Sometimes, when the comments are coming fast,I may click the wrong button. Most comments are posted.
On Sunday, I posted one that made no sense. Anonymous asked me to tidy up anonymous. I trashed it this morning after I received a similarly senseless comment.
Glad to see Chris Watts is back after a silent spell . His post is about contradictory, meaningless and misguided messages from the municipality in the last term, related to energy conservation.
There is a misunderstanding.
Cathie Malloy , museum curator with us for a very short time, successfully processed an application and a generous grant of $750,000 was received, I think from a federal program, to use for purposes of a museum.
A new heating system was needed. Staff received prices for two.. One was geothermal the other natural gas.
Geothermal was a more expensive installation. It meant pumping heat from the ground to warm the facility. After installation , there was no cost for energy and no pollution produced.
We didn't choose to use the grant sensibly We bypassed geothermal and chose natural gas.
We did however create a controlled environment for protection of artifacts. We also installed interior storm windows. In the restoration, we had to install single diamond glass in windows without storms to maintain authenticity.
When Council received the presentation on the Green Bin program, I found aspects that gave me pause.
The region had been selling composting boxes at a reduced price to encourage composting in home gardens. They removed the program with the advent of green bins. They needed the composting material for the green bin program to work.
Green bins are distributed only to houses. Composting was only possible in gardens. Except for worm culture.
Green bins are not distributed to multiple residential buildings. Garbage down a chute is not separable.
Plastic bags were prohibited.in green bins. They stop the composting process.
I did not believe homeowners would accept the smell and the maggot infestations that entailed.
Council passed my motion to refer the presentation to the Environmental Advisory Committee. Morris.
MacEachern, Gaertner and Susan Walmer were variously chairmen of the committee.
The town approved adding an environmental engineer to the staff complement soon after creation of the committee. The move was recommended by the committee. Terms of reference were to "identify environmental initiatives". Annual cost, $100,000.
No report returned from the committee , identifying strengths or shortcomings of the Green Bin program. .
Soon after start of the program, plastic bags were allowed. Like I said, people did not tolerate smells and maggot infestations. Some changes to modernity are not acceptable.
I conclude therefore we live in an age of graduate degrees in bluster, blather, empty headed nincompoopery and deliberate plans to misguide the nation ,cost be damned. and may the devil take the hindmost
"It's not corruption we have to worry about. It's stupidity"
The snow-melt treatment facility in the capital construction budget of 2007, of $700,000 increased in 2011 to $800,000. is another one of these mind-boggling initiatives.
$168,000 has already been expended on a design.
The purpose is to remove salt from snow without explaining how salt and snow co-exist . Even if it was possible without snow being melted by salt, it suggests salt, soluble in water, can be removed from same by a treatment facility with a total price tab of $800,000.
Meanwhile,99.999 % of all snow or ice that falls on our roads ultimately melts where it falls. without aid or assistance of treatment of any kind.
Did I mention, a representative of the Environment Minister, forwarded approval of the cockamamie scheme for a period of five years.
No doubt ,the plan and its approval will be added to a data base and at some point in time, the Ministry will claim success in ongoing, earnest efforts towards diligence in protection of Ontario's environment.
Al Gore would be proud of us.
His Royal Highness, Charles, Prince of Wales , who treats effluent from his house, Highgrove. on his property and returns it to nourish his garden, might not be so easily persuaded. .
Re: Environmental Advisory Committee
ReplyDeleteThe four women who "were variously chairmen of the committee" should each have been green binned during their respective periods as chair to see how the inner workings of a green bin function.
They should then have been given a similar opportunity to try composting.
They could then have made expert recommendations.
Aurora at present is an example of the ease with which an organization can squander resources when they should be husbanded and used to create meaningful projects. We need a place for the youth of Aurora and must stop spending money foolishly on anything with "plan" or "study" in its title.
ReplyDeleteThe Cultural Centre should simply be informed that it must live within its means, whether it be in the former Church Street School as a small unit or elsewhere if it wishes to expand.
I thought the salt-removal scheme was already dead in the water. What does it take to get something dropped ? Unless you are all vigilant, items get stuck back on the table. Can you trust that Council decisions are accurately reflected by staff ?
ReplyDelete"Salt-removal scheme dead in the water". I like it.
ReplyDeleteHis Royal Highness, Charles, Prince of Wales , who treats effluent from his house, Highgrove. on his property and returns it to nourish his garden, might not be so easily persuaded.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this explains Aurora's good fortune in winning the prestigious Prince of Whales Trophy, her royal highass produced enough effluent to nourish an entire Town
The comments on the CRA checking out the Cultural Centre and maybe the Arts Festival began as a joke. Day by day it is appearing to be a decent idea especially for the Cultural Centre. Can't hurt and might clear the air.
ReplyDelete@11 January, 2012 12:22 PM
ReplyDeleteNo, regarding the Cultural Centre, that derisory idea is still a joke.
Anonymous said:
ReplyDelete"The comments on the CRA checking out the Cultural Centre and maybe the Arts Festival began as a joke. Day by day it is appearing to be a decent idea especially for the Cultural Centre. Can't hurt and might clear the air."
Except that there was illegal about how this went down - it's just that a few on these boards did not like it!