On the Campaign Trail is a regular feature on MiltonSearch.com’s Milton Blog, focused on connecting Milton residents to the candidates for Town Council and their platforms. The Municipal election is October 25th, 2010.

Fake Lake Parody
The buzz this past week was all about Jennifer Smith’s ‘Fake Lake’ parody. The multi-talented candidate for Ward 2 wrote a song poking fun at the mounting cost of the upcoming G20 Summit in Toronto to the tune of “If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies. A friend assisted with vocals and her son played guitar and the song was featured on the front page of the Toronto Star website.

It was nice to see Jennifer receive a fair bit of publicity for her efforts. She was also interviewed by several TV stations who aired the interviews and her video on the evening news. Granted, attacking the Harper government over G8/G20 Summit spending is low-hanging fruit so to speak, but nonetheless, well-played Jennifer.

Are your kids street-proofed?
In Ward 6, candidate Mike Cluett is out door-knocking (he recently stopped by the offices of MiltonSearch.com whilst making the rounds) and posting regularly on his blog as usual.

As a member of the Milton Community Policing Committee, Mike informs us of their efforts in connecting with principals of local schools in an attempt to raise awareness among students and their families.

Where is Milton’s traffic calming policy?
When Ward 2 candidate Jennifer Smith isn’t producing music videos, she’s also writing. Last week she questioned Milton’s traffic calming policy — specifically the lack thereof. Other mid-size Ontario communities like Caledon have this type of policy in place and she feels a similar one in Milton would give Town staff some options for traffic calming other than more stop signs.

Pedestrian crosswalk needed on Thompson at Metro Plaza
Ward 6 candidate Mike Cluett has already discussed the need for a traffic light or crosswalk around the Metro Plaza (Thompson/Louis St. Laurent) ad nauseum and now Ward 7 candidate Rick DiLorenzo is also championing this cause.

The issue here is that families living close to the Metro Plaza, or the park on the west side of Thompson with soccer fields, a playground and a splash pad are reluctant to walk to either destination if they have to cross Thompson Road. Cars soar along that stretch of Thompson, usually over 80 km/hour, traveling northbound from the rural countryside or speeding up as they leave town traveling south, making the intersection extremely dangerous for pedestrians.

Milton Transit Open House
Rick DiLorenzo also attended Milton Transit’s Open House this past Sunday and has posted several video clips of the event.

An example of an 'urban village' proposed by Ward 8 candidate, Zeeshan Hamid.

The Urban Village
Zeeshan Hamid, candidate for Milton Ward 8 recently posted his vision for Milton from an urban design standpoint: the urban village. Zeeshan is concerned about Milton’s urban sprawl and its lack of sustainability. The urban village concept instead focuses on bringing back traditional neighbourhoods where there is a mix of employment and residential activities enabling people to work closer to where they live (imagine that!). Such a plan is also contingent on a more aggressive effort to bring more jobs to town.

MiltonSearch.com wholeheartedly agrees with Mr. Hamid on most of his urban planning ideas — Milton needs to start working towards becoming an enviable ‘urban village’ or an ‘escarpment community’ as he phrased it earlier. Nice job, Zeeshan.

See where Milton spends your money
In the ‘better him than us’ category, Andrew Salmons, candidate in Ward 1, must have spent quite a bit of time compiling an amazing, interactive, year-over-year comparison of how and where the Town of Milton spends your tax dollars. Andrew states that the Town should publish expenses online in a similar, accessible manor in the name of transparent, efficient and open government.

Yup, that sounds about right to us.

All of the candidates featured in this edition of ‘On the Campaign Trail’ should be commended for the effort they have put into their websites, blogs and to communicate with not only voters but residents throughout Milton. We encourage you to bookmark their sites and those of the other candidates and current councillors in an attempt to stay informed ahead of this Fall’s municipal election.

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