Common Sense vs Imagination
Do you value realism and common sense, or imagination and innovation? Common sense tells us that the Earth is flat, imagination gives us the correct answer. Einstein worked out that the speed of light doesn’t change, instead time speeds up or slows down. That’s anything but common sense, even though it has been proven repeatedly since then. Why is it that when it comes to public policy, we chug imagination out the window and rely exclusively on ‘what has worked before’, even if it didn’t work all that well?
Read MoreHospital Funding Poll ….
I’ll leave technical details out, but the Province requires municipalities to fund certain hospital expansion expenses that add up to around 30% of the project cost. The Province, in its infinite wisdom, also prevents municipalities from charging developers for this money. Thus the money has to come from property taxpayers. One day in the not-too-distant-future our Milton Hospital will be expanded. When that happens, we’ll have to fork a few dozen millions out for our portion of the project. We don’t know what this amount is, but we know that it’ll happen. We also know what...
Read MoreAnger at the pace of construction
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...
Read MoreWhy Many Sustainability Initiatives Fail
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.
Read MoreBike Lane –> About Time!
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...
Read MoreWhat does a councillor do
While canvassing, I often get asked about what a councillor actually does. Anyone can make general statements (they run the municipal government, they represent their constituents). Let me give specifics that separate good councillors from bad ones. It’s important to look at your council candidates and their past behaviour to determine what type of councillor they’ll make. Councillors solve problems for constituents. Good councillors take a planned and systematic approach to decision-making, often anticipating problems and solving them before they arise. ...
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