Jennifer Smith

A dumping of snow in Milton doesn't just mean a longer commute and extra shovelling work for Mom & Dad - it means it's time to take the kids out tobogganing!

One of the perks of living in this neighbourhood is the wonderful tobogganing hill at Commercial Street and Laurier. Our son used to love going there when he was little. My husband even broke his ankle there once. And as more and more people have moved into otherwise hill-less areas of Milton, they too have discovered the simple joy of going sledding with the kids down our little hill.

With increased use, however, has come increased danger, with scores of kids and their parents parking and then crossing the street to get to the hill. I'm always terrified driving through there when there's a big crowd, and I know a lot of other people are too.

It always baffled me why cars were only allowed to park on the opposite side of the street from the hill. It made no sense. Surely it would be much safer if the kids didn't have to cross - plus, it would make it much easier on the people who live down there to get in and out of their driveways. So, I asked our Local & Regional Councillor Colin Best about it, and he forwarded my question to Town staff.

After some back and forth and confusion, it turned out there was no good reason for parking to be on the west side of Commercial down there. So, the staffer offered to send me a petition package to get it changed.

For those who have never been through this sort of petition process before, it's surprisingly complicated. First, you need the signatures of at least 51% of home owners whose properties either face or flank the affected street. Only one name per household, and it must be one of the home owners. If you are a renter, apparently your opinion doesn't count.

A flyer explaining the issue

That's the first step. If you do manage to get 51% of home owners to sign, the Town will then call some of them at random to make sure they really did sign and knew what they were signing. If all is still in order and the Town decides there is sufficient demand, the Town will then send a questionnaire to all the affected households on the street, which 51% of home owners must also fill out and return.

This is point at which these initiatives frequently fail.

People often assume that once they sign the petition, that's it, and they miss or ignore the questionnaire. You can get 95% of people on the street signing a petition, but if half of them neglect to do this last step, you're out of luck.

I've spent the last couple of days going door to door, talking to home owners between Laurier and Heslop, which in this case is the area affected. Almost every single person I've spoken to has been extremely supportive of the idea of switching the parking over, and understands the importance of filling out that questionnaire when it arrives. To all those who signed (and even the ones who didn't), I say thank you!

Even though we're well over the 51% we need, I'll try to catch those last few people at home this week just to be sure, and then send the petition on to the Town. So, if you live on or adjacent to Commercial Street between Laurier and Heslop, keep an eye out for that questionnaire. I'll be calling to make sure you've got it.

And if you are one of the folks who brings your kids to play on our hill and worries about getting them across the street safely, fear not. Change is coming.

A few months ago, I decided to take a bike ride.

I'd been riding on and off for a few years, but usually just short rides to and from work or the grocery store. This was different. It was a lovely summer evening, and the heat of the day had dissipated to the point where I figured I could handle the unaccustomed physical exertion.

That night, I rode just to take a ride.

I didn't go far - maybe 6 or 7 kilometres, which was about all I could handle. Still, it was fun, so the next night I did it again. I was curious about how far I was actually going, so I downloaded a cool little app called Runtastic (I've since switched to Endomondo) which uses the GPS in my phone to show my route on a map. It even shows how fast I was going at any given point and where all the hills are.

These days I've worked myself up to 20-25 km a night, 3-4 nights a week, and I've started organizing group rides every Wednesday for anyone who wants to ride along. I even rode 60 km in the Tour de Mississauga last month, which just about did me in. But it was fun.

The best part of all this has been exploring Milton and the extensive trails system we have in this town. From the on street bike lanes to the multi-use trails along major roads, to hidden paths through the parks and woods, our little town has made great strides towards having a truly world-class trails system.

Still, there's always room for improvement. Because little things you might never notice walking or driving by become a very big deal when you're trying to navigate your way around by bike.

An example: you're riding along a park trail that crosses or ends at a street. Except it doesn't actually intersect with the street. It just... ends, leaving you with two equally unacceptable options: either bump your bike over the grass and a full curb, or turn and ride along the sidewalk (prohibited by by-law) until you find a curb cut or driveway.

Cycling is all about momentum. When a bicycle stops moving, it falls over, so anything that halts your momentum is at best annoying, and at worst potentially dangerous. Of course cyclists must obey the rules of the road, but by the same token urban planners need to design cycling infrastructure that allows them to avoid unnecessary stops and starts.

With that in mind, here is a cyclist-eye-view of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Milton's trails.


Bridge over Sixteen Mile Creek, Louis St. Laurent Ave.
Cyclists and pedestrians are very safely separated from traffic, and get a lovely view of the creek.



Coates Linear Park at Hepburn Road
This is a proper trail / road intersection: gates on both sides, a cut curb, a stop sign for the cyclist, and... well, no, I don't always dismount before crossing. But I'm usually here late at night when there are very few cars.



Coates Linear Park at Bolingbroke Drive
This is a bad trail / road intersection. Gates are there, the trail goes right up to the curb, but there is no curb cut. This one took me by surprise the first time I hit it. It's even worse trying to get on to the trail, of course.




Coates Neighbourhood Park North
Other than that one bad intersection, the Coates park and trail system will take you pleasantly and effortlessly from Louis St. Laurent almost all the way to Derry. And the trails are all lit at night. Well done!



Holly Avenue
After you exit Coates Neighbourhood Park, you're on to Holly where they have this attractive and practical sidewalk / trail / street arrangement. Then, lunch at Symposium!



Holly at Derry Road
Doh! And we were doing so well. A little thing, but how hard would it have been to add an extra five feet of pavement to connect trails here?



Multi-use trail, north side of Derry
I love these. Instead of a straight, boring trail like they have on the south side, here the trail winds and rolls pleasantly along under the trees. It's like this on the west side of Thompson, too. Makes for lovely shade in the summer.



Derry at Thompson
This spot is an anomaly on an otherwise well-designed trail. Not only does it narrow to sidewalk width going past this block of stores, the curb cut on both sides of the driveway is a bone-jarring inch and a half high. The bell fell off my bike once as I was going over this.



Clarke Neighbourhood Park at Laurier
This is a truly terrible trail/road intersection. I would like to think that it's because the area is still under development, but it's not the only spot like this. In this case, the only way across to the park and trails on the other side of the road without knocking your fillings loose is...



...here. And as you can see, I'm not the only one who crosses here.




Trail behind Bussel Crescent to Leash-Free Dog Park
This one looks rough but is surprisingly smooth. You can see the pretty little bridge in the distance and the dog park beyond that. Just don't forget to turn on the high beams of your bike light - it's very dark at night.



Beaty Trail near Clark Blvd.
This is a fun, scenic trail that runs parallel to Trudeau Drive from the Union Gas line down to Louis St. Laurent. I decided early on that it was even more fun going downhill (south) than up.




Beaty Trail, south end
This section has been dug up like this since I first came down here in early August. I have literally seen whole houses built in less time than it's taking to re-pave this.




Sam Sherratt Trails
This is my very favourite trail. It's actually a whole labyrinth of trails that goes all the way from Derry to Childs Drive near the Mall, connecting three schools and a string of parks and wood lots. And the whole thing is lit at night. Beautiful. The north section I've dubbed 'The Bunny Trail'. Go through there after dark some night and you'll see why.




(to see Milton's entire trail system, check the Town's Community Connections Map)

If you've driven down Commercial Street recently, you might have noticed what looks like a blue and white doll's house with a glass front, erected between two driveways by the sidewalk. Look closer and you will see three shelves of books, and the words "Take a Book, Leave a Book".

This is what is known as a 'little free library", and they've been popping up in small towns and neighbourhoods in Canada, the U.S., and around the world.

These book sharing boxes are spontaneous acts of community spirit, often in response to library branch closures and shrinking municipal budgets. Some are no bigger than a mailbox, others have multiple shelves. Some are in front of stores or in public areas; most are planted in front of peoples' houses. They can look like doll's houses or mail boxes or bird feeders, or be installed in old newspaper boxes or even re-purposed phone booths.

All abide by one simple rule: Take a Book, Leave a Book. That's it. You can bring back the same book you 'borrowed' or donate a completely different one.

My husband read about these libraries and loved the idea instantly, especially since we were about to lose the Bruce Street Library from our neighbourhood. But unlike most people who see something like that and wish that someone would put one in their neighbourhood, Adam actually went ahead and built one.

The Commercial Street Mini Free Library opened its door a couple of weeks ago and was an instant hit, both in the neighbourhood and online. Within a couple of days of posting the photo of his library on Facebook, the picture had been 'shared' over 2,000 times and had been commented on by everyone from our next door neighbours who 'co-host' the library, to a teacher in South Africa inquiring about setting one up near his school.

Next thing you know, Adam had set up an assembly line in our back yard building another eight smaller libraries for friends and acquaintances who wanted to put one in their own neighbourhood. These are being distributed to Acton, Toronto, Burlington, Hamilton, and Ottawa. He's also looking into setting up a fund to ship books to that school in South Africa.

But the biggest reaction has been in our neighbourhood. Our house is on the way to both the local public school and high school, and the kids have been making good use of it. The three Harry Potter books we put out there were the first to go. Yesterday two of them were returned, but have now been borrowed again. Realizing we needed more kids books (our own 'kid' being 20 now), I used up a chunk of my credit at Recycled Reading and filled most of the bottom shelf with Berenstain Bears, Franklin, the Island books, and my own childhood favourite, Frances Hodgeson Burnett. We're still getting requests for more.

People initially expressed concern that the books would be stolen or that the box would be vandalized, but apparently vandalism is exceedingly rare with these - even in the worst neighbourhoods. Ours survived the weekend of drunken revellers returning home from the Fall Fair, and the one teenager who seemed intent on making mischief one night was caught and lectured so convincingly by our neighbour that he has since been seen explaining and promoting the library to his friends.

It seems that there is something intrinsically sacrosanct about books.

As for our inventory, we have far more books now than when we started. Some have been borrowed and returned, some have been replaced with others (all fascinating choices), some have simply been donated, to the point where we now have back stock on our front porch.

The best part has been people's reactions. I love watching people stop and look, especially the kids. I love reading the messages in the little notebook we left for comments. I love overhearing people talking about it, having no idea that it's my husband's project.

I'm very proud of him for doing this, and very proud to be the co-host for Milton's first Little Free Library. Come over and browse a while!

For more information, check the Facebook page for the Commercial Street Mini Free Library, and the Little Free Library website which offers information, resources, and locations of little libraries around the world. 

James Waldie Sr., circa 1855

It never ceases to amaze me how many people don't know that we have an actual, working blacksmith's shop right in downtown Milton. Even people who have lived here for years have either never noticed it, or saw it and didn't realize what they were looking at.

As far as I know, Waldie's Blacksmith Shop is unique in Ontario: a 150 year-old blacksmith's shop that was in continuous operation for over 100 of those years under three generations of the same family, and now restored to its original function on the same site. In fact, Marsha Waldie still owns the property and lives in the house next door.

How cool is that?

As a member of the Milton Historical Society, I got to spend this morning greeting visitors to the shop and telling them about its history. It was was wonderful to see their reactions as they watched the blacksmith turn bars of black iron into hand tools or even delicate leaves. One little boy sat completely enthralled for nearly half an hour, and was given an iron leaf for his patience.

I first got involved with Waldie's back in 1999 when the decision was made to try to restore it. The shop had been closed since 1970 (yes, 1970) and had fallen into considerable disrepair, so the call went out for volunteers to come and help clear the place out so an assessment could be made of its true condition.

When my husband and I first walked into the place, it looked like a junk yard. Everywhere we looked there were piles and heaps and tangles of rusted metal - lawnmowers, baby carriages, wheel rims, fence pieces, and what seemed like hundreds of horseshoes. Good thing our tetanus shots were up to date!




Once the shop was cleared and the more valuable tools and equipment identified and removed, it was determined that much of the building would have to be completely rebuilt. The roof was a mess, and the rubble-fill walls - a rarity in Ontario - were starting to disintegrate. But the project was well worth the time and money it would take. Many of the original beams and most of the front wall were preserved, and the walls were reconstructed using the same ancient rubble stone technique. A new forge was built, and the shop finally re-opened in 2002.


Today, Waldie's is far more than a museum or a historical building. It is living history, with blacksmiths working the forge two days a week and teaching their art to those interested in carrying on the tradition. The rebuilt carriage house in the back is home to the Alex Cooke Archives, and hosts monthly meetings of the Milton Historical Society.


So next time you're downtown on a Wednesday or for the Saturday Farmers Market, come drop by the shop and experience one of Milton's greatest treasures. It's at 18 James Street, in behind St. Paul's Church north of Main.


See you there!