The Time for Change is Now!

• Invest in programs, parks, and facilities
  
  • Recreational programs, music, drama, and sports all serve to strengthen our sense of community and increase its vibrancy
    
• Champion the transformation and updating of our activities and parks for increased senior and youth activities
  
• Develop long-term plan for park infrastructure upgrades and develop our green spaces.
  
  • Immediate attention will be given to Langhorne Park (former dog run).
    
• Promote our current Walking path network and develop it into a fitness trail
  
• Create Public Art Spaces to showcase local artist’s work
  

I will start the conversation on improving our facilities by answering the key questions on renovating our Community Center and including an arena. I promise to bring to the table the best options for the future of our community.

Arena and Civic Center

Community Involvement

• Convene more citizen committees and commissions
  
Citizen empowerment is the only way to increase involvement.
• Promote active participating working groups, not just talking groups
  
New programming, for all generations; learning from innovation and creativity of youth and the experiences of our long-time residents

Through my proven success in relationship building; council of clergy, school outreach, creating the Royal Knights hockey committee, inviting Westmount dolphins swim team, joint programming with Jewish Public Library, I will set up new partnerships  with theater, dance and youth groups. By talking and working together, we will build a stronger, better Hampstead.

Communications

Local government must reach out to you with clear, accurate and honest information, through a wide range of communications vehicles like social media, our website, email campaigns, newsletters, speeches, presentations and more. It is important to fully inform and involve our community if we want to move forward.

• Upgrade our website making easier for residents to find information
  
• Improve ehampstead, our current e-mail message system
  
• Develop Social media strategy
  
  • Presence on twitter, Facebook and connect through all platforms available
    
• Post more information on a new website
  
  • Anything that has been prepared for and paid for by the Town should be available to the residents, easily accessible on our website. 
    
• Rework our Print Media Strategy so it becomes a cost effective total communication strategy using the Suburban, Free Press, and newsletter to further the business of the town.

Public Security

• Create strong partnerships with neighboring cities to diminish crime more effectively.
• An effective Public Security commission should include the cities in our area.
• Work with our neighbors to develop:
  
  • A workable reasonable traffic plan to keep our quiet streets safe
    
  • A continuous safe bike path route
• Finalize the Emergency Plan and keep it updated.
• We need to have an up to date plan on record with the Montreal Fire Department since they are our first response.  Hampstead’s responsibilities include; evacuations, food, shelter.  We must be self-sufficient for 72 hours. The federal government realized the importance of emergency plans by providing funding for town to update them. The funding has since run out.
• Revitalize the TRAFFIC COMMITTEE with full citizen consultation to look at comprehensive studies and norms in order to implement a variety of low cost measures to ease traffic and reduce speeding, with an emphasis on child protection.

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We have to be intelligent about the way we spend money, administer your tax dollars responsibly, by preventing  wasteful spending while maintaining high quality services.

• I will set up maintenance funds to continually improve infrastructure, parks and facilities
• I will invest in our town to maintain our desirability, keep the property values up and thus our tax base, choosing only well thought out projects that take into account the maintenance time and operating costs.
• I will adopt a matching principle to spread costs of the infrastructure over its useful life; sidewalks, roads, lights, pipes, sewers, and vehicles.
• I will actively pursue all grant possibilities, partnerships and cost sharing initiatives.

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• Aggressively continue infrastructure improvement AND set up maintenance and life cycle programs to forecast realistic maintenance budget expenses
• Establish maintenance plans using norms and best practices in order to maximize rehabilitation, prolong the life of infrastructure improvements and reduce operating and capital costs.
• Cost-efficient planning; when doing infrastructure improvements, builds in traffic calming and beautification opportunities into our improvements.

• Institute vehicle replacement /retirement program
  
• Actively pursue the use of Electrical cars when possible
  
• Upgrade Inventory management system
  
• Examine efficiency of whole Public Works yards
  
  • Develop workable plan
    
    • For heated storage of seasonal and occasional items and time to transport  
      
    • For protecting supplies from seasonal damages

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• Update and consolidate all bylaws (has not been done in 30 years)
  
• Institute a proper urban planning inspection system
  
  • Put the correct safeguards and follow-ups in place
    
  • Catch up on our almost 2 year back log
    
• We have revenue generated specifically by this department, transfer taxes and building permits and usually we have under budgeted. If property sales and the renovations are generating so much revenue, we should be able to ensure that Hampstead’s only asset base, residential properties is protected. Your home is one of your biggest investments; it should be one of ours as well.

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• Create a B. Green citizen committee.

I have proven innovative green thinking; conceived the Tree bank program, established green space index and green permit rebates, but I believe we need to expand our internal Green Committee to include residents so that projects we work on come from the grassroots of our community. 

Beautification

• Expand the gardening committee
  
  • To look at distinctive flower arrangements for old and new Hampstead
    
  • To ensure all new plantings will be well suited to their environment and easy to maintain
    
  • To encourage new initiatives
    
    • Perennial exchange at Harvest day
      
    • Community gardens and Edible gardens
      
• Plantings are not the only thing that makes a park beautiful, having play equipment, fountains and rest area to enjoy is also important in our family orientated community. 
  
• I will invest in park infrastructure upgrades, develop our green spaces, and adopt an aggressive tree planting program with many different varieties which can line our walking paths. 

Waste Diversion – Taking the trash out
Out of the compost thinking

On average 60% of our garbage is food waste.  Composting is currently the only solution, one we are not using.  I will examine the other technologies as an alternative to municipal composting.

There are new highly efficient in sink garbage disposals that pulverize the food waste –even meat bones-to such a degree it can be used as compost immediately after extraction at the water treatment facility.  These appliances are very easy to use and convenient.  Costs are approximately $300 for the unit plus $200 installation. 

There is also a new green industrial technology food waste solution going through pilot projects in residential environments.  It works like an oversized composter on fast forward, sterilizing and converting food waste into compostable humus-rich, high-carbon organic particles. The Food Cycler is a multi-phase, onsite organic food waste recycling machine that dehydrates and converts daily food waste into a sterile biomass. The entire process takes less than 6 hours and requires no fresh water, chemicals or venting. Using only minimal energy, it reduces food waste by as much as 90% and turns the residue into organic, odor-free, safe, ecofriendly soil amendment. This makes it a zero waste solution. Costs are approximately $450 for the unit.  There are no installation costs.

I will apply to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund for feasibility study funding for these and other green initiatives.

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• I will to make it easy for residents to share their points of view BEFORE the decisions are made.
  
  • We will be operating in a reactive manner, but in a proactive visionary role
    
• Distribute complete comprehensive information
  
• Make everything available to the public on our new website; light standards tests, road, water, sidewalk reports, even look into the cost of Webcasting our public meetings
• Start Quarterly “Open Town Hall “discussion sessions
  
  • Open forums for information exchanges and debates
• Public disclosure of all council members expenses and perks

Smaller government
Apply to Quebec Government to reduce council to 4 seats

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