Thanks to all who attended the session tonight; it was great to be in a room full of real estate investors, getting questions answered and learning some ways to protect themselves from unscrupulous tenants.

Personally, I found the entire evening fascinating, and was able to learn some things from some of the attendees as well as the guest speakers. The head of the Investigations & Enforcement division was particularly informative, and taught me something about potential liability that I could easily take on in my day-to-day life as a Realtor.

The basic premise of the evening was that any successful landlord should get to know the Residential Tenacies Act very well, and make sure to work within the rules of the Act. As things were explained, it would seem that the Board is neither pro-tenant nor pro-landlord, but rather, takes the stance that smart actions prevent problems, and to be a good landlord means to act smart.

I’m sure that the tenants of the landlords who attended tonight’s session will be better served by having a more informed landlord.

Look for a follow-up session in the Fall.

In today’ s

Toronto Star is an article about a Provincial web site that gives indepth information on schools, including demographics, average marks, comparison to the Provincial averages, etc.

What is somewhat disturbing is that the Provincial average is so low; for example, only 61% of Grade 3 students met the Provincial standards in 2007-2008. WOW! There’s something wrong there.

There is some uproar over this web site, and investigations into whether it should be taken down. For me, and for my kids, I would be using it!

Would you?

I recently attended a By-Law Committee meeting at the Town’s offices; the meeting was to receive input from interested parties regarding

the portable signs that we see around town, as the By-Law regarding those signs is being updated.

It was an interesting experience. In attendence were a number of representatives from the Town, some citizens from Campbellville, another from in-town, and owners of some of the companies that provide these signs. And me, a happy, loyal customer of one of those sign companies.

I was very impressed with the apparent willingness of the Town staff to listen to the input of the various groups represented, and copious notes were taken, to be considered when the final draft of the By-Law is prepared for presentation to Council later this month.

There was a lot of give-&-take from the business side, and the citizen group from Campbellville. The Town was, somewhat surprisingly to me, quite open in listening to the concerns and opinions voiced by the business owners.

It will be really interesting to see how much impact the meeting had over the final draft of the  By-Law as it will be revealed on the Town’s web site on June 18th.

I’ll keep you updated on my little foray into the machinations of local politics.

Where are the priorities? A story in this week’s Champion, posted in full below, reports delays in the opening of new schools, According to the Milton Trustee, the schedule was ‘iffy’ already; I read that to mean that there really was no hope in having these schools online, but it’s easier to hold out false hopes.

The proposal is to house students in portables. Well, quite honestly, that is a terrible plan, even if it is the best solution to the situation. My son goes to school in Mississauga, where he lives half-time with his mum. His whole school life has been in schools that have portables, and half of it has been as a student in those portables. The Mississauga Board builds new schools, and the day they open, kids are jammed into portables. What gives with that? Do the powers-that-be think that good learning occurs in portables? Are they somehow desirable monetarily?

I don’t understand why there is any problem with building schools. The Town knows that the population is going to increase to X-thousands of people over the next X-years. They know that there will be X number of new students coming into the school system. What gives?

I’m sorry, but, in my opinion, there is never any excuse for sacrificing the education and care of our future. Our kids deserve decent schools, and it is within the Town’s grasp to provide them. To quote someone or the other, “Let’s Stop The Insanity!” Get the school problem resolved.

What do YOU think?

Here’s Tim Foran’s Champion article . . .

Milton’s already crowded public elementary schools will get even a little cosier in September as two new schools on the west side of town won’t open as expected by the start of the next academic year.

According to a report that will be reviewed by trustees tonight, Halton District School Board staff are recommending students that were supposed to attend the two new schools be housed in available classrooms and new portables at three existing schools in town — Robert Baldwin, J. M. Denyes and Martin Street. Other options such as busing students to schools outside of Milton or using corporate space weren’t seen as viable, the staff report stated.

P. L. Robertson at 840 Scott Blvd. will now open in November while Escarpment View at 351 Scott Blvd. will be ready to receive students next January.

Milton Trustee Donna Danielli said the delays are due to the late start the board had in beginning construction, which kicked off last November.

“We were very optimistic in November,” that the schools would be ready by this September, said Danielli. “That was an unrealistic expectation. In the back of our minds, we knew this was going to be iffy.”

The school board is in a difficult situation as the massive growth of Milton means new residents continue to pour into the community bringing with them as many as 500 new elementary-aged children a year, said Danielli.

Finding spaces for students isn’t the only problem, according to the staff report.

The delays cause a ‘ripple effect’ that hits other areas, including:

• The already existing dearth of available meeting and administrative rooms, gymnasia, libraries, and washrooms

• The impact on at capacity school-site day cares, as new day care spots were planned to be available in at least one of the new schools

• The crunch to find parking spaces and mitigate congestion on nearby roads due to traffic

• How to deal with students at five existing schools that thought they were being transferred

These issues and more will have to be addressed in the implementation of the temporary accommodation plan, the report states. The board plans to set up information sessions this month hosted by school principals to outline the transition plans.

Map the schools (and other neighbourhood info) closest to your home:

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