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The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 31, 2006 - 5 Santa Claus parade coming back to Kerr Street Continued from page 1 1,993 horsepower. 5 supercars. 1 day. Budds' BMW Presents an Open House & BBQ M Tour Canada 2006: Saturday, June 3rd from 11:00 AM ­ 5:00 PM M The most powerful letter in the world. The pinnacle of performance-driven engineering at BMW for over 30 years. Budds' BMW is thrilled to share with you the rare opportunity to see all five M models together ­ M3, M5, M6, M Roadster and the highly anticipated new M Coupé. Please join us at Budds' BMW Oakville on June 3rd at our Open House and BBQ as we welcome these extraordinary vehicles to Budds' BMW as part of M Tour Canada 2006. RSVP to Elissa Jones, 866-364-9134 ext 375 or ejones@buddsbmw.com .egarag ruoy mrofsnarT a c . s g n i w l e g n a .w w w 516 0 0 2 9 8 8 8 1 E E R F L L OT believed the Santa Claus Parade Committee was an autonomous committee and not a Town committee -- and as such not covered by Town insurance. Council was unable to do anything unless it wanted to take the committee into the fold as a Town committee. Instead, council supported the parade committee led by resident Pam Damoff belieiving it had no power to intervene. The committee's decision to change the route was deemed final. The route change was made in response to concerns about access to the hospital, it involved months of consultation with the community, supporting reports from local emergency services that they'd prefer a Lakeshore Road route and the fact that now that public safety concerns had been brought to light publicly, if the route was not changed to the safest one possible, liability for anything that may go wrong would rest on the heads of the committee members -- volunteers who were not covered under any Town insurance. The committee members are volunteers and would have absorbed liability -- something they said they just couldn't do. However, in the two weeks since, newly-confirmed Town CAO Ray Green put heads together with other Town staff and it was determined that indeed the committee is a Town committee that functions under the parks and recreation department. That opened the door for council to step in and put the parade back on Kerr Street. The decision is the less than ideal route, so it will cost $3,000 in additional staff time to address safety issues, since it flies in the face of the best advice of local the hospital, Kerr Street was penalized. It meant the parade had to be staged elsewhere and the only place that made sense was Robinson Street -- what used to be used in conjunction with Lakeshore Road as the alternate east/west traffic route. With Robinson Street out of the picture for alternate traffic, local police, fire and ambulance services made it clear that Lakeshore Road was the preferred parade route -- the new route is along Lakeshore Road from Reynolds Street to Brock Street or approximately the Loblaws store. And, if the parade were to travel up from Lakeshore to Kerr, it would block the Kerr Street/Rebecca Street intersection. The committee refused to budge on its decision -- once safety concerns have been raised, addressed and documented, its volunteer members would be liable. BACK ON KERR: Santa will be riding up Kerr Street after all. emergency services. Local police, fire and ambulance preferred a parade route along Lakeshore that would leave Rebecca Street open as an alternate route for emergencies. If the parade snakes up from Lakeshore to Kerr, it cuts off half the Rebecca Street/Kerr Street intersection and requires additional safety precautions. From the outset, emergency services said they would work with the Town if it chose the Kerr route. Town staff also said they'd work with the Kerr route. Yet with all the concerns out in the open and publicized, liability fell to the volunteer committee and its members just couldn't open themselves up to that risk. The committee members took a lot of heat from the community and at council two weeks ago. On Monday, committee chair Pam Damoff was called to the podium by Ward 1 Councillor Ralph Robinson who asked if she'd remian on the committee. While it was made clear to Damoff that the committee efforts are appreciated and she didn't need to feel pressured to answer, Damoff said she'd stay the course -- though the same couldn't be said for other committee members. It does appease the highlyoffended Kerr community and it will ensure that kids, young and old, will have a local Santa parade this Christmas. Damoff admitted it's been "very, very difficult personally," but said it would be unfair to the children of Oakville if the committee members walked away. "We will put it on for the children of Oakville," said Damoff. Mayor Ann Mulvale admitted that a letter from the Kerr Village BIA that was originally thought to support the parade route's move off Kerr was clearly confusing. Mulvale noted that while there is a little more exposure with the Lakeshore/Kerr parade route, the safest thing would be to have no parade at all. She said maintaining the parade was top priority. In a unanimous vote, council voted to keep the parade on Kerr -- and to not change it again. The decision to change the route was made in response to continuing concern by OakvilleTrafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) to take the parade away from the hospital area where its route blocks hospital entrances. Mulvale confirmed there have been incidents in which the parade has had to be stopped to allow emergency vehicles access to the hospital. With that comes liability issues. However in accommodating Tidy · Practical · Secure · Stunning - Budds' BMW buddsbmw.com The Ultimate ® Driving Experience.