Due to the Menorah Lighting Ceremony, Queen Mary northbound between Hampstead and Fleet will be closed Tuesday, Dec. 7 between 6 and 8 p.m.

Paperless Council - Going Green to Save Green!

The Town has purchased iPads for all members of council so that we can have paperless council meetings. This will begin in December. Currently, we have about 300 pages of material each meeting. Aside from the paper and printing costs there is staff time to assemble and deliver the packages. In addition, we are using the iPads for e-mail so we can respond faster to the residents and each other. This green initiative will save the Town money and allow us to be even more responsive to residents. I should also note that the iPads belong to the Town and will be returned when we leave office


La Ville a acheté des iPads pour tous les membres du conseil afin que nous puissions avoir des réunions du conseil sans papier. Il commencera en Décembre. Actuellement, nous avons environ 300 pages de documents chaque réunion. En plus que les coûts de papier et d'impression, il ya le temps que prend le personnel à assembler et livrer les colis. En outre, nous utilisons les iPads pour l'e-mail afin que nous puissions répondre plus rapidement aux résidents et de l'autre. Cette initiative verte permettra d'économiser de l'argent et la ville nous permettra d'être encore plus sensible aux résidents. Je voudrais aussi souligner que les iPads appartiennent à la Ville et seront retournés lorsque nous quitter ses fonctions.

Hampstead gets three flower rating from "Les Fleurons du Québec"

The Town of Hampstead is pleased to announce that it has recently received a three (3) flower rating from “Les Fleurons du Québec”, a provincial organisation dedicated to beautifying the province’s municipalities. This is the Town’s first year as a participating member.

Municipalities are evaluated by professionals, on the accomplishments of their whole community (municipal, institutional, residential, commercial and industrial sectors). An official rating guide and an evaluation grid were created in collaboration with experts to ensure an objective evaluation. As Hampstead does not have commercial & industrial sectors; the evaluation was concentrated on the residential, institutional and the municipal areas.

“I am very pleased with the three flower award in only our first time entering the competition,” said Mayor Bill Steinberg. “Our goal is to make improvements to the town’s green spaces every year just as our residents do with their own gardens. I expect that we will do even better in the coming years.”

Created in 2006, the municipality beautification program replaces the former contests “Fleurir le Québec” (2001-2004) and “Villes et Villages fleuris” (1979-2000).

For additional information on “Les Fleurons du Québec”, please visit their website at www.fleuronsquebec.com

No more flashing green light at Fleet and Dufferin

The Town has decided to eliminate the flashing green light at the Fleet and Dufferin intersection between the hours of 7am and 9am, Monday to Friday. This is effective Wednesday morning, November 17. Lefts will still be permitted from Fleet eastbound onto Dufferin, but drivers will need to wait for a break in the Fleet westbound traffic before turning.

Plus de lumière verte intermittente à Fleet et Dufferin

La Ville a décidé d’éliminer la lumière verte intermittente à l’intersection Fleet et Dufferin entre 7h et 9h du lundi au vendredi. Ceci sera effectif à partir de ce mercredi matin, 17 novembre. Les tournants à gauche seront encore permis de Fleet dir. Est à Dufferin, mais les conducteurs devront attendre pour une pause dans le traffic venant de Fleet dir. Ouest avant de tourner.

Important information for all Hampstead property owners

The Evaluation Act requires the Property Assessment authority to re-evaluate the values of each immovable on its territory every three (3) years and to deposit a new Evaluation Roll with the updated property values. The Evaluation Services of the Agglomeration Council of the Island of Montreal has the sole jurisdiction to assess the property values.

In compliance with the Act respecting municipal taxation, a Notice of Property Assessment was mailed out to provide the necessary information in the event that you wish to apply for a review of your new immovable value.

The Town of Hampstead had published a Notice of Deposit in the NDG Free Press on September 21st to announce that a new triennial real estate assessment roll (2011-2012-2013) has been deposited and is effective January 1st, 2011 for all municipalities across the island of Montreal.

For your convenience, we have summarized the following pertinent information.

Avis important pour tous les propriétaires à Hampstead

La Loi sur l’évaluation exige que l’autorité responsable de l’évaluation foncière procède à la réévaluation de tous les immeubles sur son territoire tous les trois (3) ans et dépose un nouveau rôle d’évaluation indiquant les valeurs à jour des immeubles. Le Service de l’évaluation de l’agglomération de Montréal possède la compétence exclusive relativement à l’évaluation de la valeur des immeubles.

En vertu de la Loi sur la fiscalité municipale, un «Avis d’évaluation» vous a été posté qui fournit l’information nécessaire si vous êtes intéressé de demander une révision de votre nouvelle valeur d’immeuble.

La Ville de Hampstead avait publié un Avis de dépôt dans le NDG Free Press le 21 septembre (disponible ici), pour annoncer qu’un nouveau rôle triennal d’évaluation foncière (2011-2012-2013) avait été déposé et qu’il serait en vigueur le 1er janvier 2011 pour toutes les municipalités de l’île de Montréal.

Par souci de commodité, nous avons préparé un sommaire d’information pertinente.

Remembrance Ceremony November 8 at 11:30am in Hampstead Park

Halloween Haunted House Recap

Sunday October 31, 2010, was Hampstead’s most successful Halloween to date with over 3500 trick or treaters visiting the Community Centre in Hampstead Park. All visitors received a very spooky welcome as they were guided through a maze of ghosts; goblins cobwebs and coffins. Other exciting activities included the return of the famous wax machine where the children had the opportunity to mould their very own hand! Finally, to top off their chilling visit, all trick or treaters were given a special treat of delicious freshly made coloured cotton candy. Our younger visitors received a very special “non-scary” tour, which lead them to a decorative art room where they were able to decorate their very own pumpkins. Our new display of Jack O Lanterns was a huge hit with the crowd as they got the chance to view an incredible display of uniquely carved pumpkins as part of the guided tour.

Congratulations go out to all of our 2010 costume contest winners:

• Gabriel (Bumble Bee 2ys old)
• Maddison (Panda Bear 2 yrs old)
• Caroline (Witch 4yrs old)
• Owain (Pirate 5yrs old)
• Samantha (Hotdog 6yrs old)
• Jilly (Mad hatter 7ys old)
• Shauna & Carla (10yrs+ category Watermelon Gum)
• Manual (Punk Adult)
  
  

Trick or treaters arriving at Hampstead's Community Centre

Road safety signs up for Halloween night

Mayor Steinberg: Suburban's Biased Coverage of Hampstead

Dear friends,

I am writing to you in my capacity as your Mayor, in order to defend my integrity and that of the councillors who serve with me.

It has been a year since I was re-elected and I have chosen to ignore the biased coverage of the Suburban until now, but if falsehoods are repeated often enough, people begin to believe that there may be something to them.

Democracy only works if residents have access to the truth. I urge you to read this e-mail carefully and to forward it to Hampstead residents on your e-mail lists.

Could the Suburban really be biased?

This Wednesday the Suburban ran a front page story by the editor Beryl Wajsman titled, “Gonshor sues Hampstead.” It is supposedly an original news article by the editor. That same Wednesday, the NDG Free Press published a letter from the four candidates who were not elected: Miller, Sternthal, Gordon, and Gross. (links to both pieces are at the bottom of this e-mail).

The Suburban “news article” is remarkably similar to the Miller et al. letter. Here are just a few examples:

Suburban – “For 20 years, Councilor Abe Gonshor has served the citizens of Hampstead.”
Letter – “For 20 years, ... councilor, Abe Gonshor has served the citizens of Hampstead.”

Suburban – “He has never been defeated in an election for a council seat.”
Letter – “- never defeated in an election for a council seat.”

Suburban – “At a certain point the Government of Quebec decided to require that all municipalities enact Codes of Ethics. Mayor Steinberg drafted a Code ... deliberately framed in a manner to punish Gonshor.”
Letter – “When the Quebec government proposed a law that all municipalities enact codes of ethics, Steinberg immediately drafted his perception of an appropriate code, deliberately framing it to punish Gonshor.”

The last example is particularly interesting, as both the letter and the article make the same error. In fact, the Hampstead code was adopted BEFORE the Quebec government tabled their draft legislation.

So who is writing the “news” that the Suburban is publishing about Hampstead? How many other articles has the Suburban published that are uncritical parroting of letters or are based on instructions from the failed candidates?

There are many other examples of biased reporting by the Suburban. Here are just a few examples:

Bias in choice of letters to print

The Suburban has published numerous letters by Daniel Miller but when Jack Edery, our councillor with the finance portfolio, wrote rebuttal letters, not one was printed.

Telling only half the story

The Suburban has printed numerous articles on the lack of decorum at council meetings and about my issuing tickets and evicting residents. What they didn’t tell their readers was how the four failed candidates and a few of their supporters behaved. They hooted, hollered, catcalled, booed, laughed hysterically, screamed from their seats and were generally disruptive, rude and disorderly. These are the people who have been getting the tickets or have been evicted. Ordinary residents with questions or comments are respectful and always welcome at council meetings.

Failure to clearly tell the truth about Hampstead’s finances

After a year of explanations (including a private meeting) by Hampstead’s highly respected external auditor, the Town’s Director General, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and two councillors who have held the finance portfolio last mandate and this mandate, the Suburban has still failed to refute the false statements from Miller et al. about our finances. The one article which supposedly claimed to clarify the issue was written in such a way as to try to make Hampstead look bad. Why can’t the Suburban clearly state that Miller et al. are wrong? There is no accumulated deficit but rather an accumulated surplus of over $1 million, as we have always said. Local taxes did not go up by 23%, as the Miller et al. group predicted but only by 1.6%. Borrowing is not excessive, as the failed candidates claimed. Our already low debt service ratio will be dropping even further over the next two years as we repay loans that are coming due. It was and continues to be ludicrous to claim that Hampstead is virtually bankrupt when our finances are rock solid.

Gonshor’s refusal to sign the Hampstead Code of Ethics

Finally, the Suburban accuses us of unfairly removing Gonshor from caucus and preventing him from doing his job. They are wrong. Six of seven members of the council have signed on to an excellent and strong code of ethics. Why won’t Gonshor sign it? As soon as he does, he will be welcomed back to caucus meetings. Meantime, he gets all the necessary information that he needs to do his job as a councillor. This includes being invited to pre-council meeting information sessions where we review all items on each month’s council agenda.

Why would the Suburban be biased against us?

I cannot read the mind of the publisher of the Suburban so only he knows why the quality of his paper’s coverage of Hampstead is what it is. However, the evidence does show that the coverage is incredibly one-sided, partisan, and deeply unfair.

As always, if you have any comments, questions or issues on this or anything related to Hampstead I would love to hear from you. You can reach me online (e-mail / facebook) or at my home office 7 days a week (514) 483-6954.

Sincerely,
Bill

The Suburban article:
http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/The-Suburban/thesuburbanoctober27_2010/2010102701/

The NDG Free Press letter (page 22):
http://ndgfreepress.com/FPv2.10.d.pdf

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