George CarlsonCOUNCILLOR WARD 11 NEWS

E george.carlson@mississauga.ca T 905-896-5011 W georgecarlson.caSPRING SUMMER 2015

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ActiveAssist Program ExpandedMississaugas ActiveAssist Fee Assistance Program has been expanded to allow 2,500 more low-income households to register and participate.

ActiveAssist provides eligible low-income households a fee credit of $275 per person, per year. The credit can be applied to activities such as swimming, skat-ing, fitness, and summer camps. Participants have one year from the date of activation to use their fee credit. To be eligible for fee assistance, you must meet the Low-Income Cut Offs (LICO) established by Statistics Canada and be unable to pay for recreation programs and services. Highlights of the ActiveAssist pro-gram since its inception include:

More than 42,000 residents have been approved to access the program 80 per cent of participants are children and youth, three per cent are older

adults During five years of the program, 63 per cent of all subsidies were used for

registered programs and 37 per cent were used to purchase memberships and visits

In fall 2014, the program was expanded to provide access for Children in Care (Peel Childrens Aid Society)

Applications for ActiveAssist may be made in person at any City of Mississauga Community Centre or the Customer Service Centre located at Mississauga Central Library, Ground Floor. For more information and a complete listing of all recre-ation programs, visit www.mississauga.ca/activeassist or call 905-615-4100.

New Investments in Public TransitI am pleased to report that the City of Mississauga and the Government of Canada have invested a total of $110,400,000 in improving public transit services, as part of the Gas Tax Fund. This investment was used to increase the MiWay fleet with new buses featuring state-of-the-art transit technologies. Since 2009, the City has purchased a total of 168 new buses, replacing 112 older vehicles and increasing its fleet to meet the demand and growing needs of residents and visitors. The new accessible, low floor, kneeling buses are equipped with ramps that allow passengers to board and exit the bus with ease. Voice and visual stop an-nouncement systems call out and display pre-recorded stop information onboard, alerting passengers of the next stop. Meanwhile, buses also feature external audio-visual displays announcing the route name, number, and direc-tion, to help ensure that all customers have access to the information they require. These features are especially beneficial for riders with visual or hearing impairments. For more information about MiWay transit, please visit MiWays customer website at www.miway.ca.

COUNCILLOR WARD 11 NEWSSPRING SUMMER 2015 COUNCILLOR WARD 11 NEWSSPRING SUMMER 2015

2015 City and Region BudgetsThe 2015 City and Region budgets have been approved by Budget Committee and Council. This year, residents will see a 2.2 per cent increase on their total tax bill. This means an increase of $92 on a home assessed at $479,000 or $19.30 per $100,000 of assessment. The 2015 City budget includes a $694.8 million operating budget, which is used to deliver services like transit; parks; forestry; recreation; roads and stormwater management; and fire and emergency services. The 2015 City budget also includes a $195.2 million capital budget, which supports transportation projects like the new Transitway; road and bridge rehabilitation; and other infra-structure projects, like park facilities and storm drainage. The City budget ensures that services will be improved and im-portant investments will be made in public transit, recreation centres, and neighbourhood safety. Some highlights of the 2015 budget include:

Transit services are increasing to meet the growing de-mand. MiWay will add 41,000 service hours and new express routes along the Mississauga Transitway.

Capital projects like the Meadowvale Community Centre renovation will continue to improve recreation and com-munity services.

The Mississauga Library system will receive increases in funding for library collections.

An Advanced Transportation Management System (ATMS) will make the Citys traffic control system more efficient and responsive to changing traffic conditions.

The two per cent Capital Infrastructure and Debt Repay-ment Levy will help the City pay for its infrastructure. The City needs about $128 million per year. Current sources of funding, including property taxes, reserve funds, and gas taxes, will still leave the City short about $60 million.

City staff identified $6.2 million in savings for 2015 through efficiencies. These savings have ensured that costs to maintain existing service levels remain below the rate of inflation.

The Regions budget includes an operating budget of $2 bil-lion and a capital budget of $0.4 billion. The current budget provides resources to support day-to-day operations. The capital budget provides resources to acquire, improve or main-tain land, buildings, roads, watermains, pumping stations, machinery and equipment; to install computer software; and to conduct studies relating to corporate assets. The 2015 Re-gion of Peel budget provides funding to support the following regional services:

17,000 Ontario Works cases per month 583,000 accessible transportation trips 20,716 social housing units/beds/homes 7,800 subsidized child care spaces provided annually,

1,427 which are reserved for children with special needs 1,655.5-lane kilometres of roads, 172 structures and 452

signalized intersections More than 500,000 tonnes of waste managed per year Provide 703 beds, including four temporary beds, in five

long term care homes 50,000 children are offered dental screening annually,

11,000 of whom are in need of urgent treatment 663 million litres per day of wastewater collected and

treated 608 million litres per day of municipal water treated,

transmitted, and distributed 19,500 more Regionally controlled trips for accessible

transportation services Additional 2,555 paramedic service hours to address an

increase in 9-1-1 calls 300 additional child care subsidies 100 additional housing rent subsidies

For more information about the 2015 City and Region bud-gets, please visit www.mississauga.ca/budget, as well as www.peelregion.ca.

City Council recently approved changes to Mississaugas Leash-Free Zones to keep them safe for users. Anyone walking more than four dogs at one time, up to a limit of eight dogs, in one of Mississaugas Leash-Free Zones, will need to apply for a permit from the City of Mississauga. This permit must be visible while using any Missis-sauga Leash-Free Zones. The Dog Walker Permit Fee will be $250, with a $50 charge for each additional dog walker. The new Dog Walker Permit Fee will take effect this spring. Leash-Free Zones in City parks began in 1997. There are presently 7 Leash-Free Zones in Mississauga. Leash-Free Zones are main-tained by Leash-Free Mississauga (LFM), a non-profit organization established in 1997. To find a dog park in your area, please visit www.mississauga.ca/parks.

New Standards for Leash Free Zones in Mississauga

Mississauga among Safest Cities in CanadaMississauga has been named one of the safest cities in Canada for the 15th consecutive year, based on research conducted by Safe City Mississauga. Mississaugas communities and neigh-bourhoods are among the safest in the country, which makes our city a great place in which to live, raise a family, or start a business. I routinely work with City of Mississauga By-law Staff, Peel Regional Police, and Safe City Mississauga to keep our parks, streets, and schools safe for everyone, and I am very proud that Mississauga has been recognized yet again as being one of our countrys safest cities, said Councillor George Carl-son.

Each year, Safe City Mississauga releases its Safest Cities Report, which provides information about crime and safety within Mississauga. The report looks at crime rates and statis-tics; analyses of crime rates and the severity of crimes in Missis-sauga; and comparisons to other Canadian cities. The Safest Cities Report looked at crime data from 2013 and revealed that Mississauga continues to have among the lowest crime rates among large cities in Canada and a crime rate lower than that for the nation as a whole. In 2013, Mississauga had an overall crime rate of 2,270 per 100,000 people, which repre-sented a 12.1% decrease from 2012s crime rate of 2,582 per 100,000 people. The majority of these incidents fell under the category of property crime (68.5%) followed by crimes against persons (18.9%) and other Criminal Code offences (12.6%). 2013 represented another year of declining crime rates and a decrease in the severity index for Mississauga. Mississaugas comparatively low rate of crime indicates that it remains one of the safest cities in Canada when compared to other high-den-sity cities. If you would like to view the Safest Cities Report, please visit www.safecitymississauga.on.ca.

COUNCILLOR WARD 11 NEWSSPRING SUMMER 2015

Spring is here, and I know you and your family are excited for the one and only Bread & Honey Festival! The 2015 Bread & Honey Festival will be held during the weekend of June 5th to June 7th. The 43rd annual festival promises to be the very best yet, with a spectacu-lar lineup of performers and exciting activities for the whole family. There is so much fun to be had at this years festival, so be sure to head over to Streetsville Memorial Park to join in on the fun, includ-ing the Bread & Honey parade, carnival rides, games, and the deli-cious bread and honey. This year, the parade takes place on Satur-day, June 6th, from 10am to 12pm, along Queen Street South, from Britannia Road down to Church Street, so be sure to catch the great floats, characters, and costumes. Highlights of this years festival in-clude the petting zoo, magicians, carnival, beach volleyball, as well as phenomenal entertainment and band performances on the main stage! While you are at the Bread & Honey, dont forget to check out the Streetsville Rotary Consumer market at Vic Johnston Community Centre, with over 100 vendors. The Streetsville Rotary Clubs an-nual Pancake Breakfast will take place on Sunday, June 7th in the Banquet Hall of the Vic Johnston Community Centre, and all funds raised will support Easter Seals. Across the bridge--on the island--explore a wide variety of craft vendors while the kids can enjoy pony rides, face painting, inflatable bouncers, free train rides, and the entertaining performers on the Busy Bee Childrens Island Stage. The festival wouldnt be complete without the Bread & Honey booth, so dont forget to stop by to sample the fluffy white or whole-wheat bread coated with local honey. For the fishing enthusiasts out there, head down to the banks of the Credit River on Sunday (south of the Island Bridge) from 9-11am for my annual FREE Fishing Derby. The derby is open to children 16 and under. Please bring your own fishing gear, and get ready to fish for great prizes! For more infor-mation about the festival, visit www.breadandhoney.com. I look for-ward to seeing you and your family at the Bread & Honey this year!

2015 Bread & Honey Festival 2015 Streetsville Canada Day Celebration

The 2015 Streetsville Canada Day celebration will be held on Wednesday, July 1, 2015. This is the 23rd annual Canada Day celebration in Streetsville, and it will feature an amazing fireworks display and fun activities, games, and performances for everyone! The Streetsville Canada Day celebration is FREE of charge, and will begin at 6pm on the brand new Streetsville Village Square, so make sure you and your family dont miss the spectacular 2015 celebra-tion!

Children can enjoy fun and exciting activities, including balloon animals; face painting; carnival games; mascots; clowns; craft tables; painting and artwork stations; and more! Check out the spectacular live musical and dance performances on the main stage and make sure you grab a delicious bite to eat at the Rotary BBQ. At 7pm, join in for the Lions Club Cake cutting and greetings from our local politicians. At 9:30pm, catch the Streetsville Pipes and Drums as they march everyone down to Streetsville Memorial Park for an outstanding fireworks display at 10pm.

The success of Streetsvilles Canada Day celebration can be attrib-uted to the great work of our community volunteers. They contrib-ute so much to the success of the event each year. If you would like to volunteer at the 2015 celebration, please contact the Streetsville B.I.A. at 905-858-5974 or e-mail info@villageofstreetsville.com. For more information, please visit www.villageofstreetsville.com. See you on July 1st!

Lets Play in the Park Program Returns to Ward 11I am very pleased to report that the Lets Play in the Park recre-ation program will be returning to Ward 11 again this summer. The Lets Play in the Park program will give children between the ages of 6 and 12 the chance to play in the park with trained leaders each weekday during the summer. Children will be able to participate in a variety of organized games, sports, arts, drama, crafts, and nature skills activities. This program will be offered across Mississauga, in City parks where children can easily walk or cycle and that have suf-ficient green space for recreation activities.

Last year, this recreation program was offered at Neebin Park and was very popular in the community and greatly enjoyed by all of the children who participated. There were 800 visits to the program throughout the summer last year, and even more visitors are ex-pected again this year. This is a great program that is free of charge and will get your children moving, so dont forget to bring them over to Neebin Park for some fun this summer! Neebin Park is located at 635 Kaiser Dr. For more information about this program, please visit www.mississauga.ca/play.

COUNCILLOR WARD 11 NEWSSPRING SUMMER 2015

Important NumbersAircraft Noise Complaints 416-247-7682Animal Services 905-896-5858City (after hours) 905-615-3000Courtneypark Library 905-615-4745Catholic School Board 905-890-1221Enersource (Hydro) 905-273-9050GO Transit 416-869-3200Health Line Peel 905-799-7700Ambulance 905-844-4242Mississauga Fire 905-615-3777MiWay Transit 905-615-4636Park Lights (City) 3-1-1Parking Control 3-1-1Public School Bd. 905-890-1010

Peel Regional Police 905-453-3311Poison Control Centre 416-813-5900Recreation & Parks 905-615-4100Region of Peel 905-791-7800River Grove CC 905-615-4780Safe City Mississauga 905-615-6272Snow Removal 905-615-7669Streetlights (Enersource) 905-566-2718Streetsville B.I.A. 905-858-5974Streetsville Library 905-615-4785Transhelp 905-791-1015Vic Johnston CC 905-826-3011Waste Management 905-791-9499Water Billing 905-791-8711

Natural Ice Rink at Pathfinder Way ParkI am very pleased to share with you a Ward 11 communitys great experience with the Citys Natural Ice Rink Program. Last December, the families who live near Pathfinder Way Park, close to Falconer Drive, thought about how great it would be for their community to have a natural ice rink in the park for everyone to enjoy and decided to participate in the Citys Natural Ice Rink Program.

The Citys Natural Ice Rink Program works with community volunteers to provide safe and well-equipped natural ice rinks to promote and support outdoor recreation opportunities in Mississauga. The City provides rink boards, rink hut, and shovels to assist with creating a natural ice rink, while volunteers flood the rink and provide day to day maintenance. The community was able to participate in the program and worked with City Parks Staff to create a safe and enjoyable natural rink for everyone in the community to enjoy.

This past winter, the community really put their great new community ice rink to good use, and the kids even enjoyed 2 hours of skating every day, after their homework was finished of course! Next winter, consider bringing some great outdoor recreation to your community by participating in the Natural Ice Rink Program. For more information about this great program, please call 3-1-1.

As a municipality, the City of Mississauga is committed to being a leader in green initia-tives that conserve and protect our environ-ment. To this end, the City just released its most recent 5 Year Energy Conservation Plan (2014-2019), which includes new ways to conserve energy, and help reduce our electrici-ty and fossil fuel related emissions. This years plan targets a 1% reduction in energy use and Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) per year for facilities, over the next five years. Under the 5 Year Energy Conservation Plan, the City will meet its conservation targets by:

Re-commissioning facilities (i.e. ensuring that the design and operation of a build-ing are in sync and working efficiently);

Performing a City-wide energy audit (vis-iting the majority of facilities to review equipment, such as HVAC and lighting, and determine where energy efficiency can be improved);

Implementing newer and broader energy efficiency measures; and

Increasing and promoting energy aware-ness.

Since 2001, the City has implemented two successful Energy Conservation Plans, which have gone a long way towards preserving, pro-tecting, and conserving our natural environ-ment. In 2013, the City used over 206 million

equivalent kilowatt hours (e-kWh) of electrici-ty and natural gas in facilities (e.g. City-owned and operated buildings) and operations (e.g. energy use in parks, street lighting, and traffic signals). This was equivalent to the amount of energy used in over 16,500 homes, and energy consumption was down 6% from 2011 levels. GHG emissions from City facilities and opera-tions were over 27,500 tonnes in 2013, which was down 8.7% from 2011. This decrease in GHG emissions was equivalent to the emis-sions from approximately 5,400 cars!

In 2013, the savings from completed energy measures reached 4,855 MWh of electricity and 471,000 m3 of natural gas. By 2019, with additional improvements, these annual sav-ings are expected to increase to 9,100 MWh and 749,000 m3. Reduced usage has trans-lated into significant cost savings. From 2004 through 2013, the energy measures completed have saved an estimated $3.9 million. By 2019, the total savings from energy measures should exceed the total investments in those measures. Also by 2019, the GHG reductions from energy measures are expected to reach 2,290 tonnes per year, more than double the Citys reductions from 2012 and almost a fourfold improvement in 10 years (from 2009)! For more information, please visit www.mississauga.ca/livinggreen.

The City of Mississauga will be organizing a special Official Opening Celebration to mark the opening of the Streetsville Village Square to the community. The Streetsville Village Square Official Opening Celebration festivities will be held during the weekend of the spectacular Bread & Honey Festival, which takes place June 5th to 7th. The Of-ficial Opening celebrations will begin with a FREE two-hour performance by Johnny Max at the Village Square on Friday, June 5th, from 7pm to 9pm.

The Official Opening Ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 6th, at the Village Square, from 12pm-12:30pm, following the Bread & Honey parade. After the opening ceremony, dont forget to catch the great live bands performing at the Village Square until 3pm, as well as buskers and entertainment for everyone.

Please note that the following road closures will be in effect to accommodate the week-end festivities:

Main Street, between Queen Street and Church Street, Friday at 4pm to Sunday at 5pm

Church Street, between Main Street and Old Pine Street , Saturday 1pm to 3pm

I am also very pleased to report that City Council approved a new events committee and by-law changes that will bring Streets-ville Village Square to life with community programs and events. Streetsville Village Square will attract many new exciting activities and be a great loca-tion to expand and host our traditional events such as Canada Day, Remembrance Day, and the Bread and Honey Festival, said Ward 11 Councillor George Carlson. No matter what time of year, the new square is a welcoming place, attractive meet-ing place and focal point for the Streetsville community. We are looking forward to celebrating our communitys diversity and hosting fitness, music, art, dance activities, and events for residents of all ages to enjoy. The new community based committee, led by the Streetsville Business Improvement Area (BIA) and City of Mississauga staff, is responsible for assessing and approving event and activity requests. It also includes representatives from the Streetsville Legion, Main Street businesses, Peel Regional Police and the not-for-profit community base in Streetsville. For more information about the Streetsville Village Square Event Com-mittee, contact Angela Trewartha, General Manager, Streetsville BIA,at 905-858-5974 or angela@villageofstreetsville.com.

Village Square Official Opening Celebration

New Energy Conservation Plan