 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. June 6, 2013 On Friday June 7, 2013 the Halton Regional Police Service will lend their support and logistical assistance in the funeral of Primary Care Flight Paramedic Chris Snowball.
His funeral will be held at Compass Point Bible Church, 1500 Kerns Road, Burlington and in order to accommodate the funeral procession, the following closures will be in effect from 9:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.
Eastbound and Westbound North Service Road from Brant Street to Kerns Road
Northbound and Southbound Kerns Road from North Service Road to Winterberry Drive
Where possible, motorists are encouraged to plan alternate routes, as traffic in the immediate area of the closures will be heavier than normal.
 By Ray Rivers.
BURLINGTON, ON. June 6, 2013 Robin Hood, legend has it, stole from the rich to give to the poor, doing what we call ‘redistributing income’. England, at the time, was run by Prince John, a greedy SOB and a very poor fiscal manager who ran up record deficits to pay for his brother’s crusading activities and his own extravagant lifestyle. During his reign, as national growth plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed, he taxed the poor to death (literally) while allowing the rich to hoard their wealth.
 Robin Hood – a leading thinker on the distribution of income. Robin, on the other hand, understood that income is either spent on consumption or stuffed away as savings. He knew that the poor spent everything they earned, so every penny or half-crown they could lay their hands on was being plowed back into the economy – creating employment and domestic product. The rich, who couldn’t possibly spend all they made, stuffed their savings into a strong box or under the mattress. Robin was often heard to say, “If you want economic growth you need to redistribute” – the Robin Hood Clause.
Taxation, I know, sometimes feels like highway robbery. But not all taxes are created equal – some help our economy and some hurt. Sales taxes are regressive. They hurt, disproportionately, the middle-income and poor and thus, the economy. Stephen Harper understood this when, in his first term as PM, he cut two percentage points off the GST in order to grow the Canadian economy. By contrast, income taxes are progressive – you pay more only if you make more. Consumer demand and economic growth are largely unaffected, in comparison to sales taxes.
Our Premier was looking in the wrong places to help Toronto, the city that won’t help itself, get real public transit. The last thing the recovering Ontario economy needs is an increase in our regressive HST. I guess Jim Flaherty agrees with me, although I suspect he also had other reasons for turning down the Premier’s request to raise the HST.
So, why not look at income taxes? Provincial rates are about the lowest they’ve been in three generations. In the US, President Obama has long been trying to ratchet up income taxes on the wealthy. Even the normally conservative US Federal Reserve Chair (Bernanke) has been making noises that he supports a doubling of the tax rate on the richest Americans. Is it only a matter of time until we will need to catch up with the Americans again?
So Premier Wynne, let’s get ahead of the game. Why not get serious about reversing the damage done to our economic potential over the years by the ruthless cuts to the most important tax system we have?
Raise the progressive rates on those with the highest earnings; those who can best afford to pay. Didn’t the NDP already force Dalton McGuinty to apply a token surtax on the wealthy in his last budget? Does that then leave Andrea as the closest thing we now have to a modern-day Robin Hood? And if so, why is she silent now?
 Rivers with his latest book: The end of September. Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat after which he decided to write and has become a political animator. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 5, 2013 If you haven’t seen the Mayor around town that’s because he left town – spending a couple of days in Germany on city business. That should bring howls from those that think the politicians do nothing but spend public money and provide little in return. They do that in Toronto.
 Mayor rick Goldring delivered an address on water to an organization that develops strategies on how to better manage water around the world. Burlington with its abundance of water will provide a significantly different perspective. Mayor Rick Goldring and Kyle Benham, Executive Director of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation, have been hopping across Germany and dropping into Berlin, Munich and Frankfort.
The Mayor was invited to give an address to the German Water Partnership (GWP); a central coordination and contact office of the German water sector serving foreign partners and clients.
 Kyle Benham, Executive Director of the Economic Development Corporation joined the Mayor on a three day trip to Germany to develop interest in Burlington as a Canadian base for German companies in the water business. Burlington realized that it has a cluster of some 60 organizations that are involved in the water business and that the Canada Centre for Inland Waters was a leading research institute on water. The thinking was that there might be some synergies that could result in some much needed economic development.
While we in Ontario seldom think about water as a commodity or a problem other parts of the world are not nearly as fortunate. Water is a very serious problem in large parts of Africa and the Middle East. Wars are fought over water.
The GWP is involved in water projects in Palestine, Jordan and Beirut, Lebanon. They put together the umbrella organisation that is now the Arab Countries Water Utilities Association.
The GWP is seen as the leading organizational group focused on water. They wanted a Canadian perspective and Mayor Goldrring was invited to speak and while there visit with organizations that might look on Burlington as a place to grow their North American operations.
This can be pretty heady stuff – something different for the Mayor who often finds himself bogged down in small local problems.
Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., a major multi-national in the prescription drug field with a focus on products for the veterinary market has an operation on the South Service Road. While in Germany the Mayor will be meeting with some of the head office people.
 Centre for Inland Waters, a federal facility that may have the potential to spearhead some economic development. Burlington is home to Canada Centre for Inland Waters where the National Laboratory for Environmental Testing, , a fully accredited environmental analysis capability for a wide range of organic and inorganic chemicals, including a specialization in low level metals and the analysis of organic contaminants.
In addition to laboratory research, work carried out at the National Laboratory for Environmental Testing involves engineering and technical operations, such as the planning and management of field sampling programs.
This is all pretty technical stuff but a vital part of the water business and something Burlington just might manage to build into something that could become an industrial and commercial focus for the city and perhaps put some of the “economic development” land we have for sale to use.
The decision to make the trip to Germany came out of the realization that Burlington has a number of companies that are in the water business. About 60 actually. Economic development types call that a cluster – and clusters are very good for economic growth.
Burlington’s economic development corporation is in the middle of a re-development of its own – moving away from putting on events, retaining the companies that are doing business in Burlington and looking for newer opportunities for the city.
The change in focus bumped into a stunning surprise when the city realized that the income from Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) tax sources was going to be a negative number for 2013 – less than it was for 2012. That was not a good sign for a city that has reached the build out point in terms of large new housing developments. There is the Eagles Heights development in the north east and the Tremaine Road/Dundas development on the drawing boards and after that it is all infill.
Burlington does have a lot of land that is defined as “employment lands” but very little of that is shovel ready which in the minds of the economic development people means they can begin to build in a short period of time. Some of the developers are not all that keen on seeing land used for ICI type construction when, in their minds, they can build houses which provide a significantly larger financial return.
These conflicting interests put Burlington in an awkward financial spot – we have the land for new business; the developers don’t want ICI type construction; the city faces a situation where the money needed to run the city for an aging population isn’t what it used to be; that population will need more in the way of services and the city faces a massive expense to repair the infrastructure. The cost of getting our roads up to snuff is reported to be $18 – annually.
 Pasquale (Pat) Paletta will be inducted as 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year Thursday evening at the Burlington Convention Centre Given that kind of a scenario a Mayor might be forgiven for wanting to go to Germany and staying there. Our Mayor is hoping that his trip to Germany will interest companies over there into coming here – and using some of that “economic development” land we have for sale.
International Harvester is in the process of getting ready to move out of the Harvester Road and Guelph Line property. Emshie Developments either has it on the market or is looking for an opportunity to get a new client into what is really industrial space on the corner of two of the busier streets in the city. There is perhaps a better use for that land.
It will be interesting to hear what the Mayor has to say when he returns. He will land in Toronto on Thursday and head directly to the Economic Development Corporation dinner to celebrate Pat Paletta, founder of the company that is the largest holder of economic development land in the city.
Pasquale (Pat) Paletta will be inducted as 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year. Mr. Paletta is the founder of what is known today as Paletta International Corporation. He started the company in 1964 with a 10,000 sq.ft meat packing plant, today the facility is over 200,000 sq.ft. They export to over 17 countries worldwide, in addition have developed 1000s of residential units, constructed over 500,000 sq.ft of buildings, developed 100s of acres of property for retail and employment, farm thousands of acres, and expanded in to film, media and entertainment. Burlington has always been home for the Paletta Corporation.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 5, 2013 They didn’t say very much but they at least said something. It would have been nice if the public relations agency that ran the Kraft Canada Game Goes ON contest had communicated with the various hockey clubs around the country on how the processing of the prize money was going.
 This red button got clicked thousands of time by minor hockey associations across the country. Minor hockey associations across the country used two days in April to corral every person they could find to click on that red button on a web site and rack up votes for different levels of prize money. It was quite a public relations feat – that kind of went sour when it took so long for the prize money to actually get to the clubs.
Burlington`s minor hockey association entered the contest and ended up one of the five Ontario Regional winners. When the prize money didn’t show up Our Burlington started asking questions.
 John McNeil put together the team that took on the Games Goes on Challenge that won BLOMHA a $20,000 prize. Here is what we got from Sherri-Lyn Brown, with the public relations company that ran the contest: “Please see the response below from Joanna Milroy, Senior Consumer Promotions Manager, Kraft Canada.”
Kraft said: “Thank you for your inquiry. Each of the winning communities can expect to receive their prize money in the month of June. We look forward to seeing the impact that these funds will have on the Burlington Lions Optimist Minor Hockey Association.”
Each of the prize-winning clubs want to say thank you for what they won – they will probably do so a little less enthusiastically. Pity.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 5, 2013. There is at least some movement on the space rental situation at the Regus operation on Brant Street where tenants were advised the operation was going to be shut down at the end of August.
Grant Greenberg, a spokesperson for Regus advised that the tenants were given 90 days’ notice and that Regus was actively looking at two possible locations for a new operation in Burlington. Greenberg said they were looking at two buildings where they hope to be able to rent a full floor.
Many suspect that information – and wonder where these buildings are with a whole floor of space available for rental. There is some space that will come on-line in a couple of years – but no one we talked to could name a building with that much space suitable to the kind of operation Regus runs.
James Burchill, the éminence grise that hosts the Business in Burlington Meet Up at The Ivy on South Service Road once a month will be setting aside some time on Wednesday evening to allow Jackie Isada, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Ian Cameron who is with the Economic Development office in Burlington to update the community on what has taken place so far.
Regus advises that they will have a representative on hand. Barry Weinghell will apparently be able to speak for Regus. The Meet Up at The Ivy starts at 5 pm runs till 7pm.
Greenberg said Burlington is a strong market for Regus and they would like to remain in the community. He did admit that there might have been some miscommunication from the Regus operations manager. For a short period of time no one was able to get through to a woman named Charlotte who was understood to be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Regus office on Brant Street.
Marie Copeland (Hryczynski), a mortgage broker, has been part of the discussion around what tenants can do, said in a communication that she was informed from one of the more established tenants at Regus, an accountant, that there may have been some financial mismanagement and as a result the landlord is not renewing the lease. “I don’t know but there may be other issues surfacing from this”.
The property, owned by Upper Canada, has experienced some difficulties recently when the movie theatre decided to go out of business. The building also recently underwent a major re-construction of the front entrance area.
The Regional Police have a small office in the building. There has been a solid, well established base of tenants in the building which many people find very convenient with a city parking lot at the rear of the building that is well-lit and maintained.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. June 5, 2013. Halton Police have arrested a transient youth following the assault on a young girl on Sutton Drive near Dryden.
At just after 4:00 p.m. a 16-year-old girl was walking northbound on Sutton Drive near Dryden Avenue when a male approached, attempting to engage her in conversation. The girl did not stop and continued walking when she was suddenly pushed off the sidewalk by the male. The girl was uninjured, but an article of her clothing was ripped during the assault.
The girl went to a nearby friend’s house and immediately contacted police.
The incident generated a significant police response that resulted in the swift arrest of the male, in the area of Alexander’s Public School.
A 17-year-old youth has been charged with Assault and held for a bail hearing. His identity is protected under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Detectives are continuing their investigation into the incident and are seeking information from the community that would assist in that regard. Anyone who may have witnessed the assault is asked to contact the Burlington Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905 825-4747 x2315, Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting ‘Tip201’ with your message to 274637(crimes).
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON June 5, 2013. There was a man named Beverly Baxter. Those of you who recognize the name will know your Canadian history well.
Baxter wrote a column in Macleans magazine from London and gave us a perspective on foreign affairs that wasn’t available anywhere else.
Baxter wrote during and after the Second World War and brought Canada essential reportage, trenchant opinion and vivid portraits of his associates, prominent among them Winston Churchill, Lord Beaverbrook and Anthony Eden.
Baxter was born in Canada, served in WW I and stayed in the UK where he worked as a writer and then as an editor of a number of very influential newspapers. He left the newspaper business and ran for public office and served in the British house of Commons for more than many years. He is said to have won his seat in the 1959 British election without ever giving a speech.
 A view of the way Canada outgrew its Imperial Heritage. Neville Thompson, distinguished author and venerated scholar of modern British history, wrote a fascinating chronicle of a statesman and columnist at the heart of global political process through three decades, highly influential and closely read by Canadians everywhere.
Thomson will be at the Burlington Public Library along with the fine folks from A Different Drummer Books, partnering to bring you a significant literary event.
Baxter’s reporting and commentary gave Canadians the information they needed to form their own opinions at a time when most of our information came from the United States or Great Britain. It was Baxter who gave us those foundational tools to develop our own viewpoints.
Examining the stirring columns that appeared weekly in Maclean’s for nearly twenty-five years, Dr. Thompson charts the times, the events, the careers of the leaders and Baxter’s impact upon them in a vivid, discerning and compelling account.
Canadian thought and opinion was shaped by Baxter in a way that isn’t fully appreciated.
Thomson, in his, Canada and the End of the Imperial Dream: Beverley Baxter’s Reports from London through War and Peace, 1936-1960, should prove to be a very entertaining speaker.
Tickets are $10, available at the bookstore and at the third floor Information Desk at the Library. To reserve seats please contact us at (905) 639 0925 or diffdrum@mac.com.gaging Ideas Monday, June 17 7pm
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 4, 2013. The Board of The Burlington Performing Arts Centre is pleased to announce the election of four Directors at its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The election returns the Board to its full complement of thirteen directors. Joining the Board are Donald Baxter, Michael Southon, Barry Simmons and Arthur Salzer.
Don Baxter has spent several years in Economic Development positions, including Burlington Economic Development Corporation from 2002 to 2008. Baxter brings experience in business management positions and board governance to the board. He is involved in the development of the Roseland Community Organization as well.
Baxter, who was executive director of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation where he picked up the tag of Burlington Booster moved on to Mohawk College where he served as the executive director of corporate training and partnerships.
 It was built on time and on budget; they hired an accomplished Executive Director then the wheels got loose and things didn’t run smoothly and the blame game began costing the Centre its Executive Director. Before joining the BEDC, Baxter was a founding partner of consulting firm Economic Growth Solutions Inc., doing education, tourism, economic development strategy and downtown work for municipalities, provincial ministries, colleges and school boards and private clients. He also served as executive director of economic development for Metro Toronto.
Baxter is a registered professional planner and a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, Economic Developers Council of Ontario, Economic Development Association of Canada, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, and the International Economic Development Association.
He also worked in the consulting and municipal planning fields, and was seconded to be Research Director for a Federal/Provincial Task Force on the Supply and Price of Serviced Land in Canada. He then became Commissioner of Planning and Development in a Toronto municipality responsible for planning, building and economic development activities. For 11 years, Don was Executive Director of Economic Development for Metro Toronto, including economic development responsibilities as diverse as hosting the G7 summit, establishing the GTAA, international bids, and developing the National Trade Centre. He has degrees from the University of Guelph and Queen’s University.
Give them an Oil thigh Don and show them how it’s done
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. June 4, 2013. They are beginning to close in. The police recovered a vehicle they believe was used by a pair of bandits that broke into a number of homes in the north Burlington and parts of Milton.
The car was stolen – of course – this luckless pair would not have owned a car – that would require an honest source of income. The vehicle is a 2001 Buick Regal, silver in colour.
The Halton Regional Police are seeking the public’s assistance to catch these two.
 Lots of them around – but did you notice one like this in North Burlington, maybe at a gas station. Occupants wearing baseball caps looking a bit on the scruffy side. It is information like this that catches thieves. You may have seen them in the area, they are thought to have pulled in for gas or stopped at a convenience store in the south Milton area along the Derry Road corridor and in the north Burlington area along the Dundas Road corridor.
The description of the suspects is sketchy – you may be able to add to it.
Suspect #1:
Male / White, muscular build, Mid 20’s, jogging pants and muscle shirt, dark hair with a beard (Scruffy looking)
Suspect #2:
Male / White, muscular build, Mid 20’s, jogging pants and muscle shirt, blond hair.
Both suspects were believed to be wearing baseball hats and were between 5’9” and 6’2” in height.
The Halton Police would like to hear from any citizen who believes they may have seen the suspects or the suspect vehicle. Anyone with information concerning these incidents is asked to contact the One District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4747 x 2415, or the Three District Criminal Investigations Bureau at x 2315, Crime Stoppers at 1- 800-222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637(crimes).
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. June 4, 2013 Police report a serious multi-vehicle collision at the intersection of Walkers Line and Fairview Street.
Vehicular traffic in and around this intersection will be severely disrupted for several hours.
Halton Regional Police are currently at the scene
Any witnesses to the collision are asked to contact the on-duty uniform Burlington Staff Sergeant at 905 825-4747 x2310.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON. ON. June 4, 2013. Boy there is really something wrong with parts of the corporate world.
Regus, the office services operation on Brant Street decides to give up the Burlington operation and advises their tenants that the doors will close at the end of August.
 James Burchill has succeeded in pulling together more than 1000 entrepreneurs and smaller business operators who meet monthly. The Mayor’s Chief of Staff will be talking to his group about what appears to be an office space problem for this sector. These things happen.
Most of the tenants are small operations requiring a couple of hundred square feet – but with enough of them you have a viable business.
Regus has operation around the world so you think they would know how to shut down an operation with a minimum of damage to both their clients and their corporate image.
Afraid not. The Mayor’s office begins making calls trying to help. Their phone calls to Regus don’t get returned but they did answer some email. (Isn’t it amazing how scummy companies hide behind their email addresses?)
Both the Economic Development office and the Mayor’s office ask if they can get a list of the tenants and let them know what they are trying to do.
Regus fails to co-operate. OK – so there might be a privacy issue – but Regus, as a sound corporate operation could have offered to forward a message from the Mayor’s office.
 Nice furniture – lousy service. Nope – they don’t do business that way. Remember that if you find yourself looking for an office somewhere.
The Mayor’s Chief of Staff will be attending the Business in Burlington Meet up Wednesday evening (5 to 7 at The Ivy on south Service Road) to give a quick update on what they are trying to do.
Small space opportunities are at a bit of a premium in Burlington – especially in the Downtown core, which is where a lot of the smaller entrepreneurial types like to be. Opportunity here for someone.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. June 4, 2013. Yesterday five homes were entered in rural Milton as a result of day time break and enters. All of the entries are believed to have occurred before 1:00 PM and may be linked to another break and enter in Burlington.
Two homes were entered on the Sixth Line south of Derry Road, two more homes were entered on Bell School Line north of Derry Road and also a home on Tremaine Road south of Derry.
 A lot of country roads down there. The police will do as much as they can – neighbours might want to get out on the roads as well – keeping an eye on things. All of the homes were unoccupied at the time of these entries. Access was gained in a variety of ways including forced entry through front, rear and side doors as well as windows. Unknown culprits ransacked each home taking valuables such as cash, electronics and jewellery.
The Halton Police are requesting residents to be extra vigilant in reporting any suspicious persons or vehicles in your area and if they observe a crime in progress to call 9-1-1.
An Our Burlington reporter was driving along Bell Line a few days ago and had paused to look at a piece of property when an HRPS cruiser was about to pass and slowed down and gave us that questioning look. So the police are out there doing their part.
There are a lot of roads and only so much money in the gas budget.
when they catch a few of them – let us hope the judge who gets the case fully appreciates the damage, not only financial but psychological, that is done when someone returns home and finds the house has been broken into.
It takes some people a long time to get over the feeling that they are not safe.
Catch these guys – quick.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 4, 2013. Figuring out who they are going to offer a hockey scholarship to must be a little awkward for the people over at BLOMHA (Burlington Lions Optimists Minor Hockey Association); the prize money they won in the Kraft Foods – The Game Goes On contest hasn’t arrived yet. The winners were announced mid-April.
BLOMHA hasn’t even been told the cheque is in the mail.
Maybe they are waiting until the Stanley Cup winner has been decided.
Odd how a corporation the size of Kraft Foods would hire a company to run the program for them and then not follow through promptly.
 Two of the three worked away at their keyboards much of the weekend to bring home some prize money for BLOMHA. The little guy on the right is still waiting for the $20,000 cheque to arrive. BLOMHA won $20,000 – the top prize was $100,000, and planned to use the funds to buy equipment that could be loaned to those who couldn’t afford to play the game. Scholarships were going to be awarded for kids whose families could not afford the fees.
The BLOMHA ideas were great – a part of what makes this community what it is.
The speed at which the public relations agency (Edelman) handling the project hasn’t moved is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the hundreds of people who spent the 48 hours at their keyboards.
Wonder how the other Kraft winners feel about this?
We asked the public relations agency, Edelman, for some comment. Nothing yet.
Kraft Foods Canada is a little difficult to get through – but we will keep trying.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. June 4, 2013 Halton Regional Police are asking residents in rural Burlington to be extra vigilant after a series of daylight home entries in the north end of the city.
Late in May several homes were entered in the rural area, north of Dundas Street. Entries occurred on Britannia Road, Blind Line and Walkers Line near #2 Side road.
In each case the homes were unoccupied at the time of entry, suspects forced their way in and the contents of the residence were strewn about. Jewellery and small electronics were taken.
 Rural Burlington is going to need to see more of these on the back roads. Thieves are now prowling those roads and forcing their way into homes whose occupants are out for part of the day. Police are asking residents of the rural communities to report any suspicious persons or vehicles promptly and if they observe a crime in progress to call 9-1-1.
In the suburban areas there are “eyes on the street” – nothing like that at the end of a long laneway. Once the thieves realize there is an opportunity it won’t take them long to exploit it.
Higher and more visible coverage is the solution. Maybe HRPS could take some of the cars that sit behind the bushes waiting to catch speeders and have them drive up and down the side roads.
Inexpensive video cameras hooked up to the internet are the safest thing residents have going for them.
 By Walter Byj; Correspondent
BURLINGTON, ON. June 3, 2013. Don’t wake sleeping dogs; you heard that one.
Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs is an old marketing maxim.
These were some of the thoughts that came to mind after reading a recent letter I got from Cogeco, my cable TV provider. I was being advised that as a part of Cogeco improving my TV package, I would no longer receive the American time shift stations, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX and PBS. They would now be available as part of the Time Shifting Theme Pack, which I could add at an additional cost.
Time shift refers to being able to watch the stations in a different time zone. Currently Cogeco uses Seattle for the time shift channels. As Seattle is three hours difference, a show that we watch here at 8:00 pm EST we could watch again at 11pm our time or 8:00 pm Seattle time. That way if you miss a show, you can catch it 3 hours later.
If you use PVR, you can copy it for later viewing.
Was this a hidden price increase? Or do I receive less for the same price? Or maybe I was overreacting. I decided to get the opinions of other Cogeco subscribers and have a more complete picture.
 For some – cutting the cable is seen as an option. Are there real options to the sky-rocketing prices for communications services? Matthew and his wife were reviewing their current package to determine if they were getting value for their dollar. Considering that they were watching less TV and subscribed to Netflix, they decided to cut back on their current selection of channels. Janet found they were reaching their cable cost limits and would be reviewing their current package.
Vic in Grimsby said he and his brother-in-law were quite upset with this change. He utilized the time shift station often and now they would be gone. He asked “if they are going to take away five stations from me, why don’t they give me five in their place that I would watch”.
It was beginning to sound like a un-popular move. Surely Cogeco has some strong reason for this change.
After a few phone calls, I was finally put in touch with a spokesperson from the corporate head office in Montreal. It was explained to me that they did receive calls from customers stating that they did not want the above listed channels. Really.
Does this mean that when we have a channel and want to maintain it that we have to call with our approval? Or does it mean that the people who called were hoping for other channels in lieu of the time shift channels? Cogeco takes great pride in their customer service and the representative advised that people should call the customer service department and express their feelings. Apparently some customers are already calling in regard to the time shift channels being removed and this is an issue that Cogeco is now reviewing.
This does not mean that the time shift channels will remain, it only means that if enough anger is expressed, then perhaps they will be left untouched. The onus is on you. With many customers on preauthorized payments and many companies not sending out monthly bills, we tend to lose touch with what we are paying today versus a year ago.
When Vic called to express his disappointment over potentially losing the time shift channels, the customer service agent was able to offer him a somewhat satisfactory solution. However, during the conversation, it was discovered that he was paying a rental fee for a digital box that he had bought when he purchased the TV. Needless to say, that fee is no longer being applied and a credit is forthcoming. Have you reviewed your bill recently?
There was a time when TV signals were free. All you needed was an antenna on your roof or at the side of your house. True, the channels were limited, but life was still good. Will the consistent rising cost of internet, phone and cable result in people looking for alternatives?
There are two HD antennas on my street. Is this a trend or isolated to just a few?
And there is talk of YouTube or somebody like that setting up a service that would let me pay for the shows I want. No bundles – I just go to the web site and key in what I want – and that’s what I get.
Has cable TV reached its best before date?
The discontinuation of the American time shift stations is due to take place on June 18th. That date was not set out in the letter they sent.
If you currently get those channels and will not miss them or are willing to pay more to retain them, then you need not do anything. If, however, you are upset with their removal, then call Cogeco and let them know what you think.
They do listen.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 3, 2013 It was while taking a picture of the sign the city is putting up down on the pier setting out all the things that you can and can’t do – mostly common sense stuff.
When we cropped the picture and went to put it in our photo library we noticed the line that said “Park is closed from 11 p. m. to 7 a.m.” When did that happen? Who made that decision? Is someone kidding?
 Ain’t that the darnedest thing you ever read – closing a park that doesn’t have a gate on it. During a meeting this morning with Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward she said that the hours were news to her and that “well we will just have to do something about that won’t we?”
Halton police know nothing of special hours for the park – and they don’t have any special plans for policing the pier either.
 While a little dated – taken May 29th – this picture shows what the entrance to the pier is going to look like. No place in this picture for any gates – so why put up a sign saying the pier is closed? So who is going to keep people out – there are no gates. Sounds like a dumb idea to me.
This is one of those slower weeks. A couple of Council members are in Vancouver at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention where they are leaning on the federal government to get more funding for the infrastructure work that has to be done on our roads and the Mayor is preparing for his short trip to Germany where he and the Economic Development people are making a presentation to an organization involved in water and how we use it.
There is a Council meeting next Monday – maybe we will learn more about the hours of operation then.
And it is said we just might learn something about the legal problems with the pier as well.
 View from the end of the pier as a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker works its way across the lake minutes after leaving Burlington Bay.  By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 3, 2013. It’s here! – The Brant Street Pier – that’s the line the city is using to announce that after more than ten years of toil and $20 million, although the city is saying It cost just $14 million, the Pier is going to be open to the public and for a few days we can set aside the concerns about the mistakes and the cost over runs and celebrate what we have. We are going to be paying for the mistakes for some time but for this one day let us eat, drink and be merry.
And without being cynical – the pier is going to be an absolute delight. We have watched the construction from the day we got a look inside the electrical room looking for light standards that no one could find to the day when the new contractor began stripping away all the beams put in place the first time around
It is something to be out at the end of the pier and look out over the lake. The ships that pass by seem just that much closer – it makes you feel as if you are part of a shipping town. You can watch ships jut their bows outside through the lift bridge as they edge of out the lake from Burlington Bay.
While the node with the beacon on it isn’t all that high it certainly gives you a sense as to what the pier itself looks like.
You will find that you go through different stages as you walk out to the end. It’s rather a nice wide open space at the front end and then narrows a bit as you walk through the twists in the S-shaped design.
 Right at the very end, weeks before the construction neared completion, Pepper Parr, Publisher of Our Burlington and Craig Stevens, pier project manager for the city, stand looking back into the city. Within two weeks thousands of Burlingtonians will have the same experience. All the guard rails will be in place by then. Once you are out over the water you will begin to see all kinds of barn swallows flying around – hundreds of them have taken up residence underneath the pier where they have made nests from bits of mud and grass they have picked up along the edge of the lake and created nests. Over time we may see a very extensive colony of these birds – not sure how thy will co-exists with the gulls that have fouled the surface of the pier.
Every structure has its secrets and the pier, we have found, has its own delights that you discover over time.
The pier sings. Yes, the pier sings.
 The rails that run from the beginning of one side all the way around to the end of the other side of the pier are a brilliant blue – the colour is officially known as Burlington Blue – although some are saying it is Maple Leaf blue – they wish. Beneath the rails are strands of steel wire roap that prevent anyone from falling over – it’s a long drop. On a windy day, and it seems as if there is always a bit of a breeze out at the end of the pier there is a spot just behind the bottom on the node on the west side where the wind whistles through the steel wire rope and the aluminum balustrades and evokes different tunes. Over time we are sure that visitors to the pier will discover other places where the pier will sing.
The amount of time you get to actually spend on the pier – appears to have limits – which is going to disappoint many. There is a sign that will go up later this week setting out all the rules that apply to the place. A pleasant walk to the end of the pier after a special night that included dinner downtown is going to have to take place before 11:00 pm.
The pier is a park and it has hours of admission apparently. 7 am to 11 pm – that’s what you get. So much for being out at the end and watching the sun rise with a thermos of hot coffee.
The design doesn’t appear to have fences or gates to keep people off the pier; there are bollards that narrow the openings to the pier to keep nut cases who decide to try and drive their cars out onto the structure.
 The guard rails are not in place yet nor are the benches that will be put in place – a total of 16 benches are being installed. Additional benches could get put in place in the future if the need becomes evident. There is no word yet on what kind of policing there will be on the pier.
It will take the city awhile to get used to the structure. It is certainly an experience to walk out to the end and just experience the lake and the passing ships.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. June 2, 2013. A Mother – daughter pair at a book launch – each with their own title: certainly a first for Burlington.
The Different Drummer; always doing something different has two authors at the bookstore June 9th – at 2:00
 Sylvia McNicoll, nationally renowned educator, activist for literacy and prolific author of fiction for young people, including the Silver Birch Award winning Bringing Up Beauty, introduces her compelling and timely new novel Dying to Go Viral.
 Jennifer Filipowicz, artist and journalist, is Sylvia’s daughter. Jennifer presents her first novel, a work of science fiction, Wardroids.
Sylvia and Jennifer share a gift for hearty, imaginative storytelling and are rousing company. A wonderful afternoon is in store. Admission is free, everybody is welcome. Refreshments will be served.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. June 1, 2013. The London Majors, one of xx teams in the Intercounty Baseball League, scored three key runs in the top of the ninth inning and staved off the Burlington Bandits 11-8 in one of three games played Saturday afternoon.
Burlington (2-7) rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to tie the game 5-5 heading into the fifth inning before London posted two runs in the fifth, one in the eighth and three in the top of the ninth for an 11-5 lead. The Bandits posted three runs of their own in the bottom of the ninth, but fell short of completing the comeback.
After starting the season with an 0-2 record, this is the Majors (7-2) seventh straight win.
 Reliever Jacob Raffaele earned his first win of the season in what was his longest outing of the year, allowing just one hit and one walk with six strikeouts over four scoreless innings. Mike Mitro earned the save, flawlessly registering the final out.
 The Majors boasted 12 hits on the afternoon, including a single and a home run from Cleveland Brownlee, who added three RBI and three runs scored. Jon Celestino also homered and drove in a pair. Paul Young singled, doubled, scored twice and had two RBI, while Derrik Strzalkowski had a pair of hits, an RBI and a run scored. Adwin Springer singled, scored and drove in a run, and Parris Austin and Ryan Lapensee each singled and scored. Paul LaMantia singled and added an RBI.
Matthew St. Kitts took the loss for the Bandits in relief, allowing six hits and two earned runs with one walk and three strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings.
The Bandits scored their eight runs all on just five hits, while also committing four errors on the afternoon. Brian Sewell had a three run home run in the fourth inning with two runs scored, while Daniel Peake singled, doubled, drove in a pair and scored. Darryl Pui had a pair of hits and two RBI in the loss.
The Burlington Bandits return to Nelson park in one week when they take on the Brantford Red Sox. Saturday marks BOMBA day, all BOMBA members are encouraged to wear their team colors! Many activities are available for kids including face painting, base running and much more! Game time 2:00pm.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 1, 2013. It started when Stuart Crawford told colleagues on the Business in Burlington web site that he was going to have to vacate the office space he had because Regus was shutting down their operation in August. That was a bummer and Crawford wasn’t the only person in this situation.
 ert James Burchill, the guy that runs the Business in Burlington (BiB) MeetUp group, has maintained that the best way we have of communicating really effectively is to use the social media that is available to us.
Here is how this has worked this time.
Crawford puts up his note. We at Our Burlington put in a call to Ian Cameron at the Economic Development Corporation who gets in touch with Crawford.
Others from the BiB site plug into the conversation.
Here is how part of it went:
Hi Everyone…The Regus office at 460 Brant Street is shutting down leaving many businesses without a business home at the end of August. We are looking for a new home for our IT marketing business. We need a small office for our 2 team members to work advises Crawford
Barb Keck, who runs a graphics operation in Burlington passes along a recommendation (Try https://www.ceoburlington.com/) for Crawford to follow-up.
Jose L. Ponce adds that the closest Regus will be Glen Abbey (Oakville). “Yesterday, I did receive an email with an interesting idea on co-working space for entrepreneurs / small business. I know it is not an immediate solution but I think it’s something that can be developed over time since I am sure there is demand for shared/flexible open spaces.”
Jason Calacanis comes back with: I started a co-working space in LA and passes along some detail.
“It was a co-working space in Los Angeles. Being an entrepreneur is sometimes lonely work, and having a bunch of founders around you makes it a lot easier. We’re calling it LAUNCH co-work, and it’s a 10,000+ square-foot, 30-foot ceiling space in Culver City with room for a dozen start-ups.
“We’re looking for awesome collaborators to learn, share and generally change the world with. I might angel invest in some of the start-ups, have them on “This Week in Startups” or just talk shop in the kitchen.
Rent starts at $50 a desk/month (unfunded) and tops out at $350 (funded). We’re not making a profit, we’re making a community!”
 The Regus operation on the top floor of 460 Brant is shutting down in August. The space recently had a major face lift done to the front of the building. The movie theatre on the ground floor went out of business recently – they didn’t want to invest in an upgrade to their projection equipment. Interesting idea but the tenants at Regus need to nail down new space now
Marie Copeland (Hryczynski) comes on-line and adds that she too is at Regus in Burlington and “only needs very small space, even shared space as we are fully paperless and don’t even have a filing cabinet – most of our clients want to deal by phone and only occasional client wants to come to the office.”
She adds that she has a commercial realtor looking — how about we survey some people at Regus to see if we can get several businesses together and create a shared office. Contact her if you’re interested: 905-308-8063
None of this could have taken place without the BiB site. That crowd meets on Wednesday June 5th – at Ivy’s on the South Service Road; might be an opportunity for some ideas to get some traction.
 The people that run the smaller, usually techie type operations but a number of service providers as well, meet monthly in the city. Business in Burlington now has a number of its members having to look for new space with the announced closure of the Regus operation on Brant Street. What was a little on the disappointing side was that Regus didn’t appear to be doing much for their clients other than trying to get them to perhaps move to their Oakville location and the Economic Development people didn’t appear to be moving quickly to resolve the problem. For the people with small office space needs – having to find a new home in a couple of months is disruptive and it will be expensive. Moving your computers and all your communications gear is not cheap.
Burlington’s Mayor Goldring wants to meet with the tenants and see what the city can do to help. He leaves for a short trip to Germany next week, where he will be meeting with people in the water business. More on that later. His Chief of Staff will be making calls and pulling people together.
The Mayor will be traveling with the Executive Director of the Economic Development Corporation – perhaps they can have a chat about how one services the smaller operations.
The small operations are the base metal of every economy. They provide services or vital parts that the bigger guys need. It is at this small, two, three five member shops that make the big wheels turn around. The Mayor would do well to connect with these people and find a way to keep them in town.
Quite why Economic development has not taken the lead on this is – disappointing.
Let’s see what comes out of this.
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