HawthorneVillager.com

Thanks to my colleague on regional council Marianne Meed Ward from Burlington for sharing this link on Calgary's new mayor initiative to improve his community.

http://blog.calgarymayor.ca/2011/10/3-t ... yours.html

I am asking villager members, what three things you would do or ask regional and local councillors to do to improve Milton and Halton's future?

In preparation for both council's 2012 budget deliberations in the first two weeks of December, I am also holding a Budget Open House on Wednesday November 23rd from 7-9 pm in Room 3 of the Milton Sports Centre to present the initial budget proposals from staff and discuss what you want for Milton and Halton in 2012 and in the future.

Looking forward to your comments, concerns and ideas.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Chair Milton Budget Committee

_________________
Become a Fan! Visit my website! Email: colin.best@milton.ca Twitter Follow! 905-878-3623

I'll spit out the one that you'll probably hear the most, that being a better growth plan. The region has been absolutely horrible in this regard, waiting until subdivisions are built to realize that all those added people would affect infrastructure and only then start increasing road sizes, etc.

Thanks for asking Colin. Here's mine:

1) stronger controls over business signage, new development aesthetics

2) more linked trails and green spaces through the new developments

3) better developed downtown. I love the farmers market, but It would be great to have some better quality restaurants and unique shops (sorry bumpers)

A municipal golf course. Hamilton, Burlington, Mississauga, Toronto and Brampton have them, so should Milton.

One word; conservation. One of the reasons people move to Milton is because the city is surrounded by a scenic backdrop of wilderness & wildlife. As a politician, one way to protect and promote rural Milton is to capitalize on it through city building initiatives. Build trails and bike lanes that take you from the south of sixth line to Glen Eden. Develop a fish hatchery that will replenish every pond and stream in the city. Promote the sale of local produce through subsidized advertising for Milton farmers. Think about investing in solar power as a means of providing energy for government buildings and facilities. Develop a team of volunteers to deal with the growing numbers of wildlife within the city through friendly trapping and community education. Design irrigation systems now on a macro and micro economic level for future water conservation. Obviously I could go on and on, but conservation needs to be the focus when it comes to urban sprawl within this city...it is easy to build, but to build a fiscally, environmently friendly city of the future takes creativity, determination and intelligent planning.

_________________
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.

Here are mine:

1. Improve the hospital, it's quality of service, and capacity. This one is my top suggestion.

2. Conservation as per Marathon Man, and this includes not building any more houses! I love that there's suburbia here, a quaint downtown, then the Escarpment out west, and I can drive down to Brittania and see cows grazing on Thompson.

3. More after-school programs for the many kids in town who will be older in the next few years, including more teen counselling programs to keep some out of trouble.

1- Roads (infrastructure). I think most people are baffled at the purpose of the S-Curve that has been installed on Derry where the train tracks are; with no signs of any other construction anywhere to be seen? What exactly are they doing?

2- Attracting Business. We need more than box stores otherwise we end up being as bad as Brampton is. Mississauga seems able to do this so can we.

3- Conservation. One of the best features of Milton right now. We don't want to pave over everything in site (ala Brampton). Stop the sprawl and start planning before they do things.

My first choice is improvement/expansion on the hospital

My second is more hiking/biking trails that lead to the Escarpment. I think Milton Does have an "attraction" it is the Escarpment. I think we need more trails that are accessible from our neighbourhoods. Trails leading into the beautiful forest and hillside. I think we should be promoting the Escarpment and the active lifestyle. We can do this by posting billboards of trail access points, maps, in our downtown. (kind of like the light up boards the malls have to display where the stores are) We can color code what trails are for beginners and children, intermediate and skilled. What trails are suitable for bikes and strollers.

My third is a Mall I have said this before and made a post about it, everyone seems to agree: Milton needs a Good indoor Mall

1. More jails.
2. More police.
3. A 9:00 curfew (or martial law).

On a more serious note;
#1. The municipal golf course, if it is within town borders, could have trails to link up areas of town with the escarpment since so many people seem to want trails. It could also support the Nature Conservancy like Savannah Links in Cambridge to attract wildlife. I've seen a Wood Duck and a Kingfisher at Savannah to name two species. Not sure if the irrigation ponds could double as storm water ponds. Municipal golf courses are great for younger players to learn the sport in the hope that they can support many of the other golf courses in the area when they get older.

#2. Build a lot of roundabouts and become the roundabout capital of Canada. We might attract a lot of tourists from the UK who are used to roundabouts and who love birdwatching and they could watch the birds on the municipal golf course.

#3. A challenge park geared towards teens. It could have indoor and outdoor facilities for mini putt, rock climbing, pool, paintball and go-karts. A tree top rope walk with a zip glide, a wave pool, a physical arcade (with ping pong, foosball, air hockey and darts). Participaction to get the teens off their butts from surfing the internet and reading forums like Hawthorn Villager!

I like Bonobo's transit suggestion but that is a GTA issue to me.

Thanks everyone for your comments and ideas. I am looking for more as we have a number of meetings in the next few weeks where public input is critical in council's decisions. I will also be passing the link to staff at both levels for their review into budget priorities as council will also be setting goals in the 2012-2021 capital budget as well as the 2012 operating budget.

Shawnrk1 you might have noticed that there has been crews doing drill tests at the Derry road crossing over the last few days. They are taking soil samples as part of the design work for the underpass which was accelerated from 2016 to 2012 construction thanks to local residents petitions which Zeeshan started and I pushed for along with Chair Carr.

You should be seeing the excavations start early in 2012 which having the detour in place now has saved time and money. I will be commenting more on infrastructure and other issues pending the release of the budget documents.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Chair Milton Budget committee

_________________
Become a Fan! Visit my website! Email: colin.best@milton.ca Twitter Follow! 905-878-3623

1. Development:

Require developers to institute quality-of-life amenities as part of the construction process. Imagine a bunch of lake acquitaines with attached biking/walking paths meandering through Milton. That is what we could have been.

2. Public Transit

We need to connect effectively and efficiently to other municipalities. Not just for those who live in Milton, but more importantly for those who wish to work in Milton.

3. Fix Derry/Trafalgar

Seriously, if you guys can't fix that one intersection, I don't see what the point is in discussing anything else. It is like trying to teach algebra to somebody who can't add 3+2. Yes, all the ideas in this thread are nice, but if our regional councillors cannot even fix the easiest and most blatant problem in Milton, what chance do they have on things that require actual political acumen or persuasion?

_________________
omnia dicta fortiori, si dicta Latina

BINGO

One and only priority should be to maintain focus. Municipalities are responsible for our infastructure and town services such as parks, garbage collection, fire department and police force. Focus on those things and we should all be fine. But focus on these things!

Don't get distracted by small interest groups or politics. We have different levels of government for a reason and they each have their own jurisdictions. I would like to see my property taxes go towards the above mentioned services as my income tax goes to all the others.

I agree with this, but we do have to include the hospital expansion costs in there. Municiapally we are responsible for 10% of the expansion construction costs plus all the equipment costs. How we come up with this is critical now that we have expansion approval. I support as much fundraising as possible for this, but it will impact our property tax - of that I'm sure. But we can't focus soley on that issue in exlusion of the other community needs. Putting parks redevelopment, trails development, transit expansion on hold indefinitely while we raise the local share for the hospital is not beneficial to the bigger community picture.

I think that the main priority should be the hospital. It affects everyone who lives and/or works here. There should also be a focus on preserving Milton's environmental beauty. When we first moved to Milton, it was nice to be able see the Escarpment from the west end of Clarke. Now it is hidden. As to a golf course, do we need to take up valuable land for another golf course?