colin best

Are your kids “street proofed?”

Mike Cluett

The Champion has an interesting editorial on child safety this week.

There have been a number of attempted abductions of young children in the news the past few weeks, with some of these incidents happening in the Halton region.

Do your kids know what to do if they are approached?  I know I go over this with Anthony many times to make sure he knows what to do if ever confronted with a similar situation.  He knows that if anyone he doesnt know tries to grab or lure him into the car to say “NO”.  If that person continues to press, he knows to start yelling and run to the nearest neighbours house.  We’ve set up a password system so that if someones says they know his Mom or Dad, they have to give them the password or else he wont go.

Its a scary thought for parents.  The idea of someone coming into an area and trying to abduct any child sends shivers up the spines for many of us.   We have to ensure our kids know what to do if or when that situation arises.

This also leads me into the Milton Community Policing Committee and what we are planning to do with several schools in the area.  We are looking to set up a program with Principals to get as much information out to the kids as possible from the Halton Region Police Force.  This might include information sessions inside the school with members of the Halton Police Force, or regular letters to parents including some brochures on road safety, staying safe and street proofing.

There are a couple of schools we will be presenting this information to when they do their open houses in September including Tiger Jeet Singh Elementary School, PL Robertson among others.  If you would like more information on the MCPC visit the website and contact us if you’d like to get involved.

We will be having an information booth at the Downtown Milton Street Festival tomorrow all day long.  Regional Councillor Colin Best, myself and many other volunteers from the committee will be there to answer any questions you might have about local community activism, street proofing your children and road safety.  We will be more than happy to meet with you and discuss how you can get involved and help continue to make Milton a great place to live and grow our families.

Here’s the editorial from the Champion.

Jun 03, 2010 – 12:22 PM

Parents, children — be on guard

Several Halton incidents of children being approached by strangers

If your son or daughter was approached by a complete stranger trying to entice them into a vehicle, do you know how they would react?

Have you ever discussed with your children the possibility of such a scenario happening to them and what they should do if it does? If not, what are you waiting for?

Last week, Halton Regional Police issued separate parental warnings in Burlington and Halton Hills in connection with young people being approached by strangers with what can only be described as bad intentions.

In Acton, three incidents of an older white man, driving a silver four-door car trying to entice youngsters into the vehicle were reported over a five-day period at the end of April and start of May. Police determined that a fourth, more recent complaint by an Acton youth was unfounded.

Meanwhile, in Burlington last week, two teenage girls were approached by a male stranger in separate incidents occurring less than 40 hours apart.

In the first case, a 16-year-old was approached as she walked her dog May 25. A man described as black, with very short hair or bald, 35 to 40 years old and wearing a dark shirt struck up a conversation with the teen and attempted to entice her into his black, older model pick-up truck. When she refused he continued driving.

Then, last Thursday, a 15-year-old female was approached by an unknown man — described as black, in his late 20s or early 30s and driving an older blue pickup truck. He, too, tried to entice her to get inside his vehicle. When she refused, he briefly followed her to a parking lot before he fled the scene in an unknown direction.

Similar incidents have been reported in Milton in the past.

Halton police urge parents to remind their children not to approach anyone that’s not known to them and to always walk with a friend or a known adult.

Well That Was Interesting

Mike Cluett

Last nights council meeting had it all.  Expectations were running high by some members of council that it could either be a very short meeting or a very long meeting.

I had reported before that council salaries would be discussed at this meeting but apparently it went through on consent items and didn’t even make a blip on the radar.

Ward 3 councillor Cindy Lunau had a notice of motion to include a quick presentation by Halton Healthcare Services to Milton Town Council to give them an update on Milton District Hospital and its possible expansion.

John Oliver from Halton Healthcare made a presentation outlining the fact that expansion of the Milton DH is essential and must happen.  The provincial government has put a freeze on capital projects and will be reviewing them for the 2011 budget.  He made it very clear that Milton needs to be on the radar and get approval fast.  Even if they were given the green light today, it would be at least 2-5 years before anything will happen.

Regional Councillor Colin Best was frustrated with the process, as all councillors are, and with the fact the provincial government KNOWS Milton is growing but is doing nothing to help out.  We are being mandated to grow our population and size but yet have a hospital that is well under the required size for our community.  Mayor Krantz also shared in that frustration as well.

Mr. Oliver also outlined his pleasure with the community as a whole that came out as a result of the Friends of Milton Hospital campaign when over 35,000 people signed a petition to raise awareness with the provincial government that we need something done and soon.

He said that more work is needed and the community and council need to get behind this full force.

Councillor Lunau also put forward a notice of motion for staff to review possible ways for Milton Town Council to fund expansion, as if it were to happen, the local level of government would be required to put money forward.  Council’s idea is to start saving soon for that eventuality.

The problem council faces is where do you start?  And how much do we save for?  John Oliver couldn’t give us a number, although pressed by Councillor Paul Scherer a few times, as legally he could not give a number.  Council was advised to review other area municipalities and what their costs were as a starting point.

These possible funding options include, but are not limited to:

Increase of Development Charges; Special Tax Levy on Milton taxpayers to go to a dedicated hospital expansion fund only to be used for that purpose; Combination of the two.  Another possibility is using the GTA funding poll that has been collected from Milton taxpayers to support Toronto (don’t get us started on that) and now is no longer needed as another source of funding.

Needless to say, this will be something that will require community support like we havent seen before.  Last year, 35,000 people came to the table and to go forward we will need more!

There were some other discussions last night about parking on Queen Street, which is not allowed.  Councillor Greg Nelson failed in his attempt to put forward a motion to reopen the discussion to allow parking on either one side or both.  But after a very convincing presentation by the Milton Fire Chief, which included pictures of the street with one emergency vehicle and how it would impede traffic and cause a safety issue, it was voted down and parking on Queen Street will not be allowed.

And of course, the highly anticipated motion from Ward One Councillor Rick Day was ruled out of order.  Im not going to get into it here, but if you wanted to read what he was going to talk about, here is a link to his proposed notice of motion.

I also experimented with live Tweets from the council meeting last night.  Judging from some of your emails and comments to those posts, it was pretty successful.  I will try for future meetings to post updates via Twitter, which of course you can keep track by going to www.twitter.com/mike_cluettor follow here on the home of the Mike Cluett.

As always I welcome your emails and comments so keep them coming.  Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Mutt Strutting and Sun Burning

Mike Cluett

I had a busy weekend planned  for the family as we had Miranda’s second birthday party at Pat’s hotel (Four Points Sheraton Meadowvale…cheap plug) with family and friends coming out.  Of course she was spoiled with lots of clothes and toys (her favourites being baby strollers and a tea set)  Pat and I spent a good part of Sunday night having tea parties.

The other part of our weekend was yesterday and the Oakville Milton Humane Society put on the first annual Mutt Strutt at the Milton Fairgrounds.  One word can be used to describe the day…success.

The weather looked like it would put a damper on the event but as the morning continued until the afternoon the clouds made way to a sunny, warm afternoon.  Families came out with their pooches to take part in a fundraising effort and to help raise awareness of the local humane society.

For years the society was known as “Oakville & District” which caused quite a bit of confusion for us as Milton was always part of the district, but many people didn’t know it was.  They have changed their name to Oakville and Milton Humane Society and with this event, helped people realize what exactly it does.

There were so many dogs of all kinds, shapes, colours and breeds that lined the fairgrounds.  The registration table was lined with people and their pledge forms and some of the totals were staggering.  I cant wait to see how much they did raise.  Halton MP Lisa Raitt, Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh, Mayor Gord Krantz and Regional Councillor Colin Best kicked off the event and led the group of dogs in either the 5k walk or the shorter one around the fairgrounds.

The food was amazing as the ever popular Troy’s Diner was there with hamburgers, hot dogs and other tasty deserts. Troy’s large inflatable COKE bottle was the first thing most people saw and hearing comments from people walking in, “HEY, Troy’s here!”  You haven’t had a burger until you’ve had a TROY’S burger.

The walk wasnt the only part of the day as there were demonstrations from professional and amatuer dog owners showing off their canine tricks, like frisbee catching and dancing.  The day could only be described as a success by those who attended.  Speaking with a lot of people there, I heard that they cant wait for next year.  A big congratulations goes to the organizers of the event…well done.

Taking advantage of the great weather, Anthony and I decided to head out and go door knocking on Freeman Trail…until he ended up at his friends house.  Then I lost my volunteer because in his words “this is more fun Dad”

With the good weather I was able to talk to a lot of people  who were working on their cars, cleaning out their garage, or just sitting on their porch reading  a book.  Most people I did speak with were shocked that I was out early in the year, seeing how the election is in October.  There are a lot of homes to visit and Ive been getting an early start on the campaign trail.  My commitment is to knock on every door in the ward personally and speak to as many voters as possible.

Its not just for the election, as one of my campaign promises is to continue to visit the doors in between election campaigns.  There are a few people from residents to political vetrans who think thats a tall order but its part of the game and what our elected officials SHOULD do on a regular basis.  In many cases, your councillor and local level of government has the most impact on our day to day lives from by laws, property taxes and other services.  Your councillor should be accessible and most times are peoples first phone call. 

Some of the issues that were brought up during the day was traffic problems at Louis St Laurent and Thompson Road and the need for some kind of cross walk near the Metro plaza so people on both sides of Thompson Road can safely cross the street.  Traffic lights at LSL and Thompson Road are in the works and staff are doing counts to make sure they can make that intersection a safe one.  In order for it to happen, we need to keep up the pressure and your council representative needs to speak out on your behalf.

During that part of the afternoon I got ready to go home with a few future lawn sign locations and some commitments from people that they will indeed come out to vote for me on election day.  Their support is humbling and I look forward to speaking with more as the months, weeks and days go on.

The one thing I did forget during the day was sunscreen as Anthony and Pat reminded me when I got home.  My head, face and arms were quite red and I didnt feel it until later in the evening.  Must remember to keep some in the car.

Over the next day or so, I will endevour to get some pictures of the event posted for my site.  Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Milton Town Budget Increasing by 3.24%

Mike Cluett

UPDATE 2:58pm…

For the record folks, I love it when people post comments on the blog. It shows there’s an active interest in what I’ve got to say.

Normally I allow any post on here unless its spam.

I know the idea of tax increases isn’t the most popular topic and it usually meets with a more emotional response than let’s say what’s going on at town hall on New Years Eve.

What I won’t post is comments with excessive swearing or nasty personal attacks against anyone. I’ve deleted a few comments already today and will continue to do so. I love free speech but when you get nasty and personal against anyone, the comment goes.

I love constructive comments and keep them coming. Its good debate that will drive good policy in the future.

Thanks everyone! – Mike

Just before midnight last night, Milton Town Council approved the 2010 captial and operating budgets and will bring it to council on December 14th for ratification.

There are normally 2 days set aside for budget deliberations and the first session usually goes into the wee hours of the morning, but as budget chair Brian Penman said “we do our best work before 11pm”

I personally arrived after 9pm to a slightly empty gallery for the public which surprised me.  I know sitting down and discussing capital projects and per centages of development charges isnt the most “exciting” way to spend a Monday night in Milton but judging from what people had told me about this years budget, I thought there would be more people attending.

Wondering aloud last night, I would really like to know what the cost would be to stream these budget and council meetings would be.  The Region of Halton has the ability to stream its meetings and keep an archive as well.  How much do you pay for bandwith right?  Thats another story.

Getting back to the meeting, it seemed that very few had things to say about the contents of the capital budget with the exception of Paul Scherer, councillor for ward 4.  As each division of the town got its say for how much money they requested, Paul had a few things to say about each of them.  The biggest point he wanted to make was to move the project for expansion of Louis St Laurent from Bronte Street to Regional Road 25 up from 2011 to 2010.  The few of us in the crowd chuckled with Paul asked “can we afford both”  By both he was talking about the Main Street grading project that for several years now has been put on the back burner and postponed.  These postponments have essentially increased the costs of the project and it needs to be done.  Paul wanted to know if they could do both projects in 2010 instead of Main Street in 2010 and Louis St Laurent in 2011.

The gallery chuckled slightly after looking at a few spreadsheets on her computer,  Linda Leeds, the treasurer calmy replied…”Yes!”  The additional cost?  $5.9 million. 

This cost wouldnt be taken on by the taxpayer as projects like this are funded from development charges that are paid by builders, and not residential rate payers.

Colin Best, regional councilor, brought up some property issues near that intersection and wanted to wait until the town finalized ownership before moving ahead the project.  There were some issues with Lower Base Line bridge a couple of years back where the project was approved but the town didnt own some property, therefore a bridge to nowhere.

In the end, the project will move forward.  This means that residents who live on the west side of town by Bronte Street and Derry will have another outlet out of town instead of just Derry Road.  With the underpass construction also moved up by the Region, it means that these two projects might be going on at the same time, handcuffing local residents.

What got more people involved in the budget discussion was the operating  side of things.  This is the budget that affects us as taxpayers, seeing how these items are funded by the property taxes we pay.

Town Staff had come in with a potential tax increase of 4.9% but were asked to see what can be removed/postponed to get to a “more reasonable” increase of 2.9%

Transit was a hot issue as usual.  Paul Scherer said that he supported the idea of transit but right now its not working properly and questioned the additional expenditures.  Councillors Wendy Schau stated that this type of investment in transit was vital to the growth in Milton.  Especially our young children need to start using transit so “they will get used to it” as they get older.  Councillor Jan Mowbray and Cindy Lunau also joined in with the support of the new routes, fare collection system as well as moving up new route designs for 2010.  In a close vote, it passed and the new routes on the west side of town are a go ahead.  There is also going to be an increase the in fares for a ride from $2.00 per ride to $2.50 and if you get ten ride tickets, it goes from $20 to 22 starting in the new year.

Library was another issue that got the discussion going as potential cuts to staff at the Beaty Branch and reduced hours were on the block for 2010.  Jan Mowbray said it didnt make sense to open a library and then begin to cut the staff right away.  Again, in a close vote the motions to keep the cuts stayed.

Those were the highlights and again, I wasnt there all night and didnt see Linda’s presentation to council of the budget.  In the end the budget has been increased by 3.24% for 2010.

I dont envy the people in this process one bit.  There are some hard decisions that have to be made in order to limit the impact on the taxypayer in Milton.  I found Paul to be the most vocal when it came to asking questions of staff as to why these increases are needed and asked for other members of council to comment as well.

Here is the link to the Town of Milton’s budget page to see the links for 2010, 2009 and other budget documents.

On another point, it was nice to see Melanie Hennessey from the Milton Canadian Champion back in the press box after her time away with her son.  Not that I didnt like Tim (because I do) but its good to see Melanie back!  Look for her report on the budget in the Champion later this week.

Illegal dumping on Earth Day

Mike Cluett

Is this what Louis St Laurent and 4th Line will look like if things keep up?  I dont know about you but its getting rather annoying.

For those who dont know about the area, this intersection will be the new home of a public Milton high school and other ammenities in the coming years.  But what seems to be happening, given the fact that construction hasnt started yet, is people are using this area as a dumping ground for their garbage and nothing seems to be done about it.

Over at the Hawthorne Villager Forum, there is a discussion going on about what can be done about it.  Seems appropriate considering today is Earth Day.  It just seems people like to treat their community like a dump.

Colin Best, Regional and Town Councillor in Milton responded to some of the concerns on the blog by saying this.  If you see anyone in Milton illegally dumping garbage … CALL THE TOWN with the plates of the vehicle and descriptions as well.

colin b.

Joined: 07 Dec 2005
Posts: 740
Location: MILTON
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:21 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi Synergy and other posters

Yes the Town is working on more enforcement of littering. Last week at the committee meeting I requested staff to review the 1991 littering by-law and step up enforcement which the committee agreed on as our engineering staff is doing weekly pickups on streets such as Louis St. Laurent Blvd. If you do see people dumping please take their licence plates and call the Town either at 905-878-7252 during the day or 905-878-7141 after hours and weekend line.

Monday night committee also approved the accelerated the design and construction of the next section of Louis St. Laurent from Yates to Highway #25 in the next year which will increase the traffic and make it more difficult for anyone to stop and dump, as the design will be similar to Thompson Road and Derry Road with curbs and sidewalks linking the area.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Milton/Halton
colinbest.ca