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Living in poverty among our most wealthy

May 10, 2009 – 10:09 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

Halton has one homeless person. One that’s visible, anyhow. I saw him last week, about a block from our home in downtown Burlington, wearing a worn plaid jacket and pushing what looks like a jogging stroller filled with his things.

Poverty in Burlington? The fourth best place to live in Canada, according to this month’s MoneySense survey. One of the wealthiest cities in Ontario — where our average income of $111,307 tops Toronto’s ($87,823), and Hamilton’s ($77,009). Say it ain’t so.

It’s hard to convince people it is so. And it’s our mothers and grandmothers who largely bear the brunt of poverty, a shameful fact to think about on Mother’s Day, when we pause to celebrate the contributions of women in our lives.

According to tabulations from Community Development Halton (CDH), based on Statistics Canada’s 2006 census, female lone-parent families have the highest rate of poverty, after recent immigrants. In Halton (which covers Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills), 22% of single mothers with children live at or below the low income level. In Burlington and Oakville the rate is higher — a shocking one in four. Read More »

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By Marianne Meed Ward | Posted in Poverty | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Disappearing farmland…and public decorum

May 3, 2009 – 10:13 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

It’s not every day I’m called a loser on welfare who doesn’t pay tax, and need an escort to my van, amid angry catcalls. But such are the theatrics of public meetings when land use issues are at stake.

Expect the fireworks to continue.

Halton Region is currently holding public consultations on its Sustainable Halton Growth Management Strategy — its “plan” to fit 780,000 people into the region in the next 20 years, almost double the current population.

The region has had four public consultations — in Burlington, Oakville and Halton Hills last week, and Milton a week earlier — with a public workshop this Thursday, and a vote on the strategy May 27.

I attended the Burlington meeting. The shouting started when I said the growth strategy included ever-shifting urban boundaries, which are certain to eat into prime agricultural land.

The shouting continued when I said it’s well known that development does not pay for itself. Development fees and the new property tax base don’t come near paying for all the things a thriving community needs — hospitals, schools and transportation networks, to name a few, which are already overcrowded, underfunded and struggling to serve the needs of Halton’s current population.

Thus, price and tax increases are inevitable, pricing seniors and young families out of our community. Read More »

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By Marianne Meed Ward | Posted in Sprawl | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Designing downtowns to avoid lemons

April 12, 2009 – 10:23 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

If they put Lululemon in your downtown, would you visit?

City planners and business associations are asking questions like that, namely what mix of shops and services will entice people downtown.

I found it heartening to learn that my own city, in conjunction with the local business association, is in the final stages of a study to find out what mix of businesses we need, then develop a plan to go after them.

This is good news to residents like me who fear our downtown is being carved up willy-nilly, with no overall plan for what is needed or wanted. It’s nice to know that some smart people are on the hunt for signature stores.

Some call this the Starbucks factor. You know an area is on the verge of renewal when the high-end coffee seller sets up shop, as they did in downtown Burlington recently.

“Starbucks is our gateway,” says Brian Dean, general manager of the Burlington Downtown Business Association. “It’s a bellwether store. It raises expectations” about the other stores you’ll find in the district.

You need a few of these bellwethers — Lululemon is another — to anchor a downtown, without turning it into an outdoor mall of national chains. That’s the kiss of death for downtowns, which almost by definition are the “anti-malls,” to use Dean’s word. Read More »

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By Marianne Meed Ward | Posted in Downtown | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Water you waiting for? Run out and tap some

April 6, 2009 – 10:18 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

As teenager, I wouldn’t have dreamed of spending my limited cash on something so mundane as bottled water.

I could get water free, from fountains, taps, and restaurants. It never made sense to pay for it. Plus, forgoing bottled water left more money in my pocket for really important things, like another shade of lip gloss — which did more for my fashion statement than carrying a bottle of Evian.

Today, I have different reasons for avoiding bottled water, but the cost savings will always be a bonus. I was thinking of these reasons during Earth Week last week, as I listened to the ongoing debate in our community, and our country, over bottled water.

The push is on to encourage people to stop buying bottled water, and to ban its sale from municipal buildings and events, schools and universities.

Both the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario are urging cities to phase out the sale and purchase of bottled water at their own facilities. To date, 28 municipalities from six provinces have voted to restrict bottled water, and several more — Toronto, Oakville and, this past week, Burlington — are considering proposals to do so.

Another 21 universities and colleges have established bottled-water-free zones, and several school boards — including Halton District just this month — are considering a bottled water ban. The conversation and debate is bubbling.

So why is bottled water a problem? Read More »

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By marianne | Posted in Environment | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Citizens increasingly feel left out

April 5, 2009 – 10:28 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

Last week’s column on how community members often feel shut out of political decision-making hit a nerve. Many of you are telling me: “Been there; seen that.”

Heck, even some politicians are feeling shut out — witness the “raucous caucus” Premier Dalton McGuinty faced over his plans to harmonize the provincial sales tax and the federal GST.

When elected officials feel disenfranchised, imagine what the rest of us must be going through.

Although, “imagine” is the wrong word. Too many of us have lived it. It’s more like “it’s about time you walked in our shoes; maybe those insights will help you govern.”

And what are those insights? To reiterate, here’s the short list of how to lose citizens and alienate communities:

Invite people to public “consultations” to tell them what you’re doing, rather than involve them in true decision-making.

Tell people about public meetings after they’ve occurred, or only a few days before, leaving citizens to scramble to get there.

Pass the buck. Any scapegoat will do: Blame other governments (the province made me do it), local bylaws (the Official Plan made me do it), other agencies (the Ontario Municipal Board made me do it), the developers (their lawyers made me do it), even residents themselves (why didn’t you come to all the meetings?).

I’ve seen and heard it all, and so have you. Read More »

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By Marianne Meed Ward | Posted in Community Engagement | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Trying not to repeat T.O.’s lakefront mistakes

March 29, 2009 – 10:31 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

When us 905ers think about waterfront development, we consider downtown Toronto an example of what not to do (recent improvements notwithstanding). The criticisms centre on three things:

  • Big buildings that block lakeviews;
  • Some butt-ugly buildings that distract from the nicer ones; and
  • Lack of continuous public access. The waterfront trail along much of our lake is more like the Waterfront Tease — now you see it, now you don’t.

The 905 could be learning from these mistakes, but instead our municipalities along the water seem destined to repeat them.

Last week Burlington staff unveiled planning options for a key stretch of land on the waterfront east of Spencer Smith Park.

The land is home to 11 heritage properties, including Emma’s Back Porch, a two-storey GTA landmark that draws visitors from all over. I came to Emma’s when I lived in Toronto for the privilege of sipping a cold one on their lakefront patio, the nicest “view with a brew” you can get, shy of owning property.

Now imagine trying to find Emma’s amid four towers, ranging from eight to 15 storeys high. Now add five more towers planned elsewhere in the downtown, ranging from 14 to 21 storeys. Then imagine trying to see the lake from the soon-to-be-oxymoronic-in-name Lakeshore Road. Read More »

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By Marianne Meed Ward | Posted in Downtown, Waterfront development | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Parkland disappearing as schools close

January 25, 2009 – 10:39 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

Disappearing soon from a neighbourhood near you: Parks attached to former schools.

Get ready to get in your car to drive miles so that you and your kids can play soccer, walk the dog, throw a ball or race around the climber. Then watch your property values plummet, as people seek out neighbourhoods that still have schools and parks close by.

For now.

Across the province, Ontarians are losing hundreds of acres of parklands when schools close due to low enrolment.

A 2008 report by the advocacy group People for Education said 321 schools in Ontario closed between 1998 and 2005. Another 76 are targeted for closure, and 143 are “under review.” And estimated 1,284 acres of greenspace has been lost, and another 800 acres is at risk.

To further complicate matters, greenspace is at risk even in those communities with growing school enrolment, like Halton region.

Schools in new housing developments are typically financed by selling schools and property in older neighbourhoods with declining enrolment. The conundrum pits communities against each other, and crosses three levels of government: the Ministry of Education, the municipality and the school board.

The latest casualty? A 26-acre park attached to the former General Brock High School in Burlington, one of the largest parcels of its kind, a glorious patch of greenspace the community has been battling to save for more than six years.

But on Jan. 7, trustees at the Halton District School Board — with one exception — voted to sell the General Brock lands. Read More »

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By Marianne Meed Ward | Posted in General Brock Park Battle | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Hunting for payoffs in city politics

January 18, 2009 – 10:48 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

Are developers buying municipal elections in the 905?

That screaming headline hit the papers last week in the wake of a study sponsored by Vote Toronto and the CSJ Foundation for Research and Education. The study, by York prof Robert MacDermid, examined the financial statements of candidates in the 2006 election in 10 GTA municipalities.

The findings: With the notable exceptions of Toronto, Markham and Ajax, the development industry was the most important financier of winning campaigns.

Not only are developers contributing big bucks to municipal campaigns, they are winning council votes in their favour too, MacDermid found.

That’s the bad news.

But is this happening everywhere? Here’s the good news: No, it isn’t. Not all 905 towns are created equally. The study covered Toronto and nine municipalities closest to Toronto: Vaughan, Brampton, Mississauga, Markham, Richmond Hill, Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax and Pickering.

But it left out Halton region, including the cities of Oakville, Burlington, Milton, and Halton Hills. So I did some number crunching of my own.

Residents in Halton have long believed developers call the shots in our cities, and are probably buying our local politicians. Headlines that paint the entire 905 area with one brush add fuel to our suspicions.

So I went looking for candidate financial statements for councillors and mayors elected in Halton in 2006. Oakville and Burlington post these documents — which are public record — online, though it takes some patience and intuition to find them. Milton requires you to seek records from the town clerk, and Halton Hills makes you fill out a freedom of information request. I won’t get those papers any time soon.

In Oakville and Burlington the situation is a little different than MacDermid’s study. For now. Read More »

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By marianne | Posted in Public accountability | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Whistler shows growth isn’t a downhill slope

January 11, 2009 – 10:44 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

When you think Whistler, you think skiing. But the British Columbia town is also positioning itself as a leader in managing growth.

Once a community of 500 people scattered along Whistler valley, the population of year-round dwellers is now 14,200, with at least that many more as seasonal residents and workers, plus another two million visitors annually.

That explosive growth — which in some years earned Whistler the dubious distinction as “fastest-growing community in Canada” — has put tremendous pressure on local residents.

Those pressures include escalating living, housing and business costs; changing demographics; a growing wealth gap; declining natural resources and habitats; increasing land, water and air pollution; and inadequate transportation infrastructure.

In the 905, we can relate — and have our own dubious distinction as the fourth fastest growing region in North America. With developers clamouring to build on every patch of land, we’ve had to sort through some of the same issues as Whistler.

They’ve come up with a blueprint for “sustainable” growth, called Whistler 2020. The town’s mayor, Ken Melamed, spoke at a public forum in Halton last week on building sustainable communities. He had two key pieces of advice for Halton to manage our growth in a sustainable way.

First: Engage in a process called “backcasting,” part of a larger planning strategy called The Natural Step. The program, available free online at naturalstep.ca, provides a definition of “sustainability” along with a process for communities to start moving in that direction.

A key component is community engagement. Backcasting asks communities (as opposed to governments) to define what success would look like 10 or 20 years out, then look “back” to the present to determine how to get from where we are to where we want to be.

Whistler’s plan was developed and committed to by approximately 30 formal partner organizations and businesses, and 160 task force members. They meet annually to review and improve the plan, which touches all areas of life, from enriching community life to protecting the environment and the local economy.

Though local government initiated the process, it helped that people like Melamed — president of a local environmental group for six years before being elected — were on council.

Backcasting differs from forecasting, in that forecasting typically projects where a community will end up if it keeps on its current path, then tries to plan for that inevitability. It’s a passive/reactive approach to planning, rather than a proactive one.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about the provincially-mandated ‘Places to Grow,’” said Melamed in a telelphone interview. “Places to Grow was really forecasting.”

As a result, some cities are struggling with it. Places to Grow, while trying to anticipate and plan for inevitable growth in the GTA, doesn’t lay out an overall vision of what “success” would look like when the dust settles, he said.

OVERALL VISION NEEDED

Plenty of local environmental and community groups have been developing that vision and lobbying government officials — with some success. But sustainability is still piece-meal here — on a project by project or development by development basis. What’s needed is an overall vision that integrates every aspect of community, from arts and culture to waste management.

The Natural Step has a word for that too — it’s called the “systems” approach, and it worked well in Whistler.

Melamed’s second piece of advice for Halton is to evaluate our “carrying capacity” — a fancy way of asking “are there enough schools, roads, hospital beds and other services to meet the needs of a growing community?”

It’s something local environmental groups have long been pushing municipalities to do before they allow any more growth — with some success.

Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr has effectively shut down development unless someone — developers or various levels of government or both — ponies up the cost to pay for all the added services a growing community needs.

In the meantime, local governments would be wise to look at The Natural Step strategy.

“It’s a suggestion — it’s a method into which each community plugs its reality,” said Melamed. “Absent that, we’ll continue to beat around the edges of sustainability.”

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By marianne | Posted in Community Engagement | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Struggling Hospitals

November 23, 2008 – 9:34 pm
(originally published in the Toronto Sun)

Ontario’s hospitals are struggling. There can be no doubt about that, given the steady stream of news about infectious outbreaks, deficits, service reductions and restructuring.

There can also be no doubt about this: there’s no quick fix. The cupboards are bare, at both the provincial and federal levels. When a Conservative government contemplates running deficits, we know there’s been a seismic shift in “the way things are.”

And that’s good news. Because the current challenges in healthcare require new ways of thinking and doing.

As a member of the board of governors of just one of those hospitals – Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital in Burlington – I’ve seen those challenges up close. But this isn’t Joseph Brant’s challenge alone. It belongs to every hospital in the GTA, and beyond, and to every one of us these hospitals serve.

“We’re really at a tipping point in health care in this province,” said Peter Vankessel, chair and spokesperson for Joseph Brant’s board of governors, who direct and oversee the hospital’s strategic planning, quality control and fiscal accountability.

“I understand that most Ontario hospitals are facing annual cost growth that exceeds their annual revenue allocations. But we’re all working hard to maintain safe, quality care for our patients in this new reality.”

How did we get here? Here are just some of the issues that have created the perfect storm in health care:

  1. Increased costs due to infection control. Joseph Brant alone has added $1 million to its annual budget for better infection control.
  2. Costs outstripping funding. Funding is at 2.1 percent, but annual costs are going up 4 to 5 percent, in part because of new infection protocols, and in part because of outdated and aging facilities that cost more to run. Joseph Brant is predicting a $5.5 million shortfall this year, and other hospitals are also predicting deficits. New provincial legislation requires hospitals to balance their budgets, so everyone is reexamining their operations to find ways to provide services within existing resources.
  3. An aging population, combined with a shortage of beds in appropriate facilities. Many elderly patients in hospitals have concluded their treatment but can’t find a bed in a long term care home, retirement home or other appropriate place. These patients, called Alternate Level of Care – ALC for short – number over 70 patients at Joseph Brant, one-quarter of available beds. That creates backlogs in admissions, ambulance off-load delays, and cancelled or rescheduled surgeries, because no beds are available. According to October 2008 statistics from the Ontario Hospital Association, every day there are about 2,967 patients in an acute-care bed waiting for ALC placement – about 19% of beds. And there are 674 patients waiting in emergency for admittance to an inpatient bed.

“The ALC situation is not unique to Joseph Brant, but at times we are overwhelmed,” commented Don Scott, CEO and President of Joseph Brant. “We’re all going to have to work together to help build capacity in the hospital and in the community to meet the health-care needs of these patients.”

Challenges can bring out the best in us, and hospitals are rising to the occasion. I’ve seen:

  1. a commitment to cooperation. Hospital CEOs meet regularly with each other and with government officials, to find ways to fix the problem, not fix “the blame.”
  2. a commitment to problem solving. The best strategic planning advice I ever got was this: face the brutal facts. It does no good to wish the situation was different; you’ve got to plan for how the situation is. Hospitals aren’t hounding governments for more money simply because there isn’t any. Instead, they’re trying to find ways to serve their communities with the resources they have.
  3. a commitment to openness. Hospitals are telling the community of the situation, and its impact. To that end, Joseph Brant is holding a community meeting Tues., Dec. 2 at 6:30 pm at the Burlington Art Centre, with participation from government, health and community officials. This will be of interest to anyone wondering what’s happening in healthcare in the GTA. For information: call 905-632-3730 or visit www.jbmh.com.
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By marianne | Posted in Jo Brant Hospital | Tagged , | Comments (0)