 By Staff
June 13th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It is that time of year again folks – the Sound of Music sort of takes over the city and they bring in millions of dollars in business to the city – so we put up with the problems in getting around and get outdoors and enjoy the music.
Here is what happens street closure wise.
Road Closures for Sound of Music – June 17 to 19
The following road closures will be in place.
• Friday, June 17 from 3:30 p.m. to Sunday, June 19 at 6 p.m., Brant Street from Caroline Street to Lakeshore Road.
• Saturday, June 18, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.,John Street from Pine Street to Lakeshore Road.
Parade Closures
• Saturday, June 18 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Caroline Street from Drury Lane to Locust Street, Elizabeth Street from Caroline Street to Pine Street and Drury Lane from Courtland to New Street.
Road closures will be managed under the supervision of the Halton Regional Police Service and emergency access will be maintained at all times.
By Staff
June 13th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Short Term Road Closure: Emerald Street on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Emerald Street will be closed on Tuesday, June 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. between Courtland Drive and Victoria Avenue for crane activity.
Signs and barricades will be up and no through traffic will be allowed.
Local traffic to residents in this area of Emerald Street will be maintained, as well as emergency access.
By Staff
June 9, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) will be reducing the number of lanes on the westbound 403 at Highway 6 for construction starting June 10 until June 13. Traffic delays are expected.
• Friday, June 10 – lane restrictions begin at 8 p.m.
• From Friday, June 10 at 8 p.m. to Saturday, June 11 at 6 p.m. – two lanes will be open
• From Saturday, June 11 at 6 p.m. to Sunday, June 12 at 1 p.m. – one lane will be open
• From Sunday, June 12 at 1 p.m. to Monday, June 13 at 8 a.m. – two lanes will be open
• On Monday, June 13 at 8 a.m. – all lanes reopen.
 By Staff
June 7th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
The sound of music will be in the air for much of the summer.
People will be able to enjoy concerts at the band shell beside the library from June 19 to August 14; performances start at 7:30 pm on Wednesday and Sunday.
Residents are invited to bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy a variety of music for all ages. The first concert of the summer will feature the Burlington Teen Tour Band and Junior Redcoats. A complete list of scheduled performances is available at www.burlington.ca/concerts
The season of summer music will begin with a joint performance by the Rich Harmony Choir and the United in Song Gospel Choir who will perform at the Burlington Seniors’ Centre Choir at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 19.
The free community concert is in support of the Partnership West Food Bank. Attendees are kindly asked to bring a non-perishable food item. Space is limited and seating will be arranged on a first come first served basis.
The June lineup looks like this:
 Sunday, June 19 – Burlington Teen Tour Band & Burlington Junior Redcoats
Over 150 musicians on stage as the Burlington Junior Redcoats join the Burlington Teen Tour Band to open the 2016 Summer Concert Series.
Wednesday, June 22 – Swingline
A little big band of local based musicians playing the big band standards and more.
Sunday, June 26 – Sinatra Celebrations
Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birthday of the Chairman of the Board. A special Sinatra show by Jim Heaslip and the 12/4 Swing Orchestra.
Wednesday, June 29 – Burlington Top Hat Marching Orchestra
By Staff
May 31st, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
On Sunday June 5, 2016 Appleby Line will be closed from Fairview to New Street from noon to 6 p.m. for the “Appleby Line Street Festival” affecting detours on routes 4, 10 and 20.
Bus stops within the road closure area will be bagged. For service, please proceed to the Appleby GO station or bus stops along New Street.
By Staff
May 31st, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
On Saturday June 4, 2016 Brant Street will be closed from James Street to Caroline Street from 4 – 11 p.m. for the “Moon in June” road race. Routes 3 and 5 will be detoured.
For access to stops serving these routes, please proceed to the John Street Bus Terminal or Brant Street north of Caroline Street.
By Staff
May 31st, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
GIS mapping at Burlington city hall will be unavailable on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 from 1 to 3 p.m.
The service and the system will be down for maintenance.
By Staff
May 27, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
Aldershot Arena has now reopened for scheduled rentals and programs.
The arena was closed on April 22 to allow for electrical system replacement following a transformer issue.
 By Staff
May 27th, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
The pests will be back soon – mosquitos.
That bite is a quite a bit bigger than most people realize.
As part of its commitment to enhancing the health and well-being of residents through public education and preventative programs, Halton Region has begun its annual larviciding program to reduce the risk of West Nile virus (WNV) in the community. This program is implemented in public property locations across Halton Region.
 This is how the West Nile virus gets transmitted. Larviciding is the process of applying pesticides to objects such as catch basins, where mosquito larvae have been found. Larvicide is applied when other attempts at reducing mosquito breeding sites haven’t worked to minimize the risk of West Nile virus and is usually applied either in catch basins or in large bodies of standing water on public property. This preventative program reduces the adult mosquito population, helping to stop mosquitoes that can carry West Nile virus that are often found in standing water.
“West Nile virus continues to be a concern in communities across Canada which is why Halton Region remains committed to monitoring and implementing programs to prevent and protect residents against this disease,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr.
“By working together with the community, we will continue to reduce the risk of West Nile virus and keep our community safe and healthy.”
“Larviciding is just one part of our West Nile virus prevention program which includes public education, monitoring and surveillance, eliminating potential mosquito breeding sites and larviciding,” said Dr. Hamidah Meghani, Halton Region Medical Officer of Health. “By eliminating standing water sites and by covering up outside at dusk and dawn and applying DEET or lcaridin, we can reduce the occurrence of West Nile virus in our communities.”
Halton residents can help reduce breeding grounds for mosquitoes by removing objects that may hold water, such as bird baths, plant pots, old toys and tires. If residents see standing water on public property, they can report it to Halton Region by emailing accesshalton@halton.ca or dialing 311.
Residents are encouraged to take the following steps to protect themselves and their families from mosquitoes:
• Cover up. Wear light-coloured, long-sleeved shirts and pants with tightly-woven fabric.
• Avoid being outdoors from early evening to morning when mosquitoes are most active and likely to bite, as well as at any time in shady, wooded areas.
• Reduce mosquito breeding sites around your home by getting rid of all water-filled containers and objects. Change the water in bird baths at least once per week.
• Use an approved insect repellent, such as one containing DEET or Icaridin.
• Make sure your window and door screens are tight and without holes, cuts or other openings.
A map showing the locations of standing water sites on public property where larvicide is applied is available at halton.ca/wnv. For more information about West Nile virus, please visit halton.ca/wnv or dial 311.
 By Staff
May 20, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
This is nice news – the arrival of some warmer weather means the opening of the city’s splash pads on Saturday, May 21 followed by pools beginning June 18.
 The Nelson pool – which won’t be open this year. “Splash pads and pools provide a fun way to spend a summer day,” said Chris Glenn, the city’s director of parks and recreation. “As the warmer temperatures return, the city’s nine splash pads and six pools will provide families with a quick and easy way to cool off all summer long and to stay active together.”
A complete list of splash pads can be found at www.burlington.ca/swimming.
Pool Openings
The summer swimming season opening dates include:
June 18
• Mountainside Recreation Centre – Outdoor Pool and Splash Park
• LaSalle Outdoor Wading Pool and Splash Pad
June 30
• Angela Coughlan Pool
• Burlington Centennial Pool
• Tansley Woods Community Centre
July 4
• Aldershot Pool
 Michelle Benoit – getting in some pool time last year.  The outdoor pool and splash pad at Nelson Park will be closed this summer for construction. All swimming programs have been accommodated at other city facilities. For updates about the replacement of the outdoor pool at Nelson Park, please visit www.burlington.ca/nelson.
If you have questions contact staff at swimming@burlington.ca.
By Staff
May 19th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Tansley Woods pool is closed for the remainder of the day due to an unforseen maintenance issue. The pool is expected to reopen at 6:00 a.m. on Friday May 20, 2016
The following programs are cancelled:
• Combo Lap Swim 10:30am-noon
• Lap Swim Noon – 1:30 p.m.
• Water Running 1:30-2:30 p.m.
• Swimming lessons 5 to 8:30 p.m. Information on make up options will be distributed at next week’s lesson.
• Aqua Boot Camp at 7:35 p.m.
• Leisure Swim 7:30-9:00 p.m.
• Swim Training 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The Aldershot pool closing announcement used the same wording – they were close for several days.
They rarely say what they mean by an unforeseen maintenance issue.
By Staff
May 18, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Handi-van phone service will be unavailable until 8:30 am today – Wednesday May 18
Customers please note that the phone line to contact Handi-van dispatch (905) 639-5158 will be temporarily out of service on Wednesday May 18 until approximately 8:30 a.m. for scheduled upgrades.
For any urgent needs during this time please call (905) 335-7869 ext. 6602. This line will only be serviced during the phone disruption period.
By Staff
May 17th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Walkers Line at Britannia Road – Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Walkers Line will be closed at Britannia Road on Wednesday, May 18, 2016 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. to remove vegetation along the road.
No traffic will be allowed through, with the exception of emergency vehicles responding to a emergency calls.
By Staff
May 10th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Handi-van phone disruption Wednesday May 18
Customers please note that the phone line to contact Handi-van dispatch (905) 639-5158 will be temporarily out of service on Wednesday May 18 until approximately 8:30 a.m. for scheduled upgrades.
For any urgent needs during this time please call (905) 335-7869 ext. 6602. This line will only be serviced during the phone disruption period.
By Pepper Parr
May 10th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Well – it is official – with more people than is usually required to get a car out of a ditch, the $500,000 parking meter system went into use officially on Monday.
 Looks like half of the Transportation department + a good portion of the city’s communications team was needed to launch the new parking meters. It took three different Requests for Proposals to get this project to the finish line. Luigi Lato , Chief Operating Officer, Precise ParkLink said he was honoured to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony, expressing that he is “overjoyed with the city’s excitement to introduce Precise ParkLink’s Pay-By-Plate parking technology. The residents will enjoy the upgraded parking system which brings Burlington on par with other global cities that use the Parkeon Pay-By-Plate parking meters and TelePark Pay-By-Cell option”.
So much for that!
The system is being paid for with funds that were in a reserve fund that is the levy the city places on commercial establishments in the downtown core. Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward explained that the taxpayers were not the people paying for the system.
The difference for regular parking is – making sure you remember the license number of the car you are parking.
You can use cash or credit card. You will also be able to use your cell phone to pay for your parking. Referred to as TelePark, it is a service that you have to register for – something you do one line. W will explain this in more detail in a follow up article.
During the launch ceremonies IT staff did say there were some hiccup getting the back end of the system to work – it has to interact with the credit card organizations on a network that has the highest possible security.
 Expect to see people with PAYBYPL8 walking the downtown core looking for perplexed citizens wanting to pay for their parking. They are Parking Ambassadors – there to help! The city will go into a full court press media mode explaining how the system works and will have people on the street – they are being called “Parking Ambassadors” walking around the downtown core to answer questions.
An additional feature is the ability of commercial operations to pay for the parking of their customers should they choose to do so. The take up on that opportunity doesn’t look all that promising at this point but as Mary Shepherd explained “these things take time for people to understand and then implement.”
 Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward handling the cash part of the old parking meter with Downtown Business Association president Brian Dean. He is the one who is going to have to herd his members into taking on the feature that will let his members pay for client parking. Good luck Brian. The public hasn’t been jumping for joy. Michael Jones points out that these machines are in Hamilton and are not very user friendly – also if you have leftover time on your ticket you can’t share that with anyone. He adds: “ say goodbye to the great feeling of pulling up and seeing 20 minutes left on the previous parker’s meter …felt like winning a mini lottery”.
Some of the posts that held the old parking meters are being re-purposed and will become bicycle racks.
By Staff
May 6, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
For those who survived phase 1 of the New Street construction project – feel some compassion for the people who live within the phase 2 boundary.
 Local traffic has to bob and weave to get through New Street – phase 2 starts on Monday. Gary Carr, Regional Chair, owes everyone near the New street Guelph Line part of the city at least one car wash. The dust is terrible – progress they say.
Mayor Goldring was once heard to say that New Street is the one he drives along most frequently – hopefully he shares our pain.
Phase 2 of the construction project begins May 9, 2016 affecting detours on Burlington Transit routes: 4, 10, 50, 52, 300, 301 and 302.
Route 4 and the Community Connection Routes: 300, 301 and 302 will not have access to the bus stop on Teen Tour Way during this time.
 The New Street construction project is scheduled until September 2016.
During this time, Burlington Transit has had to re-route and provide new schedules for Routes 10, 11 and 20 to allow for connections at the Appleby GO Station.
Route 10 no longer becomes Route 20 at the Appleby GO Station which means a transfer is needed when going between Routes 10 and 20. The new Route 20 schedule has increased to every 15 minutes.
By Staff
May 2, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
As of noon on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, riders can call 905-639-0550 – there they can enter the bus stop I.D. number to get real-time bus arrival time.
 Bus stop I.D. numbers are displayed on the bus stop signs across the city or riders can search by route through the new Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system phone line. In June, real-time information will also be made available online which will feature a new mobile friendly website.
Phone disruption
In order to prepare the system, there will be a temporary shut-down of the customer service phone line (905 639-0550) at 10 a.m. for approximately 15 minutes. Please plan ahead by accessing the printable schedules online at www.burlingtontransit.ca under Schedules and Maps or if you need to contact us for urgent matters that are not schedule related, please use this temporary phone extension: 905-335-7869 ext. 6602.
NOTE: This extension will only be serviced during the temporary customer service phone line disruption.
 By Pepper Parr
April 26th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Our waterfront is used by thousands of people – on really nice weather days there are close to people traffic jams.
The city makes great use of the space for festivals – these are organized events that are for the most part free but they don’t reflect much of the colour or culture of the city.
 Great audience – but a passive audience. The Sound of Music draws thousand who are passive attendees – they listen to the music. Those on the stage are, for the most part people from out of town who are here to advance their music profile and provide what is basically free entertainment.
Rib Fest draws thousands who sit and eat and listen some music.
 The sand castle competition was popular but the city cut the program – it won’t be held this year. The Children’s Festival has events that children take part in but there isn’t any animating of the space by the children.
Surely there is room for events that are small in nature that give groups or collectives an opportunity to express their creativity.
A pop up play, a scavenger hunt for kids; wouldn’t it be something to see the gymnasts doing their routines in Spencer Smith Park?
There was a time when the eastern end of the Beachway was home to Joseph Brant – what must that part of the city been like in Brant’s time?
How would one express that dramatically? Great opportunity for the Museum people to do something at Brant’s house; they already do wonderful work at Ireland House where some of the most creative small community events take place.
Something to think about.
Toronto has created an Animating Our Waterfront, which is a pilot program that will provide funding to individuals, organizations, collectives and groups to support free arts and cultural programming in selected parks and public spaces developed by Waterfront Toronto over the last decade.
 The Cirque – one of the No Vacancy programs that took place in the Village square knew how to animate their event. All it takes is some imagination and and a little Chutzpah The objective of this program is to host arts and cultural programming that celebrate these new public spaces and invite Torontonians and visitors to enjoy them. For the purposes of this program, “arts and cultural programming” includes the presentation of dance, music, theatre, visual arts, performance, literary and media arts, community- engaged artwork, cultural celebration, and any combination of the above. They are looking for projects that include themes like place-making, civic engagement, education, health and wellness, and environmental issues are encouraged.
Why couldn’t Burlington do something like this?
 The Love My Hood funding might be one of the ways to help pay for things like this.
 By Pepper Parr
April 26, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
 The man in the green T shirt on the left is a member of the provincial government who was in town a few wars ago to announce funding for BG to plant tree seedlings in the Beachway. The announcement was made a number of years ago – the province created a Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund that funnelled money into the city via BurlingtonGreen to plant seedlings in the Beachway area where the environmentally sensitive sand dunes need plants and tress to anchor the sand.
The BG people were given $12,960 by the province for the planning, creation of three new signs, supplies, plant and tree stock
After a very successful Clean Up event last weekend – 11,000 plus people took part – Burlington Green is holding a Green Up event – collaborating with Halton Region, Conservation Halton and the city.
 Seedlings planted in 2015 in the Beachway – what will they look like in 20 years? Hundreds of seedlings will be planted and invasive species of flora will be pulled out and trashed. The Region, Conservation and city work with Burlington Green to determine the location of all the plantings and interpretive signs.
The Clean Up involved thousands – the Green Up is limited to just 100 volunteers. The planting of the seedlings is city building at its most fundamental level – the plants that are pushed into the ground are going to be there hundreds of years from now. It will be a warm, welcome experience for the 100 volunteers to walk through the Beachway in 20 years and see their trees growing.
The Region is beavering away on a plan to totally revise the Beachway from the community it now is to a rather spectacular park. The planting of trees now is all part of the evolution of that community.
The Green Up event takes place on Saturday May 28 – runs from 8:45 to 12:45 with refreshments being served.
 The sands on Beachway do shift. Much of the Beachway is a dune, the only one in the Region and very environmentally sensitive. The sands in th area actually shift over time.
 BurlingtonGreen members water plants and shrubs they planted along the Beachway Park two years ago. Volunteers will be in the area late in May to continue this work If you want to be part of this event – go on line and register – there is room for just 100 people – they will be city building for that half day.
BG volunteers have been doing this work since 2013. This year they will be planting native trees and plants.
Register HERE.
 By Staff
April 25, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
On Saturday, April 16th, 2016 Halton Police, in partnership with the Halton Partners for Car Seat Safety (HPCSS), held a spot check car seat clinic in Burlington at Holy Rosary School.
A total of 113 child seats (booster seats and car seats) were inspected to see if five key safety and legal requirements were being met. Of the 74 car seats checked, 56 did not pass this ‘quick check’ inspection resulting in a 76% fail rate.
 The picture is for illustration purposes only – it is not meant to suggest that the seat is being recommended. The goal of these spot check clinics is education. Eighteen certified car seat technicians were on hand to educate and assist parents/caregivers in correcting errors once they were identified.
Research tells us that proper use of a child seat can reduce the likelihood of a child being killed or seriously injured in a crash by up to 75%. The most common errors seen at the clinic in Burlington were:
1. Child not in the proper seat for their age and/or stage
2. No tether strap attached for forward-facing car seats
3. Harness not positioned correctly over child’s shoulders and/or too loose and
4. Car seat not attached tightly to the vehicle using the Universal Anchorage System (UAS) or seat belt.
Parents and caregivers are encouraged to take the time to read and follow their child seat and vehicle instructions when installing their child seats. For further information on car seat safety dial 311 to speak with a public health nurse or visit www.haltonparents.ca or www.hpcss.ca.
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