Ward 5 candidate wants them to all “take a hike”. Were remarks directed to council incumbent Paul Sharman?

By Staff

April 25, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

It’s getting noisy out there. Earlier in the week Kelley Arnott announced she was going to contest the ward 2 seat and try to take Councillor Marianne Meed Ward down and then James Smith the declared Ward 5 City Council Candidate urged all who value the Bronte Creek Trail and who might be concerned about a proposed fence to “Take a hike!” – Sunday, April 27, 2014 from 1– 2:30 pm at the Orchard Community Park, Park Building 2255 Sutton Dr., Burlington, where Becky Ellis, Landscape Architect, Burlington Parks and Recreation Department will be conducting a public information session.

Smith says he will be there looking at the samples of fence styles and thanking the people who, through their own efforts,  got the city to pause and to take a step back from their arbitrary fencing plans.

Snake rail fencing made out of cedar that lasts for centuries would be a good fit for a nature trail.

Smith, who sometimes lets his words get a little ahead of his thinking was blunt and very direct when he suggested the “leadership skills of the present City Councillor: were deficient. Smith claims that Sharman was quoted in local media (not us) didn’t want to get involved. “Do I really need to have a community meeting where I clearly have two sides at odds with each other in the room,” he said “I don’t think that will yield anything that we already don’t know.”

Smith argues that dangerous places can have fencing that meets the need and maintains the view. While it will be a frosty June Friday before Burlington every builds anything this substantial the point is made that it can be done 0 that there is more than six foot chain link fencing out on the market.

Smith claims the “the citizens of Burlington really owe a debt of gratitude to Trent Schwartz and other concerned residents who brought attention to the City’s plan to slap-up a chain link fence along the trail. If you planned to put up a fence in your backyard, you’d do more than stick a note in your neighbour’s mailbox telling them “Oh, by the way this is what we’re doing.”

Smith went on to say he “was shocked by these comments back in December “In my experience, when a situation arises where there are two sides at odds with one another, that’s exactly when one needs to have a community meeting! It’s not about a fence, it’s about leadership, it’s about listening to reasonable and differing points of view and working to build consensus and it’s through this process is how we build a community. Thankfully we have some people in the Orchard who care about this issue and kept it alive so that the present Councillor had to act. People tell me he’s only interested in bookkeeping, to me the councilor’s words speak volumes about his disinterest in community building.”

Sharman can give as good as he gets; the race for the ward 5 seat could be the most entertaining in the city. Councillor Sharman has yet to file his nomination papers.

Sharman had hoped to provide pictures of the fencing ideas the city was working with – but he couldn’t seem to get a city hall staffer to send him anything.  So much for a city Councillors clout.

Smith isn’t relying on the bureaucrats – he wants the public to make the decisions. “This is a process,” he said  “and we can’t just jump to a solution. We need to evaluate the situation, plan our response, listen, modify if required, and then act. In this case it looks like we rushed to a solution. Smith added ” Reinforcing and improving the natural beauty of the trail should be part of the criteria in any solution, where a fence is objectively seen as required.”

” I don’t blame City Staff, they were responding to a perceived safety issue. City Staff did their job. The failure” said Smith “is with leadership. We need to have a City Councillor who’s not only on top of these issues but can deal with them timely and sympathetically when they do arise. Since Mr. Schwartz and others raised the fence issue it has taken almost five months for the City to organize an information session. I know the wheels of bureaucracy move slowly but FIVE MONTHS? We should have had a full discussion about the safety of the trail and how to address it in the autumn of 2012 after the two kids were rescued from the ravine. “

Smith said his experience volunteering in Burlington over more than two decades has taught him how to successfully resolve issues like this one. I look forward to meeting members of the community on Sunday and listening to what they have to say about how to make the Bronte Creek Trail, Ward 5 and Burlington better. That and taking a hike!”