Levee poster: Read the rest of this entry »

I heard a beautiful narration of Tom Hegg’s ‘A Cup of Christmas Tea’ earlier this month. It was narrated so beautifully that I had to struggle to hold back my tears.  I wish you all a festive holiday season, enjoy the poem.

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The easiest way to conserve an environment or an ecosystem is to leave it alone.  But then what is the point of conserving if we don’t get to enjoy it? 

Our goal should be sustainability.  One difference is that the sustainability goals do not just focus on the environment, but also on economic and social factors. 

This is the reason why you hear me talk about sustainability and not conservation.  Conservation is an aspect of sustainability.  However, focusing simply on conservation can sometimes prevent us from enjoying our blessings in a sustainable way.

People often confuse sustainability.  For some it’s all about the environment (that’s more ‘conservation’ than sustainability).  For others it’s all about socio-political values.  I know people who have a hardcore focus on the financial and economic bottom line.  It’s just as impractical to worry only about the environment and ignore all other costs as it is to just care about shortterm financials and ignore all other aspects. 

Sustainable actions are balanced on all three factors.  Think of a three-legged stool.  Ignore any leg and the stool will come down.  I can think of many decisions made by previous councils that made sense based on one of these factors, but overall ended up being less than ideal decisions. 

In order to move forward, we must consider each of these: social, environmental and of course, financial. Only then can we move towards sustainability.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, typically real work doesn’t happen in the council; it happens in boards and committees by volunteers.  All committees have openings.  If you find something you are interested in then please apply, the deadline is this Thursday the 9th. 

You can apply by visiting this link.  Here are some of the committees that are looking for citizen volunteers  :-

• Committee of Adjustment and Consent
• Community Services Advisory Committee
• Downtown Business Improvement Area
• Heritage Milton
• Milton Accessibility Advisory Committee
• Milton Public Library Board
• Milton Transit Advisory Committee
• Trails Advisory Committee

Good luck.

Thank you so much for your support and congratulations.  Words cannot express how humbled I am today.  Know that I truly appreciate all the help you all provided, from making campaign donations to going out to vote.   32% of people in ward 8 voted, which is very respectable considering how new this area is.  I was elected with 62% of all votes cast.  Thank you!

I would like to take a moment to thank Jeff Belo for running a clean and well-fought campaign.  This is what democracy is all about. When people step up and campaign based on ideas and issues, democracy wins.  We all win.

I am looking forward to serving the community.

I hope no one was waiting for it. 

And that’s why you should vote for Zeeshan Hamid, someone who actually worked hard to fix this problem AND lives on the other side of track with everyone else in ward 8.

I was sick as a dog and all that gravy from the Thanksgiving “brunch” did not help.  Fortunately Rick Di Lorenzo was ready with painkillers, they helped a lot.

[I said “train” when I meant “bus”. Bus goes on Bronte, not a train.  Blame it on my illness]

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The stretch of Derry, from Bronte to Tremaine, was supposed to finish in 2008.  You would think that being so late, they’d be working overtime, trying to finish it as fast as they humanly could. Yet I haven’t seen any progress on the stretch from Scott Blvd to Bronte Road since June.  JUNE!

What I cannot figure out is, why in the world did they have to rip out the sidewalk and dig the entrance to the First Capital plaza (where Shoppers is) if they were not ready to pave it for another 6 months?  This morning I passed by Derry four times between 9:30am and 10:30am and did not spot a single worker between Scott and Bronte.  Not. Even. One.  Why?

That’s why it is important to have someone from the community in the council.  My opponent lives near the Metro grocery store on Thompson.  We have these issues because our current council representative does not live anywhere near us.  They should be up in arms, questioning staff and asking for reports on progress.  But they don’t care (in case you’re curious, the person who should be calling for heads to roll is Barry Lee, the Regional Councillor from this area who is a member of the Public Works committee.  Have you even heard of his name?  I thought so). 

As for my opponent, he wants the job, but he has yet to attend a single council meeting or a committee meeting or an open house on issues that impact the community.  Heck he did not even bother to show up to the first all-candidates meeting. 

On October 25th, ward 8, please choose carefully.  Do you want this mess to continue for another four years or do you want to elect someone who has already been working tirelessly for you, from (successfully) petitioning for the underpass to representing you to the best of his ability even without being elected. 

I am your neighbour (third house from Scott Blvd, just north of PL Robertson) and I work for us.

I am Milton’s sole citizen representative in the Halton’s Inter-Municipal Sustainability Committee.  As a result, I get a lot of questions about sustainability initiatives that fail.  Here’s why: many well-meaning sustainability initiatives are doomed from the start because they focus on problems and sacrifices, instead of improving the quality of life.

Who thinks narrowing Scott Blvd lane from 7.7m to 3.5m will help with controlling speeding?

Scott, Savoline, Yates and part of Phillbrook are about to look like this (developer-funded capital cost, not coming from property taxpayers) :-

The cost of painting these lanes and signage on other roads (Bennett, Clark, Croft, Ferguson, Kennedy, Trudeau, Waldie, Woodward, Laurier and older part of Phillbrook) is $200,000.  Cost of painting bike lanes on new roads in Milton (both Regional and Local) is part of those capital projects (recouped from development charges if they’re growth related, which they almost always are).

So I ask again, who thinks narrowing Scott Blvd lane from 7.7m to 3.5m will help with controlling speeding?  This will be discussed at the Community Services committee meeting tomorrow. As always, barring unforeseen circumstances, I will be there watching out for our interests.