I'm writing this on a lap top. Since the last time we talked I have been on a round of discovery. I have accomplished nothing.
The keyboard of my former system has been determined to be kerplunk.The computer is not. I receive comments and e-mails. I can publish or delete comments. I cannot acknowledge or respond to e-mails. Nor can I post a blog.
I have visited John who spent half an hour with me showing all the wonderful things an Apple lap top does ninety per cent of which I am unlikely to do.
It is a beautiful machine that does magical things but well beyond my means.
Two keyboards later, I have discovered new hardware is not compatible with four year old software. Now I understand what Stephanie, my grand-daughter says about planned obsolescence.
To buy new software to be compatible with a thirty dollar keyboard is more expensive than to buy a new laptop.
So ... before I spend $500, or thereabouts of scarce resources, the hunt is on in various satellite homes of my family for an old but functioning keyboard which may be compatible with the 2007 software in my computer
Which by the way, four and a half years ago cost $1,750.
My grand-daughter Stephanie is here with me this morning. Ready to respond to my shouts of frustration and reassure me it will take only a little time to get used to the laptop keyboard.
But the screen is small. The type is minute. The keyboard is somewhat similar but sufficiently different to keep my shoulders tense.
There's another budget meeting to-night. It will be conducted by the Mayor along the same lines as the last. Council will be efficiently manipulated into approving everything as presented.
From where I sit, the Mayor has melded seamlessly with the administration.
So, the administration has added a voice to their side.
Council on the other hand has lost the essential voice of leadership on theirs.
If I say that out loud everyone will go berserk and bend over backwards to assure staff of the wonderful job they are doing, without taking in what I am saying.
The administration has a role. They wrack up expenditures.
They are accountable to the elected body.
Council determines validity and affordability of expenditures proposed.
They are accountable to the people who elected them.
In the public sector, separation of the roles is essential.
When a Mayor melds with the administration , we have a private sector format.
The administration is ecstatic.
The public interest is not in any sense served.
From what you observe and say, the mayor is not a leader, a manager or a guide.
ReplyDeleteRather he is someone who has elected (no pun intended) to govern as a part of the administration team.
This is disturbing.
The last mayor threw out the administration until she got one that satisfied her ego.
The present mayor seems to have little ego and is quite prepared to surrender what bit he has to "STAFF."
They say we get what we deserve. I don't think we deserve this.
Since Geoff Dawe said he would run to replace Morris,
ReplyDeletethere were doubts about his need to ingratiate himself.
But there were not a lot of people who 'wanted' the job.
What he has done was help get rid of Morris and cut off her funding for that wretched lawsuit. And for
that we must be grateful. Can't change a man's
nature for him; he has to do it himself.
Dawe should remember his own history, how early he was selected and the means by which he became
Mayor of Aurora.
For history does repeat itself and the selection
process has already begun.
What a shame. There was potential.
It would be delightful if Geoff could turn this thing around. No one bears him any malice and hope does
struggle not to die.
and truer words where never spoken!!!!!
ReplyDelete"Two keyboards later, I have discovered new hardware is not compatible with four year old software. Now I understand what Stephanie, my grand-daughter says about planned obsolescence"
ReplyDeletevery interesting observations Councilor , sort of drives home your point about the needless sofware program the town is buying , only mulitplied by hundreds of thousands, Hits home when you see it for yourself
Didn't the Town buy s bunch of computers ? Can you make one safe for personal use ?
ReplyDeleteGood material from Warren Mars. Can he do that ?
ReplyDeleteI wish to commend Warren Mar, our Town Solicitor, for his comments concerning the Cultural Centre that were published in this week's edition of the Auroran.
ReplyDeleteWe finally seem to have a senior member of Staff who understands that there must be both accountability and transparency when it comes to the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, and that members of Council should serve on the Centre's Board, possibly even as a majority. Furthermore, minutes of meetings should be made available to the public and that a detailed operating budget be presented to Council before any funds are released.
His presentation is a model for all governments.
A wise person once said that you can't please everyone. However, the comments that I read about this topic would be more apt to be that you can't please anyone.
ReplyDeleteLet's go back to the election. Who of consequence was running for Mayor?
Morris, Dawe, Kean, Clowater. It can be agreed that the majority wanted Morris out. Of the three left, who was the better candidate? What sort of things would have been written about if Nigel won instead?
The grass is always greener on the other side.
Maybe we should petition Queen's Park for the right to recall.
Just after the last election I read a blog comment from our long lost friend Robert the Bruce that said something like the posters here would not be happy a year into this admistration. I guess he was a bit of a pronosticator.
To those that thought getting rid of Morris and her group would solve all of Aurora's problems, reality is a bitch.
I think Dawe is doing a fine job, as it happens. That he doesn't defer automatically to the resident 'eminence grise' is to his credit, some may say.
ReplyDeleteI think some are setting against him because of the company he keeps. The senior members of staff who came onboard during the last term are being tarnished with the MorMac brush. Guilty by association, it would seem - just a perpetuation of the 'us versus them' mentality.
There are frequent references to "sides" and "they" on this blog, something that characterized the previous regime. It would appear that no-one is immune to blinkered partisanship.
A democracy is never static. If it ceases to evolve,
ReplyDeleteit will wither away.
That is the reality and it is never a bitch.
Anonymous 3:43 should not fret. Aurora will do just
fine.
One reason I like the change is there is less harassment and bullying coming my way and at others.
ReplyDeleteCome on David.... how much harrasment are you personally receiving? Perhaps you reap what you sew.
ReplyDeleteTo anon 11:21 AM
ReplyDeleteI will stand up against the bullies and if you call that reaping then so be it.
If standing up to the bullies of the last term is reaping then so be it.
ReplyDeleteTo anon 9:44pm
ReplyDeleteI think your opinion about David is off base.I think he did the right thing by speaking up and he paid the price.
Regarding anonymous 9:44
ReplyDeleteMr.Heard did the right thing.