HawthorneVillager.com

Milton doesnt need to maintain parks, Council needs money to build a V E L E D R O M E E E E

... and cell towers.

Welll said Cactus. It's getting to the point where I am going to take my own lawn mower out and start mowing some of these boulevards, etc. Why is no money put into cutting grass anymore? What exactly is our property tax money going to again?

Cell towers?? Umm I'm pretty sure Milton doesn't pay for the cell towers.

They're using the money to buy buses for the people who will move here by 2017.

I'll 2nd that!

Have you seen the grass in front of the "New" Sports Centre? I swear there is not a single blade of grass left. This so called grass is maybe four years old. Now all it is, is a field weeds. I do have to say they do cut the weeds regularly and they are green.

Agreed CJ, our parks are an embarrassment to the city. I had to sub in for a league last week and the diamond and field was by and far the worst I have ever seen, ever. And I have played the Smithfield diamond at Martingrove and Albion.......

It's hard to argue that sentiment.

The park at the end of my street over in Ward 6 is worse than any one single house that anyone has complained about by a country mile.

Legit Question: Before the pesticide ban, did the town spray for weeds? If yes, would they consider using the new legal sprays that the lawn companies use now; they seem to work.

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As someone who worked in the lawncare industry for a few years I can answer the question about using the "legal" sprays offered. The products industry name is Fiesta, which simply is an iron/water mixture. The lawncare companies dilute the solution to make a bit of money which ends up lowering its effectiveness.

Fiesta doesnt kill weeds completly as the pesticides did in the past. The province of Ontario banned the use of pesticides for cosmetic uses a couple of years back and its taken this long to come up with a "natural" solution. During this discussion there were MANY studies that showed if used properly pesiticde use wasnt as dangerous as the province was saying and they listened to a small number of studies to make their decision. Ther were very few against usage and thats where they based the decision on.

The problem with Fiesta is the cost. While working for the lawncare company, I was the commercial sales manager meaning Id deal with larger properties, municipalities, co-ops and businesses. I did a number of quotes for large properties, soccer fields etc and when dealing with the towns & cities their jaws would drop because of the cost.

Using the top of my head calculations and not knowing the current prices (from which Im told havent changed much since I left) if we just do soccer fields with Fiesta it would total close to $80,000-100,000 per year. You would have to be liscenced in order to apply it and right now only lawn care companies have that ability. The cost of being registered in order to apply these products are also huge.

The reason for the cost is, its not a one time application per season. It has to be applied at maximum of 3 times per season.

THEN, the problem is it only kills the weed down to the root but not the root. This means the weeds will grow back depending on how infested they are and our fields are LOADED with weeds.

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Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

Mike, what about irrigation systems? The park near me, McDuffe Park, has an irrigation system that no longer works. When it did work, a couple years back now, the weed problem in my park was not as pronounced as it is now because the grass was better maintained.

Now I know Mattamy put the system in, but can we maintain it and fix it now? Maybe if we employ better lawn care, we'll be at least a little better in the long long.

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Blindly reacting negatively to budget increases? I cant speak for everyone else on council Zeeshan but thats the furthest thing from the truth.

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Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

Interesting...I didnt know about the irrigation system at McDuffe. Ill look into it.

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

Off the top, its not pesticide, its herbicide we traditionally used to get rid of those weeds........... but there are many environmentally friendly ways to dealing with this situation, just seems those in charge at the Town just don't have a clue. Interesting discussion and one which again reflects badly on this Town's ability to manage and maintain its infrastructure. Am embarressed at the condition of the parks when I see all our so called public works employees driving around town in big 4x4's and tractors, and driving and looking around and basically not doing anything except wasting gas........ yes embarrasing, but heck I've chosen to live here and I guess put up with it...... for now anyways. mow, mow, mow your park, gently down the...........

Zeeshan, the reason you get the disconnect "we want better services but we don't want to pay more" is because you politicians love your general slush funds and new projects, and the simple fact is WE DON'T TRUST YOU (politicians). We will pay more for better services, but we don't want new services and new expenditures.

Here's a simple suggestion. Figure out what the necessary increase for keeping parks weed free would cost. Convert that to a % of the property taxes same as you did for the hospital fund, guaranteeing the funds can't and won't be used for anything else. Put all expenditures from that fund online, including any salaries for staff being paid out of there, so we can assure ourselves you aren't padding costs and are getting the town good value, and you will probably have a lot less complaining about the increase.