"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Yesterday's Post Again

I read it again to see where I said things were better when we had to walk to school in bare feet on the snow. I never said that.I have never heard of a town that uses beet-root juice to deal with snow and ice.It must be an amazing sight.

No doubt there was a time when there were no snow plows As when people got about with horses and cutters and jingling bells. I do not remember that. But there has always been a time when some people knew better how to plan a snow clearing program than the people charged with the responsibility.

I have never been one of those.Never had the inclination.

Snow plowing is a very expensive operation. It can make or break a municipal budget.
It can't be known from year to year how much snow will fall or if icy rain is going to be a problem. A blizzard lasting several days is an exciting event. Works Guys used get excited about being up on the plow for eighteen hours at a stretch and keeping the road clear fro travellers.They are the heroes on a par with police and firefighters, only at a fraction of the pay.

It's better than being down a hole on New Year's Day or Christmas morning repairing a broken water main or a plugged up sewer.

I have never had any inclination to do that job either.But somebody has to.

I daresay they would all rather be suave and smooth in a Conrad Black tailored suit in a board room, or in ermine trimmed red velvet robe and satin knickers in the British House of Lords, la-de-da, though certainly not in an orange jump suit in a Florida jail cell.

Though it appears to take nothing away from his social status as a rich man in Canada in non-judgmental Canada.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The the problem that is being brought up has nothing to do with the age of the individuals. As someone who claims to be the victim of elder abuse (through words) you should be the last one to pull out that card!

The problem is that taxes go up, councils piss away the tax money on seemingly (to those complaining) meaningless things and the snow removal in the Town is sometimes haphazard and at best inconsistent.

People are not asking for a plow for every street, but when you drive into Aurora from another Town (either north or south), there are times you can truly see the difference. People are only looking for good value for the money they spend.

If it is such an expensive operation, perhaps council (and it's councillors) need to take a more serious look at the complaints and not discount them as young people not understanding "how it used to be". That bulls**t doesn't cut it anymore - if you are going to be a councillor in 2011, get your head into 2011!

Anonymous said...

"Snow plowing is a very expensive operation. It can make or break a municipal budget."
We live in Canada. Of course it is expected to potentially be a heavy budget item. Perhaps if so much had been spent on legal fees in the last few years, we would have better snowploughing results.

Get Real said...

"That bulls**t doesn't cut it anymore - if you are going to be a councilor in 2011, get your head into 2011"

what is it with people that feel the need to whine and bitch about every petty little issue , by the looks of things the Town has a major issue on its hands with the lack of winter maintenance, after all, were up to our 5th complaint out of 53,000 residents, surely the Town can do better with a customer satisfaction record that dismal,
Your reader is absolutely right about getting their proverbial head into 2011 ,that is if they can dislodge it from their arse first

WTFuddleduddy said...

Get Real has a point - 5th complaint about winter maintenance on a blog. A blog, this one or any other, is just that. A blog is a very (very!) small sampling of the population. To put too much emphasis on the few nameless bloggers having a whine and a moan about winter maintenance isn't going to have an effect. Nor frankly, do I want my town officials reading blogs thinking that this is THE pulse of the community. It ain't.
The Town responds to actual calls and enquiries to the town hall, so we can have a nice vent here but it doesn't make a blind bit of difference unless you actually pick up the phone and call it in.
And if you don't then I guess it isn't that big a deal for you, is it?!

Christopher Sorley said...

When my parents (against my wishes - hey I was but 7) moved the family to Aurora in 1968, we lived on Brookland. It snowed, in my mind, far more then. Irrespective, it would be 2-3 days before the plow would come down the road. No big deal, the biggest social club in town then was the Aurora Snow Mobile Club. Headed by Bill Trent and other self sufficient persons like my dad, we got driven to school on a snowmobile. Actually ours was a 1967 Motoski sold by Vic Priestly. Ok those times are over and it is now illegal to drive a snow mobile in town limits (although I challenge a by-law officer to catch one on a snowy day), but we still get by. I admit I have an all wheel drive car and it still takes the snow plows 2 days to get to the Court where I live. But hey, I am blessed, I planned, changed with the times, and more importantly work in the same great town where I live. So with snow it is 8 minutes to get to work instead of 5. Go with the flow folks and get a real complaint.

Regards

C. Sorley