By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 3, 2013. Imagine! A city Councillor with more than 20 years at the Council table asking you for your opinion on what gets you excited about living in the rural area?
John Taylor represents Ward 3 which takes in that part of rural Burlington on the west side of the city limits over to Walker’s Line then from Derry Road down Dundas with a patch that reaches down to the QEW. This is John Taylor country – and it is served very well.
John Taylor has been at the business of municipal politics for a long time. He once thought of seeking higher office – but that time has past. He work diligently for the people of ward 3 and now wants their opinion on living in the northern part of the city.
Taylor is seldom at a loss to give you an opinion on whatever happens to be crossing his mind – even if you don’t ask for that opinion.
Burlington publishes City Talk, a news magazine, three times a year filled with “fluff” for the most part but it does serve as a link from city council to the wider community. Waste of good paper from our point of view but that doesn’t mean they are going to stop publishing the thing.
Each council member gets some space to put in whatever they want to tell their constituents – just the good stuff though. You will have to look very hard to find anything the least bit controversial or provocative between those covers. Pure vanilla – paid for with your tax dollars.
The ladies love him. He charms them and he listens to them; never patronizes them. That’s why he gets smiles like this one from Georgina Black, the consultant who led the then new city council through its Strategic Plan back in 2011.
Taylor is taking a slightly different approach to his part of City Talk – he wants to know what it is about living in rural Burlington that gets you excited. He has a number of reasons for asking the residents of the northern part of the city what gets them excited about – there is currently something to get very excited about – the attempt on the part of an entrepreneur to build an airport with little, if any, input from city hall or the economic development corporation.
Taylor is looking for your opinion. This is an excellent time for everyone in the city to tell a council member what is important about the rural part of the city.
Lot of hay taken off these fields – but not very many cattle out there.
There are those within the political go on about the agricultural industry – there is no such things as an agricultural “industry” in rural Burlington. There are a couple of very successful fruit operations and the equestrian people have made that part of the city a great place to operate. Don’t expect to very many cattle in that part of the city. Couple of places where there are some chickens and a several that have a couple of pigs. Some fruit operations but for a stretch of land that is pretty good from a soil perspective – we don’t really exploit that opportunity.
A lot of hay is taken off those fields but you will seldom see any soybeans and not a lot of corn. Farming in north Burlington is a bit of a stretch. Nice place to live – well not if you are on Appleby Line with all those trucks trundling load after load of land fill into the airport development.
So – what is there to be excited about north of Dundas/Highway 407? Councillor Taylor would certainly like to hear what you have to say.
Several months ago the city`s planning department held a half day Saturday session during which people gathered to talk about rural Burlington in what was billed a Rural Summit. What was very interesting, and revealing, was that the problems surrounding the dumping of landfill on the airport property didn’t get mentioned.
Perhaps this appeal for the things that excite people will bring more to the surface.Put your thoughts together and send them along to his very able assistant Sheri Wainman.
Hi Alexander – please don’t keep us in suspense like that! What, in your opinion, should be “done” with rural Burlington??
The wheat that was commented on is likely only growing there because it continues to germinate after it was abandoned by its farmer. There may have been cattle there at some point, but now if those fields were to be put to use, the last thing I would want to see is it being used as a grazing area for cattle or horses – if a “farming industry” is what’s being called for, then people should take advantage of the extremely fertile soil and use it to feed humans. Corn or Soy would not be wise as they sell very cheaply and are not a sustainable crop to cultivate unless sold under wholesale proportions.
From an environmental and economic perspective, I think people have the wrong idea about what should be done with rural burlington.
John
Speaking for myself and my family, who live on Appleby Line, I think there is very little of “rural Burlington” left that is not developed and I understand the importance of developing and growing the city. However, we as Burlington residents (all residents not just the rural residents) should cherish what is left and preserve as much of it as possible for our children and our children’s children. I was under the impression the designated “Greenbelt” area was designed, in part,to do this.
You know as well as I do we don’t need an large “Air Park” in Burlington. It will have very little commercial impact on the city or on its tax base. The Hamilton airport is under utilized and anything larger than a small private recreational airplane should be using this facility.
I hope people don’t get the impression the people who live in rural Burlington are all a bunch of snobs because we are not. We are more that willing to share and help preserve the area for everyone and I think this can be appreciated now and certainly in future.
Thanks for listening
Pat Donovan