Business – Page 2 – Derek E. Silva

‘Ignite London’ Goes Tonight

May 30, 2015July 14, 2010 by Derek Silva

I’ll be doing an Ignite Talk at Ignite London tonight. It’s happening a Gigs’ Grillhouse – doors open at 6:30pm, things really start up at 8:00pm. If you’re coming, I hope to see you there and I really hope my talk on MuniFibre gets you thinking about the possibilities!

Change London – A new initiative

May 30, 2015March 16, 2010 by Derek Silva

Several acquaintances/friends of mine and I have had the opportunity to speak to a few City of London councilors and employees at various local events over the last year like AgendaCamp and SMarts London. We’re also encouraging them to attend this year’s PodCamp. I find myself usually running into Nancy Branscombe; while I don’t always agree with her (mostly about the cartoons), I know that I and several others appreciate the effort she makes to get involved in community/grassroots events.

People like Shawn Adamsson, Bill Deys, Titus Ferguson and I have all taken those opportunities to speak to Nancy, voicing our concerns for the city; some of these concerns have to do with the lack of an open data initiative for London, how the city’s engaging citizens (or rather, how it’s not), and more recently Bill Wittur has been talking about making London a “digital destination.” It looks like our concerns have been heard, because Nancy decided it would be a good idea to let engaged folks speak to some City councilors and staff. Last week we had a 90 minute meeting with several higher-ups from the City.

Sustainable Food Initiatives to Take Note Of

May 30, 2015January 12, 2010 by Derek Silva

It’s been a while since I’ve found some really good initiatives that I thought London, Ontario and Canada at large should be adopting or plain old ripping off. After all, I’ve never seen a government agency claim intellectual property (IP) infringement if someone else began doing the same thing, so why shouldn’t we?! This type of stance has been brought forth by Shawn Adamsson very recently.

Food 2030

The UK government recently unveiled Food 2030 – a food strategy designed to ensure that Britons have access to high quality, sustainably farmed/grown, food that benefits both the farmer/grower and the consumer. At the same time Food 2030 should ensure that people have good jobs, a reduction in greenhouse emissions and food waste.

My Goals & Resolutions for 2010

May 30, 2015January 4, 2010 by Derek Silva

As 2010 really begins for me, several days after the fact, I’ve given some thought about the resolutions and goals I would like to set. The resolutions are as follows: Curse less. It’s been brought to my attention that the amount of cursing I do at work bothers some of my colleagues. I’m going to … Read more

Unions Behaving Badly

May 30, 2015November 22, 2009 by Derek Silva

This post has been a long time coming. The current strike by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 741, which drive and operate the buses for the London Transit Commission (LTC) was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Lately it has been clear that the requirement and use of unions in the developed world is no longer necessary. Indeed, unions seem to be doing far more harm than good these days. First it was the catastrophic downfall of the North American auto manufacturers (not the only cause, but a big one no doubt). Three months ago, here in Ontario, the union representing driving examiners at the DriveTest centres, which are run by a private company called Serco (clearly outsourcing it was a big mistake) went on strike and there’s no end in sight to that one.