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Halton Police RIDE Program Kicks off December 4th

Mike Cluett
From the news release

Halton Regional Police Service to Launch Holiday R.I.D.E. Campaign December 4th

The Halton Regional Police Service will commence this year’s holiday R.I.D.E. campaign on December 4th at Thomas A. Blakelock High School in Oakville.

The Service has once again partnered with local students, businesses and community organizations for the sixth year to offer “RIDE 101”, a program designed to educate drivers, particularly young and future drivers of the importance and responsibility while driving and the consequences associated to mixing alcohol or drugs and operating a motor vehicle.

High schools from across the Region will be participating in the program, including:

Milton District High School – 396 Williams Avenue, Milton – December 5th

Burlington Central High School – 1433 Baldwin Street, Burlington – December 13th

Acton District High School – 21 Cedar Road, Acton – December 14th

The official launch will take place at Thomas A. Blakelock High School, 1160 Rebecca Street, Oakville, where Halton Police RIDE 101 officers will team up with students from Thomas A. Blakelock to distribute RIDE 101 educational information, provide students an opportunity to test roadside screening devices and put all students through a series of simulated ‘road side’ sobriety tests during a fun, yet educational format.

The night component will entail members of the student council assisting designated officers in speaking with drivers of stopped vehicles during a R.I.D.E. spot check and distributing ‘Think of Me’ cards and information pamphlets on the consequences of impaired driving. The ‘Think of Me’ cards are hand-drawn and coloured by grade four, five and six students and reflect on that child’s perception of drinking and driving.

The daytime component will be held within the school from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the spot checks will be conducted from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. out front of the school.

The Halton Regional Police are grateful for the community partners who are supportive of this worthy endeavour, including: the Halton Catholic District School Board, the Halton District School Board, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (M.A.D.D.), McDonald’s restaurants and Tim Horton’s.

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Here is an article from Inside Halton outlining more details to the program.

Miracle On Main Street December 17th

Mike Cluett

UPDATE:

Just an update on the Miracle on Main coming up on Monday December 17th being held at Troys Diner downtown.

Due to a schedule conflict, Jimmy Hart wont be able to attend the event as was recently posted. We’re hoping the Mouth of the South will be able to attend future events but he regrets that he cant make it. Next time Jimmy !!! 🙂

Still there are lots of reasons to come down in support of the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation Miracle on Main Monday morning at 6am, at Troys Diner. There will be lots for the kids to do…games, magicians, Johnny Bower, Walter Gretzky, Tiger Ali Singh as well as Jennifer Valentyne from Breakfast Television.

I hope to see everyone there…and please bring an unwrapped toy for the toy drive.

Monday December 17th is going to be a great day.  Not only is it my birthday (cheap plug) but its going to be the day to be at Troy’s Diner for Miracle on Main Street.

The Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation presents this great family event at LIVE in downtown Milton at 295 Main Street E.

The list of the celebrities is going to knock everyone socks off and they include appearances by:

– Tiger Jeet Singh & Tiger Ali Singh – Milton Walk of Fame Members and international superstars!

– Canada’s Most Famous Hockey Dad Walter Gretzky,

– Stanley Cup Champion Johnny Bower,

– Toronto Rock member Garrett Billings…

Admittance is free and all we ask is that you bring an unwrapped toy for the toy drive.  There will be games, amusement rides and lots of things to keep everyone busy.  Breakfast Television BT will be there with Jennifer Valentyne to host this great event.

It all starts at 6AM and goes to 9AM….so be there early to take part in this annual tradition.  Over the last few years the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in toys to support Sick Kids Hospital, Salvation Army, McMaster Childrens Hospital and Halton Womens Place.  This year looks to be the biggest yet.

For more information please go to www.miracleonmain.ca on how you can support the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation to help make this Christmas a happy one for so many children.

2013 Town of Milton Budget Online Now

Mike Cluett

Quick post to let you know the 2013 Budget for the Town of Milton is online right now.

Here is the link for the staff report HERE.

Here is the link for the full budget documents.

Its a large file and 420 pages…so enjoy reading.  I’ll update more when I begin my analysis this evening.  Stay tuned to this post for more.

Record Donations for Milton Stuff A Bus

Mike Cluett

Milton Transit’s Holiday Stuff-a-Bus BREAKS record for donations

Milton Transit held its most successful holiday “Stuff-a-Bus” to date on Sunday, November 18, 2012 during the Milton Santa Claus parade.

In total, over 4,350 lbs of food were collected benefiting the Salvation Army food bank in Milton and thousands of dollars worth of toys in support of Toys for Tots.

“On behalf of Milton Transit, I would like to thank our generous Milton community and the many volunteers who helped make this year’s holiday Stuff-a-Bus such a great success,” said Milton Mayor Gord Krantz.

Milton Transit will hold its next “Stuff-a-Bus” early March 2013, in time for Easter celebrations.

For more information on Milton Transit, visit www.milton.ca, e-mail transit@milton.ca or call 905‑864-4141.

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Riding Commission Public Meeting

Mike Cluett

Here is the story by Julia Le from the Milton Canadian Champion about the public meeting on Wednesday in Oakville.  Again there were some delegates who registered to speak in favour of the changes.  I would say that 70% of those in attendance and who spoke are against the new boundaries.  NOW what happens you ask?

According to the website now that the public hearings are complete, the commission for each province has to finish the report and its recommendations by December 21st of 2012 (Isn’t that the end of the earth as we know it? *snicker*)  After that it goes to the House of Commons for review and that is slated to be finished around March of 2013 hearing objections from MP’s.  Long story short, the final decision is slated to be around September 2013 for the new ridings.  Its not over yet.

Residents can still email the commission their thoughts on the new proposal if they are in support or opposition to it.  Many of you have sent me emails / tweets / comments about your thoughts and those are greatly appreciated.

If you would like to put forward your views on this, please email the commission directly at the following:

Mailing Address:  130 King Street West, 36th Floor, Suite 3670, P.O. Box 368 Toronto, Ontario M5X 2A2

Telephone (toll-free):  1-855-747-7224 Fax (toll-free) 1-855-747-7225 TTY (toll-free) 1-800-361-8935

Region of Halton Budget Highlights

Mike Cluett

Ive received a few emails from people asking when the Town of Milton budget documents will be ready.  As I’ve posted here before we are expecting those documents to be ready around the 26th of November for our review.  This will give councillors 14 days to review the budget, receive input from the public and make those decisions at our budget meeting on December 10th.

I personally am not happy with this timeline as it doesnt give us much time to review the finalized budget, consult with you and get more background information to make those decisions.  In the meantime, for you budget junkies out there 🙂 the Region of Halton budget is online for your review.  It contains roughly 570 pages of background information, capital budget items, operating budget items as well as a 10 year plan for the region.

Overall the tax rate increase will be 0% not including the police services budget which is included as a separate item.

As a reminder, Regional Councillor Colin Best will be holding a budget information session at the Sports Centre on November 28th  at 7pm Room number 4 and you will find yours truly there and maybe a few other of my colleagues to answer any questions you might have about this or the town of Milton’s budget.

You can find the documents here at www.halton.ca/budget

Here are some of the key investments and highlights from the Halton website.

Key investments proposed in the 2013 budget include:

  • $1.6 million to deliver new Assisted and Affordable Housing Units as identified in the Comprehensive Housing Strategy
  • An additional 100 child care fee subsidies for low income families and additional special needs services for 20 children
  • 10.4 paramedics to staff two 12-hour ambulances in the Region to ensure wait-times for ambulance services continue to meet standards ($1.1 million)
  • New waste diversion programs including a three bag garbage bag limit and expansion of the blue box program to include additional recyclable materials to extend the life of the landfill site resulting in long-term savings
  • $810,000 advanced funding through the Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative to support Halton’s low income residents
  • Increased investment in the Region’s water and wastewater maintenance program ($3.1 million) and state-of-good-repair capital program ($8.7 million) to ensure the existing infrastructure is appropriately maintained to provide service to the residents of Halton

The 2013 Regional budget will go to Regional Council for final approval on December 12th. Halton residents are invited to provide input or comments at budgets@halton.ca

Property Tax Impact of Regional Government Services – Typical Residential Home: $350,000 cva*

2012 Actual 2013Budget $ Change % Change
Regional Services $807 $807 $0.00 0.0%
Police Services** $448 $458 $10 2.3%
Total Regional Taxes*** $1,255 $1,265 $10 0.8%

If you have any questions on the budget you can submit questions to me mike.cluett@milton.ca or comments on this blog.

As soon as the Town of Milton budget documents are ready, I will post them here.  Let me know what you think!