I find Milton’s election site informative, but confusing to browse. After learning that they couldn’t fix it in time for this election, I created my own last night.

It was late and I was tired, so there may be errors and omissions. I apologize for those. Otherwise check it out : http://miltonvote.wordpress.com/

The site has RSS Feed, so you can subscribe and will be notified of changes.

Neighbours: I have a favour to ask. 

Not many people like neighbourhoods littered with yard signs.  Unfortunately, for non-incumbents like myself, they are critical in getting name recognition. They also help establish a candidate since when people see their neighbours supporting someone, they are more likely to consider and support the same candidate.

I would be honoured if you lend me a small portion of your yard for my sign.  Someone from my campaign team will put it out (at an undisclosed date).  We will remove them immediately after the election. 

Please e-mail me if it’s cool to put a sign on your lawn, or leave a comment (without your address) and I will contact you for details.

I know I have asked for a lot of favours lately: I asked for donations, and many of you gave me your hard-earned money; I asked for support, and many of you volunteered; I asked for publicity, and you told all your friends about my campaign.  Words cannot expressed how humbled and honoured I am to have such awesome neighbours. 

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not just my personal campaign. It is a community campaign.  Ward 8 needs an involved neighbour in the council, that’s what this is about.  I appreciate your help in getting real representation for this community. 

Last night’s council meeting was a marathon session that went past 11pm.  Bernadette Mason did an excellent presentation on traffic calming devices that I‘ve been talking about for years. You can see it here.

I actually wanted to talk about something else. 

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This really belongs in Why My Hair Dont Grow No More.  Want to see why kids alone aren’t responsible for my hair loss? Well, read on.  Some days Murphy strikes hard and everything that can go wrong, goes wrong (and then some). 

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Milton Transit will host four (yes, 4) Public Information Sessions to announce new transit routes and other changes:

Wednesday, August 18
• 2:00 – 4:00 pm, Milton Seniors’ Activity Centre
• 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Milton Sports Centre

Thursday, August 19
• 2:00 – 4:00 pm, Milton Public Library (Beaty Branch)
• 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Town Hall

I will be there for three of those sessions (fourth one conflicts with the Wind Turbine Public Open House). You can see new transit routes in the community map (warning: large file).  Hope to see you there.

I was shocked to hear that some people didn’t know about the street festival.  What?  Rock climbing, over 40 artists, pro wrestling, pirate ship … you mustn’t miss it! 

Oh and buses are free, so leave your car at home. Buses leave every 30 minutes.  More info: http://www.milton.ca/commserv/streetfestival/index.php.

Jennifer Smith, ward 2 candidate, just did a great post on her blog on Milton’s missing Traffic Calming policy.  She compared it to Caledon that has a written traffic calming manual (what a concept).  Her post is here, check it out.

Milton is launching the ‘Move More, Milton’ program tomorrow (June 1st) with a “Take it to the Trails” promotion.  You may find more details on http://www.movemoremilton.ca.  You may also want to print out the June activities calendar for a schedule of activities for the entire month. 

Unfortunately there’s no trail walks in Harrison or Scott neighbourhoods, so I will join people at one of the other Hawthorne village neighbourhoods. 

One of the items in tomorrow’s Committee of Adjustment meeting is an application from Derry Scott development (northwest plaza) to:

• Put 14 fewer parking spots than required
• Reduce the rear yard setback by 50% (building will be closer to homes)
• Bring parking area closer to buildings
• Put loading bay door facing the street without having to screen it (right now loading docks are not allowed to face the street, unless they are screened)
• No designated loading area for one of the buildings
• Increase allowed square footage

Basically they want to have more square footage with reduced parking and fewer urban design requirements.  Where do people park if there are not enough parking spaces?  Do people want to see loading bay doors from the street?  What about the minimum setback? 

We should be raising minimum requirements from commercial developers, not reducing them. 

(Shameless plug: this is why it is so important to have councillors from your own areas, precisely why Milton divided itself into different ‘wards’.  That way councillors have a vested interest in working for their own neighbourhoods.  I really do work for all of us, even though I am not in the Council yet).

All municipalities in Ontario must go through an Official Plan Review once every 5 years.  Milton is going through its review right now.  There is a public open house on April 28th and a special council public meeting on May 10th. 

You can find the official plan here.  If you have any comments then please bring them up. You can send them to me and I will present them on the 10th. You can also send written comments prior to May 14th directly to Angela Janzen, the senior planner at the Planning & Development Department.

I will create a summary of the official plan as well. If you would like me to send it to you then please e-mail me your contact information.  I would rather not post it here publically because even a summary of a 400+ pages document will be fairly large.  A little over 200 people regularly read this blog and I doubt they are all interested in reading the summary. 

Official Plans have a huge impact in shaping towns and cities. That in turn will have an impact on your property values. So there, you actually have a financial incentive :).