South Bruce Peninsular - Politics - Comments

facts and figures 2 and more

hockey17 — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:09:31 -0400

Well yes Melissa did give us some data..there is a little more to the story that should be told . I am a little late in getting this on ..I had to call town hall and others to get the information and even so there are still some things that need to be provided...so here we go.
1.Mill rate..yes the mill rates for commercial and residential are different . this comes from the Municipal Act and towns develop the ratios for their use based on this Act. Since the bulk of any community is residential it is the bench, and others are assesesed against that. I dont want to debate the ratios...all I will say is that commercial ratios are more complex...lessor vs lessee/business writeoffs/cost of land and value of buildings/buildings do not sell often etc
More important is that the resident component of revenue is $6.1m(whole town) and commercial(whole town) is $311278 forecasted
First question...what documents were used to suggest that $3.8m comes from the former Amabel ?..Amabel is split between three wards today..so how was this calculated? In addition what is Sauble proper? There is the DCA of Sauble but based on my calls to town and others no one could provide how this breakdown could be posted . Is it based on the old world of Amabel and then assumptions made? Please clarify.
2. Beach costs..the last study that produced numbers on costing of the beach was May 2003...So take the numbers and factor in the inflation costs and change in processes to manage the area. Beach maintenance should not be narrowly construed as the cleaning and care of the sand.... it is so much more. With the volumes of people that come in the warm months there are other issues to factor in...fire protection....OPP policing....animal control..bylaw enforcement... public works = mtnce of Lakeshore Blvd shoulders and signs maintenance and replacement...street lights(hydro)...garbage collections(barrels and landfill)...beach cleaning...beach raking..painting as requ'd...washroom mtnce...washroom supplies...picnic table mtnce...washroom pumpouts..debris pickup..insurance and liability on washrooms and beach..cleaning and sweeping of the tennis courts..supervisor..information centre..tourism and promotion..legal fees..all of this totals $335287.00 less revenues(75% of all fines and offences)$13950.00 and the net estimated expenditures is $321337.00 These are the figures that town hall provides and publishes . Playing with them is not my issue but they are there and as we add more visitors to the mix they go up. Yes we are a tourist area and we have to understand that these costs come into play. Should the people who live here play the full freight?..no we need to recoup from the visitors.
Now the note indicated that $110000 came from the business community for the beach????..where does this little nugget come from?.Once again I was told this is not known..so how would it be pulled from all the budget documentation
3. Paid parking ..interesting to note that there was little said about costs...the spitters cost are paid for over 3 years..total $219475(200- $90000 2008- $72145 2009 - $57330) in addition there are employee costs/supplies/telephone/bylaw costs as well...in 2008 that equates to $124645
4. I guess I should add that there is a lot of focus on the revenue forecast for paid parking.I wonder though if the businesses are down 40% in traffic wont this carry over to parking...oh foolish me to wonder that.

yes we had washroom upgrades from the first revenues from paid parking and more are planned.

anyone who want a detailed break down of the revenues/expenses and costs can get that from town hall

General Fund is the ledger that all funds that come to the town are posted in...there are the subtracking points that account for source. No one is trying to spend "Sauble" money elsewhere in the town. As a matter of fact I have heard other people in the town claim too much may be spent in Sauble. Is this a carryover in the area from pre -TBSP.????. Those who feel that they are in a losing proposition should consider de-amalgamation..build a case and prove that we in this area are in a worse place than as Amabel Township ..I personally don't see it as a fact..but I will listen

Now Melissa you say that Mark got the fire hydrants for the beach...so no one can provide us with the letter or source of this fact...even the Ministry of Infrastructure Renewal could not confirm this..so what meeting notes or correspondance file do I use to see this?.

I dont think that there are any anti feelings..it is just that all should pay their fair share of the load...when you focus only on Lakeshore you forget the free parking spots on Main and other streets and the hourly spots on 2nd provided by the town and then we have first nations charging $10 as well as the private lots charging $8 to $10 to $20.

In addition not all the business folk line with these who signed the petition
We need to come up with a solution that meets the majority approval..but I question a campaign that paints this area as a negative and a place to avoid...all the name calling as well as the presentation to council provide a poor image of the area ...is this a marketing strategy???? or did I miss that lesson in class?

i could go on at length but i do want to go the beach which does bring up one thing..Melissa you have mentioned a couple of times that in a recent property owners newsletter that it was stated that some merchants were concerned on gas prices and the other comment was selfishly have the beach to themselves...how could you not want that ..a secluded piece of beautiful sand/quiet and calm waters etc etc...that is the number one dream of many folk..but they also know that selfishly it cant be they have to share..but a dream is a dream..so lighten up

where's the beef

mxyzptlk — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:27:40 -0400

yesterday's sun times carried a picture of lobbies restaurant patio - looked pretty busy to me.

also, in a letter to the editor someone complained because they got a ticket making a delivery to the beach because "Merchants were low on product and needed stock ASAP."

seems like business is booming, so where's the beef?
kltpzyxm

wow

mmockler — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:00:27 -0400

Gary,
There is just no point in continuing this conversation.
You bitched that the youth were not commenting. I show you a Facebook page that they are - and then you cherry-picked a comment from that to try and prove your point.
Whatever . . .

198 and counting

garym — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:09:07 -0400

And indeed there is, and already the Facebook signees have doubled the count of the old-skule petition, but dig, the neat thing about that page is how despite the leading intro clearly showing a bias (if not already just by the name) the participation is including multiple perspectives such as this one:

"I think it's silly to complain too much over this, all in all it does bring in a bit more revenue for the local area and brings opportunity to have more events to draw in more crowds. Nothing in life is free anymore. $10 for parking is a bit excessive I do agree, but hey, for a seasonal area, it's reasonable."

Which I expect is good news for those who do the marketing plans around here. yes, everyone wants stuff for free, and no, nobody wants to be stuck holding the potato, but in the final analysis, there are folks out there to whom the upped cost is no problemo, fact of life, that's just the way it is and what that tells me is there's a looming transfusion of population, poised and ready to displace the previous by the weight of their willingness to pay.

which is neither good nor bad, or rather a bit of both.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

and you mentioned Facebook . . .

mmockler — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:03:00 -0400

Gary, you wrote:
"This whole event was clearly orchestrated propaganda, not community development conflict resolution, certainly not 'debate' or 'discussion', and, of course, consider the demographic targetted by this icky bit of agitprop: the very first thing you can strike off the list is youth (who will, after all, inherit this Beach) otherwise the discussion would have been over Facebook."

Well, it is all over Facebook - check out the group Keep Sauble Beach FREE

Why Dissent is Good

garym — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:55:05 -0400

A total aside but I'm posting this for anyone who thinks that its a waste of time to have all these dissenting voices venting alternate interpretations, because it isn't, it's just good science:

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

garym — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:04:00 -0400

Good gracious this is a lively thread, and well done too. Thanks everyone! Brings a tear to me eye it does to see both sides coming to grips with the details of both sides, and see what I mean? Did they get as much depth out of Radio or even those OSST opEds? No. They didn't. But here, we do.

When May and I saw this place the first time, we had never heard of Sauble Beach. We were following house-rental ads and one of them lured us to Owen Sound and while I'd been there before and liked the quaintness of the town, I also knew of its reputation as a toxic landfill, and the house was no great shakes either, for the price. But there in the paper was an ad for a place in a place called Sauble Beach ... we'd seen Wasaga, quickly, and more quickly drove on by, and we'd seen the nice little forgotten beach in Tiny Township with its one ice-cream stop and the sounds of song birds and bicycles; we called the ad and we drove out and stood on that beach, and it was beautiful. It was the Land that Time Forgot, it had coke machines that cost $0.35 (the cost of a can of coke, btw, is $0.05, I know, I've sat in on the production process) it had nice little spots to chill out and watch the waves, you could get lunch for $5, a new bikini for $10 ...

It was unbelievable for 1995. We didn't even inspect the rental spot, we signed on. This, we said to each other, was the place to be. I took a walk through the un-drained forests west of the Parkway, it was like walking to Yoda's place on Dagoba. I'd spent my whole live moving about, most of my adult live fleeing from insatiable Development Corporations, but here, man, it was nice.

I maybe have no statistics (nor any lies or damn lies) but I do have my story ...

I spent $750/month to heat that place, $200/month on long distance internet to do my work (CBC Regional News) but we just knew this place was a vision of the future that we could bank on. It s the closest I could both find and afford to what Bucky Fuller called Living in the Garden, and a place where business deals were done with handshakes. We bought in, set up, had kids, and I've now lived here longer than I've lived in any other spot on this planet.

Today a vending machine cola costs exactly what it does at the CNE, as does a burger and fries, the beach is only as desireable as the Kew Gardens Beach we left (also a Blue Flag) and its all heavy-metal funk and buzz and beer signs everywhere, just like Queen West. Unfortunately, we're unable to move for at least two years, but we've been hunting, checking out the market, and yeah, all this modern-world infestation is going to have a pay-off in the pocketbook when we sell, but we didn't move here to get money, we moved here to get real wealth; we moved here for a quality of life that is rapidly receding from the 401 northward. We're looking north, we figure you have to go to some god-forsaken bleak wilderness swamp where no developer would ever dare go, but unfortunately all that land is already taken up by the Ojibwa that the previous Developement Corporations relocated there.

We hope for a miracle, but sadly I'm not optimistic. Even if everyone were to line up behind me and stand against the false-progress of development, it is, from my experience, too late, the cat is out of the bag, the beach is no longer Ontario's Best Kept Secret, it is the Place to Retire 'Cause the Rest Are Full, money has smelled the blood here, and the hunt is afoot. Properties now sell for such astronomical sums the mortgage holders will forever be slave to bank dis-interest rates, pressured to pump up the profits just to stand still, and we cannot now go to all these international development corporations hell-bent to make that interest and shareholder return money off the inescapable Boomer-gerontology boom and say we're sorry, we didn't mean to invite this disaster on ourselves, all we can do is watch it vanish property by 6-figure property.

I was there when Yorkdale was 'developed', when Kew Beach was 'developed', when The Annex was 'developed', when Gerrard E was 'developed', when Caledon was 'developed' and while I'm happy all the real-estate agents made oodles to feed their kids and all the urban-wannabees that always dreamed of a global metropolis could now get prescriptions filled at 2am and down it with fluoridated water. To each their own Utopia, but we don't use Tylenol, we boil ginger root for head/tummy aches and sterilize wounds with watermelon mold. I didn't move to any of those places to become urban/suburban, I've been spending my whole life trying to escape being urban/suburban.

Because the human cost is just too high.

When I was in Canterbury, I stayed with a friend of a friend who lived in what was once the monks quarters of the Cathedral grounds; his place had been 'urbanized' and 'sanitized' back in the 1920's, but had sat undisturbed since. We visited a friend of his who lived in a 200 year old farm house on a strawberry farm, had lived there forever, had no reason to think his grandkids would not do the same. Makes me wonder what they and I did in our past lives to deserve such respective karma.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

this is the energizer bunny topic

wayne tanner — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:29:46 -0400

I gonna bang a few thoughts out
- If the taxes from the stores aren't going towards beach maintenace, just what are they going towards.
Off the top of my head I can't remember if its changed or not but I don't even think the Lakeshore is ploughed in the winter. Let alone any other service
As for the comment of doing without stores.
I got kids.
I live in Bruce County.
By the time I punch through the side roads which haven't been sanded or ploughed my nerve is pretty much shot for more winter driving fun to Owen Sound , with kids.
Now I am at pre Viagra stage so it isnt a panic for me but if one of my spawn needs a script filled, Can I give it to those who remeber no stores here and enjoy driving to OS to a Pharmacy. I suggest you hurry as my kid may need the script filled quickly. Thats one example, we won't mention a beer store Handily available
So we close the store then close the school and the daycare, but i won't jump into that one again:)
Lets cut off cable and internet cuz we survived here without those services too. But they came as a progressive move for the area...
I am 43 now and I remember the great joy as a child was during the long weekends seeing all the cool cars going past the farm on the long weekends. In fact one memory I have was hearing the "motorcycle gang" thundering in the distance as they were coming down the road, and my older sister convincing me to give them the finger ( I was about 5) which I did, and they rurned the gesture.
As the weekend ended I was again out on the front lawn and they all slowed down and gave me the finger again. Which I returned. I remember the grins all the way down the line of bikes and that event has shaped my atitude since :)
Back to the story
All I can remember was Sauble being a "tourist " area. and those who live here now were introduced to the area through that
The only anaalogy I can think of would be as you were flying low on approach into a airport, you looked down and saw a house below you which you really liked. So you buy it...
And then b.... and complain about all the damn planes flying over all the time....and people looking down at your house.
Now if anyone can make sense out of that one I will be impressed.

a few comments and questions

mxyzptlk — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:20:11 -0400

hi melissa, thanks for the effort you put into gathering some real numbers to discuss.

commercial tax rates have always have been higher than residential tax rates.
amabel and sauble residents/businesses are paying 5.8 million of a 14.8 billion budget. approximately 40% of the budget comes from amabel/sauble. this seems reasonable since it probably contains approximately 40% of the assessment base of the municipality. we pay the same mill rate as everyone else in the municipality so we are not carrying the municipality as you suggest
why not include the opp and staff? are you suggesting they are not needed?
you say that businesses paid $110,000 in taxes (i assume you mean the municipal portion of their taxes). i hate to burst your bubble, but not all of that went to beach maintenance. using your figures, $132,500 is approximately 2% of the $6.1 million budget so only $2,390 of business taxes went to beach maintenance ($6,223 if you use the $345,000 figure).
how much tax revenue was generated from residential ratepayers (you did not give that number)?
what? how many of the tourists and residents can't walk 2 blocks to the beach? i would bet a very small percentage but we have no way of really knowing. i would favor free parking for handicapped (blue card with wheel chair)
free parking in wiarton and oliphant ... why aren't the tourists flocking there? oliphant has a very nice beach, much like sauble used to be
we don't pay higher taxes! we all pay the same tax rate
actually when i moved here it wasn't much of a tourist town
my wife and i are seniors. we do not shop at sauble due to the high prices. we shop in owen sound. i would bet you do most of your shopping in owen sound too. i am not anti-business but i think we could survive without the businesses you mention. we did before they were here.

kltpzyxm

facts and figures

mmockler — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:41:08 -0400

Okay, as promised, here are the facts and figures regarding the revenue raised through paid parking, the amount spent on beach improvements, and how much businesses and residents contribute through their taxes. This comes from the Town of South Bruce Peninsula’s 2008 budget documents.

Commercial mill rates as per $100,000 of assessment are multiplied by 0.0700837; compared to residential mill rates as per $100,000 of assessment which are multiplied by 0.00568354. When you look at the numbers, it is obvious that commercial mill rates are much higher than residential.

Now while it is not fair to compare apples to oranges, commercial rate payers pay almost double what residential taxpayers do. And commercial taxpayers don’t even have the luxury of garbage pick-up like you and I do.

Shoreline Assessment figures into this too. All of you know that when you move into a shoreline assessment area, your taxes are going to be higher. But proportionally, the former Amabel Township is carrying the weight for the Town of South Bruce Peninsula. Consider these figures:

The total budget for the Town is approximately $14.8 million. When you look at your tax bill, you will see municipal, county and education. The municipal portion of the budget is $6.1 million. Of that, $3.8 million comes from Amabel. Approximately $2 million comes from Sauble proper – more than half comes from Amabel and a third comes from Sauble proper.

Now to beach maintenance – it has long been touted that it costs $345,000 to maintain the beach annually. Here are the true figures:

• $100,000 is used by the OPP for a staff sergeant at the beach (the total budget for the entire town for the OPP is $1.8 million);
• Approximately $85,000 is used to not lay off staff over the winter – this is money that would be paid to staff if indeed they were laid off over the winter months;
• Beach maintenance is approximately $22,500;
• Washroom maintenance (contracted for all the of parks) is $60,000;
• Garbage barrel clean-up (contracted) is $50,000.

Now it is not fair to say that total beach maintenance costs are $345,000. It is not fair to lump in the costs of the OPP; nor is it fair to weigh in staff costs. When you add up the true figures of beach maintenance, it is $132,500.

Through their taxes, in the last fiscal year, the business community contributed $110,000 through their taxes.

Now onto the revenue generated from paid parking.

Based on projected figures from town staff for 2008, fines and offenses are budgeted for $40,000. Seasonal passes are budgeted at $23,000. Ticket dispensers are budgeted to generate $190,000. This adds up to a total of $253,000.

What has Sauble proper received for this?

• $89,000 for the Sixth St. washrooms (which if the Native land claim goes through – and it probably will – means that those washrooms won’t belong to the Town anymore)
• $158,000 for the Main St. washrooms;
• $73,000 for fire hydrants (the water system hook-up was provincially-mandated; fire hydrants were added due to Mark’s insistence voiced frequently to the Minister of Infrastructure, David Caplan. This will also lower the insurance premiums for all in Sauble.)

This adds up to a total of $320,000. Is this more than paid parking is expected to generate this year? You bet. However, that is not taking into consideration the revenue paid parking has generated for the last THREE years – which has gone into the General Revenue fund.

Okay, let’s review.

• Beach maintenance costs $132,500 annually. Beach businesses contribute $110,000 annually through their taxes.
• Sauble paid parking is expected to bring in $253,000 this year. Improvements to date will cost $320,000. Yet we haven’t accounted for any of the other revenue generated for the prior three years.

And then there are the residential taxpayers. We have already covered how by living in Amabel, we pay higher taxes through Shoreline Assessment. And yet we are asking these people to pay $10 (or a $50 annual rate) to visit their beach? Remember, not everyone lives within walking distance of the beach and due to our high senior population, not everyone is capable of that.

If you ask me, after reviewing these figures, Sauble is not getting its value out of paid parking. Instead, what we are doing is giving Sauble a bad reputation – especially when you consider there is free parking in Oliphant and Wiarton.

I know I sound like a broken record, but I don’t think anyone would disagree with the notion of paid parking (except for Mark) – it just has to be reasonable. Hourly rates, like there are in Wasaga and Grand Bend, make more sense. And residents should have free parking – they have paid their taxes.

What I see now is an anti-business sentiment – there is the thought that the businesses are here just to attract those “nasty tourists” who “mess up the beach”. And then, after a leisurely time working their businesses at the beach, they spend the remaining 10 months in Florida.

I hope after reading this, you realize that the businesses are doing their fair share at maintaining the beach. And don’t believe for a minute that residents themselves contribute to the necessary clean-up of the beach – the sword cuts both ways.

There are those who wish to discourage tourists from coming here. I have two counterpoints to that:

1. You knew it was a tourist town when you moved here, and;
2. If it wasn’t for the tourists, you would not have those full-time amenities that you enjoy (grocery store, pharmacy, gas stations etc.)

And I leave you with a quote from out-going Amabel Property Owner’s Association President Ms. Orma Lyttle:

“Many of the merchants are concerned that the high gas prices will reduce the number of visitors to the beach and it may be so…but then selfishly that means we have the beach to use!” (http://.apoa.ca) Newsletter April/May/June 2008

Well, it appears Ms. Lyttle was right – gas prices certainly did figure into this mix, as did the high Canadian dollar and the weather – but the Town Council (with the exception of Mark and Ana) certainly put the nail in the coffin.

If anyone wishes to check up on my facts and figures, they are welcome to review the Town’s 2008 budget. It is available at the Town Hall.

Melissa

hmmm

mmockler — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:26:55 -0400

First, I must start out with an apology – I had promised that I would have all the facts and figures on what paid parking generates and what has been spent at the beach, either through upgrades or maintenance.

I did not get home from work until close to 10 p.m. last night – Mark was already asleep by that time – and he was out the door before I got up. I need him to dig out the documents that I will relay to you. I will try again tonight, but I’m on another night shift, so we will see how it goes.

As to writers, like Lisa (VinylGirl), I whole-heartedly agree with you. Some tourists are just rude, obnoxious and downright dirty. I remember vividly how some would wash their kids’ diapers out into the lake, I remember a whole flock of kids stopping to pee on the lawn of my parents’ cottage, I remember a cartload of tourists who decided to take up residence on my father’s catamaran on the beach. I try to be positive, like Lisa, and remember that the vast percentage of our tourists are not like that. But it’s not easy when you work retail at the beach in the summer.

As far as the timer thing at council on Monday – well, if that’s the new policy – fine. It should be used with every delegation.

And, on a lighter note, in response to Dodge who wrote:

“Here comes Melissa on June 15 to tell us to listen to CFOS on June 19. I guess she figured the ducks would line up and she could deny any planned strategy.”

Hey Dodge – if I had orchestrated this, the show would have been full of planted calls. It was not. I merely heard that it was happening and figured other people would be interested in tuning in. So shoot me for being the messenger.

But if you want to think I’m that devious – I have news for you:

• I know who shot JFK,
• I have uncovered the secrets of the Bermuda Triangle,
• I know where Area 51 is, and;
• Mulder and Scully were right: the Truth is Out There! lol

don't want to pay for parking?

mxyzptlk — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:31:12 -0400

here's an idea, leave your car where you are staying and either ride a bike or walk to the beach. you'll not only save parking and gas money but also be healthier for the exercise. and please, take only pictures and leave nothing but footprints.
kltpzyxm

A Divisive Issue

Dodge — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:29:00 -0400

There always have been some residents who feel that they should never have to pay for parking and it would be wrong to assume this is purely a business thing. This resident group has been there right from the beginning when parking fees were initiated.

The business community has asked for a compromise and in spite of the timer incident (and I hope that strategy gets filed with the ones tried once but don't work well) the message has gotten through.

Someone has to pay for the beach maintenance. The only two possibilities here are to cut a big slice out of maintenance costs for the next year or pass on more costs to every taxpayer. I really don't know how feasable the first is since a lot of costs are program costs and fixed or contracted. The second option is feasable but not acceptable for ratepayers like me.

Not Jerry B's Project

Dodge — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:50:00 -0400

This strategy broke with Kevin Belbeck's letter received at the Town Hall June 14th. It can be found on the Town site. In it he railed against the $10 fee and slandered the Property Owners without making any case on either point. He did cc Dick Waugh who seems to be able to get any unsubstantiated drivel he produces into opinion pieces in the Sun Times. Sure enough about July 18th the OSST published an editorial position that parking should be reduced to $5 at Sauble Beach. This was interesting since the last estimate by the Town put the beach maintenance costs at $340,000. I didn't look up the exact amount but I have it. Since parking net of expenses is always less than a third of that it means beach maintenance is heavily subsidized by the taxpayer. So the Sun Times bites itself by opinionating that local readers should pay more taxes. Do they have any local readers left?

Meanwhile a petition of 100 names is being collected and that is approximately the membership list size of the Chamber of Commerce. Not that I am suggesting anything but a look at the membership list shows a large number are in the accomodation business. So we need somebody reputable who is not in accomodation to sponsor the petition. Enter Jerry Blair a good Sauble businessman and community fixture who likes to make his income here and winter in the south. Jerry is a decent guy and probably did not realize he was going to get the hackles raised on the rest of the community who are paying the freight. If you understand this you will understand why the Mayor used a timer.

How much do the residents of Mallory Beach or Adamsville like paying for beach maintenance just so that Chamber members can use it to best advantage to draw in people and maximize their seasonal income?

Here comes Melissa on June 15 to tell us to listen to CFOS on June 19. I guess she figured the ducks would line up and she could deny any planned strategy.

mxyzptlk asks about Jerry's motive but I think he just got caught in the middle. Anyway it's his hundred against all the residential voters who pay tax bills. Who has the most votes?

It might have been a better choice to use Baker Bob for the petition. Someone who is not typecast as a business owner.

What if Jerry gave a free daily parking pass for car occupants spending $35 or more? Would they want to stop there first before going on to the beach? Businesses are having a mean-reversion year due to a number of variables and I would guess one offset strategy would be to aggressively pursue new business. Fighting over parking seems non productive on that account.

To Ruftic

vinylgirl — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:01:07 -0400

Well, most here know Ruftic is my chromosome donor and while I was at their house/cottage a couple of weeks ago, my daughter, Tibbles almost fainted.

We could see from where we were sitting that a tent trailer and another vehicle had been driving up and down third ave north at the back of our place. After about a half an hour of watching them drive up and down the road, they decided to park next door, blocking the neighbours driveway. Not a problem, as the neighbours were not home at the time. I would have been an issue if the neighbours there at that time.

There was a lot of action and noise taking place and Blad and I decided to investigate along with Tibbles and Gibbles.

Not only was a child relieving himself in a bush (this is where Tibbles turned an ashen shade), he was had also decided to cop a squat on a log to relieve himself, numero two.

We went up to the family and asked if they needed help. They responded that they were trying to find their way to Brantford, and seemed quite put off that we approached them.

There are Johnny on The Spots on the beach that could have been used.

At least this time, they didn't leave garbage, but the child, and a few of his family did leave DNA. We took down the license plate number (made sure they saw us doing so), and they drove off. We didn't call it in, but maybe next time, we will.

It's not just a question of garbage, it's also a question of mannerly behaviour. Do I travel to Kitchener and encourage my dear daughters to deficate on the lawns of suburbia? Of course not. So why is it a free for all here?

Most tourists respect the land and the beach. It's the 1% er's that do not.

The problem of garbage is definitely not just centred to the beach, it extends further, as people are trying to cheap out and find a parking spot they do not have to pay for.

Tourists have their place, and their benefits, but there needs to be a line drawn. Why not extend the paid parking to other streets as well? For most people ten dollars is a drop in the bucket, they spend more at Tim Hortons on the way up.