By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON March 11, 2011 – It was probably one of the more challenging assignments that has landed on the desk of Kim Phillips, General Manager of Corporate Services for the city of Burlington. It took her back to her days as a staff member in Cambridge where she learned how vital community and neighbourhood is to the health of a city.
Throughout this piece we use Ms Phillips as the main mention but it has to be pointed out that the work she did was part of a deep and detailed interaction with every department in the city and lengthy dialogue with the city manager and the Executive Budget Committee. This was a full staff effort.
Ms Phillips was given the task of heading up and writing the response to the Shape Burlington report that has been on the tongues of the political element of the city for more than a year. How was the city to respond?
The report covers all the bases. Ms Phillips consulted widely within the civic administration and with numerous groups in the city as well as people who she felt could advise and counsel her on what is best for the city. She met with the original Shape Committee as well as the follow up group Shaping Burlington to develop what has the potential to become a turning point for the city and the way it relates to its citizens.
Doing the “digging around” to get a sense of how city hall worked from a citizens perspective was to some degree a painful process for Phillips. A trained facilitator, Phillips had to move to the other side of the table to fully understand the issues – and it wasn’t always clear that a solution existed until she began to understand on an “at the counter” level what city hall staff do with the public on a day to day basis.
Some of the comments made were hard to hear and Phillips began to understand that there was an information deficit and struggled with “how do you let people know what we are doing?” There are many on staff who are ‘active instigators’ who care deeply about the city yet their performance was not that evident to the average taxpayer.”
One example of the concern Phillips was trying to convey was a Saturday morning public meeting on the budget. Some 50 people were in the room at the Arts Centre with about a third representing city staff. The meeting came to an end and it was staff that was the last to leave as they gathered up their material and discussed how the event had gone. The “public” had ‘left the building much earlier’.
The response to the Shape Burlington report is fair, balanced and detailed but, not complete because Ms Phillips see this process of engaging citizens as an ongoing process and so she has left a number of doors open. The process of collaborating seems to have taken root in her office and I suspect within the General Manager class and the Executive Budget Committee as well.
Phillips has certainly made a significant first stab at trying to make it better. Phillips talked to publishers, talked to people in neighbourhoods and it became evident to her that there was a divide. Her challenge was to come up with a way to meld the Shape recommendations and her knowledge of what could and what could not be done at the civic administration level, into a document that would be approved by Council.
Everything staff does is at the direction of Council – and if they don’t like what they hear – they don’t approve it. This council approved the report at the committee level, where it didn’t really get the time and debate it deserved. The meeting agenda was full and council members are focused on the budget. But they did accept the Staff report but didn’t buy into much of what Shaping Burlington wanted to see. It comes back to a full Council meeting where it might get additional debate.
In her report, Phillips hones in on the expectations Shape Burlington raised and described those expectations as a desire for more timely and useful communication and information sharing, interest in early involvement as part of strategic and ongoing decision making.
“…a desire for more timely and useful communication and information sharing…” “Managing expectations will be important as changes are intended in part to improve feelings of belonging, and the public’s trust and confidence in the City of Burlington’s government. The City of Burlington makes thousands of decisions every year and has had success in the past with strategic planning, citizen involvement, and strategic communications.” The Shape Burlington report was clearly seeking change. “Although Burlington has many communications practices that are on the forefront in the municipal sector,” Phillips points out that “ we recognize that improvement is possible and desirable.”
“The many ways that allow people to participate and express their view at the municipal level do require constant monitoring for effectiveness. These opportunities can offer ways to improve citizen involvement and confidence in our municipal government. At the same time, the community will benefit from the increased commitment to participate and contribute to the improvement of the city.”
Easier said than done but Phillips has certainly made as significant first stab at trying to make it better. In her Staff response she pointed out that “…whether you are reading this staff report as a committee member, a participant in the process, a staff person, a member of council, or someone new or without any knowledge of Shape Burlington, there are clear and key messages that are important for all of us.”
She added, in a point that is critical – “…staff will receive direction about council’s commitment to enhance citizen participation in City of Burlington service delivery and decision-making processes.” The direction and the policy comes from council. All Phillips has done is set out the options and the potential.
Phillips bought into the idea of an Engagement Charter and the hiring of a person with the specific task of being a resource to staff who would bring about the transformation over time of a new and more open relationship with the residents of the city.
The early draft of the Engagement Charter has a long way to go – and Phillips both acknowledges the amount of work to be done. For her the process is to involve the community on how best to get significant public input into the content of the charter and the setting out of a path that would be followed to implement whatever gets agreed upon.
Phillips writes: “The Shape Burlington report is also about influence and control. What is the role of council, staff, citizens and groups? Facts need to be known about what is unchangeable and what is open for discussion. What is reasonable in balancing the city’s legislated and professional responsibilities with involvement from others? Who decides?”
“The Shape Burlington report is about influence and control.” “We all care,”, Phillips points out and “have expectations, and want to spend our time in ways that have most value. We all want to be understood. We also know that we can’t be everything to everyone. There’s a level of frustration or sense of not being understood in all of us.”
“Any process of change should involve those most impacted. In the topics of the Shape Burlington report, the citizens involved, the staff, and council now in office are impacted. It’s time for all of us to ‘reset’ and move forward with a fresh start. The best outcomes include open dialogue, best value efforts, continuous improvement, trust, and well-informed decision making.” Sounds good doesn’t it ?
“Along the theme of customer-first service, we need to check in about what is important, how to reach out, what the choices are, and why anyone should care. We need to invite involvement in ways that continue to work for us as they have in the past and in new ways that we may not be as experienced with. We need to determine appropriate measures that will indicate where progress is being made and guide changes that may be necessary.” Moving that attitude into the ranks is much more of a challenge. Has every staff member read the report Phillips wrote ? Do they know where she wants this city to go in terms of civic engagement ? Perhaps the city should publish one of those “little red book” that some governments and political parties used to get the message out to the masses.
“How will we know we’ve gotten there” Phillips asks. “How do we recognizes our successes and how do we measure them”. Then without quite realizing it, Phillips asks the most trenchant question: “What are you looking for and how will you know you’ve found it?” That’s a question the citizens of Burlington have to put to themselves and then communicate the answer they come up with to both the staff and their council members,
“What are you looking for and how will you know you have it?”
Kim Phillips General Manager,
Corporate Services
Phillips describes the process we are all about to go into as a stool with a council leg, a staff` leg and a citizen leg. “If we don’t have all three legs firmly fixed we’ve got nothing to sit on. While Phillips didn’t put it quite this way – without three legs we are all flat on the floor.
Given that the city doesn’t employ an Easter Bunny to deliver the goods to us – there has to be a process – and it is the process that matters most. Phillips writes: “We will work with the community to develop a process that will ‘categorize’ these decisions. Where issues are appropriate for greater community involvement, we will ensure that the necessary supports are in place to do it well.”
What the Staff report is setting out to do is change the culture at city hall to promote active citizenship and civic engagement. “The key messages staff take from Shape Burlington’s recommendations” writes Phillips, “are information sharing and working together. Staff support the development of a document that has been temporarily named ‘Working Paper on Burlington Engagement Charter’. The Charter will provide a cohesive message of the City’s commitment to citizen involvement. From a priority perspective, we see this as one of the two top priorities arising from the Shape Burlington report.
Shaping Burlington has suggested that this is a process that could take six to twelve months to complete. Identifying the team that will work together on the charter should be completed by the end of March. The team will then discuss their approach, process and meeting plans. Staff expect that the charter can be completed by the 4th quarter of 2011, allowing time for the strategic planning process to proceed in parallel.
This is a pretty tight time frame within which to transform a culture. Given this time line, the culture at city hall will have changed before the Brant Street Pier opens. Targeting completion of the charter for fall 2011 also ensures that the new staff person has an opportunity to be part of the development process before a proposed charter is presented to committee and council for approval.
That is a pretty tight time frame within which to transform a culture. Given this time line the culture at city hall will have changed before the Brant Street Pier opens. While the time line suggested might be somewhat less than realistic, the intention and the process have more than a chance of making it through the mill.
“Development and implementation of the charter will require ongoing commitment from staff, council, and the community. At this time, staff do not consider the words ‘engagement charter’ the title of the final document and will work with citizens to present a document using clear, plain language.” Shaping Burlington representatives have indicated that they prefer the word “civic” to “citizen” related to a charter, but the words will be considered as part of the collaborative process. We want to ensure that community groups, businesses, and citizens feel included in the charter. We anticipate that a working group of staff and citizens will develop the document and throughout the process can invite representatives of council to provide input. As council will make the final decision about approval of the document, the development of it is being suggested to be in the hands of citizens and staff primarily. Until the new staff person is in place, the General Manager of Corporate Services will coordinate this effort, working with the Assistant to the General Managers.
“…staff do not consider the words ‘engagement charter’ the title of the final document.” Are we looking at a watering down of the wine before we even get to taste it?
Shaping Burlington representatives have indicated that they prefer the word “civic” to “citizen”. A citizen votes – not sure if civic isn’t more water in that wine. So, it is the natives that will work up the document and present that to the appropriate council committee. Better allow lots of time for that meeting.
“The Shape Burlington report suggested increased citizen involvement in developing a vision statement, writes Phillips, “so that citizens could be involved in influencing the city’s long term direction and so that the resulting plan is clear and includes measurable action plans that the community can buy into. Shaping Burlington suggested that the strategic plan process be considered a marketing exercise to reach out to citizens, to create a buzz about the importance of the plan as a priority setting exercise for the community as a whole.”
What we are seeing is a level of pro-activity this city has not seen for some time. Can it be sustained? It can, but only if all three legs of that stool are in place.
Communication has been perhaps the biggest public complaint. Citizens don’t feel they know what is really going on. Planning department notices that effect a large area are sent out, for the most part to just those homes within a 120 metre radius of a proposed plan, The city’s web site isn’t has never won any awards for its ease of use and the communications department suffers from a lack of oxygen and sufficient funding. Phillips announced that a new web site will appear within a couple of weeks. Let’s give them a chance to show us what they have learned.
The Communications department in Burlington isn’t as unified as it could be – and there appears to be a lack of strategy and direction. The web site comes under the direction of one group with the managing of day to day communications under the direction of another person. Some re-aligning of responsibilities might improve the performance. This is one of those instances where structure is impeding process. There might be just a little “turf protecting” going on here as well.
If communications were what it can be – many of the concerns brought to light by the Shape report would not have existed. The cry was for greater involvement of all citizens in a shared vision of our city. We are not there yet. A large segment of the city see the Performing Arts Centre as a nice to have while another segment is out there raising the millions needed to make the place work and become an integral part of the cultural fabric of the city.
The Shape Burlington report suggested increased citizen involvement in developing a vision statement, so that citizens could be involved in influencing the city’s long term direction with measurable action plans that the community can buy into.
Phillips writes that: “We agree that this (the development of the 2010-2014 strategic plan) is “the single best time…to influence the city’s long term direction.” The Executive Director of Corporate Strategic Initiatives will coordinate this process and is committed to a variety of tried and true as well as new citizen engagement methods.
“Another key point in the Shape Burlington report was the lack of trust and confidence in City government. From a controllable perspective, the focus of this recommendation is on improving respect for citizens.”
“There are community groups with extensive e mailing lists that may provide opportunities for sharing information and a coordinated approach to the use of this information will be part of the work for the new position recommended. Since residents have multiple points of contact, these may provide a new way for the city to keep in touch, building on successful relationships that individuals have with trusted groups.”
Those trusted groups might be described by some as those with vested interests.
Another key point in the Shape Burlington report was the lack of trust and confidence in City government. From a controllable perspective, the focus of this recommendation is on improving respect for citizens. If councillor Craven’s ripping through a delegation is acceptable – then this council has a long way to go.
A customer service standards review is underway and staff training is being planned
The voters turfed a Mayor that lost their confidence even though he had never lost an election before during in his lengthy career and in one election got more than 70% of the popular vote. Did the voters have a different expectation or did the Mayor fail to read the expectations of his constituents? This same Mayor took the initiative that brought into being the group of people who produced the report that is about to be implemented. There is an irony in there somewhere.
Phillips makes a very significant point when she says: “The biggest challenge in community development is being clear about the limits of support and what can and can’t be done. As long as staff and council remain focused on the City of Burlington’s services, priorities, and resources, and work collaboratively with the Region of Halton when appropriate to serve community needs, limits will be clearer and consistent approaches will be understood. Consistency allows for clarity and allows for unique approaches as well. The keys are up front planning, consultation and information sharing, and ongoing monitoring.
In order to shift the way the City of Burlington invites community involvement, we need some change. To implement change, we need a staff resource to: research, develop appropriate policies and practises. This person has to listen to input and receive feedback, write information that will help staff, council, and the community and also be a resource to staff on their projects and processes and provide guidance and advice. Make civic engagement fun!
As if all that wasn’t enough this new staff person will have to identify strategic issues that merit enhanced citizen involvement and make connections and maintain open communication with representatives that have not been in regular or ongoing contact with the City.
The hope apparently is that Superman or Superwoman is not on an assignment elsewhere and will be available to Burlington for what is clearly a mammoth assignment. There’s more: Work with the community directly, in meetings and through social media. Work with others to provide relevant online learning. Plan and implement training so that everyone can be successful. Support the early adopters and recognize success.
More yet – review efforts that fall short to share the lessons for future use, liaise with the Region of Halton to ensure roles are clear and duplication is avoided, reach out for community input and feedback, ensure appropriate follow up, measure, monitor, and report on progress. That list is endless – is it also unrealistic and creating an expectation that cannot be met ?
The hope, apparently, is that Superman or Superwoman is not on an assignment elsewhere and will be available to Burlington for what is clearly a mammoth assignment. Can one person actually do al this in one year. There are people in the Human Resources field who would tell you expecting one person to do all this in a two year time frame is a mistake in the making.
Social media, which few of even the largest brand names in North America fully understand, is going to be added into this mix. Burlington is in the middle of a pilot project with Twitter and getting ready to do something on Facebook which will be an interesting exercise. The city has employed three communications advisors since 2006, working in an internal agency model, where each is responsible for assigned departments of which there are now 13 departments. The recommended staff person will also spend time supporting the city’s implementation of social media.
A reality staff faces in discussing citizen engagement is that people are busy and have multiple interests. Heck there are hockey games and bridge clubs too you know. Many people, most actually do not get involved in municipal government matters until there is a direct or significant impact on them personally. Then of course they descend on city hall and expect an immediate response to their grievance and council members, who want to get elected, jump through hoops and look to staff to resolve the problem.
“…we can encourage and foster civic engagement but we cannot mandate it.”
Kim Phillips
General Manager Corporate Services
Phillips points out that “we can encourage and foster civic engagement but we cannot mandate it.” Citizens, as Phillips points out, share responsibility for becoming informed and providing input so that they can effectively exercise their democratic rights. More than 60% of the voters choose not to exercise their option.
Staff held several meetings with Shaping Burlington to discuss the recommendations being presented in this report, the engagement charter, and ways of identifying, measuring and reporting about citizen engagement. In their delegation to the committee on the Phillips report Shaping asked for a number of changes and for the most part – they didn’t get very much. However, Phillips writes that: “Chris Walker, John Searles and Ken Edwards have been the key contacts. Mr. Edwards will continue involvement in the development of the engagement charter, Mr. Searles is assisting with the update of the citizen’s guide, and Mr. Walker is the key contact for the group, and will be sent all information arising from committee and council’s discussions on this report. Shaping Burlington is also, through Mr. Walker, being invited to budget 2011 consultation workshops and to strategic planning events. So, Shaping is at the table, just not with the clout they had hoped to have.
This appears to be one of those situations where the city and its citizens are going to get a very significant bang for their buck. Phillips expects to spend $178,000 for the two year contract position and maybe another $50,000. along the way. To get all that is proposed for less than a quarter of a million dollars is huge value. There are those who will carp and write letters to the editor and complain about the waste. For those people the glass is always half empty when in reality we aren’t even talking about a glass – we are talking about a milk can that is full with rich cream that can serve the city exceptionally well far into the future.
The city and its citizens are going to get a significant bang for their buck – $178,000. to change the culture at city hall is a great deal. Let’s not blow it. What one can see coming together is a really bold initiative and quite a big shift on the part of the civic administration that has to serve a council that has members who really aren’t 110% behind this initiative. Members of council may take exception to that comment but let them compare the way they got really excited about the cycling competitions that is to take place on Canada Day and compare that with their feelings for a Charter that will set out what a citizen can expect from the government they elect. OK, so it isn’t a Magna Carta but it is a big, big step for Burlington. Let’s not blow it.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 9, 2011 – The one thing that always has to be remembered with politicians is that they were elected and given the power to make decisions and they never give that power away. They might share it – a little, but if you look as if you’re going to actually get your hands on those levers of power – you’re knuckles are going to get hurt.
And so it was that Shaping Burlington learned Tuesday forenoon that neither the staff or the city council were about to give away very much in the way of the power they have to run the city.
Some background. Former Mayor Cam Jackson created a committee to look into a perceived lack of trust between the city administration and its citizens and a poor customer service mentality. John Boich and Walter Mulkewich co-chaired the Committee that produced a report that was given to Council on May 3, 2010. Council passed its resolution of endorsement July 5, and the document took on a life of its own and became one of the focal points in the October, 2010 municipal election. The original Shape committee was disbanded and was replaced by a “watch dog” group that named itself Shaping Burlington with the mandate it took on to ensure that the Shape Burlington recommendations saw the light of day and didn’t collect dust on a shelf.
City Staff were instructed to review the original report and come back to Council with recommendations. Those recommendations went to a committee earlier this week and after surprising little discussion or real debate the report from staff was accepted in principal with some fine tuning to be done.
Before the council committee accepted the report in principle it heard a delegation from the Shaping Burlington people on what they felt were the shortcomings of the report that was written and shepherded through the municipal bureaucracy by Kim Phillips.
 Ms Phillips wrote a detailed, considerate response to the original report and went along with the thrust of the original recommendations – but that wasn’t enough for the Shaping Burlington people. They seemed to have felt they were very close to getting their hands on those levers of power and they wanted to make the grip as tight as they could. In making that comment the intention is not to imply that Shaping Burlington is a bunch of power hungry revolutionaries; they are nothing of the sort. The do believe in collaboration and sharing but they don’t fully understand the realities of municipal politics.
They forgot the basic principle that guides and directs what politicians do – you never give that power away and you share it very sparingly.
Well, the people who have labeled themselves as “watch dogs” over the city aren’t going to have any of the power they wanted. They will continue to be on the edge of deliberations. Consulted from time to time and experiencing that Newfoundland phrase: “killing them with kindness.” City staff and the citizens of Burlington have yet to find an accommodation within which each can grow.
“Shaping Burlington” explained Chris Walker, chairman and public voice of the group, “comes from a developing a climate of civic engagement at City Hall”. They saw the staff response as a good first step but they wanted quite a bit more than a simple step. Walker was delegating to the Budget and Corporate Services committee that had formally received the Staff report. Even though there were two members of the Shape Committee on council – there wasn’t much spirit in the discussion and it would be a stretch to suggest it was a debate. More of council ensuring that its perks and power weren’t tampered with.
The agenda for the meeting also included the Capital Spending portion of the budget and that was where council wanted to be. Did Shaping get a fair shake at the meeting? Was the essence of the Staff report and the concerns that Shaping had with that document get the consideration it deserved? Not really.
The Shape Report intention was to create a position of authority – council wasn’t buying it. The staff report included the Thank you and platitude stuff about continuing the dialogue and Shaping Burlington, which saw the report a week before it was delivered formally to the committee, took the bait and responded with: “they look forward to participating in continuing collaboration with city staff on the issues raised by Shape Burlington and its successor group, Shaping Burlington, as recommended in the staff report” and referred to the atmosphere of cooperation and goodwill that has been demonstrated to date.
Walker then mentioned the differences between the Staff report and what Shaping Burlington felt the Shape report called for and said his team was looking for “a more pro-active, less cautious, approach to the issues involved.” Walker forgot that he is in Burlington where caution prevails
The prime issue for Walker, who speaks for the group, was the way the matter of an Engagement Charter was to be handled. He pointed out that Shape Burlington had recommended a plain language policy document that specifically directs how civic engagement can be fostered. “It incorporates benchmarks and accountabilities, describes the value, purpose and opportunities for citizens to influence city policies, explains how citizens can navigate City Hall and its services, and stipulates best practices”, explained Walker
The Charter, he added, was to incorporate an early notification system to provide reasonable amounts of time to understand, discuss and develop positions. Staff, according to Walker “anticipates merely a brief document that describes purposes and accountabilities, but specifically rejects incorporating benchmarks, how to navigate City Hall and its services, and best practices. The report, argued Walker does not include an early notification system in its working paper. He pointed to a line in the Staff report that said: “ it is not a value and not applicable to all the city’s decision making.” Walker didn’t see it that way, but he is a pleasant man and he takes the set backs in stride.
Along with an Engagement Charter the Shaping people wanted an Engagement Officer and that was just not on with this council. Walker pointed out that: “The Shape recommendation was the establishing an Office of Engagement whose Director would report to the City Manager. The intention was to create a position of authority, not merely a staff resource.”
Walker and his group were serious about civic engagement and wanted the power to bring that about to be shared. Wasn’t going to happen. Walker wanted to be sure staff and council understood his point and explained that the staff report recommends a two-year contract position to assist, not direct, the development and implementation of the Engagement Charter and changes to municipal policies and processes. Shaping wanted whoever is hired to develop the policies and direct the process. Council didn’t quite see it that way.
One of the eight Shape recommendations was for a Communications Department that would provide timely and reliable information free of political bias. The transformation Shaping Burlington wanted would include a revamped and more frequent City Talk, with council members encouraged to develop their own communication vehicles. City Talk is a document the city publishes that includes council member activities in their individual wards. The council members were not about to give up that free and extremely useful advertising space.
Walker forgot a cardinal rule of politics – keep your name and your picture out there as much as you can. It is voter recognition that gets politicians re-elected – not what they do – unless they really screw up.
The opportunity to engage at the classroom level was given up by Staff – a speakers list will be drawn up for classrooms to use. Pity. Shape Burlington recommended municipal involvement in the Grade 10 Civics program through a module that could be created with input from the City. The proposal received enthusiastic response from school board representatives. “The staff report does not refer to the Grade 10 Civics program in its recommendations to Council, and in a later discussion limits the city’s participation to providing a speakers list.” Shape Burlington envisaged more pro-active participation.
Walker pointed out that the staff report does not refer to a Communications Department transformation, and foresees a continuation of City Talk with some modifications, with space still allocated to members of council.
Shape Burlington recommended that Council periodically hold its meetings in different geographical areas across the City to bring its deliberations closer to the community. The staff report rejects this recommendation because of logistical and communication challenges. “We believe this is a premature rejection of a strategic objective at this time”, said Walker, so there isn’t going to be a Council road show in different parts of the city – the mountain is still going to have to come to Mohammed.
Walker told the committee that Shaping Burlington looks forward to continued discussion of these and other differences during the ongoing collaborative process. He had no idea that council was going to have nothing to do with the kind of change the Shaping people wanted, but he pressed on and got into very specific changes in the document.
Craven ripped through Walker when he couldn’t identify Aldershot area community groups. Cheap shot at a decent man. Council members asked a couple of questions. Ward 1 council member Rick Craven ripped through Walker with a bunch of questions that were designed to make Walker look as if he knew nothing about the different community groups in the city. To his credit Walker stood up to what was really disrespectful behaviour on the part of a council member to a delegation.
Among the specific changes Walker wanted to see were: Authorize the Engagement Officer, not the City Clerk, to work with members of council and staff, recognizing that it is a position of authority. And that is where the rubber hit the road – council was not giving away as much as an inch of its authority.
The report was accepted as it was presented by staff. There will be a person hired for a period of time to shepherd the staff report through the civic administration and when that two year period is over – well there might be a change but nothing that resembles what the Shaping people thought they could bring about.
Walter Mulkewich, a former Mayor of Burlington and co-chair of the Shape Burlington committee that got this all started was unable to attend the committee meeting but did send a letter in which he said in part:
“I would like to make brief comments regarding the staff report and recommendations with respect to the Shape Burlington Report on “Creating an Engaged Community” in Burlington.
“The position of the original Shape Burlington Committee in its presentation to City Council on May 3, 2010, was that the City implements all the recommendations of the report. I am satisfied that the Staff report points Council and community in the right direction to begin to do exactly that.
“I am very pleased that City Staff has taken the report and its recommendations seriously, and thoughtfully, and has presented a thorough report to the Committee and Council. I think that the Staff report has embraced, in large measure, the principles of the Shape Burlington report. And, I believe the Staff recommendations to Council can establish a process for the City and community to move towards the transformational changes envisaged by Shape Burlington.”
 The yellow brick road hasn’t reached Burlington yet. When Mulkewich was Mayor of Burlington has wasn’t able to convince his council to move from the title Alderman to Councillor.; this at a time when feminism was close to its peak. It would not be unrealistic to suggest that neither Mulkewich or Shape Burlington is going to move this council very far down the yellow brick road.
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 By Pepper Parr
BURLINTON, ON March 9, 2011 – He was looking very ‘corporate’. Hair tightly combed with the parting clearly visible as opposed to the tousled boyish look he normally wears. The double breasted jacket and the sedate tie – they were all part of the look Ward 5 Council member Paul Sharman brought to the room as he actually banged the gavel to call the Budget and Corporate Services Committee to order so they could look at the finer detail in the 2011 Capital spending budget they were going to approve at the Committee level.
 Ward 6 council member and chair of the Budget and Corporate Services Committee went for his corporate look as he herded the cats through a complex process. Some of the reddish hair did turn gray during the meeting. While there were a number of other items on the Agenda, the Staff report on the Shape Burlington report along with the comments from Shaping Burlington being one of them – this story is about how your Council and city staff spend your dollars on capital items.
Staff works from a document that has items in place for the next 20 years. They can tell you how much they propose to spend on the Master signage strategy ($108,000 each year for three years and then $150,000); King Road reconstruction ($2,051,000 – but $2,019,000 of that is sitting in a reserve fund); lunch room for the bus drivers at the Burlington GO station ($45,000. in 2011) and all kinds of discussion about locating the transfer terminal on John Street.
Whenever there is a technical question or a need for more detail the staff person trots to the podium and reads numbers from the clutch of papers they have in their hands. They seldom get tripped up. Name a street or a park and someone will tell you what has been spent, what has to be spent and when and how much. It’s pretty impressive.
The council members are given this thick binder with all the numbers and are asked to go though it line by line (so if you’ve called your council member and not had the call returned – this is why). These boys and girls have been doing their homework.
Acting General Manager Finance Joan Ford explained in a previous committee meeting that any council member can question any item on the budget – all they has to do was fill in a form – which they did – and that resulted in a document with 87 items the council members wanted to comment on.
In the past Ward 4 council member Jack Dennison was by far the most prolific when it came to asking questions but this year Ward 1 council member Marianne Meed Ward may have set a new record and blown the Dennison numbers out of the water.
Of the 87 changes that the seven members of Council requested 52 of them came from Meed Ward. Ward 6 council member Blair Lancaster didn’t have a single request for a change.
Staff handled all of the requests and later this week we should have a number as to what the Capital portion of the budget was going to amount to this year. Jack Dennison was keen to whittle at least a million out of what had been put forward by staff.
When you sit in committee meetings and try to absorb all the data one thing becomes evident. The prep work done by staff and their capacity to answer the questions is pretty impressive.
What also becomes clear is that the city has reserve funds all over the place; 37 of the things tat cover everything you can imagine, and if you’re not sure whch reserve fund to stuff the dollars into, there is a Reserve fund called – Other, can you believe that? Better than tucking it under the mattress I suppose. Good, frugal financial management for sure – but do we need quite that much tucked away in reserves and surpluses. Might be an opportunity to take a little less from each taxpayer this time around.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 9, 2011 – There’s that pretty face again – Brian Heagle, but this time he’s not with his trusty old Liberal buddies, instead he’s with Chris Cottingham, President of the Progressive Conservative Youth Group – and they aren’t’ out on a tag sale. Rene Papin is in the picture to give it authenticity. Just standing there looking all friendly like.
What would have normally been a solid red Liberal background looks as if it is becoming Tory Blue. Talk about changing colours.
 Brian Heagle with his new friends. PC Youth President Chris Cottingham and long time Tory Rene Papin. But, if Heagle can get the Progressive Conservative nomination that is up for grabs now that Joyce Savoline has opted for the gold watch, and then win the election October 6th – well you never know. Thus guy has the potential to make Cabinet once he’s warmed a back bench for a bit – but I don’t see him being all that comfortable sitting at the table with PC leader Tim Hudak. Retiring MPP Joyce Savoline wasn’t all that comfortable with Hudak.
But Burlington is Tory country and the natives may not yet had enough of that Tory Blue.
The picture is coming into focus. Brian Heagle with his really decent guy looks want to be what Bill Davis was to the Tory’s. Bit of a stretch? Perhaps.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 7, 2011 – In one of the Shape Burlington report recommendations there was one on what came to be known as the ‘information deficit’. Under Communication: Empower people by overcoming the communication deficit. The staff report said:
“The wording of this recommendation suggest that the city is responsible for all community news and information and that current methods don’t work. Staff understand that there is an independent information service including a web based community news and information portal being developed. We welcome that type of initiative in the community. Since the Shape Burlington report www.burlingtongazette.ca has also gone live and staff now share information and respond to inquiries related to this site as we would with any other media outlet.”
So there we are, given mention in a staff response, and indeed we are a portal that has produced more than 300 new stories since our inception October 19th of 2009. We attend more council committee meetings that any other news organization.
The “newspaper on a web site” that is known as Our Burlington and reached at www.burlingtongazette.ca, came out of a number of conversations, during the summer of 2010 with John Boich, one of the co-chairs of the Shape report. John and I would walk his dogs and talk about the election that was going to take place in the fall. At the time John was involved with Community Media Burlington, (CMB) an initiative led by David Auger, that had large plans to be the voice of the community with an emphasis on radio.
Auger was the Executive Director serving a Board made up of Boich, Deb Tymstra, Keith Hoey and Rick Burgess. Boich was very frustrated with the pace of development for CMB and he would grumble away as we stood there with plastic bags in our hands while the dogs did their thing.
At one point I told John that putting together a business plan for this kind of venture was no big deal and, because I had said this several times, John turned to me with that look he can give and said: If it’s that easy Pepper, then would you do that. I learned at that moment that I had been “boiched”; a moniker I came to know quite well as my working relationship with John developed.
 I put together the business plan John had challenged me to do and then suggested that we merge what I had developed with what Auger had not been able to get off the ground. John went forward with that idea to his Board but that Board didn’t go for the idea and promptly resigned and John was left as the sole officer of Community Media Burlington. In order for John to resign he had to get another officer in place and so worked with David Auger to have him give up the position of Executive Director and become an officer of CMB. Once that was done John resigned and Auger became the sole officer of the non profit organization.
Our Burlington went on to incorporate as a non profit and on October 19th, a week before the municipal election we went live and except for one accidental interrupt, then a second interrupt that a judge somewhere will get to decide who damaged who, Our Burlington has been active as a news source for the citizens of the city of Burlington.
It all started when John Boich and I took his dogs for a walk
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 BURLINGTON, ON March 6, 2011 – We have provided you with the complete staff report that will go to the Budget and Corporate Services committee this week. Comment on the report appears elsewhere on the Our Burlington web site.
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By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON March 7, 20100 – Perhaps the best comment made at the last of the public input meeting on the 2011 City of Burlington budget was made by a woman who said: “Everyone who writes a letter should have to attend these meeting.” Some 50 people were in the room at the Burlington Arts Centre with at least a quarter of the crowd made up of city staff who presented and then led workshops at which people discussed and commented in detail on their view of the spending plan for the city in fiscal 2011.
Four tables were set up with a staff person facilitating while people used a workbook the city had prepared. At the end of the hour session as a group, each reported back to everyone attending on what their views were.
There wasn’t a huge complaint over the level of taxes. The concerns heard that Saturday morning were transit and culture. The people in the room seemed to be saying that they understood money was needed to pay for services and that all they really wanted was to have the tax money spent wisely.
While many people in the room had a special interest it wasn’t a noisy crowd; they were there to listen and then to share there views with other citizens. A typical well behaved, thoughtful Burlington audience.
 Citizens gathered into workgroups and were led through a workbook with a staff facilitator. One concern that was suggested was that the city spend less on roads and more on transit which suggested there was not a clear understanding of what the city is faced with in terms of the shortfall in funding to pay for road maintenance. The current operating budget provides just 68% of the money the city staff feel they need to keep the roads we have in decent condition.
Some might argue that the standard the roads department works to is a bit too high but the fact remains is that the roads are there and the city can’t shut down or decommission a road – people live on those streets. So to spend less on roads and more on transit as a suggestion was a bit difficulty to understand.
The session was ably led by Acting Director of Finance Joan Ford and her staff with a few other senior staff on hand. The Mayor Goldring was also in attendance and moving from table to table to get a sense of the way the discussions were going. Rick Goldring probably left the room pleased with the way the 2011 budget was being accepted. Now to get it to his full council where the competing interests of the community come into play and council members debate what should stay in the budget and what should be cut.
 Mayor Rick Goldring listens from the side lines as citizens discuss the budget he has to get through his council. It is interesting to note that there was no talk of actual budget cuts or mention of facilities that the city staff have suggested be de-commissioned.
Of note also is the fact that both public sessions were held in the more populated parts of the city. The first at Tansley Woods on Upper Middle Road and the second at the Burlington Arts Centre on Lake shore road. Many, if not all of the Council members will hold public sessions in their Wards and staff will attend these.
The city is going to spend $190 million on its day to day operations with the bulk of that money going to pay salaries and benefits. One person wanted to city to explain the impact of what the spending was. ‘We need to be educated on what the sending is going to do to us or for us rather than be give just the number of dollars or a percentage.”
The city has provided the following to help understand where the money they spend comes from and then what they do with that money when they get it. The lady who made the Letter to the Editor comment was more to the point than she may have realized.
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By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON March 7, 2011 – The Molinaro Group, developers of the 360 on Pearl, the Baxter and the Spencer to name a few, are looking to more than double the density on a lot at Brock and Elgin in Burlington’s Ward 2. The councillor for the ward, Marianne Meed Ward isn’t buying that idea and at the second community meeting to hear what the developer was doing, more than half of the fifty people in the room didn’t appear to be buying the idea either.
It must have been an important meeting – three of the Molinaro boys were sitting at the back of the room taking it all in. During the meeting one of the three announced that the project was going to be registered as a condominium but that the 115 units would be rented out as apartments. And if that doesn’t have a bit of an odour to it – then you don’t understand the Landlord Tenant Act or the way rent increases are managed. However, Mayor Rick Goldring tells me that most of the rental units in the Aldershot community are condominiums because the tax treatment is better than it is for apartment rentals. The complexities of high finance.
But that’s another issue. The Molinaro boys have to get the building up and that isn’t a slam dunk if the community response is any indication of what Council is going to hear when it gets to them.
Meed Ward doesn’t understand why the Official Plan or the zoning by-laws are not being adhered to and she doesn’t like the smell of the trade offs the city gets itself into when it lets a developers exceed height limits.
The property in question, at the intersection of Brock and Elgin Streets – just a hop, skip and a jump east of Maple, is zoned for up to 22 metres – seven stories – and the developer wants to increase the height to 44 metres or 14 stories. The community didn’t like the idea when they first heard about it last June and they liked it even less when it was brought back to them.
Members of the Burlington Planning department were on hand to take the public through the process – and they got a bit of a rough ride even though they explained that they had a legal obligation to asses the application for a density increase. They were just doing their jobs.
Density wasn’t the only issue. The impact the 115 unit building was going to have on traffic flow bothered many but city traffic specialist Vito Tolone assured the audience that the streets in the area could handle the increased traffic. He didn’t get any applause for that statement.
The planning consultant brought in by the Molinaro boys to sooth the agitated public made several strong points. He said that the proposed building was no bigger than other buildings in the immediate area and that it was smaller than several. He added that the provincial Places to Grow Program that calls for intensification in cities like Burlington is a reality and that the proposed building fit in with that plan. He didn’t get any applause either.
 The Baxter was a very successful condo development; seen as a prime location and an attractive building to boot. The proposed structure for Brock and Elgin is anything but attractive if the drawings are any indication of what they want to build. The fact that the building rendering shown to the meeting wasn’t very attractive and was going to be pretty close to the street didn’t help. The developer did lop off a few units from the top floor and jigged the design a bit but it still looked like a pretty ugly building that was going to loom over the streetscape.
This one will go to a council committee with some comment from the planners but the end result will probably be a –‘yeah build the thing’ and give us some kind of a benefit to make the pill a little easier to swallow.
That ‘benefit’ is called a Section 37 – and boy does the use of that phrase every get Meed Ward wound up. More on that in a separate story.
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By Staff
 Not a safe plays for kids this time of year. Burlington, ON March 4, 2011– Warm temperatures combined with a forecast 40 mm of rain over the weekend will result in high water levels in local waterways. While no significant flooding has been reported, rapid melting of the remaining snow base combined with prolonged rain does pose potential risks, including rapidly rising creeks and streams, increased water flow and potentially slippery stream banks.
The City strongly urges residents to use extreme caution around waterways.
“Slippery riverbanks and fast-moving water can be a recipe for disaster,” said Scott Stewart, Burlington’s general manager of community services. “We want people, especially young children, to stay well back from riverbanks during this warm, rainy spell.”
The city’s roads and park maintenance department has monitored several spots known for ice jams and has inspected several streams and creeks in the area and reports no major concerns at this time. Monitoring will continue over the weekend.
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 Is this what staff means by an “engagement charter”? By Pepper Parr
John Boich, one of the co-chairs of the Shape Burlington committee, was a very strong advocate of an Engagement Charter for the city of Burlington and while there wasn’t a very clear definition of just what an Engagement Charter was, there was no doubt in John’s mind what it meant – engage the people, John would almost shout, “involve them and tell them what the hell going on”. That’s John Boich. And the following is the document that will get taken to the Budget and Corporate Services Committee for discussion.
Working paper on ‘Burlington Engagement Charter’
Purpose
- Provide a framework for the City of Burlington to support planned and consistent approaches to public involvement.
- Inspire meaningful dialogue and informed participation about City of Burlington priorities and services.
- Enhance the City of Burlington’s commitment to inform citizens and respond to their ideas and contributions so that Burlington remains a great community in which to live, work and play.
Values
- Clear communication
- Transparency and trust
- Inclusion and demographic diversity
- Informed decision making
- Continuous improvement
Key Principles
- Careful planning and preparation
Engaging people around the issues that affect their lives is a key component of a strong democratic society. Public involvement encourages action, personal responsibility, and has a positive impact on decision making.
- Shared purpose
Support and encourage individuals, groups, government and others to work together to advance the common good. There must be a reasonable balance between the city’s legislated professional responsibilities and meaningful public involvement. The shared purpose is community building in Burlington.
- Openness
Help all involved listen to each other, explore new ideas, learn. Diverse groups of people discussing information from a variety of viewpoints can lead to better, more creative decisions. Face to face and online dialogue provide ways for citizens, staff and council to share timely information and discuss ideas and options.2)
 Public is a general and inclusive term that includes individuals, not-for-profit and corporate organizations, and institutions.
Involvement represents the range of ways that the public can expect to participate in decision making with the City of Burlington.
Burlington’s Continuum of Public Involvement
| City of Burlington |
Inform |
Consult |
Involve/Collaborate |
Empower |
| Public Involvement Goal |
To provide information to assist the public in understanding the topic, options, opportunities, solutions and/or decisions |
To obtain public feedback on analysis, alternatives and/or recommendations |
To work directly with the public throughout the process including developing options and identifying the preferred direction |
To place final decision-making in the hands of the public |
| Promise |
We will keep you informedWe will provide timely and reliable information that is easy to find and understand |
We will keep you informed, listen to and acknowledge input, and provide feedback about how public input influenced the outcome |
We will work with you to ensure your input is understood, reflected in the options developed and will look to you for advice. We will include your input and advice into the outcome to the maximum extent possible. |
We will implement what you decide |
| Examples |
- www.burlington.ca
- Fact sheet
- Open house
- City Talk
- Education session
- Advertising
- Twitter
|
- Survey
- Electronic opinion gathering
- Public meetingInterview
|
- Focus group
- Burlington Accessibility Advisory Committee
|
- Referendum question
- Committee of Adjustment
|
More detailed information outlines “Use When” and “Don’t Use When” information.
Measuring and Monitoring Success
Section to be developed: involve/collaborate
Reporting
Section to be developed: involve/collaborate.
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By Pepper Parr
On the move. Watch for the moving sale.
BURLINGTON, ON March 4, 2011 – It is going to be the sale of the century when Ikea prepares to move from its current location on Plains Road in Aldershot country to a new location on the North Service Road just west of Walker’s Line on a 25 acre parcel of land.
The hope is to have shovels in the ground in by the end of the year and hold the opening sometime in 2013. Before the Pier opens?
Ikea has outgrown its current location and has submitted an application to the city along with plans that will see a new retail store, warehouse and the Canadian corporate heads office at the new site which is currently an empty field.
The new set up will be 70% bigger than the old one which hopefully means a larger cafeteria and less wait for great value meals.
On the upside from an economic perspective is the 437 jobs that will be retained plus 108 new jobs. The move will preserve the corporate headquarters in Burlington and give IKEA great QEW visibility. So don’t expect much in the way of opposition from either the planning department or council when the application to change the zoning and make a change to the Official Plan.
The Burlington location is one of five IKEA stores in Ontario and, according to Tourism Burlington, the store is the #1 tourist attraction in Halton. I find that kind of hard to believe – but if you count shopping as a tourist attraction they might be right.
The new location is going to be massive: 428,500 square feet. The development is estimated to come in at $60 million.
The existing IKEA store is in Ward 1 where Rick Craven rules the roost. He said: “It is with mixed feelings that I must advise you that IKEA has submitted a development application to the City which would result in the store’s relocation from Aldershot to a site in east Burlington, at 3455 North Service Road. Been a tough period of time for Craven. He wasn’t able to get the Tiger Cats into Aldershot and now he’s losing his biggest retail operation. Craven assures the city that the IKEA location is an excellent place to do business and he is hoping that the Burlington Economic Development Corporation(BEDC) will find a rabbit in a hat somewhere and recruit a new store or office to the Aldershot site.
The new location will not tie IKEA all that tightly to any one community which is unfortunate because they have been good corporate citizens and contributed significantly to the welfare of the Aldershot community. Their moving will not be a shot in the arm to the Aldershot BIA.
What is now an empty field on North Service Road just west of Walkers Line is to be the new home for a $60 million 428,500 sq ft IKEA facility to open in 2013
IKEA hopes to have started construction by the end of this year and open the new facility in 2013. Gosh – IKEA will be open and operational – think we can have the Pier open the same week.
The bureaucrats said their usual. Mark Gregory Chair of the BEDC opined that “The expansion of IKEA at this Burlington site is vitally important to our city’s economy. We urge City Council and staff to give serious consideration to their proposal and assure IKEA’s future in our community”. Gregory went on to say” IKEA is one of Burlington’s top employers. It has a major impact on our local economy. In addition, their presence in the city anchors the civic efforts to promote the city as a competitive head-office location with attractive amenities including ‘big city’ retailers such as IKEA.”
Kyle Benham, Executive Director of the BEDC pointed out that IKEA creates the type of jobs that are “a great fit with the growth objectives contained in our economic development strategy.” Benham is also thanking his lucky stars that IKEA didn’t look elsewhere for a new location. They would have been a great catch for any number of communities along the 401 or the QEW.
Make a note on your calendar – sometime in 2013 – great sale at IKEA – but don’t wait till then to shop.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 3, 2011 – Time for all those who want to belly ache about the tax burden to get in front of both city hall staff and council members and get your two cents worth in before they skin you for several thousand dollars.
The city is going to the community for input, comment and reaction to the proposed budget that will determine what the tax levy for 2011 is going to be.
Officially, council is talking about a 2.5% increase for 2011 but that could slip down to 1.5% or down to 0% if Ward 5 council member Paul Sharman sticks to his guns
The draft outline of the budget is in print – now each council member gets to make amendments and argue for changes and convince their fellow council members to go along with cuts or additions they would like to see.
Ward 1 council member Paul Craven will want more for Aldershot, that’s how he continually gets re-elected. Marianne Meed Ward will cherry pick issues that she sees as socially beneficial and in the interests of the city at large, but we don’t hear much about the Pier and the waterfront from Meed Ward, which were issues that got her elected. John Taylor, sage of Ward 3, back form a deserved break will argue that the rural areas deserve a better break and has advised his fellow council members that they can expect to hear much from him on this issue. Jack Dennison of Ward 4 will have the longest list of desired changes and if he can find a way to float the Joseph Brant Museum across Lake Ontario to some other community he will push for that action.
Will the rookie council member with the financial smarts stick to his guns and argue for a 0%` tax increase for 2011?
Ward 5 council member Paul Sharman stunned both city hall staff and his fellow council members by saying at a committee meeting, that a 0% increase is what the council was elected to produce and he wants to see no pay increase – that is no automatic cost of living allowance, but merit pay to be handed out by the city manager as part of a different approach to rewarding city hall staff.
Ward 6 rookie Blair Lancaster let out a spirited Yippee! when staff completed several days of grueling Budget Orientation sessions and at a later committee session commented that staff should be left to manage while council set policy. Lancaster is still working through what her policy initiatives would be.
The schedule for the remainder of the public, committee and council session are:
[box type=”shadow”]March 5 – Capital Budget – Community Meeting/Workshop, Burlington Arts Centre, 1333 Lakeshore Road. 9:00 –11:30 am
March 8 – Review Capital Budget at Corporate Services Committee; 9:30 am Council Chambers.
March 21 – Council to Approve Capital Budget; 7 pm Council Chambers
March 29 – Review and Approve Current Budget at Budget and Corporate Services Committee, 9:30 am Council Chambers.
March 31 – (If required) More review of Current Budget: 9:30 am, Council Chambers.
April 11 – Council to Approve Current Budget [/box]
The budgeting process will approve a ten year capital spending program that doesn’t have any new major spending initiatives. The Pier and the Performing Arts Centre are either being litigated or nearing completion; the new fire station on Ironstone in the Appleby Line and Upper Middle Road areas is nearing completion. It’s basically a hold and complete budget on the capital side. The current operating budget is where the cuts are going to have to be made if the line on spending is to be held or made shoter. And given that staff is one of the largest, if not the largest expense item it doesn’t take much to determine where the cuts are going to come from.
A sometimes reliable source tells us that there are at least two medium to high level positions being looked at quite closely and the question “do we really need this position” is being seriously asked. Roman Martiuk, city Manger is under significant pressure from this council to do something to at least show that the “will of the people” Councilor Paul Sharman speaks of is being heard.
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Partner Graham Chalmers points out detail on an architect’s model of the project due to begin construction at Appleby Line and Upper Middle Road in the Spring.
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 3, 2011 – Have you noticed how we have all become “environmentalists”? We put our garbage in the different coloured bins. We buy into the idea of not purchasing water in plastic bottles and we at least try to walk rather than drive some of the errands we have to run – but the price of gas drives that decision more than our newly found environmental concerns.
There aren’t all that many opportunities to reduce the size of our carbon footprint on this planet but a developer new to the Burlington market is about to begin the “big dig” for a 16 storey condominium project at the corner of Appleby Line and Upper Middle Road, which they describe as “north Burlington”
The cost of heating and cooling units is being borne by Mother Earth for this “first in the province” use of geo thermal in a condominium project.
What makes this development unique and environmentally sound is the decision to go geo thermal for their energy. The contractors will be putting pipes down fifteen metres into the ground and tapping into the earth’s energy that will be used to heat and cool the condominium units.
Geo thermal as a process is not cheap. “It usually adds about $5000.00, often more than that to the price of a unit and that put condominiums into a price bracket that isn’t very competitive” explains Graham Chalmers. However, Davies Smith Development has come up with a really interesting twist to paying for that very expensive geo thermal piping and its attendant monitoring devices. The company that is doing the geo thermal work will own the system and lease it to the condominium, thus spreading the cost of the construction over a long period of time and making the units as affordable as anything else in its market segment.
Each resident will be able to set the level of heating or air conditioning they want in their unit. They will never know that the energy they are burning (if we can use that phrase) will come from the earth beneath them but, they will see something in the order of a 10% reduction in their energy costs at today’s prices, and be protected from future increases in the price of natural gas. There isn’t much of a down side to this. Geo thermal is a proven technology, used by Wal-Mart at their Fairview Road location in Burlington. The only tough part with geo thermal has been the capital cost and with the lease back solution Davies Smith has come up with, the condo owners get the best of several worlds. Price protection and a secure energy source and knowing that they’ve helped save the planet.
The building has solar panels on the roof but Graham Chalmers points out that “solar really isn’t as cost effective as many people think it is”. It does work and the hope is that they will generate enough energy to cover the cost of heating the water used in the building. “We will have some natural gas coming into the building to heat water but the building itself will be heated and cooled with geo thermal energy”, said Chalmers.
He believes this development is the first condominium, in Ontario at least, to use geo thermal on this scale. Construction will begin late in March. And how is business? Are the units selling? According the Davies Smith sales people 85% of the units are sold – not bad when they have yet to put a shovel into the ground.
Davies Smith developments is a partnership between two guys that worked together for some time for different companies and decided they had a bit of money and wanted to strike out on their own. They aren’t a ‘runty little development company’ selling condo units in one of the hottest markets in North America but rather have earned a better than average share of awards and have decided that they will develop a reputation and let that sell the housing they develop.
The project at Appleby Line and Upper Middle Road is in an area undergoing significant change. All four corners of this intersection as well as properties south along Appleby are slated for development. The city has its newest fire station under construction half a block away. The units range from 645 sq ft to 1140 sq feet in size. 85% of the units have been sold.
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By Staff
City wants you to think about feeding “nuisance” animals.
BURLINGTON, ON March 4, 2011 – This came in from the very able Georgi Gartside, chief factotum for Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward. They want to invite you to a public meeting and give you an opportunity to tell city staff if you think they should create a new policy or by-law to prohibit residents from feeding nuisance animals (skunks, raccoons, etc.). Staff will provide the background on this issue and ask for your feedback.
Is this a must attend meeting? Depends on your take on feeding the critters that roam our backyards and ravines. If the TV offering is dismal on Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. take a wander to the Burlington Senior’s Centre, Freeman Room, 2285 New Street. Kick up a stink.
By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON March 3, 2011 – That business of bicycle races in the downtown core on Canada Day seems to have the bureaucrats a little on the antsy side – they’ve decided to hold a public meeting for community input. Attribute this to either some nervousness on what the natives are saying or an example of better and more open communication between tax payer and tax collector.
This event, several days of competitive cycling in Burlington over two weekends has been hitting speed bump after speed bump – not a pleasant experience if you’re sitting on a skinny bicycle seat, if you know what I mean. The group organizing the event Mid Week Cycling Club has run into a number of difficulties and have had some problems convincing city hall staff that they can actually pull this off.
The problems started from the get-go when the proposal came to a Council meeting and got approved by one of those 4-3 votes. The Mayor at the time, Cam Jackson, voted against the idea, not because he didn’t like it, but because there was no solid Bid Book that the city could work from. Peter Thoem, then Ward 2 Council member and Rick Craven of Ward 1 liked the idea and the motion was passed on a recorded vote.
 It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the sponsors but they keep at it. They held an open night at the Waterfront Hotel for the public to drop by, see the race courses for this multi day event but very few people showed up. There were a couple of those – “we don’t want anything different people” but the turn out was less than a dozen folks. So the people who write cheques made out to the city, tax payers, weren’t up in arms over the event – which does have the potential to put Burlington on the cycling map and could become an annual event.
One of the people on hand that Friday evening at the Waterfront Hotel was Brian Deane, General Manager of the Burlington Downtown Business Association (BDBA) who was delighted with the idea and the opportunity it created for his members, “particularly those whose are in the hospitality business”. Dean felt it was going to be difficult to get a seat at any one of the Brant Street locations that had side walk café type seating. Watching the race as the cyclists roared by in small packs can be very exciting – Burlington hasn’t seen anything like this before.
 There is some potential conflict with the Canada Day celebrations at the waterfront and the evening fire works but the Midweek Cycling people explain that they hold races during the Toronto CHIN radio event at the Exhibition grounds where thousands of people swarm onto the streets and everything gets managed very well.
The proposal the city is dealing with is for a two year schedule with up to five different races both in the downtown core and up a number of the roads leading out of the city and into Escarpment land. If you’ve driven those roads you can imagine how grueling a “time test trial” would be up Walkers Line. Great sport.
The proposed race routes are set out below.
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The Burlington Performing Arts Centre will appear before a Council committee next week and detail their budget projections for the next fiscal year and explain their business plan for the next few years as well.
The BPAC, a project that is the pride of many in the city or one of those “nice to have but not necessary” for others, depending on which side of the cultural divide you have chosen to sit on, is getting close to Opening Day. The staffing compliment is growing as they get ready to market and promote programs for the fall season and at the same time keep public anticipation as high as possible.
This is the look the Performing Arts Centre wants to take to the community in its branding, advertising and promotional material.
As part of the pre-launch process the centre released a new “brand” that will be used in all its marketing initiatives. Graphics are thing you either like or don’t like – here is what the Centre is going forward with.
Past chair Keith Strong has explained that the Centre is going to go for what he calls a “soft opening’ which will have the community able to tour the building and get a sense of what has been built and showcase the opportunities and the potential.
Almost a little too much resemblance between the Mental Health Association logo and that chosen by the Performing Arts Centre. Is there a hidden intention here?
The decision was made not to open with a loud, expensive boffo event but to let the community warm up to the space with events that are low key and not all that expensive.
The 12 member Board for the Centre (with the Mayor as an Ex officio member) is in place and is made up of:
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Chairman Allan Pearson
Allan was born in Hamilton and has lived in Burlington for most of his life, having grown up in the downtown core. He has been in the automobile business since 1976 and is President of Discovery Ford Sales in Burlington.
Allan has served on the Ford of Canada Roundtable, is a former Board member and past Chair of the Board at Wellington Square United Church and currently sits on the Board of Trustees. Allan is a past Board member and Board Chair of the Burlington Community Foundation. He is current Vice-Chair of the Canadian Ford Dealer Pension Board of Trustees, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Carpenter Hospice. Allan has completed the DeGroote School of Business/United Way not-for-profit governance workshop.
Vice Chair Rick Burgess
Rick is a business lawyer based in downtown Burlington. He is an Instructor-Business and Labour Law, Niagara and Sheridan Colleges; Mediator & Group Facilitator; Instructor-Negotiation / Mediation / Dispute Resolution. From 1980 to 1989 Rick was a business lawyer in Toronto. He has been a member of Ontario & California bar associations since 1980.
Rick’s community involvement includes:
- Past Chair, Burlington Community Foundation Board (2009-2010)
- Past Vice-Chair and Member, Halton Regional Police Services Board (2005-2010)
- Past Chair, Burlington Chamber of Commerce
- Past President, Creative Burlington (2008-2009)
- Past President, Burlington Art Centre (2002-2004)
- Burlington Art Centre Foundation Board (2004-2005)
Rick has lived in Burlington since 1992 with his wife, Brenda Bowlby, who is also a lawyer, and their daughter Lindsay, who attends university.
Keith Strong
Keith has resided in Burlington for the last 42 years. He moved to Burlington as an employee of Windsor Salt which later resulted in being employed by Metasurf Canada. In 1970 Keith purchased a small mobile wash in Hamilton and has been self employed from that time. In 1985 Keith designed and built the first totally enclosed hazardous waste transfer site and instituted the first permanent household hazardous waste location in Ontario. In the late 80’s Keith sold his business to Laidlaw. Over the last 15 years Keith has helped small business to grow and expand. The remaining of his time has been spent giving back to the Burlington community. Keith has a daughter Terra and a son Scott both married, living in Oakville raising their families.
Philippe Pango
Dr. Philippe Pango’s inventions and technologies have been successfully implemented in millions of wireless Bluetooth headsets, hearing-aids and ground penetrating radars throughout the world. A long time resident of Burlington, Dr. Pango’s career started as a Senior Design Engineer for Gennum Corporation, where he was instrumental in the company’s transition to digital hearing aid technology. In 2006 he launched his first start up, CAYCe, in partnership with McMaster University. Dr. Pango is currently the Chief Technology Officer of Vitasound Audio Inc., where he oversees the research and development of advanced audio processing technologies, including hearing aids and hearing protection devices. An avid musician, Dr. Pango understands the importance of arts in a perfectly balanced life, and its positive impact on a community. He plays electric and acoustic guitar, five-string bass, piano, organ, djembé percussion, sings in a choir that promotes the African culture throughout the Halton region, has authored two novels, and claims to be unbeatable at tennis.
Mary-Ellen Heiman
Mary-Ellen’s professional background includes skills in building strong relationship amongst volunteers, staff, major donors and business partners. She has held positions in the direction of the performing arts sector as Chair of the Board, and board member, for the St. Lawrence Performing Arts Centre in Toronto, with direct reporting to the City of Toronto. She has also been a consultant to various music, drama and heritage organizations. Mary-Ellen has also worked in the visual arts sector as Executive Director of a public non-profit art gallery. Through these roles she has distinguished herself as a strategic planner and partnership builder with strong Board of Joseph Brant Hospital.
Presently, Mary-Ellen is the Director of Development and funding for the Canadian Centre of Emergency Preparedness. In her previous consulting career, she was a consultant in needs analysis, strategic planning, promotional enhancement, program design and board development. Mary-Ellen’s skills include partnership building, workflow analysis, communication methodology and organizational change, with direct experience in marketing, governance, sponsorship and grant funding, financial and event management. Mary-Ellen has completed the DeGroote School of Business/United Way not-for-profit governance workshop.
Dominic Mercuri
Dominic is a leader in financial services marketing and is currently the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for TD Bank Financial Group. In this capacity Dominic leads a global marketing team and is responsible for the bank’s overall market positioning, and oversees the development and execution of TD’s global marketing and brand strategy. Dominic, his wife Carol, and their children Jennifer and Frank have lived in Burlington since 1995. He is also a member of the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital Foundation Board.
Ed Hannah
Ed Hannah was born in Collingwood, raised in Hamilton and has lived for the past 18 years in Burlington. Ed is a graduate of Yale University (B.A.); York University (M.B.A.); Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B.); and Harvard Law School (LL. M.).
Ed has spent 22 years of his 27-year professional career as a lawyer at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, LLP (Toronto) where he currently practices law, specializing in Corporate/Commercial Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Structured Finance and Corporate Governance.
Ed has also been a Senior Vice-President of Score Media Inc., a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed public company, and Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel for Magna Entertainment Corp. and its parent corporation, MI Developments Inc., both public companies cross-listed on U.S. and Canadian stock exchanges. Ed has served on several public company and charitable boards of directors.
Ilene Elkaim
Ilene Elkaim, a Burlington resident since 1994, recognized for a distinguished career in Logistics and Information Systems for Retail Administration and Operations, founded Six Dynamix in 2005. Six Dynamix partners with small to mid-sized retail or wholesale organizations enabling them to improve efficiencies in their business processes. She has developed an effective process of working collaboratively with their clients to optimize administration and operations during all economic times, including software selection and implementation.
Ilene is also an active thespian within the Hamilton/Halton area since 1996. Her involvement includes acting, back stage activities as well as having been an active participant on various Boards, including The Aldershot Players and Performing Arts Burlington (now known as Creative Burlington).
Ilene looks forward to joining forces with her fellow board members and management to make constructive, progressive contributions for the Burlington Theatre Board Inc.
Mayor Rick Goldring (Ex-officio)
On December 1, 2010 Rick Goldring was sworn into office as the City of Burlington’s 28th Mayor, after serving four years as Ward 5 City & Regional Councillor. A lifelong Burlington resident, Rick went to Nelson High School and earned his BA (Economics) from McMaster. He lives here with his wife, Cheryl, and they have a combined total of seven daughters.
Having been in business locally for 30 years, most recently as a senior financial advisor with Assante Financial Management Ltd., Rick has always been actively involved in community affairs. In addition to co-hosting Taking Care of Your Future on TV Cogeco, Rick is a member and past president of the Hamilton Chapter of Advocis – Canada’s largest association of financial advisors. Rick is a Rotarian, and has also been on the Board of the Ron Edwards (Burlington) Family YMCA and the Burlington Chamber of Commerce. As City and Regional Councillor for Ward 5 in Burlington, he chaired both the Budget and Strategic Planning and the Community Services Committees.
Rick is passionate about his community and plans to address major concerns during his term including sustainable development, environmental issues and fiscal responsibility.
Peter Ashmore
Peter Ashmore has lived in Burlington for over 20 years with his wife Marla and their two children both who are now attending university. He is a principal in MLA Enterprises Inc. an investment holding company. Peter is a member of the Burlington Theatre Board and Chair of its Finance Committee. He has been involved with the Fundraising Campaign Cabinet for The Burlington Performing Arts Centre and the Performing Arts Centre Board Development Task Force. Peter is currently President of the HoliMont Ski Club: a 1400 member not for profit club located in Ellicottville, New York. He has served on the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital Foundation Board where he held the position of Treasurer. He was also active in the development of the Triathlon Club of Burlington were he remains as director.
Denise Walker
Denise Walker has been an entrepreneur for the past twenty-five years. She started High-Q Computer Education where she taught various software applications to small businesses. Her business has evolved into doing contract work, which includes event planning, client appreciation, business data analysis and marketing support. She is currently working at Lakeshore Clinic and CIBC Wood Gundy in Burlington. Denise started as a member of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre Fundraising Campaign Cabinet for more than 5 years, and is now a member of the Burlington Theatre Board Inc. Denise is also currently the Fundraising Chair.
Denise is passionate about the project and is currently working on completing the 11 million dollar Capital Campaign.
Denise is a Wilfrid Laurier Graduate with a degree in Economics.
She was born in Montreal, but has been a Burlington resident for 41 years. Denise and her husband Kevin have three children; one doing postgraduate studies and two in university. Denise has completed the DeGroote School of Business/United Way not-for-profit governance workshop.
Steve Zorbas
Steve Zorbas is currently Acting General Manager of Development and Infrastructure for the City of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. At the City of Burlington he has also held the positions of Acting Director of the Parks and Recreation Department and Executive Director of the Finance Department. He has over 27 years financial experience within local government, which have included the Town of Richmond Hill and the City of Mississauga. Prior to entering local government he also worked in the private sector in various financial positions in both the retail and manufacturing environments.
His academic accomplishments include holding a Bachelor of Commerce degree, diploma in public administration as well as being a professional accountant, Certified Management Accountant (CMA). He currently is a board member (MPAC) at the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation and also Chair of the MPAC Audit Committee.
He has served as Chair/Past-Chair/Vice-Chair as well as board member for the Municipal Finance Officer’s Association of Ontario (MFOA). In addition he has been a board member on the Government Finance Officer’s Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) subcommittee, Committee of Canadian Issues (CCI) as well as serving as a budget review officer and budget program advisor as part of GFOA’s distinguished budget award program.
Councillor Rick Craven
Rick Craven is a four term member of both Burlington City and Halton Regional Councils. He is a recipient of the Lyn Benson Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the Community of Aldershot and the Halton Award of Excellence for promoting a safe and Healthy Community.
Councillor Craven currently serves on Halton’s Health and Social Services Committee, Halton Police Services Board and is President of the Halton Community Housing Corporation.[/box]
The Performing Arts Centre is getting to the point where it will soon actually look like the architects rendering we have seen for so many years. Delightful.
These are the people you want to button hole and share your views on the Centre and its programming. Most are volunteers and have gotten the Centre to the point where it will soon open and in the process have raised just under $11 million in public funding. The Centre is owned by the city and run by the arms length Burlington Performing Arts Centre with the city picking up any deficits while the centre gets itself on its feet.
The creation of an audience and the development of a program that meets the interest of the community is part marketing science with a lot of creativity and sensitivity to the community added. Executive Director Brenda Heatherington came to Burlington from St. Albert, a community just north of Edmonton. Alberta where she was hugely successful developing local theatre.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 3, 2011 – The deadline for nominations for the annual Burlington Civic Recognition Awards closed on Tuesday and now the task of sifting through the nomination papers gets started. The following people are on the Committee that will determine who the recipient will be for each of the six awards.
 Lisa Boyko, Linda Cupido, Bob Hilton, Jane McKenna, Ann Coburn and Keith Strong have accepted the call to choose the person to receive the community award for each category. Each of the six were appointed to the Burlington Civic Recognition committee for a tem that expires at December 31, 2013. Susan Zidaric Seymour is also on the committee and Adam Smith serves as chair of the eight member committee who meet by themselves with just a Clerk joining them to advise on protocol and procedure.
For those awards that are sponsored – the Arts award being an example, the sponsor of the Award has the right to have a person in the room for those deliberation but Deb Caughlin, Manager Council Services points out that there is seldom anyone from the sponsoring group taking part. This is the first year Caughlin has served as the Clerk to this committee. She describes it as an “awesome event”.
The award categories and their sponsors are:
Citizen of the Year – Sponsored by Service Clubs of Burlington: Aldershot Lions, Central Lions, Optimists, Royal Canadian Naval Association, The Rotary Clubs of Burlington: Burlington, Burlington Central, Burlington Lakeshore, Burlington North
Junior Citizen of the Year – Sponsored by B’Nai Brith
Senior Person of the Year – Sponsored by the Heritage Place Retirement Community
Environmental Award – Sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Burlington: Burlington, Burlington Central, Burlington Lakeshore, Burlington North
Community Service Award – Sponsored by Cogeco Cable Inc.
Arts Person of the Year The K. W. Irmisch Arts Award – sponsored by the Irmisch Family.
The Citizen of the Year recipient along with the nominees is announced in early May. The recipients of the other five awards are announced at the event. Each person nominated for an award is given a certificate
Awards night for Civic Recognition. Tickets priced at $30. each. Great deal.
The event that celebrates the announcement of the awards and the presentation of the certificates takes place on May 26th at the Burlington Convention Centre. Tickets will be available at City Hall in the next few days. Tickets are $30. each and are available from the city 905-335-7600, ext. 7493 or visit www.burlington.ca/civicrecognition
“This is not a fund raising event” explained Caughlin. “All we do is cover the costs and have reserved 250 spaces at the convention Centre.”
The Awards have been given out since February of 1965. Before that different groups gave awards and the city decided it would be more effective and meaningful for there to be a single event at which all the recipients were recognized.
Transit appointments:
The following citizens were also appointed to the Burlington Transit Advisory Committee for a term that expires December 31st, 2012
Christopher Cottingham (Resident-Youth) and Amy Collard (Alternate, Halton Public school Board Trustee. Jennifer Hlusko was approved as an appointee to the Burlington Transit Advisory for a term that expires December 31, 2013.
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By Pepper Parr
It was an emotional event. City Council decided to recognize the community contribution made by John Boich, co-chair of the Shape Burlington report.
Boich’s 1956 Shredded Wheat football card.
John Boich, who spent most of his career in the field of education after a couple of years playing football for the Ottawa Rough Riders, also happens to have a football card that was sold recently on eBay. John was immensely amused by that sale.
He covered a lot of ground in a life that has been filled with activity and citizen engagement. The issue with perhaps the highest profile is of course the Shape Burlington report, produced by a committee that was co-chaired by John and former Burlington mayor Walter Mulkewich. That report is still reverberating around city hall where, later this month, staff will produce their response to the document that has the potential to re-shape the way citizens interact with their elected officials and the staff hired to look after the city on their behalf.
doing what he does so very well.
John has always been an intervener. On the football field, within educational organizations, at the community level and in his relationships with those who were not as fortunate as he has been, John has been generous.
He is a large man and a large personality and there is never any doubt that he is in the room. His involvement with local politics is close to legendary and if there was a shift in the thinking of a political party John had no problem moving his political allegiance.
But he never shifted away from the interests of the community and this evening the city he loves and cherishes met in a formal city council session and recognized the contribution he has made to the city of Burlington.
John is not well. He has pancreatic cancer and faces this extremely difficult stage in life with the courage and determination he has faced most of his challenges.
 His indomitable spirit got him to City Hall where he sat in a front row with Arlene, his wife of 30 years and received from the Mayor on behalf of the City, a Medal of Merit. Long, sustained applause that no one wanted to hear end followed the prtesentation. The Council chamber had almost as many people in it as there were at the Inaugural session. After the presentation of the certificate every member of Council came forward to congratulate John Boich and wish him their very best.
The only ones not in attendance were John’s three Shiatsu dogs, Buster, Molly and Winston. The event was televised live on Cogeco Cable. Arlene Miller said a few words about the many, many meetings that took place in her dining room and she closed with the comment that rang true for every one in the chamber: “John was doing what he loved”.
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By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON – The City of Burlington is now accepting nominations for its annual Civic Recognition Awards. The deadline for nominations is March 1, 2011. If you know a volunteer who has played a role in making the community a better place to live, work or play, then consider submitting their name for this honour.
“The annual Civic Recognition Awards give us the opportunity to recognize individuals who have left a significant mark on our city through their volunteerism and contributions to making Burlington a great place to live,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “It’s so important that we show our gratitude to these remarkable people for going above and beyond to make a positive impact in our community.”
Nominations can be made in one of these six award categories:
- Citizen of the Year
- Junior Citizen of the Year
- Senior Person of the Year
- Arts Person of the Year
- The Community Service Award
- The Environmental Award
The awards program started in 1965 when different service groups in the city had awards they were giving and the thinking was that this event would be better run by the city. Alan Smith is the citizen member chair of the committee (the vice chair position is open). He is supported by Deb Coughlin, Manager of Council Services in the city Clerks department. The committee receives the nominations and passes on a set of recommendations to city council.
The winners will be honoured at a special awards evening on Thursday, May 26, 2011 at the Burlington Convention Centre. Tickets are $30. each and are available from the city 905-335-7600, ext. 7493 or visit www.burlington.ca/civicrecognition
Each of the award levels has its own history which we have set out below.
Citizen of the Year – Sponsored by Service Clubs of Burlington: Aldershot Lions, Central Lions, Optimists, Royal Canadian Naval Association, The Rotary Clubs of Burlington: Burlington, Burlington Central, Burlington Lakeshore, Burlington North
Junior Citizen of the Year – Sponsored by B’Nai Brith
Senior Person of the Year – Sponsored by the Heritage Place Retirement Community
Environmental Award – Sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Burlington: Burlington, Burlington Central, Burlington Lakeshore, Burlington North
Community Service Award – Sponsored by Cogeco Cable Inc.
Arts Person of the Year The K. W. Irmisch Arts Award – sponsored by the Irmisch Family.
Pause and think about someone you have read about or heard about who has served the community in an outstanding way and nominate them.
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By Pepper Parr with content from CNET
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than 10,000 children in 46 countries were born with deformities as a consequence of thalidomide use. Thalidomide was sold in a number of countries 1957 until 1961 when it was withdrawn from the market after being found to be a cause of birth defects in what has been called “one of the biggest medical tragedies of modern times”.
Medical science has done a lot for us.. Penicillin, the polio vaccine, heart transplants – the list is endless but mistakes get made and we do need to be mindful and pay attention to the technology. Ask questions now because in the past we rushed to get a new medicine and new products to market. Have we done that with cell phones?
Thalidomide was introduced as a sedative drug and was found to act as an effective tranquilizer and painkiller and was proclaimed a “wonder drug” for insomnia, coughs, colds and headaches. It was also found to be an effective inhibitor on morning sickness, and so thousands of pregnant women took the drug to relieve their symptoms.
In the United Kingdom the drug was licensed in 1958 and, of the approximately 2000 babies born with defects, 466 survived. The drug was withdrawn in 1961 and in 1968, after a long campaign by The Sunday Times newspaper, a compensation settlement for the UK victims was reached with Distillers Company Limited.
1962: FDA inspector Frances Oldham Kelsey receives an award from President John F. Kennedy for blocking sale of thalidomide in the United States.
The impact in the United States was minimized when pharmacologist and M.D. Frances Oldham Kelsey refused Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Canada was the last country to stop the sales of the drug, in early 1962.
We tell you all this because there “might”, and that might needs to be stressed, be a link between that terrible thalidomide experience and the ubiquitous use of cell phones. This is not meant to be alarmist – but questions can and should be asked.
Research ‘suggests’ that cell phone use “excites” the brain.
We picked up the following from Kent German writing for CNET; lhttps://www.cnet.com/
Here are his comments and observations:
[box type=info]If you cover the wireless industry, you’re never far from the ongoing debate over whether cell phones are harmful. And the debate usually goes something like this: the scientific community produces a study that explores the issue, and then the wireless industry rushes to interpret that study to its advantage.
Cell phones are ubiquitous – most people use them and in some countries that’s all there is.
Such was the case with a report published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that in healthy volunteer participants, cell phone exposure was associated with increased metabolism of glucose in the region of the brain closest to the antenna. So as CNET blogger Lance Whitney put it, the study suggested that cell phone use “excites” the brain.
Whether that increased brain activity is harmful, however, remains to be seen. The study’s authors also concluded that their findings were of “unknown clinical significance” and that more research is needed. And, not surprisingly, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), the wireless industry’s lobbying arm in Washington, D.C., highlighted the former point in a statement.
“The authors acknowledge that the results provide no information as to potential health effects of cell phones,” the statement said. “As with any study, scientific organizations will review the results of this one in the context of the significant body of research and published literature on cell phone safety that has already been amassed.”
What’s really important
So, as I said, the scientific community reports a study and the wireless industry takes the study and highlights the points that it likes the best. Yes, that’s much how the debate between science and industry has largely progressed throughout history, but it bothers me that in the process, consumers get only the information that organizations like the CTIA want them to hear.
Is that data correct – if it is we certainly want to know more and have someone study this and not take the word of the telephone industry.
Absolutely, CTIA is correct to highlight that the study makes no conclusions as to whether cell phones are harmful. Yet, dwelling on that point misses the most significant aspect of the study, which is that cell phone use can affect how your brain functions, even temporarily. Proving that point alone–and I realize that this one study doesn’t “prove” anything, but it does demonstrate it–has been the focus of much of the previous research over whether cell phones were potentially harmful. Lots of other things also affect the brain–food, sex, alcohol, drugs, to name a few–but not everything pumps out electromagnetic radiation next to your brain.
Dr. Devra Davis–an epidemiologist, environmental health researcher, and founder of Environmental Health Trust–characterizes the finding as stunning. “This demonstrates that cell phone use affects brain activity,” she told CNET. “The study used real people and was as close as you can get to a biopsy on a living brain.”
Davis, who authored the 2010 book “Disconnect: The Truth about Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide it and How to Protect Your Family,” also cautioned against making firm conclusions from the study, but she takes a forceful role in advocating for more research. “The notion that we have enough information is completely wrong,” she said.
More research
As other, and usually inconclusive, studies continue to be published, I would be skeptical of anyone arguing that the case should be closed. Even the CTIA has argued for more research, and a spokeswoman confirmed that point with me today. Yet, I see a gap between the industry group’s actions and its vow to take the issues seriously.
For example, when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a law last year requiring cell phone manufacturers to display the specific absorption rate (SAR) for each handset sold, the CTIA effectively stopped playing, took its ball, and went home. Not only did it blast San Francisco in a statement, but it also decided to move its autumn trade show to San Diego to punish the city.
Some standards
I’m not a staunch defender of San Francisco’s law–indeed, there’s plenty about my city’s government that makes me roll my eyes–but the CTIA’s reaction suggested that the “are they harmful/not harmful?” debate wasn’t worth its time. Yes, there’s no proof that a lower-radiation cell phone is safer. And, yes, information about a phone’s specific absorption rate (SAR) is widely available. Yet, as long as San Francisco is not making scientific claims about cell phone use, I don’t see the problem in giving consumers information and making it available when they buy the phone.
The CTIA mainly argued that San Francisco didn’t have the authority for such legislation. That’s possible, but as with most things, it’s never about what it’s about. As it has done in response to almost every study (including the one above) the industry also fell back on the notion that all cell phones sold in the United States are safe because they conform to FCC standards for safety (a SAR of 1.6 watts per kilogram or lower is legally considered “safe”). This is unfortunate. What most consumers don’t know is that the FCC’s standards were developed in 1993 using a model of a human who was 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighed 200 pounds, and had an 11-pound head. That’s hardly a fair representation of the average adult, let alone a child (remember, also, that kids have thinner skulls and their brains are still developing). What’s more, the digital phones we use today weren’t around 18 years ago. So maybe I’m a pessimist, but perhaps we should take a look at developing new standards.
Is this what our heads look like? Is that a good thing? Can we know that – please.
I’m not a scientist, so I’m not about to interpret the findings of this or any study. But if cell phone use can really affect brain activity, then we are nowhere near laying this argument to rest. Though much of my job is devoted to helping CNET readers find the best phone, neither CNET nor I has any interest in putting our heads in the sand and guaranteeing you that cell phones are safe. To do so would be irresponsible.
Until we can determine if cell phone use can adversely affect your health through DNA mutation–and frankly, we may not be able to determine that for many years, if we ever can at all–the industry needs to take the issue seriously. Blowing off concerned parties, alarmist as they may be, doesn’t help the situation. Nor does it help to continually point to government reports and convenient studies that find that nothing is wrong.
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The same thing happened with the thalidomide debate – but the terrible results could not be ignored. Not to be alarmist – but could someone spend some time and money on this issue – it is not exactly a “no-brainer”.
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