We had to have “money in the ban;” to pay for any hydro we may have had to buy from an organization that is in place to buy and sell hydro between the different hydro organizations. And apparently they don’t take cheques.
So if for some reason we here in Burlington can’t provide the hydro power needed than we have to move real quick and buy some power from someone who has a bit extra. This all happens in mere minutes. The folks who are selling us the power want to be sure we can pay for it.
There are literally hundreds of hydro corporations involved in this set up. We had to show that we had the cash to pay the bill. $18 million in total. The resolution didn’t say if it was Canadian or US funds.
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By Staff
 Alyssa Brierley gets nominated by federal Liberals.
BURLINGTON, ON March 28, 2011 – Except for the Greens, we now know who the Burlington candidates for the federal election are going to be. On Sunday the Liberals acclaimed Alyssa Brierley as their candidate so we have her, Mike Wallace and David Laird gearing up their campaigns. Brierley was nominated by long time Burlington Liberal Paddy Torsney who is most grateful that there is a Liberal candidate in place. She may have had to jump into the race had the association not found a candidate, Brierley, who is new to politics, has the potential to mount a very strong campaign.
This will be the third campaign for Laird and the first for Brierley. Wallace is defending the seat he has won twice. Wallace lost his first time out but then won in 2006 and 2008. Our Mayor Rick Goldring was the Green candidate in 2008.
Laird garnered 6581 votes in 2004; 8090 in 2006 but dropped to 6600 in 2008. But he is back for a third try and seems to carry the same message; people matter. He has been waiting for this campaign for some time – his nomination took place last May.
Laird, who works with the Children’s Aid Society in the child protection field. A graduate of York University with a degree in English and psychology he brings what he calls a “big picture” view to federal politics. It was a little difficult to pin point Laird on what he would do for Burlington were he to be elected. He describes himself as a humanist and wants to see a federal government supporting seniors and their needs rather than spending what he calls “obscene” amounts on a war plane.
 Laird has been a candidate in waiting since last May. He is going to have to quadruple his 2008 vote to beat the incumbent.
Laird thinks governments should ask and not tell people what should be done and believes strongly that technology can make it much easier for governments to serve the public. Laird would like to see some of those security cameras set up in the board rooms of the large corporations and the Prime Minister’s Office, where Laird thinks the major crimes are taking place. He might not get much argument against that belief.
Laird is a strong believer in the need for proportional representation in the House of Commons. From his viewpoint “It isn’t fair for a party with 35% of the popular vote to form a government. He brings that edge of anger about how those with less always seem to get less and bridles at how much what he would call the “fat” corporations manage to get from the federal government.
Laird thinks our monetary policy is all wrong and that the distribution of wealth in the country is skewed in the wrong direction.
Laird will take a four week leave of absence to campaign and, as he has in the past, has the support of a small but highly motivated community of New Democrats in Burlington. His two children, 12 and 18 and a devoted wife will be there in the trenches with him. New Democrats fund their campaigns with small donations from supporters.
Mike Wallace, the sitting member hasn’t had much to say so far. Watch for the opening of campaign offices and lawn signs as the snow moves off the streets and the crocuses begin popping up.
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By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON March 28, 2011 – The internet has made it possible for us to communicate almost instantly with people we know and care about. We can read our newspapers on line; we can shop and make purchases; we can do our banking on line. We can also have our identities stolen and find our bank accounts empty because someone has learned enough about us from papers that we innocently threw out in the garbage.
Crime Stoppers Halton came up with a program that had them partnering with Shred-It, that allowed people to bring in their confidential documents and have them shredded for a small donation.
 Kelly Gorven, on the right side of this picture, is a Crime Stoppers Board member who has served on the organization since her days as a Sheridan College student. The Shred it trucks chewed up documents in a matter of seconds. Shown with Kelly are two citizens who took advantage of the shredding opportunity.
Trucks were located at malls in both Burlington and Oakville. The response was a little on the limited side in Burlington due for the most part to the weak promotion but those that did know about the event and took part in the program were very pleased.
The event was successful enough for the Halton Crime Stoppers to decide that they would hold another event in the fall. Cal Millar, chief Crime Stopper, said the organization is looking into the idea of holding a Shred It day internationally. “We’d like this to be something that happens on the same day in cities around the world.” They are certainly thinking big enough.
In Burlington/Oakville Crime Stoppers raised $4200. in $5 and $10 donations.
The Halton Regional Police Service had an information booth set up in the Burlington Mall and traffic to that location was quite good. Detective Constable Keith Nakahara with the Regional Fraud unit, was on hand to explain to people what steps they could take to protect themselves from having their identities stolen.
 Det. Sgt Keith Nakahara, at the Crime Stoppers booth at Burlington Mall last weekend explains how to protect yourself from identity theft. Robert Strutt of Shred-It is in the background.
“The people who want to steal your identity are a pretty sophisticated bunch and they are persistent” explained Nakahara, who added that ” plain common sense is the best defense you have. If it sounds to good to be true – chances are it isn’t true. If you’re in doubt don’t and call the police and report the incident to them.”
Nakahara explained that when people call the police a pattern of behaviour quickly becomes evident to the police and that allows them to take action because they know there is something going on in an area.
The technology can work two ways. The police are now able to alert people by instant email. Information, used properly can make the lives of all of us safer and more productive.
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON, March 25, 2011 – The spirit of generosity was at the heart of a cheque presentation that took place at Burlington City Hall on Friday. With Japan struggling to get back on its feet after experiencing a massive earthquake followed by a crippling tsunami, one would have thought the cheque would be going from Burlington to Japan.
But that’s not the way things worked out. Friday afternoon, Halton women’s Place accepted a cheque for $1,200 that was donated by a Japanese benefactor, Taroo Enomoto, a Japanese citizen from Burlington’s sister city of Itabashi.
“Each year since our city’s twinning with Itabashi, Mr. Enomoto has donated to a charitable cause in our community,” said Blair Lancaster, Ward 6 Councillor and Council representative of Burlington’s Mundialization Committee. “This year he wanted it to go to a charity that benefits at-risk women and children in the Burlington and surrounding area.”
Halton Women’s Place’s development manager, Carm Bozzo was thrilled to accept the cheque on behalf of the organization, “We are honoured to be the recipient of this donation,” she said. “Mr. Enomoto’s kindness has touched us and the donation will be used to help support our many families in need.”
 From left to right: Carm Bozzo, development manager, Halton Women’s Place; Councillor Blair Lancaster; Mayor Rick Goldring; Ed Dorr, Chair, Burlington Mundialization Committee.
Several members of council were on hand as Burlington’s Mundialization Committee presented a cheque in the amount of 100,000 Yen (approximately $1,200 CAD) to Halton Women’s Place.
This year marks the 22nd anniversary of Burlington’s twinning with Itabashi. In 1989, a twinning agreement was signed between the two cities and the relationship has since developed through regular citizen visits, official delegations and anniversary celebrations.
Mayor Goldring recognized Mr. Enomoto for his unwavering spirit of generosity and commented on the long-standing friendship between Burlington and Itabashi. “My hope is that residents of our city will be inspired to show the same generosity, kindness and support that our friends in Japan have bestowed upon us here in Burlington,” remarked Mayor Goldring. “I encourage residents to do what they can to help support relief efforts in Japan during this very difficult time.”
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BURLINGTON, ON March 24, 2011 – He sat there wearing an orange shirt that must have been a Father’s day gift, sitting in a large, leather covered, wing back chair and answered the more than 30 questions put to him by a room filled with the city’s economic leaders at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast held at the Burlington Golf and Country Club. And he did just fine. Better, said some, than he did at the State of the City address he gave a number of months ago.
So – what do we know about this Mayor and the city he leads? Well first – he addresses issues head on and when he doesn’t know the answer to a question he just says he doesn’t know. When asked about THE Pier, and he is always asked about the Pier, says that the city is in the process of hiring a new contractor and that he is hopeful to have the Pier opened in 2013. He was asked if the design could change – nope, he replied, the design was seen as build-able by the experts – so at this point in time, no design change.
No one asked about the delays in getting an RFP out to the construction community. Had that question been asked there would have been an awkward answer. And no one asked what the city would do if no one responded to the RFP. There is one council member who is afraid that no one will want to even look at the job. We may have attracted a bit of a reputation on this one. No fault of the Mayor’s but he is the goat carrying the can on this one. What many don’t realize that most of the people who got the city into this mess are no longer on staff, city hall doesn’t announce the departures – just the arrivals.
 Mayor Goldring wants everyone to get a copy of this workbook and do their homework.
One of Mayor Goldring’s favourite topics is the Strategic Plan process and he touts the Workbook the city ha prepared and actually asks people to get together in small groups and go through the document and feed their ideas back to the city.
Burlington has prepared Strategic Plans for seven terms of office. Goldring wants to put together a 20 to 25 year vision for the city and as part of this process he has created a Workbook that can be down loaded, as well as a well thought out questionnaire that you can complete online. The questionnaire will tell you a lot about your Burlington.
The Mayor has never been through an Official Plan revision. Given that the next revision we do in 2012 will be critical to how we handle sensitive parts of the city – the downtown core and the West Beachway, our Mayor has some homework to do. Does he want to rely on what old timers Craven, Taylor and Dennison will tell him ? These are the guys that approved a 22 story “landmark” building right on the waters edge
He is going to travel. He has a trip planned to Portland Oregon where they have instituted some innovation transit ideas and our Mayor, who understands better than most on city council how tough a job we have to, as he put it, retool suburbia to meet the times we now live in. Goldring uses the phrase “…we build this city fifty years ago when land and gas were cheap…” and we now have to deal with urban sprawl that requires a car to get around.
 Mayor is going the intellectual route; bringing in deep thinkers to inspire the locals.
The Mayor also touted the Inspire Burlington series he has planned for the year with the first event taking place April 12th, 7 pm at the McMaster University deGroote School of Business, South Service Road campus. Featured speaker will be Christopher Hume, the Architecture critic for the Toronto Star. Registration forms are at: https://cms.burlington.ca/Page6907.aspx
Is Burlington a tourism destination one man asked? We are in between Niagara Falls and Toronto explained the Mayor and it is difficult to stand out with lights that bright on either side of you, but we do have something to offer people. Lunch on the waterfront and walk up Mt Nemo; take in a performance at the Performing Arts Centre and if the elite sports cycling event manages to overcome its problems it has the potential to make Burlington a destination for those who cycle – and there are apparently loads of them, although some of the numbers tossed out were nothing more than exaggerations.
It was a pleasure to learn that Goldring has not yet become a slick politician with answers to or evasions for every question tossed at him. When asked about traffic light synchronization he said he had a complete “non-answer:. The best he could do he said was “dodge that bullet”. For that he got a laugh.
Asked if he liked his job, the response was immediate – “this is an awesome job. If it was easy it wouldn’t be fun, if there were no challenges it wouldn’t be fun. This is a really, really fun job.” This mayor just may have a speech writer working for him when he delivers lines like that.
There were some tough questions. What asked Keith Hoey, President of the Chamber of Commerce, was the 2010 surplus ? $9.3 million was the answer and the follow up question was – what are you going to do with it ? The Chamber wants the city to commit half of any surplus to the hospital re-development fund so that hospital funding doesn’t have to appear on the tax bill, which Chamber members pay a large part of.
Others in the room wanted the city to be administered in such a way that the surpluses are lower with better financial administration.
We have a Mayor who thinks he could serve for at least two terms. If there were an election today he would run un-opposed. Ooops, forgot about the Greek hair stylist. OK, so he’d win in a landslide.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 24, 2011 – It was thought that the thing would just rot where it is in the fire hall parking lot on Plans Road but – there is a pulse, albeit very weak and the group of citizens who took on the task of saving the Freeman station now are in a position to collect donations and issue tax receipts.
That they have to actually go out and raise money when there was all kinds of cash actually on the table is a monument to the everlasting shame of those members on council (Taylor, Dennison. Goldring and Craven) that could not find a place to put the station when the funds to make a move was in the bank. One hopes that if there is ever an Official opening that these council members will have the good grace not to show their faces. Leadership seems to have vacated all four of them in the historical side of building community.
The citizen volunteers have formed a board for a non profit corporation and have begun to thunk through ways they think this piece of Burlington history can be saved.
 Waiting for a new home. Some are hoping it just rots away where it is.
Ward 5 council member Paul Sharman was polite to the group that appeared before a council committee awhile back asking (pleading actually) for time to come up with a plan. No one on council felt they had a hope in Hades, but none had the courage to tell them to all go home and look for something else to do.
Sharman asked each of the delegations if they would accept the fact that it wasn’t possible to come up with a viable plan that did not include any of the locations that were already decided against – would they then give up. And each, very reluctantly agreed that if they didn’t have something concrete by April – then perhaps the station’s time had come. It was humbling to watch Les Armstrong’s shoulder sag when he answered the question.
Sharman admits to be quite amazed by the efforts of the committee which includes, Jane Irwin, Les Armstrong, James Smith, with councillors Marianne Meed Ward and Blair Lancaster serving as liaison to the group that is now organized as a non profit corporation.
The group seems to have found the pluck that council never had and while their efforts to date are not really concrete their spirit is solid and one hopes that Council, come April, will see their way to giving this group another six months to come forward with a plan that is concrete.
 Jane Irwin showed council what Aurora did with their historical station and argued Burlington had an even better building.
It would be nice to see Councillor Dennison get as excited about saving some history as he did about the elite cycling event – which may be on its way down the tubes as it were.
The community organization is about to be incorporated as a non profit and plan to be back before a council committee at the end of April with a vision, sign posts to show where they want to go and how they propose to get there. “We expect to kick some of this back to council and ask for some guidance and direction from then as we go forward with this”, is the way James Smith an architectural technologist who works in the field of computer aided design CAD, and certainly knows the field.
Burlington Green also has a proposal.
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By Pepper Parr
Burlington’s Committee of the Whole is going to get a chance to decide if the channels through which they communicate with the public and people who visit Burlington should be increased.
What do you think of the city having an Official Town Crier? Oh, and you want a council member in wooden stocks outside city hall as well? I’m afraid the wooden stocks will not be in any budget that gets created for this.
The committee will be given a report suggesting four possible choices:
- Adopt an Official Town Crier Program and ask that it be run through Museums of Burlington
- Appoint an Official Town Crier to a Volunteer Position
- Rely on the Ontario Guild of Town Criers
- Do not adopt an Official Town Crier and rely on Student Theatre to provide performers.
 City council to be given four options for a Town Crier. One is to do nothing; one will cost next to nothing. Which will they choose?
We thought the city was going to hold a contest but city hall staff don’t seem interested in that route. So appointing someone is OK – but who decides and what the criteria will be in making a decision?
The Museum people could certainly run the program. Going with the Ontario Guild of Town Criers will cost more than Councillors Taylor or Dennison will want to shell out.
Using a student would be nice but that would mean coming up with the several thousand it costs to stitch together the uniform.
 City council to be given four options for a Town Crier. One is to do nothing; one will cost next to nothing. Which will they choose?
David Vollick, who hails from the Aldershot part of the city, delegated to council with the idea. Showed up in full costume and cut quite a figure. If we end up with a Town Crier – credit for the idea has to go to him. Looks like a pretty goof Crier but we don’t know yet what else is out there.
Anybody with a good set of lungs and a bell – plus the uniform of course.
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 24, 2011 – It started out being a 10%`tax increase over the four year term of this council – which Mayor Goldring thought would play out at 2.5% each year. That was the “policy” the former council left in place for the new council put in office December 1st.
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman didn’t see it that way and at a Committee meeting he chaired early in February, he dropped a bit of a bomb – 0% was possible and Sharman wanted to give city hall staff a direction then to craft a budget that would result in a zero percent increase for the 2011 tax year.
Staff gulped when he dropped that bomb and Mayor Goldring scrambled to convince Sharman not to put the question to the rest of council. Sharman was amendable to that.
But that didn’t stop Paul Sharman and his actions seem to have moved the Mayor a couple of percentage points. At a Chamber of Commerce Q&A session the Mayor said that he expected the increase to come in at maybe 1.5% or perhaps as low as 1%. Sharman is clearly having an influence.
 Pushing for no tax increase in 2011
At a council committee meeting earlier this week Sharman issued a prepared statement o his fellow council members in which he set out his thinking. He trotted out some numbers “10 years of 57% tax increases or 4 years of 27% tax increases” and suggested part of why many members of council were elected was because tax payers were saying “enough”.
Sharman agrees with that “enough” statement and added that tax increases and significant staff pay increases “in the context of what has been dubbed ‘the great recession’ was something that was brought to our attention as we knocked on doors during the election campaign”. Sharman adds that “the current Mayor campaigned to some degree on a platform of fiscal restraint.” Sharman adds that “fiscal restraint and accountability is central to my being here.” Nice to hear a council member say he feels accountable isn’t it?
Then Sharman, ever the numbers man trots out some statistics: “Seniors and those living in poverty account for 25% of the population; unemployment is at 2.5%; generous pay increases for non union staff over the last six years have been significantly better than the private sector and city hall benefits are better still.”
Can you see where Sharman is going? He drives his knife in even deeper when he mentions the $9.3 million surplus in 2010 and before that $3.3 million in 2009. For Sharman a tax increase of any kind in 2011 makes no sense. He points out that the city does not yet have a Strategic Plan in place and does not know yet what its long term spending requirements are going to be.
“Now is a good time” declares Sharman “to take a break and give the taxpayers a one year rest from tax increases” – the city coffers can afford it.”
Sharman supports the Mayors 10% over four years but he “sees no merit in taking an increase before we have completed the Strategic Plan”. He adds: “We have not identified our priorities yet.”
“Further” he adds, “I see no reason to take a tax increase when city coffers have been supplemented by two years of significant surplus and when salaries and headcount are perhaps overly comfortable.”
He wanted the committee to take the initiative “right now” and issue a Staff Direction to forget the 2.5% tax increase and bring in a zero budget for 2011. Well, his fellow council members weren’t biting at the bit quite as firmly as Sharman was and Mayor Goldring said he couldn’t support such a Direction at this point in time.
That didn’t stop Sharman. His proposal (and it gets quite technical from here on in folks) was to have staff pay increases that reflect the state of the economy giving consideration to the generosity of the last few years.
 Big on providing services. Political enough to be on the winning side?
Implement a headcount cap equivalent to 2010 budget, less the 12 existing positions that have been acknowledged as surplus, to encourage a better assignment of staff and productivity improvement. Translation: Not enough work being done by staff for the money we are paying them.
What does it all come down to? Its not clear yet if Sharman has the support of enough council members to make this happen. The Mayor has certainly moved down from his 2.5% and both Councillors Taylor and Dennison are on for less tax. Lancaster can be convinced.
 The most risk adverse member of this council. She might want to keep all the surplus in a piggy bank, but she does listen to her peers.
Craven and Mead Ward – hard to tell. Craven tends to spar with Sharman on the numbers. Goldring has begun to let himself think in terms of being a two term Mayor and he is surely mindful that Sharman did have his hat in the ring for the office of Mayor for a short period of time. Once you’ve tasted the forbidden fruit you tend to want more of it.
What is interesting from a purely political perspective is that several of the council members don’t see or appreciate the political optics of coming in with no tax increase. The city can well afford it. Sure there are others who want something different done with that surplus – the Chamber of Commerce wants city council to pass a resolution that has 50% of all future surpluses going directly to the hospital development fund. Good luck on that one fellows.
It will all come out in the wash but, given that it is your wallet going through the ringer – you might want to give your council member a call and pass along your views.
Telephone numbers for each are listed below:
Mayor Goldring 905-335-7607
Ward 1 – Rick Craven 905-335-7600 Ext 7587
Ward 2 – Marianne Meed Ward 905-335-7600 Ext 7588
Ward 3 – John Taylor 905-335-7600 Ext 7459
Ward 4 – Jack Dennison 905-632-4800 Ext 211
Ward 5 – Paul Sharman 905-335-7600 Ext 7591
Ward 5 – Blair Lancaster 905- 335-7600 Ext 7592
They all have voice mail – leave a message, but be polite.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 24, 2011 _ The cat is out of the bag and there is now a race for the Progressive Conservative nomination for the provincial seat of Burlington, now available with the announcement that Joyce Savoline will not seek re-election.
Today Brian Heagle, the 2009 Citizen of the Year (have you noticed that the moment these guys get civic recognition they try to squeeze some value from it – the financial people call that monetizing an asset). announced that he was indeed going to see the nomination. We reported that news item several months ago – way back in January..
 Red has turned blue. Heagle to seen PC provincial nomination
Heagle, who ran for a city council seat in Ward 4 lost to the re-doubtable Jack Dennison. Not that Jack was the better candidate but because he campaigned hard – Brian didn’t really campaign very much. If he is to win the provincial seat he is going to have to campaign a lot harder this time out.
He has to over come the tendency to not work all that hard and also the very keen interest he had in running as a Liberal. He met with some very senior people at `Queen’s Park but apparently couldn’t get the assurance he wanted that a cabinet seat would be ,made available to him.
So, Brian Heagle is now a provincial Tory and he said that “Like any parent I want my children to grow up safely and be able to live in an Ontario with the best hospitals, schools and jobs.” He goes on to say in his press release: “However, that path no longer seems assured.” He means he doesn’t think Dalton can deliver.
Heagle says all the usual stuff: “Burlingtonians of all generations need to be respected and given relief from escalating taxes, unwarranted fees and wasteful spending”.
Or “Government must think long term and be accountable. It must spend within its means and on what matters most.” That all sounds pretty good, it’s just the space between the cup and the lip is always wider than we realize. Ain’t that the truth.
When you are running for office you always have to recognize the leader and sure enough Heagle tells us that “When I first met Tim Hudak, it was very clear that we share a people-first, consensus building approach. I believe Tim Hudak and his team have the vision and qualities to lead Ontario and get us back on track.” And, in between the lines you just might read the words ‘and if Tim can’t do it – then I Brian Heagle just might be willing to take a crack at that job’.
Brian and I had breakfast recently and tossed around a lot of thoughts and agreed that we would try to make the breakfasts a quarterly event. It would be nice to be on a first name basis with a future Premier. That’s my take on all this. You heard it here first.
 Former journalist want to write laws rather than report on them. Reaume seeks PC provincial nomination.
There is another announced candidate. Journalist Brad Reaume threw his hat into the ring a few days before Heagle. Blogger Russ Campbell describes Reaume, as a senior adviser to Halton Progressive Conservative MPP Ted Chudleigh. Mr. Reaume contested Ms. Savoline’s by-election nomination in 2007. He made a well-received speech at that nomination meeting—probably the best of the evening—but he’s a former journalist and that was expected.: I can’t see that he’s done anything much in the riding before or since. Burlington riding association members seem to prefer candidates who’ve been active in riding politics or association affairs and who have made an effort to get to know riding association members on a personal basis. Mr. Reaume seems to fail this test.” For more on what Campbell has to say log into https://russ-campbell.blogspot.com/2011/03/tim-hudaks-200-day-countdown-and.html
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 23, 2011 Making the Shape Burlington recommendations real is going to be easier said than done.
While the recommendations and the city staff` response to those recommendations has been accepted by council – council is also saying – not so fast, when it comes to who is going to be hired to take on the delicate task of working out just how the citizens are going to be involved in deciding what gets done at city hall.
Council decided at its last meeting on Monday that they wanted to be directly involved in creating the job outline and the job description for whoever gets hired for the two year contract job. Mayor Goldring said that “we don’t do this very often” but on this one we want to be down in the engine room.
 Some days the “Civic Engagement Officer” will have to run …
 and on other stands stand firm.
Normally Council gives staff a Direction to perform a task and staff get on with the job. Sometimes there is a requirement for staff to report back to Council or a committee. But the hiring of the person who will over see the implementation of the Shape Burlington recommendations is being treated differently – a lot differently.
Rather than have staff just go out and hire someone to do the job – council wants to get their fingers into this one and so Ward 5 council member Paul Sharman put forward an amendment that said:
Direct the General Manager of Corporate Services to present to Council the job description and objectives for the two year contract position prior to recruitment.
We might even see Council find a way to actually interview the applicants.
Whoever gets hired for this contract job will clearly be a retired diplomat who has a thick skin and both a pair of army boots as well as a pair of running shoes.
Look for some tumult when whoever they hire is finally in place. This applicant will have to somehow satisfy everyone on council, which will be impossible, as well as placate a city hall staff that wasn’t all that comfortable with the Shape report when it was first released. And then also have to deal with the Shaping Burlington people who are in place to ensure that the Shape recommendations are put in place.
Interesting times ahead on this one.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 23, 2011 – There is a better than even chance that the elite cyclists will not race around downtown Burlington on Canada Day or hold events in the roads outside the city for that matter.
 Burlington may not see this level of elite cycling on Canada Day
An event that many hoped would be the start of a “sports tourism” business in Burlington has not lived up to the promise despite untold hours of time on the part of city hall staff and the Halton Regional Police, who reportedly put in more than 300 hours of volunteer time and sent a deputy chief to a council meeting to speak on behalf of the event.
But last week the race promoters, Mid Week Cycling, failed to show up at a scheduled meeting to go over the outstanding issues which are critical to the city and the police.
General Manger of Community services Scott Stewart reported that they were pretty close to having the definitive agreement in place and that he felt the matter of insurance was under control but that there was very serious concern about the routes that were going to be used for the events and the financial capacity of the organization.
What Stewart didn’t reveal at the meeting was the that Mid Week Cycling had bounced a cheque for a reported $769. that had been made payable to the Halton Regional Police.
Ouch!
Craig Fagan is lucky he isn’t in handcuffs for that one.
Burlington has been at this opportunity for more than a year, they have done everything a city could do to make it happen but council decided Monday evening that the deadline of March 31st was to be firm. If the four issues are not fully resolved the city will pull the plug and there will be no elite cycle racing in Burlington on Canada Day this year or in 2012.
What is particularly disappointing is that the 2012 races were to be qualifying events for the 2014 Olympics. Were those races to be held in the Burlington community, the city would certainly have benefited from the world wide media exposure.
Some felt that Mid Week Cycling, the event promoters, were playing a game of “chicken” with the city in the hope that the city would buckle and put up more than the $50,000. that has been promised by both the city and the Burlington Hotel Association.
The council meeting, which was being cable cast live by Cogeco, saw the Mayor look directly into the cameras and tell Mr. Fagan that he had until March 31st to make everything right.
Burlington withdrew from talks that had the potential to lead to the Hamilton Tiger Cats moving into a stadium complex in the Aldershot community. When the numbers didn’t look right – the city walked.
Only a fool would take this council as a bunch of rural rubes.
By Staff
Burlington, Ont.—March 21, 2011 – The City of Burlington is encouraging members of the community to participate early and often in the city’s process to create a new strategic plan for Burlington called Burlington, Our Future.
Not a lot of zip in the name is there? But you can expect the document to be significantly different than the last one the city put out. That document was a collection of photographs, platitudes and happy talk.
This Mayor, Rick Goldring, doesn’t do platitudes all that well – although he can do the happy talk quite well.
The city staff explain that: “A strategic plan is a document adopted near the start of the council term. It sets out council’s vision and goals, and helps to guide council’s decision-making over the next four years and beyond.”
“I strongly encourage every citizen to get involved with Burlington, Our Future to help shape the city’s new strategic plan,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “There are more ways than ever to get involved earlier in the process.”
See what I mean by the happy talk stuff. But he’s learning and he will get better.
and (2)
Citizens can go to the city’s website, www.burlington.ca/ourfuture to get information about the strategic planning process and the various opportunities for input. One of the first opportunities is an online survey to find out what citizens and businesses think are the top priorities for this council.
Also for the first time, the city is providing an easy-to-follow workbook to help citizens get the conversation going with friends, neighbours and colleagues and share their discussions with council. These conversations are referred to as “Talk About It…Burlington, Our Future”. Group workbooks and submission forms are available online. Citizens without Internet access can call 905-335-7600, ext. 7378 to get a copy of the workbook.
The first stage of public consultation will take place now until April 18. Input received will help shape the vision and identify priority areas. Other opportunities for public participation will occur throughout the process.
That mid April date is just about the time the budget – the document that determines what your taxes will amount to. You might want to keep your powder dry and hold your fire until you know what it is going to cost you to keep your house out of the hands of the bailiff. I make that comment mostly in jest because Burlington has an incredibly kind policy towards those people who are unable to pay their property taxes. The tax collectors will bend over backwards for genuine cases of financial hardship. It is something for which the city can be very proud.
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By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON March 10, 2011 – The domino’s Pizza at Walkers Line and New Street had a couple of people burst into the store who turned out not to be customers – there were there to rob the place.
One, armed with a knife, rushed to the counter while the second suspect kept look-out at the door. The punk with the knife confronted a staff member and demanded money. Before the employee could count the change the punks fled – empty handed. Not even a pizza to go.
Police think there may have been a third suspect may have remained outside the store.
Suspect #1 is described as a male, white, light coloured short hair, 6’0′ tall, 160 lbs, 20-25 years old. He was wearing a black baseball cap, a black hoodie, a black waist length coat, dark blue jeans and black shoes with white soles, and two diagonal stripes.
Someone in that store has a sharp eye to get all that detail.
 The jacket is probably in a dumpster somewhere but if you know anyone who is keen on pizza, short of cash and has a jacket like this – Crime Stoppers would like to hear form you.
Suspect #2 is described as a male, white, average build, 6’0″ tall, 20-25 years old. He was wearing a darker brown or tan fleece hoodie, dark blue jeans and black shoes, with white soles and two white stripes. Suspect’s jacket is very distinctive (shown in photo). The jacket is a dark blue colour, with a white pattern on the fore arm areas and on the front lower panels. The rear panel of this jacket has very large letters “XMX.”
Suspect #3 is described as a male, 5’5 tall, 200 lbs, and had a large belly. He was wearing all black clothes.
Police list the event as an “attempted robbery” and we would add by thieves who might consider some other line of employment. Anyone with information on this or any other crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes).
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He died quietly in his sleep, shortly after being informed that he had been named Citizen of the Year by the citizens of Burlington, Ontario
 John Boich 1933-2011
John Boich, 1933-2011, athlete, scholar, educator, businessman, political advisor, husband and friend to many, died peacefully in his sleep at the Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington of pancreatic cancer on March 15th.
A man of huge generosity with both his time and resources John always answered the phone with the words ‘Yes’ on his lips.
John faced his passing with the strength and determination that he faced most things in his life; stoically and with strength and determination.
A man with opinions that he was never afraid to express and a gusto for life that never failed him. From the football fields of the Canadian Football League where he wore the number 12 for the Ottawa Rough Riders and knew all the greats in that sport, to a session of Burlington city council where every council member gathered around John in a circle and bid him their very best as tears rolled down John’s face.
He leaves his wife Arlene, brother, his two children and his three dogs: Buster, Winston and Molly. We will see that the dogs are walked regularly John.
A remembrance service will be held in the near future.
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By Staff
Burlington, On.—March 14, 2011— Burlington’s sister city Itabashi, Japan, has been spared any damage from the earth quake that has wiped some towns off the face of the earth and landed ocean going vessels on city streets.
 Itabashi, Japan, Burlington’s sister city has not been damaged by the earth quake that destroyed large parts of Japan.
Mayor Rick Goldring placed a call to the Mayor of Itabashi last Friday but was unable to get through. There was a response to an email in which the Mayor of Itabashi, Takeshi Sakamoto who reported that damages have been stayed at minimum in Itabashi city and citizens are safe,”
“Here in Itabashi city hall, we felt several strong quakes. However, damages have been stayed at minimum in Itabashi city and citizens are safe” adding that Itabashi is now preparing for power restrictions.
“Again, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you and Burlington citizens for such kind concern and friendship,” Mayor Sakamoto wrote. “Lastly, I would like to share with you my prayers for your happiness and the prosperity of Burlington city.”
“In times of crisis, it is important to reach out and let your friends know that your thoughts and prayers are with them,” Mayor Goldring said. “I know I speak for my colleagues on City Council and the people of Burlington when I say our thoughts are with Itabashi and the people of Japan as they struggle with the aftermath of this tragic situation. We receive some comfort from knowing our Itabashi friends are safe.”
 Spring trees will bloom in Itabashi, Japan and hopefully in Burlington as well.
In May of 1989, the City of Burlington signed a twinning agreement with the City of Itabashi. In the following years, various exchanges and programs have been carried out between ltabashi and Burlington and relations between the cities have flourished on all levels.
Itabashi is located in the northwestern part of the metropolis on the Shyakujii, Shingashi and Arakawa Rivers 45 kilometres northwest of Tokyo. The name Itabashi literally means wooden bridge and was derived from a wooden bridge constructed some 800 years ago over the Shyakujii river.
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By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON March 14, 2011 – David Vollick got asked to help at a church event awhile ago – they needed someone with a loud voice to let people know about the different events that were taking place one Christmas Season. They dressed him up a bit and gave him a bell to ring and that planted the deed of an idea in Dave’s mind that resulted in his appearing before a city council committee to suggest that Burlington might get itself a Town Crier.
 Costs $50. to clean and press the uniform – but he is pretty isn’t he. David Vollick as a Town Crier.
Council kind of liked the idea and sent it off to staff to consider all the implications and sometime later this year the city will probably have a Town Crier of its very own. Vollick wasn’t asking Council to pay him to do the job but he did point at that the people getting the benefit of the Crier usually pay a small stipend to cover the cost of cleaning the elaborate uniform they wear.. As Dave pointed out ”it costs $50. to have this uniform cleaned and pressed.”
His wife Barbara often joins him at any events he works. What council heard was that Crier could read out the public declarations that are made by the Mayor. Girl Guide Month or Small Business Week – the range is immense. There could be a proclamation made on Canada Day.
The first documented use of a Town Crier was in1066, after the Norman Invasion of England. Criers were regularly used after that by the ruling King or Queen to inform all the citizens of their orders and decrees. To this day old English law still protects Criers from being Hindered or Heckled whilst carrying out their duties.
The term “Posting A Notice” comes from the act of the Town Crier attaching the notice or Proclamation he had read to the door post of the local Inn or Tavern.
Citizens of the towns relied on the crier for the information, be it good or bad news. Criers were not always men. Many Town Criers were women. Bells were not the only attention getting device. In Holland a Gong was the instrument of choice for many, and in France they used a Drum, or a Hunting Horn.
Criers where often old military veterans who could read and write but who had fallen on hard times. The position of Town Crier gave them employment and a pension. The position of Town Crier has often been passed from one generation to the next.
Council directed the City Manager to investigate the idea of establishing an Official Town Crier for Burlington, looking into the costs and report back to the Community Services committee by April 20.
 David Vollick ably assisted by his wife Barbara.
The intention was to hold a contest for a crier if the city manager could find a benefit for the city. Tourism Burlington was reported to like the idea and Vollick could see the Crier being used for store openings and other events that wanted to draw public attention.
We just might see someone at City Hall reading out a Proclamation on Canada Day while the cyclists zoom by.
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