A Message from
- Doug
Dickerson
Pickering Retail
News - June 2008
A long time resident, mother, grandmother, great
grandmother, my friend for over 30 years, and ultimate
community volunteer, Muriel Cullum, has been selected to
represent Pickering as this year's Senior of the Year.
Muriel was also honoured with the City's Individual
Volunteer Award in May. 
Muriel succeeds another strong activist, Doreen Perry,
who was honoured last year. Muriel's activities know no
bounds; but, when asked which two groups she tries to
assist most, she was quick to note the South Pickering
Seniors Club and the Ladies Auxiliary, Royal Canadian
Legion, Branch 606 also in Pickering. With exciting
enthusiasm, Muriel was the first person here to begin
making red ribbons, held by a tiny Canadian flag pin, to
honour and remember our troops fighting to restore
democracy in far-off Afganistan.
As many of you are aware, as part of my Council duties
amongst other things, I am the Chairman of a relatively
new committee (3 yrs) - "Sustainable Pickering". Along
with the invaluable advice from committee members,
Councillors Jennifer O'Connell & David Pickles, we have
tremendous support from all City employees; particularly
Tom Melymuk, Director, Office of Sustainability and
Shawna Mutton, Community Capacity Builder. Together with
so many residents and businesses, we are making small,
but steady, progress.
And so it was a great pleasure and genuine satisfaction
that we were awarded the Federation of Canadian
Municipalities "CH2M HILL Sustainable Community Award"
on June 1st at FCM's Annual Conference in Quebec City.
This distinguished award recognizes projects that
demonstrate environmental responsibility and excellence.
One step at a time, we are moving forward on our
exciting sustainable journey and one on which I invite
all residents to come along.
While awards are very nice, they seldom put a dime in
the bank; but what does put a lot of dimes in the bank
is construction value (of all types) and application
revenues received. I did a little checking and found
that in 2006, the City processed 576 new applications
resulting in $613,000 revenue and generating $67 million
in construction value. A number of these projects are
slated to be completed in 2008 or 2009. During 2007, the
City's Planning Department processed 705 new
applications resulting in $955,000 revenue and
generating $126 million in construction value. We are
just beginning to see a trickle of new property tax
dollars and should see a greater increase in 2009 and
2010 when these projects will be fully completed. And
the news gets even better - during the first quarter of
2008, to the end of April, we have received $446,000 in
application revenue vs. $235,000 in the same period last
year. Construction value during the first quarter was
$64 million vs. $29 million last year.
I was happy to officiate at the opening Madame Cora's
Breakfast and Lunch emporium recently. Located in the
Home & Design Centre (beside Amish Furniture) this
delightfully bright and very healthy eating
establishment (with a menu to drool over) has truly
found a home here and brought another 20 jobs for
Pickering residents. Madame Cora's is a franchise that
now boasts 92 locations across the nation, begun by one
lady just 20 years ago, and vowing never to look back
except to remember where she came from, the excellent
teamwork it took to get here, and catering to her
clientele's tastes in a healthy manner.
On a closing note, Pickering has once again done itself
and its residents proud. Enthusiastically, we welcomed
many of the Special Olympians to our Recreation Complex
to compete in the water events as part of Durham Region
hosting the Ontario Summer Special Olympics. With our
Olympic size swimming pool designed and equipped to
handle such high level competition, these Special
Olympians gave it their all in their quest for gold.
They inspired not only their family and friends, but all
those who came out to cheer, with their spirit,
determination and great sense of humour. And "Bravo" to
our rec. complex staff from the front desk to the pool
attendants who were all so pleasant and professional in
their duties. A true credit to the City.
Contact: Doug Dickerson
City Councillor, Ward 2, Pickering
ddickerson@city.pickering.on.ca
PICTURE front row left to right
John - grandson, Muriel Cullum, Sherry - daughter,
Sandra - daughter-in-law
back row left to right
Alexis - grandaughter, Councillor Bill McLean, Dawn -
grandaughter, Councillor Doug Dickerson, John - son
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