Tag Archives: amherstburg

Amherstburg Has No Accessible Taxis

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Commentary by Linda Saxon

Any commentaries on this blog pertaining to a lack of accessibility in Amherstburg or anywhere else contain my personal opinion and not that as Chair of the Essex County Accessibility Advisory Committee.

I telephoned South Shore Taxi yesterday to inquire if they had any accessible taxis; the answer was “no.” The response to my question, “why not?” was “we just don’t” which was followed by a hearty laugh and the suggestion that I would have to speak to the owner.

Not having accessible taxis is not funny; I would also mention that the website has accessibility issues.

Part of Question 29 to the candidates relative to accessibility issues that I raised was, “Will you commit to specific plans to ensure fully accessible public transit and taxi services in your community?”

For the most part, the position was that taxis are private enterprise and should therefore not be interfered with.

However, ONTARIO REGULATION 191/11 made under the ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, 2005, sets out Duties of Municipalities in sections 78, 79, 80.

Duties of municipalities, accessible taxicabs
79.  (1)  Every municipality shall consult with its municipal accessibility advisory committee, where one has been established in accordance with subsection 29 (1) or (2) of the Act, the public and persons with disabilities to determine the proportion of on-demand accessible taxicabs required in the community.

(2)  Every municipality shall identify progress made toward meeting the need for on-demand accessible taxicabs, including any steps that will be taken to meet the need, in its accessibility plan required under Part I.

(3)  Municipalities shall meet the requirements of this section by January 1, 2013.

(4)  In this section,

“accessible taxicab” means an accessible taxicab as defined in section 1 of Regulation 629 of the Revised Regulations of Ontario, 1990 (Vehicles for the Transportation of Physically Disabled Persons) made under the Highway Traffic Act.

I do not recall a public meeting ever having been held nor can I find any reference in the town’s accessibility plan.

New Deputy Chief To Start In April

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Commentary by Linda Saxon

Just like the hiring of the new CAO by the outgoing council, the outgoing police services board introduced a new deputy chief, who will assume the role April 1, 2015.

Berthiaume is quoted in the RTT article, “I think the community will learn to love and respect him like I already do.”  

Let’s hope we’re not seeing another two salaries for one position situation. According to The Windsor Star, Berthiaume originally stated, “We want to start the process and identify the successful candidate before the year’s end because we want to have an overlap between the two deputies for a short period of time.”

I’m somewhat surprised, given the historic emphasis on the ‘locals’ that an ‘outsider’ has been hired and an OPP member at that.

According to an Amherstburg Echo article about Berthiaume’s and Palumbo’s respective promotions, Hurst commented, “We have two home-grown individuals that will holding the two highest offices for the police department in Amherstburg.” Sutton also noted that Berthiaume and Palumbo are Amherstburg natives and said it was a “great day” to promote local men to lead the force.

For the fact checkers: Amherstburg is not the safest community – Barrie is the safest city in Canada, says crime rate stats

the burg watch poll most accurate prediction

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the burg watch poll most accurately predicted what the voters wanted with 4 of the 5 Councillors elected in the top 5 spots.

theburgwatch poll results:

DiCarlo, Aldo 46.69%  (113 votes) 

DiPasquale, Bart 66.36%  (142 votes)

Pouget, Diane 16.81%  (138 votes)
Lavigne, Jason 13.15%  (108 votes)
Meloche, Leo 8.04%  (66 votes)
Fryer, Rick 7.55%  (62 votes)
Renaud, Marc 6.46%  (53 votes)
Courtney, Joan 5.6%  (46 votes)

Aldo DiCarlo Elected Mayor

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Congratulations to our new Mayor, Aldo DiCarlo, elected according to CTV news.

AMHERSTBURG MAYOR

CANDIDATE VOTES VOTE % STATUS
DiCarlo, Aldo 3,396 52.9 Elected
Sutherland, Ron 1,673 26.1 –
Sutton, John 907 14.1 –
Adler, Marty 445 6.9 –
VOTES: 6,421 / 16,276 = 39.5%     POLLS: 84.6%

Councillors Refuse To Rate Themselves Update

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A November 11, 2011 sticky post, Councillors Refuse To Rate Themselves, pointed out that, with the exception of Carolyn Davies, not one member of council responded to the yearly request during the 2010 to 2014 term, “if you would provide a comment regarding how you think you have performed.”

Yet here we are at the end of the fourth year of the term being inundated with endless campaign promises of transparency and accountability.

the burg watch poll results

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the burg watch poll has not been compromised, despite suggestions to the contrary. Mayoral Candidate Aldo DiCarlo is still in the lead with 45.73% and for some time the results have been consistent.

the number of votes so far: Mayor 234, Deputy Mayor 206, Councillor 787.

there have never been any scientific claims regarding this poll; it was set up to allow anxious voters to have an opportunity to cast a ballot while waiting to ‘officially’ vote. as reported by Mary Caton in The Windsor Star, a higher than expected amount of residents showed up at the advance polls.

kudos to those who have exercised their right to vote; it’s how we effect change in a democratic society.

two days to go – make it happen!

November 3 Council Meeting On, Off, On And Off Again

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Commentary by Linda Saxon

An October 20 post that the November 3 meeting would be held was subsequent to a petition to Paula Parker to call a special meeting following Mayor Wayne Hurst’s postponement of meetings.

A day later, the town posted a notice on its website that the November 3 meeting was postponed and rescheduled to Monday, November 17, 2014.

Are the Municipal Act and the town’s procedural by-law both not being complied with? Both are quite clear and specifically contain a mandatory clause for when the clerk shall call a meeting:

Section 240. of the Act: Subject to the procedure by-law passed under section 238,
(b) upon receipt of a petition of the majority of the members of council, the clerk shall call a special meeting for the purpose and at the time mentioned in the petition.

Procedural By-Law Section 9. b) the clerk shall summon a special meeting upon receipt of a petition of the majority of the council members for the purpose and at the time and date mentioned in the petition.

The issue is not the Mayor’s postponement, but who is making decisions that circumvent Council members’ legislated authority to call a Special Meeting and what will be done about it.

Craig Pearson, The Windsor Star, reports CAO Miceli also said that, after discussing the councillors’ petition with a town lawyer, he determined a special meeting was not warranted. “I advised all the members of council that calling for a special meeting is not to deal with regular town business,” Miceli said. “It’s to deal with special issues. What they (the councillors) proposed to discuss at that meeting did not meet the criteria for a special meeting.”

Special meetings of council 2014 were held to consider issues ranging from zoning by-law amendments and drain improvements to the Sale of Shares Offer from Entegrus Inc.

Since there is no criteria for a special meeting in either the Municipal Act or Procedural By-Law, and since both contain clear language, I would argue that there is no basis whatsoever for any objection to a majority of council calling a special meeting.