Big Picture?

It is not all big picture stuff at City Hall.

Take last Tuesday night's Community and Corporate Services Committee.

• Lights at the local soccer field are too bright for neighbours - or one neighbour anyway. Can we shut them off early? A question: If you buy a house beside a soccer field with lights would you expect that the lights will never be turned on?
• A group from a city advisory committee leaves as the meeting bogs down with questions to staff on a transit report. We'll hear from the advisory committee another time.
• A Councillor has questions regarding notification to residents about a road race taking place in their neighbourhood.

Snow in August

It is the hottest day of summer and your Councillor is worried about snow or specifically windrow. (Windrow is the pile of snow left in front of a driveway after the plow has been by.)

Staff, after a year studying the problem of windrow removal, have come back with a recommendation: Another year of study.

We move slowly in local government but surely a program such as Oakville's which is designed to be no burden to the taxpayer can be tried. Seniors and eligible disabled citizens will pay $80 for the program.

Some Councillors want seniors left out but after some debate a motion is passed:

That the Director of Roads and Park Maintenance be directed to pursue an agreement with Halton Helping Hands to expand the windrow clearing program currently in place in the Town of Oakville, to Burlington for the 2006/2007 winter season....

Not big picture but, hopefully, a helpful program for some in our City.