milton

Public Input Sessions – Bruce Street Library

Mike Cluett

Public Input Sessions – Bruce Street Library

In the Spring of 2011, the main library and library administration that are currently housed at 45 Bruce Street and 407 Pine Street will be moving to a larger facility, with the completion of the new Milton Centre for the Arts.  This relocation presents the opportunity to consider alternatative uses for the two buildings including the following:

  • services for the youth
  • services for seniors
  • services for non profit organizations
  • modified library services
  • other

The Town of Milton invites you to learn more about the feasibility study for future use options at these locations and to provide input into future use options to be presented to Milton Town Council in 2011.

Sessions will include

  • updates on the study
  • feedback attained from stakeholder groups
  • proposed alternative uses for the buildings
  • question & answer period

The date for these public input sessions are:

Tuesday December 7, 2010

Milton Seniors Activity Centre (500 Childs Drive, Milton ON)

Session 1:  3pm to 5pm

Session 2: 7pm to 9pm

 

Residents Association Formed

Mike Cluett

If you go way back in the archives of this blog…way back to the 2006 campaign, I made a point that residents should be more engaged in the political process locally.  There are many ways to accomplish this.  One of them is making sure that residents are informed as much as possible about decisions that affect them directly and indirectly.  I stressed during this campaign that I would make sure I continue to knock on doors in between election campaigns, and not just during them.

If there was a public meeting coming up about an issue that would affect residents, I will do my best to get out there and inform people of that meeting, whats being discussed, how it will affect them and how they can participate.  Not everyone can make every town hall or public meeting, but I will make sure they have a voice around the table.

Another great way is by a residents association or Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC).  These groups are usually formed when the local officials aren’t listening to the needs and concerns of residents.  Recently, there was a new association formed in the Hawthorne Village area, which encompasses Ward 6, but it was formed for an entirely different reason.

During the last election campaign, I noticed an increase in awareness of local issues by residents in my ward.  Other councillors and candidates would say the same thing.  The Hawthorne Village Residents Association (HVRA) was formed by several concerned residents to be a part of the process, to stay involved and to work with council when decisions are being made.  I applaud all the members and participants in this process and will do my best to work with them and keep the lines of communication open.

Christina Commisso at the Milton Canadian Champion did an article recently about the formation of the HVRA.  Congratulations to Martin Capper and Andrew Salmons for co-chairing this committee as well as the many people who signed up.  We can only hope this will help enhance the flow of communication from town council to the residents in Milton.

Here is the article from the Champion.

Residents group forms

Christina Commisso, CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF November 16, 2010

What started as an online discussion following the municipal election has ballooned into a newly-formed residents group that hopes to strengthen the lines of communication between Miltonians and town council.

“We started with a post on the Hawthorne Villager (website), which got 1,600 hits and 60 posts from 20 different people in a matter of days,” said Martin Capper, co-chair of the Hawthorne Village Residents Association (HVRA).

The group isn’t exclusive to Hawthorne Village residents — it’s open to all Miltonains, he said.

CLICK ON THE LINK FOR MORE.

For more information, email HawthorneVillageRA@gmail.com.

Sign Casualties

Mike Cluett

Having been through some campaigns in the past, I have found that sometimes there are casualties. The casualties in this case are lawn signs.

Election signs are an integral part of campaigning. They serve a number of purposes to the community as a whole. They provide an opportunity for people to show their friends and neighbours who they are supporting in the election campaign. Its a very humbling experience to drive down a row of homes and see your name many times over, and it never grows old on you.

Signs also tell the broader community that there is an election going on. Before the signs went up around town many people didn’t realize that this was an election year and it helps raise awareness to everyone to start looking around and do some research on the people running in your area.

As candidates have been running from home to home (at least you HOPE they are) part of the campaign experience is to design and order your signs. I was lucky that I had quite a few remaining from my previous campaign, so I have been able to recycle mine this time around.

You can see by the picture above that signs also become targeted and in a battle, most times don’t survive. If you have been following me on Twitter the last couple of weeks, you have read that my signs have been vandalized by individuals. Sometimes its playfulness and the signs are lifted from the ground and tossed down. Believe me, I know that’s part of the game and it will continue to happen as long as there are election signs. Some the Town of Milton has been picking up and removing to make sure they can cut the grass safely. Again…no problems there as I or my team members go to the “sign jail” on Nippissing to pick them up the next day.

But many of my signs have suffered the same fate as the one shown above.

Over the last couple of weeks, part of my campaign duties has included sign repair and replacements.  It seems to be a growing trend this election that once both myself and my volunteers put them up, somehow they end up getting damaged beyond repair.  Not only is it illegal to destroy the signs, it doesn’t help in the general cleanliness of the Town. 

A BIG thank you goes to my friends and neighbours in the ward for offering to keep an eye on the signs in their area and report any damage or missing signs immediately.  That shows our community is looking out for each other.

Here is a link to the Town of Milton’s By-Law on election signs from the website.  Here you will find contact numbers in case you have any questions.  If you feel that a candidate has placed a sign on your lawn without your permission, or if you feel a sign has been placed illegally you can contact the clerks office and let them know.

If you see someone destroying signs or vandalizing them, please contact the Halton Police Department.  It is a crime.  I know this topic has been discussed at council a few times recently as well as the Milton Community Policing Committee (of which I am a member) and it is looked upon as a crime…not a joke.

If you see signs that have been damaged or are in disrepair, please contact the candidate as soon as possible.  There are just about 20 days left until Election Day and there are also a number of opportunities for people to vote ahead of time in advance polls (Check out my Election section in the site) so get out and be informed.

And if you see me on the side of the road repairing signs give me a honk!  But until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Milton Santa Claus Parade 2009

Mike Cluett

Anthony reminded me yesterday that hes beginning to write up a list for Christmas.  I thought at first…Christmas?  Yikes.

With last weekends fantastic weather, people all over Milton (with the execption of yours truly haha) were putting up Christmas lights to make sure they wouldnt be the ones climbing up and down ladders in sub zero temperatures.  With the coming of the holiday season brings Santa Claus in Milton.

The Milton Santa Claus parade is scheduled for November 22nd at 2pm.  You can go to the Milton HQ for Santa here and see all the details of the route.  Volunteers are always needed so please contact them if you have some time or if you’d like to help out along the parade as marshals.  The more the merrier.  Contact Dianna Bracken at lauranne62@hotmail.com or 905-875-2109.

Looking forward to seeing you along the route.  It’s been said by many people that Milton’s parade is one of the best if not THE best in the area with thousands making their way to downtown Milton to take part.  The floats are amazing and the community spirit of Milton really shines during this time.

See you there!

More people agree about aggressive drivers

Mike Cluett

As I pointed out in a previous post, and commented on by another Milton blogger Zeeshan Hamid, there was a letter to the Champion outlining several instances of aggressive drivers in the Town of Milton.  It seems to be an ongoing problem with no real direction on what changes can be made.

Here’s Jean Paul’s letter this week.  It echos Cristina’s letter from last week.

What can be done?  There seems to be two different problems here.  One of them is aggressive driving and speeding in residential areas and the second being on the main roads like Derry and James Snow Parkway among other major intersections.

traffic calmingI’ve talked about traffic calming zones with speed bumps for residential streets to force drivers to slow down in areas around schools and where kids walk and play.  On the Hawthorne Villager Forum, people have talked about other ideas that possibly include a form of photo radar.

Raising awareness doesnt seem to work well.  You can have blitzes by police on a regular basis, but it seems that people go back to their old habits of driving 10km/hr over the speed limit because they can get away from it.

Why not make the speed limit 40km/hr in every residential area…no execptions.  If youre driving around homes, where there could be children crossing the street or bikes on the road the limit is 40km/hr.  This way if police do catch speeders, the fines will be increased and maybe someone will think twice about going over the speed limit.

There have been comparisons to speeding on the highways and the main streets and residential streets, and to me there is a huge difference.  Highways have an “allowance” of being over the speed limit.  Thats what fast lanes are for I’m told.

The fact of the matter is there are no fast lanes on Derry Road, Clark Blvd, Ferguson, Louis St Laurent, Trudeau or any other residentail street.  That arguement is mute.

It seems to be an ongoing issue.  Any ideas out there?  Let’s discuss.

mcclogo
 
Sep 04, 2009
DEAR EDITOR:

In regard to Cristina Drapeau’s recent letter about aggressive drivers in Milton, I couldn’t agree with her more.

I have lived in Milton for about seven years now and shortly after moving in I started to notice the exact same problems at the same intersections — Derry Road at Trafalgar Road and Derry at James Snow Parkway.

Other drivers have always used the merging lane as a quick pass lane and feel they have the right of way to merge aggressively.

I’ve witnessed a large amount of road rage and aggressive driving. Many of these drivers I see offend repeatedly on a daily basis. At least a few give a wave when you let them in.

Although I understand that the police can’t be everywhere all the time, I feel that everyone should know there’s something citizens can do about this problem. It’s called Community Road Watch.

It’s a community program where if you witness another driver demonstrating unsafe driving behaviour you can report that driver and incident.

The police will send the driver a letter explaining their unsafe behaviour and ask for their voluntary compliance.

If the driver receives multiple letters, then the police may contact the driver and potentially lay charges if they feel it necessary.

It’s quite simple to do. Just remember or jot down the information of the incident, including licence, vehicle, time, driver description, time, and location. You then report it by giving the report to your local police station.

There’s even an on-line system for reporting at www.haltonroadwatch.ca to make it even easier.

However, I do feel it’s important that one takes their time and considers what they’re reporting and if it’s correct or if we are letting our frustration get the better of us.

JOHN-PAUL DELSENY, MILTON

Sky is Falling and Paving Your Driveways

Mike Cluett

Happy Be-lated Easter everyone!

Its been a great weekend with the weather (albeit a bit cool) and fun Milton events. There was an event being held on Good Friday courtesy of The Village in town at the Milton Fairgrounds.

It was advertised as a free event, a massive “egg drop” for the kids in town and the first of its kind anywhere. If you did get a chance to come out, you were one of the few who didn’t. Close to 2000 people came out with their children in tow to take part, throwing the organizers for a loop, as they only expected 1/2 of that.

The winds were high early in the morning and they were not allowed to set the balloon aloft to the bright sky. The Milton firefighters improvised and raised their crane in the air and dropped hundreds of plastic eggs, each one containing a ticket to be redeemed for easter candy and prizes, into a crowd of children below.

Despite the extra numbers that did come out, it was a pretty good event, once again showcasing Milton as a family friendly town. Despite a few kids getting bumped around and temporarily getting lost, everyone seemed to have fun. Of course, as with any event, things can get better. Anthony and Miranda also had a blast to say the least.

Some other council notes: the new ward boundaries have been officially approved and will be in effect for the next election in 2010. Yes its only a year away. Only two councillors voted against the changes (Regional Councillor Colin Best and Town Councillor Jan Mowbray) siting reasons that the boundaries wont be accurately divided and they recommended that town staff take a further look to make sure its the best job it can be.

This means Milton will go from a 4 ward/2 councillor per ward system to an 8 ward/1 councillor per ward system. This should help increase accountability for our town representatives which would be a drastic improvement from what we have now. You can read some details here from the Champion.

Also included in that update is councils decision to allow people to pave their driveways to have 2 car parking, even if it means paving part of your lawn.

Driveway expansions approved

Residents with a home that has at least a 26-foot frontage will now be able to expand their driveways to fit two cars, even if it means paving over a portion of their lawn.

Council approved the changes to the zoning by-law last week in an effort to accommodate the needs of residents with multiple cars, some of whom have resorted to parking on their lawn as the Town doesn’t allow street parking for more than three hours.

The Town still requires enough green space such as a lawn or garden to allow for water filtration.

This doesnt mean someone could pave their entire lawn for driving, as you do need enough room on the lawn to allow for the flow of water. For some time there has been a debate, especially in the new area of Milton, about people and their parking habits. Residents have been coming up with creative ways of parking which include on the road, in the driveways with the end of the car over the road (risking tickets and raising safety issues) and also parking perpendicular at the end of the driveway. All of the fault seems to be laid squarely at the towns feet…unfairly to say the least. They may not have taken this kind of growth into consideration but as one of my neighbours said to me recently “no one held a gun to their head to buy the house knowing they had 2 or 3 cars”.

True enough … and what about the garage?