milton

New Additions

Mike Cluett

It has been sometime, yet again, where I have been a tad busy to update the blog and let people in on whats going on in the Cluett family.  The reason why I have been so busy is that we welcomed a new addition to the family a couple of weeks ago. 

Namely our new daughter Miranda.

She was born at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, weighing in at 6 lbs and 10 oz’s.  Both Pat and Miranda are doing very well and we are all enjoying this new foray in to parenthood.  My biggest worry about being a father of a new born is “will I remember how to do all of this again?”

The answer is yes, of course you remember it.  Its just like riding a bike, but the tires are a bit flatter and you move a little slower, especially after 7 years.

This time around was a lot less stressfull than the first time, partly due to the fact we knew what to expect this time.  It was a scheduled section at the hospital on April 30th and we both remarked as we casually walked into the entrance that it was much different than the last time.  With Anthony we were ushered into the lobby of the hospital in a speeding taxi cab in the middle of the night.

Anthony’s being a complete star about everything and has fallen in love with his little sister from the moment he laid eyes on her.  His FIRST reaction however was a bit concerning.  My mother, who is in for a visit from Newfoundland and Anthony were staying at the Delta Chelsea Hotel on the day of the birth so that they can come visit when Pat was sent to her hospital room.

So after she was resting in the recovery room, I made my way out to the lobby to make my designated 4,209 calls to everyone who wanted to know when it happened.  I also had my blackberry with me so I could send some emails and update Facebook with comments, and the official birth announcement but I was too scared to use it in front of the nurses.  I called the hotel room and both my mom and Anthony picked up the phone at the same time.  “You have a little sister!” I told Anthony and after a slight pause he says “OH MAN” and hangs up the phone!  NOT the reaction I was lookign for.

We made our way to the hospital from the hotel a couple of blocks away and from the moment he laid eyes on her, he was hooked.  THAT was the reaction I was looking for.  Hes been a stellar big brother so far but he only has one condition that he doesnt change ANY diapers.  OK…. for now!

Pat and I are adjusting well to the late night feedings and the interupted sleep patterns and crying babies and smelly diapers…and we wouldnt change it for the world.  Yes, it is like riding a bike, with the tires a tad flatter in my case.  Where did I put that bike pump?

 

Are you worried?

Mike Cluett

I had an opportunity to talk with a friend today that I havent spoken with for some time. Getting passed the usual questions about how are you and the family etc he asked what I did. “I sell leasing!” I replied.

You would have to have your head under a rock for the past several months not to realize our economy is going through some “interesting times” as the old saying goes. Especially in this industry.

I started working for a leasing company back in November of 2006. It was a smaller outfit, just getting started in the equipment leasing industry as a funder. They hired an aggressive sales staff (yours truly included) and we made our way out into the field…feet in the street. For a few months things were going quite well. New vendors were being signed up and deals were getting booked. The company was beginning to grow in leaps and bounds as the staff total ballooned from 10 core employees to close to 30 in a short time.

Then the brakes hit. Back in August as many avid readers of the financial newspapers know, the asset backed commercial paper industry took a nose dive into the sewers. Strong companies like Coventree took a huge hit and their stock price plummeted from a 52 week high of $ 16.30 to currently $ 2.50 per share.

Funding lines dried up faster than a glass of water in the desert and we were left with nothing really. The company tried its best over the coming months to secure some more funding, all the while selling off leases to other companies to make sure the lights stayed on. Needless to say, it didnt work and this young upstart of a company closed its doors officially in January of this year. Many of the staff have found other jobs, mainly in the leasing industry and we still keep in touch.

One of the things ive been asked is, why stay in it. Asset backed commercial paper still is in flux and other financial institutions are going through some massive changes. Recently GE purchased several divisions of Citifinancial and even one of the biggy’s in the industry CIT has now drained its $7.3 billion credit line. Why stay in it?

From a business sense, the leasing industry is going to go though more ups and downs over the next year or so but I think it offers up an opportunity for growth. With many of our current and potential customers trying to make plans over this tumultuous period of time, conserving cash will be paramount. Many people feel that during a recession (yes the ugly dreaded R word) is the perfect time for expansion and growth. While others close up their doors or scale back what they do in their business, others can reach out to grab more market share. To do this you can do a few things. Tap into your reserves and make acquisitions. But with uncertainty in our economy, do you really want to drain your savings in the hope something might work out? Other options include going to your bank to extend or use your credit lines.

This can be a lengthly process and with the tightening of the money supply by many of the big financial institutions, it will be a tall order to get more credit from your banks. Many of the major banks in Canada have been hit, whalopped, or just smacked around by the sub prime credit mess in the US and will be a little apprehensive to increase the credit lines of companies.

Leasing looks to be a very viable option for many companies looking to expand, get more equipment and prepare to take more market share. Now depending on what your product is, leasing might not be the right thing for you. If you sell individual widgets it wont be the right course of action to offer leasing to your customers to help you sell. If youre a company whos looking to increase the amount of equipment used to produce your widgets, then this can be looked at.

If youre a company looking to offer their customers another option to purchase your equipment, than leasing is something that you need to look at. The benefits to customers are great as they can acquire your equipment, conserve their capital and improve their cash flow. Payments are fixed over a period of time so you can properly budget out payments and also potentially take advantage of some tax benefits that come with leasing.

A company properly positioned in this “interesting” market can take advantage of these opportunities and thats why I think theres definitely room for growth. Thats why I guess I stay in the leasing business.

Needless to say the few months are going to be “interesting” to say the least but it keeps you on your toes. No one can say for certain whats going to happen with the asset backed commercial paper market in the next 6 months. More companies can fall, more can be sold and many more will be in limbo. Theres the impending real estate bubble burst in real estate that might throw a monkey wrench into the mix. Some out there are talking about impeding doom in that market, some others are taking a wait and see.

Theres just so much going on in the financial industry, how CAN you leave? Its fun when the market stumbles a bit. Thats it, Im done. My “leasing commercial” is done. In case you need to know more, you can check out HERE for more information.

Milton Santa Claus Parade

Mike Cluett

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Hundreds of people began lining the Main Street parade route as early as 1pm. Prime seats became hard to get for a great parade that gets better year after year and this year was no different.

Friends alike were seen along the parade route. Some people I haven’t seen in some time and a few people from out of town (as far as Orangeville I heard) to see what all the fuss was about. People come from far and wide to take part in Milton’s Santa Claus Parade.

Milton’s Santa Claus parade has a reputation for being one of the best in Ontario, let alone one of the best in Canada. This year had a bit of extra attention across Canada.

I opened my Friday’s edition of the National Post to see the result of a story first published in the Milton Canadian Champion by Melanie Hennessey. Organizers of the Milton Santa Claus parade had some hard decisions to make to keep the parade from becoming too long. They had made the decision to cut down on the extra cars or floats by asking Regional Chair Gary Carr, Halton MPP Ted Chuldliegh and Halton MP Garth Turner not to take part in this years parade.

Having politicians in a parade like this is tradition as far as I’m concerned. It goes along with all the other businesses and organizations that take part and create floats or cars or trucks.

I have no problem with having our local members being a part of the parade. But in the same breath, I am not the ones organizing. One would have to realize that hundreds and hundreds of hours are being volunteered by an untold number of people over the course of the year. To give you an idea, shortly after the new year the committee will reconvene to plan next years parade. Thats almost a years worth of planning. The parade was looking to be long (and it was this year) and they needed to make some cutbacks. There were some people that planned on being a part of the parade but couldnt. They looked to the current participants and decided that they could cut it down by the number of floats by removing the politicians. A hard decision mind you, but a necessary one according to members of the committee.

I was asked today that if I won the election last year, would I be upset if I wasnt able to be part of the parade today. Of course I would be upset, but I would accept the decision of the committee and move on.

Only the Mayor of Milton was asked to be the only politician allowed to participate in the parade. The theme of this years parade was for the 150th anniversary, a committee I have been part of since its inception back in 2005, and the floats and parade participants were to promote our 150th birthday year.

While Mr. Carr and Mr. Chudleigh were upset at not being allowed to take part in their usual way, they both showed class and stated they understood the decisions of the committee and planned to abide by it. Ted Chudleigh said that he would probably sit along the parade route with others and enjoy it as a spectator.

Over the past week this battle of words with Mr. Turner and those involved in running the parade reached a fever pitch where on his blog Garth stated that “he would walk the parade route with his dog” defying the committee and their decision.

Its gone beyond stupidity now with Garth claiming theres a conspiracy against him, and how the parade committee is partisan against him and its a way of shielding children from politicians and the political process and on and on and on. Its become so laughable its hard to believe that a grown man is making this much of a fuss about it. I hope it just goes away.

For those of you who were wondering, and as far as I could see, Garth didnt make an appearance on the parade route. In fact his name was brought up a couple of times, but only after the Mr. Grinch character made his way down by us did the name Garth Turner come up. Those who did bother to talk about this whole mess mentioned that its blown out of proportion and “SOMEONE” should grow up. I concur.

If someone is that bound on being in a parade, and the committee continues with their “ban” on politicians next year, maybe he can get involved in a number of organizations in order to be part of the parade and wave. He might have to put away his MP HALTON sash, but at least he can sit an wave.

The parade reached us in downtown Milton at about 225pm and Santa made his way at about 350pm. That made for a very long parade. Just imagine if there were politicians in the parade, eh? HA.

A great parade again this year and the people who planned this event should be congratulated!!! Excellent work this year. Pictures to be up shortly and if you have any, please feel free to email them to mike@mikecluett.ca and I can post them here as well. To those who took part in the parade and kept the crowd laughing and cheering along the route, thank you. And to those who braved the chilly wind with their kids, and holding tightly their hot chocolate from Troy’s Diner, shivering along the streets….thank you for coming out.

A classy event for a classy town. And no one was arrested for crashing the parade. A good day all around. Merry Christmas everyone!

"Slow down and obey the rules of the road"

Mike Cluett

Intersection dangerous: residents

Nov 09, 2007

A local woman is calling on the Town to put a four-way stop at a south Milton intersection after her house was struck by a car on the weekend for the second time in five months.

Yates Drive resident Denise Dawes said people have been using her street as “their own little speedway” and ignoring the rules of the road, particularly around the corner of Yates and March Crossing. Her home is the second house in from the intersection.

“To have my house hit twice in a five-month period is a great indication that nobody is obeying the two stop signs that are there,” she said.

“I think it’s time that the (Town) planners rethink their decision about placing a four-way stop sign at this location. I’m living proof that there should be something there.” Dawes said while the first accident caused more damage to her house than the car that struck it, this time around one of the people in the vehicle required medical attention.

“I’m hoping and praying there isn’t a third time,” she said. “Frankly, I don’t want to come home and find my house surrounded by police tape because someone has lost their life due to the carelessness of some impatient driver.”

Town Engineering Services Director Paul Cripps said a traffic count was done at the intersection around 2005. At that point, the warrants weren’t met to implement an all-way stop.

He noted that another count will take place within the next two to three weeks provided the Town receives a formal request for it from the public. Dawes told the Champion she will be making such a request.

In addition to Dawes, local resident Mike Cluett — who has been a strong advocate for local road safety — thinks something needs to be done to rectify the situation at Yates Drive and March Crossing. He said he’s heard from residents in the area who either want a four-way stop at the intersection or even speed bumps.

“There are a number of options we’d like to look at,” he remarked. “(I support) anything that will make it safer for kids.”

Cluett also pointed out that traffic problems such as these aren’t just isolated to the one intersection. “There are problems on a number of streets in the new area of Milton,” he said. “We need to see what we can do to make streets safer.”

And as for Dawes, she has a simple message for those who speed down her street: “Slow down and obey the rules of the road.”

Melanie Hennessey can be reached at mhennessey@miltoncanadianchampion.com

Yates Drive and March Crossing

Mike Cluett

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Just the mere mention of that intersection causes many residents in the area to roll their eyes.

Why? We have seen many near misses of vehicles driving down Yates from Thompson Road with cars coming out of March Crossing. This weekend was no different.

Lets go back in time to this past summer around the dinner hour. Local residents were brought out of their homes with the sounds of screeching tires, loud thumps and a big bang. What had happened was a car traveling north on Yates Drive towards Bennett Blvd. at what witnesses describe as “over the speed limit”, narrowly missing a vehicle coming out on March Crossing into the intersection. This car swerved to miss that car, lost control and jumped the curb on the opposite side of the road and smash into a house. Luckily there was no one hurt, the car sustained some damage and the bay window of the home was damaged.

For those of us who live in the area know, kids are walking up and down the sidewalk heading to their friends homes or to the local parks and thank God no one was there was this happened.

Now, we go back to this past Saturday and the almost exact situation happened again. A car traveling up Yates Drive from Thompson Road heading towards Bennett Blvd. driving up the street, narrowly misses a car coming out from March Crossing, loses control and jumps the curb on the opposite side and hits the same house in almost the identical spot.

Enough is enough. Im not one person who favours putting stop signs at every intersection or reducing speed when there is no justification. Something has to change before any other home or God forbid, someone is injured or killed.

The speed limit on Yates Drive is 50km/hr. During last falls election campaign, I spoke with many people about community safety and what we as citizens can do to make our streets safer. Many of you favoured reducing the speed limit on streets. Is that enough?

Would a 40km/hr speed limit saved this home owner from yet another insurance claim and time away from their lives to repair the damage to their home that someone else caused? Maybe.

If the speed limit was reduced it might be cause for the driver to make sure they slow down. Who really knows.

Would a stop sign have done the trick? Again, who knows. If drivers know there is a stop sign approaching at that intersection, would they reduce their speed before they come to March Crossing?

Possibly. Only if people open their eyes and realize our residential and town roads are not speedways.

It’s frustrating to live in an area such as this with such amazing neighbours and people living in the subdivision to have to deal with this. The only thing we have left is to turn to the town of Milton and see what can be done.

For years now, residents have complained about speeding on our streets. To the town’s credit they have done some studies about excess speed on Yates Drive and have concluded it doesnt warrant a stop sign at this particular intersection.

My message, that I plan on delivering with the help of the local residents, is simply this.

Reduce the speed to 40km/h and / or put a 4 way stop at this intersection. By doing nothing, is simply condoning this behaviour and endorsing what has already happened.

The safety of the people in the area, their homes and our children are more important than worrying about if people will be inconvenienced by an additional stop sign.

Whats more important to you?

Is the Green Cart program enough

Mike Cluett

 

The Region of Halton recently announced that it was going forward with a Green Cart Program to help reduce the amount of waste that heads to our landfill site. In case people are unaware of where that landfill site is, take a trip down 25 (Bronte Road) south of Derry and you will soon see it.

There was quite the discussion during the last municipal election on what should be done with the landfill, which is quickly approaching capacity. With the hundreds and hundreds of new homes being built in the area there will be a further demand on that landfill and its up to us as residents to do our part.

The Region of Halton currently has the Blue Box program in place. You are to put glass, plastics etc in one box and in the other we place the acceptable paper products, boxes, etc. As of April 2008 it was announced that residents will be able to put all products into one box instead of separating it, given the improvement in the separation technology available.

During that campaign a debate raged on about the EFW (Energy From Waste) proposal that was put before Regional Council and the pros and cons involved. In essence, an incinerator would be built at the landfill and the waste would then be burned using clean technology to produce energy that would be used in the region of Halton and beyond. Coupled with this proposal there was the much maligned Pristine Power Plant issue that seemed to dominate the last half of the campaign.

Recently Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr along with council announced that it was putting the EFW option aside permanently and focusing only on the existing programs and the Green Cart.

Does it go far enough?

With our landfill approaching capacity quickly (some analysts have said that within 25 years Halton will be required to have another landfill or another option in place for our garbage) will simply placing household food scraps and other materials in our Green Box do the job? With the landfill approaching capacity by 2023 according to Halton Region analysis, we need to take sufficient action now. The addition of the Green Cart program will add 7 years to the life of the landfill where the EFW facility would solve our problems for close to 50 years from now.

The EFW program, according to the proposal and the experts would have added at least another 100 years to the life of the Halton landfill. Does the Green Cart program go far enough?

At first glance it would seem that unless I’m mistaken and someone can hopefully provide me with more information, that it would have little affect on the amount of garbage at the landfill. The Region of Halton, and residents in general, need to come up with a longer range plan to solve the landfill issue.

Of course costs will be a major factor in making this decision. Who pays for it, how will we pay for it, etc. But the main question remains, what will it cost if nothing gets done? What if we wait until the landfill is near capacity and decisions have to be made then? The cost to taxpayers will pale in comparison and who knows the effect on our environment.

The amount of available land is decreasing with every new resident that we welcome to the area. What other options are there available to increase the life of our landfill?

It seems that the easier political issue would be to scrap the EFW and go with the easier to sell Green Cart Program. Tough decision are going to have to be made NOW and not 25 years from now when our landfill is overflowing and the residents will be screaming for answers.

Lets look at all the options … now, before its too late. Food scraps and other items just wont cut it.