"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, 12 September 2012

A Gate Closed


 Last week Councillor Gallo accused members ,including myself of "tweeking" numbers to obtain a desired result. 
I  posted, in  the language of rules of order,  my "motives had been impugned" 
I wrote  I might  "rise on a question of privilege, addressing the chair, and demand an apology" from said Councillor for insinuating nefarious motives against myself.  
Refusal could result in expulsion from the Council Chamber. 
The decision was mine to make. I chose not .
Council has a hard enough time getting through the town's business agenda without  time taken  for extraneous matters.
Last night, the Councillor made a second  accusation. 
He produced a staff report he claimed had been presented 
which disputed a statement made by myself. 
What he did not do was acknowledge the report had been  withdrawn by staff, because of  error, before it could be  discussed by Council and after  further staff consultation, it  was never presented again.
In other words, Council   never discussed a request to provide additional funds, in excess of the budget, to complete a double tennis court in the David English park. . 
Councillor Gallo wrongly argued the recommendation was made with  appearance of documentation to support his claim. 
It was not.
As always, I will let my reputation stand. 
But a gate just clanged shut.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...


A couple of days ago you introduced a badger into a conversation about a certain male councillor.

Speaking up on behalf of badgers, they did not find this in the least bit amusing.

They are very responsible creatures and consider matters seriously before they act.

The councillor appears not to, far too often.

Anonymous said...

When did lying become ' miss-spoking '? Because there is a lot of it going on at Council meetings. I hasten to add that I find offenders among staff as well as sitting as councillors. It is surely suicidal to throw the whoppers around in this day of instant media. If one cannot remember one's own words from day to day, why should be-fuddled Aurorans have to sort it all out?
I believe Councillor Gallo was once quoted in the Auroran as " My religion does not allow me to lie. "
Really, Councillor Gallo?

veritas said...

I live "east of the railway tracks."
I enjoy a relaxed set or two of tennis during the warm weather.
The closest tennis courts to where I live are actually on Bayview Avenue in the town of Newmarket. Perhaps I could pay my property taxes to Newmarket for offering facilities that I enjoy instead of to the town of Aurora, which does not.
I have grown rather tired of the obvious lack of support for anything in the "new" end of town, particularly from councillors Ballard, Gaertner and Gallo. Their support is always fervent for anything in the older part of town, where they live presumably.
There are a couple of parks close to home but the facilities are geared towards the younger population. While there is a large proportion of young families in the neighbourhood, it is not exclusively so. I do not begrudge the children their splash pad and skate park but it would be nice to have facilities that all age groups can enjoy, tennis courts being a prime example. I don't think that, at my age, it would be wise to hop on a skate board and I am certainly not going to don a bathing suit and run across the splash pad. However, I am still able to play and enjoy tennis and would like this odd little town with its odd little sub-group of councillors to recognize that my tax dollars could still be weel-spent on facilities that I can enjoy without having to cross into the neighboring town.
We new residents east of the tracks pay taxes too; older residents pay taxes too; we would like an equal bang for our buck.
The ward system sounds very attractive whenever the 3 kill-joy councillor stooges open their mouths because I would like a council representative who would stand up strongly for my side of town.

Anonymous said...

what a complete and utter farce that little fellow staged , talk about decorating the truth , smoke and mirrors and Mormac mentality at its worst , why for heavens sake was this whole charrade allowed to play out ,is there no one around that table wise enough to put a stop to yesterdays politics,

Anonymous said...

What a monumental waste of time, effort and hot air! Where does Councilor Gallo get off canceling a work project? Those people are entitled to their tennis courts - it is nothing compared to what the Center gets every damn year due to those idiots. But we have to remember that Mr. Gallo was the one who ran screaming to the town that a land owner was taking down trees on his own property. Since he got away with that, he thinks he's in charge.