The Town Hall

At Whitby is magnificent. It's built in the hills north of the old town centre. Nestled in green space, walls of glass are surrounded by trellis. Vines grow up and over the windows to keep heat out in the summer and in their absence, let in the warmth of the winter sun.

Inside space lends itself to banquets, receptions and concerts. Boy scouts and girls can camp there at week-ends. The building melds into its surroundings.
It is breath -taking.

I held a couple of board hearings there. Whitby was a town of eighteen thousand, same size as Aurora

I was completely in awe and admiration of the building and the Council with the vision and courage to make the decision they did. In all of Ontario, I had never seen a more beautiful or impressive Town Hall.

The architect was world renowned . It wasn't cheap. But a Town Hall provides a message.

"We know where we 're going. Join us. We will go forward together"

You don't need vapid sounding logos or clips from foreign newspapers when everything about you bespeaks vision and confidence. .

I consistently argued, if we want developers to invest in design, we can do no less than set the example. If we should be so fortunate as to have the opportunity to build one in our time.

When we were contemplating a second new building, I suggested Council go and see Whitby Town Hall. The Administration Building on Wellington Street , sometime known as Buck's Palace, fully occupied now by the Board of Education was our first.

We do have a few elements of the Whitby building in our Town Hall. The Skylight Gallery as its name suggest, is an Art Gallery. It's also used occasionally for receptions. The building is prominently located on a hill outside the downtown . The Council Chamber can be used for concerts. We had a successful jazz concert there one Sunday afternoon after completion.The
entrance lobby accommodates crowds during an event.

The interlocking brick courtyard lends itself well to the Christmas tree lighting but it's the only time it's used. The place is deserted at week-ends, summer and winter.

The building itself is a red brick Victorian reflection of the downtown core. Downtown was modern design when it came to be a hundred and fifty years ago. They weren't trying to reflect heritage then.They were blazing a trail.

Newmarket Town Hall is the former Ontario Hydro building.It is a commercial building. It lends itself well to the town's purposes and was probably an economical way to provide a facility. But it 's not a Town Hall.

It's location contributes nothing to style and dignity. It's in the middle of a mess of ugly hydro generating machinery. It can't be seen from the road. It says nothing to anybody about the Town of Newmarket. Take that back. It does say something.

John West was Mayor when our town hall was built. The location was criticised as was the cost. He did have courage and vision. Some things I talked about were included. We didn't go to Whitby to see the Town Hall. Probably because he knew he would be just as influenced as I was.

John would risk but not all the way.

I was always ready to use the opportunity provided to do the possible best and devil take the consequences.

I didn't run for public office ...and win ...so that other people could tell me what to think and how to vote.

No sirree...that was never my objective. I never made any bones about it. Never saw much point in having a leadership role and not doing the job accordingly. Still don't.