 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 26, 2012 Nothing yet – unless learning that a `tele-handler is on the site. That’s it? A tele-handler is a boom that zooms out and is used to offload material. Problem with the Pier is that there isn’t anything to off load.
How come – and what’s the problem this time? We were told that steel girders would be rolling into the city the week of the 23rd of July.
The large 40 x 10 foot steel plates arrived and went through several levels of testing.
This most recent round of testing – there are three levels of testing done in each piece of steel as it goes through the fabrication process. The problems with the girders being fabricated appears to be at the welding level. The work gets past stages 1 and 2 but doesn`t make it past test / 3 – which means – it gets done again.
 The current contractor isn’t the first company to have problems with steel not passing tests. Original contractor, Henry Schilthuis and Sons Ltd. has beams in his yard that he was ordered to take out by the city because they did not pass tests. The city is doing much more rigorous testing and ensuring steel beams pass tests before they get to the construction site. The city put out a press release with a date line of 2:01 am – that suggests someone was at a keyboard well past midnight crafting words that would give this mess the best possible look. In the world of politics they call this the optics`. There is a lot to be concerned about at the political level. Many in Burlington want this problem solved – and there is no one who wants this done more than the senior levels of the city administration. But they are, as General Manager Scott Stewart put it in an email to council members last night updating them, we are not going to let expediency get in the way of quality. And quality appears to be taking time.
I should add here that Stewart doesn’t have Our Burlington on his email list – that information came to us from another source.
There are 39 steel girders that have to be cut from the steel plate and then bent and welded. They get tested at the bending stage – three times – and then tested again at the welding stage – three times.
 Getting the welds done right so that the pier holds up and lasts its 75 year life span is critical. Welding at this level is not all that easy. When the welds testing is complete they move on to galvanization – which is a process of coating the steel in zinc. There is little likelihood of problems at that level – but with this project – one never knows.
There is a lot of teeth grinding and many trips from Burlington to Kitchener by city staff. Craig Stevens, Project Manager Corporate Strategic Initiatives, was at the welding plant on Wednesday for a first-hand look at the problem. Stevens and Stewart work hand in hand on this project and bring all the experience necessary to ensure there are no embarrassing mistakes made. For these two professionals this project, which started before they became employees of the city, this is all very aggravating and embarrassing.
 Foggy day and foggy view on just what is happening at the pier construction site. Object on the right is not the pier, it is a trestle used to drive equipment along to complete the construction of the pier – which isn’t going to happen this month. Completion in 2013 is the target – let’s hope the weather cooperates. While it is a city project it is really in the hands of the general contractor who has sent the work out to different sub-contractors. Graham Infrastructure, whose head office is in Calgary, is the general contractor. The city has insisted on being in close to daily contact with the president of Graham Infrastructure who recently met with city staff to review and see what could be done to the construction time line.
The city learned a month or so ago that weather could create problems with the pouring of the cement – that kind of work cannot be done if the weather is very cold.
Weather is now another very real concern. There was nothing of note done in June; we have now lost all of July and there is no date set for the delivery of the steel girders. And the city is not going to give out any dates other than to say – sometime in August – which is a smart move on their part. The public just doesn`t believe what comes out of city hall because they have been misled so often in the past. It was only at very recent meeting of Council that the Mayor finally moved from his Sound of Music official opening date. Senior staff are saying it will open when it opens and they want to be left alone to manage the project and make sure that no one cuts corners or looks for a fast way to get something done.
For those of us who live in Burlington and hear news reports of chunks of concrete falling onto the roadway underneath the Gardiner Expressway we can take some satisfaction that the pier is being built with a minimum life span of 75 years. The Gardiner isn’t fifty years old and it’s falling apart.
The Pier will get built, there will be little hiccups and maybe even more delays but when that ribbon is cut and the deck is open to the public there will be immense civic pride and the Mayor will wear a smile that stretches from ear to ear – assuming of course that he is in office when the pier does open.
The city is now talking of a late fall 2013 opening date – next municipal election is December 2014. That kind of calendar would cause anyone to look at the possible election scenarios.
In their press release the city, in its all is well language said: “Construction work continues on the Brant Street Pier while awaiting the arrival of main steel girders that are undergoing quality testing to ensure they meet specifications.”
There are several steps to producing the steel girders, which pass through three levels of quality testing. The steel plate used to produce the 39 main steel girders needed for the pier project has passed quality testing, however, the first four main steel girders did not meet rigid quality control when tested after welding. Seven more steel girders have now been made and are being tested.
“This is the only responsible way to manage this project,” said City Manager Jeff Fielding. “Time is important, but it is not as critical as the quality of the steel.”
“The city is working closely with its contractor, Graham Infrastructure, and other members of the project team to ensure the steel quality meets the city’s stringent specifications through the fabrication and welding processes. The main steel girders that were to be delivered this week will be delivered and installed in August.”
“Work is progressing on the Brant Street Pier. Construction continues on the ramp leading to the sandy beach beside the pier. A piece of equipment called a tele-handler, or zoom boom, is on site this week to help install a temporary steel platform to assist in the construction of the pier node.”
“It is important that the pier management team communicates updates in a timely way,” said Scott Stewart, General Manager of Development and Infrastructure. “We will continue to keep the community posted and share the good news once the steel girders are ready for installation.”
The city does have to be given credit for being much more transparent that it was under both the former city manager and the former Mayor. That is a plus and the taxpayers should respect and appreciate this new approach to keeping them informed.
Much of city council is away on vacation. Councillors Craven and Meed Ward are out of the country. The Mayor is due to head to Newfoundland for a vacation. Councillor Dennison is around, Sharman is believed to
 With no steel to work with construction workers do the small jobs that would normally get done at the end of the project. The pathway that leads to a beach that was formed on the western side of the pier wasn’t even part of the original plan. No one knew the beach would get formed the way it did.. be at his cottage. Taylor and Lancaster are unaccounted for but just look for Taylor’s dog and John will be close by.
The City Manager has a firm grip on the process and is well backed by Scott Stewart who is backed up by Craig Stevens.
Now if we can get the welders to produce welds that pass the tests – we will see flat bed trucks wheeling into town with four or five beams on each load. That’s going to mean more than eight trucks. The city might want to have the Burlington Teen Tour Band on hand to welcome the caravan.
Stay tuned – there will certainly be more on this story.
 HSS continues to operate his construction company while dealing with the legal problems that came out of his decision to walk away from the project and turn the keys for the construction site over to the city. On the legal front, the city is now in the discovery stage of those proceedings – we get to look at their documents and they get to look at what the city has. Henry Schilthuis and Sons Ltd., (HSS) is understood to be using some pretty tough legal counsel to defend himself against the law suit the city filed seeking damages in the millions. Many thought, maybe even hoped, that HSS would declare bankruptcy and that would solve the problem. Those who harboured those thoughts didn’t understand Henry SS.
While senior city hall staff struggle with the problem welders are having, the people over at the Simms building where the legal people do their thing, get daily updates from the outside counsel the city has hired. One can imagine the frustration the construction people are going through – it is nothing compared to what the legal people are agonizing over.
Think of the possibilities here. The Pier doesn’t open until sometime late in the Spring of 2014 and the legal people realize they didn’t have the case they thought they had and they settle out of court. Imagine that happening. There are a number of people doing just that – and trying to figure out how best to approach such a situation.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON July 26, 2012 Have you got baskets of fresh produce on your kitchen counter because their was a produce stand on a country road you were not able to take a pass on? Maybe you were one of the lucky ones to get a plot in the Community Garden behind the Library ?
 Michelle Gatien, who is the Market Cook for the Harbourside Organic Farmer’s Market in Oakville is going to put on a cooking class at St. Christophers Church next week. While I don’t personally think there is any limit on how much fresh asparagus one can eat – there are those who wonder at times what to do with all the fresh food.
Michelle Gatien, who is the Market Cook for the Harbourside Organic Farmer’s Market in Oakville is going to put on a cooking class at St. Christophers Church next week.
Michelle asks: Need to know what to do with all those” cukes” and tomatoes? Join us in the kitchen to explore seasonal recipes and preserves with ingredients straight out of your garden.`
$5 fee. St. Christopher’s Church, 662 Guelph Line, Tuesday, July 31 at 7 pm. Register to attend and you are entered into a draw to win a prize!
The event is being promoted by BurlingtonGreen and is one of those community things that tends to pull together people with similar passionate interests.
Gatien takes gardening and cooking very seriously. Her blog has almost daily entries on what has popped up and what the heat is doing to her vegetable garden.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON July 25, 2012 If you haven`t figured out what you want to do with the little ones during August the city might have a solution for you. There are still spaces available in the City of Burlington’s Summer Neighbourhood Activity Program (SNAP) camps.
 Funny hats and smiling faces – all part of the summer day camp experience. SNAP camps are for children between five and 10 years of age, with mini-SNAP for children from three to five years. SNAP offers a variety of activities including games, sports, crafts, songs, and fun weekly events and trips. The SNAP camps are $27 a day (except on trip days), and provide a safe, fun environment for children.
The locations with availability are:
Aldershot Community Pool: 50 Fairwood Place (Adjacent to Aldershot High School)Burlington, ON, L7T 1E5Phone: (905) 637-5688 Fax: (905) 637-4966
Rotary Youth Club: 560 Guelph Line (in Central Park) Burlington, ON, L7R 3M4 Phone: (905) 335-7738 Fax: (905) 335-7837
Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Elementary School: 2222 Country Club Drive, Burlington, ON L7M 4S5 (905) 331-4656
St. Elizabeth Seaton Catholic Elementary School: 5070 Dryden Avenue, Burlington, ON L7L 6Y3 (905) 331-7246
Skyway Arena: 129 Kenwood Avenue Burlington, ON, L7R 3Z6Phone: (905) 632-1717 Fax: (905) 632-8839
Brant Hills Community Centre: 2255 Brant Street, Burlington, ON, L7P 5C8 Phone: (905) 335-7720
 Summer Neighbourhood Activity Program (SNAP) locations:
(1) Aldershot Pool; 50 Fairwood Place West; (2) Alexander Public School, 2223 Sutton Drive; (3) Ascension Elementary School, 5205 New Street; (4) Brant Hills Community Centre, 2255 Brant Street; (5) C.H. Norton Public School, 2120 Cleaver Avenue; (6) St. Elizabeth Seaton Elementary School, 5070 Dryden Avenue; (7) MM Robinson High School, 2425 Upper Middle Road; (8) Rotary Youth Centre, 560 Guelph Line; (9) Sacred Heart of Jesus Elementary School, 2222 Country Club Drive; (10) Skyway Arena, 129 Kenwood Avenue. SNAP spaces are also available from Aug. 20 to 24 at the Brant Hills and Rotary Youth Centre locations. To register, visit RecExpress on the city web site.
If you are new to Parks & Recreation you will need to apply for your Family PIN and Client I.D. Numbers. Go online to www.burlington.ca and go to RecExpress /My Basket / Create New Account.
Registering is easier said than done. It`s certainly not a user friendly site but here is the rigmarole you have to go through. When you get to the RecExpress web site:
Click on the Login button (top right hand corner). That is IF you are already a register RecExpress user – if you aren`t scroll on down and learn how to register
Enter your Client ID and Family PIN Numbers.
Search for programs by clicking on the Program Icon, Program Tab or use the Continue Shopping Button.
Click the Add Button to add your selection to your “shopping” Basket.
Select Client Selection to assign a family member to a course.
Select either the Continue Shopping Button if you wish to register for more programs OR if you are finished shopping, click the Go to Checkout Button and make your payment.
You must make a payment to finalize your purchases.
Print a copy of your confirmation as a copy of your transactions.
 There is no age limit for summer camp. Once your payment transaction has been authorized by your credit card company, your registration will be confirmed and you will be mailed a detailed confirmation. During non-peak registration times your credit card will be authorized while you wait.
I don’t have or want to use a credit card over the Internet. Can I still use RecExpress to register?
You can make a payment on your Parks & Recreation Registration Account in person at a Customer Service site. Customer Service sites accept the following forms of payment: cash, cheques, debit card, American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Once the credit is applied to your account, you will be able to register via RecExpress and the cost of the registration will be deducted from the credit balance on your account. You will need to ensure that you have a sufficient balance to cover the full cost of your purchase(s). RecExpress will only validate your shopping trip if all programs are paid in full.
If you`re not registered – here`s the drill on doing that.
What are Family PINS and Client I.D. Numbers?
To use both self-serve options – RecExpress by phone and RecExpress through the Internet, you must have your access numbers: a Family Personal Identification Number (PIN) and Client Identification (I.D.) Number(s). If you are a current client with Parks & Recreation your family has been set up with its own Parks & Recreation account and has been given a Family PIN number that is shared with all family members. Each member of your family also has their own Client I.D. Number. In RecExpress any family member can sign in and register other family members.
Your Family PIN Number identifies your Family to the system. Your Client I.D. Number tells the system which individual is signing in. Both numbers are combined to provide an extra level of security for you within our database. Your PIN Number should be kept confidential and can be changed by you at the top right of the My Account screen.
If you are new to Parks & Recreation you will need to apply for your Family PIN and Client I.D. Numbers. Go online to www.burlington.ca and go to RecExpress /My Basket / Create New Account.
What is a TTR (Barcode) number?
Each course is identified by The Technology Registration (TTR)number assigned in the database. Customers use this number to select a specific course with both self-serve options – RecExpress by phone and RecExpress through the Internet. You can find a course TTR number by looking in our current Live & Play Guide. Once you know the TTR number of the course you want, you can register using the express route in RecExpress. If you do not know the TTR number you can browse through our listing of activities.
I told you this wasn’t easy. Call your Council member.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 25, 2012 Aldershot High School took the cash – $1000 donated by Burlington Mall, which was the prize for the school with the best Eco-Club. The cash goes to the high school`s Eco-Club – each of the Youth Ambassadors at Aldershot got $100 gift cards.
This is the second year in a row that Aldershot High has taken the prize.
The BT-YA program launched in September 2011 with two ambassadors from three participating high schools; Aldershot, Bateman and Nelson. The BT-YA program, in partnership with BurlingtonGreen and its youth network, is designed to help promote environmental messages and lead transit awareness through local high schools. The ambassadors are in charge of promoting environmental messages, leading in transit awareness and running events in their high schools, in exchange for rewards like gift cards, movie passes or PRESTO cards, as well as cash rewards to their school Eco-club initiatives. The program helps youth build leadership skills and expand their knowledge of promotion and marketing.
 From the left: Kale Black, BurlingtonGreen; Sandra Maxwell, Burlington Transit marketing coordinator, Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven, Billi Krochuk, Aldershot Highschool BT-YA; Donna Shepherd, Burlington Transit director; Paul Carvalho, Burlington Mall operations manager. “The BT-YA program is all about being eco-friendly and having youth lead in creating a better future. Our young people, including leaders like the BT-YAs have played a valuable role in fulfilling our future goals of creating a green Burlington by promoting transit in their high schools and through events such as World Car-Free Day,” said Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON July 25, 2012 It didn’t take long for the Halton Regional Police to make an arrest in the July 22nd break-in to the Cedar Springs Health and Racket Club, located at 960 Cumberland Ave.
The suspect used a rock to smash the front window, and then used tools to break into the ATM located on the premises, stealing the cash inside.
Investigation quickly identified a suspect that led to an arrest the next day. A search warrant was executed at the suspect’s residence, where police found stolen cash and tools used to break into the ATM.
 Bandit left with just the cash from the Cedar Springs Health Club – but left something behind that allowed the police to arrest him the next day. The suspect is also believed to be responsible for a June 27th attempted break –in at the Burlington Professional Centre located at 3155 Harvester Rd. On that occasion the suspect disabled the alarm system, but was not successful in gaining entry.
The suspect clearly polished up his skills and got the cash but also got his picture taken or left a fingerprint. Probably enough evidence to send him off to a different club – where he will probably further improve his skills.
Isaac Lucas, 34 years, of Stoney Creek is charged with: Break and Enter; Attempted Break and Enter; Mischief Under $5000; Possession of Burglary Tools and Breach of Probation (four counts). This fellow doesn`t seem to be able to take advantages of the second chances he is given.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 25, 2012 Well the price of cherries went through the roof and the peaches aren’t exactly being given away – pears are going to be a bit on the pricey side as well – all due to the nasty little trick nature played on the fruit crops with warm weather and then a dash of cold air thrown around.
 Fresh produce, fresh meats, new customers. Every Friday new faces show up, asking questions, buying fresh from the farm products. Friday 11- 2 on John Street north of James – back in behind Centro Gardens But the Farmer’s Market on John Street – back in behind Centro Garden – adds new offerings each week.
Tree and Twig Heirloom farm that is doing preserves this Friday at the market which is open from 11-2. The Heirloom Vegetable Farm focuses on foods linked to our past which is an exciting way to try new and unusual tastes, shapes and colours. In the last century, we have lost 90 per cent of our vegetable varieties — a tragic loss of diversity and a threat to our food security. It is important to stop this trend and, as growers and consumers, look for alternatives. These vegetables are grown for taste. Sounds interesting
Casteleyn, the Belgian Chocolatier located on Brant will be serving espresso coffee at the market. If you’re not wide awake by the middle of the day – a double espresso will do it for you. Nine year old Andres, son of the Casteleyn proprietor will be doing the serving. Barry Imber, one of the organizing forces behind the market is “ very excited about having these young people be involved – they are the future of our entrepreneurial town.”
Damian Wills, he runs the Farm to Table Meats, will be at the Market again and is offering game sausage on top of his regular fare.
 The current offerings from Featherstone Farms does not include foul or eggs but the pork and bacon they have is superb. Featherstone Farms will also be at the market again – they are regulars, with their pork offerings.
These fresh meat producers can take custom orders and have them on hand for you to pick up. From time to time I like to poach really thick pork chops in orange juice and then lay them on a bed of rice with a ginger sauce I make and pour over the food. That with side dishes of green beans and asparagus and a bottle of chilled Chardonnay – makes a meal for me.
The Cheese Gypsy will be foraging for new and exciting local and regional cheeses and offering tasting notes along with the cheese for folks to take home and share the knowledge with friends. She will be at the market for the first time on August 3rd.
As we get into the fall, Gibbs Honey will be back with the next batch of his product – it sold out in a flash last time. The next batch, his second harvest; will be a lighter but more floral flavored local honey. You might want to go on line and reserve a jar.
The Farmer’s Market exists so that people can connect directly with the people who grow and produce some of the food we eat. Meeting and talking to these vendors gives you an opportunity to create a one-on-one relationship. Featherstone Farms – (289) 337-3375 and Farm to Table Meats could become your personal butcher. Something to think about.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 23, 2012 The first thing that occurs to you when you see Michele Benoit is her size – she’s close to tiny, and then the question: wasn’t a long distance swimmer supposed to be quite big enters your mind.
 This is what a 42 year old pixie of a long distance swimmer looks like. Look out Lake Ontario – she is coming your way. And you wonder too – a 42 year old is swimming Lake Ontario – isn’t that a game for younger people. When you meet Benoit – you are a little stunned – she doesn’t look 42 at all – maybe 32, somewhere in there.
But she is going to swim Lake Ontario starting at night out of Port Dalhousie and swimming the 45 km to Burlington where she expects to land at Spencer Smith Park – ideally in that small “instant Beach” that has been formed on the west side of the under construction Pier.
Why would someone this age decide to swim across Lake Ontario? We will get to the why in a bit. The how you get yourself physically and psychologically to the point where you can start and actually finish something like this is an incredible story.
Benoit was born in Montreal and lived a childhood that had her believing anything was possible. If you really wanted to do it – you just did it. She took ballet. She was always a good swimmer – placed very well in the provincial finals in the province in breast stroke. Other than that her only really emotional experience related to swimming was when her Mother came close to drowning.
Benoit was one of those children that no one quite knew what to do with. She was bright, hugely energetic and driven. But there was no direction in her life.
The family moved to Ontario and Michele studied Landscape Architecture, which in those days wasn’t what it is today. During her time in the field it was mostly doing the front of commercial buildings or parking lots – very little art in the architecture she wanted to practice. “I wasn’t happy doing the work I was doing”, explains Benoit.
Like every young person growing into adulthood – there were some rough spots and Benoit has had her share of those.
 Were it not for the fact that we know Michele Benoit is going to swim across Lake Ontario August 17-18th – the picture suggests she is a model for wet suit swim wear. With the landscaping world going nowhere for her, Benoit, who has always been fit, got into personal training and ended up as the Aquatics Director at a Burlington health club where she worked for six years.
Health, physical fitness, good nutrition – there was a sense of direction revealing itself by the time Benoit enrolled as a Natural Sciences student at McMaster. “I thought of dentistry but it didn’t take long for me to realize that wasn’t my calling” says Benoit.
Well then what was her calling – and here is where the Benoit story takes one of those twists you read about but don’t quite understand. “A friend asked me to go to church with him and because I knew that his faith life was important I went. I was baptized a Catholic and I went to Mass at Christmas and Easter. I knew about Jesus but I’d never read the Bible. I knew about Noah’s Ark but God wasn’t part of my life.”
But then, suddenly, Michele Benoit came out of a very sound sleep and had a very up close and personal relationship with God. She then knew she was going to swim across Lake Ontario and raise money for people in Africa. Weird ? – not for Benoit. Did she have a complete plan in front of her – sort of like a blue print? Nope, but for her it was as plain as the nose on her face and that is the force that drives her.
There is more to the Michele Benoit story; how she prepares for an arduous 45km swim across one of the hardest lakes in the world; how she exercises and prepares both physically and emotionally.
We will follow this remarkable woman and her quest. If supporting something like this financially – click into the web sitethat was set up with more of the story.
Meanwhile – we will stay with this story and keep you up to date.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 23, 2012 It came up on the agenda as an employment lands issue but it really is a significant issue for the development of the mid-section of the city and keeping some of the larger business operations in Burlington.
IKEA announced in March of 2011 – that they wanted out of the location they are at in Aldershot. They wanted more store space and they needed additional head office space. They also wanted prime visibility and they really liked the look of the QEW with all that traffic going by. The way you keep an iconic brand alive is to never let people forget it is there – thus setting up shop on the North Service Road west of Walkers Line made all kinds of marketing sense.
 All of the land along the North Service Road between Walkers Line and Guelph Line was described as under utilized.. The two lane road could not possibly handle the traffic IKEA would attract if they were to locate on the land that is adjacent to Walkers Line on the west end. IKEA kept the city up to date on what they were doing in terms of the way the site on North Service Road would be developed, how many parking spots there would be, where the trees would be planted and a look at what the buildings would look like on the lot that is located west of Walkers Line between the North Service Road (NSR) and the railway line that crosses Mainway. It’s a 25 acre piece of land that needed some fixing up.
 Is there enough land in this set back for an additional two lanes of road? The view is just outside the Leon’s warehouse looking west. If there isn’t then IKEA may have to look elsewhere for a new location. Outside Burlington? How did we ever let ourselves get into this kind of a mess? Ask the Economic Development Corporation The project file was on the desk of a General Manager who is no longer with the city and was put in the hands of General Manager Community Services Scott Stewart, who had it on his desk for less than ten days. He didn’t have much in the way of good news for anyone.
 This is the view from the Leon’s warehouse looking west. Is there enough land for an additional two lanes of traffic – and if there is – is four lanes enough for the size of the operation IKEA wants to set up in this part of Burlington. It’s a great opportunity for the city – can we make it happen? Not with some of the thinking some people are doing. Stewart set out in his typical blunt, direct manner just what the problems were. The biggest problem is traffic – the North Service Road is a two lane road. It sits right up beside the QEW so there is no room to expand that way – and while IKEA could use some of the frontage for the property they want to build on for the widening of the NSR – which would allow for a widening of North Service – there are other companies on that stretch of land that wouldn’t be as keen and maybe not even able to give up frontage.
So – there is your first problem.
Add to that mix the fact that Walkers Line will reach its current capacity sometime in 2021 which isn’t all that far out.
Then look at the documents coming out of the Niagara GTA discussions. Among the options is to widen the QEW to eight lanes and a possible ten lane. Where would that widening take place? Not that much room on the south side – unless you got rid of the South Service Road.
Add to the mix some problems with Tuck Creek which is at the eastern edge of the property.
The cost of widening North Service and doing what has to be done to Walkers Line was put at “somewhere between $10 and $20 million – which is a really wide range but as Stewart put it – “we are really ball parking here” – we have nothing to work with in terms of either data or design.
And, the final piece is that the option IKEA has on what is called the Hopewell property expires at the end of August.
There are some serious problems for the parties involved in all this to take a long hard look at. A lot of money is going to be needed to make all this happen and IKEA can only justify so much capital for the move they want to make. The Ministry of Transport people – which is you and I – aren’t going to want to pay for everything.
It was suggested that Hopewell, the owners of the property that is to be developed, might be able to bring some money to the table.
The most interesting comment made during these very, very early stage discussions was that many of the properties to the west of the Hopewell property are very under-utilized and that perhaps developers could be enticed to do some land assembly. Medium rise office towers love sitting alongside roads like the QEW where they have great signage potential, excellent access to the highway.
So – who calls who to make that kind of thing happen? Does our Economic Development Corporation have the kind of lines into the development community that would allow for a conversation? Most people don’t think so. It isn’t believed to have the capacity to work at quite that level. There has to be an economic animator in this play somewhere and because Burlington stands to gain the most – one would assume the initiative would come from somewhere within the civic administration.
City Manager Jeff Fielding now sits on the Executive of the BEDC and will no doubt bring a brighter spark and higher level of experience to this situation. It’s another one that got dropped on his desk which he has managed to slide over to Stewart. Fielding’s experience in London with the university there had him deeply involved in some very sophisticated cross partnership agreements with developers.
 The IKEA problem set out in a single picture – not enough roadway for the traffic that would be generated if IKEA did choose to locate on the North Service Road. Is there enough land to the north of the North Service road to get in two additional lanes of traffic? That was the first question that should have been asked. We know what went wrong, we know who made the mistake – now competent people have to scramble to save a major commercial enterprise. This photograph was taken on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Quite why this problem was allowed to fester the way it has for more than a year is surprising and for the people at IKEA must be very disappointing. The project sits right in the middle of Councillor Dennison’s ward. Quite why he wasn’t riding this one is surprising. He tends to be all over anything that has to do with economic development; it’s almost as if he was asleep at the switch. Councillor Craven took much better care of his best commercial operation in Ward 1; something IKEA must miss deeply.
Stewart set out the issues in a paragraph that had less than 20 words. “Development of a long term transportation solution with MTO (Ministry of Transportation) and IKEA are estimated to require 12 months.” I’m pretty sure Stewart’s fingers and legs were crossed when he made that statement.
This is going to be an interesting one to follow. There is within all this the very real opportunity that IKEA will find a location that meets all their needs – you know they have been looking.
Burlington needs to shape up in a number of areas – quickly.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON July 23, 2012 They call it eyes on the street; people keeping their eyes open and taking note of things that just don’t look right.
It was just this kind of community concern that led to phone calls to the Halton Regional Police Service that resulted in Burlington uniform officers, supported by members of the Drug and Morality Unit initiating an investigation into the trafficking of cannabis marijuana from a residence in the City of Burlington.
Two men were observed outside the residence completing a drug transaction and were subsequently arrested. A quantity of cannabis marijuana was recovered. A short time later, another man was arrested for the offence of Trafficking in Cannabis Marijuana as he departed the residence.
A Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrant was executed at the residence, resulting in the seizure of approximately 28 grams of cannabis marijuana, $275.00 dollars in Canadian currency and additional evidence of drug trafficking.
ACCUSED: Thomas BARRIE (19 years) of Burlington
CHARGES: Possession of Cannabis Marijuana for the Purpose of Trafficking, Trafficking in Cannabis Marijuana
ACCUSED: Christopher WARRINER (20 years) of Burlington
CHARGE: Possession of a Controlled Substance – Cannabis Marijuana
ACCUSED: Dylan BROWN (20 years) of Burlington
CHARGE: Possession of a Controlled Substance – Cannabis Marijuana
Police see an engaged community as vital component in eradicating illegal drug activity. Investigators remind the public to utilize Crime Stoppers to report any illegal drug, gang or gun activity at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637(crimes).
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 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 19, 2012 We never really were heavy hitters. We aren’t a slick, fast community. Pretty sensible people who prefer not to take risks. Back in 1983, the city got itself twisted into knots to keep the Playboy Channel off cable as a pay per view feature, so when the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) sent the city a letter asking if we were interested in being on a list of possible locations for slot machines or a Casino – the city council didn’t even bother to ask its citizens how they felt about it.
 City took a pass on slot machines – we could have put a dozen in the Seniors’ centre and solved a lot of the problems over there and then another dozen at the Legion – opportunities missed They instructed the city manager to write back and say thanks, but no thanks – which may have reflected the views of most of the people in Burlington. We will never know. A casino could have been built beside the Pier – that would have been one way to pay for the thing.
On the Pier by the way – steel beams are expected to be trucked into the city next week.
There was a bit of an opportunity missed in the communication with the OLG. The rural part of Burlington does have a couple of farms that raise and train trotters for racing tracks in the western part of the province. We might have said no to the slot machines but we could have put in a plug for the racing people to have the province restore the funding they used to get from slot machine revenues.
Perhaps we can now add “Slot machine free and the second best city in the country to live in” to some of the literature the economic development people send out.
There were less than five words of discussion on the letter being sent to the lottery people.
There was even less than that on the Burlington Hydro item that was on the agenda. Council approved an amount of not more than $100,000 to be spent on legal counsel and or financial expertise to assist in reviewing significant Burlington Hydro Electric Incorporated matters as needed.
$100,000 is not exactly chump change. The public transit advocates would love to have seen that much money put into transit service. There was no discussion on the “significant” matters – which turn out to be pretty good stewardship on the part of the finance people.
Burlington Hydro is owned by the city and it pays a very substantial amount in dividends to the city which reduces the tax levy.
 All that raw power has to be transformed into electricity, homes and office buildings can use. Transformers are not cheap – so Burlington Hydro has to borrow some money to pay for the transformer that will get placed along Tremaine Road. Burlington Hydro created a major mess with the way they failed to adequately inform the city on just what the issues were with feeding wind turbine energy into the electrical grid. Hydro certainly gave Director of Engineering Tom Eichenbaum heart burn, if not ulcers, in the way they jerked him around on the differences between net metering and the Feed in Tariff related to the plans for a wind turbine on the pier.
Given that the city owns the hydro operation one would like to think they would provide the city with excellent technical service and support. Instead they told the city so little that we came away looking like fools. Will $100,000 in legal fees fix that kind of problem?
In a report to council staff said: In order to accommodate growth in Burlington, Burlington Hydro Inc. (BHI) has entered into a capital agreement with Hydro One for a new Hydro One owned transformer station on Tremaine Road. The additional energy capacity made available through this facility will accommodate Burlington’s growth for the next 20 to 25 years. BHI is financing the capital contribution through a 25 year loan of $8 million from Infrastructure Ontario.
Infrastructure Ontario has requested that the City sign a subordination agreement for the $8 million. The purpose of the agreement is to recognize the “subordination” of the City’s position as a debt holder to that of Infrastructure Ontario.
If BHI were to default on the loan payments, Infrastructure Ontario could stop the payment of dividends to the shareholder. Interest payments on the existing promissory note that the City has with BHI could also be stopped if BHI defaults.
 Hydro produces significant dividends for the city. Few people fully realize the relationship between Burlington Hydro and the city. If they knew they might want some of that dividend to come to them in the way of lower hydro rates. Dividends and interest payments received by the City over the past ten years, including proceeds from the sale of the FibreWired division in 2008, total $74.4 million as illustrated in the above chart:
Through the Hydro Liaison team, City and Hydro staff have continued an excellent working relationship, identifying and discussing complex issues important to both the City and the Utility. However, City staff feel that in the interest of protecting the shareholder’s investment it may be prudent for the City as shareholder to have financial and legal expertise available to assist them in dealing with Hydro matters.
And so the city has asked for $100,000 to have our lawyers in the room when they work out loan agreements and possible acquisitions in the future. As can be seen from the bar chart Hydro throws off a lot of cash and the city depends on that money. The agreement to pay for the construction of a new transformer on Tremaine Road means that if Burlington Hydro defaults on that loan the dividends the city has been enjoying can be taken and applied to the loan.
It`s sort of like getting your Mother-in-Law to co-sign your loan, which she does but then puts a lien on the car.
The people who do the deep financial thinking for the city realize that the days of fat revenue flows from development charges on new housing developments are very close to ending for Burlington. We are very close to being built out. New revenue sources are going to have to be found and with an aging population on fixed incomes tax increases aren`t going to be possible – not if you want to stay in office.
Using wholly owned subsidiaries that are not bound quite the way a municipality is when it comes to borrowing and taking financial risks is one possible way of developing new revenue streams. Burlington Hydro could become something of an economic engine for the city.
Some suggest the selling of the fibre optic cable – Fibre Wired – that the city once owned to Cogeco Cable back in 2008 was an opportunity lost. To own the cable that is going to send most if not all the data and information into Burlington homes is a better long range bet than a Casino.
It will be interesting to learn who gets the legal business for papering the agreements Burlington Hydro gets into – will it go to a local firm or to pricier talent out of Toronto?
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 14, 2012 The Joseph Brant Museum, announces it has received a $32,500 federal government grant to put together an 1812-themed newspaper for distribution to a number of educational partners and the community.
 Burlington Museums will be doing a themed newspaper on the War of 1812 for distribution in the community. Brant’s son John will play a prominent part in the festivities this year. The grant includes covering the cost of a series of lectures/workshops on various aspects of the War of 1812 in Burlington. We assume more detail is to follow.
The museum will also create series of exhibition panels that will be displayed in community spaces.
 En-actors John Brant on the left with Sir Isaac Brock on the right. Norton stands between the two. Brock and Brant will re-enact a meeting during Brock’s Walk which will take place at LaSalle Park A main event for the Museum each year is the Joseph Brant Day, a family community event involving re-enactments and historical educational activities which will be held on August 6th at LaSalle Park. This year the focus shifts to Brant’s son John who will re-enact a meeting with General Sir Isaac Brock.
The tourism people have staged a Brock’s Walk, part of which will take place at LaSalle Park where Sir Isaac Brock will meet with John Brant, son of Joseph Brant.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 19, 2012 When the magazines begin writing about you – you are on your way to your 15 minutes of fame. And that’s just about where Plan B – the budding Farmer’s Market on John Street is right now.
Pure Green Magazine does a feature from time to time on the “Organic Kitchen”. If all goes as planned, and nothing actually goes as planned when you’re working with nature, the plan is for the writers to set up an outdoorsy and Muskoka themed booth and cooking facility. As well, they’ll set up bistro tables for sit down guests. Should be very cool.
 Macdonald and Barry Imber discuss the set up for the Plan B Farmer’s Market on John Street. Opens every Friday 11-2
They will be demonstrating cooking some recipes they’ve been working on that are easy and delicious, using locally sourced ingredients. Jonathan, the chef and partner of the magazine, has a unique way of cooking outside using rustic props and outdoorsy techniques – he can smoke meats and cheeses right at your table! – it’s super interesting and fun to do yourself so this should be great for the crowd.
Pure Green is a very nice binding element for what we believe the market, as well as Centro, is all about. Healthy lifestyles for people who love being outside and connecting with the ground, their food, their environment – whether that’s in their back patio, backyard or back forty.
Damian Wills – the chef and forager calling himself Meat to Table will be there again as will the fresh produce farmer and the folks from Featherstone Family Farm.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 18, 2012 Arnold Koopman has a problem. He is organizing a visit of a group of dignitaries that will include the Mayor of Apeldoorn, Burlington sister in Holland, to take part in the official opening of a park that he understood was to be named the Apeldoorn Park.
The name of the park that is to be officially opened is currently the Elgin Park. No one knows why the park, that is to undergo a major upgrade, was called Elgin – probably because it is on Elgin Street.
 Tulips, Hollands gift to Canada, were planted at Civic Square last May. The Dutch would like to see a park commemorating the sacrifice Canadians made liberating Holland. An opportunity to do just that got missed last week. The Dutch should hold out for something bigger. If what we heard at a city council meeting was correct – there are no plans to change the name. Koopman doesn’t want to invite all those people from Holland in the fall of 2013 to stand there watching the flag of Apeldoorn be raised over the Elgin Park which will have what the city is calling an “Apeldoorn feature”.
This has the potential to be somewhat embarrassing but that’s where things stood at the last city council meeting and that’s where they will stay for at least the next six weeks.
 Ed Dorr has been a leading part of the Dutch community’s effort to have a park named after our twin city in Holland. He’s not there yet – but don’t count these people out. Apeldoorn and Burlington were twinned in May of 2005. The work on twinning the two cities began in 2003 – October 16, 2013 will be the tenth anniversary of the start of the talks. May 2015 will be the tenth anniversary of the agreement. The Dutch community in Burlington might well tell the city to let the Park they are re-developing remain as Elgin while they find a park that is worthy of the significance of the relationship between Holland and Canada.
The kerfuffle came about when the city found it had to replace the Roads and Parks Maintenance structure that is to the east of the very small parkette that is south of St. Luke’s Anglican church.
At the time the city decided that if they were replacing the building this was a good time to upgrade the park as well. Then why not use this park upgrade as the opportunity to create an Apeldoorn Park? Good question and so the city began to work up plans to remake the park, get the new maintenance building in place and do our part of the understanding that existed between Apeldoorn and Burlington for each city to have a park dedicated to the other.
When all this was being discussed at city council Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward was against the project – she called it one of those “nice to have” projects we couldn’t afford. But Meed Ward saw which way the wind was blowing and didn’t see any point in fighting this one – so she became an active advocate for the park and was knee deep in the planning.
But there was an appetite for the park to have at least an “Apeldoorn feature” so the plan went forward – but no one ever did anything about the name.
It was a bit of a shock to the Dutch community. They were fully expecting a nice Park that would be called the Apeldoorn Park. They weren’t getting much of a Park to begin with – it’s almost a sliver of a thing.
Arnold Koopman left city hall wondering what his adopted city was doing to his people.
The Dutch are a persistent people – city Council has not heard the last of this argument.
There was one of those opportunities to cement a relationship with an important part of the community – but we blew that one.
The discussion went back and forth and really didn’t go anywhere. Mayor Goldring then asked Koopman if he would be happy with calling it the Apeldoorn Park on Elgin. Koopman grabbed that one, but Goldring failed to turn the comment into a motion – and so it’s Elgin Park until somebody does something about a name change.
 Councillor Blair Lancaster at the Mundialization ceremony at city hall last May – there was a chill in the air and there may be a bit of a chill from the Dutch community around the delay in naming a park for our twin city in Holland. It would have been nice to see Councillor Lancaster fight a little harder for the Dutch community. She is Council’s representative on the Mundialization committee that handles the relationship we have with Itabachi in Japan and Apeldoorn in Holland.
I think the Dutch should tell the city to keep their tiny park and advocate for something that reflects the contribution the Dutch have made to both Burlington and the whole of Canada.
The city of Apeldoorn has put back their plans to build a park they are going to call the Burlington Park. Economic conditions in Europe are such that spending is being pulled in everywhere – so we have a couple of years to come up with something that reflects the dignity the relationship we have with Apeldoorn deserves.
 By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON July 18, 2012 The Halton Region Health Department monitors the water quality at public beaches throughout Halton. Beach water monitoring on July 17 revealed the following beaches are safe for swimming:
Safe for swimming:
Burlington – Beachway Park
Halton Hills – Prospect Park Old Beach
Milton – Kelso Conservation Area
Oakville – Coronation Park East, Bronte Park Beach
The following beaches are unsafe for swimming:
Oakville – Coronation Park West
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 18, 2012 With the weather we have been having – talk of umbrellas will at least raise an eyebrow. There is an opportunity to raise those eyebrows at the Burlington Art Centre July 22, 2-3 pm when an exhibit of porcelain umbrellas by Ann Mortimer will be on display. The event is free.
 Ann Mortimer, who traditionally works on canvas with an admired ability to bring out the translucence of her object, has done a collection of 19 porcelain umbrellas that will be part of the In Series events at the Art Gallery. The work was produced in China under the direction of the artist. Ann Mortimer works in watercolour and is interested in the translucency of that medium. In her painting she aims to achieve an illusion of depth through the portrayal of light. You get to arrive at a different understanding of transparency when you view the umbrellas. Worth the time to take this one in.
Mortimer is a member of the Society of Floral Painters, and while she has specialized in flowers, combining a looseness of approach with a respect for botanical accuracy, she has ventured beyond canvas and into other mediums.
Curator Jonathan Smith will lead a tour of the exhibition, which includes the umbrellas and her perspective plates, bird-fish form and sculptural cups series.
The event is part of the In Series Exhibition at the Art Gallery – in the Lee-Chin Family Gallery.
Mortimer is a graduate trained teacher, and also paints a variety of other subjects in watercolour from landscapes to town scenes to figures. She enjoys sharing her techniques and skills with members of art societies at workshops and at the art classes where she regularly teaches.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 17, 2012 Everyone thought it was going to be bigger and better than the Car Free Sunday on Appleby Line back in June but the crowd, if that is what you can call it, on Brant Street and Locust Streets for the second Car Free Sunday was not as large – something was missing.
 Interest group and services tents set up on Brant north of Caroline drew traffic – it was much quieter south of Caroline. Was it too hot; were people away at their cottages, kids off to camp? There was no reason to walk over to Brant Street – other than to be able to walk about with no traffic.
 Bus service was rerouted an cars kept off the street for most of the afternoon. Should it be an annual event? There was no focus to the event – but then there was no focus to the Appleby Line event and it had better participation than last Sunday’s event on Brant Street.
There was live music at the Civic Square but it drew very poor audiences. There was a Country and Western Music event at Spencer Smith Park and some of its traffic made its way up Brant – but there just wasn’t any sense that there was something going on.
The organizers did arrange for various interests groups to have tents on Brant north of Caroline – and they were busy and gave that part of the street the sense that there was something going on.
 There are retailers that get it – and they are the one’s that succeed. The shopping bag that lady is carrying isn’t empty. The folks that run Joelle’s understand retail. There were far too many stores closed. Far too many of the Brant Street merchants were not open – not a good sign. The Downtown Business association needs to get a bit of a burr under the saddles of some of its members. Those that were open did continuous business.
This was the first year the event took place. It’s worth doing the same thing next year, but there clearly has to be some brain storming if there are ever going to be people out on the street for large parts of a day.
Those who were lined up in their cars at Brant and Caroline to get through the intersection didn’t think very much of the idea of people taking over the streets of the city – even if it was only for a couple of hours.
There seemed to be more police presence than was necessary – lots of overtime booked by the HRPS.
 The pavement didn’t seem to be a problem. Get a dozen kids and a soccer ball plus two nets and you’ve got a game. It was pleasant to watch – some benches would have kept people around longer. The Burlington Teen Tour Band was out – they always draw a crowd but the idea was to have people out on the street for a large part of the 2pm to 7pm time frame. The barriers were taken up on Locust close to 6 pm and Brant was wide open to vehicles at 7 pm
During Sound of Music there were different attractions on the street that drew people and kept them around for a while. There were precious few places to get out of the sun and nowhere to sit and have a drink.
There were nets for kids to play soccer at the John and Brant intersection but there was no seating for anyone who wanted to watch the kids play.
 Brian Dean, top toff at the Downtown Business Association was out drumming up business for those of his members that took part in the Red Bag Sale. Too many of his members let the community down last Sunday. Keeping the doors closed while the city works at getting people out on the street isn’t the way the game is played.  There is a soccer player in there somewhere It was suggested that a focus was needed and there are a number of opportunities to bring in close to cost free events that would attract people and keep them around for a while. The antique car club people will show off their vehicles any chance they get. Inviting them to the city and asking if the owners of the cars would drive up along one of the rural roads with a guest passenger in their car – and then choose the guests from raffle ticket winners would certainly draw attention and participation.
A chance to sit in an MG or a Corvette with the top down would keep me hanging around hoping I got a chance for a ride. It would beat being on one of those nasty little ponies that were walking around the cenotaph at the side of city hall.
It is going to take some imagination to make this an event that people want to participate in and one that justifies closing down street for a period of time.
Good effort, they got the idea right now to add some ginger and make it more fun because there wasn’t much fun on Brant Street last Sunday afternoon.
There are a bunch of volunteers – more than 25 of them, that deserve more than the car free Sunday T-shirt they got. There were also half a dozen staff members who gave up half a nice day to make the event happen.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 18, 2012 This is going to get interesting.
The Waterfront Advisory Committee is now officially dead. The funeral will take place at the end of the year – between now and then the committee will meet to clean up the odds and ends. It will not be a joyous occasion. The chair Nicholas Leblovic said he was blind-sided by the decision to bring an end to the life of the advisory committee, which is a little like someone putting their hands over their eyes and saying they cannot see. But the deed is done.
 Waterfront Advisory committee in happier days. City council voted to shut the committee down at the end of December. Chair Leblovic, on the left, is thought to have been an ineffective leader that wasn’t producing the results the city had hoped for. While no one on city council would really say what the issue was that brought about the demise of the committee, Scott Stewart, General Manager Community Services put the problem in perspective when he said he voted against the committee with his feet when he stopped attending meetings. The committee was just not an effective group of people , basically because it was poorly led. While the chair gets the big end of the responsibility stick the other members of the committee have to share that responsibility – they re-elected Leblovic as chair.
What we didn’t know was that the Mayor was deeply involved in the committee member selection – and he wasn’t Mayor at the time. It is an experience that is behind us – and we can move on. The question is – move on to what? The waterfront isn’t going to go away and the problems plus the opportunities related to the waterfront are still there.
 Getting the Pump House on the Beachway on the agenda as a possible location for an upscale coffee shop wine bar was one of the successes of the Waterfront Advisory committee. It was a struggle for the committee members to get the idea past their chair. In her remarks when the issue was voted on – Meed Ward asked for a recorded vote and was the only one opposed to the ending of the advisory committee, said “City wide organized resident input is needed on a broad range of waterfront issues in Burlington. Our waterfront is one of the city’s features most valued by residents. But we’re losing a key source of resident input by the city council’s decision tonight to end the Waterfront Advisory Committee.” She went on to say: “The committee had provided a comprehensive list of recommendations on a range of waterfront issues that are now at risk of gathering dust sitting on a shelf. I’m committed to continuing to get residents input to ensure that the city and regional governments take steps to ensure public access to our waterfront.”
She made it clear to her colleagues that while the Advisory group may be dead, she didn’t see the issue or the people who were involved in waterfront issues as something that was just going to go away and she let her colleagues know that she would have the group “working out of her office”.
The evening that Council committee voted to sunset the advisory committee Mayor Goldring said he would “round up” a group of people and make them the ‘Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Waterfront. So, we may have two committees giving members of Council advice on the waterfront.
What we are seeing here is a claiming of political turf. Meed Ward has grabbed the waterfront advisory aspect as hers. She sat on the committee and voted not to shut it down. Her fellow Councillors disagreed with her. Meed Ward will bring the committee “in house” as it were and bringing their views forward whenever she chooses.
A strong Mayor would have a meeting with Meed Ward and explain the role a Mayor plays in the municipal world and that if there is going to be an “advisory committee” it will be created by Council or created by the Mayor.
The vote to disband was taken at the last Council meeting until late in August; they are all off for the summer. Let’s see where this goes in the fall. It could get interesting.
[Facebook]
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 16, 2012 Parking tickets. Ugh! Many in Burlington think that if they own a car they have a God given right to park it exactly where they want to whenever they want to. Own a car and there are some downsides. When we used horses there were downsides as well – those little gifts they would leave on the streets – remember?
The city is going to take over the administration of the parking fines. If you don’t feel you were ticketed fairly you still get to go to the First Attendance room at city hall and argue for a reduction. The new set up – and you are going to like what the city is doing – will have that First Attendance office re-named and called a Screening Hearing.
If you’re unhappy with the results you can get a Court date – but you will not have to go to the Court house. You will be able to go to city hall and plead your case.
It gets better.
The city is looking into holding Night Courts.
 The city will run its own parking offence courts – might see a Night Court as part of the new Customer Service philosophy working its way through city hall. It gets better still. They are looking into holding these Parking fine sessions in different parts of the city. Now if they hold these Parking Offence Courts in different parts of the city and hold a Night Court as well – gosh you might leave the Court Room with a smile on your face.
More yet. Under the old system, if you wanted to dispute the parking ticket you were given a Court date and off you went – and you waited and waited and sometimes waited far longer than you think you should have.
The new system, courtesy of city hall, will send you a court date and give you a time frame to attend so you don’t have to spend a day waiting around.
THAT is customer service.
This new system applies to offences for which the fine is $100 or less. Thus if you park in a handicapped space you are still going to the real Court House – the fine for that infraction is $400.
 Free parking is not one of the options that comes with a car. You park – you pay. At this point the city gets somewhere between 100 and 200 situations where people demand a hearing. Any offence before July 3rd comes under the old system – which means dispute the ticket and you go to the Court House on Plains Road.
New provincial legislation allowed a municipality to choose to handle the administration of parking ticket offences and Bruce Zvaniga, Director of Transportation Services convinced the city to do things differently. On his LinkedIn page Zvaniga says he delivers innovative, sustainable transportation solutions that nurture livable communities. That doesn’t translate directly into making it easier to pay a parking ticket but this kind of innovation at city hall I welcome.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 16, 2012 The Alton community took another step on the weekend to becoming a complete community. The Norton Park complex was officially opened and the public got to see just what the kids do on skate boards and mountain bikes. It is not something for those over fifty.
 Residents of the community find a shady spot to sit in on the official opening ceremonies of the Norton Park. With the politicians done – the kids headed for the skate board section. There was a decent turn out. I’m never sure why the city holds these “official openings” – photo ops for sure, but is that it? The comments made don’t make any impact – we didn’t lean much other than the size of the facility and that it would tie in very nicely with the Alton Community Centre under construction across the street.
 Jennifer Johnson, Coordinator of Project Management for the city is the hands on person for the development of the Alton Community Centre across the street form the park. Tim Dobbie Drive, the road that runs from Dundas north into the community will get a softening with trees planted and humps – that isn’t a speed bump, but it will slow traffic. The idea is to create a setting where people are able to easily walk back and forth between the two locations.
 A helmeted youth listens patiently as Ward Councillor Blair Lancaster talks about the Norton Park and what it will mean to the community. She fortunately didn’t talk for very long. The skate board park on one side and the community centre that will consist of a school, a sports complex and a library on the other side has the potential to become a focus at the top of the suburban part of the city. Community building is more art than science but if all the ingredients are in place there is the potential to create something distinctly different than what Burlington’s suburban feel has been in the past.
 Ward Councillor Blair Lancaster and Mayor Rick Goldring put their political reputations on the line and stand on skate boards. Is there one foot on the ground there? The skate board part of the Norton Park is superb and there are all kinds of soccer fields in place. At some point they might add some tennis courts and maybe even a community garden. But these things take time. Give the area another five to seven years and the shade trees in place now will have matured and it will be a very pleasant place to spend time.
The library and the sports complex have wonderful potential. The sports part has a gymnasium layout that is flexible with very high ceilings. The long term thinking was to create a location where provincial level sports events could be held.
The high school will create an identity of its own, one that reflects the community and at the same time takes on the competitive nature of inter-high school rivalry.
One thing that was missing from the official opening event, and that was someone from the Norton family after whom the park was named. That family started a ‘bus’ system in 1936 and used a seven-passenger Pierce Arrow Limousine to take a group of kids to school. Norton recognized that every child, regardless of circumstances, needed and deserved an education and without his transportation, many students in the rural communities in north Burlington would not have been able to attend school. Over the next several decades, the Norton bus business grew into a fleet of 500 buses, transporting 15,000 students each day.
The company exists today as a charter bus service.
The present day location of C. H. Norton Public School is located several hundred yards from Cecil Norton’s former home. The Norton Community Centre is named for Cecil Norton who lived in the Headon Forest area.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 19, 2012 Here’s one the environmentalists and community garden advocates might want to tuck away until city budget time. (Note that with Our Burlington you can find any story simply by typing what you are looking for into the search box on the HOME page.)
Hamilton set aside funds for a community garden coordinator that has paid large dividends, and may have silenced councillors who were once adamant that no tax dollars be provided for the position. Just six months of bridge funding to the Hamilton Community Garden network now has resulted in 15 new gardens and substantial fundraising success.
Pause and think of which Burlington city council members would have been on the “not a dime” part of that request.
 This is something Amy Schnurr just might choose to run with. Here she speaks at the opening of Burlington’s first community garden on public property. More to follow? City General Manager Scott Stewart is on the left with Rob Peachey on the right. At the end of last year, council approved $15,000 in bridge funding to keep a community garden coordinator employed while additional financial support was sought from other sources. Since February Clare Wagner has secured over $25,000 of in-kind donations and “at least $50,000 worth of funding” for local community gardens, while overseeing the establishment of 15 new gardens and the expansion of two existing ones.
The expansions have added 16,100 square feet of plots and are expected to produce 16,000 pounds of food per year. There are now 58 community gardens in all parts of the city including 1000 square feet in the Binbrook fair grounds, and a set of raised plots in Waterdown managed by Bethel Christian Reformed Church.
A report to the Hamilton city council noted “there are 150 people on a waiting list who wish to acquire space in current community gardens with 20 – 40 more inquiries from sites that do not keep a list of potential new gardeners.”
Lloyd Ferguson said he had “real trouble hiring a staff person” and suggested that organizing the gardens “should be part of the gardening experience” and not utilize taxpayers’ money.
 The Lutheran church in east Burlington has had a community garden for some time. It was a pattern for the community gardens now established in Central Park Former Hamilton councillor Dave Mitchell said he had complaints of weeds in a garden in his ward where there were “some nice homes”, and contended the gardens weren’t feasible. “You can’t have 50 different people in a small garden and expect them to get along together. I don’t think it will work very well.”
The community gardening network is managed by Green Venture. The coordinator can be reached at Clare.wagner@greenventure.ca.
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