South Bruce Peninsular - Economy - Comments

This idea is Garbage

garym — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:12:11 -0400

Remember how I said our waste-water woes could well turn into a boon for our local depressed economy? Well here's an example of just that wonderfully illustrated by a British company that shared our other Great Rural Pain, vanishing dumpsite space, and what did they do about it? Bag tags! No. Truck it to a mine in Cree Country! No, wrong again.

Would you believe "Turned it into highly lucrative Black Gold, Texas Tea ..." Yup, that's exactly what they did, and what's more, they made darned sure they had a global patent on the process before they announced that it actually worked ...

The company claims that it can produce about 400 litres (90 gallons) of ethanol from one tonne of dry waste. The new process works by heating the waste to produce gases, then feeding the gases to bacteria, which produce ethanol that can be purified into a fuel.

Ineos plans to sell the environmental product in industrial quantities by the end of 2010. Peter Williams, the chief executive of Ineos Bio, said: "This should mean that, unlike with other biofuels, we won't have to make the choice between food and fuel."

[ Rubbish idea that could make driving cheaper ]

Thus spake the ghost of Obi Wan: "use the Brain, Luke ... use the BRAIN ..."

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Had a weird dream

garym — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:14:28 -0400

In this dream the SBP Council contacted Tenneco and offered to put all 104 people to work building our new town square like a barn-raising, paying next to nothing in cash, but treating them like honoured guests with great food, local accommodations, family beach bbq and heaps of sunshine, thanks and good cheer in hopes we could cushion the crush of their job loss and maybe aid them to do some now-needed social networking while feeling useful crafting a needed civic commons in a landmark event that would live in the hearts and minds of tourists and Saublites alike for generations.

but then I woke up.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

The NEW Super Bio-Fuel

garym — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:21:32 -0400

Forget cow-power, the new superfuel for the bio-conscious future is a genetically modified super-bug that chews up wood scraps and scrub, and poops out gasoline:

Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls "renewable petroleum". After that, he grins, "it's a brave new world".
[ Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol - Times Online ]

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

thanks for clarification

mxyzptlk — Thu, 17 May 2007 13:47:39 -0400

hi hockey17,
thanks for clarifying the properties for me. maybe when the wiarton tim's is opened it will relieve some of the summer traffic jams in hepworth.
kltpzyxm

Tim Hortons

hockey17 — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:52:31 -0400

mxyzptlk, you are mixing up 2 different properties . The new Tim Hortons is going in where the elementary school was located( bottom of the hill). Kirkland property is the old High school on the top of the hill west of the lights off Wiarton's main street.

I also agree with your comments about Carl and his cronies. My question to Carl is when he was mayor in 2000-2006, why didn't he and council vote to sign over the property? From 2003-2006 he had total control of council and all votes went his way, either 6-3 or 7-2. Why didn't he vote then? Why blame the new council?? Was it because he knew he'd be breaking the law?

Clarify

dcbour — Sun, 06 May 2007 03:23:49 -0400

I guess I should clarify...
I'm looking for terminations, ie, that is local numbers to dial into a sip/iax voip service which I can then connect to my existing pbx. This will let my family and cottage renters get free calling then off my pbx which is already configured for everything. They won't have laptops and my wireless service travels with me, hence no computer for skype, etc stays at the cottage.
Second, if I work from the cottage this summer, I wouldn't mind picking up some business there hence have a local dial-in number for people to reach me. The pbx can handle it, and with my wireless anywhere service, a phone there will be live with my business extension too.
Today, I've got a little trick where you call a number, it intentionally fails, gets a fast busy so you don't get billed but as soon as you hang up, my pbx calls you back (if it's from a validated number) then you simply dial the number you want...
As for onebox, it reads like the feature list of Asterisk, the do it yourself open source pbx, same as I'm running, which is some of the consulting I do to put these in for individuals and small business. Asterisk does all that and much more. If you have a decent web speed, you can host it yourself, as most of my clients do.
As for the Skype, already integrated into the pbx. Easy enough using a product called ChanSkype. I can even send instructions if you're game to set up your own asterisk box and want to integrate chanskype.
Vonage...mixed reviews, but the bottom line is it is it's own voip calling service, needing high speed at the cottage (which only exists when I'm there). If the high speed is there already, I can do it now.
On another note, what's availability and rates for DSL or radio based internet into the French Bay area between Sauble and Southampton. When I lasted checked, they wouldn't do DSL to my cottage and radio based internet ran about $600 for installation and $80 a month for seasonal service. Has this improved, any suggestions?

agreed

bub — Sat, 05 May 2007 23:11:41 -0400

I agree about skype..it works just great from a usb thumb drive, and can be used almost with any modern puter with a usb port.Yes, Vonage is in deep doo doo with patent violations..don't know where that is going, perhaps its a real violation, or one of those things Blackberry ran into, where old patents are bought out by law firms who go in for the quick kill and mega bucks.
Does anyone remember 1996-1997 a program called freetel(it actually asked if your soundcard was full or half duplex..not even an issue for years) or dialpad? Long time ago..

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"How does one "Seem to think". Either you did or you didn't. "
-ZenGary

Name your Poison

garym — Sat, 05 May 2007 18:11:00 -0400

"Are there any??? -- the problem is how do you choose!! Personally, I use Skype, it's portable, works on my laptop (even my laptop), works fine under all the major operating systems, and very often runs nice free LD promotions such as the one coming up next weekend for Mother's day -- best of all, you can try it out for free for as long as you like, and even pay as you go for fancy stuff like land-line calling (inbound or outbound).

Now PBX, that's something else entirely, and the service we use at work is the oldest and most established (onebox.com) but it is also (for the same reasons) the clunkiest and most technologically backward. For example, the only way you can re-assign the on-call schedule is to login and fight with an inane HTML form page from Hell, whereas a truly enlightned PBX would know about things like webservices and 'business process integration' -- to be fair to onebox, though, I did contact a half dozen other PBX services about this sort of feature, and while Onebox is kind enough to give me a blank stare, 100% of the others did not even bother to return my email.

But what OneBox does give us is exactly what you describe, I have my extension forwarded to my (stupid) blackberry and can re-assign that as I wish, with fail-over alternates, voice mail and fax both relayed to me by email. Our company is 100% 'virtual' with members in NYC, LA, Toronto, St. Catherines and Hamilton, and where the thing works, the whole thing works very well.

And then there's Vonage, who recently, iirc, had some sort of stay put on their creditors while they tried to find a business plan, but don't quote me on that, I don't really follow the world of VoIP-wannabees that carefully. I do know, though, that the boss likes his Vonage enough to carry the box with him on business trips giving him seamless access to his phonelines from hotel rooms just about anywhere in the western world.

What I do follow is the worrisome trend to centralized services controlled by single corporations, and that's the only feature that really bugs me about Skype -- they had promised to open up their network as a public protocol, but that move has yet to materialize ... and until they do, the VoIP industry must live under a spectre of backing the wrong horse at peril of certain death.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

trailer park boys

mxyzptlk — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 09:51:16 -0400

afaik a trailer is pulled behind a vehicle. some 'trailers' in the campgrounds dont even appear to have wheels. so if you don't want to pay taxes, then bring your trailer with you when you come here, and then take it home with you when you leave. anything permanent or semi-permanent should be taxed.
kltpzyxm

Permanent Trailers Still Pay Taxes-Appeal In Place

Dodge — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:26:35 -0400

Campgrounds have become subdivisions and should be considered as such. These campground citizens pay almost nothing towards beach maintenance, roads, fire and policing or the growing cost of adminstration and operations in the Town of South Bruce Peninsula. They appealed and won a court decision absolving them from even paying a token amount of property taxes.

A new appeal is in progress and it is way beyond he financial scope of local municipalities. This new initiative answers questions asked here on this site. The problem is being addressed in a manner that will have the least impact on local ratepayers. Local government is not encumbered with this issue.
Taxes will continue to be collected and held in reserve pending the outcome. Quote follows from the Sun Times:

County joins bid to tax trailers

Don Crosby

Dated March 11, 2007

Bruce County is joining with other Ontario municipalities to fight a superior court ruling that exempts seasonal trailer homes in campgrounds from being assessed for property taxes.

The appeal challenges a decision of the Ontario Superior Court which ruled on Oct. 2, 2006, in favour of Carsonâ€™s Camp Ltd. of Sauble Beach.

Carsonâ€™s questioned the right of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation to assess the value of trailers in campgrounds and force campground owners to collect and remit the taxes.

Council was told Thursday the implications of the court ruling is a loss of tax revenue across Ontario that could exceed $50 million.

This decision overturned a 2002 ruling in a challenge by the city of Sarnia in which the judge ruled trailer homes could be assessed under the assessment act.

Carsonâ€™s raised two constitutional issues, arguing the taxation of trailers is an indirect taxation because they are owned by a third party or tenant. It was argued the assessment was beyond South Bruce Peninsulaâ€™s taxing jurisdiction as well as being an infringement of the equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

â€œThis is an issue that has great impact to Bruce County,â€ said Warden Mitch Twolan.

Approximately 75 campgrounds have been assessed in Bruce County. Without a challenge to the court ruling, the county would have to pay back approximately $200,000 itâ€™s collected since 2004, the year Bruce began assessing such properties.

In the meantime, the county will continue to tax campgrounds.

By joining with other affected municipalities, the Bruce Countyâ€™s initial legal cost is expected to be about $5,000.

â€œThere is more value to us being part of a consolidated effort. Itâ€™s certainly much cheaper working with other municipalities,â€ said treasurer Bettyanne Cobean. â€œWeâ€™ll get a lot more bang for our buck.â€

Campground Tax Refunds postponed

CL1368 — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:12:44 -0500

An update from the London Free Press today...

Two months ago, the Superior Court of Justice ruled the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) acted unlawfully by deciding in 2003 to assess trailers the same way as land, allowing municipalities to collect taxes on them. The ruling gave hope to 700 campgrounds that taxes they paid, totalling about $50 million, would be rebated.
The case revolved around a campground near Sauble Beach and its assessment, which skyrocketed between 2002 and 2003. The ruling was hailed as "bulletproof" by winning lawyer Peter Fallis of Durham.
But MPAC has appealed the ruling to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and a final disposition isn't expected until 2008.
That delay likely will add another $35 million to the rebate if MPAC's appeal fails.
That means assessments that have been disputed will remain in place until the Court of Appeal renders its decision. And that means municipalities will continue to levy taxes based on those assessments.
Two earlier court decisions upheld the decision to assess trailers, so a final verdict by the province's highest court is awaited.
If the decision is the trailers are no longer assessable, we would reduce their assessments for those years and the taxes would have to be refunded.
Because municipalities might have to return tax dollars already spent, several are considering becoming involved in the case as "intervenors." The reason for municipal concern is the need to collect money to pay for police, fire, ambulance, garbage collection and other services. She notes residents of seasonal campgrounds expect most of those services.

Lets see if the TSBP gets involved as an "intervenor", as in my opinion, they should be very active on this issue.

taxes

Hew Jass — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 14:28:12 -0500

lobby to change the way that the campgrounds are taxed...potty counts, bedrooms, firepits...whatever....do we have a municipal council that can see that far past their noses now or does it have to be done at a higher level?

Sauble Nation

Hew Jass — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 12:43:11 -0500

Time for Sauble Beach North to seek "Second Nation" status. It is high time that we Saublois get international recognition for our indistinct society. Bland is power! Let the blue flag fly even higher. Maybe even our own Sauble flag? Sauble Sunny ripping evil snakes from the dunes! Has Prime Monster Harper opened the door to full nationhood within the municipality? Just imagine.......we could give ourselves our very own federal water reserve (sic)......speaking thereof....anybody been down Scotch Settlement to witness all of the blue water pipes being set down for the "in house" water system on the Saugeen First Nation?....Seems they have the problem solved locally....what is the story?????? Maybe they could ship some water to their (newly) acquired waterfront at the north end...free trade between nations????

Reserve Account?

Dodge — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:11:52 -0500

I wonder if those funds collected were held in a reserve account pending the outcome of the appeal. You might call Pat Stock then post the result here....

It still means the campground residents ride free.

Easy answer

bub — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 06:28:09 -0500

That is about the same money payed to one single conultant for a pipeline, add a few more taken off the payrolls and the effect is a net gain for all SBP.

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