By Pepper Parr
October 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Early, early, early results show all the members of city council being returned.
Dennison was leading Gottlob by more than 30%; Lancaster was leading Bentivegna by more than 100 votes; Mayor Goldring was ahead of Rusin by more than a country mile – with Anne Marsden doing better than Rusin.
The Southeast Asian community was pretty close to a no show situation and Vanessa Warren was doing very poorly.
Marianne Meed Ward was walking all over Kelly Arnott.
We may be eating some crow later this evening
 By Staff
October 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
At around 10 am this morning police were called to 478 Pearl Street responding to a verbal altercation in one of the apartments.
Police found a person barricaded in an apartment. He told police he was armed.
Police started negotiations with the barricaded suspect and at approximately 2 pm, Tactical Rescue Unit officers forced entry into the apartment and arrested the accused.
While searching the apartment, the body of a deceased female was located. The investigation is continuing in efforts to confirm the victim’s identity.
Accused:
Malcom Copeland, 41, from City of Markham
Officers are continuing to investigate this incident and charges are yet to be determined.
A resident reported the following:
“When I attempted to return home at 11:15 a.m. I was met with police vehicles blocking off entrance to my street and I could see police officers with guns drawn peaking around Elizabeth Manor Apartments looking up at the Wellington Place apartments on Pearl Street.
“The officer posted at the end of my street indicated that they were searching for a gunman and it was prudent to leave the area. What?! It was hard to believe this was happening in ‘my’ lovely downtown Burlington. Our little City is starting to experience serious and very scary big City issues.
“It is 4:30 p.m. and we’ve been allowed to return home. However, the police presence is still significant, there is a SWAT Van in the Lions Club parking lot and many cruisers scattered along the downtown streets.
“There are detectives taking photographs and detectives measuring various areas around the building. It is hard to believe this is downtown Burlington. I only hope no one was seriously injured in whatever horrible situation transpired.”
Our resident was unaware that the body of a female was found deceased in the apartment.
Anyone who has any information are asked to contact the Halton Regional Police Homicide Unit at 905 825-4747 ext 8769, or, 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).
By Pepper Parr
October 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
There are people who play close attention to politics and love to analyze results and make projections based on that analysis.
 Use the election results application to learn how the vote is going in your ward. Results are instantaneous. Click on the Election Results Icon on the home page. This evening at 8:01 pm the city will load data from the advance polls and the votes cast via the internet into the system that is run by Dominion Voting Services. Seconds later that data will be available to media.
The application we have put together scans the Dominion Voting server and the results appear on the service we are running.
The advance poll and the internet numbers were quite high this year. We’ve no idea which wards the people who voted early live in but by about five minutes after 8 pm we could get a sense as to where this election is going to end up.
 Will Gottlob replace Dennison?  Will Smith replace Sharman?  Will Lancaster be replaced by one of the nine people running against her. There are three seats that are in play: wards 4, 5 and 6.
Many are interested in seeing what impact Peter Rusin will have on the Mayor’s vote.
We could know how the vote is going to play itself out by 8:15. If there is one of those back and forth situations – you can watch the way it works live on the Gazette.
By Pepper Parr
October 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
 For those of you who want instant access to the municipal election results – go to the Gazette HOME page and click on that red ELECTION RESULTS icon on the right hand side.
That will get you to our election results page which is updated every 90 seconds. We get a data feed from Dominion Voting Systems, the company that collects all the data from the polling clerks.
 When you get to the Election Results page, and it is easy to get there, click on your ward and see instantaneous results. All media have access to the data through a reserved media portal – and no – there is no way we can fiddle with the data. The site is secure.
The map of the city, broken out by wards is pretty simple to use. Just click on your ward on the map and the most recent election results show up.
Will there be problems. Maybe – we will be watching closely.
By Pepper Parr
October 26, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
If the incumbent in ward 2 is beaten October 27th – it will be the upset of the year.
There are two challengers; one who we suspect has been put up to running and the other should find a new hobby.
Marianne Meed Ward is what the commercial people call a “disrupter” – she wants to change the way the city operates and she wants to get people involved. She doesn’t have much time for the social groups who feel they have influence and clout and she has no time for the vested interests.
 Meed Ward was a frequent delegator at city council meetings. Anyone wanting to run for Council in the future wants to look at her model – it works. Meed Ward cannot avoid a microphone and is like a moth to a flame when the television cameras appear. Some think she talks too much – and she does. She spoke longer than the candidate when Katrina Gould was being nominated as the Liberal choice for Burlington in the next federal election.
She drives her council colleague’s bananas – Councillor Taylor rolls his eyes frequently when Meed Ward is going on and on – and he is her friend.
However, when Meed Ward is going on she is asking the questions that need to be asked; she is asking the questions that no one else bothers to ask.
 They had every reason to be smiling. Councillors Meed Ward and Lancaster pose with five members of the Friends of Freeman Station after the Council meeting that approved the entering into of a Joint Venture that would have the Friends moving the station and taking on the task of renovating the building. She, along with Councillor Blair Lancaster, saved Freeman Station from destruction.
Council will consider a Code of Conduct which Councillor Craven wants to see in place hoping that it will keep Meed Ward out of his territory. Craven goes close to ballistic when Meed Ward talks about ward 1 issues. Craven takes the old approach to local politics – each Councillor is responsible for their ward and they keep their noses out of the others. Meed Ward sees herself as on Council to represent ward 2 specifically but she feels free to speak about issues in every ward.
She is by far the most aggressive member of Council, aggressive in a positive way; but that doesn’t make it any easier for her council colleagues to cope with. They don’t share her approach to municipal politics – she works for participation and inclusion. She is usually quite comfortable delegating and letting the people, who are going to be impacted by a decision, be part of the decision making process.
 Meed Ward wanted this project to be not more than four storeys in height to protect the character of the neighbour. The economics of the project made that impossible. Meed Ward does have problems with her understanding of economic fundamentals. She wanted the Maranatha project on New Street to be much smaller than economics of development make necessary.
Meed Ward doesn’t think the city has to change it rules so that developers can make a profit. The people developing Maranatha are certainly not your classic developer; this is a Christian organization that looks for ways to create housing that meets the needs of different groups.
The economics of buying property don’t seem to matter to Meed Ward, but they are a reality for anyone wanting to build anything. The people whose property is being bought want the best price they can get. The prices paid for the property assembled determine to a large degree what the cost of the units being offered will amount to – that economic fundamental seems to go right over Meed Ward’s head.
While Meed Ward talks about a collaborative approach to solving problems and arriving at solutions – collaboration means creating groups that can work together and it would be difficult to point to an occasion, when she has been able to work closely with her colleagues. The Freeman station cooperation was more of an exception than a rule.
It is often her against them. Like it or not, Council is made up of seven people and Meed Ward needs to work with all of them. We did not see much of that in her first term of office. She has worked closely with Councillor Lancaster on saving the Freeman Station from destruction – so it can be done.
 The Molinaro Paradigm project will change the stretch of Fairview and Brant hugely and result in major changes in future development in the area. Meed Ward also worked closely with the Molinaro’s on their Paradigm project on Fairview next to the GO station. So she can and has worked with developers.
Mayoral candidate Peter Rusin however pointed out that there are going to be just five affordable housing units in the five structure complex: “who negotiated that deal” he asked. Good question – who did negotiate that deal and was that the best that could be done.
There is a lot of fuzziness around affordable housing – how it works and where the responsibility lies for the creation of affordable units and then assuring that they remain affordable. Some leadership is needed on this – Meed Ward is the logical one to take this on – so far we’ve not seen the kind of leadership this issue needs.
According to the Meed Ward Newsletter web site: “…a number of developers have agreed to meet with residents before submitting development proposals, and in several cases they’ve modified their plans based on your input, most notably the Molinaro “Paradigm” project on Fairview. More than a dozen changes were made to that project after two public design workshops, all voluntary since the project has already been approved by the OMB.
On Section 37, she spearheaded a community conversation about the risks and benefits of using this tool, and secured a review of our Section 37 protocol which was changed to require consultation with the ward councillor to ensure public input on any benefits negotiated in your name. Meed Ward effectively took that issue out of the hands of the Planning department and put it into the hands of the residents – at least in ward 2.
Meed Ward believes “we can reach our provincial growth targets through jobs or residential units” and adds that “we need to focus on jobs downtown, so more of our residents can live and work here.
City Council approved the downtown as one of five hubs in the city for focused economic growth through the Burlington Economic Development Corporation.
 There was a time when a much larger bus terminal existed 25 yards to the left of this small terminal on John Street – it was where people met. There were fewer cars, Burlington didn’t have the wealth then that it has now. We were a smaller city, as much rural as suburban. The times have changed and transit now needs to change as well. This part of town is to become a transit hub. This same Council actually thought about closing the transit station on John Street – a mixed message if there ever was one.
And “mixed message” is the best that can be said of the ongoing efforts to create a downtown with more buzz. Shutting down traffic for car Free Sundays was a nice idea but it didn’t work in ward 2.
Meed Ward wants to see a retail attraction strategy developed.
Right on sister – now get the Burlington Downtown Business Association to do the job they are in place to do and make downtown more people friendly. They could start with a better job of getting the retailers on Brant Street to gussy the place up a bit during the holiday season. Last year’s effort was pathetic.
Meed Ward wants to “explore the feasibility” of a year-round farmer’s market downtown.” Make sure the Rotarians are involved in that discussion. They operate a very healthy market at the Burlington mall and they don’t want to see tax payer dollars taking their customers away from their event.
In the next term of council, Meed Ward said she “will get a report back on the possibility of setting up incubators for start-up businesses, including downtown.”
 A successful entrepreneur took a risk and opened up what can be called a start-up incubator. All the politicians showed up for the opening night drinks and then forgot about the place. There is a start-up incubator downtown. Meed Ward attended its flashy opening – and that was it. The city hasn’t given it an inch of support. Meed Ward argues that the city cannot favour a private venture. Rubbish. The HiVe uses a “membership” model and there is no reason why both the BEDC and the city could not have bought a couple of memberships and used them for people who are in the city and need a place to work with their computers.
 It is going to take quite a bit more than Red Bag Sales to grow the downtown retail sector. It would be interesting to see the reports on the meetings between the Downtown Business Association and the Economic Development Corporation – were there any? The EDC doesn’t seem to have figured out how to push the clutch so they can get their act in gear. Don’t hold your breath for those two organizations to come forward with a cohesive well thought out plan. There are people at city hall who have gone grey trying to develop policies and guidelines for something in the way of downtown commercial growth.
The number of new business enterprises is about the same as the number of people who either ran out of money or just plain gave up. Not very promising numbers.
The development community see Meed Ward as dangerous and describe her as such. Former city manager Jeff Fielding once said that if she had a decent handler she would be a very strong Mayor. The idea of Meed Ward being “handled” is one that is not easily embraced.
Meed Ward got herself into office by creating an organization focused on a single issue: Saving our Waterfront. That group had representation in every ward. She showed her community that she knows how to listen and they have embraced her approach.
Meed Ward brings a significantly different approach to municipal politics in Burlington. She has shown a willingness to share the power and authority she has. She gets called a “populist” for that approach.
We were never sure just what was meant by that word “populist”. Meed Ward certainly doesn’t set out to be popular. She has forced her council colleagues to stand for recorded votes; her best evening was when she forced them to stand four times.
Why every vote taken by this Council on everything at both Standing Committees and Council meetings is not recorded boggles the mind. Those men and women are chosen to lead and paid to do so. The public has a right to know what they decide and they have a responsibility to ensure the public knows what they have done.
Ward 2 is the smallest in the city which makes the task of organizing quite a bit easier. There are pockets that are not getting the attention they need. The Queensway community is an example. There is an opportunity to get some playground space for that community
 More than 100 mature trees were cut down for a development that razed 8 homes to put in 58. Bad planning. Meed Ward has spoken out strongly against the shameful Ghent Street development that took out more than 100 mature trees and then filled the property that had 8 houses with 58 units that are crammed in like sardines. Great for the developer – bad for the city overall. In time the city will come to see that the Ghent development was a serious mistake.
Meed Ward has a true sense of what a public needs to hear from a politician. During her kick off campaign event at the Art Gallery she asked people not for just their votes but for their trust. Politically that was a close to brilliant choice of words.
When she was running for office in 2010 there were a number of former politicians who were prepared to work with her, but she wasn’t prepared to listen to them. In 2010 her objective was to win the seat and position herself for a run against Cam Jackson who she thought was going to win in 2010.
Full disclosure here: I sat in on several of those early campaign meetings and was asked to play a leadership role in her campaign. I decided against playing a role – not because I didn’t think Meed Ward was a winner – it was clear that she had the potential to win. What wasn’t clear then, and still isn’t clear yet, is this: Does Meed Ward have what it takes to serve as the Mayor of Burlington? Can she develop the skills needed to serve as Mayor?
She is not there yet, but that isn’t going to stop her from trying. Could she beat Rick Goldring in 2018 – based on what Goldring did during the 2010-14 term of office her chances of winning in 2018 are better than even.
Meed Ward was more right than most people give her credit for on the pier issue. The city could have settled for much less than it did – but some smart political spin when the settlement was reached, allowed the city to come out looking like the winner.
 The pier was just a part of a longer term development that will next see a 22 storey condominium and an eight story hotel go up and possibly followed by a 28 storey tower as well.- The pier is just one part of the waterfront. There is a patch of land that is referred to as the “football” that is bound by Lakeshore Road and Old Lakeshore Road and has a reported 18 different property owners.
 The west end of the “football”, a patch of land with Lakeshore Road on he north side and Old Lakeshore Road on the south. Begging for intelligent planning. When the Waterfront Advisory Committee was in place they had plans to hold a design competition for some ideas as to what could be done with that part of the city. It was a good idea then (it was given to them by former Toronto Mayor David Crombie) and it is a good idea now. Meed Ward needs to find a way to move this from an idea into a reality. It would certainly position her very well for a run at the top job in 2018.
While that committee got shut down – they did produce some good information. They identified who the property owners were and what was possible and not possible from a planning perspective. Members of that committee learned all about “top of bank” which limits severely what can be done with the properties that line the lake along Old Lakeshore Road.
 Meed Ward used this graphic in her 2010 campaign to show what was possible within the “football”. She never dreamed that a developer would come along and ask to plunk a 28 storey structure across the street. There are significant limitations as to what can be done – but there is also significant opportunity – but nothing is going to happen without real vision and leadership from city hall. That hasn’t come from the Mayor nor has it come from Meed Ward.
Her very strong position on the possible sale of waterfront land makes it clear how she feels – there is an opportunity to put those feelings behind some concrete action in her second term.
By Pepper Parr
October 26, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
It isn’t always about who wins – it is often about how much they win by.
Looking at the Council you are going to elect on Monday – some thoughts on what to look for.
Ward 1
If Rick Craven gets anything less than 80% of the vote – his grip on Aldershot will not be what it was. Watch for the vote count Gary Milne gets.
 Councillor Meed Ward Ward 2
If Marianne Meed Ward falls below 70% of the vote – she has a problem
 Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor . Ward 3
If John Taylor gets less than 85% – take that to mean there is a change in the wind.
 Will Councillor Jack Dennison have more time to skate? Ward 4
Dennison could be gone – but it might prove to be a very tight race. The Roseland people exert a lot of clout. If Gottlob was able to penetrate the community south of Upper Middle Road as well as the community between Prospect and New Street Jack Dennison is in trouble. Total tossup in ward four.
Ward 5
 Will Councillor Paul Sharman return to the world of numbers? Sharman could be gone – this will be a close race with the difference between Sharman and Smith as low as 50 votes.
Ward 6
The question isn’t will she win – it is can she win? As to who might replace Lancaster – it’s pretty much a guessing game. The South Asian community could have taken the seat but they put up three candidates who did nothing but squabble with each other and lost the credibility they had. The police are currently investigating the behaviour of one candidate – we know – they have asked to talk to us about some email that was sent.
While Vanessa Warren is as good as they get – does she have the reach into Millcroft and Headon one needs to win?
Does Angelo Bentivegna have the reach into both the Alton community and north of Dundas to make it past the post first? There are too many people in his home community for him to pick up what he needs there.
 Will Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster have time to take up flying lessons? Can Lancaster hold onto enough of her core vote to slip through the middle? It is very tough to get a bet on Lancaster holding her seat.
And where will Jennifer Hlusko land? She had by the far the best mind of the lot – almost too smart for the job. Did she pick up any traction? Will her school board tenure work for her?
And finally – what will Jim Curran end up with when the votes are counted? He believes he has solid support within the Hindu community – will they put their X beside his name? It is a secret ballot.
For Mayor Goldring this election is going to be the equivalent of a performance review. He will still drive the car the city provides him in December. What will be interesting to see is how deep a bite Peter Rusin takes out of his hide.
 The Mayor will still have his bling Tuesday morning – it just might not be as shiny If Peter Rusin picks up more than 30% Rick Goldring needs to re-think the way he serves this city as Mayor. Anne Marsden might get 10% – probably less. The Marsden’s asked good questions and were spot on with several of the issues they brought forward.
Rick Goldring does not want to be at the 60% level.
 The election results will be available on the “front page” of the Gazette. Just click on the icon and check out the different ward results.
We were not able to include the school board results in our reports. It was a matter of time and resources.
Gary Carr will still be Regional Chair on Tuesday.
By Pepper Parr
October 25, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
He is the best educated member of this city Council.
 Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison always has an eye open for an economic opportunity. He has far more real business experience than anyone else on this Council.
He knows more about property and buildings the city owns than any other member of Council and he cannot help but get right down into the weeds on almost every issue.
During a discussion on what was causing the flooding August 4th on Dryden Street Dennison explained that all staff had to do was walk out into a storm water pond and cut a couple of feet off a pipe and the flooding would stop.
Jack Dennison loves the art of a deal. He is like a used car salesman with an unsuspecting buyer – he can’t help himself.
The idea of selling the Tyandaga Golf club was being discussed and Dennison thought that was a great idea – he had worked out how many upscale houses could be built, what the take for the city would be – he couldn’t wait to take a city owned asset that frequently lost money and turn it into something that would raise cash.
Mayor Goldring didn’t like the idea – he described it as a “cash grab” which is exactly what Dennison wanted it to be. That one didn’t fly.
 Dennison wants the city to stop renting space in the Simms building and add on to the existing city hall or build a new one. Dennison wants the city to get out of the Simms building which is across the street from city hall where a number of city departments are housed. He feels we could have bought the building given the rent that has been paid in the past 10 years. Dennison wants to either add two floors to the back of city hall or get out of the city hall building, which is far from energy efficient, and put up a purpose built structure with underground parking.
Dennison got drawn into politics back when Jack Diamond, a renowned architect who was advising the city on the development of Spencer Smith Park. He was fascinated with what a city council could do – there were deals galore just waiting to be done – all with tax payers money. In those days Dennison truly wanted to make a difference.
When a development proposal comes to council and what the developer is asking for is more than the city wants to give, Dennison does everything but take his pencil to their drawings and lob off a couple of units. Never too many; just a couple to leave the area residents feeling that they at least got something.
Dennison once said that he had yet to meet a municipal bureaucrat who couldn’t figure out how to spend more than was needed.
Dennison owns a heritage home on Lakeshore Road, yet would put the Joseph Brant Museum on a raft, push it into the lake and set it ablaze. He had no interest in saving the Freeman Station.
As the owner of Cedar Springs Health Racquet and Sports Club he does a significant amount of business with the city and from time to time he declares a conflict of interest.
 Dennison’s heritage home on Lakeshore Road; he made an application to sever the property – was denied and appealed to the OMB. That hearing has yet to be held. He lives in a community (Roseland) where the voters are fully informed and up to date on what is happening and are fierce when it comes to protecting the integrity of their community.
They live in million dollar homes and they don’t want anyone trifling with the value of their property or the character of the neighbourhood they live in. Large spacious lots are the norm in Roseland and the burghers over there want to keep it that way. Thus when Dennison applied for a severance of his property with the intention of building on and then selling the new lot, he was breaking a cardinal rule in the community – you don’ take what we have going for us and lessen its value.
Roseland likes the idea of large lots along Lakeshore Road – they speak of affluence, prestige and old money.
Dennison felt he had a strong case when he made the severance application to the Committee of Adjustment but he attempted to buy a strip of land from his neighbour to the east to create a little more in the way of lot size. They refused to sell and became key players in the Carol Gottlob campaign to replace Dennison.
Jack Dennison lives in a world where there are friends who do you favours and you do them favours in return.
Dennison never understood that as a Council member he was held to a higher standard than others. He was chosen by the taxpayers to represent their interests and to resolve their problems.
Dennison didn’t understand, still doesn’t, that while he has the right to apply for an adjustment to his property – it is a right the public does not expect him to use.
The locals felt he had broken all the rules and when it looked as if he had a vote already in place at the Committee of Adjustment (COA) the Roseland burghers were apoplectic. “We’ve become a banana republic” said one attendee at a very long contentious meeting.
 The Committee of Adjustment that denied the application for a severance to the Dennison property on Lakeshore Road. Was there a member of this committee that was influenced by Councillor Craven? Dennison chose to speak for himself at the CoA meeting; not his wisest move. He had to tangle with a planner that knew the file inside out and was not going to get tripped up by a member of council no matter how slick they might be.
Ward 4 doesn’t have a community council per se. The Roseland Community Association was created to fight the attempt to sever a Hart street property – they won that battle and hope to win the Dennison appeal of a CoA decision now at the OMB. That association now has 150 members; they incorporated because they realized there were going to be other severance applications that would end up at the OMB.
 Dennison gets right into issues with residents – usually knows more than anyone else in the room. Dennison, the best friend small developers have on Council, doesn’t understand the angst of the Roseland homeowners who believe small developers see their community as their company’s inventory for their business – not a community of homes and trees. The RCO is determined to maintain the character of the area: the developers want to buy, sever, build, sell and move on to the next opportunity and in the process significantly change the character of the community.
Dennison applied for membership in the Roseland Community Association; his application was rejected and he found himself in that ignoble position of being black-balled by the people he had been elected to represent.
Dennison, like Councillor Taylor consistently pushes more tax payers dollars and grant money from the province into the infrastructure deficit but doesn’t own up to the fact that that deficit was built up during the past 20 years they were both members of council.
Dennison doesn’t flinch for a second when he reduces the portion of the gas tax payment from the province that normally goes into transit and increases what is used to “shave and pave” the city’s roads.
One sometimes thinks that Dennison sees transit as a necessary evil; for Dennison everything and everyone is supposed to pay their way. That others may fall on hard times is something Dennison understands but he doesn’t think it is the role of Council to be there to help out – usually.
 Councillor Dennison lets home owners bend his ear. But then there was the horrific flood August 4th and people needed help – and Jack Dennison was there to help. He had an election to win and he needed to get the anger over his severance application off the front page; helping people with their flood issues was just the tickets He consistently told people that he had been into more than 1000 basements – given the number of days that had passed since the flood the math didn’t support his claim.
Both Councillors Sharman and Dennison were now very active helping people who had been flooded.
These people were not going to have to get themselves out of this mess – their Council member was there to help them.
While campaigning door to door Jack found himself calling upon a woman who he had once been on city council with and was a little stunned to see a Gottlob sign on the lawn. He appeared to think that the collegiality that once experienced on Council was still in play. It wasn’t.
The 2008 recession did a lot of damage to the Burlington economy. Dennison’s sports operation relies on discretionary spending and that had been reduced significantly in thousands of Burlington households.
Cedar Springs is a large operation with fixed costs that have to be met. Tax bills from the city came in but didn’t get paid. Dennison found himself as a business person whose taxes were in arrears but serving as a member of the Council that direct staff.
There was nothing illegal about delaying the payment of taxes; funds that would have been used to pay taxes were used to cover operating costs. Cash was king and Dennison did what every business person does – you do what you have to do to stay alive.
And he did stay alive – it wasn’t easy. The business community in this city fully understood.
 Dennison taking part in the Strategic Plan sessions early in this term of office. Dennison holds his community meetings in his sports club. It used to be that if you wanted to see the ward 4 Councillor you traveled over to his office at Cedar Springs on Cumberland. During much of the 2006-2010 term Dennison didn’t have an office at city hall – felt he didn’t need one and that the job was really just part time. He didn’t have a full time assistant either – shared one with another council member.
This ward’s election issue has settled down to a battle between a candidate with no municipal experience and an incumbent with more than 20 years as a council member – and his seat is at risk.
By Pepper Parr
October 25, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The Gazette is doing profiles of each member of Council. They are based on four years of observations and interviews with most Council members. An overview of the ward they serve is linked to the profile.
Rick Craven; a well-entrenched incumbent facing five challengers one whose web site address is “Had enough yet?” which does say something about voter satisfaction in the most westerly ward in the city.
Question here is – can the incumbent deal with that part of the ward that is very unhappy with the way they have been dealt with?
 As a Standing Committee chair, Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven is as good as it gets. Handling delegations and accepting the ideas of other people – not as good. But he wins elections. Rick Craven is a strong administrator, who knows the Procedural bylaw manual better than anyone else at city hall – and is the strongest Standing Committee chair this Council has. He is quick with his facts and has the ability to skate around an issue better than his two colleagues who have 20 years + experience as Council members.
What Craven has in administrative capacity is weakened by his people skills; Craven isn’t comfortable with people – unless he can control them.
He chooses his issues and is unyielding once he has taken a position. He is brittle, has a sense of humour that is tough to find at times.
Our assessment of Councillor Craven is the result of watching him for the past four years, a number of lunches with him and several situations, where we reported on an event that Councillor Craven would rather not have mentioned.
 Rick Craven: Best committee chair the city has; not big on the warm fuzzy stuff though. Needs a hug badly. There was an occasion one evening at a Conservation Authority meeting when Craven said he “might take a shot at being mayor”. That came as a surprise.
 More candidate than Craven could manage? Sandra Pupatello on a trip through town looking for local support for her Liberal leadership bid. Craven was prepared to let the party romance him. What didn’t surprise us was the close look he took at a possible run for the Burlington seat at Queen’s Park. Jane McKenna ran against Craven in 2010 when she was soundly trounced. Craven was pretty sure he could trounce her again – his issue at the time was who the Premier was going to be. Sandra Pupatello, who was giving Kathleen Wynne a good run for her money at the time, met with Craven at a local Liberal event, but nothing came of it. Craven would have made a good MPP.
His strength is not in working with small groups – unless he has close to total control. The General Manager of the Aldershot Business Improvement Association doesn’t open the door to the office without calling the ward Councillor.
 The Beachway residents have vowed to do everything they can to defeat Councillor Craven in the October 2014 municipal election and have designed a button they are distributing. The Beachway residents found that they had no support whatsoever from their Councillor, when the matter of what was going to be done with the Beachway part of the waterfront, was being fiercely debated at both city council and the Region.
Craven tends to see skulduggery where there is none; he believes that developers will eventually buy up the property in the Beachway and we will see sky-high condos built along the edge of the lake close to the Hamilton border.– Jurisdictionally, the Beachway is a mess; everyone has a finger in that pie. Burlington wasn’t able to come up with a unified position on what it wanted, which left Councillor Craven promoting his view, with no input from the people who lived in that community.
Councillor Jack Dennison had some ideas on what could be done with the Beachway. That should have been given more attention. Craven didn’t really have any ideas for what is one of the most important pieces of property in the city and a vital part of the recreational element of the Region.
If Burlington doesn’t think through and have a position on what that part of the city is to be, we stand a chance of becoming a playground for the Region. Halton’s Wasaga Beach south if you will.
The residents felt they were entitled to the support of their Council member. Unfortunately he didn’t personally think they should be where they lived and would point to minor encroachments and the number of times that some pieces of property had changed hands in the recent past.
The Beachway had, still has, a small core community that fought very hard to get the Regional government to look at the location a little differently.
Councillor Craven fought hard against the 30 home owners in that community and they were justifiably upset. Tempers of a few of the residents flared – so much so that Councillor Craven felt his personal safety was in jeopardy and asked the city hall security guard to escort him to his car – which was maybe 15 yards outside the city hall door.
 Councillor Craven inspecting the Pump House on the Beachway – thinks the place could serve as the Official Residence for the Ward Councillor Councillor Craven is not a people person; he is uncomfortable listening to the small problems people have; he has a tendency to denigrate his constituents privately. There have been occasions when Beachway residents have had to appeal to a Councillor from another ward for help.
Our assessment of Councillor Craven is not as complete as we would have liked it to be. Walter Byj, a freelance reporter with the Gazette asked for an interview with Craven on several occasions:
August 22nd- wrote e-mail to assistant Kathi requesting an interview for the Burlington Gazette.
Sept. 5th- sent follow-up e-mail to Kathi re request for interview. Received reply that as a city employee, she can not organize any election related events. Advised that she would forward my request to Craven.
Sept. 9th- sent e-mail directly to Craven asking for an interview and have not received a reply.
It is irresponsible for a Councillor to make themselves available when they like what is being written, but become unavailable when they don’t like what is written. It is small, petty and unbecoming an elected official; there is a higher standard for those chosen to lead.
 Plains Road; an old highway transitions into a vibrant urban main street. Craven is immensely proud of the work he has done in the 14 years he has served on Council representing the Aldershot residents. Plains Road has been vastly improved and while it has been a struggle – in time the development that Plains Road needs will settle in Aldershot. It will not happen easily – the smallest change to the community upsets the older population as well as people who just plain don’t want change in their community.
Craven at least understands that change is both inevitable and necessary. While the city shared the development of the King Road grade separation – Craven wanted everyone to know that with that road more open to traffic, new business would work its way to the area. He is immensely proud of the grade separation.
Councillor Craven is not a popular person – warm and cuddly he ain’t. He is though, the best Standing Committee chair this city council has and he knows the procedural manual better than anyone else – including the current city clerk.
 When it is to his advantage Councillor Craven will dress for the occasion. He wanted people to know that he was truly local at this heritage event. There are those in the community however, who want a Councillor who is:
open; approachable; empathetic; trustworthy; ethical; can be believed without reservation; representative of all residents’; someone who can differentiate between concerns and interests impartially and neutrally; not appearing to possess and pursue a personal agenda regardless of residents views; ensures openness, transparency and accountability in his own dealings and at City Hall in general; faithfully carries out their sworn and legislated responsibilities and duties; actively promotes meaningful citizen engagement in decision-making; shares authority for decision-making; is cost effective and benefits conscious – recognizes the difference between needs and wants.
There is talk out there that the incumbent is lacking in some of these.
Residents would like a Ward 1 Citizens Advisory Committee that meets regularly to open up the raising, discussion and debating issues. This is distinct from the present Aldershot information meetings the Council member holds where the flow of information is one way – from him to them.
Gary Milne, a candidate for the ward 1 seat sums it up quite well with his web site: www.hadenoughyet.ca
 Burlington Councillors Rick Craven and Marianne Meed Ward supported Liberal candidate Karmel Sakran during press event. One of the very few occasions, when the two pose for the camera together. Ward 2 councillor Marianne Meed Ward runs a very robust and effective Ward Council, which she listens and reports to – she sees her ward council as the group that keeps her focused and grounded. Residents of Aldershot would very much like to see such an organization.
Councillor Craven attended one of the Meed Ward’s community council meetings – but none of what gets done in ward 2 seemed to rub off on the ward 1 Councillor.
The Aldershot Business Improvement Association is far from an arm’s length organization. Councillor Craven determines what gets done and when it is going to get done; General manager Bob Meehan follows.
There are residents in Aldershot, who want Openness, Transparency and Accountability- they are not likely to see much as long as Craven represents the ward – it just isn’t his personal style. There is an older population that is comfortable with the authority Craven projects; that is a large part of his core vote.
Councillor Craven sits beside Councillor Meed Ward at city council meetings – it is frequently an uncomfortable time for both. He can’t stand her and she has no time for him. Craven can be crass and mean at times. He has been known to give delegators to city council a very difficult time – and if it happens to be someone from his ward that he crosses swords with – they don’t get the courtesies one expects from a person with some authority.
Townsend Ave., which runs parallel to Plains Road on the south side is an example of what many think is the incumbent’s pet project and has been since before 2008; residents only found out about it by accident at a meeting on the Presbyterian church site application in 2010.
The problem on Townsend started out as a speeding issue that could have been fixed with a stop sign. Some residents, including Tom Muir, who lives on the street, think Craven wants to make Townsend Ave an overflow for heavy traffic from Plains Rd. Muir believes that is the plan and what current planning discussions suggest. Muir is quick to add that he lives on Townsend.
A number of residents talk about term limits and feel that after three terms, a council member should hang up their spurs and make room for new blood. In Aldershot the sense that many have is that other than the election, there is really no apparent way for them to hold their Councillor accountable. Between elections a council member can do what they want.
 Rick Craven knows his ward, has his own agenda which he doesn’t share with everyone in his community. Is there a life beyond city hall for Craven? Greg Woodruff, currently running for the Chair of Regional Council, with no experience, said he chose that route to get some issues on the table. “Why didn’t I run against Councillor Craven? I didn’t have a hope of winning.” He doesn’t have a hope of defeating Regional Chair Gary Carr either, but the point is made – there are people very frustrated over the leadership they are getting, but find they have not been able to organize effectively to bring about a change.
Tom Muir, one of the residents who was prepared to go on record said: “Craven will point out that I have my opinion, but others have theirs; however he adds, there is no forum, where these different opinions are revealed, just his assertions. “Then he does, what he wants behind this cover of contrived controversy. This is a general thing, and he uses it to dismiss views he doesn’t want.”
Muir says Craven is “willing to distort demographics and traffic counts and cut corners to get what he wants or to defend a position; he is not one to advocate transparency.”
Muir adds that there was a time, when he voted for Craven. He now thinks that term limits are a good idea.
There are a number of issues in the ward that came up during the term of Council that is ending, that highlight the approach Councillor Craven takes to situations.
Eagle Heights is still nowhere near a start date; the Bridgepoint idea made it to Council, but Craven couldn’t move it forward as much as an inch; it was outside the urban boundary and nothing was going to happen.
 Craven is delighted with the memory stick that has a city budget on it – he has a very strong grasp of the city’s finances. The community is still waiting for a supermarket and an LCBO outlet. The supermarket was going to follow the growth in population that projects, like the multi-tower Drewlo apartment complex were expected to deliver. They then learned that Drewlo is not made up of families – so no supermarket yet.
The owners of the Murray variety store at Waterdown and Plains Road, were told that the city needed some of their property to widen Waterdown Road
Hearings were held, the hearing officer found that the city didn’t need all the land they were asking for – didn’t matter – all the property was expropriated by the city.
Just north of the variety store there is a branch of the Royal Bank that has a lease which will expire soon.
 The Lee family had property they owned expropriated. City didn’t need all the land – but took it anyway. Councillor Craven didn’t say a word during the council discussion. Further up Waterdown, at Masonry Court, the Paletta interests sold a large piece of land to Adi Development for a reported sum of $14 million. Masonry Court is yards south of the GO station.
Waterdown leads right into the 403.
 The city needed just part 1 – they took part two as well because they could – reasons for doing so were made behind closed doors. The owners were never told why. Property at the corner of Plains Road and Waterdown would be seen as prime real estate. The Korean family that owned the property was prepared to sell what the city needed. They were prepared to sign off on the sale of property to expedite the actual property title transfer so the road widening could begin.
City chose to expropriate and did so on July 14th. Councillor Craven didn’t say a single word on behalf of his constituents during the discussion nor did he ask any questions of their legal counsel.
The city needed land for the reconstruction and widening of Waterdown Road between Plains Road and Masonry Court including the provisions of full municipal services. It needs to buy property to do that work. Vito Tolone, Senior Transportation Planner in the Engineering Department testified at a Hearing of Necessity that “as presently configured, Waterdown Road will not be able to accommodate the travel demand growth anticipated by 2031″
Mr. Tolone testified that sometime between Environmental Assessment (EA) (December 6, 2006) and the Notice of Expropriation being served on the land owner on or about March 24, 2014 the City of Burlington decided that it was desirable that the City expropriate more land than required to perform the scope of the work contemplated in the EA document. On that basis, the City seeks a full expropriation of the Lee property.
Having your property taken from you when all the evidence indicates that all of the land is not needed is as drastic as state intervention can get. The Lee’s did not want to give up all their property yet their Council member did not say a single word during the public session of that July 14th public meeting. He did not ask questions of the Lees when they delegated nor did he asks questions of their lawyer when he delegated.
Council did go into a Closed Session that evening but we’ve no idea what, if anything, Councillor Craven said.
Since that July meeting we learn that the Royal Bank lease is up for renewal and that Adi Development has purchased a large swath of land for $14 million from the Paletta interests. There is certainly a lot of development going on in ward 1 – but the Lees are not going to be a part of it.
 For Councillor Craven the opening of the King Road grade separation was like a parade: he understood the development potential possible from the better flow of traffic. Citizens in Burlington are moving beyond the practice of sending someone to city council to represent them and having that person make all the decisions without any input from the broader community. Public participation in the decision making process has evolved and now calls for a level of transparency and collaboration that some have difficulty with
Burlington has a Public Engagement Charter which Councillor Craven is aware of but not comfortable with. He does know that procedural manual inside out though.
Link to Lee expropriation
 By Walter Byj
October 25th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It was dark and an autumn coolness was setting in, but that did not stop the arrival of even more people to the 407 overpass on Guelph Line. As with all the bridges over the 407, Burlingtonians gathered to pay final respects to the fallen soldier Nathan Cirillo.
It was a solemn crowd that began to gather at least an hour prior to the passing of the hearse.
With the early autumn sunset, visibility was limited; everyone stood quietly awaiting the procession.
 Small crowd waits at the Hwy 407 Guelph Line overpass for the hearse carrying the body of Nathan Cirillo to Hamilton. And then at 7:30 pm, the body of CPL Cirillo was met by applause from the crowd as it passed beneath the Guelph Line overpass and continued the trip to Hamilton.
Hopefully these events like this will be limited in the future – personal tragedy is usually the genesis.
But if that moment should occur again, I know that the citizens of Burlington will once again honour a fallen hero.
By Pepper Parr
October 24, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman Ward five Councillor Paul Sharman, complains that the media were not able to act as a viable conduit through which to convey information in a reliable way but after an article that summed up his performance during his first term of office, Sharman asks that we clarify several points he has made in the past – and which we have reported upon.
He want the Gazette to address:
1: A Region Wide Flooding Study.
2: The 100% cost coverage for the short term remediation of about 100 homes in high risk flooding areas.
3: The staff direction he brought forward to waive building permit fees to flooded homes for installation of backwater valves and sump pumps.
4: The many hundreds of emails to Ward 5 home owners communicating on a one on one basis rather than through other forms of communication, because the media were not able to act as a viable conduit through which to convey information in a reliable way.
First: the staff direction I asked the Mayor bring forward to Region Council July 9th via Public Works Committee on July 2nd. I spoke to the direction at both committee and Council and in each case it was passed unanimously. Here are the details:
THAT staff be directed to undertake a Region-wide study, in consultation with Conservation uthorities and Local Building Departments, to identify causes and potential remedies with regard to historical basement flooding and that this study identify the factors that contribute to the basement flooding events and possible remedies, including capital projects on the public side as well as private side solutions and the feasibility of ordering changes on private properties to ensure separation of storm water and wastewater discharge systems.
THAT staff report back to Council summarizing the results of the study by June 2015.
Sharman was very active in his work with 40 homeowners that were flooded on May 13th in Ward 5. This culminated in a meeting of 80 home owners with Public Works Commissioner, Jim Harnum on July 31 at Appleby Ice.
All work that was done led to a clear awareness at the Region and City that clusters of Burlington homes have flooded multiple times over the last 40 years. All 40 homes flooded again on August 4th, only 3 times worse. At the August 14th special meeting of Council a memo was approved:
Be It Therefore Resolved that the Council for the Corporation of the City of Burlington respectfully requests Halton Region give immediate priority and attention to address the sanitary sewage issues of those residents who have experienced flooding and significant property loss and damage on multiple occasions including but not limited to May 13, 2014 and August 4, 2014;
At that same special Council meeting on August 14th Council passed a motion Sharman put forward to:
Direct the City Solicitor and the Director of Planning and Building to investigate the implications of establishing a program to assist homeowners with the cost of building permit fees payable under Building Permit By-law 52-2012 and; Direct the City Solicitor and Director of Planning and Building to report back to the September 8, 2014 Development and Infrastructure Committee meeting outlining details of the program for qualifying homeowners which will include the following conditions:
a) The subject property qualifies for the Ex-Gratia Sewer Back-up Flooding Grant Program offered by the Region of Halton; and
b) The subject property experienced basement flooding as a result of the extreme rainfall on August 4, 2014; and
c) The application for a building permit is received prior to December 24, 2014; and
d) The permit applied for is for the installation of an approved backwater valve and/or weeping tile disconnection from the sanitary system and the installation of a sump pump.
Neither the Region nor City staff provided names and addresses of homes/homeowners who flooded on either May 13 or August 4th for “privacy” reasons. With the help of a dozen volunteers I held 12 neighbourhood meetings, one of which you attended, which were advertised by flyers being placed in hundreds of homes mailboxes and posted on lamp posts. In addition I spoke to over 300 home owners in the three weeks immediately following August 4th on the phone.
 Councillor Paul Sharman tends to be very direct. Here, in the blue shirt, he makes a point during the Strategic Plan meetings in 2011. Most people would see all this as part of a day’s work for a city Councillor. Paul Sharman wanted us to bring it to your attention.
We do want to point out that the community meeting we did attend was one at which we were told very clearly that we were not welcome.
Media cannot do their job if they are not informed – and for the most part Councilor Sharman doesn’t inform. Today he did and we pass along his achievements.
Related articles:
Paul Sharman: an assesment
Ward 5; potential and problems.
By Staff
October 24, 2014
Burlington, ON
In the early morning hours of October 24th 2014, The Halton Regional Police, Burlington Strategic Support Team (SST), concluded a drug trafficking investigation that resulted in five arrests and the execution of Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrant at two Burlington residences.
Seized as a result of the Investigation:
647 grams of marihuana (approximately 22.82 ounces/ 1.43 pounds),
37 grams of cocaine
6.2 grams of cannabis resin
$270.00 in cash
.32 Calibre revolver with serial number removed
Four rounds of .32 calibre ammunition
Brass knuckles
Sheathed buck knife
Digital scales
Packaging material
The drugs have an estimated street value of $8,500
 More than a pound of marihuana – it was the weapon that made the police edgy about this raid. Taylor BIXBY (23 yrs) of Woodview Rd. in Burlington, Madeline SIMON (18 yrs) of Guelph Line in Burlington and Alexander BROWN (20 yrs) of Guelph Line in Burlington were arrested and held for bail charged jointly with the following offences:
Possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) for the Purpose of Trafficking
Possession of a controlled substance (marihuana) for the Purpose of Trafficking
Unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon
Unauthorized possession of a firearm
Careless storage of a firearm
Possession of firearm with serial number removed
Knowledge of unauthorized possession of firearm
Possession of a prohibited firearm
BIXBY is also charged separately with the following offences:
Possession of a controlled substance (cannabis resin)
Carry a concealed weapon
Careless storage of ammunition
Possession of ammunition while prohibited
Unauthorized possession of prohibited ammunition in a motor vehicle
Fail to comply with probation
Police also arrested Dylan MENKES-COSTA (19 yrs) Dundas St. in Burlington and Rachel PLAYFAIR-SIMON (19 yrs) Guelph Line in Burlington. They were released on an appearance notice and will appear in Milton Court on November 24th 2014 for the following charge:
Possession of a controlled substance (marihuana) for the Purpose of Trafficking
The origin of the handgun is still being investigated.
Investigators remind the public to utilize Crime Stoppers to report any illegal drug, gun or gang activity at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637(crimes)
 By Pepper Parr
October 24, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
People parking on the shoulder of the road along the rural part of Guelph Line are getting parking tickets and they don’t understand why. “This concerns a parking ticket I received recently off Walkers Line near the entrance to the Bruce Trail hike that goes up to Mount Nemo” said a citizen.
“My family has been hiking up to Mount Nemo several times a year for at least 15 years and parking on the shoulder either on Walkers Line or No 2 Side Road.”
“There are several places with no signs saying parking is not permitted . Last year we checked with an officer who was handing out tickets and he claimed we could park on the shoulder where there are no signs.”
“This is what we did – parked on the south side of No 2 Side Road. But we were ticketed in any case. And now we are told that we should know that there is no parking allowed on any shoulder. This means that ALL the hikers (and there are many) using this trail are parking illegally. It seems that the Bruce Trail is ‘the spider’s web’ and that Burlington parking authority is the ‘spider’.”
“This is totally unfair and unjust. Either put up signs that there is no parking allowed or stop handing out tickets.”
 Bruce Trail access off Guelph Line is used by hundreds each week – some are getting smacked with parking tickets. City has worked out a solution. Bruce Zvaniga, Director of Transportation Services seems to agree there is a problem and has said the “quick solution, we will be permitting parking in a signed area on the east side of Walkers Line, north of No.2 Side Road adjacent to the cemetery, where the shoulder is wider. “
Zvaniga adds that “ Parking is unsafe and illegal on roadway shoulders and this offence is not generally signed (because it applies everywhere).
“However”, he adds “we absolutely want to encourage walking – the Bruce Trail is a gem. We are definitely not seeking to issue tickets so we are proactively looking for a solution.”
“Our preferred solution that we are working on in parallel, is to have a small off-road parking area provided on the west side adjacent to the Bruce Trail entry point. This location would be safer, more convenient and not require pedestrians to cross Walkers Line. To accomplish this, we will need the cooperation and assistance of Conservation Halton who have ownership of the land.”
“In addition, this location will be the catalyst for a broader discussion with the Bruce Trail, Conservation Halton and ourselves about providing safe, legal parking areas that will allow people to enjoy the trail.”
Perhaps you can’t beat city hall – but you can get them to see things a little differently you just have to talk to them – and a little media attention doesn’t hurt.
 By James Smith
October 24, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
The Red Cross identified more than 200 homes that were severely damaged. The city asked the Burlington Community Foundation to take on the task of raising funds from within the community and handle the processing of flood relief applications. Aid is available only to the people who had no insurance or were under insured. Many of those who did not have insurance were unable to buy insurance because of past flood claims. To date there are something in the order of 40 applications received by the Community Foundation. James Smith knows of at least five people who do not understand the forms and believes there are others. He wants the city to lend a hand.
Open Letter
Mr. Patrick Moyle, Interim City Manager, The City of Burlington
As you may know I am a candidate for Burlington’s Ward 5 in Monday’s municipal election but this is not a political message. Rather this is an urgent request to the civic administration, on behalf of the many people who have had their lives and property damaged by the storm of August 4th.
The City of Burlington needs to help, advise and offer direction on the process of how to make claim through the Ontario Disaster Relief Plan (ODRAP) that the Burlington Community Foundation (BCF) is managing.
The process is almost unknown to a large number of residents who had their homes damaged by the events of August 4th. The form, as developed by the BCF may be thorough, but is only readily available from the BCF’s website, and many seniors do not readily have access to the internet, the form is also 13 pages long and fairly complex. Add to these hurdles, the process is not well understood by many.
Here’s what thousands of residents of Burlington’s South East need, and need right away:
Train a handful of City Staff, (15-25) from any department, and familiarized these City Staff members with the ODRAP process, the forms produced by the Burlington Community Foundation (BCF) and how to fill out the forms and how to deal with questions from those who will apply.
Organize staff into teams to hold small scale meetings in a large number of locations across the South East of the City, in City facilities but also in non traditional locations such as: Places of Worship, Stores, Restaurants, Work Places and even private residences.
Use whatever means possible to let those who’ve been damaged know about when and where meeting will take place. Do not simply rely on Advertising in local media and city websites and social media. Old school methods should include flyers, door-to door canvas, mobile signs and posters on utility poles.
Organize meetings that are part information and part working meetings with greeters directing the public to either information or intake workers.
These meetings need to be working meetings that focus on having these members of city staff to assist residents fill out & and accept forms and documentation, and follow-up with those who apply or who need further information.
As a city, I feel we owe this kind of effort, at the very least, to those in our community who have been damaged by the events of August 4th.
I trust you agree with me and will find the resources to accomplish this without delay or direction from council because; it is the right thing to do.
By Pepper Parr
October 24, 2104
BURLINGTON, ON
It is the ward that current MP Mike Wallace ran in; it is the ward that Current Mayor Rick Goldring ran in and it is the ward currently served by Paul Sharman who is completing his first term as an elected official.
It is a diverse ward with that doesn’t have the patch of affluence in the south end that wards 4 and 2 have. It does have communities that were poorly planned – no fault of Sharman’s – that have significant parking problems.
 The ward runs from Appleby to Burloak – Dundas to the Lake.
The plaza at Appleby and New Street could be a challenge – depending on how one looks at the building of high rise towers. The First Capital project will certainly go a long way to producing the housing units the city has to come up with to meet the province’s Places to Grow intensification mandate.
There is a considerable amount of Employment Lands in the ward as well – much of it owned by the Paletta interests. While Sharman has been a member of the board of the Economic Development Corporation we’ve not heard much from him or seen much in the way of leadership in developing the property along Mainway and Harvester Road that run through the ward.
Nothing either on what could be done with the large tract of land on Upper Middle Road where it joins Burloak.
The economic engines of Burlington are located for the most part on Mainway, Harvester and that clutch of buildings at Burloak and the QEW. Has Paul Sharman manged to have any influence on how the economy and the job growth of this has been shaped during his first for years on Council?
There is a significant senior’s population in the ward that Councillor Sharman has catered to but he hasn’t delivered all that much for that demographic.
The Skyway Plaza in the east end is in desperate need of an upgrade but no one at council or at city hall can get through to the owner. Despite Sharman’s producing a staff direction nothing has come of the various efforts. Is there something going on in the background? Is there going to be a surprise announcement? Probably not at this point but that plaza does need serious attention.
The Appleby arena is in the ward; there isn’t a hockey parent in the city that isn’t unhappy with the way the place is scheduled but there is nothing any member of Council could do to keep those parents happy.
There has been some excellent small scale development at Dundas/Appleby cluster and quite a bit of development at Dundas and Appleby.
The major development at the top of the ward – at Sutton and Dundas has managed to get out of the planning department and past city council to the Ontario Municipal Board.
In May of this year the city chose to oppose the applications for Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments, submitted on behalf of Adi Development Group Inc., to permit a mixed use development consisting of 298 residential units in four connected apartment buildings and 1249 m2 of ground floor commercial development. That project is now at the Ontario Municipal Board where there is a settlement that has not yet been signed off on yet.
The Planning department was the lead on this – there didn’t appear to be much input from the Council member.
 It is going to be a large project – the OMB will make the decision probably based on agreements that are already in place. Council supported a modified approval of the applications for Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments to permit a mixed use development at the southeast corner of Dundas Street and Sutton Drive in accordance with the revisions recommended by planning staff.
On January 2, 2014, the city received an appeal of the Official Plan Amendment and rezoning applications, submitted by the applicant, for council’s failure to make a decision on the applications within the 180 and 120 day time frames in the Planning Act.
The record of the applications are now before the Ontario Municipal Board. The Ontario Municipal Board held a hearing on June 24, 2014 that was scheduled for four days – lasted just two. Minutes of settlement have been prepared and agreed upon – the city now awaits a decision from the OMB.
During the various deliberations there wasn’t all that much heard from Councillor Sharman. We did hear him talk about the need for more space between the project – which is very large in scale and the houses to the south.
We did hear from Sharman on the need for better security along the pathway beside Bronte Creek. One never got the sense that the council member for the ward was really in charge of; leading and directing the growth in his ward.
A project of this size and significance in ward 1 would have Councillor Craven’s finger prints all over it – that level of involvement doesn’t seem to be the way things are done in ward 5.
Yet when it comes to the budget or the need for better, more detailed data – Paul Sharman is all over the discussion. He would appear to be more comfortable with paper and numbers than he is with people.
In his campaign literature Sharman sets out what he feels he has done.
John W. Boich Public School surplus land parkette in The Orchard was approved after much community involvement. Getting started has taken a year longer than expected because contaminated soil found on the site had to be removed. I expect work will begin in spring 2015.
Parking changes that he promoted in Uptown and The Orchard that allow overnight parking, coupled with the city wide on road increase from 3 hours to 5 hours, have been well received. However, a change that was made with insufficient community engagement banned parking on the apron, perpendicular to the road. This has caused significant, unnecessary disruption and many tickets and needs to be permitted. Community members are circulating petitions for change, which I support.
 Lakeside Plaza is a blight on the delightful neighbourhoods of south east Burlington. I asked and obtained council agreement to direct staff to contact the owner about making improvements. As a result, the owner has approached the City to discuss possibilities for redevelopment. Preliminary plans call for residential and retail mixed use. It will be a while before we hear anything official.
 It is an arena badly in need of an updte. There was discussion about a plan to roll the arena into a package that would see a major upgrade done to a part of the city that needs an economic shot in the arm.  I asked staff to evaluate how Skyway Arena might be improved to better serve the community in which it is located. Someone misinterpreted that as meaning it should be sold. The possibilities for Skyway Park/Arena include additions of a library branch, seniors centre, community meeting rooms and a transit hub, which should be designed to work well with the redevelopment of Lakeside Plaza.
 The First Capital proposal doesn’t have the blessing of the ward Councillor – he doesn’t want kids to have to play in a supermarket parking lot. Appleby Mall proposed towers are unacceptable to me and community members. Apart from all the other concerns, the idea of raising hundreds of children in a parking lot is really troublesome.
ADI development at Sutton and Dundas has been a problem since it was first discussed. At the outset I held community meetings to review developer proposals. I have always opposed the plans because of height, density, traffic and congestion concerns. Those concerns led to the development application process to be slowed down. The developer then asked the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to intervene, effectively taking the matter out of Councils hands. In an attempt to settle at the OMB, ADI negotiated increased setbacks with City staff. We still await the OMB final ruling. Irrespective, the development is still going to be a source of much discomfort for existing community members. Meanwhile ADI have recently filed a site plan with about 290 units, 3 x6 story and 1x 4 story building.
 The debate between the delegator and the Council member on this project on Pineland was memorable. The delegator ended up being the candidate and James Smith is now running against Paul Sharman By working with the community we accomplished significant changes to be made from what was originally proposed for Pinedale Plaza. Those changes made it more acceptable to the community. Neighbours are understandably frustrated with the amount of time it is taking to get things moving, they want it finished.
Combined 4 year City, Region and education property tax increase on your household bill 2011-2014 was 6.2% inclusive of funding for the Hospital. City budget increases of 12.7% including the hospital levy were offset by assessment growth in Region of Halton and education budgets. Total council pay increase for the last four years was 5.75%. Council pay increase calculations are very thoughtfully determined by an advisory committee, which stops Councillors from meddling.
Council is investing in Burlington Transit (BT), despite what some people like to say. Smaller buses have been purchased and Council voted, this year, to spend $2m to implement software that will, amongst other things, allow management to track buses and analyze where people get on and off buses. This information was not available previously. In 2012, Council was advised that BT operating performance was the worst in its peer group of 13 other municipalities. I support good transit management and future investments in a good transit plan when staff is able to provide one.
 The flood became a political issue that the Council members for wards 4 and 5 didn’t know quite how to handle. It was a Regional matter and Burlington’s city Council doesn’t have much in the way of clout at the Region. Damage to both the property and the lives of the people whose homes were flooded got turned into the base on which an election campaign was built. Sharman tried very hard to get something going at the Regional level but that organization has chosen to be unresponsive.
Will that change after the election? If Sharman is re-elected will he manage to make a difference at the Regional level. Try as he might – he hasn’t managed to get the Region to respond to the needs of his community – so far.
Related material:
Paul Sharman: An assessment.
By Pepper Parr and Walter Byj
October 24, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Although his venture into local politics was somewhat by accident, the past four years have whetted his appetite and he now wants an additional four more years as the Councillor for ward 5.
 Paul Sharman served on the Shape Burlington Committee along with Lancaster. He was a bit of a “bull in a china shop” with that organization and brought the trait along with him when he got elected to Council. In a recent conversation with the Gazette, Paul Sharman reflected on his current term and shared his thoughts for the future of Burlington. With the analytical mind of an accountant (he was in the top 100 influential people in American accounting circles for the years of 2005, 2006 and 2007) and a strong advocate of a strong and sustainable community, Sharman continues to weigh the practical vs idealistic.
He was against the changes proposed for Sherwood Park in its bid as a training field for the Pan Am Games as he believed it would bring more light and noise pollution to the neighbourhood.
He also wants to remove any plans that would extend Fairview Street to Burloak as this could potentially stream additional traffic into the neighbourhood. Ward five is now facing aging infrastructure in both its roads and facilities.
Although Centennial pool has been modernized, the Skyway Arena requires a badly needed facelift. And the local Lakeside Plaza needs renovating, but that is a private matter.
 As the communities to the north and east of Burlington keep expanding, fiscal sustainability and community management should be a major focus for Burlington. Although Burlington will experience minimal population growth relative to the other municipalities in the Region, the half a million additional neighbouring residents could easily put a strain on our infrastructure through attending our various festivals or the increase of our commercial base. As a member of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation, Sharman is committed to bringing business growth into Burlington and wants to ensure that the added traffic can be handled.
Asked if the re-election of the provincial Liberal party would be an asset to Burlington, he felt that they are more sensitive to the needs of municipalities but he is awaiting the Ontario go forth strategy.
As all governments struggle to secure funds, especially municipalities, Sharman was asked if Burlington should have more taxing powers to help cover costs. An emphatic no was his response as he felt that Canadians are taxed enough already. “We need to make better use of the funds that we now have.”
 With transit in the GTA being a major concern, was Sharman favourable to the daily 15 minute GO service. In some ways he said it might be counterproductive as he wants more Burlington residents working in Burlington and not commuting to Toronto. He has the same conflict with the proposed new provincial highway through Niagara and north of Burlington. He understands the need to protect the Niagara escarpment and the unique status of the Mt. Nemo plateau, yet he worries how the huge increase in traffic along the QEW will affect Burlington. He acknowledges that different modes of transport should be studied, but we still seem to be an automobile based society.
 Sharman and former Burlington Transit Director Donna Shepherd never did have a close working relationship. Did this contribute to her retirement? In the same vein, Sharman said “we need to come up with a better plan for Burlington transit. The current system is not effective. We need to design a system that is sensitive to the needs of our community”. New software that has been acquired by the city will enable the planners to get a better understanding of the traffic patterns of the current riders and this will enable to build a transit system that will be unique to Burlington using the proper equipment.”
Asked why the voters should return him to council, he cited his former high level managerial positions that allow him to view tasks from a macro perspective thus allowing for a better overall viewpoint.
 Frank McKeown, then the Mayors Chief of Staff explains a concept to Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman. McKeown was described as the 7th council member during the Strategic Plan sessions. He is now the Executive Director of the Economic Development Corporation of which Sharman has been a city representative Responding to a fanciful question of what would he do if a huge amount of money, with no strings attached, suddenly appeared before city council, he responded that he would initially put the money in reserves. “We don’t need more stuff” he said. Rather he would want to spend the cash prudently on projects that will continue to have Burlington remain as the best mid-size city in Canada. Spoken as a true accountant.
This ward is very healthy from a political perspective. There are now at least two grass roots groups that are angry and want to see something done. Both groups are made up of some pretty smart people who can’t be managed.
Trying to lead a community devastated by the August 4th flood, Sharman struggles to meet the needs of his constituents when he has to work with a Regional Council that isn’t all that forthcoming with information.
The grass roots groups don’t want to hear excuses – they want results and Sharman, through no fault of his own, is not able to deliver all that much. His management style makes it difficult for him to cope with people who are pressing their issue.
There are people in ward five that do not yet have furnaces in their homes and they do not know what the different levels of municipal government can do for them.
 It was Councillor Sharman who always asked the tough question. He was always very direct and had a penchant for data others at times did not understand. Sharman works as well as he can with the several community groups that have formed. These are people who are angry and want something done. Sharman often ends up differing with the people he wants to serve. His approach and style is to bull forward and get things done, however he is to a large degree stymied by the process, the difficulty getting anything from the Regional level.
Sharman held a community meeting at a local church and chose to tell media that it was a closed event. It wasn’t; he just didn’t want media in the room.
The ward has some significant issues: transit, parking, particularly in the Orchard Park community. There is a major development in the northern part of the ward that slipped out of the hands of the planning department and is now at the Ontario Municipal Board.
There has been absolutely no movement on the development potential for the plaza in the eastern part of the ward despite the significant effort on both Sharman’s part and that of senior city hall staff.
Has Paul Sharman made a difference in his ward during his first term? It is difficult to point to a list of things that were achieved. He has done better work than most of the council members have at the Region. He has worked with residents to resolve their parking problems.
Sharman speaks of his involvement on the Steering Committee of the Shape Burlington initiative but there has been precious little follow through on real engagement with the residents; Sharman isn’t an engagement kind of guy. He tends to want to lead and expect people to follow because he truly believes he knows what is best for others.
 The Freeman Station – settled into its new home and now in the process of being completely restored. His handling of the Freeman station issue was as close to shameful as a member of an elected body can get. He was patronizing to most of the people who delegated on that issue. Sharman couldn’t see a way for the station to be saved; we were never sure if he wanted it saved. The previous council had federal funds to restore the structure but bickered with everyone and ended up not being able to find a place to put it. The formation of a community group that would not give up, saved the structure and today the Freeman station sits on a site beside the Fire Station where community volunteers are in the process of restoring the building. Should Councillor Sharman be re-elected one hopes that he will not take part in the official opening.
 Sharman is an avid cyclist. – “this is why I am a city Councillor of this city”. The closing note on the Sharman Freeman station position was heard when James Smith announced his intention to run in ward five; Smith was the president of the Friends of Freeman Station and deserves much of the credit for creating the team that spearheaded the drive to save the building.
James Smith is a real contender. Sharman doesn’t have the two and three term experience that other council members have – and while he has been doing decent ward constituency work – he hasn’t developed a following in the way that Meed Ward has.
During his first year on Council Sharman bullied his colleagues into a 0 % tax increase and let staff know that he was not one to trifle with.
In his second and third years he became quite a bit closer to the Mayor who came to rely on Sharman for a lot of his strategic thinking.
 Councillor Sharman has held two public sessions with Senior’s as part of his effort to understand their needs and develop policy that Council can put in place to serve this vital community. At most of the sessions Sharman holds his Dad is often in the audience. Paul Sharman has done a lot of work with the senior’s community. He has held several town hall type meetings and gathered a lot of data – but we’ve yet to see anything concrete come out of the data collection.
Sharman has been a city member of the Economic Development Corporation for much of this term of council. He was fully aware of the problems with the Executive Director at the time but, like the rest of the board, went along with delay after delay of removing the Executive Director from office and letting the board find the direction it needed.
The executive capacity that Sharman attempts to exude just isn’t publicly evident.
In 2010 there were seven candidates. Sharman won with 1,503 votes. Cal Millar came in second with 1,327 votes. James Smith came in third with 1190 votes, Peggy Russell came in fourth with 1163 votes. Serge Beraldo, Paul Keselman and Dave Kumar all got less than 1000 votes each,
Cal Millar is now working on the Smith campaign – the bulk of those votes will probably go to Smith.
Few of the Peggy Russell votes are going to go to Sharman.
Sharman is a numbers man – “give me the data” he will bellow. The data suggests that Paul Sharman could be in serious trouble.
Related material:
Ward 5: Problems and possibilities
By Staff
October 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Ron Foxcroft a member of the Burlington Community Foundation (BCF) board and Chair of the BCF Disaster Relief Committee is also Honourary Colonel of the Argyll and Sutherland Regiment in Hamilton.
 Ron Foxcroft: Honourary Colonel of the Argyll and Sutherland Regiment He, along with his board, send their sincere condolences to the family, friends and fellow officers of Corporal Nathan Cirillo who was killed in a tragic incident at the War Memorial Museum in Ottawa on October 22nd .
“This is a terrible tragedy for our country and for the family and friends of Corporal Nathan Cirillo,” said Foxcroft. “Last night I was with the troops who have worked side by side with Corporal Cirillo and they are extremely saddened for their fallen comrade. Training went on last night and all the troops continued with very heavy hearts.”
 In addition to spending time with the troops last evening in an effort to support them during this difficult time, Foxcroft spent hours on the phone doing interviews with media from around the world to honour the death of Corporal Cirillo and share the grief being experienced by the entire country.
 By Ray Rivers
October 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Hamilton used to be the second largest city in Ontario, with a powerful football team showcasing its importance, and vying with Toronto for status. But growth, driven by the steel industry, started to dry up in the late 60’s as Ontario’s economy became more complex and service-oriented, and overseas markets started to replace our home-grown metal products.
Today ‘Steel Town’ is only the fifth most populous city in the province and with a slagging growth rate, compared to, say, Milton. Oh, and the Tiger Cats lost the Grey Cup to the Rough Riders last year.
 Like other rust-belt cities around the Great Lakes, Hamilton has seen its core decline and the surrounding suburbs mushroom over the decades since WWII. And it would be unfair to blame the city’s decay solely on the changing economy. Decisions by small-minded councils over the years have inadvertently helped bury potential recovery by favouring urban sprawl and the automobile over downtown development. For example, despite a proud history of public service rivalling that of Toronto’s transit system, the Hamilton Street Railway is, today, a railway in name only.
Barton Street and the rest of the older area of Hamilton could easily be mistaken for somewhere in Cleveland, Buffalo, or maybe even Detroit – the other once great cities bordering the Great Lakes. And as further consequence, most of Hamilton’s tax base is residential today, whereas it once included a more diversified mix including more industrial and commercial. As a result residential property taxes are among the highest in the province.
 Other economic health indicators such as unemployment, welfare levels and average incomes are also less than favourable. So, it is no wonder that Hamilton has some of the most competitively priced housing in the so-called Golden Horseshoe. Old Ancaster, Dundas and Westdale communities, which are exceptional places to live, can be contrasted with the dilapidated city core and all of that mindless urban sprawl in farm country.
This Monday, voters in the City will elect a new council and mayor. Of the twelve candidates running for mayor, only three are really in contention. I met with leading candidate, and a former mayor (2006-2010), Fred Eisenberger and also with councillor Brian McHattie.
Both of these candidates have extensive experience in city politics and are aware of the challenges ahead for Hamilton and themselves should they be elected. I sensed that both mostly shared a common vision of what is required for the city to break from the past and move towards a brighter future.
 For example, they agree on the need to re-develop the downtown. That means support for what they hope will be a provincially funded light rail transit system (LRT), to do for King Street what the subway did for Yonge Street in Toronto. Redevelopment of the the downtown and waterfront are key to bringing people back into the city core, but transit is essential to avoid the kind of gridlock issues currently facing Toronto.
McHattie highlighted the need for political leadership – a council speaking with one voice, particularly essential when dealing with the Province and the development industry. And McHattie is also the real ‘green’ candidate, opposing urban sprawl, pushing additional bikeways and even greater availability of transit to replace the pedestrian unfriendly automobile.
Hamilton is discovering new business opportunity in its emerging arts sector with regular arts and music ‘crawls’ – an attraction to scores of city dwellers who rarely venture out at nighttimes otherwise, compared to those in other cities. Call it cause and effect – more people downtown means more demand for commercial services, and then more services mean more incentive for people to come and live downtown.
Councillor Brad Clark, a former Mike Harris MPP, didn’t respond to my requests for a meeting. Although a one-time supporter of an LRT, he appears to have flipped on this issue and is currently pushing for more roadways, and thus more cars and eventual gridlock. I also had the pleasure of chatting with Brother Reverend Michael Baldaraso of the Church of the Universe, another would-be mayor.
Brother Michael is well known for his promotion of legalized marijuana, which he insists is a sacrament in his one-man ministry. Having run in an endless string of campaigns trying to get elected for something, including leadership of the former federal Progressive Conservatives and Alliance parties, Reverend Badasaro is active and well-liked by his community in the old city core where he lives.
Baldasaro has offered some innovative suggestions into the mayors debate, including an alternate design for the LRT and the creation of an oversight committee of also-ran politicians, to keep the newly elected council’s feet to the fire. Oh and his industrial vision for the city includes the production of that whacky weed, as we’d expect.
 Aldershot, once part of Hamilton (Wentworth County) seceded to join Burlington in the early 1970’s. Then when the Harris government decided to forcibly amalgamate the new city of Hamilton, over a decade ago, many outlying residents would have traded their first-born to also join Burlington. But Harris needed the regional communities’ taxes in order to pay for his downloaded provincial social services in Hamilton.
Today, nobody believes that the ‘egg’ of amalgamation will be unscrambled, and the city decentralized as it functioned before. But disaffected voters would be a lot happier in this election were someone elected who could lift the city out of its troubled past and towards a brighter and better future. If you can believe the politicians whom I spoke with, that may well be within our grasp.
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
Background links:
Hamilton History More Hamilton Eisenberger McHattie
Clark
Baldasaro Transit
Urban Renewal Baldasaro’s LRT Aldershot
By Greg Woodruff
October 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
 I would like to share with you my experience while running for the Halton Regional Chair. Could the population and elected officials please pull your heads out of the sand?
The government of Ontario is insisting via “Intensification” that hundreds of thousands of new residents are housed on top of us. In a recent meeting Colin Best chastised me because I was only sighting the short term figure of 250,000 more people and thought we better prepare for 500,000 more. That is a doubling of our population. This is the only comment I’ve heard throughout the entire campaign which shows engagement on the massive transformation imposed on us by the Ontario government.
Do I think radically transforming stable communities via Intensification is a good idea? No. I think it’s totally unfair, wreck-less and undemocratic. But since the decision is above the pay grade of the Regional Chair; let’s do this transformation in a way that retains our character and standard of living. We need to stand up and negotiate with the Ontario government for the tools and funds we need to pull this off. However, the reality is they are not asking us about increased density – they are telling. They have all the legal authority they need and a guaranteed mechanism via the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
The OMB is not a court deciding what is “fair”. It’s a body designed to overrule the entire municipal government if the City attempts to block a development. The Mayor, Councillors, City Staff and master plans all become instantly and totally irrelevant when the City looses at the OMB. Forget “Controlling Growth” you can’t even “Direct Growth” if the OMB decides against you. This is why developers have proposed a 28 story building in down town Burlington in a space clearly marked for 8 stories maximum. They don’t think the residents, City Council or City Staff have any say in the matter at all.
Unless we get vice-like control of the development process the City can direct nothing and the city will become a grey congested mess. If any developer can descend on any chance piece of land and slap up a massive building how can you plan transportation and transit? The increased density will be scattered around making transit planning impossible and the car will remain as the only practical way around. The city will end up with business all concentrated in a few areas then endless apartment blocks in others. It’s not as if Halton will suddenly fold. It will just be a grey area filled with massive roads.
I’ve heard little about what to do from candidates. The whole place is going to undergo a massive change in the upcoming years and the election is the most important mechanism for residents to shape a brand new city. Where is the debate on this topic? Worse yet mistaken ideas are often repeated and go unchallenged.
A mistake I’ve often heard is that to attract business into an area you need to increase the local population. The local population doesn’t matter – the population in a businesses “Trading Area” does. This is a function of how quickly and conveniently a resident can access a business. People make choices based on “time” not “distance”. It’s important because when you make an area congested with traffic the “Trading Area” will shrink.
Though a business will get access to 600 new customers in a new development it will loose access to 6,000 others. It doesn’t matter if people walk, bike, take buses, rail or drive, but the speed of movement matters greatly. Larger businesses aware of the phenomena will jump out of the congested area and cluster around each other. Single owner businesses attempt to populate store fronts for a while, but the lack of surrounding larger stores will sewer them eventually. This phenomena is well on it’s way in Aldershot. Checkout Clappisons Corners if you doubt this analysis.
Another often repeated mistake is that “active transit” and buses will solve our transit problems. Places with high rates of non-car transit have massive investments in public transit. The cities of Europe have subways, pedestrian only paths, dedicated bike lanes, etc and still have tremendous traffic and congestion. None of these mitigations are even on the drawing board in Halton. I didn’t hear a word from any candidate on how to create these alternate methods of transportation. Remember a 100% increase in the population means 100% more cars unless you provide alternate methods of transport.
 This increased density is coming and every elected official better have a plan and ideas on how to manage it. My preferred notion is “horizontal zoning” where high value commercial space is required at ground level. Every approved building without this forever deepens our transit woes. This is only one piece of what needs to be a comprehensive and forward thinking plan. Please ask your Councillor “How do you intend to deal with the massive increase in population mandated in Halton?” Please factor in the responses when voting.
Greg Woodruff is a candidate for Chair of Halton Region
 By Staff
October 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Burlington Transit held a community meeting on proposed changes to Route 6 at Tansley Woods Community Centre Tuesday evening. It was not a smash hit.
Two seasoned observers, one, the best mind on transit matters the city has and Jennifer Hlusko, a current school board trustee running for the ward six council seat who always has a command of the numbers on anything she talks about, comment on the event.
Hlusko had this to say:
“I attended the City’s presentation last night about the options that City Staff are considering to response to the complaints received from Headon Forest Drive residents. I had attended the Council meetings last May to listen to the residents’ delegations.
 Jennifer Hlusko I was astounded by what I witnessed last night. The City hired a Consultant to handle this transit complaint. Dennis Fletcher, of Steer Davies Gleave, told the audience that over the past few months he has read every email and complaint received from the public. Mr. Fletcher said he was “brought in by the City to be an objective third party”.
In addition to the Consultant, I counted 8 City staff members, 23 residents, 3 Ward 6 Councillor candidates and 1 Ward 6 trustee candidate. Significantly, in the room was Mike Spicer, Director of Burlington Transit. John Duncan, Burlington Transit, was quick to tell me staff weren’t being paid overtime. That wasn’t my objection (although I expect they’ll be given lieu time).
My objection was that the City once again hired a Consultant to handle a file that staff should handle. There was nothing that Mr. Fletcher provided last night that staff couldn’t have handled themselves. Halton District School Board staff frequently lead very contentious public meetings dealing with boundary reviews and school closures.
Mr. Fletcher presented the 3 options (that were already available online), took questions from the audience then invited them to review the charts up close. Neither he nor staff would provide ridership data. To me, that is the crux of the matter. Mr. Fletcher did take the opportunity to diss the school board for downloading the problem of transporting Notre Dame Catholic SS students onto the City of Burlington. How many students ride the bus? If the route is changed to Option #1, has the administration at Notre Dame been asked how that would likely impact ridership? Does the City project that changing to Option #1 will increase ridership by providing direct access to the Supercentre mall, MMRobinson HS, the No Frills plaza, etc.? Can these projections be shared with the public?
Mr. Fletcher said that City Staff will prepare a report that will go to Council in December. If I am elected to be the Ward 6 Councillor, rest assured that I will advocate for data based decisions. Furthermore, that data is shared with the public. I will highlight for the public every time the City considers hiring a Consultant and how much it will cost taxpayers.
I invite residents to attend the repeat performance on Thu Oct 23rd at Tansley Woods. While the notice states the meeting start time is 6pm, the presentation does not begin until 6:30pm.
Here are the three options. Please note they did not include an option along Upland Drive that meets the criteria of providing transit to the Burlington Supercentre mall, but would consider it if the public requested it. Then when an audience member asked if they would consider Deer Run, Mr. Fletcher said, “We are not looking for streets to put a bus on or to take a bus off. We are trying to provide a service to meet GO times.”
The Hlusko comments were published by Hlusko on “blog” she writes almost daily
 Doug Brown and Susan Lewis look over a 1982 copy of the city’s bus schedule. Doug Brown, chair of Bfast a transit advocacy group based in Burlington made the following comments about the meeting.
Residents do not have the right to remove service from transit users. Not wanting a bus or bus stop near your home is not a reasonable request. It is strange that Council has been so receptive to moving bus stops and bus routes away from complaining homeowners, while showing no interest in the hundreds of complaints from bus users who have lost service during the arbitrary changes resulting from the “Interim Plan” of September 2012, and the wholesale route and schedule changes of November 3, 2013. Does Council have a bias against transit using citizens?
Transit routes should be determined by user needs and through a long-term, comprehensive transit plan. The November 03, 2013 changes did not meet these criteria.
Any changes made to Route 6 should be based on user needs and views – not on unreasonable requests from non-users to remove service.
Further transit changes should be based on a long-term well researched transit plan. Since the 2010-11 Transit Master Plan was aborted by the City in January 2011, there has been no long-term transit plan. The current Transportation Master Plan would have been a good opportunity to develop a long-term integrated transportation plan that would have included a balanced strategy for moving people via car, transit, cycling, or on foot. This opportunity is being missed.
In an interview the day after the meeting Doug Brown said: “To put it mildly, not a good public meeting.
The meeting had a number of non-transit using residents of lower Headon Forest and Pine Meadow. There were some transit users there, even though the Tansley Woods meeting site has hourly bus service – not great accessibility if you can’t drive there.
The meeting began with a talk by a paid facilitator who spent 25 minutes describing the three options that Burlington Transit has developed for the north end of Route 6.
I was the first person to speak from the audience, but was stopped half a minute into my statement by the facilitator and Mike Spicer on the grounds that only comments on the posted three options were allowed. Before being cut-off, I was interrupted several times by some rude residents with comments such as “have you heard the buses.”
I did at least get my first point out that no resident had the right to prevent transit from using their street, and that streets were public right of ways.
Empty buses was the theme of most of the non-transit using residents. Four transit users did speak, but it was very apparent that the NIMBY-minded residents had created a very anti-transit mood. The first transit user to speak felt compelled to apologize for his comments since they contradicted the presented empty bus claims.
Nonetheless, there were several good observations from the few transit users there. One lady recommended going back to the old #6 route which serviced Burlington Mall as well as the Fortinos plaza.
Anyway, back to my comments which I was prevented from delivering. My first point was that residents did not have the right to remove bus stops or buses from their streets. The second issue is that Transit routes should be determined by user needs and through a long-term, comprehensive transit plan. Good transit planning cannot be achieved by the ad hoc and time constrained options presented at the meeting.
My third point was that any changes made to Route 6 should be based on user needs and views – not on unreasonable requests from non-users to remove service. This is a key issue as staff and council seem to pay much more attention to non-transit users views than the needs of transit users.
And my fourth point was that further transit changes should be based on a long-term well researched transit plan. I noted that the City’s 2014 Capital Budget document shows no funding allocation for a transit plan until 2018 meaning that for the next 4 years, any transit measures will be ad hoc and not based on a sound long-term plan.
The three options presented by the City were far too limited as they ignored the central issue of lack of funding and poor service levels (one- hour headways on the north east routes). Staff has apparently ruled out any alternative that would cost more money – which rules out many potential options for better service.
A final comment – I have been attending many public meetings over a very long time. Last night was the first time I was stopped from speaking.
 By Pepper Parr
October 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
 There is no doubt that Fortinos got behind the flood relief effort in a big way. Program will run to the 30th of the month. With fundraising for Burlington Flood Relief entering the final weeks of the 100-day campaign, the Claims Committee is focusing on assisting those who qualify for financial assistance prepare their claims.
A Town Hall meeting with the Claims Committee and Cunningham Lindsay, the insurance adjuster supporting the initiative, is planned for November 4th to answer questions and provide support to those interested in making a claim.
“We know there are hundreds of Burlington families who will qualify for financial assistance and are concentrating our efforts to communicate with those folks and help them through the process,” said Colleen Mulholland, President and CEO of the Burlington Community Foundation.
 Every cashier, every employee in the Fortinos supermarket wears the red Flood Relief T shirt. “We are also communicating with the provincial government to understand its position on providing financial assistance so we can be crystal clear on how much funding we have to disperse.”
Since the Application for Losses and Damages became available on September 30th approximately 40 claims have been filed. The Claims Committee has set a deadline of December 14, 2014 for all Applications for Losses and Damages to be submitted. Disbursements will begin over the following eight weeks after the deadline.
“Our Committee is committed to assisting everyone who needs help in submitting their claim forms,” said Mulholland. “We encourage people to attend the Town Hall on November 4th or to connect with the BCF office by phone or email.”
As of noon today, the Burlington Community Foundation Flood Disaster Relief Committee has raised $780,000 in cash.
 Long way to go – not all that much time left – three weeks. Ron Foxcroft, Chair, BCF Flood Disaster Relief Committee said: “We are in the final stretch our 100-day fundraising campaign and our Committee and a roster of dedicated volunteers continue to seek support from our community”. “We are working on some significant gifts and hope to have details to share shortly. Burlingtonians will continue to have an opportunity to donate to flood relief when shopping at retailers throughout our city and we are confident these efforts will make a big impact.”
Link to find Application for Losses and Damages or call: (905) 639-0744 ext 221
More donors are encouraged to continue supporting the campaign by:
Cheque – make cheques out to “Burlington Community Foundation” with a memo reference to Flood Relief Campaign – mail or drop off at Burlington Community Foundation, 3380 South Service Road, Unit 107, Burlington, Ontario, L7N 3J5
On-line donations – Click on the DONATE NOW button.
The Town Hall meeting will take place on:
Tuesday, November 4th, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Burlington Seniors Centre, Port Nelson & Wellington Rooms
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