milton election 2006

Clearing up some confusion…

Mike Cluett

I received an email this evening.

I wanted to start off by saying thank you for taking the time to come to my door and talking to me about the upcoming municipal election. I just wanted to know a little bit more about yourself in relation to your running for Ward 1 councillor and what separates you as a better choice from the other candidate I’m considering (Tony Lambert) seeing that there is NO WAY I’m going to re-elect the present councillor from my ward. Also, if I do choose to vote for you, I would be willing to help volunteer (if you need help) to really get the message out there to vote out the present councillor/councillors at city hall. Feel free to call me if you prefer as well. Thanks again and looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Chris

This isn’t the first time this issue has come up and I want to make sure people understand the different levels of municipal government we have so we can avoid any confusion.

On November 13th we are going to be able to vote for the following:

  • Local Town Councillor (the position I am running for)
  • Regional Councillor
  • Regional Chair
  • School Board Trustee (public, separate and french)
  • Mayor

You will be able to vote for 2 candidates for the position of Town Councillor, vote for one candidate for Regional Councillor, vote for one candidate for Regional Chair, vote for one candidate for your respective School Board and finally vote for one candidate for Mayor.

I would hope that over the next few weeks, candidates like myself would take the time to visit you at the doors to let you know what we stand for and the reasons why you should vote for us. It is a very tough task indeed to be able to reach everyone before election day. That is why utilizing this website and blog, I can be able to virtually reach as many people as possible.

If over the course of the next few weeks before November 13th I dont get a chance to meet with you face to face I do hope you continue to visit my website for updates and urge you to send me an email if you have any questions.

More importantly, I urge everyone to get out and vote. If you are curious as to where you will be voting go to my homepage www.mikecluett.ca where I have a list of voting locations and a link to a map to see which one you will be going to.

A little too late…

Mike Cluett

It’s been quite the busy day for us. This morning Pat, Anthony and I went to Hamilton to participate in the Kidney Foundation of Ontario “Be a Lifesaver Walk” in support of our good friend Hilary. It is important that you are informed of options available to you for organ donation. You can find out more about the walkathon and raising awareness of organ donation by going to the Kidney Foundations website .

Afterwards we went to visit my brother and sister in laws to celebrate our nieces Ashley and Crystal’s birthdays (they were both born on Oct 3rd six years apart…talk about timing eh?)

An interesting thing happened yesterday as I was heading out to knock on doors around the Clark Blvd and Ferguson area. I was driving along Clark … at the speed limit for the record … and I was passed on the left hand side by a vehicle who obviously thought that I was driving too slowly. While trying to pass me on the left, they endangered other drivers in oncoming traffic and almost caused an accident. *In case that person is viewing this entry, I have forwarded your plate information to the local authorities as you did endanger on coming traffic with your reckless driving*

I had mentioned this to a number of residents on Winter Cres. and surrounding streets and I was told “this happens all the time.” Recently town council had authorized the removal of the four way stop sign at Clark Blvd and Ferguson and the residents I have spoken with in the immediate area hope that further studies done will prove that there is a stop warranted at this intersection. As your town councillor, I will work with you to get further traffic studies done and work hard to reduce speed limits in this area.

Over my now many months of knocking on doors, meeting as many of you as I can before November 13th, I have heard many concerns. Obviously the growth tops everyone’s list. Questions like … when will it stop and when will the roads catch up to the development? This brings me to the motion by council to get town staff to study how to “slow down development.”

In my previous post, I had included the article from the Milton Canadian Champion. I have spoken with many of you about this article over the weekend and a lot of you share the opinion that this motion was very conveniently timed. It will be less than 2 months before we will be going to the polls to elect a new council. There were many comments made in that article by sitting councillors that doesnt sit well with many of you. One comment made was that it is not current councils fault for the development woes we now face. Let’s for the sake of argument agree with the statement that the current council is NOT at fault for the problems and the councils of the past 5 to 15 years were the decision makers.

Let’s go back to the previous council and the members at the time. Most of our current councillors were members of those councils which made these decisions; including our two sitting Ward one councillors.

Decisions were made all those years ago and now the perception of this motion is that they are trying to deflect the blame of those decisions. The perception of many of the people I have spoken with this weekend that it IS “electioneering” as Ward One Councillor Rick Day was quoted as saying.

One question that we have been left with is why put forward this motion now when people have been complaining about this problem for the past 3 or more years? If they did this back in 2003, they would have the results of the study and been able to act on the recommendations. Quite possibly we would have had resolution by now. Sadly, there is only more confusion for the residents.

What has been missing from our elected representatives is leadership. Our councillors haven’t been proactive to keep Milton residents informed. That hasn’t happened and now with less than 2 months left in their term, they put forward a motion to direct staff to “look at what we can do” to slow development. This report unfortunately won’t be ready for several months and will be looked at by the 2006-2010 Milton Town Council.

Not only will this report be costly and time consuming, it will come to the same conclusion we already know. That town council cannot slow arbitrarily slow down development. The development we are experiencing falls under the provincial governments jurisdiction and the OMB has the final say on many disputes. By going through this “study” this late in their mandate, our current ward one councillors are now showing again how out of touch they are with the voters.

On November 13th, we will have to ask ourselves a few questions. The question will be does the current council deserve another term in office? Have the two current councillors from Ward One effectively represented you over the past few years in office? Do you trust that your views will be heard and listened to on council for the next four years by our current councillors?

If you believe as many do that we need change on council and that a different perspective will benefit Milton…then you have a few choices. My challenge to you would be to look at the plans put forward.

Who will effectively listen to you and your views and bring those views to town council? Who will keep the lines of communication open and utilize new technology in keeping you informed on what is happening in our community? Who has committed to knock on doors in between elections and not just during them? Who has made the formation of a Citizen’s Advisory Committee for Ward One their number one priority once being elected?

I hope that when you answer these questions on Election Day you will cast your vote for Mike Cluett. I ask for your support on November 13th and I will give you my support every day after.

I’ll see you at the doors.

“THIS COUNCIL NOT TO BLAME!”

Mike Cluett

That is the headline in this weekends edition of the Milton Canadian Champion. It outlines how town staff to set investigate on how to slow growth…at the direction of Town Council.

Here is the link to this very interesting and dare I say conveniently timed story in the Champion. Town Council have directed staff to investigate the options they have to slow down growth in Milton. This report will take “four to five months to complete” according to town CAO Mario Belvedere. Talk about timing seeing how there is a municipal election in less than 2 months and the new council will have to deal with this report.

I headed out shortly after dinner tonight to commence the usual door knocking and I was confronted with a number of questions already from people (yes it does prove that people DO read their local paper) Questions like “if they were THIS concerned with the pace of growth, why is it that they are just NOW asking for this report…less than 2 months before an election.” Interesting timing to say the least.

Here is the full article by Melanie Hennessey of the Milton Canadian Champion. Let me know what you think of this … send me an email to mike@mikecluett.ca

Ill see you at the doors.

Town investigating growth slowdown
Melanie Hennessey
Sep 29, 2006

Town staff will soon begin investigating how to slow down Milton’s rapid residential growth.
At its meeting Monday night, town council passed a motion put forward by Wards 2 and 4 Councillor Ron Furik that asks staff to look into options or new policies that would reduce the speed of development.

The local and regional councillor recently announced he wants to slow growth down so that Milton’s roads can “catch up.” “I’m committed to fixing this problem,” Furik said during Monday’s meeting. “If we can do anything in our power to slow down the process, we should be doing it.”

THIS COUNCIL NOT TO BLAME: FURIK

Furik also addressed the naysayers who’ve been publicly blaming the current council for the development problems since he announced his intentions to come forward with the motion.
“I laugh to read it’s this council’s fault,” he said, noting he feels the councils from five to 15 years ago were the development decision makers — councils he said he was sitting on as a local representative.

In an interview with The Champion, he went on to say, “Don’t point fingers at this council. They had no decision making in this development. It’s not fair.”

Ward 1 Councillor Rick Day, who’s long been against the rapid development happening in Milton, seconded the motion.

He said while he thinks the “traffic problems in town have become unbearable,” the Town is trying to bring the road infrastructure up to date.

The motion detailed the problems Milton has been experiencing due to rapid growth, such as that roads and other infrastructure required haven’t kept pace with the large population increase.

But Ward 4 Councillor John Challinor begged to differ. “We’re not behind on all roads and infrastructure,” he argued.

During the meeting, Ward 1 Councillor Brian Penman provided background information on how the town’s growing pains evolved. He said the community had a strong opinion that existing residents shouldn’t have to cover the costs associated with growth. So in turn, the Town had to wait for development charges to be paid on the new homes and residents to move in to afford the infrastructure upgrades.

He also pointed to the Region’s timelines for road construction in Milton as a contributing factor to the problem. “I hope we can catch up,” he remarked.

Wards 1 and 3 Councillor Barry Lee presented a more positive view on the state of the town, saying he thinks residents are going to see some relief from the traffic problems soon.
But when it comes to slowing growth down, Lee had one thing to say — “We’re kidding ourselves.”

“Tinkering with growth… I don’t think we can without getting into severe legal implications,” he said. “I think it could be dangerous.”

Town CAO Mario Belvedere told council it’ll take staff four to five months to complete the report that’ll outline financial, legal, policy and infrastructure implications of slowing growth.

After hearing that, Ward 3 Councillor Cindy Lunau said she’s not sure if it’s fair to tie up staff for months and commit the incoming council to dealing with the matter. She suggested the motion be brought forward once the new council is in place. She also expressed skepticism about supporting a resolution that could be “election self-serving.”

Ward 1 Councillor Rick Day countered that one could call supporting the motion “electioneering or a good chance to get issues out and voted on.”

In the end, Lunau reluctantly did vote in favour of the motion, telling The Champion she supports the intent of the idea, but not the timing.

Furik’s resolution indicated about 80 per cent of the required road upgrades in Milton are on regional roads. It also pointed out that council has been advised the Town has no legal authority to declare an absolute moratorium on residential growth.

The motion was unanimously supported by council.

Melanie Hennessey can be reached at mhennessey@miltoncanadianchampion.com

One more day…

Mike Cluett

It’s definately autumn now. There was a distinctive chill in the air this evening as I was out knocking on doors. It gets dark much quicker than usual as it gets closer to election day.

Speaking of the election, tomorrow is the last day candidates can file to run for positions on town council and the school board. By 5 pm tomorrow the choices will be clear for residents of Ward One and in the Town of Milton. I along with 4 other candidates will be asking for your vote on November 13th for town councillor.

If you decide to vote for change on council, you must ask yourself a number of questions.

Which candidate…

  • has a written plan of action since day one,
  • is speaking about the issues that affect you the most, like taxes, neighbourhood safety, accountibility and green growth,
  • will continue to ask for your input by knocking on doors in between elections and not just during them,
  • will utilize new technology to keep the flow of communication open from the taxpayers to council and from council to the taxpayers,
  • will speak out for neighbourhood safety, for reducing speed limits in residential areas to help keep children safer, increasing the number of green spaces for our children to play.

I have committed to you as your town councillor to do all of these things and more. The most important thing you can do is get out and vote on November 13th. If you have any questions about where you can vote, or if you are on the voters list, please email me at mike@mikecluett.ca .

I’ll see you at the doors.

Happy Anniversary

Mike Cluett

It was 7 years ago today when my life took a different and better direction. My wife Pat and I are celebrating our 7th anniversary today. Looking back on that day not so long ago brings back some fantastic memories. The day was almost exactly like today with the sun shining (although a tad warmer) and much of the morning for me was spent relaxing watching the Ryder Cup at my best man Mike’s house, with a cup of coffee in hand and bacon and eggs on the table. Mike and I then went to the reception hall to assist in the setting up of a few items had a quick lunch and proceeded back to his place to get dressed with my other usher and good friend Satinder. Given a few butterflies here and there, a very calm and relaxing first half of the day.

In contrast Pat was dealing with about 20 people in the house from hairdressers, make up specialists, future inlaws, our neice and nephew Ashley and Richard (ring bearor and flower girl) and brides maids. She was up early in the morning making sandwiches for everyone making sure their day was as comfortable as possible, all the while getting ready for HER big day. From all accounts it was quite hectic that morning, and that was before the photographer got there.

Another funny part of the day was that she was 15 minutes late. As my brother Rick, Mike, Satinder and I waited in the back of the church with the minister, checking our watches as the start time approched, Pats limo was trying its best to make it along Queen Street in Brampton to make it on time. The minister had suggested if she wasnt there on time, that we all head out to a local pub for a pint or two while we waited. HAHA. Just as we were about to open the back door to escape…the bell rang letting us know that she was there. Good decision to wait for her!

I still feel guilty that I had it so easy. Me calmly relaxing watching what was going to be the last time in 1999 the United States had defeated the Europeans in the Ryder Cup while life was going “bonkers” at home. As a side note, just this past weekend the US team was descimated by the Europeans and it wasnt really close. Oh well, we still have 1999 eh?

I do have to thank Pat for all of her years of support and love. Without her, I really dont know where I would be. I just know Im in a great place in life…and most of it has to do with her. All I know is that just 7 years later we have a fantastic and beautiful son Anthony who just turned 6 years old, we live in a wonderful home in Milton, we have great friends and family and I am very thankful for the things we share in life and take nothing for granted.

Pat has been so supportive of me during this election campaign. She has been understanding to my daily routine of door knocking, almost passing each other like ships in the night as she comes home from work and I go out to knock on doors. She is making even more of a sacrifice than I am during this municipal election campaign and I wouldnt be able to do it without her support.

So to my loving wife of now 7 years…I love you just as much as I did that day and maybe even a bit more. Thank you!

I’ll see you at the doors.

Parking Issues

Mike Cluett

Over the course of the day I have had the opportunity to speak with many of the residents on Robson Cres. and they all seem to have the same concerns…parking and speeding.

I had explained this process to a few individuals on Robson but I wanted to post it as well to inform others who might have similar problems.

On Robson Cres there is only parking on one side of the street (south side) and no parking on the north side. Many residents on the north side have more than 2 cars and are sometimes required to park a vehicle on the street for some time. Seeing how the time limit is 3 hrs, this poses a problem.

Lets say for instance you have some friends over for dinner and you would like to enjoy a couple extra adult beverages (wobbly pops as Ive heard them called) or wine. If your guests were to stay over, they would have to park on the street. There is a number to call at the town of Milton which is located on my magnet as well 😉 905-878-7252 ext 2530. You can leave a message with the plate number of the vehicle that will be parked on the road.

THIS can get a little on the frustrating side if you are a home owner and require 24 hour parking. There is a way you can get it by applying for extended parking which can be located here at the Town of Milton website.

Its important that when you are doing this you communicate with the residents to let them know if they dont respond and there is a low turnout, nothing with change. I believe there is a 12 month time frame on this so it cant be done every month.

Each plate is alloted a certain number of excemptions from parking tickets (18 each plate). You can check the Town of Milton site for more info or just email me and I can try to answer your questions.

Special thanks to Tim and Sandra from the HawthorneVillager.com website for taking the time to speak with me and the concerns on Robson. I can assure you and everyone in Ward One that if elected your town councillor I will put a lot of effort into serving you for the next four years.

I’ll see you at the doors.