My letter to the editor, published in Milton Canadian Champion on July 31st, 2009:-

DEAR EDITOR:
I read Tim Foran’s column ‘Part-time council not realistic in this new ‘small city’ back in April, when he argued for a pared-down, full-time council.

I’ve been thinking about that issue for a while and must say I prefer that Milton council stay part-time, for now at least.

Town councillors make about $26,000 a year, a third of it tax-free. Compare that to the cost of full-time councillors in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton and other cities and one realizes that Milton spends less money on all eight local councillors than larger cities spend on just a couple, especially once you include office costs, personal staff and expense accounts fulltime councillors get.

It’s cheaper, at least financially, to have part-time councillors.

Milton has one part-time councillor for about every 10,000 residents, while Mississauga has one full-time councillor for 60,000 residents. At that ratio Milton would only get one full-time councillor if a switch was made. Even if we double this, we will end up with a council size of three — the mayor and two councillors. This is hardly a representative council for a town as diverse as Milton.

In addition, it’s expensive to have full-time local councillors who do not draw their salaries from serving regional council as well. This means that Milton’s full-time local councillors should also be regional councillors. This is what cities like Burlington and Mississauga do as well. This will also put a cap of only three councillors in Milton.

Then there is the accessibility issue. I believe that one passionate part-time councillor can represent a neighbourhood of 10,000 people a lot better than a single full-time councillor representing half the town.

It also allows each part of the town to elect a councillor who understands issues and challenges faced by that area, and can therefore effectively represent that ward.

Finally, it is easier for newcomers to enter politics if their wards have 10,000 people or so. As a result, a few incumbents lose their seats in every Milton election. That is not true in larger cities like Mississauga, where incumbents win by large margins because it is so difficult to challenge them.

It may be possible to make regional councillors serve fulltime while local councillors work part-time. That may relieve some of Foran’s concerns. I’m not sure if it is necessary, but it’s a better compromise than an exclusively full-time council in a town with less than 100,000 people.

Milton will one day grow to a size where the sheer number of part-time councillors will make a smaller number of full-time councillors an attractive option. However, at less than 100,000 people, Milton is not there yet.

ZEESHAN HAMID, MILTON

Schedules did not meet and I spent most of my free time creating that petition e-mail form.  I apologize.  I have next two weeks scheduled, it won’t happen again :).

I have been debating for several weeks whether to do this or not. I have been unsure about the format as well (should we collect signatures and take them to the Council, or have individuals e-mail them?)

Here is the issue :-

There are already thousands of homes west of the CN Rail track on Derry Road. The only practical way to get to the town is to go east on Derry, which requires crossing the tracks. Many trains take that track every day, causing a lot of traffic delay. Once traffic backs up, it takes a long time to clear, especially during rush hours. The situation is getting worse every day as more and more people move. We need an underpass on Derry NOW!

After a lot of thinking I have decided this :-

• Halton’s Regional Chair, Gary Carr (sort of the “boss” of the Council) himself admitted that the underpass “should have been done years ago” and was “an example of poor planning”. He also admitted that the development west of the rail tracks “should never have happened without a grade separation”. This tells me that the Regional Council agrees that we need the underpass NOW.
• In 2007 the Town of Milton passed a motion calling the Regional Council to finish the underpass. This tells me that the Milton Council agrees about the urgency.
• The project is still not expected to start until 2016, with an end date of 2017 (and many recent projects have been delayed, some by over a year). By then who knows what the population will be. This points to a disconnect between the first two bullets and this one.
• Our Councillors already know about the issue. However, Regional Councillors are mostly from Oakville and Burlington (2/3rd of the Council) and may not completely grasp the situation
• We tax-payers, as employers of Councillors, have the right to contact them.
• I debated whether I should just encourage people to contact our councillors (Barry Lee, Colin Best and the Mayor, Godon Krantz [who also sits on the Regional Council]). However, after I lot of thinking I concluded that these individuals already understand the situation and need the support of other Councillors in the Halton Council.
• If Councillors mind getting an e-mail from residents who pay their salaries then they do not deserve to be in the Council (my opinion of course, you may disagree)
• I thought about contacting the staff instead. I have found Milton staff to be very approachable and helpful. However, the Halton website has a department e-mail (MiltonRoads@Halton.ca), but not a point of contact (an individual with a name). Your e-mail (should you decide to use the form linked below) will go to the engineering department as well.
• Finally, it is the Council that will approve or disapprove this project. I feel that getting one e-mail from the tax-payer who suffers from this everyday is not too much to ask. Sure, an individual Councillor may get 100 e-mails, but that is still 1/100th of 10,000 residents impacted by this

Based on this, I reached the conclusion that I should ask residents to contact all Regional Councillors, asking them to move up the project date for the underpass.

To help residents, I set up an online form that will send the e-mail for you. In fact, I even put some sample messages so you dont even have to type a message, if you don’t want to. Honestly, if Mattamy can bombard them for its interest, I think we have the right to do the same for ours.

If you disagree then please do tell me why, because I may have missed something. This is a case where I feel it’s better to ask for forgiveness later, if they mind getting e-mails from residents. Otherwise please follow this link to the petition page . It has link to the online form, as well as individual contact information.

I appreciate your help :).
ps. I am willing to take the e-mail form down if most people find it inappropriate. Please leave a comment telling me if you disagree. Thanks.

This is a followup to my post on logical thinking.  Here’s something I said :-

Over the next few weeks I’ll analyze some arguments commonly presented (and sadly, accepted) by people that are about as valid as 1+1=11.  Just because it seems logical, it doesn’t mean it is.

I mentioned one of my pet peeves related to arguments in the previous post.  Here are a few more that annoy me to no end.   I am not just ranting about my pet peeves.  I am mentioning these because it is my belief that many disagreements stem from people’s inability to think logically, rather than differences in their principles.  We would all be more agreeable and happier if we all had the ability to correctly present and analyze arguments.

Before I start, I must mention that labeling an argument incorrect only implies that the conclusion does not follow premises presented.  It does not make a judgement about the conclusion (eg: “Every time she snores, it’s night.  She is snoring.  Therefore, it must be nighttime“.  It may well be night, but the above argument is still illogical). 
Read the rest of this entry »

I met Mike Cluett last week for coffee (and a piece of mocha cake that we couldn’t finish.  Which is great because I brought left-over home for my wife and got some much-needed brownie points).  

Mike Cluett a current Ward-1 resident who ran for the Local Council in the 2006 election.  He also served the community by being part of Milton’s Anniversary Celebration Committee.  I had a longer intro typed up for Mike, but I think it’s better if I let him introduce himself:

(If you cannot see the entire post then please click the ‘Continue Reading‘ link below)

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I found a flyer from 2008 called “Connections” from the Halton Region and the Town of Milton (official).  Here is what it had to say about Derry :-

At the western end of Derry, the widening from two to four lanes from Bronte Street to Tremaine Road (Regional Road 22) began in October 2007, and is scheduled to be complete in the fall of 2008.  The project was accelerated from its original completion date of 2009.

Umm, soon it will be the fall of 2009 (forget the completion date of “fall of 2008”) and the project has not even started yet.  For months it has been “will start in a couple of weeks”.  Couple of Pluto weeks perhaps.  Oh and did you notice that the “project was accelerated from its original completion date of 2009”.  Thank goodness they accelerated it, because now it may be done by 2010. 

Meanwhile it has been over a year and the other section of Derry (East of James Snow) is not even half done.  It was originally supposed to be done in 2009, but now they said it will be done in 2010.  At the speed they are working at, I doubt it.

From Milton Canadian Champion:

Looking for a good family time?

The Muslim Association of Milton is gearing up for its community barbecue, which will be held Saturday, July 18 from 2 to 6 p. m. at the Milton Fair Grounds (Robert Street entrance).

Tickets cost $10 per person and $20 per family, with all proceeds going to Milton District Hospital.

Admission includes food, rides and games for the kids.

Special guests will include Mayor Gord Krantz, Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr and other dignitaries.

And the flyer:

I am starting a new section on my blog where I’ll chat with a fellow Miltonian about the town.  I am kicking it off today.  Colin Best, the Local and Regional Councillor for Wards 2 & 4, is my first guest. 

Colin Best not only works and lives in Milton, he was actually born and raised in the town as well.  As a result, he approaches Milton-related issues with a passion that’s unmatched.  He has been a local or regional councillor since 1980 (with some gaps in between). 

If you do not see the full post then please click the ‘Continue Reading‘ link below. 

Read the rest of this entry »

I delayed publishing the ‘Coffee Chat’ post until I had finished updating my webpage. It is finally complete.  What do you think?  I basically did away with the dark theme to make it more readable and matched the look and feel of this blog (prior to today this blog had a different look than the rest of the site). I also put consistent banner and navigation to do a consistent branding.   I hope it improves it.  Does the font work for you? 

I am starting a new section on my blog where I’ll chat with fellow Miltonians about the town. It will be updated every Monday.  My first guest was our Regional and Local Councillor, Colin Best.  Councillor Best is one of the most passionate people I have ever met.  He is genuinely helpful and highly approachable, two traits rare in politicians (in non-election years at least). 

Please check back on Tuesday the 14th for the transcript of my first coffee chat with Councillor Best. 

I really liked Montreal’s urban neighbourhoods.  You’ll have to use some imagination to see how it can fit in Milton.  Assume here are the goals :-

1. We have to achieve high population density in core urban areas, much higher than what we have today

2. We’d like to keep residents close to activities (central library, arts and culture complex, leisure centre etc), shopping and employment areas so they can walk to places without having to drive.

3. We would like to do it without resorting to sky rises as other cities have done.

 Here’s what I saw in Montreal that can work in Milton.  You’ll have to use your imagination a bit :-

1. Imagine that the buildings are further back from the street lined beautifully with trees, walkways, bikeways and sitting benches

2. Imagine far more greenery than you see in the pictures

3. Assume buildings to be a little taller, say 4 stories

4. Assume buildings maintain some common character with consistent height to create a unique and aesthetically pleasing charm

5. Picture community spaces (parks etc) behind the buildings, ensuring that residents do not miss out on (shared) open spaces

 Here’s what I grabbed at the Fairmount Neighbourhood in Montreal :-

 This can achieve good population density while maintaining a very dynamic environment.  This should really appeal to three types of people:

1. Younger singles and young couples without children.  A lot of them don’t have much to do in Milton today

2. Older residents and empty nesters who would rather move in a walk-able neighbourhood and make do with high maintenance costs associated with large single family homes with two yards. 

3. Families who like to expose their children to arts, culture and other activities in an urban environment.

 This achieves certain things well.  Most of all, this can create a dynamic and active downtown that doesn’t exist in any GTA city (to the best of my knowledge, although some areas in Burlington and Oakville are somewhat similar).  This can create a unique “Milton” identity, setting Milton apart from the trend where every other city is a copy of another city with no unique identity. 

Check out this sketch of Bellevue, WA’s plan.  They went with much taller buildings, I’d like to limit height in Milton though.

Here I have included a picture of inside of a dense complex in Bellevue, WA. It shows some community space where neighbours can enjoy shared open spaces.

I have stated this several times before.  Milton is at a verge of transformation.  In 2001 Milton’s population was close to 30,000.  In less than a decade it’s close to 80,000.  Very soon it will cross the 100,000 mark.  There are plenty of poorly laid out cities in GTA.  Do we want Milton to be one of them?

The thing we have to realize is that Milton is an edge city.  There are more jobs in Mississauga and other cities closer to Toronto.  In such environment if Milton is just mini-Mississauga then people would rather live in Mississauga where their jobs are. In order to maintain property values in Milton the town will have to offer something unique that appeals to residents.  Milton should be a town people pay a premium to move to, not a city people buy houses in because they can’t afford to live anywhere else.

I am going to do an off-beat post today (but it still indirectly relates to local issues).

I’ve always maintained that people should be required to take logic, political science and personal finance in high schools.  It’s absurd that we hand over a diploma to someone for finishing 12 years of schooling (not including kindergarten and junior kindergarten) without even teaching them how to balance a cheque book (still useful even though we don’t use cheque books anymore) or even the very basics of logical thinking. 

Heck theoretically voting could even be a factor of someone successfully completing logic and political science courses.  Is 18 a magic number where people suddenly become responsible enough to vote?  I would argue that a 16 year old with understanding of deductive reasoning and knowledge of political system is more entitled to the right to vote than a 20 year old who doesn’t.  I am not actually proposing this, I am merely stating this to show how strongly I feel about giving people proper tools to survive in the complex world we now live in. 

I honestly cringe every time I see questionable reasoning from people.  Even journalists show that sometimes.  Okay I lie, journalists do it a lot but I think that’s intentional because that’s what pleases their readers.  This allows politicians to control the masses a lot more than they should be able to do in a democracy. 

Over the next few weeks I’ll analyze some arguments commonly presented (and sadly, accepted) by people that are about as valid as 1+1=11.  Just because it seems logical, it doesn’t mean it is. 

My pet-peeve for today?  It’s when people switch their frame of references and arguments depending on the topic they are dealing with.  Pro-life advocates suddenly became okay with the death penalty; a person would argue for gun ownership based on individual rights until he’s blue and yet would support lower privacy safeguard and higher spying power for the government based on the security; same person may argue for a smaller government based on the mistrust of governments but then happily give up civil liberties that require huge trust in governments. 

Do you have examples of your own?