Wallace sets out his platform - some surprises - his 'Let's Talk' approach looks like a one way conversation at this point.

council 100x100By Pepper Parr

August 4th, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

 

It is both a quiet time and a very hectic time for those who are running for public office.

Many of those running for the first time are out on the streets, knocking on doors and asking for support.

Most have their web sites in place and are developing their election teams.

There will be a lot more use of social media this time around.

Prime Minister checks out the product at Ecysynthetix. Company CEO John van Leeuwen is on the left

Mike Wallace was part of the Harper government. Former Prime Minister checks out the product at Ecosynthetix. Company CEO John van Leeuwen is on the left

Mike Wallace has decided to hold “Let’s talk” sessions that he broadcast over the internet on how own YouTube channel.

He has done three so far and can be expected to do more.

Burlington's MP Mike Wallace takes questions during the Chamber of Commerce xxxBBQ. Suggests that too much time is being spent on the Mike Duffy matter

Burlington’s MP Mike Wallace takes questions during the Chamber of Commerce BBQ.

 

 

The use of videos is a one way conversation but it at least gives the public a chance to learn what the candidate stands for and plans to do.

Wallace makes it very clear that as Mayor he is going to lead and not sit behind a desk.

Part of his focus is on the young people who he calls millennial’s. He wants them to be able to live in homes they can afford in Burlington and work at jobs that exist in Burlington.

One really interesting idea that he put forward was to have those millennials working with the planners. Interesting idea – it will be equally interesting to see how the planners take to that idea.

Wallace is clear on the current phase of building condominiums on every corner that can be found: “Expensive condos are not the answer.”

Wallace also tackles transit. He points out that the city has a $10 million transit system that isn’t working.

He wants to give the Director of Transit the tools she needs to get the job done.

Burlington Transit getting new buses - to deliver less service.

Don’t expect to see a lot of those 40 foot buses joining the fleet.

Wallace wants the buses to be more attractive and cost efficient. He thinks that those 40 foot busses may be a thing of the past.

Wallace feels that the city missed the boat on transit and points to the major changes taking place in getting people from one location to another. Uber and driver less vehicles are in the future adds Wallace.
Wallace is quick to tell people that he doesn’t have the answers but he is committed to the idea of looking for the answers and coming up with a reasonable priced and perhaps an on demand transit service.

Why is he running for Mayor?

The answer to that question has several layers of complexity.

Wallace conceding

The night he lost his seat as a Member of Parliament – he conceded to Karina Gould with dignity and respect.

One – he wants the job. Wallace has been a political creature for most of his adult life. He has served as a member of council and the Member of Parliament for Burlington.

While an MP Mike delivered. It wasn’t something he talked about all that much but the list of things he delivered is impressive.

The Gazette had to ask Wallace for that list several times.

He has a soft spot for history – if you have a project that has an historical angle – Mike Wallace is the guy you want to talk to

He lists the issues that need attention.

Intensification – and not just in the downtown core.

Traffic congestion. He will tell you that private cars are not going to be going away anytime soon.

The demographics of the city bother Wallace – the city cannot be sustainable with just senior citizens –

Mike Wallace has probably never run as hard in his life. Valiant effort but the Overtakers laid the Wallace team to rest.

Mike Wallace running as part of a team in the hospital bed race.

Wallace wants those young people living in the city and working in the city.

Development concerns him. We need it – but where and in what form?

Is Mike Wallace a friend of the developers?

Hard to tell.

His biggest idea so far, the creation of a Liberty Village in Burlington is going to need a large piece of land and there are just a few in the city and they are owned by a developer.

Can Mike Wallace work with developers and not be co-opted by them?

Is he tough enough to set a direction for the city and create a city council that works in unison?

He realizes now that the city needs a bigger city council and suggests that having 8 wards and a Mayor for a city council of nine might be what will serve the city best.

ROTARY Wallace with a bucket

Wallace was at the Rib Fest holding a bucket collecting cash for flood victims in 2014

Wallace isn’t telling the people he wants to vote for him that he has all the answers and this is the direction the city has to go in.

But he is quick to tell you that the direction it is going now isn’t working.

We are still in the early days.

Wallace election car

Part of the Wallace campaign – a car with a wrap – Like Mike.

There will be more for Mike Wallace to say.

Pay attention: he wants the job and he has assembled a team that has the capacity to pull it off.

The people that matter are the people who live in this city.

Wallace will officially open his campaign office on August 18th. It will be on Fairview close to Appleby Line.

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12 comments to Wallace sets out his platform – some surprises – his ‘Let’s Talk’ approach looks like a one way conversation at this point.

  • D Walker

    I thought Mayor Goldring already had a millennial advisory committee? Unclear how that has helped, and I’m also not convinced that the City Planners would take kindly to more outside opinions, since it seems that the well-spoken and passionate citizens of Burlington have been unable to move them for the past year.

  • Philip Jackson

    Having read the article and comments, its very clear we need a “purge” of the present council and citycrats! Citizens are not being heard as developers seem to have the ear of both!

  • Susan L.

    He most certainly does not understand how public transit affects traffic in Burlington. He thinks our 40 foot buses may be a thing of the past? Imagine the traffic jam if you took those 40 foot buses off Fairview/Plains, especially at rush hour. Each full 40 foot bus is equal to 40 or more cars on the same street. If you replace them with smaller buses, you’ll just need a lot more buses and increased traffic would be the end result.

    “Uber and driver less vehicles are in the future adds Wallace.” That does not get more cars off the road nor does it solve the problem of people who cannot drive. Plus, it would be too expensive for most public transit users.

    From what I’ve read so far, I’d say if he were Mayor, it would be more of the same mismanagement, only on steroids.

    • Tom Muir

      I would add that I suggest Mike Wallace (and all candidates) get up to date on how Uber and self-drivers are actually performing to reduce traffic. I sent a link to a Washington Post article on this to Council a week ago. I missed Mike.

      It said, “Services like UberPool are making traffic worse, study says – The Washington Post”

      Over the weekend there were more related stories in the New York Times, saying much the same thing. But at a recent Solid Gold development application meeting, I heard a city transportation planner say the transportation plan “multi-modal lens” included Uber, and car sharing, as reasons to reduce parking standards and reduce the sidewalk and related green-space for just such drop-off parking purposes.

      This is a problem I have seen with many candidates, some I I have talked to, and others who have made some views public. They don’t seem to know anything, and can’t make an evidence based, reasoned argument to explain themselves on Ward 1 and city-wide issues.

      Many just say things, anything, made up to support themselves, as often, especially in Ward 1 to my knowledge, they don’t know the issues residents have.

      And I have never heard of most of them, and have never seen them at Ward meetings over many years, or seen them at Council delegating the many issues we have. So I have to wonder why they are running, and we have 11 in Ward 1.

      Many do not even live in the Ward, so how could they know what residents want in representation? I would like a Ward 1 resident.

      Most of these folks have demonstrated a thin policy platform that is not developed beyond fact-less vagueness, and ridiculous assertions about Millennials not wanting to own cars or a house with a yard, and really want 500 or 600 square foot condos that cost $500 or more a foot.

      One of them sounds like a Craven clone. They just make excuses for over-development, never walk or bike or bus anywhere and never will, and say that the province is making us do it. They actually say that the new people in the new future will do all of this.

      They don’t say what they will do about residents concerns, with specific commitments. That’s what I want to hear and read – specifics actions and positions on specific issues.

      Whoever is doing Mike Wallace’s policy frame had better get real with evidence based reasoning, understanding of residents concerns, and commitments about what he is going to do about the issues that have ignited this election. Saying that the province is making us do it will not cut it.

      Even Mayor Goldring has expressed the view that in the new growth plan there will be “fewer cars” in Burlington. Where did he get this idea from? Was this a slip of the tongue and mistake in the math? Or was it a confirmation of his bias?

      Most residents see this as a ridiculous assertion to make. Everyone knows that more people means more cars, and more transport traffic, not less. This has been going on in lock step since the car was invented. It has not stopped anywhere.

      Surely he doesn’t mean that adding 10,000 people will not generate more cars? On top of the present mess. I don’t get it, so explain please?

      And so, does Mike Wallace have as his policy analysis and solution that Uber, car sharing, self drivers and the like will solve the traffic and mobility congestion, gridlock, air pollution, and spiraling city level tax increases and overall economic costs at all levels, that we face in this election?

      Overall, if you look closely, you will see over-development and over-intensification all over the city it seems in the new adopted OP, and the flurry of new development applications that are swamping city hall demanding more. Every commercial plaza is targeted. If you look you can see.

      One thing is certain, this will just exacerbate the existing traffic congestion, pollution, loss of commercial, inadequate parking, and on and on in what is a rich vein of discontent that recently emerged, and will not go away.

      So, if this is the best thinking behind what is on offer from Mike, and for that matter from the current Mayor, I would say it’s a wildly irresponsible platform and far from up to the challenges the city faces.

      All of you had better decide whose side you are on, and whether you really think you can take miserable platform planks such as these to the voters.

  • Allen Jones

    One way conversation for sure ,,,, and he only want the job because real estate is too hard and he is interested in the easy money …. we have seen his concerns for Burlingtonians before and over-heard his comments that is day is spent “listening to people complain”

    Marianne is the ONLY candidate that can both listen (intelligently) and has a brain that is pure Burlington …..concerned for the people …. Walace is concerned for …..

    Editor’s note: We are letting this comment stand but just to make the point that the Gazette is not going to tolerate this kind of political attack. It adds nothing to the debate, it debases the writer who is not Allen Jones but rather an Allen who has in the past done work for a political candidate in the past.
    This has to stop. The Gazette does not provide a comment section people ignorant people to spill their bile on our pages.

    Allen – I am inviting you to take a break and not comment for the next 30 days. You can be better than this. You embarrass the candidate you support.

  • Ted Griffith

    The policy platform – both in substance and format – will be dramatically different than what any other candidate will be offering. Watch for news next week.

  • Lucy

    I hope Mr. Wallace will attend at the Lakeshore Plaza Proposal Open House on Wednesday 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 so he can hear from residents who are absolutely disgusted with the present plans for redevelopment. Let’s be clear: It is just one more example of overdevelopment and overintensification that will totally ruin our east end neighbourhood. The only thing this plan optimizes is the developer’s profit and the previous Council’s misguided direction taken with the Grow Bold nonsense that has outraged citizens in many parts of the city. I genuinely would like to hear from Mr. Wallace to see if he approves of the rezoning from Residential Medium Density (75 units max/hectare) to Residential High Density (185 units max/hectare) with further request for amendments to make it 235 units/hectare–sheer madness from this developer. Mayoral candidate Marianne Meed Ward has called it overdevelopment. Ward 5 councillor candidate Mary Alice St. James makes clear that the proposal is definitely too much for this site. Both attended the previous open house. Paul Sharman commented that “it is a large parcel of land”. That hints at how he feels about the project and I’m not liking it one bit. How about the other Mayoral candidates and candidates for Ward 5 that weren’t at the previous open house in July? Will they be there to discuss their views? Do they even care about the citizens in our Ward 5 east end Lakeshore community?

  • Joe

    Mike, Burlington had a Liberty Village it was called downtown.

  • Ted Griffith

    Watch for some exciting news in the coming as the platform conversation moves from onei-way to two-way and beyond. What you’re watching now is just the tip of the iceberg for Mike’s policy. Next week – all will be realized with a dynamic way for people to comment and share their own opinions and ideas