 By Pepper Parr
September 30, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
We used to refer to the group that have organized themselves as an Art Collective – ACCOB – which stands for the Arts and Culture Collective of Burlington as an “emerging” group. That day has passed – they are now trying very hard to gain a foothold and to have an impact on the way arts and culture policy and spending are done in Burlington. So far they aren’t getting the traction they need and feel they deserve.
 Art Gallery of Burlington – costs the city close to a million to run – is there value for money? Of course there is – but without artists would we need it?  The Performing Arts Centre has had an immense impact on the artistic growth of the city – and the arts community is now able to make great use of the space. They are dealing with a city hall that is close to patronizing to the individual artists and at the same time spends million on buildings and the subsidizing of an Art Gallery, a Performing Arts Centre and a Museum Board.
The artists feel they should form an Arts Council and be at the table with the same clout, financial benefit and influences the other organizations.
 Jeremy Frieburger, author of a report that provided direction for the city’s cultural plan based on reams of data he had gathered. Now the city has to determine how it wants ti implement its Cultural Action Plan. The city has a Cultural Action Plan and a committee that is involved in overseeing the roll out of that plan. One would like to think that having artists sitting on that implementation committee would be a positive sign – and indication that the artists are finally getting the influence they feel they deserve.
Afraid not – there is trouble in paradise.
 The Art in Action Studio Tour is a ten year success. The event is free to the public and there isn’t a dime of public money in the project. Teresa Seaton, who is a significant part of the driving force behind the Art in Action group that holds an annual art tour that is very successful – they have been putting on the event for more than ten years and are financially successful enough to be able to award a scholarship each year, thinks an Arts Council is needed.
Seaton is also a commercially successful Stained Glass artist with a studio in the west end of the city.
On the Collective Facebook page she made some comments … well let’s let Seaton speak for herself:
“Interesting meeting today as a delegate from the External Body Committee to CAPIC -The Cultural Action Plan Implementation Committee. Seems we are still defending the need for an Arts and Culture Council to the city. One of the questions that came up was: What would an Arts and Culture Council do for us, the arts and culture community, in Burlington. As far as I can tell one of the first things an Arts Council would do with funding it hopefully gets is to ask the community what can an Arts Council do for you? And because it seems we are a long way from getting any funding for an Arts Council I thought I might throw up the question here on face book. My personal suggestions…”
An Arts and Culture Council could;
1. Lobby the city to implement, or increase, the already existing public art fee on new developments. I believe the existing recommendation is 1%. I have trouble finding this information.
2. Lobby to lower rental cost for art and culture makers and organizations. No artist that I know can afford retail prices for space. Guess why they all move to Hamilton.
3. Assist arts and culture organization in allowing them access to city printing presses and costs. I know my organization, Art in Action, spends 2,000.00 every year to print its brochures. That money could be used to buy more advertising.
4. Run courses for non-profit organization in gaining more sponsorship dollars. As artists we are not particularly good at this either.
5. Run courses on Succession planning for non-profit organizations. We need help at this.
6. Set up courses for individual artist on social media. How to use it, how to design websites and communicate effectively.
7. Set up forums and try to figure out why the local guilds don’t talk to the local contemporary artists who don’t talk to the local traditional artist who don’t talk to the local crafters who don’t talk to anybody.
 Teresa Seaton – stained Glass artist “Don’t get me wrong; the City of Burlington has come a long way in the last few years. I see the institutions working together more. There seems to be more community involvement in these institutions. But let’s not let this momentum stop.”
CAPIC: the Cultural Action Plan Implementation Committee consists of:
Scott Stewart, General Manager for the city
Angela Paparizo, Manager of Culture for the city
Chris Glenn; Director of Parks and Recreation
Barb Teatero Manager of the Museums Board which runs the Joseph Brant Museum and Ireland House.
Maureen Barry, president of the library
Rossana Dewey, an artist
Trevor Copp, a dancer
Andrea Battista, involved with Symphony on the Bay
Robert Steven, Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Burlington.
Six of the eight people on the committee are bureaucrats – there is no balance here.
The meeting Seaton attended and delegated at also had two other city hall staff and a ward Councillor.
Seaton is quite right when she talks about how far the artists have come – they have risen, literally, and said “we are here and we want to be heard”. And city council, a bit surprised at the artistic energy they didn’t know existed, put money into hiring a consultant who put together a cultural action plan that the city adopted – sort of, and the created a committee to implement that plan.
And that is sort of where things are stuck.
The artists don’t fully comprehend that politicians and bureaucrats do not give away power – they accumulate power and they are for the most part loathe to share that power.
The only way the people (in this case the artists) wrestle power from the bureaucrats is to threaten the power base they have.
 Joe Lamb, on the left, negotiated a deal for the seniors – he didn’t get the kitchen sink because he didn’t ask for it – but he got everything else he wanted. Then city manager Jeff Fielding was told to keep the seniors happy and he did. There is a lesson for the arts community here. A classic example of this was when the seniors began to complain about what they were not getting from the city. They, the seniors, were not happy with the people city hall had sent over to administrate their Centre and they were quick to get on the phone and let the Council members know they were not happy.
The new city manager at the time was sent over to meet and negotiate with the seniors who got everything they had asked for and more. Jeff Fielding, the city manager at the time, was told to meet with the seniors and keep them happy.
Canadians learned yesterday that Canada now has more people over 65 than we have under 14 – the power has shifted to the seniors and they are going to get what they want o they will vote the politicians out of office.
What kind of clout do the artists have? They are creative people with the ability to give the city character, colour, reputation and a reason to visit the place.
The Sound of Music hasn’t learned yet how to use the clout they have. They constantly complain about how little they get from city hall and compare that with how much business they create for that downtown core that is still looking for its vibrancy.
Imagine what would happen if the Sound of Music decided they would not put on their event for a year. You can only imagine the hair pulling that would take place at city hall.
Seaton is right on another level as well; the artists have to begin working like an orchestra and all play from the same sheet music. The squabbling that goes on between the different artists and the different groups is not pretty. They are admittedly high strung people – they go without to be artists but at some point they have to create a united front and use the strength that comes from unity to make their case.
City council has consistently said the arts are important – and they do pump a lot into the institutions we have. The artists want a real seat at the table – they are going to have to require the politicians to walk their talk. It will not be easy – but it can be done – look at what the seniors achieved.
By Pepper Parr
September 15, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
The phony election phase is now behind us. The past few days there have been more promises from the four parties wanting to either ensure they stay in power or want to form the next government and exert the power the public gives them. And remember – the power a government has is power you gave them when you voted.
Burlington has a large seniors’ population; current MP Mile Wallace has courted that cohort very successfully and they have been loyal to him. Say seniors and you have also said pensions, and that has brought out a statement from Liberal candidate Karina Gould who today said: A Trudeau-led Liberal government will make sure that Canadian seniors get the secure and dignified retirement they deserve.
 These seniors are certainly fans of Justin Trudeau – he draws well when he is on public tour. Many of his policy statements have been strong – knowing how it is all going to be aid for is a concern. It isn’t just the Liberals who aren’t being candid about the costs. “With record levels of household debt and an economy in recession, it is no wonder why Canadians in Burlington – and across the country – are worried about their retirement,” said Gould. “Right now, on average, a retired person receives just $618 per month from the Canada Pension Plan – hardly enough to live on. Our seniors have worked their entire lives, and should not have to struggle to make ends meet. Justin Trudeau has a plan to ensure that all Canadians get the dignified retirement they have earned.”
“As part of our three-point plan to create jobs, grow the middle class, and help those working hard to join the middle class, a Liberal government will work with the provinces and territories to significantly reform our retirement security system by:
• Restoring the eligibility age for Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement to 65;
• Lifting hundreds of thousands of seniors out of poverty by immediately boosting the Guaranteed Income Supplement for single low-income seniors by ten percent;
• Introducing a new Seniors Price Index – in recognition of the fact that many seniors live on fixed incomes – to make sure that Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement keep up with rising costs;
• Beginning discussions with the provinces and territories, workers, employers and others on how to enhance the Canada Pension Plan within our first three months in government;
• Not cutting pension income splitting for seniors;
• Introducing a more flexible and accessible Employment Insurance Compassionate Care Benefit; and
• Prioritizing significant new investment in affordable housing and seniors’ facilities as part of a Liberal government’s commitment to a new, ten-year investment of nearly $20 billion in social infrastructure.
This is good stuff – and as a senior who looks for that pension cheque going into the bank at the end of every month I certainly understand who Gould is talking to – me.
How is my government going to pay for this improvement in my pension? Are they going to have to take money away from something else? Will the much touted federal day care program be lost for another decade? Will the aboriginal communities not get the schools they desperately need so I can get a bigger pension?
Governing is a balancing act – how do you keep everyone happy?
 Liberal candidate Karina Gould watches a group of seniors discuss transit policy – getting around the city is critical for these people – just as critical as their pensions. “I’m proud of the policy my Party announced today for seniors,” added Gould. “It is a product of grassroots discussions, like the town hall I held in January with the Hon. John McCallum, Liberal Critic for Citizenship and Immigration, Multiculturalism, and Seniors. The measures we’re putting forward are born directly out of these conversations. I have been listening to the serious issues that face seniors in our community. I’m proud to stand for a party that will act for all of our seniors and ensure a dignified retirement for everyone in our community.”
I too am proud of the policy – I’d just like to know how it is going to be paid for.
The Liberal candidates are not the only ones a little shy on the details side of the election promises – a voters question should be ; how much?
By Pepper Parr
September 8, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
The first in a series on the Burlington trustees on the Halton District Board of Education.
In the next 120 to 150 days 11 people are going to make a choice that could change in a very meaningful way how the municipalities of Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills are seen by the rest of the province and perhaps the rest of the country.
Trustees Kelly Amos, Oakville; Amy Collard, Burlington; Joanna Oliver, Oakville; Leah Reynolds, Burlington; Donna Danielli, Milton; Andrea Grebenc, Burlington; Ann Harvey Hope, Oakville; Richelle Papin, Burlington; Kim Graves, Milton; Jeanne Gray, Halton Hills and Tracey Ehl Harrison, Oakville are the elected members of the Halton District School Board and they as a group will vote on who they want to lead the development, administration and delivery of education in the Region.
 Andrea Grebnec – Burlington Trustee  Amy Collard – Burlington Trustee  Anne Harvey Hope – Oakville trustee Burlington let itself get caught up in the promotional hype of a magazine that chose the city as the best mid-sized city to live in. That Burlington was chosen was due in no small measure to the persuading former Mayor Cam Jackson laid upon the publishers of the magazine. Jackson convinced them to see Burlington as a separate entity and not lump us in with Hamilton – when that was done Burlington began to look much much better.
For a time that line “the best mid-sized city in Canada” was parroted by members of city council as if it was something we had earned – it was an award made up by a magazine to promote their circulation,
There are many many things about Burlington that are positive. But the city doesn’t have much in the way of a provincial or a national profile. Oakville is known for all the people with bags of money that live there and Milton is known for its explosive growth – they also have an Olympic grade Velodrome that was their benefit from the Pan Am games – all Burlington managed to get was a cheque for renting out the City View Park for Pan Am soccer practice.
Burlington seems to want to focus on its geography – the Escarpment to the north and the lake to the south and that’s about it. A nice, for the most part, comfortable community that has its share of problems that it seems to muddle through.
Hamilton is entering a phase that has some buzz to it – the end of their steel manufacturing stage has begun and they are in the process of re-inventing themselves. Two decades from now Hamilton will be THE place to live in Ontario.
As for Burlington – there is an opportunity that is now in the hands of the 11 people who have been elected as school board trustees.
Current Director of Education for the Halton District School Board David Euale has resigned and the search for his replacement is now down to the short list.
 Donna Danielli -Milton trustee  Jeanne Gray – Halton Hills trustee Burlington is the kind of city people like to live in – it is safe, not particularly exciting but a reasonably easy place from which to get to Toronto. But is there a really strong reason to live in Burlington? – it certainly isn’t the cost of housing.
But Burlington could be the city that has the best public education school board in the province. Schools matter to parents – just look at the number of private schools in the Region.
Those eleven school board trustees have the opportunity to put Halton on the map – and by extension Burlington as well.
There are schools in this city that parents will actually cheat to get their children into – Tuck is one of them. Why do they do that? Because the principal of that school has made it one of the best in the city.
Why is Nelson High School the superb institution that it? Why is Bateman such an excuse for a high school? (That is a person opinion – I have had dealings with the leadership at that high school and this is an opinion column.)
It all comes down to leadership – there are great leaders in the public education system and they are always looking for a great board of education to work for – there aren’t a lot of them around.
Imagine what could happen if the trustees made it known that they want the best person there is to lead their board. To say publicly and loudly that they want an education leader who will not only improve our rankings but develop schools where every principal is not only a leader but an innovator.
 Kelly Amos, Oakville trustee and current chair of the board  Kim Graves, Milton trustee  Leah Reynolds – Burlington trustee A director that knows how to motivate and to take risks and create schools that students are excited to go to each day. A leader that has standing and a profile in the community – a leader that has a grip on the changes taking place in the flow of information that young people have coming at them.
A leader that develops high schools that produces Rhodes Scholars – Halton has apparently produced one Rhodes Scholar.
A leader that has high schools that graduate students who are almost automatically accepted at universities because they came out of the Halton school board system.
There is a line in our Bibles about Daniel from which the phrase “Dare to be a Daniel” has come. “God gave Daniel a special task. He boldly accepted the assignment and God used him to change an entire nation!”
As our trustees begin their task of determining who the next Director of Education should be one hope that they will dare to be Daniels.
 Richelle Papin – Burlington trustee  Tracey Ehl Harrison, Oakville trustee A significant step has already been taken in creating a leadership team at the board in the appointment of Jaqueline Newton who has been appointed the Superintendent of Education. Ms Newton was the woman tasked with opening Hayden High school – she did a superb job there and we believe will do an equally superb job with the Board. A Director of Education made from the same mold would be nice.
There are eleven people in the Region who have the power to do just that. If they aren’t all that close to their Bibles perhaps they can fall back on the Nike advertising slogan – Just do it!
By Pepper Parr
August 10th, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
The Premier and a couple of her Ministers are going to announce some of the design features for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan that Kathleen Wynne thinks the citizens of Ontario need.
And why is that news? – Because we are in a federal election campaign and Wynne has made it clear that she is going to work very hard to get Liberal leader Justin Trudeau elected.
 Wynne feels something has to be done to improve the pensions that people will need when they retire and because the federal government has shown no interest in making it possible for people to add to what they set aside for future pensions – the province of Ontario has to step in and do something – now.
Wynne has been banging away at Prime Minister Harper for months to get him to hold meetings with all the Premiers – not something he is interested in doing. So Wynne announces that she will hold a press conference to talk about the “design features” of the pension plan she wants to put in place.
 Is he what we want? The name doesn’t hurt – now what has he got in the way of ideas? Of course should Justin Trudeau manage to become the Prime Minister all the work Premier Wynne has had done will be set aside and the new federal government will make changes to the current Canada Pension plan – which is what should have been done in the first place – but the current Prime Minister doesn’t want to be seen cooperating with Liberals and certainly not with Kathleen Wynne.
These politicians do play games.
We’ll let you know what the Wynne pension plan design features look like.
By Pepper Parr
August 1, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
The City of Burlington has received complaints from a number of residents regarding what they believe to be disturbing material delivered to their mailboxes.
In a statement from the city, it is not attributed to a specific person, the city said it is not in a position to affect the distribution of these materials and add that they have received the following statement from Canada Post:
“We are responsible for the physical delivery of all mail in Canada. We do not have the legal right to refuse delivery of a mail item because we or other people object to its content. Anyone who has concerns about the content should either contact the publisher or simply dispose of it.”
And that’s it – not another word. The Gazette has received dozens of complaints and comments on this repugnant literature.
 Some of the comments on social media:
“You know what really sucks about this all? The images are very painful reminders for many parents who never had a choice. This organization is obviously run by a group of uneducated, immature kids with too much money to blow on junk mail.”
“Well that was nice. My 13 year old just handed me the flyer during dinner. She fished it out from behind a desk because she was worried her 9 year old brother would see it and be scared. Disgusting.”
“Us too. Beyond disgusting and obviously oblivious to the fact that this government just legalized the pill version of said procedure.”
 There are thousands of comments like this being made on social media. What we haven’t seen or heard are public statements from the office of the Mayor expressing concern over what can only be described as vile.
There is such a thing as community values that are put forward by our leaders be they political, pastoral or prominent people who have earned the respect of the community.
This is the time for these men and woman to stand up and express the dismay, disgust and inappropriateness of this kind of stuff on behalf of the community.
Most people have a view on abortion; many people discuss this subject amongst themselves and arrive at a moral decision they are comfortable with. My own view is that life is the biggest gift mankind has been given and when it is forsaken – let us not demean it with photographs that can only harm.
To attach the face of a person running for the leadership of the country to this smut is as low as one can get. This is not what political debate is about.
Councillor Sharman did have conversations with the police who told him there was nothing they could do. Councillor Sharman could have said publicly that the distribution of this kind of material was unacceptable and that he wanted the public to know it was beneath the values of the community he represents.
When we do not stand up for our values – we lose them.
Related articles:
Is it hate mail? It is certainly disgusting.
Sick minds that sink below common decency.
 By Justin Lethbridge
July 17, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
After a hard-fought game Thursday night in Burlington, the Bandits pulled out a close 4-3 victory over rival Hamilton Cardinals. It was a mostly defensive affair, as the two teams traded scoreless innings. There was only one home run and many innings ended with runners left on base.
 Burlington pitchers shut down the Hamilton batters – to take the game: 4-3 Hamilton got things going with two runs in the second before they showed off their defense. After keeping the Bandits off the board through two innings they got a critical double play with the bases loaded to end the third inning. Despite the defensive pressure, Burlington scored a run in each of the next four innings while allowing only one run by Hamilton.
After going up 4-3 in the seventh, it came down to Burlington’s last two pitchers. Blake Weston and Brandon Catena completely shut the Cardinals down, allowing only two hits over the last three innings.
Weston came in to close out the game in the ninth and despite an error by his left fielder he preserved the win.
The two teams face off in the second part of their home and home Friday night in Hamilton.
Barrie has a three game lead for first in the league followed by Kitchener in 2nd, Brantford in 3rd, London in 4th, Toronto in 5th, Burlington in 6th, Hamilton in 7th and Guelph in 8th.
By Pepper Parr
July 2, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
What have we managed to do as a country in this past 148 years? Stay together is perhaps the biggest part of our success as a country.
Getting the Maritime provinces and what was then the Province of Canada to agree to form a confederation in 1867 was propelled to a considerable degree by the Civil War the Americans were fighting at the time.
 Fathers of Confederation negotiating in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Once Confederation took place Ontario and Quebec were created and the task then was to bring in the rest of the country – everything west of Ontario
We didn’t get Newfoundland into confederation until 1948.
Then in 1995 Quebec missed leaving the confederation by less than 50,000 votes. They had failed to separate in 1980 as well. Many feel the issue of Quebec becoming a spate country is now behind us – we certainly won’t fight that battle for another twenty years. And who knows what kind of a country we will be then?
We are now an ethnically diverse country. An aggressive immigration policy has moved Canada from a French and English country to one that has people from every imaginable country.
We have in the past shown the ability to bring in tens of thousands of people who faced disasters in their own country. The “boat people” from Vietnam was perhaps one of our best moments as a compassionate caring people.
 United Nations Peacekeepers were the result of a Canadian resolution at the UN. Were respected leaders then. The creation of the United Nations Peace keepers was another proud significant time for Canadians.
We have been a country that has gone to war when we felt it necessary – and came close to fracturing the country when Quebec saw both the first and the second world wards differently than the rest of the country.
We overcame those difficulties as well.
We have not become known as a country with strong environment positions. We have failed to live up to the various accords we have signed.
 Some of the dirtiest oil on the planet comes out of Alberta We mine and ship some of the most toxic oil this planet has seen; some of that oil will in the not too distant future run through a pipeline at the top of this city.
Why Canada is not a leader in the environmentally sound refining of the tar sands oil is a national shame. It is the federal government that holds all those cards.
John Kennedy made America the world leader in space exploration when he said they would put a man on the moon in ten years. It became a mission for that country and they succeeded.
Imagine if our federal government did the same thing with the oil in Alberta? We could have billions of barrels of oil flowing out of the tar sands and into refineries and transported around the world.
There is more oil in our tar sands that there is in the ground in Saudi Arabia – we are an oil rich nation but we insist on selling dirty oil to people that need oil badly.
We have not been as judicially sound as we have been in the past. Our Supreme Court is constantly at odds with the federal government.
We have treated our aboriginal people very poorly in the past and are still doing so to this day. Changes are beginning to take place but the price aboriginal people have had to pay while the rest of us began to learn and understand how badly our governments treated these people has been very high.
 To our everlasting shame – we did this to our aboriginal people – some thought we we doing the right thing. Most people didn’t even know what was being done. Many aboriginal communities are seriously dysfunctional and we blame that dysfunction on the racist belief that these people are not ready to govern themselves. We have been wrong in the past and we are wrong now.
Some of our police forces are beginning to look a little like those south of the border. We treat our criminals so badly that they remain criminals for as long as they live. Punishment is part of behaviour change but there are limits which our federal government doesn’t appear to understand – they just keep opening up more prisons and treating those in prison in a manner that all but guarantees they will return soon after they are released.
And we spend a princely sum to keep convicts in prisons but won’t spend an amount anywhere near on a national day care program.
As a society we have yet to realize that no one was born a murderer or a bank robber – the society we are played some part of what happened to turn an innocent into as criminal.
 As we move closer towards a critical election in just over 100 days this might be a good time to reflect on the Canada you want and which government you believe will get us all there.
In two years we will have been a country for 150 years – will we be different then?
By Pepper
June 26, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Some people in each community listen carefully, ask probing questions and trust their member of Council to keep them up to date on what is happening in their community and to protect the best the community has.
Every member of a city council has their own unique style; something that defines who they are and the way they see their job.
In Burlington there are a number of different political styles. Councillor Marianne Meed Ward was once out on Christmas Day picking up garbage when a resident called her t complain.
During the flood last August Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison walked into hundreds of basements to personally see the damage done.
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman put his heart on his sleeve when her spoke to a group of Rotarians during the Rubfest launch and pleaded for help for the people in his community.
Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor doesn’t hold meetings for his constituents – they are more like family get togethers – he has been in office that long.
 Blair Lancaster – almost holding court with her constituents at a corn roast. Blair Lancaster in ward 6 tends to have two different public styles; one that gets used for those south of Dundas and another that gets used when she is politicking north of Dundas; there is nothing duplicitous ion this approach – she is dealing with two different mind sets and adjust her message to meet her understanding of each community.
Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven, who gave up talking to the Gazette when we wrote something about him he didn’t like, held a community meeting.
Last Wednesday evening Councillor Craven held a community meeting to talk about the 324 townhouse project on Masonry Court being developed by the ADI Group. It wasn’t a particularly unpopular project – the meeting didn’t cheer when the presentation was over – they just thought the developer could do something that was more “livable” and “imaginative”. “Not very creative” was the most stinging comment. He was speaking to an audience of about 40 people who were for the most part involved in their community and wanted to know more.
Councillor told them that the population of Aldershot had grown by just 4000 people in the last 15 years and that without more in the way of growth the chances of there ever seeing a grocery store in the west end of the community were very slim.
 Rick Craven: Best committee chair the city has; not big on the warm fuzzy stuff through. Needs a hug badly.  Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven – seems to have forgotten everything he knew about the ADI project on Martha at Lakeshore Road. The meeting was just like most community meetings in Aldershot; people listened and asked questions and for the most part got fair answers.
Until ..
Until one woman asked the speaker from the ADI Group to tell her a little about the company – she’d never heard of them before.
The company representative told their story – sort of. He skirted totally the situation with the 28 storey application that ADI had made to the city for an application at the corner of Martha and Lakeshore Road which the city and planning department was completely against – including Councillor Craven.
 The ADI Group’s 28 storey development proposal on the downtown core was not mentioned at a meeting about their Masonry Court development. The rules that govern development applications are such that if the planning department doesn’t do something with an application the developer can take their case to the Ontario Municipal Board. Burlington city council didn’t get to vote formally on the project within that 180 day window.
On the 181st day ADI had taken their case to the OMB.
The project is one that the city feels is a mistake from a development point of view and has been consistently vocal about.
But not a word about this issue from Councillor Craven when a constituent asked to know more about the company.
Councillor Craven had an obligation to tell his constituents that there was a problem with a major ADI development application and they were playing a very sharp game – albeit within the rules of the game.
Craven’s behavior gives a whole new definition to politicians being in bed with developers.
Background links:
Aldershot community meeting Wednesday June 23rd, 2015
Full profile on ward 1 Councillor.
Councillor chooses not to represent his constituents; property expropriated.
 By Pepper Parr
June 2, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Last week Regional Council made it a go – the implementation plan that leads up to the development of a bigger, fancier public park is on.
More design work is probably part of the going forward. Which brings up the matter of public involvement in that design.
Other than one public meeting at which the public got to see a bunch of large drawings and some of the detail – the public hasn’t had a chance to say a word about what they think the park should look like.
 The Waterfront Trail Burlingtonians use today will look a lot differently in 25 years – 50 years ago there were railway tracks on the walking path, The park will be a Regional Park and I guess they feel the people in Burlington will just have to put up with whatever the Region’s designer thinks is best.
 Beachway residents didn’t want to hear much about the park that was planned – they wanted to remain in their homes. There have been problems in getting the public involved. Every time there is a meeting the property owners tend to hi-jack the meeting and ask aloud how the Region can design a park to go on land they don’t own.
The Region responds by saying they are working on that – and indeed they are working at it.
They have put together a very enticing package of financial goodies to get the property owners to sell to the Region.
Incentive Options for Willing Sellers in the Beach includes:
Lease-back Opportunities and Extended Closing Periods:
Life Estates
Relocation Services and Moving Costs:
Environmental Remediation Costs:
Payment Options
Right of First Refusal:
Removal of Fixtures/Chattels
Availability of Halton Surplus Lands
Legal/Professional Costs
Appraisal Costs:
That is an impressive effort on the part of the Region. They have included everything – even the kitchen sink.
We get into the details on each of these “goodies” further on in this article.
 What is pretty close to a shack was one of three properties bought by the Region in the past two years. The incentive package might result in additional sales. The Region has planned on a 15 to 25 year property acquisition time frame Over the past 5 years, the Region has acquired four properties in the Beach area. It is anticipated that additional purchases from willing sellers will be made at a frequency of 1-2 properties each year; they estimate it will take between 15-25 years to acquire the remaining 27 privately held Beach properties on a willing buyer/willing seller basis.
The Beachway residents hate the phrase “willing buyer/willing seller” – they argue that there is just the one buyer and that is the Region. Under those conditions the residents had every right to squawk.
The package the Region has put together is generous and allows for a lot of time for the current owners to live out their lives in the property they own.
Perfect it isn’t but this is not a perfect world.
The recommendation was to implement the strategy immediately. Regional Staff are going to continue to engage property owners in the Beach area to identify additional options that may be made available to willing sellers as the implementation of the Burlington Beach Regional Waterfront park proceeds.
 This property sold for something in the $600,000 range. The owners also got a rental agreement to remain in the home. There was real fear on the part of the residents that they would be expropriated – and when it comes to the bitter end some 25 years from now the Region may have to actually expropriate a hold out. The package that has been put together is as fair as it can get.
Each resident wants to look at the various options and choose the one that suits their situation. It also appears that the Region has decided they will do everything they can to meet reasonable requests – but the park is going to eventually get built.
It would be a better park if there were homes in it – but politically that option is off the table. Given the time frame the Region has to get the park built the political landscape may change – Burlington my get a council that sees the story differently and that Council might manage to find allies in Oakville and change the policy. Some of the homes that are in the way could conceivable be moved.
There are a number of heritage properties in Burlington that would like to find a new location – developers have better us for the land and it would make some sense to move a half a dozen or so heritage properties to the Beachway – include the Freeman Station in that list of properties.
That kind of thinking would certainly create a different park – all it takes is political will to bring about a change.
In order to get some sense of fairness in the talks the Region is talking about creating an index that would be reviewed and revised every three years.
 How does one place a value on a home that is yards away from a noisy expressway on one side and yards away from Lake Ontario on the other side. The Region intends to create an index that will give allow property owners to benefit from the increase in the value of their properties. The index would be a collection of “comparable” homes in south west Burlington that would be used to create a base price for properties. The idea was to come up with something that would allow the homeowners to at least think they would be in on some of the excellent property appreciation that has been taking place in Burlington.
The Burlington Beach Waterfront Park Master Plan implementation will be incremental with the park being fully in place in the next 25 years.
Now that the Plan has been approved, implementation can begin.
By Pepper Parr
May 25, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
City hall kept getting the feeling that they were being jerked around by the owners of the Air Park on Appleby Line where tonnes of landfill, much of it from sources unknown, had been illegally dumped putting significant sums into the coffers of the Air Park.
 Vince Rossi, president of the Burlington Executive Air Park and believed to be the sole shareholder of the private company, met with north Burlington residents. He took all the comments made “under advisement”.. It took a court case to determine that the city had some regulatory authority over the air park and the winning of an appeal to drive that point home.
The city then asked the Air Park to submit a site plan for the work they had been doing on the property.
The Burlington Executive Airpark was given 30 days, from March 20, 2015, to comply with the city’s site alteration bylaw 64-2014 after months of discussion between officials at the city and the Airpark failed to produce the required application.
The City of Burlington site alteration bylaw 64-2014 regulates the placing, dumping, cutting and removal of fill or the alteration of grades or drainage on a piece of land. Individuals undertaking this type of work are first required to submit an application to the city for a site alteration permit.
 Trucks dumping fill on air park property. The Burlington Airpark Inc. has not submitted an application for a site alteration permit for the entire area of the Airpark property where substantial quantities of fill were deposited between 2008 and 2014.
The hearing that was to take place on the 28th was to have a judge compel the Air Park to file the site plan.
On May 21, last Thursday, the Ontario Court of Justice heard a motion from Burlington Airpark Inc. to remove paragraphs from a City of Burlington affidavit supporting the city’s application. Burlington Airpark Inc. argued these paragraphs contain an improper reference to “without prejudice” discussions between the city and the Airpark.
The Ontario Court of Justice granted the motion to remove the paragraphs from the affidavit and awarded Burlington Airpark Inc. $3,500 in costs to be paid by the city.
The court date to hear the city’s application regarding Burlington Airpark Inc. was rescheduled from May 28, 2015, to Nov. 10, 2015, before a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
 Burlington Air Park with two runways. The November date is the earliest the Court has sufficient time to hear the city’s application and a Notice of Constitutional Question filed by Burlington Airpark Inc.
The notice challenges the constitutional validity of the city’s site alteration bylaw 64-2014.
Most people thought that question had been answered by the Ontario Court of Appeal – this matter is going to go around and around – the Air Park wants – perhaps needs, to buy some time. Drug dealers and other criminals do that kind of thing all the time.
Hearings for discovery of the tree people being sued by the Air Park for saying things President Vince Rossi didn’t like are to take place in June.
Wonder how they should go about getting a delay – is there a constitutional remedy for them ?
 By Pepper Parr
May 7, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward has always believed that citizens should be engaged much earlier in the decision making process than the city’s current policies require.
When changes are being made many people feel that the die has been cast and the politicians just want the voters to say they like what has already been decided upon.
 Councillors Sharman and Lancaster: both part of the Shape Burlington committee who seem to have forgotten what the report was all about – civic engagement That is the style we see from Councillors Craven, Sharman and Lancaster. Councillors Taylor and Dennison tend to show some flexibility.
The Mayor tends to sit between the two groups. He gets keen on an idea and sticks with it – but when there is significant blow back – he backs away. Bicycle lanes on Lakeshore Road is perhaps his worst example – taking the wind turbine was another.
Burlington’s approach to civic engagement hasn’t gotten far beyond approving, unanimously, the Shape Burlington report and putting an “in principle” community engagement document in place but then never acting on it.
 Vanessa Warren on the right wanted to know why residents were not permitted to have real input on the creation on the city budget – she didn’t like the idea of reading through a document with decisions already made set out for her. During the public budget deliberations in 2013, Vanessa Warren, who was just beginning to come to the attention of the public, asked at a meeting at the Art Gallery, why the public wasn’t seeing the numbers when they were being put together. She objected to having to look at numbers and get to make a comment and then go home – with nothing changing.
Meed Ward wants to do it differently. Her first reference is usually to her constituents – who meet almost as community council. She listens, is frequently surprised at what she hears from her constituents and then makes changes.
Attend a ward 1 or a ward 6 community meeting and watch the flow of information and ideas – they go in just the one direction. These are the fundamental differences in how Councillors Sharman, Meed Ward and Craven see their jobs.
The older members of the population are content with leaving everything in the hands of the politicians – that was their experience and they are comfortable with that approach.
There is a younger generation that doesn’t buy into that top down approach. They are comfortable with searching out their own information and will debate with their council member.
The two groups in ward 5 who were very unhappy with the way their Council member represented them with the sewer back up problems that did serious damage to their homes made their views known frequently. They didn’t believe they were being heard and went off on their own.
Sharman for his part was very sincere in his efforts to do something for his constituents – it was a matter of very different operational styles. Sharman prefers command – the residents prefer collaboration – not Mr. Sharman’s strong point.
Meed Ward has invited residents to participate in a series of workshops that will see major downtown land owners, city staff, businesses and residents meet to discuss the future of their downtown.
 Meed Ward used up her postage budget for the year in her first three months as a Council member. Her style is to get information out to people. What Meed Ward has managed to do is pull the people who own the land into the discussion – let them hear what residents would like to see. The smarter developers listen to residents and bring them on side – it does away with loud, noisy contentious public meetings.
The Molinaro’s learned the hard way with their Brock Street condominium that it is better to work with residents than fight them. When they moved forward with their Fairview Road – five tower – Paradigm project they worked with the community and with the residents – guess what – no noisy contentious public meetings.
The ADI Development Group decided from the GetGo that they would bull their way through the city planning department and city council and get themselves before the OMB where they think they have a better chance of getting a 28 storey tower on a plot of land less than an acre in size approved. They just might be right.
Meed Ward arranged for a public meeting on the expansion and significant upgrade to Brant Square Plaza. The project met all the zoning requirements; they could have asked for more height but chose not to.
Meed Ward takes the view that all the decisions and as much information as possible should be run by the citizens. Petty power politics isn’t her game.
The workshops will allow participants to provide input into what they think the downtown should look like in the future.
The first workshop takes place on May 13 at Burlington Lion’s Club Hall beginning at 7 p.m. and will have city planners sharing information about existing city policies and what’s up for review.
Participants will also start to map out principles around design, compatibility, height, density, heritage, jobs, and more.
 Citizens at a public budget meeting – they get to comment – they don’t get to demand that changes be made. The meetings are more of a public relations exercise. “Residents want to be involved in downtown development early on,” said Meed Ward. “This approach brings together all stakeholders to collectively and collaboratively shape the future of our downtown.”
Seating is limited for the May 13 workshop. For more information and to register, please contact Georgie Gartside, Assistant to Councillors, at georgie.gartside@burlington.ca or 905-335-7600, ext. 7368.
This is an approach that most of Burlington doesn’t benefit from – with the exception of Councillor Taylor who has a long standing working relationship with his community.
By Pepper Parr
April 16th, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
We don’t get it right all the time – and when we get it wrong we let you know as soon as we can.
Last week we published comments on the resignation of Bruce Zvaniga. Bruce; the Director of Transportation had sent out a note announcing his decision to leave Burlington. There was no referenced as to where he was going – and he was leaving on relatively short notice.
It was the weekend – we couldn’t reach Bruce. We talked to two sources – both were surprised.
We ran with the story on the Monday. Where we erred, and we have apologized to Bruce, was in not calling him on the Monday for comment.
Later in the week we picked up comments from others who found the departure to be sudden.
At the end of the week we ran the story Bruce sent us a note. It follows:
The material on this blog of yours reminds me of the old adage, “Don’t believe everything you hear, don’t believe everything you read and only believe half of what you see.”
I’m deeply disappointed that you didn’t have the journalistic integrity to even speak to me about this article. Your speculation is wrong.
Spreading this type of negativity does a disservice to the people of this great City and those who have the honour to serve it. In the future, I urge you to report factually, honestly and objectively. In so doing, you will be of value to this community.
 Bruce Zvaniga – heading for Halifax – they’ll love him I arranged to apologize to Bruce and had a good conversation with him and learned that when he resigned he wasn’t certain as to where he was going to go. He explained that he was at that point in his life where he wanted some adventure. The kids were grown up and he and his wife wanted to do something different.
There was a private sector opportunity Bruce was exploring as well as an opportunity in the same field with another municipality. Bruce was not able to say which municipality. Later in the day he sent me a copy of the media release announcing his new job and his new home.
Halifax release
Following a national search, I’m very pleased to announce that Bruce Zvaniga has accepted the position of Director, Transportation & Public Works for the Halifax Regional Municipality effective May 11, 2015.
With a career in transportation services spanning 30 years, and experience leading transformational change, Bruce will play a critical role in delivering on the municipality’s renewed commitment to better connect roles to results. As part of the recent realignment of key operations business units, Transportation & Public Works now has more business accountability for the movement of people and goods and asset stewardship of all roadway infrastructure and traffic control.
Bruce has led many innovative transportation projects and initiatives in Ontario, most recently as the Director of Transportation Services Department for the City of Burlington. While working for the City of Toronto, he held various leadership roles including Acting Director of the Traffic Management Centre and Manager of Urban Traffic Control Systems.
A graduate of the University of Waterloo, Bruce holds a degree in Civil Engineering, specializing in transportation engineering. He is a fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and has served on the boards of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Canada (Vice Chairman) and the Transportation Research Board.
We’re looking forward to welcoming Bruce to the team in the coming weeks and working with him to continue moving the dial on two primary goals: providing better recommendations to Council and delivering better outcomes for residents of Halifax.
During my “apology” discussion with Bruce he quickly moved on to what was getting done in Burlington and assured me that we are close to having some high tech parking meters of the city.
Bruce was a delight to work with – he seldom avoided answering a question and he knew how to pull my chain when it needed pulling.
 By Pepper Parr
March 23, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
There are a couple of cardinal rules in the way people in positions of some authority must conduct themselves.
One of those rules is that you cannot have a personal relationship with a person that you have or can be thought to have some authority over. Another is that one cannot be abusive in their behaviour to people that report to them
 There is a situation on city council where the first cardinal rule has not been observed. At the least it calls for a discussion between the member of council and the city solicitor on what the rules are and how they are to be observed. Some have asked: Is there not a code of conduct? Apparently not – quite why one needs a code to regulate decency is beyond me.
A staff member’s integrity has been compromised and perhaps the trajectory of their career shortened.
The public looks for integrity and character from their elected leaders. We expect them to reflect the values of the community.
When they don’t there does not appear to be any redress.
There is a situation at the Seniors’ Centre where the behavior of a volunteer has and is making life close to intolerable for city staff.
The public has a right to expect nothing but professional service from the people employed by the city. There are very few instances of unprofessional behavior – those that do crop up are dealt with quickly and expeditiously.
 The city administration doesn’t have the same authority with volunteers. Investigations can take place and copies of reports made available to the offending party. But it is up to the members of the Seniors’ community to police themselves and set out the standard they want to see met.
If you don’t like what you see – stand up and say something.
By Pepper Parr
March 5, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
One would hope that a health club benefit is one of the perks that James Ridge negotiated when he met with the Human Resources people to negotiate his contract – he is going to need to ensure that his stamina is in top form.
 James Ridge – what kind of an administrative structure will he create? A number of files have been put on hold until he gets himself a chair to put behind the desk he will use. It will be interesting to see if Ridge goes the route that Jeff Fielding took when he moved from the 8th floor where he was a walk across the hall from the Mayor to the 6th floor where he was right in with his team.
That’s a pretty small team at this point. Scott Stewart turns out to be the only man on deck.
 Fielding, a city manager who excited staff and taught them how to rise up to almost any challenge. But he didn’t stay long enough to make a real mark – there are however going to be some stains. While Council members have had several interviews with Ridge, these were job interviews and the dynamic of that kind of a relationship is different. Ridge will have wanted to impress them and at the same time get the measure of the council he is going to serve.
Council members will have wanted to individually get the measure of the man and determine how their individual agendas might be advanced.
Given the style and ideological split on this Council Ridge will have figured out what he has to work with and for.
There are a number of significant files that are on hold until he arrives – officially that is set as March 23, 2015.
A Workshop that was planned on the “Alignment and Collaboration on Employment Lands” has been moved back to late May or June.
 Getting tough, tough about compliance with the Site Plan bylaw will occupy the new city managers for a time – bigger decision to be made is what role does an air park play in the city’s longer term economic development plans. No one at city hall believes they can work with the air park owner. There are some tough decisions to be made on the Air Park. The city is believed to be ready to use the authority the courts have given them to enforce the Site Plan bylaw. There are property owners along Appleby Line that are watching this with great interest. The pain on this one is going to be shared.
Emotions are running very high in at least one household.
Burlington has land that is designated for employment use – many in the real estate field believe that some of that land is much more suited to residential use – which is music to the ears of the developers that own the land.
Burlington has some very important decisions to make. The Fielding approach was to make all kinds of side deals – at least one of those is going to come back and bite this council in the backside.
Burlington is struggling to find just the right balance between residential and commercial and then figure out how we manage the very large seniors’ population we are going to have.
The politicians talk about how well they are going to take care of that seniors’ population – those people vote.
 Frank McKeown, former Chief of Staff to Mayor Rick Goldring now runs the Economic Development Corporation. His objectives don’t fit all that well with a growing seniors population that will require more in the way of services. Making Burlington a high-tech haven and a seniors heaven is going to be a challenge. Frank McKeown now runs the Economic Development Corporation – he isn’t comfortable with the idea of Burlington being seen as a seniors heaven; that doesn’t jive very well with a vision of a city that has loads of high-tech talent and is one of the most pleasant and safest places to live – expensive perhaps but the high tech field pays very well.
James Ridge and his wife are going to take four days to drive from Vancouver to Burlington with heir four pets in the car. One can imagine the conversations that will take place – between the husband and wife – we don’t believe the pets talk.
Staff know next to nothing about the man who is going to lead the administrative side of the city. Ridge will want to determine as quickly as he can what he has in the way of bench strength and figure out what he wants in the way of a senior level administrative structure. Right now many of the eggs are in Stewart’s basket.
During the early Goldring first term there were three General Managers. That got whittled down to two with the working relationship with one of those two less than sterling.
Roman Martiuk was the City Manager at the time; he wasn’t able to form the kind of working relationship Goldring wanted and after just over two years Martiuk moved on – ok he was pushed out.
Goldring himself had a very difficult first two years getting the hang of the job for which he wasn’t all that well prepared. His wisest move was bringing Frank McKeown in as Chief of Staff but that didn’t last.
Fielding’s octane level was far too high for this council. Time will show just how rough shod he ran over this council.
Besides the Air Park matter and the decisions to be made on what we do with the employment land we have there is a document that sets out what taxes could look like twenty years out. It is not a pretty picture.
Welcome to Burlington James Ridge!
By Pepper Parr
March 3. 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
It is when people can appear before those they have elected and have an open dialogue; an exchange of ideas and concerns that the democratic process works at its best and the way it was supposed to work.
Burlington is not there yet.
Back in 2010 when the Shape Burlington report was published, it was a document put together by former Mayor Walter Mulkewich and the late John Boich. Boich was very close to then Mayor Cam Jackson – he ran his 2010 election campaign.
Jackson created the advisory group to produce a report to take away some of the heat he was getting from disgruntled citizens who were beginning to realize there were real problems with the pier.
 Crane working at the pier site topples. Proves to be the point at which problems with the design became evident. By this time the crane accident had taken place and things were beginning to smell. Law suits were threatened and writs were issued and everyone was off to meet with a judge.
City hall found their collective noses were a little out of joint when the Shape Burlington report was given to Jackson. They felt the report had slammed them, if ever so slightly.
Many people were unhappy with the treatment they were getting from the office of the Clerk.
In the municipal world – the Clerk is a major player. Both the Mayor and the Clerk must together sign each by law that is passed by Council – without the signature of the Clerk – the bylaw isn’t legal.
 City Clerk Angela Morgan; has been with the city for more than 25 years. Doesn’t live in Burlington. Council cannot meet officially without the Clerk being in the room. In closed sessions it is the Clerk who is in place to keep everyone on the straight and narrow. The Gazette has it from more than one source that Burlington’s city Clerk has had to be quite vocal and direct with Council when it is in Closed Session in the past. The Clerk or the chair of the Standing Committee has to read out a statement setting out why a council or a committee is going into a Closed Session and then ensure that the discussion is directly relevant to the reason for going private.
Both city staff and Council members are sworn to secrecy but it is possible to put together a collection of comments to get a sense of how your Council behaves in closed sessions.
In a related article we write about the comments made by the WHO that recently completed an investigation into a complaint from the Burlington Waterfront Committee (BWF) on what did get discussed in a Closed Session on the sale of lake front land between Market and St. Paul Streets south of Lakeshore Road.
BWF people have delegated a number of times on this matter. That group of people is fortunate to have people who delegate very clearly and have their facts well set out. There was an unfortunate occasion when Gary Scobie was delegating on the sale of the Water Street property and Councillor Sharman asked how his Water Street views squared with his views on the Beachway.
Sharman had introduced a totally different subject and put Scobie off his stride. Fortunately for Sharman Scobie was too polite to call Sharman to account for that old political stunt of changing the subject
 Monte Dennis delegates frequently – ask him what he thinks of this council and the way it responds to delegations. Delegating is an art. The way people delegate in Burlington is set out in the procedural bylaw which most people aren’t even aware of. It is the Clerk’s job to ensure that the bylaw is enforced.
It should also be her job to take steps to ensure that the public is fully aware of the bylaw and take some initiative to ensure the public is educated.
Burlington’s Clerk focuses on enforcement.
Recently a long time Burlington resident wrote us about delegating – how it can be done to be effective
“I have had a delegation or two that was not on the agenda” our source said. “You have to ask or tell the Clerk that you want to speak, and what about. Do this with skill and thoughtfulness.”
Our source had delegated multiple times on a matter that he had put on the agenda. The individual reminded us that ”you were there, and eventually came to my house for a chat about it”.
“I was very insistent about my right to speak”, said the source “although you may have to wait for a meeting date if the next Committee meeting has a full agenda already. The web site directions for delegations allows for this, it’s just more trouble. You just have to push.
 Gary Scobie has delegated frequently; is always well prepared – but can seldom get this council to agree with some of the exceptionally good points he makes “I was told by an ex-mayor that they can’t just stop you, but it’s not straightforward as when you are speaking to an agenda item.
“It also helps to be imaginative about how what you want to say might fit into an existing agenda. For example, the just completed budget process provided an opportunity to position the issue as a budget accountability, business case matter, where the delegate would ask about how this expenditure would fit in.
“The Strategic Planning process might provide another item – the question being how does this property deal fit into the city strategic thinking, and what kind of business case was proposed.
“Imagination and tact, with rational evidence based arguments are needed. It takes time and planning.”
Indeed it does – but it can be done – and when done effectively changes can be made.
 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward used delegations to propel her way into public office. She is one of the few that probes and asks questions of the delegators. It is interesting to note that in Committee of the whole meetings, which are not broadcast, the dialogue between staff and council is very open and very healthy. There is mutual respect most of the time – not always.
That same level of respect isn’t nearly as evident when voters, taxpayers, the people to whom elected officials are accountable to – the same people who consistently say it is an honour and a privilege to serve the public.
Evidence of that honour and privilege is not evident at city hall much of the time.
Our source wrote the Gazette to comment on some of the comments that were appearing.
“I went back and looked at the story again’, he said “and saw that I had commented twice, both suggesting action on the part of the commenters.
“My take in both cases, and similar ones, is that the commenters don’t seem willing to call the mayor or Councillor, or whoever, to account for the issue raised. You have to go to city hall, as a delegation, and demand an explanation. That’s the only way to seek accountability. You have to call them out.”
“The commenters either can’t be bothered, are too lazy, or have no case. Or they like the system the way it is in case they get in power and can act the same unaccountable way.”
By Pepper Parr
February 27, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
City hall has announced the closing date for nominations for a BEST AWARD. It is April 7, 2015
There are a number of categories – all have merit.
What the awards don’t have is an acceptable level of transparency which tarnishes what is an important program that recognizes individual effort to better the community.
Last year there were a number of nominees whose names were put forward by either their spouses, partners or parents.
This is what fan clubs do.
 An award given by a community with the nomination coming from people who have taken the time to think about who they want to recommend is a true award. When Mom fills in the form and sends it in – it just isn’t quite the same.
The prestige behind the award is paramount to its usefulness. To be a true award with value there can and perhaps should be years when an award is not given.
This city keeps telling anyone with two ears that we are “the best mid-sized city in Canada” There is an opportunity with the Burlington Best awards to begin to behave like one.
There have been comments in the past about people who have “’gamed” the nomination and used the award to start a political career.
In 2011 a small group of people had gathered in the foyer space outside the Council chamber at city hall to talk about John Boich’s health. It was not good and he died several weeks later.
One of the group said to the others” I want to nominate John for an award – the rest of the group immediately agreed and collectively they put together the documents.
John was named the Citizen of the Year several hours before he died in 2011.
The terms of reference for the Awards committee appear to have a sunset date of 2006 – they need an update.
The following are the awards given by the city.
• ARTS PERSON of the Year: An individual who has contributed to the arts in Burlington as an artist, patron or advocate including but not limited to, visual arts, media arts, musical arts, performing arts and literary arts.
• Citizen of the year: A person whose volunteer activity has made a significant and sustained contribution to the vibrancy and wellbeing of the Burlington community.
• Junior Citizen of the year: A high school student, 18 years or younger who has made a significant contribution to the Burlington community.
• Senior Citizen of the year: A person, 55 years or older who has advocated on behalf of seniors and/or made a significant contribution to the Burlington community.
• Environmental Award: An individual or group that improved and/or protects Burlington’s environment.
• Community Service Award: An individual or group whose volunteer activity has contributed to the betterment of the Burlington community.
• Heritage Award: An individual who has demonstrated a commitment to the preservation of Burlington’s heritage, and has volunteered their time in an effort to support the preservation of Burlington’s heritage.
There are people who have done some incredible service for both the city and its citizens. Forms and background on the procedures can be found HERE
By Pepper Parr
February 13, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
For Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman, it is all about the data. Without data – he doesn’t want to make a decision. The decisions he makes with the data tend to have an ideological tinge to them.
 Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman is said to have his eye on the provincial seat. About a week ago a Gazette reader sent us a copy of a letter Sharman had sent out. We made a few phone calls to reliable sources and learned that a number of people got the same letter – so we did a short piece about Sharman’s apparent interest in running for higher office.
Talk about data: the comments made on the piece were numerous – which was interesting. What caught our attention was the number of people who read the story. It led the list of readers on one day and was in the top three for four days.
What gives? We’ve no idea – all we can say is that the story was read by a lot of people. A look at the comments section will give you some sense as to how some people reacted to the news.
Premier Kathleen Wynne hasn’t been in office a full year yet – and assuming she behaves, which is questionable given what we’ve seen recently – the province will not be going to the polls until 2018 – which happens to be when Burlington will go to the polls as well.
 Paul Sharman, on the right, is not an easy man to convince. Here he leaves the distinct impression he isn’t buying what former Mayor’s office Chief of Staff Frank McKeown is selling., So if Sharman is casting a covetous eye on the provincial seat the dates do align for him. The province would go to the polls in the Spring or Summer of 2018 – which would give Sharman enough time to do it all over again should he not succeed in beating Eleanor McMahon, the current member for Burlington.
Assuming a 2018 election for the province is not something I would bet on.
The Premier has two nasty pieces of business on her plate: the scrubbing of data from hard drives once she was in office and the conversation the Ontario Provincial Police want to have with her over the suspicion that a job was offered to a Andrew Oliver, a possible Sudbury candidate that the Liberals wanted to step aside so their choice could run for the seat in the Legislature.
 Mayor Goldring chats with then Minister of Transportation Kathleen Wynne. He wasn’t buying what she was selling then. Will the provincial police buy the story she gives them over the Sudbury scandal? Karmel Sakran, the Liberal candidate in the last McGuinty election looks on. The scrubbing of the hard drives is related to the decision to cancel the construction of gas plants in Ontario before the last provincial election. That decision was said to have cost the province millions – but they did win the election.
The squabble over who would be the candidate in Sudbury and the claim that a reward was offered to Olivier if he did not run is now the subject of a police investigation.
The candidate the Liberals wanted ran and won the Sudbury seat.
Olivier has chosen not to go quietly into the night. He recorded a conversation he had with one Pat Sorbara in which is seemed clear to me that something was being offered. The tape runs for 24 minutes – it isn’t pretty.
The police will decide if a criminal act took place and do what they have to do. Liberals in this province are looking at a situation where their Premier is being invited in for a conversation with the police who are conducting a criminal investigation. THAT is astounding – the only thing keeping a bit of a lid on all this is that the Progressive Conservatives don’t have a leader – they are going through a leadership campaign. They will choose a new leader May 9th. In the world of politics that is years away. Kathleen Wynne has two months to clean that mess up.
The Conservatives must be pulling their hair out – a great political scandal – and it looks like it is going to get away on them. I can just imagine the indignant howls that Tim Hudak would be making in the legislature.
The Liberals have always had great “operatives” – this will get buried unless there are real tough, tough cookies at the OPP – and given that the Premier chooses the person who heads up that police service. Well – you figure it out. It does smell.
Sharman’s letter to local Progressive Conservatives.
By Pepper Parr
January 19, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON.
The city did another photo opportunity last week.
 Opened in 1965, expanded later the structure no longer meets the space needs of the city. Are there real plans for a replacement? There is a report being worked on that sets out the needs and the possibilities. The occasion was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of City Hall’s opening as the Civic Administration Building in 1965. A plaque was unveiled telling of the founding of Burlington.
The brief ceremony took place on one of the coldest days of the year when Wayne Kelly, Manager of Public Education and Community Development at the Ontario Heritage Trust delivered some remarks. Residents were invited to attend the event.
It is doubtful if there was any mention of how inefficient the building is or that it can’t hold all the people the city employs.
The Gazette didn’t cover the event – this Council didn’t need another photo opportunity.
 The building was a big deal back in 1965 – today it is too small and inefficient. What we are waiting for is the report that has been moving from desk to desk at city hall on the study of what the city has in the way of space it either owns or rents and what it is going to need in the way of space for the next 20 years.
The city currently rents space in the Sims building on the south side of Elgin where Human Resources, Finance, Purchasing, Legal and Capital Infrastructure beaver away on your behalf.
At one point it looked like the report was going to be made public before the election. Keeping that information away from the public was a smart political move and it maintained the practice of being opaque rather than transparent alive and well.
Former city manager Jeff Fielding had all kinds of ideas about where a city hall should be located and, had he stayed and completed his contract, there would have been all kinds of activity – that was just the way Fielding worked.
The file has been in the hands of the Capital Infrastructure people – once Council decides on who they want as a city manager it might see the light of day. For the time being the best citizens are going to get is some words from Wayne Kelly about how the city hall we have now came to be.
 The Sims building is more efficient than city hall. The city has leased space in the structure for some time; paid enough in rent argues Councillor Jack Dennison to have paid for the thing. The lease on the Sims building is due for renewal this year. There will probably be a short term lease renewal while the city gets its act together. The owner of the Sims building will push for a bit more than a short term renewal; they need the city as a tenant – at least until the Economic Development Corporation brings a company to town that will hire people for those high-tech, high paying jobs the city drools about having.
 The HiVe, one of the smartest ideas to settle in the downtown core has found that its costs are more than its revenue – they plan to move. The support they could have and should have gotten from the city just didn’t appear. Meanwhile The Hive over on Elizabeth Street, one of the smarter ideas to settle in the downtown core, has found that the rent they have to pay is more than the revenue they are bringing in – so they will be leaving the core and looking for digs that are less expensive.
None of this got mentioned during the plaque unveiling or while people were enjoying the refreshments at city hall.
By Pepper Parr
December 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
What’s the rush?
Has your city Council let the holiday schedule deprive you of an opportunity to review what they have done at their Standing Committees before they rubber stamp their deliberations at Council where bylaws get passed?
The Standing Committee of Development and Infrastructure met on Monday and got a solid briefing on what the Economic Development Corporation has planned. There was a public meeting on a sub-division application for Twelve Mile Trail.
 Route 6 and 52 will stay as the are for now. Took close to an hour to make that decision. There was a review of transit service for the Headon Road part of town – routes 6 and 52 during which Councillor Dennison managed to use more than half an hour trying to work out all the twists and turns the buses on that route should take.
There was a lot of huffing and puffing over what a municipal council can and can’t do with development applications.
The following day, Tuesday, the Corporate and Community Services committee met and accepted the staff recommendation to sell the lands along the edge of the lake between Market and St. Paul Street.
 Mayor Golding mastered the art of the photo op during his first term of office. He is photogenic and that is apparently enough to get elected. We heard, for the first time, what the Mayor’s thinking was on that momentous decision. It was kind of wishy washy.
The Standing Committee approved 56 pages of changes in rates and fees – those are dollars that you will pay for the use of facilities that your tax dollars paid to have built.
The chair of each standing Committee diligently explains that the Committee does not make final decisions – they make recommendations that go to Council where final decisions are made and by laws are passed.
The practice in Burlington has been for there to be a full week, usually more, for the public to make themselves aware of what has been recommended before it goes to Council.
The public then has some time to think about was has been recommended and appear at Council if they want to offer a different opinion.
In a democracy the elected would welcome – maybe even encourage the public to appear and make their views known so that the elected could make decisions informed by the public.
Some might suggest that the media is in place to inform the public. And it is – but there has been a strange twist. The Burlington Post usually has a reporter at the media table covering meetings.
Tina Depko –Denver covers city hall for the Post – she is a good reporter – she frequently does a better job as a reporter than I do.
She wasn’t at the media table on Tuesday. Why?
We learned at the end of the Standing Committee meeting that Ms Depko –Denver has been hired by the Mayor as his Manager of Communications.
We congratulate Ms Depko-Denver and hope she serves the Mayor well and that she chooses to take direction from the Junius quote atop the Globe and Mail editorial page: “The subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures”.
Junius, a pseudonym, wrote letters between 1769 and 1762 to inform the public of their historical and constitutional rights and liberties as Englishmen.
The Depko-Denver appointment probably means that the Post will not carry much in the way of news coverage unless they pick up the meeting from the webcast.
The Gazette will publish several pieces on the two Standing Committee meetings and go into some depth on the atrocious decision to sell waterfront property.
City Hall will close down at the end of the day on Tuesday, the 23rd and we won’t see anyone other than the people who keep the building secure until after the New Year. The holiday schedule for city hall is CLOSED between Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, reopening on Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. Sweet!
 Is there a good reason for not deferring the Council meeting until after the New Year? Well one reason is that would be a lot of time for people to become informed and perhaps “mad as hell” and decide they don’t want to be treated this way anymore.
We did get the municipal government we apparently wanted less than 60 days ago.
What have we done to ourselves?
By Pepper Parr
December 11, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
One of the things the internet does is give those with something they want to say a much bigger megaphone.
Hydro costs have been a bugbear for Ontarians for some time – one of the Harris government’s gifts to us.
The natives are still biting back – another petition. The organizers of this one ask:
 Hydro in Ontario has been broken for some time. It is essential that it be fixed – the solution is not yet clear, “If you have a billing complaint with hydro one, please make sure you file a complaint with the Ombudsman as he begins his investigation into Hydro One. Click here to file your complaint.
“And if you haven’t yet, please make sure you share your concerns about Ontario’s broken hydro system directly with the Premier, the Minister of Energy, the Ontario Energy Board and Hydro One.
The problem with the petition is its source. Randy Hillier was part of the government that created the problem we have today. Is the petition part of his drive to at some point lead the Progressive Conservative party in Ontario? His views and solutions to some of the provinces problems would take Ontario back to where Mike Harris put us and to where Tim Hudak wanted to keep us.
The province is going through a profound change; the core of its economic engine is threatened and in some cases fractured. General Motors is moving its assembly lines to Mexico.
The province faces a huge demographic shift; we are now a much more demographically diversified people and we have a growing seniors’ population that we have to care for at considerable cost.
Adjusting to these changes is going to take political leadership that looks forward and not backwards. Randy Hillier is as backward looking as you can get.
The petition has merit – the guy behind it; questionable.
A Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
Whereas, the cost of electricity in Ontario continues to escalate;
And Whereas, other charges associated with electricity, such as delivery, regulatory, global adjustment and debt retirement charges make electricity increasingly unaffordable;
And Whereas, these costs have imposed a significant hardship on ratepayers and driven industry and jobs out of Ontario;
We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:
That the Premier and the Minister of Energy reduce the waste and duplication in Ontario’s electricity sector and other necessary steps to lower the cost of electricity so that Ontario’s electricity prices are competitive with other jurisdictions.
Sign here:
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