November 26, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Diane Leblovic is not happy with Mayor Rick Goldring and gave him a piece of her mind in an email that was part of the City Council agenda Monday evening.
Diane and her husband Nick have been protesting the running of the Chilly Half Marathon along Lakeshore Road in March of each year because the race prevents a lot of people from getting out of the streets they live on that exit onto Lakeshore.
The Leblovic’s delegated as a tag team along with a half-dozen other Lakeshore residents – not everyone was opposed to the race being run along Lakeshore.
What had Lady Leblovic in a snit was comments the Mayor made after she had left the room. The discussion on the use of Lakeshore road for the chilly Half Marathon was still taking place but the decision that was going to be made was pretty evident so they packed up their papers and left.
There were at least 3336 runners last March running close to the Oakville border and back. And just as many will be there in March of 2014
Mayor Goldring was not aware that the Leblovic’s had left the Council Chamber. It borders on unreasonable to leave a meeting at which your reason for being there is still being discussed and then later taking exception to comments made by the Mayor.
The Mayor did say that he had offered to meet with the Leblovic’s and when he realized they had left the Chamber he stopped talking. Mayor’s Goldring’s response was fair and decent. For Ms Leblovic to suggest the Council’s behavior was “unparliamentarily, unfair and inappropriate “ and that their not being in the room “provided a limited and one-sided picture of events and circumstances” is stretching things.
The Chilly Half Marathon delegations took up more than two hours when it was abundantly clear that staff had looked at the options and come to the conclusion that Lakeshore Road was the best place for the race.
In her email to a city hall staffer Ms Leblovic asked that the matter be deferred to the December 9th meeting because they will be “out of the country on the 25th for an important and long-standing personal commitment.”
They just keep on coming – and making Burlington one of the most popular racing events in the province.
The recommendations made at the Standing Committee were approved by Council – the Chilly Half Marathon will take place in March of every year for the foreseeable future.
Council approved a policy that has staff automatically approving events that take place each year. If a matter goes to a Standing Committee – it will be because staff felt something should be brought to the attention of Council.
The Leblovic’s can now plan for an event early in March of 2014 and arrange to be out-of-town. They could also walk part of the race or follow the lead from the Pastor of the Lutheran Evangelical Church and be out on Lakeshore road offering fresh fruit to the 5000 + runners.
Additional news stories on Chilly Half Marathon debate.
Standing Committee delegations
I would not ordinarily bother responding to anything written on this site as many in the Burlington community regard it as nothing more than a glorified blog site reflecting the personal biases of its sole reporter, editor and publisher, Pepper Parr, rather than providing any semblance of objective news reporting. However in this case I am making an exception in light of the significant errors and omissions in this article.
I am surprised at Mr Parr’s making light of my representations to Council. I would have thought that he would welcome someone exercising her democratic right to bring valid and serious concerns to Council. It seems he only supports this when he agrees with the views of the speaker. All others are to be mocked by calling them funny names and sprinkling misrepresentations and half truths throughout his article.
Mr. Parr makes it sound as if my husband and I have been alone in raising issues with the Chilly Half Marathon when in fact there were six delegations, 15 letters and a 150 name petition brought to that meeting, all of which were requesting changes to the road race. This level of community involvement and commitment deserves if not support at least some respect.
Mr. Parr characterized our position as being opposed to the running of the event on Lakeshore. He ignored the fact that we brought forward an alternate route which would include all of Lakeshore from Maple Avenue to Appleby Line- hardly nimbyism.
Mr. Parr stated that we left the November 13 Community Services Committee meeting too early and should have stayed for the later discussion when the Mayor made his comments. In fact if Mr. Parr would have taken the time to review the webcast of that meeting he would have noted that when we left, Council had considered and defeated two staff directions moved by Councillor Meed Ward dealing specifically with the Chilly Half Marathon. The meeting then moved on to consider the entire Festivals and Events report dealing with several hundred items. It was reasonable to assume that Council would not resume debate on the Chilly Half Marathon or that the Mayor would make the comments in issue. If Mr. Parr had any understanding of procedure at Council meetings he would have known that even had we stayed in the Council Chamber we would not have had the right to respond to the Mayor’s comments at that time as delegations are only entitled to speak while they at the podium. Check out the facts yourself by taking a look at the webcast on the City’s website.
Mr. Parr states that the Mayor “was not aware that the Leblovic’s (sic) had left the Council Chamber and “when he realized that they had left the Chamber he stopped talking”. This is a complete fabrication as I have subsequently confirmed with the Mayor that he saw us leave the meeting and knew we were not present when he made the statements.
Mr. Parr conveniently omits to mention that the Mayor apologized at the November 25 Council meeting for making his statements after we had left the previous meeting. The Mayor has subsequently repeated his apology both in writing and in person. Clearly he does not share Mr. Parr’s view that his comments were ”fair and reasonable”. Mr. Parr also omits to note that Council approved my responding to the Mayor’s comments at the December 9 Council meeting. Should be interesting-see you there.
Finally Mr. Parr breached a basis tenet of journalistic standards in writing his article in that he failed to contact me for comment on his article before publishing it. As part of the statement of conduct and practice for its members The Ontario Press Council states “A media organization has an inescapable obligation to vigorously pursue comment from any person about whom it plans to publish derogatory accusations and if possible to print it at the same time”.
I trust that Mr. Parr will recognize the errors and omissions in the article in question by publishing an apology and retraction. I await his response.
Diane Leblovic
Lighten up. You went and participated in a public forum. You must feel so much better now that you got a letter of apology from Goldring; waste of time for everybody. Thank goodness though that you made an exception and decided to write something which resembles yet another complaint.
There’s no errors and omissions; nor are there any derogatory comments of any kind whatsoever.
However, thanks for telling us how deeply our mayor gets involved in frivolous issues.
People like my silent majority group are getting tired of the whiners and complainers who congest time and energy that should better be spent on valid and serious concerns.
I watched the video, and find it rude and disrespectful to leave prematurely especially when one initiates a debate in a formal setting. It’s called leaving in a snit.
We have many Burlington events that run along Lakeshore Road, within the Beachway Community. Yes, we can be inconvenienced BUT we get out an cheer on those participating in these worthwhile events.
So I have to stall my life for a couple of hours, it’s not that big of a deal. No matter where the events take place somebody is going to be inconvenienced.
Talk about NIMBY syndrome… not in my backyard
everything that happens in this City is in your backyard like the Pier we’re all paying for.
Where do they expect to re-route all those runners?
Or do the Leblovic’s just want to make it someone else’s problem for the next few years.
Did they actually have a well thought out plan or were they whining as suggested by Joesph? I would certainly love to see more people out to vote in 2014, and less people whine about council especially when they have no concept of how local government works. Though I don’t necessarily agree with removing Goldring, Craven and Lancaster. Sounds like another person whom does not know their council members well or their municipal government process and what has happened and what is coming in the future.
oh trust me – we know our council very well and the process (smoke and mirrors) – and those 3 have to go! Different names – hopefully, that’s what’s coming for the future!
Really? speaking up is considered being a cry baby. Put on your thinking cap. Not enough people speak up or vote. That’s the problem with Canadians – that’s why we’re considered door mats. Keep going Leblovis – say what you have to say. People can agree to disagree – but not about speaking up. Hopefully, everyone will VOTE in 2014 as we need a major shake up at City Hall. Goldring/Craven and Lancaster – OUT!
Really? speaking up is considered being a cry baby. Put on your thinking cap. Not enough people speak up or vote. That’s the problem with Canadians – that’s why we’re considered door mats. Keep going Leblovic – say what you have to say. People can agree to disagree – but not about speaking up. Hopefully, everyone will VOTE in 2014 as we need a major shake up at City Hall. Goldring/Craven and Lancaster – OUT!
They were not speaking up. They were complaining; that’s the problem. Speaking up is saying “hey, why dont we have more of these events in this city?” and “hey, let’s think of other positive things to do”; instead of the automatic no no no types of responses and snitting which is also a form of crying, albeit more of an adult form of crying.
Complaining in this case is a form of crying, a subtle form of nimbyism, an expression of boredom in one’s life which makes it necessary to be heard, because a minor temporary inconvenience makes life south of lakeshore so unbearable. I bet they even sent a letter of complaint to their local councillor, wahhhhh.
The Leblovics are the poster children for cry baby residents in this city. But I give them credit for not wishing to suffer the pain from having to listen to Goldring.