Refresh the memory

Here is a link to the Milton Canadian Champion story back in June after I announced my intentions to run for Town Council. This was before the other candidates had registered and are now running. One previous candidate had withdrawn from the race a few months back.

As an aside, there are some meetings being put together in the next weeks to have a Ward One All Candidates meeting. Stay tuned for more information. The more people we have come out to ask the questions, the more people can make an informed choice on November 13th. (Exactly one month away)

Heres the article by Melanie Hennessey, June 16, 2006

Second candidate throws hat into ring for Ward 1
More emphasis needed on family issues, says council hopeful Cluett

The race is on for the Ward 1 Milton councillor seat.

Yates Drive resident Mike Cluett has filed to run in this fall’s municipal election.

The father of one explained he decided to put his name forward because he feels council needs to pay more attention to family-based issues like neighbourhood safety, community parkland and value-based property taxes.

“We need to focus on those issues because the dynamic of the town is changing,” he said.
While the election is still many months away, Cluett already has what he’s calling the ‘campaign to secure Milton’s future’ laid out.

Topping his list of priorities is working with town officials, builders and Halton Regional Police to increase safety on Milton’s streets.

Cluett said he’d like to see speed limits reduced, streets widened and more sidewalks, lighting and stop signs put in around schools and parks to protect local children.
“We have to build our community as safely as possible for our children,” he remarked.

When it comes to growth, the local resident said control is key. He also emphasized the importance of ensuring each new subdivision includes parks and play areas and respects the Niagara Escarpment.

And on the tax front, Cluett said if elected he would vote to keep the tax increases at zero per cent over the next three years.

“With more and more taxpayers being added to the Town’s roll each year, there’s no reason why the Town can’t hold the line on the tax rate given the increase in the number of taxpaying households,” he said.

He pointed out that he’s already created a Web site about himself for residents to visit — a site he plans to maintain as a key source of information about council decisions if he’s elected.

“I’ll maintain a constant flow of communication,” he said. “It’s very important to keep in touch.”

Cluett is the married father of a five-year-old son. He’s currently a sales representative for an internationally-based office supplies company.

He also volunteers on his son’s soccer team and was recently appointed as the chairperson for Milton’s 150th anniversary committee.

For more information on Cluett and his campaign call (905) 878-1327 or (647) 883-9045 or visit www.mikecluett.ca.

The current Ward 1 councillors are Rick Day and Brian Penman, who’ve been on Milton council since 1974 and 1977 respectively.

Melanie Hennessey can be reached at mhennessey@miltoncanadianchampion.com.

Some Interesting News From www.milton.ca

Next week is Celebrate Transit Appreciation Week in Milton. Click here for more on whats going on including free rides from 9AM to 3PM from Monday October 16th to the 20th and all day Friday!

There is also a contest for some prizes as well. Just fill out the ballot on the form or on the buses.

ALSO there is some news on the parking front. You can now apply for parking considerations online. If you are having out of town guests, driveway repairs or special functions, you can apply online to obtain consideration. If you dont have online access you can still phone in and leave a message on the voicemail, even afterhours as well.

You can find out more about parking considerations from the Town of Milton here

Enjoy! I’ll see you at the doors.

Text from TV COGECO Speech and freaky weather

What a weather day we’ve been having. It went from a brisk and cold, albeit sunny day to cold, snowy and just generally awful afternoon and evening. Coupled with the bad weather was trying to navigate around Thompson/Derry Road as well as Trudeau / Derry Road.

Just as a reminder Thompson Road will be closed again this weekend from 7AM October 14th to the 15th at 11PM at Nipissing Road. Click here for the official announcement.

For those who live north on Trudeau from Derry, your wait is almost over. The road closure should be completed by tomorrow and you won’t have to need a compass to navigate up around the streets from James Snow Parkway.

This weather is enough to knock anyone for a loop, including yours truly. I need an early evening to feel better as there are many more doors to knock on before November 13th.

As I mentioned yesterday, I recorded a 3 minute “speech” for TV COGECO that will be aired many times until the Municipal Election.

In case you’re just chomping at the bit to find out what I said, I have included the text of my speech.

Don’t forget…you can order your lawn sign here mike@mikecluett.ca with your name, address and phone numbers (so I can confirm its you) and Team CLUETT will make sure you get one.

Here is the text of my speech…I’ll see you at the doors.

***

Hi, and thank you for tuning into and supporting TV COGECO. My name is Mike Cluett and I’m running for the position of Local Town Councillor for Ward One in Milton.

A few years ago my wife Pat and I were looking to move to a new community … One that was focused on growth and opportunity but still maintained that small town atmosphere. Like many of you, we chose Milton for just those reasons. And we have been very pleased at the warm reception we have received by many long time Milton residents.

Over the past few years we have found that Town Council as lost its focus on family based issues such as neighbourhood safety, green growth, and taxation. It is because of these reasons I decided to run for Town Council in this election; to bring these issues forward and discuss them with you … the voters and taxpayers.

I have had the opportunity to speak with many of you while knocking on doors over the past few months and I have found you share some of these concerns.

You want safer streets for our children; more green spaces and parklands; you want to protect our natural resources like the watershed and Niagara Escarpment; you want your tax dollars to be spent with care and finally you want your councillor to be accessible every day and not just during elections.

Since day one of my campaign, I have had a written plan of action. I have pledged to work with town staff to reduce speed limits in residential areas; to work with future developments to ensure our roads are wider. I will work hard to ensure there are more parks and green spaces for us to enjoy and to provide a safe place for our children to play. I have pledged to care for our tax dollars to ensure we limit any unnecessary tax increases and that those tax dollars are spent properly.

I have committed to using newer technology like my website and blog to improve the flow of information from you to town council. By using this technology it by no means will replace the all important face to face meetings with the public.

Saying that, I have committed to continue door knocking in between elections and not just during them to help make sure there is an improved flow of communication from town council to the residents and vice versa.

On Election Day you will be faced with some important choices and questions about Milton’s future. And if you feel as I and many of those I have met with over the past few months that we need a stronger focus on neighbourhood safety, green growth and a plan of action, then on Election Day I ask for your vote.

You can find out more information about me and my plan to help secure Milton’s future on my website www.mikecluett.ca … you can email me at mike@mikecluett.ca or phone me directly at 905-878-1327.

Many thanks go to TV COGECO for providing us with the opportunity to speak directly to you during the election campaign. I look forward to seeing you at the doors. My name is Mike Cluett and thank you for your time.

TV Cogeco Promo & Lawn Signs

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving Day weekend. We were quite busy on Sunday with a trip to Chudliegh’s apple farm in the morning and Thanksgiving Dinner with the family in the evening. Our neices and nephews running around the house with Anthony was enough to keep everyone on their toes.

Many thanks to Mike, Wendy, and Jeff for going out to drop some brochures along Clark Blvd and talk to a few people on the weekend. The weather was outstanding but its only a sign that the cooler / colder weather is on its way. Murphy’s Law and all.

For those of us on cable, TV Cogeco will be running 3 minute “commercials” for each of the candidates in the upcoming municipal election. I believe they will be running after next weekend so stay tuned. Each candidate gets an opportunity to speak directly to the voters for 3 minutes and from past experience they are run at all times during the day and evening so hopefully everyone will get a chance to see them.

Lawn signs are in the process of being completed so if you would like a sign for your lawn, please let me know at mike@mikecluett.ca so I or a member of my team can get one to you.

I’ll see you at the doors.

Happy Thanksgiving

To everyone,

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m looking forward to this long weekend to spend with family and friends and to be thankful for all that we have.

While shopping this weekend, please think of the families out there who are struggling and make a donation to the food bank or Salvation Army.

A little gift goes a long way.

I’ll see you at the doors.

Leafs 1 - Mike 0

Picked a great night to go out doorknocking, seeing how its the season opener of the NHL Season and the Leafs are playing Ottawa tonight. I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of people tonight even though their minds were on the game. That IS a good thing seeing how people are wanting to talk about some issues from speeding on residential streets to fences for homes that face north towards Derry Road.

Some of their concerns were that the increased amount of traffic on Derry Road will increase the amount of road noise they will be faced with. Up until now, its been ok. With Derry Road being increased in width to 4 lanes, who knows what the effects on sound will be.

The nights are definately cooler and the wind is picking up. Fall is my favourite season and its beginning to have that autum feel to it, despite the 25C temperatures the other day…dont get me wrong I’d LOVE to have that every day.

Its about 40 days and counting until the election. Many more doors to knock and more people to meet.

As I told everyone I spoke with before, if you have any questions or comments about some of the things I am talking about, please feel free to email me at mike@mikecluett.ca

I’ll see you at the doors.

Clearing up some confusion…

I received an email this evening.

I wanted to start off by saying thank you for taking the time to come to my door and talking to me about the upcoming municipal election. I just wanted to know a little bit more about yourself in relation to your running for Ward 1 councillor and what separates you as a better choice from the other candidate I’m considering (Tony Lambert) seeing that there is NO WAY I’m going to re-elect the present councillor from my ward. Also, if I do choose to vote for you, I would be willing to help volunteer (if you need help) to really get the message out there to vote out the present councillor/councillors at city hall. Feel free to call me if you prefer as well. Thanks again and looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Chris

This isn’t the first time this issue has come up and I want to make sure people understand the different levels of municipal government we have so we can avoid any confusion.

On November 13th we are going to be able to vote for the following:

• Local Town Councillor (the position I am running for)
• Regional Councillor
• Regional Chair
• School Board Trustee (public, separate and french)
• Mayor

You will be able to vote for 2 candidates for the position of Town Councillor, vote for one candidate for Regional Councillor, vote for one candidate for Regional Chair, vote for one candidate for your respective School Board and finally vote for one candidate for Mayor.

I would hope that over the next few weeks, candidates like myself would take the time to visit you at the doors to let you know what we stand for and the reasons why you should vote for us. It is a very tough task indeed to be able to reach everyone before election day. That is why utilizing this website and blog, I can be able to virtually reach as many people as possible.

If over the course of the next few weeks before November 13th I dont get a chance to meet with you face to face I do hope you continue to visit my website for updates and urge you to send me an email if you have any questions.

More importantly, I urge everyone to get out and vote. If you are curious as to where you will be voting go to my homepage www.mikecluett.ca where I have a list of voting locations and a link to a map to see which one you will be going to.

A little too late…

It’s been quite the busy day for us. This morning Pat, Anthony and I went to Hamilton to participate in the Kidney Foundation of Ontario “Be a Lifesaver Walk” in support of our good friend Hilary. It is important that you are informed of options available to you for organ donation. You can find out more about the walkathon and raising awareness of organ donation by going to the Kidney Foundations website .

Afterwards we went to visit my brother and sister in laws to celebrate our nieces Ashley and Crystal’s birthdays (they were both born on Oct 3rd six years apart…talk about timing eh?)

An interesting thing happened yesterday as I was heading out to knock on doors around the Clark Blvd and Ferguson area. I was driving along Clark … at the speed limit for the record … and I was passed on the left hand side by a vehicle who obviously thought that I was driving too slowly. While trying to pass me on the left, they endangered other drivers in oncoming traffic and almost caused an accident. *In case that person is viewing this entry, I have forwarded your plate information to the local authorities as you did endanger on coming traffic with your reckless driving*

I had mentioned this to a number of residents on Winter Cres. and surrounding streets and I was told “this happens all the time.” Recently town council had authorized the removal of the four way stop sign at Clark Blvd and Ferguson and the residents I have spoken with in the immediate area hope that further studies done will prove that there is a stop warranted at this intersection. As your town councillor, I will work with you to get further traffic studies done and work hard to reduce speed limits in this area.

Over my now many months of knocking on doors, meeting as many of you as I can before November 13th, I have heard many concerns. Obviously the growth tops everyone’s list. Questions like … when will it stop and when will the roads catch up to the development? This brings me to the motion by council to get town staff to study how to “slow down development.”

In my previous post, I had included the article from the Milton Canadian Champion. I have spoken with many of you about this article over the weekend and a lot of you share the opinion that this motion was very conveniently timed. It will be less than 2 months before we will be going to the polls to elect a new council. There were many comments made in that article by sitting councillors that doesnt sit well with many of you. One comment made was that it is not current councils fault for the development woes we now face. Let’s for the sake of argument agree with the statement that the current council is NOT at fault for the problems and the councils of the past 5 to 15 years were the decision makers.

Let’s go back to the previous council and the members at the time. Most of our current councillors were members of those councils which made these decisions; including our two sitting Ward one councillors.

Decisions were made all those years ago and now the perception of this motion is that they are trying to deflect the blame of those decisions. The perception of many of the people I have spoken with this weekend that it IS “electioneering” as Ward One Councillor Rick Day was quoted as saying.

One question that we have been left with is why put forward this motion now when people have been complaining about this problem for the past 3 or more years? If they did this back in 2003, they would have the results of the study and been able to act on the recommendations. Quite possibly we would have had resolution by now. Sadly, there is only more confusion for the residents.

What has been missing from our elected representatives is leadership. Our councillors haven’t been proactive to keep Milton residents informed. That hasn’t happened and now with less than 2 months left in their term, they put forward a motion to direct staff to “look at what we can do” to slow development. This report unfortunately won’t be ready for several months and will be looked at by the 2006-2010 Milton Town Council.

Not only will this report be costly and time consuming, it will come to the same conclusion we already know. That town council cannot slow arbitrarily slow down development. The development we are experiencing falls under the provincial governments jurisdiction and the OMB has the final say on many disputes. By going through this “study” this late in their mandate, our current ward one councillors are now showing again how out of touch they are with the voters.

On November 13th, we will have to ask ourselves a few questions. The question will be does the current council deserve another term in office? Have the two current councillors from Ward One effectively represented you over the past few years in office? Do you trust that your views will be heard and listened to on council for the next four years by our current councillors?

If you believe as many do that we need change on council and that a different perspective will benefit Milton…then you have a few choices. My challenge to you would be to look at the plans put forward.

Who will effectively listen to you and your views and bring those views to town council? Who will keep the lines of communication open and utilize new technology in keeping you informed on what is happening in our community? Who has committed to knock on doors in between elections and not just during them? Who has made the formation of a Citizen’s Advisory Committee for Ward One their number one priority once being elected?

I hope that when you answer these questions on Election Day you will cast your vote for Mike Cluett. I ask for your support on November 13th and I will give you my support every day after.

I’ll see you at the doors.