"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

Friday 25 May 2012

Comedy And Other Stuff

Yesterday several comments came through, four I think, all saying pretty much the same things; nobody uses any of the parks in Aurora,
the fence is no big deal and further blah.blah,blah blithering nonsense.
I  instantly blankety-blanked them out .
So they were never seen.
This morning there's  a comment about deleting comments wholesale.
How would anyone know that without knowing they were made?
How would that be known without having made the comments?
It's like the two arsonists who blew themselves away  lighting a match  in an enclosed space to fumes they themselves created.
I also received an extended list of offenses from  the fifty years I've been involved in Aurora politics.Written by  the same bitter individual who claimed earlier, it's a shame my blogs have become so objectionable because she has always been a supporter and enjoyed reading them but not now no more.
Oh  yes and she added she thinks all  the anonymous are only one person. pretending to be many. 
Well, she would know about that alright.
 By the way, I received a copy of the permit for use of the park for three days and fee for the band shell. No reference is made to permission to erect a fence or lease space to vendors and food and beverage purveyors.
The Parks Bylaw says no person may erect a fence without the director's permission. Also,  the town has authority to contract food purveyors and the LCBO to license beer gardens.
Until I hear differently, I am assuming no such permission has been given.    .


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have the permit. What if the Director gives permission under seperate cover?

Devil's advocate

Anonymous said...

Time is running out for pesky little details like fences, licenses to sell for vendors and insurance for the operation. Surely this should have been well in hand months ago. But perhaps that will allow the panic-laden last minute rush to bully staff into compliance. Not sure if it will fly.
But we have learned that some staff have authority to do various things unless Council specifically tells them otherwise. It could all have been dealt with already.

christopher watts said...

I'm glad that you posted the subject of the posts you rejected as it helps frame how exactly the fencing off of a public park is a big deal.

Attend any Saturday Farmers Market and you'll see the congregation of people move from the market to the park. It is used, and anyone with children know that well.

How it is done at RibFest is a complete departure from how it has been done at the Jazz+/- thing. The LCBO regulations are a smokescreen, as is the excuse for protecting equipment or talent which isn't impacted over the same 3 day period during RibFest.

What we have here is an imbalance and a blatant misuse of one of our town parks. The town park is a completely inappropriate venue for the Jazz+/-Festival, the success boasted from the organizers, the traffic woes, exclusion and direct competition with the Farmers Market vendors and local businesses suggest that we need a single set of rules for these events.

The solution is easy. An event like the Jazz+/- festival needs to be located in an appropriate venue. This should be done at the permit stage and I would encourage council, and the public at large that obviously share several concerns to lobby to have the festival relocated should they wish to hold it in upcoming years.

Anonymous said...

A couple of times we have tried to use nick-names to help you with sorting comments. Each time something has happened and we quit doing that. Maybe we could try again?
S

Anonymous said...

Just FYI, there must be at least two anonymous commenters because I know I only speak for myself. My bet is that there are more than the two of us.

The person suggesting that all comments are coming from one source has either not lived in Aurora for long or they have their head firmly stuck in the sand (maybe both). When you have at least four previous and a current mayor that have expressed their views (Buck, Jones, Illingworth, West, Dawe), previous and current councillors that share many of the same views and countless independent letters to the editor over the past few years, it’s safe to say that we are not alone in our collective concerns. The small group of disgruntled people that are attacking you, this site and the current mayor are continuing in their long standing efforts to create their own reality.

I suspect that some people feel that when reality doesn’t work for them all they have to do is create a new one, or just spew confusion and misinformation. Civil debate goes out the window but some people don’t seem to care. I suspect that it’s not about debate or the town in their minds, it’s about politically motivated attacks. If you don’t fall into line then you have a big target on your back.

Despite a few bumps along the way, our current council is moving in the right direction. All we need to do is a bit more house cleaning in the next election. The political furball that has typified our town hall over the past three terms seems to have one single denominator and I’ll leave it to the good people of Aurora to figure out who or what that denominator is.

We get the government we deserve, so let’s hope that we deserve better than the crap we have had to endure in the recent past.


Lest we forget.

Anonymous said...

You must be making some progress on one of your current projects, Evelyn. Those attacks claiming to be from those who never/hardly ever read the blog generally signify that the steady flow of information is taking its toll. They cannot combat you on that ground so they target your Blog. In a sick way, it should be considered flattering, a high compliment to you.

Anonymous said...

I suspect we tend to sound alike due to absorbing the same information over a period of years regardless of the various backgrounds. Scratch an Auroran and you find a strange mixture of legal strategies, municipal politics and psychopathology. Wounded, but still standing, albeit a little unsteadily at times.

Anonymous said...

I'm going slightly off-topic here. Does anyone know if the vendors at the Market on Saturday will be able to discuss their Code of Conduct without receiving divine retribution? I would very much like to know if any who did sign have had the gumption to demand their copies back. But don't want to land someone in trouble.

Anonymous said...

There is no individual. It's more like a community & we don't always agree. Me, I still miss Robert the Bruce. I felt I knew the guy who put his dog out when the first train went through town every morning. Over time, a picture developed & he was the one who commented that Granger was campaigning & didn't know about the Former's lawsuit. Residual memory.

Anonymous said...

To 2:43 PM From your computer to God's ear. But, just when my hopes for Council start to rise, they smite them down. The big ticket expenses are ok'ed but they cannot agree on the colour of the town vehicles which will cost nothing.
Now some critic will claim that I am arguing with myself. Boggles.

Sharon Brookes said...

I'm disappointed that you wouldn't post my comment concerning fences.
I'll try again. The last few years of the Agricultural Fair were fenced. Along Orchard Heights and by the parking lot at Aurora Heights. And there was admission charge. I remember trying to get down early before having to pay. When the bands play in Lambert Wilson for July festivites, that area is fenced. My comment earlier was our parks are rarely used. I should elaborate and state that this is not the case when something organized is taking place, like the Farmers Market, which brings people to the park. I walked the dog in Machell yesterday, and I was the soul person there.
I still believe this is a personal issue with you about the St. Kitts. You certainly don't have to post this, but I am entitled to my opinion. That's why I also put name to the comment so you would know this isn't some anonymous poster. Do I support a fence, again, it really doesn't bother me, as it happens with other events.

Anonymous said...

Dear Sharon,
I do not believe this is a personal matter. Rather it is about establishing a precedent in which people, anyone, can fence off the Park, lease the rights to sell to outside, or inside, vendors, and generate a personal profit under any name or organization. That fact that so many other groups hold events without creating animosity highlights the difference but also shows the need for town control over town assets.
I will admit that St.Kitts group could use a public relations advisor. What began as a theoretical discussion that could have been sorted out has escalated to a ridiculous level. Most of the angst would appear to come from them rather than residents who would sooner not have this annual dog-&-pony show. They should have just gotten on with their event as do all other outfits. No one would have minded in the slightest.

Anonymous said...

Please explain for me.
If all the reasons to remove the fencing are valid, why did it get erected the first time? It must cost a lot.

Anonymous said...

OMG, Evelyn, watch your back, please!

Anonymous said...

" Anonymous said...
There is no individual. It's more like a community & we don't always agree. Me, I still miss Robert the Bruce. I felt I knew the guy who put his dog out when the first train went through town every morning. Over time, a picture developed & he was the one who commented that Granger was campaigning & didn't know about the Former's lawsuit. Residual memory.

25 May, 2012 6:43 PM"

I miss him too... whatever happened to him? Sometimes he ruffled feathers but I admired that he stuck to his convictions. Of course he had some run-ins with Mr Watts, it was fun to read their barbs back and forth.

Anonymous said...

"Of course he had some run-ins with Mr Watts, it was fun to read their barbs back and forth."

You must also like watching the kids in schoolyard fights. It was about the same level.