milton town council

It’s About Communication

Mike Cluett

This time I put on sunscreen.  I had an opportunity to go knocking on some doors before the Community Services Standing Committee at Town Hall last night and I spoke with some people who live on Barr Cres.

Some people I talked with were “amazed” that I was out this early knocking on doors introducing myself as the election is a few months away (October 25, 2010)  I replied, its what they can expect from me as their town councillor as well.  Although it seems like a daunting task to many, its part of the job that should be done more often.  This is just one way to get people engaged in the community and aware of what is going on at Town Hall.  The municipal level of government touches our lives more directly in many cases that others and residents should know whats going on and how future changes will affect them in both the short and long term.

What were they talking about?

Those who I did speak with brought up their main concerns as safety in our streets.  Almost everyone I have talked to in this area brought up the fact they try to cross the street to the park on the west side of Thompson Road but almost always have to take their cars, because there isn’t a real safe place to walk across.

The Town is working on getting a light set up at Thompson and Louis St Laurent but even that wont help in the short term.  A lot of the residents I’ve spoken with would relish the idea of a crosswalk.  There are some on the west side of Thompson who feel the same way as they need to go to the Metro plaza but again, have to take their cars instead of walking 200 m.  Main reason?  Safety.

I will definitely be bringing this to the attention of the traffic department of the Town of Milton as it seems to be a growing concern.  People should be able to walk across the road instead of taking their cars…it just makes sense.

Another topic that was uniform among everyone I spoke with is communication.  They would appreciate more information from the town.  As Rob told me, that’s what my councillor should be doing.  From when road construction will begin to discussion on official plans its important people stay informed and get involved.

If elected, my pledge is to continue using my website and blog as a communication tool for residents to stay up to date on whats happening.  With the Boyne survey (south of LSL) now in the works, eventually bringing another 55,000 new residents to town, people need to know whats going on and have a say in those plans.

I also ran into Audrey who was out enjoying the nice weather as well who just moved to Milton a few months ago.  “I LOVE IT” is what she told me.  Milton is a great place to live and will continue to be a great place to live.  I introduced her to a great site called The Hawthorne Villager to introduce herself and her family’s business as well.

If you haven’t visited or read through the site, you should.  You will probably find a few of your neighbours online.  Its just another way of bringing our community a little closer together and help continue make it a great place to live.

I’ll see you at the doors.

Mike Cluett Announces Hes Running for Milton Town Council

Mike Cluett

As of this morning, I have filed my nomination papers for the position of Local Councillor for Ward 6.  The election is to be held October 25, 2010.

I didn’t come to this decision easily.  Over the past several years I have seen town council lose focus on the priorities of Milton taxpayers.  There seems to be a disconnect when it comes to issues relating to the growth in town to the concerns of the population.

Many Miltonians don’t even know who their councillor is and that has to change.

My platform is simple.  Accountability to taxpayers, sound financial management and smart growth.  It’s important that there be a two-way dialogue between elected officials and the taxpayers.  You can count on me as your town councillor to begin that conversation not just during election campaigns, but in between as well.

Stay tuned to this blog in the coming days to find out more about how we can secure Milton’s future…together.

You can join my Facebook page HERE for up to the date information on the campaign.  Twitter me here as well.

I look forward to hearing from you over the next several months and I hope to count on your support.

I’ll see you at the doors!

Use it or lose it

Mike Cluett

0x0_637853That was the message last week by town councillor Mike Boughton regarding the state of Milton Transit.

“Use it or lose it.”

Nothing really of note came out of this meeting from town councillors on how we can make the transit system better or find ways of saving money, or encouraging people to use the buses more.  Does the lack of attendance show that people don’t care about our transit system?  Hands up to those people who knew there was a meeting at town council discussing Milton Transit?  I thought so.

I recently heard someone joke about the contest Milton Transit had a couple of years back when the new buses were unveiled.  People were encouraged to take a picture of the bus if they saw one driving around town.  The contest should have been if you can see a bus driving around town WITH people in it.

Maybe town council should have thought about it more before they decided to invest over $3 million in buying new buses for the town.  Maybe they should have realized ridership was lower than they expected before they sent the cheque for several brand new, state of the art buses, to drive around town on a daily basis…empty.

Every year the report on Milton Transit came out and it showed what they called an “increase in ridership” for Milton Transit.  This report didn’t take into consideration the “free days” throughout the year.  If the buses are free, more people use them. 

The main problem with our transit system is convenience.  For instance, it’s not convenient for someone in the south eastern part of town to take the bus to go to downtown Milton.  If someone from Hawthorne Village wants to go downtown Milton to have a meal at the Ivy Arms or Pasqualino Cafe they would have to take at least two buses there and two buses back.  Or if someone who lives at Bronte Street and Ontario wanted to go to Montana’s or shop at Walmart at James Snow Parkway and Steeles, they would again have to take two buses there and two buses back.

Convenient?  Check the maps and see where you would be able to go if you were to take the bus.  I live at Thompson and Yates Drive and I wouldn’t even be able to go to one of my favourite places to get a coffee, Cafe Deda at Trudeau and Derry Road by bus.  If I wanted to go downtown Milton to Main Street Yarns to buy something for my mother, I wouldn’t be able to without taking two buses.  That means that during the day it would take me close to 45-50 minutes to go downtown Milton where I could take my car and be there in less than 10 minutes.

Has town council actually gone to the Milton Chamber of Commerce or the Milton DBIA to ask them what they think would help get people to take the bus?  I’m sure that the DBIA would love to see more people walking the streets of downtown Milton. 

The main reason why people take public transit is for work related travel.  So if you work and live in Milton there’s an option right?  Not likely.  Lets say you work at the new business park at the top of Hwy 25 and 401 and you live south of Main Street…you have to take two buses there and two buses back.  I don’t think there has been any study in town to find out how many people work and live in Milton but the numbers would definitely be interesting.  My guess, and that’s all it is, would be roughly 15% of people work and live in Milton.  As its been described before, Milton has become a bedroom community with a majority of people working outside of town.

There’s a trend forming here and it didn’t take too long for me to figure it out.

The focal point of the Milton Transit system is the GO Station and people who need to take the GO Train out of town SHOULD be encouraged to use the transit system.  Its perfectly set up for them.  Where is the advertising from Milton Transit to those riders?  Why don’t we see any programs available for these individuals like reduced rates, free days, etc to help promote the ease of taking the transit to the GO Station instead of trudging up Thompson Road first thing in the morning to complain about the number of lights and how slow it is.

If I had to take the GO Train out of town, Id be taking the bus believe me.  Problem is that aspect of the convenience of Milton Transit isn’t being talked about.  They just went ahead and spent millions on new buses and thought people will come in droves.  That kind of thinking reminds me of the movie FIELD OF DREAMS… “If you build it they will come.”

Not the case in the real world.  So instead of making comments like “use it or lose it”, we need to see some leadership and out of the box thinking.  Maybe the routes need to be changed in order to accommodate people who would like to shop and eat downtown to take the bus instead of a car.

Just imagine if they could go back in time and do some market research to find out if the system that was in place was acceptable to the potential transit rider.  Imagine if they surveyed people who drive from all parts of Milton to the GO Transit station and informed them of the routes in place, and offered an incentive for them to use.

There is a current promotion right now for free rides to the Milton Library for people under the age of 14.

Read and Ride Program for Summer 2009

Milton Transit and the Milton Public Library are teaming up for the Read and Ride Program. If you are 14 years of age or younger, you can ride the bus for free to the library to enjoy special summer reading programs, books, magazines and more, courtesy of Milton Transit. (Ride all over town for free, too!)

Visit the library as of mid-June to obtain a transit sticker for your library card. Ride Milton Transit all over town for free by presenting your stickered library card on the bus. Stickers are valid from July 6 to August 28; parent/guardian fare still applies. For information on summer reading programs at the library, visit Milton Public Library or call 905-875-2665.

Great idea but…people are still going to be required to take a bus, then transfer to another bus in order to get to the library no matter what part of town they are coming from outside of Route 2 on the map.  If someone from north of Main Street along Route 1 or Route 4 or Route 5 wants to take advantage of this program, transfering buses WILL be required.  Also, the fare is free for the child under 14 but not the parent or guardian taking the child to the library.

Will this promotion work?  Will having this available to students under 14 years old intice a parent or guardian to take their kids to the Milton Library on Milton Transit?  What do you think?

Our town has grown rapidly in the last several years and will continue to do so in the near future.  A new campus of WLU is being built shortly and there will be lots of students with or without cars who will need the convenience of a transit system to get about town.  Hundreds of homes are being built on the west side of town which means more congestion on the streets for people travelling around town.

Given these future changes, I think its time for our local government to take a long and hard look at the transit system that’s in place, admit that its been a colossal failure and the millions spent on the new buses was a mistake, and try to find a way to fix it before any more money is wasted.

This goes back to something I talked about during the last municipal campaign…door knocking.  Everyone, including myself, knocked on doors during the campaign.  What I talked about was continuing that in between election campaigns.  How do you know what the people are thinking if you don’t ask them.  You can continue to hold meetings that a majority of people wont attend and then say “see…no one cares.” or you can get out there and talk to people directly.  You can ask them face to face what they think and what advice they might have.

Democracy is a two way street.  People expect that their elected representatives wont forget about them the 3 or so years in between votes.  Problem is, no one is seen going door to door to get peoples opinions.  Maybe they’re afraid of what they hear?

Milton Budget 2009

Mike Cluett

The Town of Milton has now posted links to the 2009 proposed budget as it promised last week.  Here is the link to the details.  I know it sounds “so interesting” (insert sarcasm here) but do take a few moments to at least skim over the details. 

Ill be providing some analysis soon as well and my thoughts of the spending priorities and if we can pressure the Town Council to pull back on their proposed 5.6 per cent tax increase.

http://milton.ca/townhall/townpublications/budgets.htm

The budget goes up for discussion at Town Hall on December 8th and 9th.  If anyone is looking at making a presentation to council they can contact the clerks office up until the day of the meeting at 10am.  If you want your voice and opinion heard, take some time and register to speak.  Council meetings are for everyone so head on down to town hall and speak out.

Town Council to discuss tax increase

Mike Cluett

As reported in todays Champion, Milton Town Council will be discussing a potential tax increase of 5.6 per cent on December 8th.

One can only hope that council will take its time during the budget disscussions and do everything possible to limit the increase to todays rate of inflation.

Last years increase of 6.6 per cent was bad enough but with the coming turmoil in the economy (some say its already hit us) taxpayers are going to be once again stretched to the limit.

The budget proposal is to be expected on the town website www.milton.ca (if its not already there) for viewing and they are inviting input from the community as well before the budget comes to council on December 8.

With the Region of Halton proposing an increase and the boards of education also considering an increase, we as taxpayers need to voice our opinion.

Tell your councillors what you think.

Councillors Brian Penman and Rick Day need to hear from you.

Once the proposal is posted on the website, ill provide a link and some analysis as well.

Time to expand Greenbelt?

Mike Cluett

This from todays Globe and Mail.  With the changes that are being made and expanding the provinces green belt (ie cant build here legislation) it could definately throw a monkey wrench in municipalities plans for further growth.  Just a couple of years ago, Dalton McQuinty made changes to the “Places to Grow” quotas for population growth and places like Georgetown, Oakville and Milton among others made changes to their development plans.

Now it seems the province wants to change the rules again without making amendments to the other legislation.  This esssentially means that the province wants more people in smaller areas.  Seeing how theyve laid the ground work for more people or population density in a specific area…they have now made that specific area much smaller.

For those of us who like Milton the way it is (minus all the highrise apartments that dot the skyline of places like Toronto, Mississauga etc) might be in for a fight.  WIth Premier Dalton and the Ontario government making these changes, it will force municipalities to make more changes to their official plans for growth, change bylaws that are in place for height restrictions on buildings like we have here in Milton, and before you know it Dalton and his boys have just erased the view of the escarpment for 90% of us. 

And its not just that.  Milton, for all its good and bad, has a certain feel to it.  We can drive in along Derry Road or Britannia Road, enjoy a bit of farmland (at least for the time being) and have our view unobscured by large apartments and condo developments.  Things are definately in for a change.

New greenbelt rules poorly timed, industry says

JAMES RUSK

August 25, 2008

A move by the province to give municipalities authority to expand the 1.8-million-acre Greater Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt has come at the wrong time, according to the development industry.

Last week, the province published criteria for the expansion of the protected lands at municipal behest. It included a requirement that municipalities could propose changes in the greenbelt boundaries only after public consultation and approval by both local and upper-tier municipalities.

The new rules are unlikely to have an immediate impact on the development pattern in the Golden Horseshoe. However, they have the potential to drive the next generation’s development farther away from Toronto, if municipalities close to the city choose to expand the greenbelt.

To get provincial approval, a municipality would have to show that the new boundary meets the same criteria for the protection of land with environmental or agricultural importance that the province used to establish the original greenbelt legislation in 2005.

When the province created the greenbelt, some municipalities, such as Waterloo Region and Wellington County, argued that it should have been larger. The province brought down its new rules in response to this pressure.

What upsets industry is the possibility that the latest change could throw a last-minute curve at municipal efforts to bring official plans in line with the provincial Places To Grow Act, which sets population and density targets for the most populous urban area in Canada.

“This is premature and a potential distraction,” Stephen Dupuis, chief executive officer at the Building Industry and Land Development Association, said in an interview.

Municipalities have been scrambling to align official plans with the Places to Grow Act by a provincial deadline of next June, but under the new greenbelt criteria, a municipality “may initiate a request to grow the greenbelt at the same time as it is undertaking its Growth Plan conformity exercise,” the province said.

“All these municipalities are working on a conformity exercise, and hopefully, they are going to meet the deadline. But you throw this into the mix, and they could be sidetracked. The next thing you know, this could be an excuse for delay,” Mr. Dupuis said.

Tony Guergis, warden of Simcoe County, a municipality in which environmentalists have said the greenbelt should be expanded, said he welcomed the new greenbelt authority for municipalities as a confirmation of the county’s ability to protect the environment.

Even so, he said, “we could have planned without it. The County of Simcoe’s new official plan protects over a third of the entire county as it is. I think we are well on the way to achieving and meeting what it is … that is what this direction from the province is trying to get at.”

As well as Simcoe County, other areas where an expanded greenbelt might come into play are Caledon, Halton Hills, and the outer parts of the Golden Horseshoe such as Waterloo Region or neighbouring Wellington County, which surrounds the city of Guelph, an industry analyst said.

But attempts to expand the greenbelt could pit countryside landowners against city folk.

When the province set the greenbelt boundaries three years ago, some councillors in Halton Hills thought that another 7,000 acres of the town should be included, but they backed off when farmers complained that it would deprive them of retirement incomes when they sold their farms.

In the longer term, the possibility of expanding the greenbelt raises two other vital issues.

One is where growth will go once current development areas are built out. Currently, the land zoned agricultural that lies outside urban boundaries acts as a reserve for the period beyond 3031, when urban areas are expected to be built out.

If the greenbelt line moves, it will change the urban development pattern. “Growth pressure had to find an outlet,” Mr. Dupuis said.

The other issue is that the new plan could create political tensions inside two-tier municipal and regional governments. If lower-tier municipalities respond to pressure to limit growth by proposing changes to greenbelt boundaries, it would shift the growth pressure to a neighbouring municipality, said a development-industry executive who asked not to be named.