 November 15, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. So – what’s next with the air park? The city won – the airpark people can appeal – they’ve got 30 days plus a couple of jiggle days to decide what they want to do. The final date for an appeal is December 18. The two lawyers representing the Airpark will be going over the decision with a fine tooth comb looking for grounds to appeal – assuming their client can come up with what it is going to cost to file an appeal.
Meanwhile the city will pull together its team – that will include Ian Blue, the lawyer the city hired to argue the case, and the internal staff that have worked this file.
The city bylaw is pretty specific –
An applicant for a Permit must submit a Control Plan as part of its application which must contain, inter alia, a map showing the location of the site, the site boundaries and the number of factors, the current and proposed use of the site, location of lakes, streams, wetlands, channels, ditches and other watercourses and other bodies of water on the site, the location of the predominant soil types, the existing site topography at a contour level not to exceed 0.5 m, the proposed final elevations of the site, the location and dimensions of temporary soil, or silt stockpiles and provisions maintaining site control measures during construction.
And if the decision stands this is what the Air Park is going to have to comply with.
 This Regional government map shows they knew what the plans were – but they didn’t do anything – instead bought the Vince Rossi argument that the airpark was federally regulated. The challenge is going to be for the city to find a way for the Airpark to comply. City General Manager Scott Stewart explains the Airpark will have to hire a consultant and put forward a proposal on how they think they can comply with the bylaw. Expect to see a lot of back and forth on this one. Vince Rossi has never given an inch in his previous dealings with the city.
The relationship Rossi established with the Ward Councillor Blair Lancaster, which bothered the people whose property was being harmed environmentally and de-valued financially, is not going to get Rossi out of this one. There is one resident who has probably lost 50% of the value of her property now that there are 30 foot hills either side of her lot.
Many felt that Lancaster, was far too close to Vince Rossi. They felt her sitting beside him at a community meeting was a dumb decision and when she was spotted walking out of the court house with Rossi some wondered if any of the confidential information Lancaster is given as a Council member was working its way to Rossi.
 Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster held some of her ward meetings at the Airpark. Area residents didn’t fully appreciate in 2011 and 2012 how tight she was with Vince Rossi. Lancaster had spent a few minutes with Ian Blue, the city’s lawyer and Scott Stewart, general manager for Development and Infrastructure and the point man on this file, after the Judge completed the hearing. Lancaster then walked from the Court house to her car with Rossi. The political optics were terrible – one would expect the Council member to be mindful of her position.
The north Burlington residents have been meeting with senior city staff at regular Saturday morning get togethers at a coffee shop and have been kept in the loop. One hopes that the city will have at least some of that Saturday morning group at the table as they work out how to get the Air Park to comply with the bylaw.
The city expects Rossi to comply with the bylaw using some of the money he made from landfill dumping fees – problem is much of that money doesn’t show up on the Airpark’s financial statements. So where is that money – and we are not talking chump change here.
During the hearing before Justice Murray, Ian Blue managed to slip in the fact that the $2 million plus per year, earned by the Air Park in 2011 and 2012 and a smaller sum in 2013 did not appear on the company’s financial statements. Many want to know where that money went.
The public does know that there is something in the order of $4 million in mortgages on the Airpark property – hard to understand how that debt is going to be serviced with no more dumping fees coming in. Might the TD Bank end up foreclosing on the property and offering t sell it to the city who might operate the place as a municipal airport?
Stranger things have happened. Jeff Fielding, city manager, has council convinced to let him come up with business cases for what he calls Enterprise Corporations. A municipal; airport could be just another enterprise.
Assuming the court case is not appealed the city has some major thinking to do. First how to fix the damage that was done and then to decide just what it wants to do in terms of how it grows north Burlington. It is a development no go zone, designated as agricultural but doesn’t really support an agricultural industry. There are a number equine operations up there, places where you can pick your own berries and pumpkins and quite a bit of hay and soy bean farming.
The mess the city got itself in with the Airpark development was because there was no one paying any attention. The residents were telling anyone who would listen that there was a massive landfill operation going on up there and when people at the Region, city hall and the Conservation Authority made telephone calls they were told that the Airpark came under federal jurisdiction and for a time everyone let it go at that.
 Will this mountain of landfill ever get taken out? It wasn’t until Vanessa Warren formed an organization and went public at both the Regional and city levels that we saw some action on the part of the city. They sent people up and took a look around; the Mayor visited several of the properties and left stunned by what he saw and is reported to have been on the phone to the city manager as he drove out of one property saying he was appalled at what was being done.
The city, to its credit, grabbed this one by the horns and moved quickly and with more certainty and confidence than was ever seen under the term of the previous city manager. When Glenn Grenier, a lawyer representing the Air Park, delegated to city council the city manager advised the Mayor on three occasions during the meeting to send the man packing. Fielding, who is a man you do not want to cross, exchanged words with Grenier in the Council Chamber foyer later. That should have been signal enough for the thickest of mindsets to figure out they had a fight on their hands. But Vince Rossi has never indicated that he took listening very seriously.
Right now he is reading and re-reading Justice Murray’s decision and telling his lawyers to find a hole in the document; give him something to crawl through.
 October 27, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. City Hall is getting into electronic public opinion polling. They are going to create a panel of 5,000 citizens who will be asked a series of questions from time to time. Citizens will be able to respond from their cell phone, tablets, lap tops and desk tops. The only media you won’t be able to use is Morse code. This service, expected to roll out before the end of the year is going to be called Insight Burlington.
It’s an approach that is certainly worth looking at – what are the possible downsides to this?
At the public meeting where the plans were passed along to the public 50+ people made it clear they didn’t want this service run by the politicians.
They wanted to know who would decide what the questions should be? How much of the data would the public actually get to see and who would be accountable for what gets done with both the inputs and the outputs. Mark Twain often used a phrase thought to have been coined by former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
That pretty well sums up the public perception of survey information which is something city hall is going to have to deal with.
Are surveys an example of a city council governing by polls? Do surveys become mini-referendums that result in policy? Where does political leadership come into play? If one went by the letters to the editor in a local newspaper when the pier was going through a very difficult patch (mostly the result of terrible project management on the part of the city – but that’s another story) the structure would have been torn down. Go out on the pier at almost any time of day and ask people if they think the project should have been scrapped?
A collection of opinions is a snapshot of where thinking is at a particular moment and depends heavily on a public being fully informed. Hard to call Burlington a fully informed city – the Shape Burlington report that came out just over three years ago identified a significant “information deficit” that no one would claim has been anywhere near resolved.
 Julian Marquis was heavily involved in the development of the Citizen Engagement Charter and registered to be on of the 5,000 people who will be part of the Insight Burlington initiative. When the public gets told that the city did not live up to its usual high standard of communications during the debate on the sale of the Water Street properties one is tempted to ask – and why was that? The question was not asked.
The flow of information and the balance that flow is given is critical. The city spends close to $1 million on communications when you include their advertising, salaries and printing costs. That allows the city to tell its story in the way it chooses to tell the story.
Will City Hall have the same tight grip on this electronic medium? Is there room here for some civilian oversight? Could well be.
About a year ago the city could not handle the flak that was coming out of the very differing opinions on historical homes and the way they were being put on registries with some property owners thinking their homes would be designated as historical and see a diminished value placed on them. The city failed miserably to educate the public but did have the foresight to re-organize the Heritage Advisory Committee and tasked it with cleaning up the mess.
And clean it up they did. That Advisory Committee did such a tremendous job that the members of city council actually gave them a standing ovation and a significant budget to complete the job which is going to include creating a web site that will tell Burlington’s stories and how they relate to historical properties.
It is clear that wisely constituted advisory committee can work.
Because there is some well-founded concern over who is going to determine what questions get asked with the electronic polling panel does it not makes solid sense for there to be some citizen oversight right from the beginning?
The city has an Engagement Charter that is marooned somewhere in city hall where it is now just a document gathering dust. It needs to be brought out and given a little exercise and made live and relevant.
So why not create an Advisory Committee that would be responsible for the intelligent use of the Engagement Charter and for citizen over site of the Insight Burlington operation. You can bet that the council members will look for ways to ask questions in such a way that they get the answers they want to approve the actions they want to take. They do it now during citizen delegations where there is just the one citizen standing before Council. Imagine what they will do when they say there are 5,000 people who see it their way?
We can think of at least one person on Council who would jump at this idea and two of the potential candidates in the municipal election who would see merit in this. They might even make it part of their platform.
 September 25th, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Do you have the feeling I get when I hear people talk about the “dirty oil” that is sent around the world from Alberta. Are we sending the world dirty oil? Why are we doing that?
Isn’t Canada the country that brought about the Peace keepers – those United Nations guys with the blue helmets?
Aren’t we the people who said no to having American nuclear bombs in Canada?
 Didn’t we take a pass on sending troops to Iran?
And if we’re selling “dirty oil” –why is it dirty?
If there is such a huge profit in the oil sands in Alberta why aren’t we using a part of those profits to do research on ways to make the oil cleaner?
I thought we were the good guys – not like those guys south of us. We were the country that has state medical coverage while the American are still trying to make that happen.
We are the country where everyone doesn’t have a gun in there house and for the most part we are a gun free society.
We are the country that did away with capital punishment. We don’t have to kill people to punish them.
My sense of being a Canadian is diminished when I read that we are shipping dirty oil. I don’t understand why we are not spending large sums of money on finding ways to clean up that oil and spare our environment the harm dirty oil does.
I feel ashamed that we are fighting decent people in the United States who don’t want our dirty oil working its way through oil pipes in their fields. They tell me its good business. Really?
We Canadians have one of the best educational systems in the world. We’ve invented some pretty good things. Our banking system is the envy of the world – yeah some of those banking fees are a little on the outrageous side.
And the cell phone fees are out of whack – but the phone service we have is one of the best in the world. Almost every time a space ship goes up – it has one of those Canada Arms on it – we did that!
But the dirty oil thing – can’t we do something about that. Do we really have to sell a product that does a lot of harm to both people and the environment.
 By Pepper Parr
August 15, 2013.
BURLINGTON, ON. Two people had a chat one evening. It came about when one of the two telephoned the other. One of the two was as far right on the political spectrum as Attila the Hun while the other was on the left side of the political spectrum – sort of where Tommy Douglas stood.
The lefty didn’t have a clue as to why the right-winger wanted to meet – and knew even less when the meeting was over.
Sometime after that a woman of a certain age was having a friendly drink in an Elizabeth Street establishment and happened upon a man who was quite well into his cups and informed the woman of a certain age that the Conservatives in this city were going to put up a slate of candidates that would fix things at city hall.
 Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward. Unbeatable? Some Tory’s seem to think so. The well-informed individual did admit that there would be problems with Ward 2 where Marianne Meed Ward could probably not be beaten but he was confident that the Tories were in for life in Ward 6 where they believed Blair Lancaster could not be beaten.
 Miss Photo Op – never misses a camera opportunity – but then so do most of the other Council members. Councillor Blair Lancaster in the center with Burlington Olympians in red. Ms Lancaster husband is on the far left. The lady of a certain age asked why, given the dis-satisfaction expressed by many of the north Burlington residents, they felt the Beauty Queen could not be beaten? “She was Miss Canada in 1970 you know” was the response. That tiara may have something to do with Lancaster’s 2010 win – but, truth be told she won by 125 votes against a candidate who didn’t live in the ward. If Phil Buck, who shouldn’t have been in the race to begin with, were not on the ballot Mark Carr would be the council member for Ward 6. Carr by the way will not run in 2014.
So where is this Tory sweep going to come from?
Is there a Tory in Ward 1 that can beat Craven?
Can anyone beat Taylor in Ward 3?
There is a very credible candidate in the wings who will run in ward 4 – don’t expect Dennison to run again.
 Is Paul Sharman safe in Ward 5? Is he a Tory – and if he is, do the Tory’s want him? They didn’t want Brian Heagle provincially.
Is the Mayor vulnerable? Is there anyone on the horizon that could come in out of the cold and beat Rick Goldring? It certainly isn’t going to be Carol D’Amelio. Philip Papadopoulos might find he has money he doesn’t need and mount yet another mayoralty campaign.
Perhaps the man in his cups, who has served as President of Burlington Conservative riding associations in the past, was engaged in wishful thinking. Or is there really a cabal out there wanting to fix city hall?
 BY Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 18, 2013. Our MP, Mile Wallace, was in an environment that suits his personality. Flipping burgers and talking to people for Mike Wallace is a very good one-on-one politician. He listens, he usually has a smile for you and his sense of humour prevails.
So there he was on the lakeside lawn of the Waterfront Hotel, flipping burgers and doing his political thing. Later in the day they let him have a microphone to answer questions from his audience – it was a sold out crowd.
 There is usually a smile on Mike Wallace’s face. He enjoys life and has a good time. This summer it is his intention to run in a marathon in every province. During the Q&A Wallace expressed some dissatisfaction with the fact that the current government was not being lauded for the great job that was being done and that instead people were quibbling about minor issues. When asked to comment on what these issues were, he felt that a disproportionate amount of time was being spent on the Senator Duffy matter and not enough time on the big issues both within Canada and internationally.
When I was going over the copy from a correspondent who covered the event for us I had to call and be sure that those words came from Wallace for I was stunned. He did not appear to have any sense as to the gravity of the Duffy matter that had the Prime Minister’s Chief of staff writing a personal cheque to Senator Duffy so that he could repay expenses he claimed and was not entitled to.
Prior to the public learning where the money came from Mike Duffy was on television telling audiences that he and his wife had decided to do the right thing.
Bruce Anderson, a highly;y regarded political analyst said on a CBC program that “issue is far from over, even if it’s not as prominent right now as the shuffle and even if people aren’t paying as much attention to it right now because it’s summertime. I think that the documents that emerged make it even more difficult to believe that the Prime Minister knew nothing about this, make it easier to come to the conclusion that he seems to have something that he wants to hide. It looks as though they are hanging Nigel Wright (Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff) out to dry, that he’s the only person who dreamt this idea up, the only person who ever really knew about it, the only person who didn’t understand that it was wrong, which doesn’t really square with the fact that there were a few days where people called him honourable for doing this and said that he was going to stay and he had the full confidence of the Prime Minister. So I think the police investigation and the opposition research that’s going on mean that this issue is going to come back with a vengeance in the fall.”
Peter Mansbridge, CBC’s senior television anchor then asked Andrew Coyne, columnist with the National Post what he thought. “The payment of $90,000 dollars to a sitting legislator, for whatever purpose,” said Coyne, “ would appear on the face of it to run you at least into jeopardy of several different illegal acts. We know, if these statements made by his lawyers are true, we know that at least three people in the Prime Minister’s Office, plus Irving Gerstein, the head of the fundraising arm, (for the Conservative Party) knew about these potentially illegal acts and apparently did nothing or, certainly in the Prime Minister’s story, didn’t tell the Prime Minister of this. That’s extraordinary. Even if he didn’t know about it, and that’s certainly still possible, but it suggests nevertheless that a tone and an expectation and a set of values were established in the Prime Minister’s Office where you just kind of look the other way at this kind of thing. That’s deeply troubling.”
 Mike Wallace, Burlington MP, takes a closer look at art work at the Burlington Art centre. But for Mike Wallace on a lovely sunny weekday afternoon this was “quibbling about minor issues” when what he wanted people to do was laud the government “for the great job that was being done”.
There are people in Burlington who understand the gravity of what was done when Senator Duffy was given $90,000 and perhaps at some point one of those people will stand up and speak some sense to the MP. In the fullness of time and when the RCMP completes their criminal investigation, the public will learn the truth. Will it make any difference in Burlington?
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. May 2, 2013. The Premier of the province Kathleen Wynne got her Minister of Finance to produce a budget that might keep the leader of the NDP happy enough to not vote against it later this week but that really isn’t the problem we are going to have with this government.
When Kathleen Wynne told a Legislative committee that she didn’t know the cost of closing the gas plant in Oakville was $310 million she lost me. For her to have sat at the Cabinet table where the decision to close the plant was made and tell us now that she believed the cost was just $40 million tells me the same games are still being played.
 We had trouble believing Kathleen Wynne when she was Minister of Transportation and in town to convince us the government would never pout a road through the Escarpment. Even harder to believe that she didn’t know the cost of closing the Oakville gas plant project was going to cost just $40 million when the true cost was $310 million. Wynne is going to wear that rubber tire around her neck until it eventually brings her down and that is going to be close to tragic for the province.
I don’t believe Andrea Horwath and her New Democrats can govern. And to have Tim Hudak as Premier of the province takes us back to the Mike Harris era – we are still struggling to get out from under the damage he did.
Hudak carries the same Harris blood line; one that is limited, simplistic and basically mean-spirited. Hudak does not seem to be able to see anything majestic in the human condition. . Horwath hasn’t grown to the point where she can serve as Premier – and if she were elected – where would her Cabinet come from? Wynne just doesn’t know how or want to tell the truth.
The budget will probably pass and then get reduced to a mess in committee that will slow us down for years to come.
The mistake the Ontario Liberals made was choosing Wynne and not Sandra Pupatello.
We would be in the middle of an election now had Pupatello been chosen as leader. Pupatello would have cleaned Tim Hudak’s clock and we would have a majority government.
Premier Wynne is correct when she says the people of Ontario don’t want an election. Having an election with Wynne as leader certainly doesn’t guarantee her a win. It won’t put the New Democrats in office and it is doubtful that the Progressive Conservatives would win a majority.
It is not our view that Ontario wants what Tim Hudak wants for us. What a mess
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. April 22, 2013. With a new Liberal leader in the House of Commons some changes were expected so it was no surprise when Justin Trudeau brought forward a motion to have the House debate how much time each member would have to speak on issues that mattered to them.
The current Harper government limits which of its members get to speak and what they are allowed to talk about.
Trudeau wanted the system changed so that members got their turn to speak based on an alphabetical rotation. That was to be debated Monday but it appears to have been shifted back to later in the week.
One assumes that it will eventually get debated and that it will become the rule in the House of Commons which is very good for Burlington. It will give our MP, Mike Wallace an opportunity to talk about two issues that are very important to us: railways and pipelines.
 Happiness is an election map covered in Tory blue. Mike Wallace, Burlington MP stands in front of a map showing where he won big. We’ve not heard Wallace speak on either of these locally. His job is to be in Ottawa representing our interests – and that keeps him hopping.
City council is looking into the significant number of deaths along the railway lines that run through Burlington – and with GO service almost doubling in June there will be even more traffic along that rail line. Railways are federal issues – so Marvelous Mike should be able to help the city on this one.
The Transportation Safety Board might be just the folks to help out here. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is an independent agency that advances transportation safety by investigating occurrences in the marine, pipeline, rail and air modes of transportation.
 This simple barrier is all that prevents anyone from crossing the rail line. just above In her delegation to city council recently Denise Davy pointed out just how many people have been killed along the railway tracks in this city. Some are suicides but better access control might help, suggested this citizen whose son was killed in a railway accident.
The other issue is the National Energy Board hearings on the Enbridge Pipeline application to change the way they use the line that runs right through Burlington – between Side Roads #1 and #2.
The process of getting standing to appear before the hearings involves a ten page form which many felt was unrealistic.
Individuals and organizations can apply to be interveners or they can submit a letter. BurlingtonGreen is trying to pull together a group; the city of Burlington is preparing a letter and a Hamilton group is preparing to intervene.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. April 9, 2013. It was almost slick – if a little underhanded – the kind of thing we used to see with a previous Mayor.
While Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward was talking about one of the finer points of the Ghent Avenue development the Mayor looked directly at the Clerk, nodded his head and the Clerk nodded back at which point the Mayor interrupted Councillor Meed Ward and brought to her attention that she had gone beyond the 15 minutes of discussion she was permitted under the city’s procedural by-law.
Meed Ward was a little stunned and I don’t think she was fully aware of what had just been done to her.
At full Council meetings the Mayor presides and recognizes different speakers. The city manager is in attendance and he is there to address Council on how the administration would handle an issue.
The Clerk plays a vital, semi-judicial and administrative role. If Council passes a bylaw it isn’t in force until the Clerk signs the document.
 Angela Morgan, Clerk, city of Burlington; powerful position. She runs the municipal elections, she has the power to tell the Mayor what he is doing is wrong and advise him publicly not to do so. She made the mistake on Monday of letting her Mayor mislead her. The Clerk is the person the Mayor, or any member of Council for that matter, turns to for an interpretation of the rules. The Clerk has an assistant who takes the minutes but it is the Clerk who has final say on almost anything and everything.
Angela Morgan, Clerk for the city of Burlington; is an attentive, polite, informed bureaucrat. But Monday evening, April 8th 2013 – she did nothing to advance the civility of debate and discussion at Council meetings. This is not something she did on her own – the Mayor put her up to it.
One must admit that Meed Ward does run on – frequently. She has no friends at Council. Her Ward 2 colleague Rick Craven has absolutely no time for her. Councillor Taylor puts up with Meed Ward because he sees a lot of himself when he was a younger man in Meed Ward today.
Councillor Dennison and the Mayor treat her with the mildest respect possible or with total disdain – depending on the issue.
Monday evening there was a very divisive debate on the Ghent Avenue development, which is in Meed Ward’s ward and she wasn’t backing down.
 Mayor Goldring read the Procedural Bylaw carefully and found a way to collude with the city Clerk to shut down a member of his council. The days of innocence for this Council came to an end Monday April 8th, 2013 It isn’t a very pretty development and there are all kinds of issues surrounding the pre-sale of the 58 properties and the way the city chose to let the developer’s consultants provide much of the technical opinion.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 21, 2013 Here we go again. A magazine that promotes its readership with a list of the best place to live, the safest place to live and maybe even the nicest place to live and then all those locations promote this specious recognition.
Burlington, Burlington, Burlington! We are better than some phony recognition given to us by a magazine promoting their circulation.
Unfortunately, you can bet real money that the Mayor will tout this phrase every opportunity he gets and the members of city council will do the same damn, stupid thing.
 The nicest thing about this graphic put out by the city is the picture. This city has huge potential but we will never rise above our provincial past as long as we let others define us.
It is what we do with what we have been given that should make us important.
Can we grow to the point where leading corporations choose this city because it has the very best schools, the very best sports organizations for our children and a performing arts centre that is the envy of the country because of the type of event it brings to its stage?
The Burlington Art Centre has one of the very best ceramics collections in North America – and we have it stuffed into boxes because there isn’t any adequate space to display that collection.
Much of the city grew out of a land grant given to a native who served the British Army during the American revolutionary war. Born a native, became a savage warrior and grew into one of this country’s early statesmen – Joseph Brant is recognized by a pathetic little museum. He was a great Canadian but we don’t seem to be able to tell our citizens that story.
Why oh why, oh why do we need outsiders to tell us how good we are?
The late Jane Irwin reminded city council that we are called Borington for a reason. Time to grow up and be who we really are.
Has anyone noticed how vibrant the Alton Village community is becoming? Are we aware of the way our downtown is going to change in the next five years?
Do we use the Escarpment as a place that provides the fresh vegetables we consume or do we just talk about how nice it is?
Can we grow beyond the festivals that take place on the waterfront?
There are a lot of things done in the city that are superb and we don’t need a magazine with a circulation smaller than the population of the city to tell us what we have going for us.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON January 25, 2013 So – Sandra Pupatello wins – then what happens?
First there will be a by-election to get her a seat in the Legislature. Then the Legislature will resume and Pupatello will show the province just what she is made of. This woman is a tiger – she doesn’t take prisoners.
She will eventually get the election she wants and wipe the floor with Tim Hudak. She will go to the public with a strong set of candidates – what will that mean to Burlington?
 Provincial Liberal leadership delegate Sandra Pupatello meets Burlington’s Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven. Could they work well together? Jane McKenna will want to brush up her resume. Burlington has two, maybe three potential candidates – one of whom can win the seat with a dynamic enough leader.
Ted McMeekin, the cabinet minister to the east of us and the go to guy when Burlington wants to be heard by the provincial government. He is supporting Kathleen Wynne because she might keep him in cabinet. Pupatello won’t invite McMeekin into the cabinet she forms.
There is an opportunity for McMeekin to run for Mayor of Hamilton – they will love him over there – but Mayor of the zoo on the other side of the Skyway may be more than McMeekin wants to take on.
Ted Chudleigh should hold his Halton seat which includes parts of northern Burlington . It would take someone who has done a lot of ground work to beat the man who knows his job, does his job and is well liked. He has high name recognition and there are no smears on his copy book.
Sandra for sure on Saturday – then let the games begin. Ontario has never seen a leader like this before.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON January 24. 2013 It was back in 1986, when Roly Bird was Mayor of the city. At that time there was a regular Mayor’s Breakfast – an event that gave the wheelers and dealers and wanna be’s an opportunity to get together and network – they didn’t call it that then – it was just the way local politics was done.
Someone came up with the idea of having the Mayor give an annual address. They needed a name for it and decided they would model it after the State of the Nation address used in the United States. Burlington was keeping one step ahead of Oakville which still have Mayor’s Breakfasts.
Burlington has been doing this ever since. This morning, on a crisp Canadian winter day, more than 400 people drove out to the convention centre on Burloak, drove around looking for a parking spot and did what Roly Bird introduced them to back in ’86; get caught up on what’s happening at city hall.
These State of the City addresses gives the Mayor a chance to trot out the list of things that have been done – sort of like a shareholders meeting where all those holding preferred shares get to enjoy their dividend.
This event is put on by the Mayor; his office controls the flow and the event. No questions get asked and you’re given phrase after phrase of the kind of stuff only a public relations specialist can write.
On balance Burlington is in good shape. At some point the people at city hall are going to stop trotting out all the MoneySense magazine ratings. It is a fine city but we seem to have let ourselves be defined by our geography. The “gem” or the “jewel” of a waterfront (with a pier that is coming in at three times it original cost) and an Escarpment that makes the city both rural and suburban at the same time. The city is not yet at that point where it can say it is urban or urbane.
We now know that the property either side of the QEW is our Prosperity Corridor and we were assured that city council will approve the Official Plan and the rezoning that is going to be needed to get IKEA into the property it has optioned on the North Service Road.
Council will pass the changes to the Official Plan and give IKEA the rezoning it wants and it’s then a done deal, said the Mayor except for three words that are laden with possible very serious problems. Goldring mentioned “two other processes” that we must go through – the Regional government and the Conservation Authority.
Region because Walkers Line is a Regional Road that is nearing capacity and the Conservation Authority because of a creek that is on the eastern edge of the property.
While Burlington wants the IKEA move to happen – the Region isn’t as close to the issue and are not facing the same pressure. There are 1 million visits to IKEA now – making it the city’s biggest tourist attraction (which got the only laugh Goldring was going to get with this address). The new location is expecting to get 1.5 million visitors annually. Walkers Line in its current form cannot handle that traffic and the two lanes that make up the North Service Road certainly can’t handle the traffic going into the location.
THE QEW cannot be made narrower so is any width for the North Service Road going to come out of the land IKEA has optioned? The next problem then is the railway line at the north side of the property. Is IKEA’s hope to make their site wider?
 That red line is the railway tracks – the thin black line is the creek on the east of the property. Getting 1.5 million cars through the Walkers Line intersection is not going to be an easy transportation exercise. Mayor Goldring misleads when he doesn’t tell the full story. In the world of planning and design all is possible – but it is not easy and the Mayor misleads his audience when he says “two other processes” – when he should have said two bloody big hurdles that we don’t know quite how we are going to get over and if you’ve got any good ideas – give me a call.
The QEW is a provincial road so we are going to have to work closely with them
The Mayor then used some rather good public relations spin and turned this problem into what you are going to hear called THE PROSPERITY CORRIDOR which will stretch from Guelph Line to Appleby line on both sides of the QEW. That prosperity is going to amount to two million square feet of new office and industrial space and 6,000 high value jobs.
The Mayor talked about the role the IKEA project played in “helping us shape the new direction for the Burlington Economic Development Corporation” (BEDC). That was an impressive piece of public relations spin. The Mayor’s former Chief of Staff, Frank McKeown felt the best thing that could be done with the BEDC, which wasn’t performing all that well, was to “blow it up”.
There are some 20 people on the BEDC board. It looks like a federal cabinet that has to meet the demographics of a large diverse country. A board that size has people there to ensure that their interests are protected. The objective should be to get the smartest people you can find to do the job forget who they represent. Paul Subject, a member of the board, didn’t expect to have to jump into the fray when he put in more time than he expected working through the way the BEDC would re-shape itself to meet the very real problems it was facing.
The city hasn’t approved the budget that is going to be needed to re-shape the BEDC; the Mayor didn’t mention that one either.
The proof is always in the pudding – and this one is still in the pot. The people who do the thinking in this city are going to find themselves re-thinking and perhaps re-shaping the council that leads them. See that as a heads up.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON November 6, 2012 — The environment, global warming – yeah, yeah, I know. Those icebergs that are falling apart way up north. And the hot summer – it all means something – at least that’s what they tell us…but then there are those who tell us it is just a phase the earth is going through.
I know there is something different about the weather – it was certainly hotter last spring and that false signal all the tender fruit trees got put a big dent in the fresh fruit market. But was that global warming or was it just a weird stretch of weather?
Sometime we need a big bold signal. And that was what Bloomberg’s Newsweek magazine said with its cover this week.
It was also a part of what Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig said recently about GO transit capacity and the crucn we are facing as the Region grows by 100,000 people each year. Then he made a statement that stunned me. He said “A full 70% of residents in the GHTA never use transit.”
GHTA means the Greater Hamilton Toronto Area. I checked with the GO press relations people to be sure that number was right. It was.
GO ridership has increased 21% over the past five years and at peak times is operating at 110% of capacity. McCuaig adds that “without at least doubling transit mode share, the average daily commute will jump from 82 to 109 minutes in 25 years. In rush hour, using the QEW to get to downtown Toronto the commute is easily 90 minutes. Being able to use the HOV lane cuts that quite a bit – but that lane is certainly not anywhere near its capacity.
After reading the McCuaig comments my mind went back to that Newsweek cover and suddenly the dots were connected. It is the environment – and we are stupid.
 Bloomerberg Newsweek magazine cover – has the point been made yet? The article in the magazine set out the point and the problem.
When mainline media take on an issue and use their ability to put up stunning graphics you know something is amiss.
New York magazine had a very strong visual showing New York city with part of it in close to total darkness while other parts of the city had power.
Parts of Burlington were without power for a period of time – not short to those who had no light and a fridge that would only keep its temperature for so long.
What does a single person do. If you’re one of the 70% in the GHTA who hasn’t taken transit – there is a simple step you can take.
 New York city. This is what it looks like when the lights go out in a major city. Global warming? If you live in Burlington and you don’t drive and you are attending a city council meting and want to take part in the debate as a delegation you want to hope that you are up early if the list is long. I have seen situations where d delegation has had to leave because if they did not they would miss their bus.
Last budget the city took thousands of dollars out of the transit side of the budget and used it to “shave and pave roads that were said to be in serious need of repair.
We close down bus routes and limit the schedule. And we continue to build communities where a car is essential.
It is global warming and we really can be stupid – this time our stupidity has the potential to make it impossible to live on this planet.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON October 12, 2012 Someone seems to have forgotten who got the ball rolling when it came to fighting the application Nelson Aggregates planned to make for an additional license to take stone out of the ground on the Mt. Nemo Plateau.
According to Roger Goulet, it was Isobel Harmer and her daughter Sarah along with Dick Lyons who held that very first meeting more than seven and a half years ago.
 PERL wants to ensure that when this quarry is mined out that the site is properly rehabilitated and returned to the public. The depth will make it a magnificent lake when water is allowed to build up. In a press release the city lauds almost everyone except the PERL people. It was the research that PERL folks did on the Jefferson Salamander which had one of its few habitat on the Harmer family property.
Councillor John Taylor, whose ward encompasses much of the Escarpment, and who knows the people who fought with him on an issue he is very passionate about, seemed to have forgotten who his allies really are when he said: “My thanks go out to the city’s legal team, including environmental lawyer Rod Northey of Fogler Rubinoff in Toronto. City staff demonstrated the values that we as a community cherish. They showed a passion for the environment and a commitment to preserving the Niagara Escarpment.”
The best the Mayor could do was say: “This is excellent news for the people of Burlington and for the Niagara Escarpment, a world biosphere reserve.” To his credit however, the Mayor did arrange to buy one of the limited edition prints of Mt. Nemo that decorates his office.
PERL has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and still owes a significant amount to various creditors, yet made no mention of PERL when Taylor said: “My thanks go out to the city’s legal team, including environmental lawyer Rod Northey of Fogler Rubinoff in Toronto. said Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor. “City staff demonstrated the values that we as a community cherish. They showed a passion for the environment and a commitment to preserving the Niagara Escarpment.”
 Few in Burlington fully understand how much harm was being done to the Escarpment as a result of the quarry. Thus topographical map shows where the quarry is in relationship to the Escarpment. The site is shown in red outline. The land Nelson Aggregates wanted a license to quarry is just below the existing quarry. PERL wants to work with the public to come up with a plan to protect all of the plateau. What would you do with this part of the city if you had a voice? To his credit Taylor did put out a second statement the next day recognizing the PERL contribution. One would have thought every elected or appointed official would have bumped into each other getting to a microphone to talk about how important it is to have public spirited citizens doing the hard work that brings about results like this Ontario Municipal Board decision.
Public accolades are not that important to the PERL people. They will meet next week to celebrate a bit more and then buckle down to planning a very public celebration and then move on to their Nemo 7g project, which is a look at a much more far ranging plan for the Mt. Nemo plateau and – to ensuring that something useful gets done with the quarry site Nelson is still taking stone out of.
The longer term plan, which is to let the site fill up with water over time, was put together more than 25 years ago and Roger Goulet thinks that plan is very much out of date.
While Nelson Aggregate is not a part of the Nemo 7G organization, one would hope that there might at some point be talks with Nelson to perhaps turn the whole thing over to PERL and let them do what should be done with the site.
It’s a pretty big operation and, if Burlington can follow the pattern that we see in St. Mary’s, ON, where the old quarry was turned into a swimming pool for residents, a very respectable park could be located on that property.
PERL wants to now transition itself from an advocacy group, formed to fight a major battle, into an organization that moves on to the next step which is to ensure there is a community based plan for all of the Mt. Nemo plateau.
They formed Nemo7G to gather community input and form a 7-generation vision for the Mount Nemo plateau.
The vision is to develop and implement a multigenerational plan that will balance sociocultural, technological, ecological, economic and regulatory factors to protect and enhance the natural, recreational and spiritual qualities of the Mount Nemo plateau for current and future generations.
 It was Isobel Harmer and her daughter Sarah who were the early advocates for a community response to an application by a mining company for a second license to take stone out of the Mt Nemo plateau. Dick Lyons was at the table with the Harmer’s PERL has taken on the task of providing the leadership and mobilizing community members, governments and businesses to develop and participate in defining a 7 generation plan
The objective is to preserve our natural capital while improving the diversity and quality of living for all forms of life on the Mt. Nemo plateau through collaborative, educational, energy-efficient and spiritual means.
The first step is to educate the community, businesses and governments on the values of the community and the natural heritage of the Mt. Nemo plateau and ideally transform the quarry into a world renowned, economically self-sustaining site that embodies the spiritual, environmental and recreational aspirations of the community.
Big job – you bet it is. But PERL has shown that it has the organizational depth plus the level of ongoing commitment needed to stick it out and not back down. Now, given the grace they have shown this past few days, they should be able to take the talks that have already taken place with Nelson Aggregates to a new level and work with that company to come up with a long range plan that will benefit the immediate community as well as the people who live south of the Dundas – 407 corridor who see Mt. Nemo as a nature walk destination.
 That clump of land in the middle of the quarry will eventually become a small island in a man made lake. Burlington city council has held receptions for all the Olympians who represented Canada in London and Monday night council will recognize the magnificent achievement of Brandon Wagner: who competed in men’s wheelchair basketball in the London 2012 Paralympic Games where he won a Gold medal.
Not to take away one bit of the recognition that young man deserves, nor diminish the inspiration he will be to thousands of disabled men and woman, but the Mt. Nemo we know today will be there for centuries after we are nothing but ashes. PERL is making sure it doesn’t get turned into a super highway with parking lots and picnic tables.
Time for the city to recognize all of its heroes.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON September 4, 2012 Our Burlington is going to shift gears a bit and spend less time covering city council meetings and some city council committee meetings. The shift will be gradual and the focus will move to finishing items that were started and want to finish. But we will no longer cover council committee meetings on a regular basis.
The web site was designed to be a newspaper on a web site; something that would cover as much of what goes on in the city as possible without the space constrains the print media faces. We had the added advantage of being able to maintain the content and make it available at any time. No one wraps fish bones with our pages.
As an experiment and as a response to the Shaping Burlington recommendations – Our Burlington has succeeded.
Why the change? Energy, financial, legal, but mostly the realization that what we started out to do, was not achievable by one person and at this stage in my life, it is not prudent to use the limited resources of a retiree for a project that might produce enough revenue to cover the cost of operation.
We foolishly thought the job that needed to be done could be done on a part time basis. The truth was that the job required seven days a week with me at the keyboard till well past 1:00 am far too many days.
My wife, the reason I came to Burlington, wondered what she had gotten herself into. We haven’t been able to spend the time together that we expected.
We haven’t been to a play yet this year – haven’t managed a night out to a movie either – thank goodness for DVD’s.
We are at the $20,000 level in terms of real cash we have spent on the newspaper on a web site – could have gotten elected to Council for that amount of money.
I am fortunate to have a small circle of advisers who don’t, for the most part, have a political axe to grind. Their advice has been consistent – make the changes you need to make
I started a theology class at McMaster a year ago, and while I bought the text books, I didn’t get to read most of them and I completed just one of the term papers. I hope that in the months ahead I will have the time to continue my study of Isaiah and perhaps return to the classroom. The choice was the Waterfront Advisory Committee or Isaiah – wisdom prevailed. That committee has four more meetings left in its life – they won’t be ignored.
I migrated from Toronto, where I lived in The Beach and found life rich and fulfilling there. I am an urban animal and loved, fed off and contributed to the community I lived in. It will come as no surprise to you that I was the founder, 45 years ago, of a weekly community newspaper that still publishes 40 pages a week.
The world of suburbia is not one that I have taken to very easily. I used to be able to get into Toronto once every three or four weeks for my “urban “fix” but the demands of the web site curtailed that pleasure.
 Without the Escarpment – we might as well merge with Oakville. Burlington has so many positive things going for it: the geography is such a gift, your children will not be shot to death on the main streets, it is for the most part a crime free city, although that is changing with the number of criminals who see this city as easy pickings.
What constantly surprises me is how Burlington, with all that it has going for it, is so bland. We are known for nothing. A city as wealthy as this one is, doesn’t seem capable of excelling at something. We have a terrible school board; one that doesn’t seem to care about real education and is close to incapable of listening to the parents of the children who attend the schools it runs. Senior people within the Board of Education actually deliberately fail to tell parents the truth. And they get away with it. Thank Mike Harris for that one with his decision to gut the system of school trustees we had.
Burlington accepts gas prices that are usually three to four cents a litre higher here than they are in Hamilton, yet far too many people go bananas when members of Council get a pay raise that is determined by an independent citizens committee. The city has values that are incompatible with each other.
This city fails to appreciate the amount of time our Council members put in. Few fully understand that their council members do double duty as Regional Councillors. And we pay them a portion of what they are worth.
The seven of them oversee a city that has more than 1,000 full time equivalents and they oversee a budget that is one of the largest in the city. And we pay them something around $120,000 a year; little wonder we are not able to attract the kind of talent the city needs to serve as council members.
 The Mayor is out close to every evening each week. His ward is the whole city and every one wants a piece of him. Not a healthy life for a man with daughters that need face time. They are out close to half of the evenings in a week; they take telephone calls at home every night. The amount of time Mayor Goldring spends on civic business isn’t healthy.
There is a lot to look into: What do the sales numbers at the Performing Arts Centre look like? If they were great we would be hearing all about them. We’re not hearing anything – that’s a clue.
Where are we with employment lands? Council and some member of the community got their nickers in a knot when it was announced that a church was going to be built on a piece of land that faced onto the 407 – which meant an opportunity for a corporation to show their name and trade mark to those passing by was lost. I kind of thought that a cross was a pretty good trade mark and one that I certainly want to see out there for everyone to see. But the Economic Development Corporation spokesperson didn’t see it that way, Unfortunate. Was there the sound of relief when we learned that it was going to be an Anglican church and not a mosque?
Speaking of employment lands – what is going to be done with the downtown core? Are we going to build a new city hall and stop paying rent to property owners? Is city hall talking to Paletta International about some kind of a land deal? And is it time to know more about what the Paletta’s have planned with their other property holdings? The tendency is to look at developers as rapacious – but if we knew the full story of the Paletta family, I think there is a great success story to be told. We will see what we can do at that level in the future.
Eagle Heights and the development at Tremaine and Dundas needs more attention. There was some very good citizen involvement on the Tremaine development that we have yet to tell you about.
 For a park of this dimension – this was the best that could be done for the Official Opening. Had they called it Apeldoorn Park – there would have been hundreds of people on the site – still a chance to change the name. The story of the City View Park will unfold once the Pan Am Games are over – it is a little on the messy side. Now that the city has pulled the plug on the re-development of the Roads and Parks Maintenance building on Elgin the embarrassingly little park that was going to have the name of our sister city Apeldoorn attached to it won’t happen. Hopefully the Dutch community in Burlington will push to have City View Park, from which by the way – you can’t actually see the city – or so I am told by my colleague David Auger.
The Pier needs constant watching – we appear to have the construction issues under control – the legal issues and the financial fallout from that has the potential to take the cost of that pier up to as high as $20 million. Ouch!
 Beachway Park – one of the most significant stretches of water open to the public in the province. The Beachway has tremendous potential for the city – but the city is going to have to get a wiggle on and actually take charge of this one – or we will end up with next to nothing.
The Official Plan review is going to need all kinds of help. As a subject is as dry as toast and some very creative initiatives are going to have to come out of city hall if the public is to get an opportunity to have a meaningful part in this process. That will need to be followed.
The development of the east waterfront – with all kinds of possibilities has to be given a new home. The demise of the Waterfront Access Committee means there is no longer a focus on this part of the city – other than what the Planning department chooses to do. It will get developed – there are developers who already have dibs on critical pieces of the puzzle. The when and the how any development down there takes place is something this city can and should determine. Former Toronto Mayor David Crombie talked about the power of a “bully pulpit” but Mayor Goldring hasn’t managed yet to master that skill.
Ensuring that the Escarpment isn’t abused and ravaged by highways that really aren’t needed is an ongoing concern, as is what we are actually going to do with all that property between Dundas and Derry Road –there is very little real farming going on in that part of the city. Instead it has become an enclave of the very well off who have large estates – there is a 20,000 square foot home looking for approval on Cedar Springs Road – and that is just the beginning.
For those with more money than they can count – there are some great offerings along Guelph, Walkers and Appleby Lines.
The quality and calibre of our representatives at the federal and provincial level is disappointing. Is this the best we can do? The Tory’s had to recruit McKenna who brought no experience or predilection for politics. Marvellous Mike Wallace was to be the Mayor that followed Rob MacIsaac into that office but Cam Jackson pulled a fast one and scooped up that prize. Then when Jackson was booted out as Mayor he wasn’t exactly able to go to Wallace for some kind of a federal appointment.
The city has treated Jackson terribly. He wasn’t a disastrous Mayor. He didn’t do anything illegal. And yet there wasn’t a dinner for him to wish him well and send him along to the next phase of his career. Cam Jackson was a career politician. Many claim he was a career politician in high school – a genuine product of the community. His treatment since losing office has been pretty shabby.
This city can produce better than what we have in terms of federal and provincial representation. It’s out there – it just has to be encouraged, nurtured and supported.
So – you can see – there is a lot to be done.
We’ve also found that our readership, which has grown 10% every month for the past six months, and we haven’t spent a dime on advertising or promotion, wants more about their community and what takes place where they live.
Sports has been all but neglected and for a city with some 10,000 kids playing soccer and six Olympians amongst, that is a serious oversight.
And then there is the Board of Education and the Police Services Board and the Region. It just never ends.
We will persevere.
.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 26, 2012 City Hall wants to know what you think about City Talk, the publication they produce three times a year that devotes half its pages to material from each council member and the rest to projects taking place in the city and listings of events.
Asking the question is a bold move – if the public says the thing is a waste of paper and money, will the city decide to no longer publish the magazine and then reduce the Public Affairs department budget by at least one staff member?
The department has a manager and two and a half staff plus a summer intern.
 A staff writer with the Public Affairs department, Oliver Lee on the right works with council members at public events directing the flow of what takes place. Staff writers produce the media releases as well. In this photograph Lee directs General Manager Scott Stewart, Councillor Lancaster and Mayor Goldring While the Public Affairs department touts the magazine as something that is vibrant and essential to keeping the public informed – that’s not the word we hear on the street.
The magazine is distributed to 70,000 homes; costs $20,000 to produce and requires 105 hours of staff time to edit. We are told that the publishing cycle is six weeks long and that much of that time is eaten up by Council members who want to edit and re-write their contributions.
Council members have web sites, email lists and all kinds of media access – they don’t need city funds to produce a magazine that, despite the comments Public Affairs makes, isn’t read or kept on coffee tables or kitchen counters.
 The Public Affairs department, which publishes City Talk, is run by Donna Kell, Manager Public Affairs. She directs a staff of 2.5 people plus a summer intern. Public Affairs is managed through the Clerk`s office – not the best place for something as sensitive and important as the way the city talks to its citizens. Media releases and public information should be under the firm hand of the office of the city manager.
The Mayor has his own people to manage and craft his message. Public information is too important to be at the Clerk`s office level where media really isn’t understood. The city Clerk is a very powerful position; almost semi-judicial in its scope and level of responsibility. Most of the documents the city signs require the signature of the city Clerk.
 A very short profile of the newly appointed city manager. One doesn’t come away from this piece knowing very much about the man that runs the administrative side of the city and works to turn the direction from council into everyday policy. More “happy talk” that journalism.
 Nice layout, nice pictures but not very much about just how significant this project is. It is one of the first times in the province where a Library Board, City Parks and Recreation staff and the School Board manage to work out the significantly different mandates they have and produce what will prove to be a sterling example of how cooperation can work. The Summer 2012 issue had 28 pages, that includes the front and back cover, of which 14 pages were used by council members. Each council member got two pages to talk about the ward and the work they’ve done.
There is an opportunity here to save $60,000 a year plus 300 hours of staff time. It isn’t something the Public Affairs department will advocate, but someone in city hall obviously suggested asking the public what they think – sounds to me like this is the first step to getting rid of the thing.
But if the city is looking for a way to communicate meaningful information then how about a list of the top ten complaints that come into the city switchboard. List those top ten for each quarter of the year.
There are city publications that are worth the money spent on printing them – the Parks and Recreation magazine is a good example. City Talk is not a good example.
Some of the money saved could be shuffled along to Council members – add it to the office budget they have now.
Public affairs wants you to tell them what you think. Don`t let them down.
Chances are that you can`t find your copy of City Talk – it went into the recycling box. We have set out a couple of pages of the publication below. It`s not a pretty picture.
Public Affairs wants to hear you.
What should we add?
What should we remove?
What type of articles do you want to read?
What type of articles should we leave out?
How can we make City Talk better for you?
The city has posted an online survey: Click here to complete the survey.
The survey closes Aug.10, 2012. Summer isn’t the best time of year to go to the public for opinions – everyone is away for at least some of the time. Extending the deadline to middle of September would make more sense – but then perhaps the Public Affairs department doesn`t want too many responses.
If you prefer, you can email your thoughts and opinions to:
citytalk@burlington.ca with your comments.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON July 18, 2012 Arnold Koopman has a problem. He is organizing a visit of a group of dignitaries that will include the Mayor of Apeldoorn, Burlington sister in Holland, to take part in the official opening of a park that he understood was to be named the Apeldoorn Park.
The name of the park that is to be officially opened is currently the Elgin Park. No one knows why the park, that is to undergo a major upgrade, was called Elgin – probably because it is on Elgin Street.
 Tulips, Hollands gift to Canada, were planted at Civic Square last May. The Dutch would like to see a park commemorating the sacrifice Canadians made liberating Holland. An opportunity to do just that got missed last week. The Dutch should hold out for something bigger. If what we heard at a city council meeting was correct – there are no plans to change the name. Koopman doesn’t want to invite all those people from Holland in the fall of 2013 to stand there watching the flag of Apeldoorn be raised over the Elgin Park which will have what the city is calling an “Apeldoorn feature”.
This has the potential to be somewhat embarrassing but that’s where things stood at the last city council meeting and that’s where they will stay for at least the next six weeks.
 Ed Dorr has been a leading part of the Dutch community’s effort to have a park named after our twin city in Holland. He’s not there yet – but don’t count these people out. Apeldoorn and Burlington were twinned in May of 2005. The work on twinning the two cities began in 2003 – October 16, 2013 will be the tenth anniversary of the start of the talks. May 2015 will be the tenth anniversary of the agreement. The Dutch community in Burlington might well tell the city to let the Park they are re-developing remain as Elgin while they find a park that is worthy of the significance of the relationship between Holland and Canada.
The kerfuffle came about when the city found it had to replace the Roads and Parks Maintenance structure that is to the east of the very small parkette that is south of St. Luke’s Anglican church.
At the time the city decided that if they were replacing the building this was a good time to upgrade the park as well. Then why not use this park upgrade as the opportunity to create an Apeldoorn Park? Good question and so the city began to work up plans to remake the park, get the new maintenance building in place and do our part of the understanding that existed between Apeldoorn and Burlington for each city to have a park dedicated to the other.
When all this was being discussed at city council Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward was against the project – she called it one of those “nice to have” projects we couldn’t afford. But Meed Ward saw which way the wind was blowing and didn’t see any point in fighting this one – so she became an active advocate for the park and was knee deep in the planning.
But there was an appetite for the park to have at least an “Apeldoorn feature” so the plan went forward – but no one ever did anything about the name.
It was a bit of a shock to the Dutch community. They were fully expecting a nice Park that would be called the Apeldoorn Park. They weren’t getting much of a Park to begin with – it’s almost a sliver of a thing.
Arnold Koopman left city hall wondering what his adopted city was doing to his people.
The Dutch are a persistent people – city Council has not heard the last of this argument.
There was one of those opportunities to cement a relationship with an important part of the community – but we blew that one.
The discussion went back and forth and really didn’t go anywhere. Mayor Goldring then asked Koopman if he would be happy with calling it the Apeldoorn Park on Elgin. Koopman grabbed that one, but Goldring failed to turn the comment into a motion – and so it’s Elgin Park until somebody does something about a name change.
 Councillor Blair Lancaster at the Mundialization ceremony at city hall last May – there was a chill in the air and there may be a bit of a chill from the Dutch community around the delay in naming a park for our twin city in Holland. It would have been nice to see Councillor Lancaster fight a little harder for the Dutch community. She is Council’s representative on the Mundialization committee that handles the relationship we have with Itabachi in Japan and Apeldoorn in Holland.
I think the Dutch should tell the city to keep their tiny park and advocate for something that reflects the contribution the Dutch have made to both Burlington and the whole of Canada.
The city of Apeldoorn has put back their plans to build a park they are going to call the Burlington Park. Economic conditions in Europe are such that spending is being pulled in everywhere – so we have a couple of years to come up with something that reflects the dignity the relationship we have with Apeldoorn deserves.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON May 30, 2012 Council will meet this evening and probably approve the repairs to the Drury Lane pedestrian bridge, approve a bunch of paving contracts. They will also hear from the BurlingtonGreen people about the turbine they want to see on the Pier. It won’t be a long meeting, there doesn’t appear to be anything contentious on the agenda.
What I hope we hear this evening is an announcement from the Mayor that he and Councillors Lancaster and Sharman will be off to Saskatoon to attend the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual conference. So far we have not heard a word about this event at a public meeting.
Politicians tend to shy away from talking about those occasions when they are going to be spending public funds on themselves. Mayor Goldring is given a sum to be spent on the things a Mayor does. He proudly reported that he had not spent all the money he has given – which I personally think is failing to do his job. He was given the money to use – use it.
 Three of the magnificent Seven are off to Saskatoon. Goldring, Sharman and Lancaster pack their bags for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention. The rest of the country gets to see what we have to offer. The community elects people to represent them. The seven people we elected in Burlington oversee the spending of $ 116 million operating budget and close to $22 million in capital spending and the employment of more than 1000 people. The decisions they make impact directly on the quality of life we live in this city. We need to trust them and they need to trust us – and that means telling us everything they do.
In the past few days, as I drive down Guelph Line (in my car and not on my bike) I have seen dozens of young men and woman wearing those bright safety vests planting plants, flowers and shrubs. My tax dollars are being used to pay for those people and plants and in the next few weeks I am going to be treated to what I think will be a delightful scene. I think that was good spending.
I think sending Goldring, Lancaster and Sharman to Saskatoon is also good spending – but while the Mayor will comment on the plants and how nice they make the city look – he is loath to talk about occasions when funds are spent on sending Council members to conventions.
At this point we don’t have an adequate process for determining what we should pay these Council members and if they dare increase their salaries by more than $100 there is a huge howl from the public.
I don’t agree with some of the decisions they make. Some of the comments made at Council border on real dumb and uninformed. There are times when a Council member hasn’t done their homework. There are times when they get into the details of a project – that’s what staff are there to do – but on balance this is a good council doing good work. This is our Council. They work hard, they are diligent.
We have a new city manager who left a larger city to come to Burlington because the Council where he was didn’t work the way the Burlington Council works. And the Mayor he parted ways with in London was an experience he did not want to endure any longer.
Let three members of our Council be off to Saskatoon – serve us well and don’t mention that Burlington is the second best city in the country to live in too often – it will grate on your colleagues. Also, a real close look at the data that got us the award isn’t all that positive.
And please, be more open with your citizens – trust them so they can trust you. You didn’t intend to hide anything – you just didn’t want to raise the ire of those who howl when you spend anything and then complain loudly when you don’t rake up the leaves fast enough or clear their sidewalks of snow in the winter. You’re dealing with the public – the good, the less than good and the very unpleasant.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON May 28th, 2012 – Biting the hand that feeds you is never a wise thing to do. Ticking off the people who sign your pay check might be called just plain dumb.
Telling a Ward Councillor in Burlington that you don’t particularly want him to attend a meeting you have called in the Councillors Ward and announcing the meeting without informing the Councillor borders on suicidal. It gets better. Jeremy Freiburger also advertised the events in the local newspaper without informing the Council members.
Two of the Burlington Council members are going to be away on the dates the events are to take place in their Ward’s. Councillor Taylor will be on vacation and asked for an “interview with Freiburger. Councillor Dennison will be in Apeldoorn, our twin city in Holland the day the Cultural Conversation is to take place in his ward.
 Cultural guru doesn't make any friends with Burlington council members - tells them they are not wanted at public Cultural Conversations. Freiburger advised the two council members that they weren’t actually wanted at the meeting. Freiburger explained that council members sometimes influence voters unduly. Ouch! Most politicians believe that it is the voters who influence them.
Councillor Jack Dennison looked a little dumb struck when he heard those words and he too asked for an “interview with Freiburger.
Councillor Taylor told Freiburger that he had chosen the wrong place for the event in his ward; Councillor Lancaster added that holding two events at Tansley Woods was a mistake as well.
Cultural has its sensitivities and politics has its nuances – Freiburger may have the sensitivities of culture down pat – but he has a lot to learn about the nuances of politics. Trust Councillors Taylor and Dennison to straighten him out very quickly. Councillor Lancaster may also have a couple of choice words for Mr. Freiburger.
Jeremy Freiburger is the cultural guru the city has hired to oversee the development of the Cultural Plan that will come in at a little over $100,000 – $61,500 of that is provincial money, the rest came from you dear taxpayer. If done properly a sound cultural plan can make a difference – the plan is the easy part – it is the execution of the plan that matters and that calls for as much collaboration as possible.
Telling Councillors that you don’t want them at an event in their ward that will deal with something as sensitive as culture is not what is meant by collaboration.
Mr. Freiburger may find his reception at the “interviews” he will be having on the 7th floor of city hall a little on the frosty side.
Freiburger also oversees the city’s Public Art Plan and is shepherding the choice of art for the front of the Performing Arts Centre, which by the way is progressing nicely – there is interest from local artists, regional artists, national and international artists.
This particular piece of public art is being funded to a very significant degree by local businessman Don Laurie of Dan Laurie Insurance, a company with offices in Burlington and Hamilton.
That one has a bit of a tussle going on over just how much the city has to say about what goes on property, which the city points out to the BPAC people is property that the city owns.
The Memorandum of Agreement between the city and BPAC has yet to be signed, that has been going back and forth between the city and the lawyers for more than a year – so in actuality the BPAC people are basically just squatters. But that’s another story we will follow up on for you.
Freiburger was taking Council through the process he is using to get the Cultural Plan completed and in place by the end of March next year. That is going to be tight and Freiburger is going to need Council on his side – he didn’t have them with him Monday morning.
There are plans for a very significant amount of public involvement beyond the planned ward meetings. Interaction with the Sound of Music and the Children’s Festival is included in the plans.
 Cobalt Connects is a simple concept - Freiburger went for a sophisticated look and what is really top level design - that works for the arts and design community. Burlington's city council just didn't get it. Freiburger is a decent presenter – he would talk and then break for some back and forth question and answer. Freiburger is a big believer that there has to be strong leadership if a Cultural Plan is to become effective and he wanted to know how Council felt about cultural management – pointing out that Burlington tends to prefer external relationships for cultural management.
“Does Council” he asked “have feelings regarding the development of internal cultural expertise vs. external?” He got his answer – Council felt that the city could manage its own cultural plan – it just needed to put one in place.
“How often do you want to hear from us” Freiburger asked Council. At least once a month they replied – they are going to keep this guy on a short leash.
There is a lot of rally good stuff in the plan that has been put together. We will report in more detail later in the week. It was given to the council members in a workshop setting – at some point it will work its way to Council Committee – that’s where the pruning will get done.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON May 19, 2012 You’re sometimes damned if you do and double damned if you don’t.
There was a black bear the police had to shoot in the woods around Mountainside Park . They did exactly what they were supposed to do. Can you imagine the public outrage if that animal had gotten anywhere near one of the schools or, heaven forbid, anywhere near a child. The lawsuits would have been something they would have to deal with later as well.
The comments and news stories on the decision the police made to shoot the bear are hard to understand. This was a wild and very dangerous animal that was an immediate threat to the people in the area.
The police fired four bullets into the chest of the animal and it died almost instantly. Yes there would have been an initial burst of pain and that is regrettable. That the police fired the four shots quickly and that the aim was true in each instance is a reflection on their training and discipline.
 Regretable, unfortunate - but killing the bear was the only option the police had. Public safety was the prime concern. To have the police now defending the decision they made is close to incredulous. Senior people within the police service are now spending their time explaining what they did minute by minute and you can bet the issue will be raised at the Police Services Board as well. Hopefully someone on that Board will make a point of publicly thanking the police for the action they took and maybe someone will make a comment on behalf of the police.
The bear could not be tranquilized for several reasons. First, the police did not have the equipment nor any personnel to tranquilize the bear. Second, in order to tranquilize the animal it would first have to be up in a tree. That would have meant having the police somehow badger, chase or scare the animal and get it to climb up a tree. An extremely dangerous thing to attempt – the bear could have just as easily panicked and bolted off much faster than the police could ever move.
What if while frightened the animal had bolted further away? It got to within 30 feet of a residential dwelling as it was. Imagine if there had been a child in the yard or on the porch of that residence – that bear could have been on that child in seconds.
If there is anyone to criticize it is the Ministry of Natural Resources for basically abandoning the Halton Police. They did nothing for the police other than to ask for a DNA sample and some hair from the bear. You can bet there will be some questions asked about the way that Ministry failed to respond.
The police did their job; they did it quickly and efficiently. Involving the aboriginal community in the burial of the animal was a wise and sensitive mood on the part of the police and Burlington’s Animal Control people.
A point to keep in mind – there were two bear sighting in the Milton area earlier in the week. The wild animal experts don’t think the bear shot in Burlington is the same bear sighted in Milton. The Regional police aren’t certain the two bear sightings were of the same animal – so we “might” have two bears some distance from us wandering around the countryside.
Should one of those bears venture into parts of the city where people live, work and play – the police should, if they are unable to get help and support from the Ministry of Natural, do exactly what they did on Wednesday.
What we would like to have heard was a statement from our local MPP Jane McKenna, saying she will inquire as to why the Ministry of Natural Resources was unable to help. That she apprently didn’t do so, is disapointing.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON May 8, 2012 There was a line from the film Cool Hand Luke, that starred the late Paul Newman, where a prison guard said “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” At the time Newman was doing everything he could not to communicate. The ending was a tough one.
One got the feeling that while delivering a very brief update to a Council Budget and Corporate Services committee meeting, General Manager Scott Stewart wanted to use those words but chose to be a little more diplomatic, which for Stewart is a stretch at the best of times.
 City General Manager Scott Stewart doesn't take this smile to hospital meetings. Stewart reported that the city had not been able to arrange a meeting with the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital (JBMH) until sometime in August to discuss the Contribution Agreement that is to be signed between the hospital and the city. That’s the document that is going to take $60 million of your dollars and slide it across the table to the hospital. The city has just over $4.8 million of the $60 million saved already but we are going to have to borrow much of the rest of it so the hospital can begin the build.
Stewart added that it looked as if the agreement would get worked out between the city and the hospital by email; which has got to be about as archaic as it gets – they are less than a twenty minute walk away from each other. Saying they are not available until sometime in August is basically the same as saying: ‘we don’t want to talk to you, so go away – but send us the money you have to give us’.
Apparently the real reason for not being able to meet before sometime in August is a combination of vacation schedules, commitments that can’t be broken – we all go through those problems. However, if you really want to meet – you make it happen. Unless of course there is a problem that is insurmountable – and that would be what? Wait for it. The lawyers, the lawyers can’t clear time for a meeting until sometime in August.
What are the lawyers doing in the room at all? Surely senior city people and senior hospital people can put together the basics – all we are doing here is setting out what they will do with the money we send them – then give it to the lawyers and let them make sure that all the niceties are covered, shake hands and then deliver the cheque.
Is the city negotiating with the hospital? We will know when the Contribution gets to a city council committee.
The city is required to help fund the renovation of the hospital and it has taxed its citizens and used a significant portion of last year’s surplus to come up with our share. The hospital has to raise an additional $60 million.
Burlington does not have a choice in this matter – the province mandated that we give the money to the hospital. We apparently don’t give the funds directly to the hospital corporation but to the hospital Foundation which in turn passes it along to the hospital.
The relationship between the city and the hospital corporation is getting a little caustic. The city needs an agreement that sets out a “responsible and timely release of funds” and given that we are going to have to borrow much of our contribution we would like to be able to plan the flow of funds. Burlington maintains a very strong, positive relationship with the Performing Arts Centre where more than half a million dollars is sent every year. They find a way to work through the differences with the Seniors basically because they meet and work through the issues.
With the city being required to come up with $60 million, the hospital, one would hope, would accept the fact that they have a new partner and not a junior partner either, and they have to learn to share the responsibility of working with the community to raise the funds and get the hospital to the point where it is not the mess it was when current president Vandewall was brought in.
 JBMH president Eric Vandewall is reported to be working on his schedule and making time to meet with the city. Dinner with senior city staff was a good start. The egos that are at times all too visible, have to be left at the door so that an adult relationship can take place.
When Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital president Eric Vandewall appeared before a city council committee last year he made the statement that the hospital would match the city contribution “dollar for dollar”, which made a number of Council members feel a little better about turning over tax payers’ dollars to the hospital. That good feeling has come close to evaporating.
General Manager Stewart and the city manager are to have dinner with the hospital president and some of his leading people, which will undoubtedly include VP Communication Mario Joanette – who might manage an explanation as to just what is wrong with the communications.
There have not been any announcements from the hospital foundation on how they are doing on the raising of their $60 million. We are told that there is a very big announcement coming and to expect a number of announcements at the Crystal Ball Gala, which takes place later this month. We are told it is a sold out event with more than 100 people learning they could not get a ticket. This Gala event – and it is quite the event, being held at the Mercedes Benz dealership on the North Service Road, is where the hospital Foundation may announce what it has collected to date in the way of its fund raising efforts.
The Foundation people are good at what they do – they don’t have any problem communicating. Things are a little different on the hospital administration side.
While the city does its best to meet with the hospital to work through the agreement on how the JBMH people are going to spend the tax dollars we give them – the city’s Planning Department is able to talk to the hospital people about the actual construction of the building – reported to be a seven storey building on land that currently serves as a parking lot.
Site Plan approval for the structure is anticipated in late May or early June with approval expected in September or early October. So far the public has very little information on what’s going on. It seems like a ‘send us your money and don’t ask any questions’
Site plan approval will include traffic impacts, archeological investigation, storm water management and public consultation. The city will have to deal with all this in a relatively short period of time.
The archeological aspects could turn out to be interesting. The land the hospital was built on is part of the original land grant to Joseph Brant and there are reported to be some strings attached to just what can and cannot be done with that land.
 It's supposed to be all about the hospital and its desperately needed re-build. Can they all not just get on with it? Councillor Marianne Meed Ward has been a very strong proponent of ensuring that the public is given every opportunity to comment on developments in the city and has been very vocal about the amount of time the public has to read the reports and given the time to form their opinion. Meed Ward is a member of the hospital board and while there is an evident conflict in sitting on the hospital board and sitting as a Councillor, especially when there is serious and significant tension over the wording of the Contribution Agreement, but that does not seem to bother Meed Ward. Can she act for her constituents to ensure they are given the information they need and at the same time sit on the hospital board and argue that information should be made available and that the public, who after all are picking up a significant part of the cost of the redevelopment, be given every opportunity to comment?
Elections cost money. Anyone running for the office of Mayor needs people who can write the cheques to cover the cost of an election campaign. Meed Ward doesn’t accept campaign funds from developers but she would be comfortable with getting funds from the kind of people who attend social events with impressive ticket prices.
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