By Pepper Parr
May 19, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
We wrote a piece based on what we were told by our readers; ordinary people with strong convictions and a desire to get all the facts on the table.
Different readers had different search experiences (isn’t technology great?) for news about the Air Park which is a hot topic for people in Burlington.
The first hint we got was that everything about the air park had disappeared from the insidehalton web site was this: “I have been tracking for any coverage on the Burlington Airpark / Airport on Metro Media site (Spec and insideHalton) for some time. This weekend, all past articles on the Airpark have disappeared (there used to be a number of articles), and the return message shows that no search result found. What gives?”
That user got back to us with: , “I will continue to perform the search every day…“burlington airpark” airport on the whole Spec / Metro Media site. My searches today give me the following message…
We were unable to find results for “burlington airpark” in Burlington
That was followed by a comment from a reader who said everything after 2013 was no longer on the site.
That was followed by a comment from a reader who seemed to get a little panicky: “The article that Tina Depko-Denver won her recent award for (best rural story in Ontario community paper) no longer comes up on searches. This is freaking me right out.
“Here’s the link to the artcile (that I had to re-find via twitter) – see if you can find it by searching on insideHalton. https://m.insidehalton.com/news-story/3844524-airpark-neighbours-call-on-government-for-help/
That was followed by: “It came up for me.”
That was followed by this:
“The articles are all there…they come up in different order – by date or relevance – based on how you search for them.
“I get a different list based on how I search: searching by “rossi” as in Vince pulls up some, searching by “warren” as in Vanessa pulls them up in a different order of “relevance.”
“The best search is by “Burlington Executive Airport” it pulled up the most comprehensive list. It has them mostly sorted by date – since the article “neighbours call on government for help” as almost a year ago, it will appear lower down on the list, on page two.
“Here’s the list with that search function enabled:
Here are just some of the articles I found on the website dealing with the airpark.
https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/4417902-appeal-date-set-for-burlington-airpark-case/
https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/4219079-burlington-wins-airpark-landfill-dispute/
https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/4252426-airpark-paying-city-40k-for-legal-fees/
https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/3844524-airpark-neighbours-call-on-government-for-help/
“I think this is a question of digital technology: what search words are being used, and the search tool pulling up information based on chronology and relevance.”
The Gazette has been very deliberate in not using the names of people who send in comments. The libel chill is still in the air.
It would appear that the information on the insidehalton web site is still in place. Finding it requires one to use the most effective search terms. Should it be easier? We suppose so but one cannot blame the people who run the insidehalton web site for the search terms their readers use.
It is all their and we expect it will continue to remain on the site. We had planned on trying to reach the operators of the insidehalton site – but the holiday schedule meant no one was picking up their telephones.
We were perhaps a little too quick to call shame on the Metromedia papers and for that we apologize. There are a lot of frightened people in Burlington – and they have every reason to be frightened.
Background links:
The first we heard of editorial material disappearing.
Air Park legal counsel sending out libel notices
Re: Did Technology do them in?
Can these articles on the air park be accessed on the Inside Halton site in the same way as before? (the libel chill)
If not.
Somewhere there’s a pony.
Editor’s note: Try the links in the article – let us know what works for you.
Thank you for watching out for the Airport….there is one other thing….I am watching the LaSalle Park Marina and John Birch, (I believe he is the president of the Club)….Since they cannot do anything with the permanent break wall and docks until the part 2 environmental assessment is completed the project seems to have rolled out of sight….My concern is, if the ES outcome is they can build this break wall and permanent docks, who pays for it…..now I have heard that getting grants from the Provincial and Federal governments is out….however….I had occasion to speak with a past councillor (who has friends and acquaintances in the know) and he informed me that when they get the go ahead the club will be “borrowing the money from the City of Burlington at a substantial rate of interest”….of course since the City will be holding and paying the loan the Marina will be paying for that interest and a point or two more, I assume that is how it will be, when I was working in an accounting firm that is how it works when one company borrows for another…. so…..I am assuming the City will borrow the money on behalf of the Marina….sounds like why should I object if the Marina is paying interest on the loan…..well for one thing it is a private business….when first built there was no loan from the city, the club raised and paid for everything by the membership and the boats back then where not the huge sailing vessels that moor there today…..why should the city back the 9 to 10 million dollars it will take for this project…..it will be interesting to see what the part 2 assessment will approve, hopefully NOT the permanent break wall……I was told that because of the City having an involvement in the club..ie…holds the payments on the docks until a boater leaves, sells his mooring spot then when sold the city returns the dock deposit being held by the city, so I was told….. it still irritates me that the city is involved in financing the clubs improvements…..not only that but on the proposed layout they are paving over the small piece of grass, trees and picnic table for more parking spaces……which leads me to another concern…..if the Marina is to expand by 130 more docks, what impact will that have on the limited parking spots in the “public” parking by the water……trust me the boaters do park their cars there and take off (last year a car was there for weeks collecting dust while the boater was away for his summer holiday)….so, don’t tell me they don’t park there…..Am I wrong to object to the City financing a private club improvements??????