How many residents have had guests stay overnight to find that they have a ticket in the morning as they parked on the street?  I am not talking about the winter months when snow removal may need to clear streets.  I am talking about the middle of the summer.  A time when company comes over for dinner, a party or to spend the weekend.  When one of our guests, who was responsible and took a cab home after having a couple of alcoholic beverages, got a ticket on their car, I was shocked. Not only that, how many residents are even aware of this by-law.
Parking by-law 1998-64
10(f) no person shall park a vehicle on any roadway for more than three (3) consecutive hours save except between the hours of 7 pm and 11pm. 
This by-law just does not make sense.  To me, it is a pure cash cow for the town.  Instead of being a responsible by-law that would encourage residents to leave vehicles parked and either stay overnight or take a cab when visiting a friend or relatives home in the town, it encourages people to move the vehicle. 
It just does not make sense. This is something that should be changed and should be changed now and I vow to work to do so.

One only has to start knocking on doors to know that Newmarket has many dog lovers.  Newmarket has an array of business’s that cater to our dog loving community, including bakeries, doggy day cares, grooming salons, and training facilities, on site and off site.  A trip to the park makes you realize that dog owning residents don’t have anywhere to let our dogs run off leash and play with other dogs in a safe environment.  Without such a facility, owners tend to let dogs off leash on their own accord which I know can end up sometimes being dangerous to other residents who are simply walking or riding bicycles through the park.

During my campaign last time and this time, many residents have asked and are asking me now, about the prospect of a dog park.  They have one in Aurora and Markham that I know of, and perhaps in other communities across York Region.  So, I do believe it is time Newmarket also had such a park that catered to the specific needs of our Newmarket dogs and their dog loving owners.

I do believe in the past the town formed a committee to address this, which ultimately ended up with no dog park being implemented.  When looking at locations for a park, you would obviously like to have one in an area that is accessible to many residents, but also is considerate to the homeowners around that perhaps do not want a dog park in their backyard.  Many considerations need to be taken, but with good planning and input from the community along with input from these “dog businesses”, I know we can come up with a solution that will work for everyone.

Personally, I am the owner of a rescued Border Collie that I walk each and every morning around various parts of the neighbourhood as well as along the trail system.  I have travelled to Florida with her to visit my parents and there is a great spot to take your dogs, called “Dog Beach”.  I have been there on many occasions and have never experienced any problems with any of the dogs.  Owners are very responsible and the beach is monitored by only the owners who take their beloved pooches there. You meet dogs (and owners) from all over the country and at the end of the day you take home a very tired dog, along with great conversations from other dog loving owners.  I look forward to working to implement Newmarket’s Dog Park in the near future and will support a start-up committee to see this come to light and not fizzle out as it has done in the past.

Since I have started talking to residents one on one the past few weeks, there are definitely concerns that are being raised over and over by many residents, in particular, speeding on Elgin, Wayne and Waratah. I walk these streets quite regularly and, I too, have noticed the speeds that many vehicles are travelling is dangerous and well over the speed limit.  The problem is, it is not going away.  The other day I was walking along Elgin past the radar speed trailer when a multiple number of cars went flying by me with no consideration to the speed that was clocked much above the posted 40 km/hr. limit. Residents continue to tell me that the school buses are one of the culprits and continue to speed along Elgin, drag racing is common and the general speed on this residential street is exceeding the speed limit continuously. 
So, that takes us to what is actually being done, is it working, and what are the concrete plans to help rectify this problem before someone is injured on this street.
I did some investigating to find out where we are in rectifying this as the residents I spoke to are definitely not satisfied.
Last fall, there was a letter sent out from our present councillor stating that a report will be brought back from Staff on this situation and a follow up letter would be provided to residents on Elgin St.  This is what Staff was to report on according to the December 7th Committee of the Whole.
 

THAT Community Services Report – ES 2009-126, dated November 19, 2009
regarding Elgin Street – Follow-up Traffic Review, be received and the following
recommendations be adopted:
1. THAT additional traffic counts be undertaken on Elgin Street in the spring
2010;
2. AND THAT Engineering Services staff work with the York Region District
School Board to determine the feasibility if altered bus operations are
viable;
3. AND THAT the speed limit signage spacing be reviewed and additional
speed limit signs be implemented if required;of
4. AND THAT an updated report be brought back to Town Council with the
results of the additional traffic counts and mitigation options if the traffic
counts exceed the 15 km/h threshold as set out in the Transportation
Management Policy ENG.1-02.

 
At this point, I have not been able to locate the report on the Town website, so it may not yet be complete. I do realize that to mitigate the problem a report must be done to take it to the next steps of finding a solution.  The bottom line is this situation isn’t new; it has been going on for years.  So what are the solutions?  Simple solutions such as an additional stop sign at Elgin and Jefferson which could include a pedestrian crossing to safely cross to the other sidewalk, speed bumps, flashing amber lights on additional large speed limit signs, reducing the speed limit, narrowed lanes, (not just a centre yellow line),or implementing a centre boulevard.
Something needs to be done because what is being done right now, just simply isn’t working.

For the last two years I have tried to gain access to Hollingsworth Arena, for the use of Meadowbrook Public School and Glen Cedar Public School to skate on during the day.  This has been available in the past and the children would then be able to walk down to the arena and use the facilities.  I have been told by the Town of Newmarket when I inquired that it is now not available as they do not have anyone that can open the arena during the day as they are at the Magna Centre or the Ray Twinney Complex.  Therefore, if they want to skate, they must take a bus to one of these arenas.  I sit on the Parent Council for Meadowbrook PS, and I know how expensive it is for the schools to charter buses for field trips.  These expenses, if not fundraised through school fundraising, is passed on to the parents as an added cost which I know many parents find difficult to find on top of all the other added expenses they are already faced with.  Ultimately, Meadowbrook has decided the last two years to forgo the skating outing.  This is unfortunate as it is the children who end up getting the short end of the stick and are not able to enjoy a healthy active lifestyle that we are trying to encourage them to do.  Newmarket is all about being environmentally pro-active, so shouldn’t walking to an arena within your own community be encouraged rather than the use of large diesel burning bus.
The added cost to have someone open the arena and flood the ice for perhaps once a month, 2 or 3 times a winter, is minimal compared to some of the other costs we are incurring with the Old Town Hall, the CUSP, the new Operations Centre  and of course our new Town Logo.
Come on guys, where are our priorities?  I think it is time we brought some things back to the community on a small scale.  Not every issue or new initiative has to be on a large scale; it is the little things that can be more emotionally charged and cost little to implement.

In a perfect world, where our town had an abundance of money in our account, I would love to see the Old Town Hall restored and made into a spectacular centre with an elevator, glass atrium and a wonderful outdoor patio.  But, sadly, it isn’t a perfect world.  Our town has taken on a number of initiatives this past year, including the new Operations Centre and the downtown CUSP plan.  All of these did indeed come with some grant money, but not all of the money needed to complete the projects.  Is it wise, at this point, to take on any more projects that will cause some burden on the taxpayers of Newmarket? Maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but down the road it will.  Do we ever see a project come in under budget?  Not very often and I certainly doubt that these projects that we have on the go now will either.
To borrow from our reserves, which we have done so already, is not a smart thing to do.  Maybe I am wrong, but aren’t our reserves in place so that in the event of something happening that needs urgent funding we are able to take care of it.  Putting off other capital projects has been suggested.  What are these other capital projects?   I know that the Library is another major project that is in the talks at this time.  Is this something that will then be delayed?  What is more important to the residents of Newmarket overall?
The Old Town Hall was built in 1883.  From the article in the paper I am getting the feeling that if we don’t move forward on this plan right now, we will lose an integral part of our history.  If it is still standing now, then I think we can safely say that with some minor upkeep, we can keep the building for a bit longer.  The government grant is available until 2016, so should this be rushed through?
The other part of this whole situation is, “how on earth, did the cost to renovate this building come back so much over budget?” We are not talking about tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but millions!  Should we still be sticking to the same company that made such a big mistake?  If this was my business, I would be looking for someone else to continue with the project.

http://www.yorkregion.com/news/local/article/661221–newmarket-town-hall-plan-hits-wall

Update on Bayview Park

The other day, I was driving by Bayview Park and I noticed that there was a lot of work going on in the park by the pond.  The dirt was piled up and extensive work was being done on the stream leading from the pond area that leads down to the Holland River.  I thought I might find out what was going on by looking on the town website or our standing Councillor, but couldn’t find anything about this at all. 

So, I went back and spoke to the gentleman who was in charge of overseeing this project and had a great chat about it.  So, this is what I found out:                                                                                                                                                                 

The Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority is doing work on the stream leading from the pond to create a better filtration system that will decrease the amount of phosphorous that is coming from the Pond itself.  Basically the pond, at the present time, is only about a foot deep and will be dug out later this fall.  Before they do this, they want to make sure that the stream leading from it will filter as much of the phosphorous from it as possible.  It is expected to stop 23 kg of phosphorous a year from entering the Holland River, which ultimately leads to Lake Simcoe.                   

This is all part of the cleanup of Lake Simcoe that has been funded by Environment Canada.  The first stage of this project will be all put back by the start of the summer when everyone will be going to the area to enjoy the park.  The second stage, the pond, will not start until after the start of the new school year.

So in case you were wondering what was going on at the Park, I hope I have filled you in.  By the way, the piles of dirt are not boulders, although they do look like this when the dirt is frozen.  A resident of Ward 3 had contacted me to find out if I knew what was going on there, so I did email her back to let her know as well. 

If you see something else going on in the Ward, feel free to contact me and if I don’t know, I will find out.  I plan to use my website to keep you updated on what is happening in and around Ward 3.  And, if elected, I will keep you up to date on a consistent and timely fashion.  That is my promise that I will definitely keep.