By Staff
July 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
With no ward debates planned, except for ward 4 where a debate is scheduled for October 1 with Maureen Tilson-Dyment moderating a panel of three journalists, who will have questions for the candidates. Get a ticket to this one.
Without debates in each ward, all the best candidates can do is knock on doors and hope that people spread the word.
What we might be seeing is a media release campaign where candidates send out their statements and positions on issues and hope that media pick up what they produce.
The Gazette will be publishing almost everything it gets.
Some candidates, notably Jennifer Hlusko running in ward 6, are making exceptional use of social media. Hlusko gets something out on her blog almost daily and covers a wide range of issues.
The Skyway Plaza is seen as a location with an absentee landlord who does not want to talk to anyone about improving the property. The city has wanted to see something done with this location and the sitting council member appears to have made it an election issue in his ward.
Direct the Director of Planning and Building and request the Executive Director of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation as follows:
Prepare a series of re-development options for the site based on intensive mixed use re-development and approach the owners of the property with the redevelopment plans; and
Investigate and report on the authority available to permit the use of incentives for re-developing the site, and
Provide an estimate of the resources needed to prepare and implement a Community Improvement Plan.
And it didn’t take the planner very long to pull together a committee and start figuring out what they could take back to Council in September. They had a committee set up within a week.
The Economic Development Corporation had yet to hold its first board meeting when the Staff Direction was approved. It would be interesting to hear what the Board thought of the Sharman idea.
Not quite so fast was Smith’s response. There is a public that has to be involved. “In preparing to run for city council” Smith said, “I have studied Community Planning in other cities, notably in Toronto. I can tell council that Burlington needs to do a couple of things to establish any Community Improvement Planning (CIP) process; we need to have a CIP specifically sanctioned in our Official Plan – and that is already in place. However; according to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing: “The Planning Act requires that public meetings be held before a community improvement plan can be considered by council”.
Smith has been campaigning since April on a 3 for 5 platform; three policy ideas for Burlington’s Ward 5. Basically he is focusing on how the city plans, how people get around the city and how we pay for the city we want.
There is a single ice pad arena at the rear of the plaza that the city felt could be part of a land assembly to do something significant.
Smith however has several major concerns including the failure to follow proper council procedure. The staff direction “was not presented to the public for discussion – unless you count my proposal on my website (3for5.ca) nor was the idea presented to a committee as is the accepted and normal practice.”
Smith adds that: “This proposal for a staff direction to study a CIP was also not circulated to council prior to their last meeting of the summer. Rather it came as a surprise agenda item. This oversight makes me question the skill, ability and experience of a sitting city Councillor at the end, rather the beginning of his term and makes me further question his motives.”
Smith points out that the East End of Burlington is a gateway to the City for the vast majority of residents, businesses, and visitors. Lakeside plaza is only one of many under-utilized resources in the East End. The present Councillor may not agree, but the East End should be playing a major role in the development of the city.”
Smith wants whatever is done “to be a legitimate process”, and adds that we “need to remember Burlington has an engagement charter that is supposed to be city policy, Community Planning is too important to the future of our city and to Ward 5 to have it be predetermined by yet another secret back room deal, we’ve had enough of those in the past few years.”
A very large park space is adjacent to the recreation centre which is at the rear of the plaza – which many feel has the makings of a significant opportunity to develop the east end of the city.
Frank McKeown, then the Mayors Chief of Staff explains a concept to Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman. McKeown went on to become the Executive Director of the reformed Economic Development Corporation which Sharman wants to do something to revive the east end of the city.
Smith added: “Far too often with the present Ward 5 Councillor, public meetings and engagement mean window dressing; in other words, tell citizens what the city has decided after decisions have already been made. We can’t let this continue to happen! We need to go beyond the present Ward 5 councilor’s timid and sneaky proposal, a proposal that illustrates his record as a city Councillor, a record that can be summed up best as Ready, Fire, Aim!”
The gloves are off in ward 5.
Background links:
How that staff direction got passed.
