By Pepper Parr
March 14th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
This is becoming a habit – and not a good one.
For a city that talks frequently about transparency and engagement one has to ask why matters are brought up at a Statutory meeting on March 20th then go to a Council where they get rubber stamped the following day ?
The patio takes up a couple of parking spaces.
In this case the matter is the Outdoor Patio Program for 2023 – the city want to continue doing what it permitted in 2022
Statutory public meetings are held to present planning applications in a public forum as required by the Planning Act.
Some significant changes were made in the 2022 program.
The streetscape of the city underwent changes that some people thought were a little on the generous side.
The report is 20 pages in length – it is up on the city web site.
During the pandemic summers – people seemed to prefer to be outside where air flow was better.
Most people don’t regularly check in to see what Council is up to but most people do want the opportunity to comment and put their views and concerns forward.
The hospitality sector appears to like the changes – and to be fair they have gone through a very rough three years – they see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Is there something so very urgent about approving the 2023 patio program – and if there was, why wasn’t a report brought to Council months ago.
Why the hustle – to push, crowd, or force forward roughly ?
There are other similar situations that people have complained about and are preparing to take the the City Ombudsman in the way of a formal complaint.
This is a really shoddy practice – that looks like it is becoming the norm for this Council.
More on just what the public can expect later in the week.
How this Council has got away with what it has is also mind boggling.
From Q&A page of Engagement Site: Bateman
Q:Why was there no mention of asbestos in the comprehensive staff report of December 8?
A:The Halton District School Board (HDSB)(External link) released an updated report in 2022 on asbestos at Bateman, that report can be found on the HDSB site. The City’s construction costs for Bateman includes the cost to safely remove the asbestos.
Deny, Deflect, Mis-direct, Obfuscate. That’s Burlington City Hall’s. MO has been for years. Maybe a little worse under the Illustrious Marianne
Delegate by email addressed to Clerks@Burlington.ca
Subject: EICS-02-23
Very well said. It somehow seems even worse now, considering we were supposedly going to see this change, open up, be different, under this new Mayor and council.
It’s hard to believe, still, the extent to which all that has turned out to be completely untrue.
If council can basically rubber stamp a 90 million dollar refit of the Robert Bateman High School, with no significant public input, why would anyone think that something as minor as the Patio Program require any?
Although in retrospect the city typically asks for a survey (which accounts for their idea of public engagement ) on the issues that are of no consequence.
Perhaps the reason to push this program through is to make certain that Food Trucks are not permitted, something the restaurants don’t want.
I certainly hope that this year the city decides to spend some money instead of using the ugly orange barriers that are installed along Lakeshore Road and Brant Street.
So, looking forward to the loss of another lane of traffic on Lakeshore Road between Martha and Brant and Locust. In the past this area became a traffic bottleneck with only 1 major development construction taking place. This year there will definitely be 2 and possibly 3 major condominium constructions taking place in the same area.
Why anyone in their right mind would come visit this area is mind boggling.