milton town councillor mike cluett

Letters to Editor re: garbage

Mike Cluett

As I have brought up here on my site a few times, there has been a growing concern with the amount of trash collecting along the side of Louis St Laurent in ward 6.  Since the opening of the new high school (Craig Kielburger Secondary School) earlier last month, there has been a growing problem regarding garbage.

This frustration has led to what I assume is more than one letter to the editor of the Milton Canadian Champion.

Dear Editor:

I’m a Milton resident and I live close to the new Craig Keilburger Secondary School at the corner of Fourth Line and Louis St. Laurent Avenue.

Since school began, there has been a huge increase in the amount of garbage along the bike path and sidewalk area running from the high school to the Metro plaza.

Recently, while I was out for a walk with my family, my husband picked up a full shopping bag worth of trash.

I have noticed two garbage bins put in by the Town along this stretch, however, they quickly overflow. Two isn’t enough.

Brenda Lacey

Milton

Thank you Brenda for sending that letter.  What follows here are not excuses for the garbage, but it can provide a little insight as to what has happened and what we are doing at the Town of Milton to address it.

When the new high school opened in September there were some delays in the completion of the school cafeteria.  From what I understand now, those issues have been fixed and it is now functional for students to eat their lunches during break time.  Seeing how the students didn’t have anywhere to go for lunch hour, many students (and I do mean MANY) made their way up Louis St Laurent Avenue towards the Metro mall for lunch.

What was happening on the way back is the students ended up throwing their garbage along side of the road as they returned to school.  This as you can expect, caused quite a bit of mess and that is unacceptable.

The town has now installed two garbage containers alongside the street with the hopes the students at CKSS will use them to dispose of their garbage as they head back to school.  So far, its seems to have improved, but not to the point where I or any resident in the area would find to be acceptable.

The students are being urged by their principal through announcements and assemblies not to toss their waste along the street at any time and hopefully the message will get through to them.  Another problem that has come up with the installation of the garbage containers is some people in the area are using them for their own garbage.  This causes them to overflow, and in turn doesn’t help at all solving the problem.

If you miss your Monday morning garbage pickup, please do not use these containers for your excess bags.  Staff is aware of the problem and is doing what it can to pick up the waste when it does overflow so that we don’t continue to have this problem.

I would just like to let residents in the area know that we are looking into it and doing what we can to help solve the problem.  Personally, I would like to ask students at CKSS, many of them I met yesterday at the grand opening of their school to work with us, and not dump garbage on the road.  CKSS is now a big part of our area and some might say a second home to our kids and hopefully they will treat this “home” with the same respect they treat their own home and surrounding area.

Thank you for sending the letter with your concerns and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to call or email me mike.cluett@milton.ca anytime.

I’ll see you at the doors.

Official Opening of Craig Kielburger High School

Mike Cluett

It was more like a rock concert than an opening!  All the students of CKSS were in the gymnasium of their new school to celebrate in the opening of Milton’s newest high school.

The CKSS Spartan’s squad lead us with some great music and dancing.  There was singing by the glee club followed by student after student talking about what makes them different, yet the same, as each one of them declared afterwards that they “are the face of CKSS”

The excitement continued to build until what many were waiting for happened…Craig Kielburger was introduced to a standing ovation.  He talked about is journey as a 12 year old speaking to politicians and government officials to do something that many want to do…change the world.

He spoke passionately about his teachers, his parents and his family.  Everyone who supported him in his journey.  Many would have said a 12 year old couldn’t make a difference in the world…but he has.  Craig told us stories of people who inspired him in other countries to continue his quest and how deeply honoured he was to be there today.  Looking around at the students in attendance, you could see they were hanging on every word.  The opening ended with a mini concert from the band Neverest.  Once it was over students surrounded him to shake his hand and meet with him personally.  Like I said, it was like a rock concert.

Thank you to everyone involved in the organization of today’s event and I am very honoured to have been invited to attend along with Principal Donna Taylor, Mayor Krantz, Halton school board trustees Donna Danielli and Nancy MacNeil and the teachers of CKSS among others in attendance.

Congratulations on a fantastic opening and good luck with the rest of the school year and the years to come.  Im very proud that in 2 years my son Anthony will be able to attend CKSS as they are laying the ground work of a successful curriculum and a great learning environment.

Milton Hospital Expansion News

Mike Cluett

This is great news!  Slowly but surely the process of the expansion of our hospital continues.  Many thanks to all Miltonians who over the last several years fought with us to ensure this happens as quickly as possible.

Released today via Halton Healthcare Services website.

For immediate release
October 4, 2012

Milton Hospital Expansion Launches Into Next Stage of Planning

Staff and physicians at Halton Healthcare Services (HHS) are working diligently ‘behind the scenes’ as plans for a significant expansion at Milton District Hospital continue to develop.
In April 2012, Halton Healthcare Services received a $22.5 million Planning & Design grant from the provincial government to fund the prepatory work that must take place before the first shovels hit the ground.  Work on the project has now proceeded to the next stage of planning – the development of the Functional Program.

The Functional Program is an essential planning document that outlines all the functions, operations, staffing, major equipment, room and space requirements for each department or service in order to describe the components of the expansion. The Functional Program must be submitted to the Ministry of Health and Long‐Term Care for review before the Hospital can continue its work with the architects on the more detailed design work.

“I am very pleased that we are launching into the functional programming stage of the project. Through this process we will identify the equipment and staffing requirements and also lay out the detail necessary for the architectural design and construction phase of this exciting project,” said Al Coady, Executive Director of Milton Redevelopment at HHS. “It really is a cornerstone document for us because it forms the basis for all the future planning and design decisions that will need to be made as we move forward in the process.”

The development of the Functional Program involves numerous HHS employees organized into teams based on the area or department in which they work.  These teams consist of managers, key staff members, representatives of the medical staff and, in some instances, the senior team member responsible for that area. The Hospital’s Functional Program teams have already started meeting in order to ensure the plan is submitted to the Ministry in November 2012.

“There is a tremendous amount of work to be completed prior to the start of construction. We are very excited to begin this planning because we know that each stage we complete brings us one step closer to getting this project into the ground,” said John Oliver, HHS President & CEO.

Milton District Hospital was built in 1959 and, following the Hospital’s last major expansion in 1987, was prepared to meet the healthcare needs of a population of 32,000 people. With the Town’s population nearing 100,000 and growing, this much needed expansion will approximately triple the size of the current facility.

The approval for the expansion at Milton District Hospital was announced by the Honourable Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long‐Term Care at an event held on August 25, 2011. Plans for the Hospital’s expansion include new space for the Emergency Department, Diagnostic Imaging Department, Maternal Child Unit, Surgical Suites, Intensive Care Unit and the Medical Surgical Inpatient Units.

“Ensuring Milton families have access to the primary care services they need is among the highest priorities for Halton Healthcare Services,” concluded Mr. Oliver. “In order to do that, we absolutely need a larger more modern facility, right here in Milton.”

Contact:
Andrea Korol
Communications Specialist, Redevelopment
Halton Healthcare Services
905‐878‐2383, ext 6531
akorol@haltonhealthcare.on.ca

UPDATE On Construction Louis St Laurent

Mike Cluett

I know I havent been updating my blog as much recently and I thought occured that I do one REALLY BIG one.  Sort of an omnibous blog post.  Theres so much going on in Ward 6 and surrounding areas it would be too much to read and to post.  So stick around, you’ll see more updates coming including information on the most recent public meeting on the Milton Education Village, updates on the new Blue Boxes that are coming from the Region of Halton as well as changes to the bag limits for collection.

As many people in Milton have now noticed, the intersection of Thompson Road and Louis St Laurent has been under construction from Sept 29th to most recently today.  That intersection should be fully operational by the days end, which I know is a relief to those who live on Kennedy Circle on both sides of Thompson.  I know that because many of you have called and emailed me.  We thank you for your patience during this process and the construction was only extended an extra day (TODAY) so they were pretty good at keeping their deadline.

The contstruction will continue westward on Louis St Laurent towards Hwy 25 (Ontario Street – Bronte Road) to complete the water main installation from the Region of Halton.

Stay tuned to my Twitter account for up to the moment details of road construction in and around Milton.  Thank you to everyone for your kind comments on Twitter and email about the information I post here and on other forums (Facebook, Hawthorne Villager) in keeping with my promise of informing residents of whats happening in town.  I really do appreciate them.

Thanks again to everyone for their patience, and I’ll see you at the doors.

UPDATE on CKSS Intersection

Mike Cluett

Once again, I’d like to thank everyone who has called, emailed or spoken directly with me regarding the situation at Craig Kielburger Secondary School.  Some will have seen that since the opening of the school in September, there has been concerns for the safety of the students due to traffic, lack of traffic calming measures and garbage.  Here is the most recent update.

As a result of many studies in the area surrounding CKSS at Ferguson and Louis St Laurent, staff will be moving forward with a recommendation to install traffic light at that intersection.

From Engineering Services

Please be advised that we have completed a number of traffic studies at this intersection related to the opening of Craig Kielburger Secondary School.

We completed a study for an all-way stop and the warrants weren’t fulfilled due to the low side street volume. The all-way stop warrant doesn’t take into consideration pedestrian volumes.

We did a study for an Intersection Pedestrian Signal (IPS) and warrants were fulfilled we also ran the warrants for a set of traffic control signals and warrants were also fulfilled.

As a result we will be installing a full set of traffic control signals at this intersection.  We will be starting the design and begin ordering the required equipment within the next two weeks.

Once I have a schedule of when the construction will commence and an anticipated completion date I will advise everyone.

As soon as the date of installation is known to us, I will post it here.

This just leads me to ask people in the area to take caution, as they normally should in school zones, while driving along Louis St Laurent Ave towards the school.  There has been and will continue to be a lot of water main construction going on and coupling that with increased traffic (both vehicles and pedestrian) it can lead to something we don’t want to deal with.

To address a number of concerns with reference to garbage along Louis St Laurent, that is also being addressed.  You will notice a few garbage containers installed along the street to allow students and others to place their garbage in the receptacles instead of on the road or on people’s property.  It’s also good to note this ISNT a location to dump your garbage if you missed the pickup.  Staff will be monitoring the area to make sure they are emptied when full and the area is kept clean.

I have also been in contact with the principal of CKSS and the area school board trustee and they are informing students via announcements and other measures, to help keep the area clean when they’re walking on Louis St Laurent towards the Metro mall before, at lunch and after school.

Bus drop off locations are being looked at as well, so it limits the potential of traffic backup along LSL in the morning and in the afternoon.  Drivers should be aware of this and Halton Police will also be monitoring the area for speeding, jaywalking and other infractions as well.

It’s a growing process.  And right now we’re going through some growing pains.  It helps when we all work together to make sure our students get to and from school safely.

If anyone has any concerns, please feel free to email me mike.cluett@milton.ca or to give me a call. 

Possible Cedar Head Road Closure Soon

Mike Cluett

From the Town of Milton website:

Notice is hereby given pursuant to Section 11(3) of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, Chapter 25, as amended, that Council of the Town of Milton at its meeting to be held in Town Hall, 150 Mary Street, on September 24, 2012 beginning at 7:00 p.m. will consider the adoption of a bylaw(s) authorizing a temporary closure of Cedar Hedge Road between a point 160m north of Laurier Avenue/Croft Avenue to the north limit of the road in order to facilitate pavement improvements and the installation of sanitary sewer, storm sewer and watermains to provide services for future residential development.

The temporary closure will be in effect from October 1, 2012 until December 31, 2012.

Plans detailing the project are available for viewing at The Town of Milton, Engineering Services, 2nd Floor, 150 Mary Street.

On September 24, 2012, Milton Town Council will give consideration to the proposed bylaw. At this meeting, Milton Town Council will hear, in person, or by their counsel, any person who applies to be heard. Persons wishing to be heard must notify the Clerk’s Department in writing, no later than 10 a.m. September 24, 2012. Further information regarding this process can be found at www.milton.ca

You can also email me mike.cluett@milton.ca if you would like more information on how you can have your say.