"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 26 October 2011

Everybody Has A Cross To Bear.

I finished the post and thought; better have some breakfast and go do some shopping. I need brown  and white  sugar and eggs. I have ginger, flour and molasses. I always think about making ginger snap cookies for Hallowe'en handouts.

It goes back to my childhood in Scotland, when apples, nuts and home made toffee and tablet were handed out. The harvest  ritual dated to pagan times but like many others was taken over by the Christians and given a totally different and scary meaning.  Holy Souls in Purgatory being punished for  sins  haunting and reminding us of their need for our prayers.

In England, the  Hallowe-en  time ritual was Guy Fawkes night. Ginger perkin was the associated sweet. treat,  a large flat biscuit with a cracked surface and a white almond in the centre.  Ginger snaps are a smaller  crispy  and sparkly version of a perkin without the nut.

I checked the  in mail before I left the computer and found the following.  It came in at  12.59    I posted at 11.42

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Hey, Look me over...Lend me your ear.":

Oh Dear no. We couldn't have that. Let's point the finger at  municipal councillors instead and make them  legally liable..

Oh no... council wants the control over a department but not the "legal liability"? Why not? It is council that makes the decisions that ultimately contribute to the quality - or lack of quality of the water. Perhaps the legal liability would force councils to think things through better.

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Read that retort again.

Who is it who would feel a  political challenge to  administrative methodology for calculating water rates would signify a  councillor was  trying to take over the responsibilities of running  a department.?

Who would suggest legal liability would encourage politicians to be more responsible, as opposed to administrative personnel?

I have my own idea.Readers need  to come up with their own answers.While you are at  it, there's something else  to think about;

Included in the calculation for water rates is maintenance of water lines of which  there are probably hundred of miles.. Property throughout the town is serviced with water and sewer lines.  Parks,  schools, public lands,industrial properties and vacant properties .

Stores  and buildings have water and sewer lines running past. Like the vacant  Thompson's furniture  store . The water meter is shut off . Without a water bill, the owner  is not paying for the maintenance of water lines or sewer lines either.  Yet the lines are being maintained. Who is paying?

Only metered water users are paying for maintenance of water lines and  paying for the whole schmeer. All those lines running past vacant industrial lands and buildings. parks, running  in from Yonge Street before buildings begin are wholly on the backs on meteredusers.

So....now we have water used by  parks  and fire department , not measured,  not assigned to town budgets and thrown into the calculation of water rates, as water loss.

Maintenance cost of  water and sewer lines are not shared .

Properties with private wells  don't pay the  surcharge along with  the rest of us  for storm water ponds to improve quality of water of Lake Simcoe which have nothing whatsoever to do with our water supply.

And now, after last night's disclosure of all the  messing about  by the region , on the relatively simple task of bringing  crystal clear pure water , with no manufacturing costs, out of the depths and to our taps,who knows what other  goodies are hidden in the mix.

No, sir!!! At the rate I' m paid, I feel no  responsibility for how water departments of either the town or the region are being run.

But I damned well have the right to accountability for how it 's done and  demand equity in how we pay fot what service.

That's just the cross that will have to  be borne  at least for another three years.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who would think that? Any sane, rational person perhaps.

Council is not taking over a department. They already own that responsibility by virtue of being the legally bound authority in the Town. In case you have forgotten, council creates the bylaws that govern how the Town runs - including water.

If you think that you operate in a legally responsible bubble, why does the Town carry liability insurance for the councillors? You cannot dictate policy without being responsible for the actions of those that carry out that policy.

This has nothing to do with water rates or water loss. If you are the management team of this organization, the Province has decided that you have a legal responsibility.

I would think that any sane person would think that once you are legally liable for your actions, you might take those decisions seriously. It would make me make sure that the staff that carry out those functions are doing the right thing. Is that not the responsible thing to do?

You may have your ideas about who would think this way, but it is clear that you do not. So, who is responsible over at the Town Hall? I guess council is largely a ceremonial position then.

For all of those that need the facts... why don't you show the org-chart of who is really the ones in charge so that when the water goes bad we kmow who to call.

Anonymous said...

"If you think that you operate in a legally responsible bubble, why does the Town carry liability insurance for the councilors?"

The answer to this is obvious , to protect their asses from paying their own legal bills when they get sued for publishing slanderous news paper articles about one of their own members, need any more examples?