• Bends that are safe at speed limit  (image from Seattle)
  
  
• Median with trees. Southern MD and Washington, DC (affluent areas) does this really well. I lived in a community of small townhomes in Gaithersburg, MD and even there the median had three rows of trees. This also prevents people from passing from beyond the solid yellow line.
  This shot is from Maryland (this was done on an old road, so the trees in the median aren’t grown yet):
  

• Create a physical barrier after a few parking spots. For Scott & Savoline that means people won’t be able to pass from the right.  Yet another from MD:
   
• Traffic circle (again, I am told by people that it works. I hated them in DC and Maryland and VA did not have them. Seattle neighbourhoods do have these though and there they were okay. This picture is from Seattle:
   
  
• Lonnnngg speed bumps (not conventional ones). Here’s a picture from Bellevue, WA of a speed bump that does nothing at reasonable speed but does hurt at a higher speed:
  

• Raised intersection that work as the bullet above. This is a raised intersection from Gaithersburg, MD. It also works fine at normal speed (costs < $15K to build):
  

• Finally, do not create long parallel neighbourhood roads that become bypasses for real streets (eg. people taking Scott Blvd to avoid driving on Bronte / Tremaine and Derry). These streets should be for people living in the community, not for people going from one major street to another.

These are some ideas.  Not all will work here. But they should be considered and implemented so builders like Mattamy or Fieldgate builds them when they first construct residential roads (so the Town doesn’t have to build them later). 

• A responsible, cost-effective and accountable local government. The explanation adds a direction: “Demonstrate leadership in matters that affect Milton“.
  • Has Milton demonstrated leadership?
  • In sustainability Milton is certainly not a leader (arguably Halton and Oakville are).
  • I can go to the City of Mississauga website and see their entire budget, financial statements from previous candidates and a lot of other data that the Town of Milton doesn’t publish online. That’s not leadership.
  • Halton streams all council meetings online, Milton has no such accountability.
• A safe, liveable and healthy community. The direction adds: “Protect and enhance our heritage, identity and character“.
  • What is Milton’s “character”? What does it mean to be “Milton”?
  • Is there a lens we can look through to make sure new land-use and development applications fit the character?
  • Are developers looking at enhancing it? Is Milton holding developers accountable?
  • The residents on Duncan Lane living next to the rail track do not even have the most basic sound barrier (they just have a small metal fence). Not safe, not livable and certainly not healthy.
  • Residents do not get biking / walking trails and neighbourhood parks until years after moving in to the community.
  • Heck even basic things like coordinating street lights is not done for years.
• A diverse and sustainable economy – Direction adds: “Attract and retain employers that provide a range of employment opportunities and assessment growth“.
  • The Town may disagree with me but Milton isn’t doing enough to attract high-quality employers. The assumption is, ‘if you build them, they’ll come’.
  • Check out mississauga’s online business section. There’s a ton of information there.  Milton has http://www.miltonthiswayup.ca/ (did you even know about it)?
• A thriving natural environment that is a valued community asset to be protected, maintained and enjoyed
  • Again, Halton has taken the leadership with Sustainable Halton and Oakville has initiatives, but there’s no “Sustainable Milton” plan.
  • Scott Blvd is getting a bus service only because the transit plan passed by just one vote (and that’s with two missing councillors).
  • Milton has no problem with excessive street lights in some areas but it does complain about having to maintain trees.
  • The long-term priorities are backward IMO. Development keeps moving further and further west, practically touching the escarpment.
  • Many parts of Milton (parts of Main Street, pretty much all of Steeles) are an eye sore.

On the day-to-day basis Milton is actually run fairly well.  In execution of its vision it isn’t.  I think part of the problem is how its vision is highly ambiguous.

Does your municipality have a clear vision? Is it concise and easy to understand?

More importantly, what is your vision (for your municipality)?

Sanford Florida was about the size of Milton in 2000 and then again in 2006.  I visited my cousin there.  One thing struck me: residential streets had half as many street lights as newer ones in Milton do.  More interestingly, major ones (similar to Derry Road) had almost no street lights other than on major intersections.  It did not make driving unsafe.  When there were no cars, you were okay with just your headlights. When there were a lot of cars, a lot of headlights lit up the road anyway. Instead they spent money on “cat’s eyes” that reflected beautifully in headlights and made lane markers more visible than they are in Milton. 

The Town of Milton spends 1% of property taxes on street lights.  It helps to think of ways to reduce that cost.  As an amateur astronomer, here’s what I have to say: “if a street light can be reduced without impacting safety then that streetlight should not be put up”.  Repeat that exercise until we are at the minimum number of street lights required.  And make sure new lights are solar powered LED lights so we have an even lower operating cost.

Ironically, the Town doesn’t want more trees planted because it is worried about maintaining them, but it has no issues bombarding roads with more street lights than are absolutely necessary.  I don’t need major roads that do not have homes fronting on them to light up like Christmas trees.