By Pepper Parr
April 28th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Asked if she would run again Coun. Stolte cited her “disappointment and frustration had overwhelmed her on the day but that she was waiting for the results of this coming weeks reports regarding the in camera closed meetings. Coun. Stolte expressed her sincerest gratitude for the many constituents, larger community members and staff that have been very thoughtful and encouraging
Getting people to take part in a ward meeting is a tricky business. Council members can promote the event but it is up to people to actually get out to the meeting. Covid has limited what people are prepared to do.
City technical types basically set up a broadcast studio in the Community Room at Tansley Woods. From there they can broadcast out, allowing Councillor Stolte to speak to people participating in the room remotely and bring in people who are participating from their home or office. Theoretically this could have been an international event if there were people in the United States or the UK who had some experience helping people to get to know their neighbours.
Lisa Kearns was the first Councillor who managed to set up a hybrid meeting and make it work. The live people in the AGB, where Kearns holds her meetings had less than eight people first time out.
Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte
Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte, who announced during the Integrity report delivery and debate that she was not cut out for this kind of work and that she would not run for office again in October.
Glenn Nicholson, served as a community focal point on his street when many of his neighbours were flooded in 2014
A potential candidate showed up at the ward 4 meeting Wednesday night along with eight others and 30 people taking part on line.
Taking part on line requires the creating of what amounts to a small broadcasting studio to capture what is being said by those who participate on line and those in the meeting room, which in this case was in the Tansley Woods community centre.
Stolte went one step further than Kearns when she had a city staff member taking part virtually and talking about a city program we had not heard about before.
Burlington now has a small collection of “connectors” – people who help other people connect to others in their neighbourhood.
Sounded like a really good idea that seems to be working. Something to follow up with for more detail.
At this point here is what we can tell you.
A connector “self-selects” – they do that by getting in touch with Jennifer Spence at City Hall
Spence meets with the person, often over a cup of coffee and talks about what the person would like to do, what they know about the program and then explains in detail what the program is and how these self-selected connectors can do their thing. You can reach city staff running the program at: communityconnects@burlington.ca .
Mary Alice St James, a retired elementary school principal and a candidate for Council in ward 5 during the last municipal election, identified herself during the meeting as a “super” level connector, which is something that would be hard to argue with.
To Counciilor Stolte, I have been meaning to say this – Please run again – DO NOT QUIT!!
Put it out of your mind. Move forward. The informants are not worth it. You are.
Tom Muir
Elan.
I must admit that I take great pleasure in saying as loudly as I can I agree with you.
The “connector” program that was briefly discussed in this article seems to be a “clone” on the Senior Connector Program that was offered by Community Development Halton since 2013. It was a volunteered based program geared towards seniors. There was an extensive training period for those interested in volunteering. Volunteers went to church groups and local grocery stores etc. to interact with seniors. Seniors went home with brochures with information and contact information. No one went into private homes.
The program being offered by the City Neighbourhood Connectors ” supports residents to enhance connections between neighbours. Working collaboratively with the City. Identified neighbour connectors are given the tools and resources to build stronger relationships, increase feelings of safety, and to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of their neighbourhood residents through programs, events and engagement opportunities”.
I would like to know how volunteers are chosen, how much training is given to the volunteers for the City Neighbourhood Connector program as well as who is providing this training and funding? I would think that police checks would be in order for the volunteers as well.
This program sounds wonderful as long as it doesn’t place vulnerable sectors of society in jeopardy.
Given the huge outcry of support for Stolte from her Ward and from Citizens in Halton outside of Burlington, I would Not consider her candidacy a closed issue. Many think she should run to replace the current Mayor, who is scrambling to support all efforts to destroy Stolte’s reputation in order to deflect from her own active role in hiding politically sensitive debates in closed session. We should not be surprised, given MMW basically called Stolte, Sherman and Kearns bigots on Twitter for voting that money for additional rainbow crosswalks might be better spent on sustainable community support for LBGTQ, For MMW and her advisor-husband and often attack dog: there is no photo-op in that. This Mayor must be removed.
Elan I agree with you 100%
Rick Goldring warned Burlington at the last election, no one wanted to listen!
Elan, I agree with you 100%
When I read she was not planning to run for councillor; I hoped that meant, she was going to run for mayor!