Halton Regional Police Service - Crime prevention suggestions for Halton residents, in relation to residential break and enters.

A message from Councillor Max Khan on April 3rd, 2009:
"Over the past few days, there has been a significant increase in the number of residential break and enters throughout Oakville. I spoke to the Halton Regional Police Services this evening and was advised that , today alone, there were 4 such incidents in Oakville. Please review the attached Press Release that sets out some precautionary measures that ought to be implemented. "

Press Releases by the Halton Regional Police Service

Police seek male culprit for break and enters to three residences in the Town of Oakville.

On Friday April 3, 2009, at 11:00 AM, a male culprit attended a residence located on Pinery Crescent in the Town of Oakville. The male person rang the door bell and upon getting no response from an occupant he forced open the front door. A female resident was home at this time and hid in a bedroom and contacted the Halton Regional Police Service.

Due to recent increase in the number of break and enters in the Town of Oakville plainclothes officers were already on patrol in the area. Officers attended the scene quickly and observed the culprit getting into a motor vehicle parked out front of the residence. The culprit quickly drove off and was followed by plainclothes police officers to nearby Park Lane Road where he abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot through backyards.

A short time later the male culprit went to a second residence located on Kathleen Crescent in the Town of Oakville. The male culprit forced open the front door of the residence and took a set of car keys that were in close proximity to the front door. A male resident was home at this time and he immediately notified police as he observed the culprit run out of the residence.

The male culprit was observed running towards a ravine area near Laurelwood Drive, but was able to make good his escape. Investigators believe that the male culprit then went to a residence on Laurelwood Drive and found an unlocked garage door and hid inside the garage to elude the responding police officers.

No citizens were directly harmed or accosted in these three break and enter incidents. Police investigators have identified the male culprit responsible for these incidents and obtained arrest warrants for the offences of:

- Breaking and entering and commit theft, contrary to the Criminal Code. (* 2 Counts)

- Breaking and entering with intent to commit theft, contrary to the Criminal Code.

- Possession of stolen property, contrary to the Criminal Code.

Charged: Michael Brian HEWITT (35 years old) of no fixed address in the City of Toronto. The Halton Regional Police Service would like to remind the public to be vigilant in observing and reporting of any suspicious persons or motor vehicles that may be involved in day time residential break and enters of this nature.

The investigation into the recent rash of Break and Enters in the Town of Oakville is ongoing and it continues to be a high priority. The Halton Regional Police Service wants to remind residents of some key crime prevention strategies regarding this recent increase in break and enters that can minimize their risk of being victimized:

- Store any large amounts of currency or valuable jewellery, particularly family heirlooms, in a safe, secure, and hidden location.

- A safety deposit box is the preferred location to store such valuables. - Maintain an up to date list of all valuable electronic equipment including the make, model, and serial number for each item. Store the list somewhere other than your home computer.

- Ensure your exterior doors are as secure as possible, with up to date locking systems.

- Ensure that their home does not show obvious signs of being unoccupied, such as uncollected newspapers or mail.

For additional crime prevention tips residents are encouraged to visits the Halton Regional Police website @ http://www.hrps.on.ca/ . The Safety and Security Tips can be found under the Community Policing tab on the home page. Residents without access to the internet can contact their nearest police division within Halton Region and ask to speak to the Community Support Officer.

If you observe anything that you feel might be of a suspicious nature in relation to these incidents, please contact the police at (905) 878-5511. If it is an emergency situation, including a crime in progress, use the 911 emergency telephone system to contact police. Anyone with information only is asked to contact the Oakville Criminal Investigations Bureau at (905) 825-4777 Ext 2215 or by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS

Construction at Joshua Creek PS: Done? Almost

The new additions are finally completed at Joshua Creek PS. They were scheduled to be completed August 31, 2008 but were not ready until March 23, 2009; a 7 month miss on a plan approved in April 2008 to be completed in four months. Hopefully these new classrooms will be a positive to the learning environment at Joshua Creek PS for many years to come.

Both the north and the south parking lots are now useable. This should alleviate some parking pressures. There are to be an additional 10 permanent parking spaces added to the existing parking lots (timing is unknown).

Additionally, the school now has two drop off zones, the original drop-off zone in the north parking lot as well as a new drop off zone in the south parking lot. The addition of a second drop off zone was required by the Town of Oakville in conjunction with approval of the expansion of the school. From the Town of Oakville:

“The Site Plan Committee's request for a second drop-off area was accommodated on the approved site plan drawing. Drop-off areas are designated on the north side and south side of the school building.......
directing parents to use these drop-off areas is an operational function to be addressed by the school and school board.”

The new drop off zone in the south parking lot should alleviate some of the congestion in the north parking lot by spreading out the traffic as well as making better use of the second exit of the site.

Another aspect of the construction is that the four-pack of portables in the south corner of the property were to be removed. They are not gone yet. The Town of Oakville received a communication from Halton District School Board that they won’t be removed until the summer months. We have been told that they will be gone by September 2009. We hope that they will be removed sooner than later. The students have had a restricted school yard since September 2008 and using the limited school yard for storing vacated portables is clearly not best for the school body.

It would also be nice for the neighbouring homeowners to be rid of these vacated portables after enduring a long construction period. The construction was to have been completed August 31, 2008 with these four portables removed by that time, if the HDSB uses the school yard as a storage site for vacated portables it will aggravate the delay. Immediate removal of these vacated portables would help make up for the 7 month miss. We will be requesting that the HDSB remove these four vacated portables immediately.

HDSB Decisions for Ward 4: Impact on Ward 6

In late March 2009 HDSB decided to build a new elementary school in Palermo to open September 2010. This school will be dual-track, English track and French Immersion track. As reported by the Oakville Beaver:

“To alleviate over-crowding at Ecole Forest Trail Public School, and avoid the need for the board to make costly relocations of portables, French immersion students in Grades 1 to 3 who will eventually move to the Palermo school will be temporarily housed at Lorne Skuce [Public] School for the 2009/2010 academic year. That school, located on Ridge Drive is currently acting as a holding school for students awaiting renovation of Montclair [Public School], but will be vacant next September.”

This makes it a priority for HDSB to be able to vacate Lorne Skuce PS for September 2009. This could affect our Ward 6 Munn’s PS (which is in Ward 5 like Lorne Skuce PS). Munn’s PS is supposed to get an addition built by September 2009 but this might be not get construction priority from HDSB relative to the construction at Montclair PS since Montclair PS needs to be done in order to vacate Lorne Skuce PS.

The good news is that the construction at Montclair PS and Munn’s PS were awarded to different firms (PM Contracting for Montclair PS and STF Construction for Munn’s PS). Of course, we know nothing of the other projects of these firms or how they are resourced. We do know that this project is already 2 months delayed and that the additions at Joshua Creek PS were finished 7 months behind schedule.

Delays at Munn’s PS could mean a few things. One possibility is that there would be more portables at Munn’s PS during delayed construction and having the school year progress while the school is under construction (this is what occurred at Joshua Creek PS). Another possibility is that some students from Munn’s PS would be sent to Lorne Skuce PS for 2009/2010. Why? If Munn’s PS isn’t ready it doesn’t have the capacity and HDSB might say, “Since we’re bussing these kids anyway and we’ve got capacity at Lorne Skuce PS and its FI too, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Of course, if HDSB makes a mess of Munn’s PS, it may cause continued low French immersion participation from Ward 6 (relative to other Oakville wards). This could have repercussions on enrolment at other Ward 6 schools.

NOTE: the size for the Palermo school is 440-students, which is much smaller than the 700-student size that Superintendent Parfeniuk stated was what HDSB builds when he rejected building a new school for Ward 6 (we couldn’t fill a 700-student school but we could have filled a 500-student school), but it is similarly sized to the 504-students for the Clearview school approved earlier this year. Its 500-student schools for Ward 3 and Ward 4 but not for Ward 6.

What are no parking and no stopping zones?

We’ve corresponded with Town of Oakville staff to help clarify this question.

At schools, recreation centres and commercial sites there will be no parking zones and sometimes no stopping zones. These zones may be on the site and/or on neighbouring streets.

No parking zones (a “P” with a line through it) mean that vehicles can be in these zones but must be manned in a “standing” position, that is, the driver must be in the vehicle ready to move it. You cause a violation if you leave your vehicle parked in the zone.

No stopping zones (a stop sign with a line through it) are more restrictive than no parking zones in that the vehicle is not allowed to stop in these zones even if the driver remains in the vehicle ready to move it.

No parking zones are often in place for fire routes. It is the responsibility of the facility operator to maintain an unobstructed fire route so that it is accessible for fire department vehicles. For example, at a school, the school administration is responsible for having operational protocols in place, such as informing parents of the requirement to remain with their vehicle and to be prepared to vacate the area, using by-law enforcement in dealing with infractions, etc.

No stopping zones or no parking zones on Town streets are not the responsibility of the facility operator but rather fall to by-law enforcement.

If you are concerned with non-compliance in no stopping zones or no parking zones, contact the facility operator or Town by-law enforcement. The Town of Oakville directs that, if you observe a vehicle parking in a prohibited area (signed "No Parking" or "No Stopping"), you can call the Town during regular business hours ( Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, 905-845-6601) to request that a Parking Control Officer be dispatched and after hours and on weekends a Parking Control Officer can be dispatched through Halton Regional Police Services (call 905-878-5511).

Subsidizing Developers in Halton Rejected By Halton Regional Council April 1, 2009

A message from Councillor Tom Adams:

"Dear Residents, I wish to thank the literally hundreds of you that responded to the request for your comments on the proposed Recession Recovery By-Law that would have suspended the collection of the April 1, 2009 indexing portion of development charges at the Region of Halton until Sept.30, 2009. Your individual messages of opposition combined to create over 500 messages that poured in over just 24 hours. Each of you assisted us in turning the tide to stop the Recession Recovery By-Law from proceeding at Halton Regional council today. In my opinion, your hundreds of emails helped create an awareness in the rest of Regional Council that the general public do not support subsidies to the development community. Mayor Rob Burton played a key role today by moving an amendment that deleted the section of the original motion that would otherwise have created the $3.3 million development subsidy. His amendment was supported by every member of Regional Council after a great deal of discussion and debate. I thank him for his leadership in this matter. Once again, thank you for your enormous support. Regards, Tom "

Election of the New NEO-RA Council March 24th, 2009

The North-East Oakville Residents' Association was pleased to hold its first General Annual Meeting and elections on March 24th, 2009.

We would like to thank Oakvillegreen President Liz Benneian for the wonderful informative presentation at the meeting. We also would like to thank town councillors Tom Adams and Max Khan for attending and answering many of our questions.

Many thanks to everyone who volunteered their time and participated on the council during the past year and a big welcome to Don McMartin and Laura Smythe who joined the new NEO-RA council for the first time.

The newly elected NEO-RA council members are: Michael Hawkins (Chairperson), John Paulic (Vice-Chairperson), Addy El-Rayes (Secretary), Joanne Chow (Membership), Gabriella Filler (Communications), Patrick Kinsie, Don McMartin, Niklas Moeller, Michael Parsons and Laura Smythe.

We welcome everyone's participation and we look forward to an exciting year.

Please click below for the minutes of the first annual general meeting:

HDSB Developments

An update on recent correspondence and developments with the HDSB.
















The following is a motion from the Halton District School Board meeting minutes from March 4th, 2009 meeting regarding Munn's Public School.

"M09-0063 D Danielli / K. Bateman-Olmstead
Be it resolved that the Halton District School Board accept the tender from STF
Construction in the amount of $3,164,303 as contained in Tender No. T09-10 for
Munn’s Public School in Oakville, Ontario, and
Be it resolved that the Halton District School Board approve a budget of
$3,747,146 for the construction of the addition/renovation and that this project is
financed by Primary Class Size Capital ( $1,640,000) and Proceeds of Disposition
($380,000), as approved by the Ministry. The additional costs of $1,727,146 to
be financed through;
• Good Places to Learn (GPL) $500,000; and/or
• Renewal/Proceeds of Disposition $1,227,146, subject to Ministry approval.
Carried."

Postridge Park Tree Planting Event

Oakvillegreen has organized a tree planting event on Saturday May 23rd from 10am to 12pm at Postridge Park (Postridge Dr. & North Ridge Trail). Oakvillegreen will be planting 75 trees and shrubs over near the trailhead and playground. Join with your neighbours, friends and Oakvillegreen on the 23rd along with some Home Depot employees and other Ground Breaker volunteers. Shovels and gloves will be provided.

If you would like to be involved in this event please RSVP to mail@neora.org so we can forward you the Ground Breakers Planting Guide from Oakvillegreen.

Halton Region councillors hike their salaries.

For more info click on the link below to the article from the Toronto Star:

http://www.thestar.com/article/594549

Skateboard Park Open House on March 11, 2009

The Town of Oakville is hosting a public open house on Wednesday March 11, 2009 with regards to the new skateboard park development at Glenashton Park/Iroquois Ridge Community Centre. For more information and to provide comments to the Town of Oakville please click on the notice below.

Pile of Topsoil at South-West Corner of Meadowridge and Dundas

A note regarding this pile of soil from our town councilor Max Khan on February 12, 2009:

"Councillor Adams and I have received several complaints from homeowners in relation to the piles of topsoil being stored on Meadowridge Drive (near Dundas). The builder/developer is allowed, as of right, to keep such piles as construction in the area continues. Aside from being an eyesore, the soil also causes muddy run-offs when it rains. To alleviate this concern, we have instructed the builder/developer to seed and sod the stockpile so as to avoid further erosion and run-offs."

Vandalism to Pinery Park Trees

Our association is sad to report the vandalism of the trees at Pinery Park. The following pictures are just an example of the damage.
















If you have any information with regards to the vandalism to the Pinery Park Trees that occured February 6th or 7th please contact the Halton Regional Police Service http://www.hrps.on.ca/ or call 905-825-4747 with any information or contact Crime Stoppers http://www.haltoncrimestoppers.com/ or call 1-800-222-TIPS.