Retail News - October 2007

Now that the recent Provincial Election is over, it is time to congratulate the two MPPs who will be representing our community and to offer them our full support on those items of special interest to Pickering and its residents. Wayne Arthurs and Joe Dickson are Liberals and the Liberals, under Dalton McGuinty, have been given a majority mandate to move forward over the next four years. Of specific interest to the City is the Provinces financial role in the Seaton development; continuing the enhancement and restoration of our Waterfront and Frenchmans Bay watershed; and taking back the financial burden of items such as social assistance which were downloaded to the municipalities. Our property taxpayers cannot absorb any more and the process of uploading needs to begin in earnest.

While construction is winding down on many of the City's projects such as the Sandy Beach Rd. bridge; the road improvements on Brock Rd.; the intersection re-design at Whites Rd & Granite Court, etc., new business construction is commencing. Two major projects which I have been heavily involved with - the Home Depot site on Kinston Road along with the San Francisco By The Bay mixed use community site on Bayly St. - have begun demolition with new buildings rising in '08. On a happy note to users of the West Shore Community Center, the City is spending some $140,000 to completely re-do the parking lot; while over on Sheppard Ave. detailed design work and bank stabilization has begun in order to put in a sidewalk running west from Rosebank Rd.

The work plan detailing the review of our Official Plan was recently endorsed by Council and will now move out into the community using a process which will engage residents during the next three years before a final document is submitted to the Region and Province for adoption.

I was pleased to co-sponsor with Councillor McLean a new Zero Tolerance Policy aimed at all staff and users of City programs, facilities and properties which essentially states that no form of vandalism, violence, intolerance or profanity is acceptable behaviour. This will exclude any players and/or coaches in sports where rules of engagement already are in place such as a fight which might break out between two hockey players during a game. I am also happy to say Council has just approved the establishment of the Marshall Farms Neighbourhood Watch for the north half of Maple Ridge. I heartily encourage this for every community as one pro-active way for each of us to help keep our neighbourhoods safe - it's also a great partnership with the police.

Back to sports for a moment. The Pickering Soccer Club is applying for an Ontario Trillium Foundation Grant (with Council's support) for funds to construct our first soccer pitch featuring artificial turf. If successful, the Club hopes to receive $150,000 from Trillium (something for our two MPPs to go to work on) and to also put in $50,000 of their own monies towards the total estimated cost of $700,000. The Soccer Club's existing programs currently serve over 4,000 youth in our community and this new turf will allow them to train longer into the outdoor season; provide a high quality pitch to host Ontario Cup and/or Robbie Tournament games and provide for their Premier teams to host league games. It is also my understanding that a number of new amenities such as bleachers and team benches are included in the total estimate.

On a final note, I do urge all homeowners and residents to consider our youngest citizens on Halloween night and be extra vigilant and alert. It would be great if the sickos would refrain from putting broken razor blades, or anything else, into apples and candies. Let's just have fun and let the "trick-or-treaters" enjoy their night out.

As always, I invite your comments and/or suggestions to anything discussed here; or on any other matter which comes to your mind. If it's not the City's responsibility, I can at least advise on which level of government to approach.