300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, Ontario L5B 3C1 • Tel: 905-896-5900 • Fax: 905-896-5463 • E-mail: pat.saito@mississauga.ca • www.ward9.ca

Winter 2005

Councillor’s MessageDear Neighbour:Welcome to the Winter 2005edition of the Ward 9 newsletter.I hope that you will find theinformation in this edition ofinterest. I have tried to coverthose topics that generatethe most calls and emails to myoffice and as always I welcomesuggestions for future newsletters.For ongoing information, please visitthe Ward 9 web site at www.ward9.caand once there sign up for the Ward9 email newsletter to get updates onwhat's happening in the communityand across the city.It has been a very busy year in Ward 9 as growth continues inChurchill Meadows and the finaldevelopments are taking place inLisgar. As Meadowvale ages, we aredealing with repairing and replacingour older infrastructure. In CentralErin Mills, the only areas left to becompleted are the school site onDuncairn, some office and retail sites

in the Erin Mills Regional Centre,the apartments on Plantation andHazelton and the final phasesof the Erin Meadows Village. Council has also beenundertaking full servicelevel reviews prior todealing with the 2006budget. We want to ensure

that we continue to providethe services that our residents needand want at the levels you want in themost cost effective way. We also dealtwith the issue of representation at theRegion of Peel and managed to gettwo additional representatives at theregion giving Mississauga 50 per centof the vote. This was a small victoryfor Council and our city.We are now approaching the winterseason and I urge everyone to drivecarefully especially in bad weatherconditions. I want to wish everyonea very Merry Christmas, and a safeand healthy New Year. I hope 2006will bring you health and happiness.

The Dam Has a Home!

New WardBoundaries

Continues on page 3(see Boundaries)

ERIN

MIL

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NINT

H LI

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TENT

H LI

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WIN

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EGLINTON AVE.

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Lisgar

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New boundary separatingWards 9 & 10

CentralErin Mills

Meadowvale

MeadowvaleBusiness Park

ChurchillMeadows

SL&H R.R.

WARD WARD

Meadowvale youth celebrated onFriday, November 18 as the news ofa new home for the Dam Youth DropIn was announced at the 7th AnnualAuction. It was exciting to see theenthusiasm and joy that greeted the news.It's been over 3 years since the Damlost its home at Meadowvale TownCentre and I have been working withBill Crawford and his staff to convincethe new mall owners, First Capital,to lease them space. Although wehad hoped for larger space, the2,000 square feet that the Dam willmove into is most welcome to theyouth and staff. Everyone is working

hard to have the space open inJanuary 2006.The Dam Youth Drop-in is one of the most vital parts of the Ward 9community. It is a communityoutreach program for all teens, butspecifically targets youth who need asafe place to go and talk to someone.The goal is to be a friend and resourcefor youth in our community so theycan stay home and in school whilebeing a positive part of the community.In addition to drop-ins and life skillsworkshops, the program includes ahousing project, support for pregnant

As you may have heard, a by-lawwas passed this year to split Ward 6and 9 and to add 2 additional wardsand Councillors to the City and Region.Ward 9 will be divided into Wards 9and 10. For those of you living inMeadowvale and Central Erin Millsthere will be no change. You willremain in Ward 9 and I will hopefullycontinue to represent you as I willbe seeking re-election as Councillorin that area. For those living in Lisgar andChurchill Meadows, you willbecome part of the new Ward 10and will have a new representativefollowing the municipal elections inNovember, 2006. Nothing will changeuntil after the elections and I willcontinue to work on behalf of theentire present ward until that time.In the coming year we will beworking to divide the files in the two wards to make a smoothtransition in December.

Continues on page 3(see Dam)

Street Light Replacement ProgramYou may have noticed that EnersourceHydro Mississauga has been replacingthe older “Markborough type” streetlights on some streets with the newerstandard City lighting. These lights need to be replaced as a result of both aging cables andobsolete lights. The aging of the systemhas lead to a reduction in reliability andan increase in maintenance calls.Replacement parts for the obsoletelights are costly and difficult to find.Furthermore, this existing lightingsystem does not provide illuminationto meet current City of Mississaugastandards. In order to phase outthese obsolete lights, in 1996, theCity initiated a comprehensive multi-year replacement plan.Obsolete lighting would normally bereplaced with the Basic Standardwhich consists of a street light fixtureknown as the "cobra head," supportedby an aluminium bracket and a concretepole, which extends 27 feet abovethe road surface. This familiar lookingstandard is widely used throughoutMississauga and in other majorurban centres across North America. In some subdivisions, developerspaid for various upgraded styleswhich cost significantly higher thanthe Basic Standard (in some cases

up to 5 times more costly). Whilesome residents prefer to keep themore decorative lighting, we have tobe careful to control both the capitaland ongoing costs of these lights forall taxpayers. In order to do this andstill provide a means of satisfying thewishes of residents for a choice oflighting, upgraded lighting is permittedon a user-pay basis. The additional costs associated withupgraded standards are to be borneby the residents on the particularstreet. These additional costs areassessed on an average basis andapply to each residence with a municipaladdress on the street that is consideringan upgrade. As a street comes intothe program, residents are contactedwith all information.For technical information concerningthis program, please contact AndrewBloomfield, Manager, Street LightingServices, Enersource HydroMississauga Services Inc. at 905-283-4058, or emailabloomfield@enersource.com. For information regarding funding forthe upgraded options, contact JohnClarke, Supervisor of Traffic Signalsand Street Lighting, City ofMississauga at 905-615-3200 ext. 5642 or emailjohn.clarke@mississauga.ca.

Eden Food Bank Serving Our CommunityDid you know that each month in2005, an average of 226 families(about 700 people) used the servicesof Eden Food Bank? Did you alsoknow that each month about 20 new families use this much needed service?Opened in 1990, by Eden UnitedChurch, the food bank is an outlet of Foodpath serving northwestMississauga. It is located in thebasement of Eden United on thenorthwest corner of Battleford andWinston Churchill.The people who need and use the food bank are our neighbours and ourfriends. In 2004, across the GreaterToronto Area, there were 175,000people using food relief programs each month. Of this number, 40% have at least some college or universityeducation; 50 per cent of the food bank recipients and 33 per cent of the children go hungry at least once each week. In the Region of Peel, 48 per cent of households with at least 1 person working still need thefood bank. Help is always needed in the form of volunteers or donations of food or money. Visit the web site atwww.edenfoodbank.org and check the list of current needs. Eden Food Bank is open for clients to pick up food Mondays from 1 to3:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 6 to8:30 p.m. For more information visitthe Eden Food Bank web site atwww.edenfoodbank.org, call 905-785-3651 or email toinfo@edenfoodbank.org.

How to File a By-Law ComplaintI'm often asked how residents canhave a by-law enforced. You can fileby-law complaints by phone, fax, orby e-mail. It is important to includeyour name and telephone number,the specific address of the property,and a detailed description of theissue you are concerned about. TheCity of Mississauga will not dealwith anonymous complaints.We have developed timelines andprotocols in order to deal with yourconcerns in a timely and appropriatemanner. Once a complaint is loggedit will be verified by an investigatorwithin five working days. Most complaints are resolved fairlyquickly. However, there are caseswhere a complaint requires mediationor legal action and resolution can be

expected to take longer. Essentially,the timeframe for complaint resolutiondepends on whether it can be dealtwith through a by-law remedy or ifother action is required. Complaints of an emergency nature,such as open wells, dilapidatedswimming pool enclosures or stagnantbodies of water which might be abreeding place for mosquitoes thatcarry West Nile Virus, should bereported to Transportation andWorks at 905-615-3000. All other complaints can be reportedto 905-896-5655, weekdays, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., by fax to 905-615-3374 or by email tobylaw.enforcement@mississauga.ca.

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Approaching the 1st Anniversary of theMeadowvale Health Clinic Councillor PatSaito gets her flu shot from Medical Officerof Health, Dr. Hanif Kassam. For informationon flu clinics see www.ward9.ca

Flu Shot

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teens and young moms, alternativeeducation and job help. Called “TheDam”, it is our hope that the drop-instops the flow of youth from ourcommunity from running away andbecoming homeless street kids.For more information or to find outhow you can become a supporter of the Dam, visit their web site atwww.thedam.org.

It was very difficult to split Ward 9.Having spent the past 15 yearsdeveloping the newer communitiesof Lisgar and Churchill Meadows, itis hard to give up these neighbourhoodsjust as they are becoming completed.I have made so many good friendsthrough my role as your Councillorand I have enjoyed working with the Lisgar and Churchill MeadowsResidents' Associations as well as with various other communitygroups. Although I will not berepresenting Lisgar and ChurchillMeadows after the elections, I willbe available to assist the new councilloras he or she takes on that role.This split was required as Wards 6and 9 were becoming excessive inpopulation and were well above thenumber recommended for local wards.Ward 9 now has a population ofabout 115,000 people, larger thanmany towns and cities in Ontario.As the ward grows, it becomesincreasingly more difficult to dealwith all of the issues and concernsas quickly as I would like to, althoughmy staff and I work hard to meet theneeds of all of our residents. Thissplit will provide you with an evengreater level of service.To find out which area you will be in, check the ward boundary map.For more information, please call or email me.

Dam(continued from front page)

Boundaries(continued from front page)

Pat joins The Dam Executive Director, Bill Crawford, to present Mayor McCallion with theFriend of The Dam award at the Annual Dinner on April 9th, 2005.

Pat congratulates The Dam volunteers Ann Smith, Jean Hill & Rhonda Porter who were recognized at the dinner for their many years of service.

?Want tips on how to be a better parent?Learn how to: • talk to your child

• balance home, work and more• set boundaries at home and in the community

All this and more at “Parenting…with a difference” - A parenting program thatpresents clear strategies to guide parents in raising responsible youth.Guest Speaker Jane Hoy is back by popular demand. Jane's presentation last year was well received and parents who attended wanted to hear more. Jane hasdedicated 25 years to serving children and the communities they live in. Her downto earth dynamic style helps break down barriers to communication and helpsparents and communities build healthy, successful futures.

Wednesday February 1, 2006Meadowvale Theatre 7-9 pm6315 Montevideo Road

Free Admission with a non-perishable food item for Eden Food BankTo pre-register or for more information please call:Health Line Peel 905-799-7700

Presented by the Meadowvale Community Partnership. Theatre donated by Councillor Pat Saito

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Enhancing Osprey Marsh

Eden Cemetery Dedicated

Geoffrey Smith, Councillor Pat Saito, Marilyn Jennison, Bob Delaney MPP, Richard Bennett, Suzanne Field, Alan Munro, Ken Murphy kick off the partnership between the Trillium Foundation, Meadowvale Rotary, the Lisgar Residents’ Association and the City to enhanceOsprey Marsh.

An important part of Ward 9 and Mississauga's history was honoured recently as members of EdenUnited Church hosted a Dedication Service at Eden Cemetery on Sunday October 23rd. The servicehonoured the pioneers that are buried on the last remaining reminder of Switzer's Church, whichwas built on land bought from John Switzer in 1840. Reverend Barry King, who officiated at the ceremony, encouraged reminiscences and stories of the men and women at Eden as they unveiled the new sign erected by the City of Mississauga.

Churchill Meadows Community Common is located on the north side of Thomas Street betweenthe new public & catholic high schools. Construction has been ongoing for the past few monthsas we install a skateboard park, children's playground with pavilion, tennis courts and seniorsoccer field. The park should be completed by summer 2006.

Churchill Meadows Park in Progress

Duncairn Drive Peel School Board LandThe Peel District School Board hasconfirmed that, while they have noimmediate plans to construct anelementary school at this time, theboard also has no plans to sell theirland located on the west side ofDuncairn park. All school sites have an underlyingzoning. These lands are zoned torecognize the site for school purposes,but if a school is not built, the zoningpermits detached dwellings onminimum 39.4 ft (12m) lot frontages.If, at some point in the future, thePeel Board decides they do notrequire a school on this site, they candeclare the land surplus and sell it.The purchaser will then have thechoice of developing the land for the designated use (in this case

detached dwellings) or applying torezone the land for an alternate use.If the land is developed in the futurefor the permitted zoned use of eithera school or detached dwellings, nofurther Council approvals would berequired. Only the site plan wouldrequire staff approval. In that situation,I would advise the community of thefiling of an application for site planapproval and you would have anopportunity to view the plans on theWard 9 web site and if necessary Iwould hold a ward meeting for input.If the lands are proposed at a futuredate to be rezoned for some otheruse then a rezoning applicationwould be required and this wouldinitiate a full public process.

You may have noticed work going onat Lake Wabukayne this fall. A projectto remove sediment from the lakestarted August 2nd and should becompleted by late December. Thisproject has generated significantinterest as it is the first time in Canadathat this new technology has been used.Lake Wabukayne has an importantrole in controlling the quality andquantity of stormwater enteringMullet Creek, which drains into theCredit River. However, the lakerequires periodic maintenance toensure sufficient control of flowvolumes and suspended sediments.Sediment removal is being done usinga new system where geo-synthetictubes (giant sediment bags) andpiping systems were installed in the park. There will be two rounds of hydraulic dredging to allow forrestoration work in the park to be undertaken in the spring.

Lake Wabukayne Cleaned Up

Did You Know?There is a three-hour parking limit on all City roads unless posted otherwise. You can request a Parking Consideration for visitors or for special circumstances so avisitor can park overnight on yourstreet. Call 905-896-5678 during the day and 905-615-3000 after hours.

Ward 9 Hockey LegendsPark Dedicated in HockeyLegend's HonourOn Sunday, October 16, BridlegatePark, on Parkgate Drive, officiallybecame Johnny Bower Park. Thepark was dedicated to Ward 9 residentand hockey legend Johnny Bower inhonour of his outstanding communityvolunteerism and prominent careerwith the Toronto Maple Leafs. In spiteof the cold and windy weather, hundredscame out to participate in the dedicationceremony and unveil a very specialpark sign.I suggested that we name this park inJohnny Bower's honour because ofhis commitment to helping others, inparticular children, and because hehas had such a memorable hockeycareer. Mr. Bower is a wonderful rolemodel and community leader and Icouldn't think of a nicer way torecognize his contributions.A long time resident of Mississauga,Johnny has been an ambassador forthe Peel Partners for a Drug FreeCommunity for the past 12 years.His involvement with a number ofchildren's charities has resulted inhim receiving the highest honoursfrom organizations such as RotaryClub and Knights of Columbus. Inaddition to having a Mississaugabreakfast club named on his behalf,he was recently awarded the positionof Honorary Chief of Police by thePeel Regional Police.

But Johnny is probably best knownfor his extensive career as a goaliewith the Toronto Maple Leafs. He won four Stanley Cup Championships(3 consecutive in 1962, 1963, 1964)and was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame. After he retired in 1970 as the oldest goalie to ever play in theNational Hockey League, he remainedwith the Leafs for many years as ascout and goalie coach. Johnny isone of only a select few to have his number (one) honoured by theLeafs organization. At the end of the ceremony, abeautiful gold leaf, sand-blastedcedar sign was unveiled. This sign,

a labour of love and respect for thisgreat man, was custom made byhand by Mississauga Fire Fighter ofthe Year, Captain Ralph Noble. Inorder to preserve this tribute to thisspecial man, the sign was installed atMeadowvale Four Rinks and a parksign along with a commemorativeplaque honouring Johnny wasinstalled at the park.

Pat congratulates former Toronto Maple Leaf player Hank Goldup when the Stanley Cup visited him at the Village of Erin Meadows on June 26, 2005. Goldup was on the 1942 winning team.

Stanley Cup Comes to Former Leaf, Hank Goldup

Pat, Captain Ralph Noble, Johnny Bower and wife Nancy, unveil the special sign todedicate Johnny Bower Park.

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Quenippenon MeadowsWatch for activity in QuenippenonMeadows Park as we relocate theleash free park in order to provideroom for the new splash pad andwashrooms.The existing leash free area iscurrently located off Erin CentreBlvd. next to the parking lot. Thiswas a temporary location with theintent to relocate the leash freewhen we were ready to build thesplash pad. As we try to make use of all publiclands for recreational purposeswherever possible, it made sense to relocate the leash free on the eastside of the forest on the StreetsvillePumping Station lands. As I wanted

the leash free to be as far south onthe land as possible, I was able to get an agreement touse the Erin Mills land south of thepumping station also. I expect thatfencing will be installed by January.Parking will be available in thetennis court lot as well as in a newadditional lot at the south entranceto the leash free park. The leash freegroup that will be monitoring thearea will be planting buffer treesalong the north side in addition tothe existing buffer trees.The splash pad, washrooms and theleash free area should be completedby summer 2006.

Project Safe Driver

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In order to provide safer roads, I have hadnew traffic signals approved at Tenth Lineat Cactus Gate/Innisdale Road and TenthLine at Erin Centre Boulevard. I continueto have staff monitor other locations in theward for future additional installations. To assist the high number of pedestrians,especially seniors, crossing at WinstonChurchill and Battleford, I had pedestriancountdown signals installed in September.Tenth Line north of Derry has alsoreceived final paving by the developerand lane markings include bike lanes in both directions. At resident requests, we installedadvanced left turn signals on WinstonChurchill southbound to Thomas Streetand on Thomas at Erin Mills Parkway. I also have staff reviewing the manyrequests received for advanced signals

at Aquitaine and Winston Churchill.All way stops were approved for Longford and Deepwood and will likely also be installed at Greensboroand Wellesley/Coulson Court.Traffic staff and Peel Police continue to monitor speeds on Castlebridge eastof Winston Churchill and staff is reviewingoptions for slowing down traffic, especiallyin the vicinity of Castlebridge Schoolwhere a problem has been identified.If you have a traffic concern on yourstreet or if there is an intersection thatcauses concern, let us know about it. Contact Traffic Operations at 905-615-3200 ext. 5131 or emailtraffic.operations@mississauga.ca orcall my office at 905-896-5900 or emailme at pat.saito@mississauga.ca.

In the past, some seniors and people withdisabilities turned to the Snow RemovalMatch Program to help them find astudent volunteer who could assist with shovelling snow on their property.Unfortunately, this program, which wasadministered by a number of communityorganizations in partnership with the Cityof Mississauga, has been discontinued.Despite the best efforts of manycommitted community groups andvolunteers, this program has notsuccessfully met the needs of seniorsand people with disabilities. Studentvolunteers were often unavailable ata moments notice (due to school andother commitments) to assist whenthey were needed most. In addition,supervision and liability issues limited the flexibility of the program.The City of Mississauga will continue tooffer financial assistance to low incomeseniors or people with disabilities whoqualify (i.e. recipient of the GuaranteedIncome Supplement). To find out moreinformation about the subsidy and to see if you qualify, please contact theFinance Division at 905-896-5266. For tips and more information about snow removal, please visitwww.mississauga.ca/snowtips.

Traffic Controls UpdateSnow RemovalOptions

Getting Thomas Street completed toWinston Churchill remains a priority.It has taken much longer than weanticipated due to the City not beingable to get the required land on thesouth side at Winston Churchill.

I have been pursuing this with our Transportation and Works staff and the landowner on the north side of Thomas Street, Erin

The numbers from the Peel RegionalPolice Traffic Services Project SafeDriver were quite shocking. Theprogram, which is a concentratedeffort to eliminate aggressive drivingthrough education and targetedenforcement, ran from September26th to October 31st, 2005, During that time, Peel Officers, inMississauga and Brampton combined,laid 14,356 charges related to trafficoffences, removed 723 suspendeddrivers from the road, and issued1820 cautions to motorists. In addition174 individuals were charged withImpaired Operation of a MotorVehicle related offences (ImpairedDriving, Excess Blood Alcohol,Refuse Breath Test).The Safe Driver Campaign is aninitiative designed to improve roadsafety. For this reason, emphasis

this year was placed on aggressivedriving, seatbelt enforcement andthe removal of transport trucks andautomobiles from our roads thatwere found to be unsafe.These results show us that in spiteof targeted enforcement and safedriving initiatives by the City and the police, many motorists are stilldriving unsafely on our roads. Thissituation is not exclusive to Mississauga.I hear the same concern from manymunicipalities in my role as a Directoron the Ontario Traffic ConferenceBoard. The Safe Driving Committee,of which I am also a member, PeelPolice and our Traffic Operationsstaff continue to work to addressthis problem in our community. For more information, please visit our safe driving web site atwww.mississauga.ca/safedriving

Mills Developments, to try to get the road constructed. I am hopingthat we will be able to have allagreements in place soon so thatthe construction may occur during2006. There are still outstandingproperty issues that must beresolved first but hopefully we can be successful in thesenegotiations very soon.

If you drive east along the 401, you will now bewelcomed to Mississauga by our City's first significantgateway sign. This sign was built and paid for by thedevelopers of West Gate Plaza at Argentia and WinstonChurchill, First Professional Developments, as a result of my making this one of the conditions of their development. In future, look for anotherlandscaped Mississauga sign on the west side of Mississauga Road south of the 407.

Mississauga Gateway Sign Lights up the Night

Thomas Street Extension Coming

There are three main projects for Ward 9 that I will be working on in the coming year.One of these is the design andconstruction of an indoor soccerfacility. We are working right now todetermine which of two locations willbe best for this new facility. In therunning are city-owned lands on NinthLine in Milton and Totoredaca Park inthe Meadowvale Business Park. Bothsites are excellent candidates but thekey will be which one can be developedthe fastest as this is a long overdueneed for our young soccer players. The indoor fields will be paired with an outdoor artificial turf field.The second project is the new FireTraining Centre. This project is veryexciting as it is a joint project that bringsFire training, Police driver training andalso a facility for the Canadian ArmedForces Reserve in Mississauga underthe same roof. Fire services has neededa new training facility for some time andwhen we started looking at a locationon Ninth Line south of the 407, Isuggested that we look at partneringwith the police. At the same time thenew Mississauga reserve unit waslooking for a home and the partnershipgrew. We hope to have design workunderway in the New Year in order to start construction in 2007.The third and maybe the most excitingproject is the future renovation of theMeadowvale Community Centre.The MCC is 20 years old and wasscheduled in previous budgets forrenovation in 2008 but was bumpedback in the staff budget to after 2010.This is not acceptable to me and Ihave told staff they must find someway to fund the project as originallyplanned. We can hopefully obtainadditional infrastructure funding as wedid for the other community centres inthe city. I am confident that we will getthis moved back to its initial timing as I have the strong support of the Mayorwho agrees with me that this is a veryhigh need.I have had some meetings with centrestaff and the Meadowvale Seniors' Clubto start discussing some of the needs.I plan to hold focus groups with usersof the centre as well as non-users sothat we design exactly what we needfor our community. City staff recommendthat the Meadowvale Library be

Upcoming Ward Projects

relocated to the community centre and drastically reduced in size. AsMeadowvale is one of the most highlyused libraries in the City, I do notsupport a reduction to a smaller branchand will continue to fight this using userstatistics generated from circulationnumbers. I also feel that there is justnot enough room on the MCC lands for 2 high use facilities and adequateparking for both. One suggestion wasto replace the fitness centre with thelibrary and this also I will not support.

Our fitness centre is well used and Iwill not allow it to be removed from the community.As we start working on this project I willbe asking for a lot of support from thecommunity to help me convince the restof Council that we need to not only keepour library space and our fitness facilitiesbut also renovate the MCC and provideadditional space for a gymnasium andmore room for our seniors and ouryouth. Watch for more news on this in the future.

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Storm Water PondWill be AssetOne of the requirements for ChurchillMeadows is storm water management.These are usually in the form of largefenced ponds. One of the largest wasrequired along Winston ChurchillBlvd. opposite Duncairn Drive.In an effort to provide a more attractive feature along one of ourmain roadways, I worked with thedeveloper and staff to achieve a finaldesign that will be an asset to Ward 9.

The pond area was enlarged to 6 acres (2.4 hectares) and a blockof homes removed in order to providemore extensive landscaping. Viewingareas will be installed along theroad on the north side of the pondand the feature will be visible fromthe internal road as well as WinstonChurchill Boulevard. The result will be a functional stormwater facility that is also an attractiveentrance to the community. ErinMills Development will startconstruction on the facility in early 2006.

Joint School/Library Project Underway Another joint project of the Catholic school board and the City is underway inChurchill Meadows. Joan of Arc Catholic Secondary School on the west sideof Churchill Meadows Community Common builds on the success of ErinMeadows Community Centre and Gonzaga Secondary School. The new facility will house the Churchill Meadows Public Library and alsoprovides recreation and community space. There will be 10,000 sq. feet ofpublic library space with a 2,000 sq. ft. school computer lab, a 5,000 sq. ft.recreation area, a community room and a gym available to the public onevenings and weekends. It is expected to open in January, 2007.On the east side of the park, a new public high school, Stephen LewisSecondary School, is planned to open in the fall of 2006.

Ward 9 Kids of Steel is Canada’s Largest Congratulations to all the participantsin the 2005 Mississauga Kids of Steel.The event was held at the ErinMeadows Community Centre andhad 530 kids between 3 and 15participating in the day-long triathlon.It was a real thrill to watch theseyoungsters, swim, ride and run theirway to personal victory and makethis event Canada's largest kid'striathlon. What a great tribute to thehard work of the staff at Erin Meadows.

Mark September 16, 2006 in yourcalendar for next year's event andsign your kids up to participate ingood healthy fun.

At the Budget meeting which I heldin late September, most of the residentswho attended said they would prefera small tax increase rather than face a reduction in services. Otherresidents have asked me why wecannot do both - have no tax increaseand still maintain services.Mississauga, like all cities, is facing tremendous financialpressures. The pressures from other levels of government in theform of downloading and reductionor elimination of grants places theburden on the city to provide theseservices using property tax dollars.Just as we are all facing increases in the costs of running our homes for gas, hydro, etc., so too is theCity facing these same costincreases. We also face a wide range of competing prioritiescoupled with rising expenses. Although we were able to have notax increases and remain debt freethrough careful management for

12 years from 1991 while all othermunicipalities were raising theirrates, the pressures we are nowfacing have made this impossible to continue to achieve. But wecontinue to work to find ways ofreducing costs while still deliveringthe services our citizens need. Overthe past year, Council reviewed over 200 services and we reducedexpenditures by $8.5 million. Wedetermined that there are someservices that we cannot reducebecause of safety or liability concernsand some that we will not reducebecause they provide an importantservice to our residents (libraries,community centres, etc). These are services that, if reduced or cut,would have a negative impact on the quality of life that our citizensenjoy here in Mississauga.With Ward 9 having had so muchdevelopment over the years, I amoften asked why we need to raisetaxes when we are getting more

assessment. Our philosophy hasalways been that development pays for itself and we ensure thedevelopers pay for the facilities suchas parks, community centres androads. However the repair andreplacement of those facilities asthey age comes from the propertytaxes. In addition, along with theadditional assessment is theadditional cost of providing services to the new communities.Another pressure that impacts thetaxes is the pooling money that wehave to send to pay for Toronto'ssocial services. Although this moneycomes from the Region, $44 millioncomes from Mississauga taxpayers.This is money that could and shouldbe used for programs here in ourown city and I encourage you to letour MPP, Bob Delaney, know howyou feel about that.The main pressure however is fromour citizens who tell us clearly thatthey want us to maintain the currentlevel of service without large taxhikes. In an effort to deal with thismandate, when we were presentedwith a potential 12% increase for2006, Council directed staff to goback and find ways to reduce thatamount. We now have a proposal for our review that would reduce the tax increase to 5.9% (about $50 per year on the average home). I want to assure the residents ofWard 9 that I am working to protectthe services we have in our communityand the proposed improvements toour infrastructure while maintainingthe lowest increase possible in ourtaxes. I have heard from a lot ofresidents and I continue to welcomeall input.

309/05

City after hours dispatch ..905-615-3000City Central Switchboard ..905-896-5000Animal Control ................905-896-5858By-law Enforcement ........905-896-5655Parking Control ................905-896-5678Mississauga Transit ..........905-615-4636Recreation and Parks ......905-896-5342Property Taxes..................905-896-5575MPAC -property assessment ....1-866-296-6722Meadowvale Library ........905-615-4715Meadowvale Community Centre ..........905-615-4710Meadowvale Four Rinks ..905-615-4730Meadowvale Theatre ......905-615-4720Erin Meadows Comm. Ctr. & Library........905-615-4750Ambulance........................905-844-4242Fire department ................905-456-5700Peel Regional Police ........905-453-3311

Region of Peel after hours dispatch ........905-791-7800Water Billing......................905-791-8711Waste Management/recycling ..........................905-791-9499Health Line Peel ..............905-799-7700Go Transit ........................416-869-3200Mississauga Crime Prevention ..............905-615-6272Enersource........................905-273-9050Aircraft Noise Complaints ......................416-247-7682 Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board ......905-890-1221Peel District School Board....................905-890-1099

Ward 9 Councillor Pat Saito300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, ON L5B 3C1Telephone: 905-896-5900Fax: 905-896-5463E-mail: pat.saito@mississauga.caWeb site: www.ward9.ca

Important Numbers

Facing Financial Pressures

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MeadowvaleTheatreMeadowvale Theatre offers a widerange of shows for the entire family. To find out what is being planned,please visit their web site atwww.mississauga.ca/meadowvaletheatre or call 905-615-4720.