SomeThings Stayed The Same

Letterman had a couple and a cat as guests on his show last night. The cat is a thief in the night and  over the last couple of years brought hundreds of stolen items home. A picture showed him dragging pyjama trousers home in his teeth.

The husband said he  talked to the vet about the  cat's bizarre behavior.

"What did he tell you?" asked Letterman

"The cat loves us" answered the guest.

I like to watch Letterman. He is so irreverent about human behaviour in general and  about some people in particular. My thoughts wander while I watch.

For  some reason the infamous  quote of Marie Antoinette came to mind.

The French Revolution was raging and the Queen asked why the people were so angry. The answer was..."Because they have no  bread"

The Queen said  "Let them eat cake"

We will never know if it's true or somebody just made it up to ruin her reputation.

I think it was  true. It's what I expect of people who have no real connection with life.

It's four months since  Aurora throw the wastrels  out.

Some things change and  some things remain the same.

Last night  Council  had a delegation  demanding   $5 K  for the second time for the summer Jazz
Festival. They came last week as well. Pointed  questions were asked. It looked like they would not  get what they  wanted. I was  encouraged
.
Staff recommended they receive $2K and the $935 user fee for the town park be waived.I would not have agreed with that either.

Last night the delegation ( St Kitts woman nowhere in sight) talked about how successful the festival was last year. Five thousand people each paid $5 admission. .This year,Councillor Ballard said ten thousand people are expected to attend. Revenue from admission will double.

A Trillium grant  of $25 Ks has been commited and  other grant opportunities have been sussed out.
and they intend to solicit sponsorship from local business as well

Last night the town was presenting awards to sponsors of the Aurora Borealis  lights in the park festival ..
Councilor Gallo moved the town provide a sponsorship of $$4,230 to the Jazz Festival.

I had no intention of putting my hand in somebody else's pocket and taking their money to give it away to the fast-talking emprisarios.

We heard the usual clap-trap about how much money the affair would bring into town while they have vendors in the park selling everything the attendees might want or need and paying rent to the organizers.

It's  funny how money changes hands. A slush fund of sponsorship  money  was provided to the Chief Administrative Officer last year. We have still not approved it in this year's budget.

Yet there it is.... being spent already.

I  heard about only one last year and that was to the St Kitts woman.. Free use of the Church Street School was provided . She charged $35K  for the hoi-poloi to attend a preFestival party with wine and cheese and all that jazz.

 I think of the two young mothers who came to Council last term from Aurora Grove School.A ten year anniversary of their school wasplanned..They asked for $75   user fee to be waived. It wasn't  It was for  tidying up the park and placing picnic tables and garbage containers.

They were refused.

Later, Wells Street School Association asked for  $300 user fee to be waived for a celebration they were planning. They got that.

It's interesting to see how  council responded to the first Jazz Festival delegation with pointed questions  and the second, when it seemed there was eagerness to give taxpayers' money away

It was as if  nothing actually changed four months ago.

On  one hand, town  staff solicit sponsorships from town business to provide  fun events for the community. at no cost  to  taxpayers .On the other hand, the town hands out sponsorships at  the expense of the taxpayer for a commercial concert  promotion.

The more things change, the more they remain the  same.