"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

Monday 3 September 2012

And Whereas

:Whereas;
Goods and services  required by a municipality  must be obtained by competition for  best price and value.
And whereas; 
Opportunities  for business in public facilities  are  similarly governed 
And whereas;
Entertainment in a public facility comes under the heading of business opportunity
And whereas;
In order to obtain best price and value for entertainment  in a public facility
Now therefore be it resolved
The Director of Recreation and Parks be directed to prepare a form  for Expression of Interest from parties interested in providing a Festival of Music in the Town Park for the August holiday week-end of 2013
*********.
Above is  first draft of a notice intended for  the next meeting.of Council.
 In 2010 , 2011 and 12, town facilities including  band shell,
 washrooms , park and funds were made available to  a private business  to organise  a music festival  during the August holiday week-end.
The park was  fenced off to charge admission. 
Food vendors paid  fees  to the organiser to ply their wares in the park
A beer garden was operated, adding  to the revenues .
An ATM machine was provided , to encourage revenues to stay within the park environs.
A  federal  Member of Parliament  and a Provincial Minister of Culture  lent their presence to promote the endeavour. 
The  Town's Mayor on the other hand,  was  excluded :personna non grata.
Goodwill  pointedly withheld .
Neither benefit, enlightenment nor cultural  uplift of the community
can  therefore be contemplated in the circumstance. 
Establishing, beyond a doubt the event was  an endeavour for other than public benefit. . 
It is entirely  inappropriate public facilities should  again be made available for to the organiser of this event. 
For a town park and other facilities  to be  closed off from public access  for the purpose of a music festival during a holiday week-end, Council authority  is necessary..
Terms of reference need to be established . 
Further still, making  town facilities  available for rent ,for the purpose of concert promotion, should be open to invitational competitive bids with conditions  and limits to occupancy made clear
As a footnote,  the Mayor has apparently been informed by the St Kitts woman, he had only to ask her if he wanted to meet the  Provincial Minister of Culture.
I  mention it  to indicate the level of ridiculosity, we have reached in this entanglement. 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...


Why would anyone want to meet a federal Member of Parliament and a Provincial Minister of Culture?

Anonymous said...

OK, Let's give it a shot. Otherwise we are just going to continue the same old charade.

Anonymous said...

12:25 PM Clearly Councillor Ballard wishes to share the photo-ops. Looks good on the wall.

Anonymous said...


On a dart board.

Anonymous said...

If council will view this simply as good business sense, something positive could finally be done. Even the 3 negatives will be hard-pressed to argue that the Jazz Group are entitled to on-going, special- attention help. There are plenty of other Festivals that work well - we could have one too if we study what others have done and are doing.

Anonymous said...

And whereas no Farmers Market monies will be used to start a new festival.

Anonymous said...

To: 3 September, 2012 12:25 PM

There are those that feel that if they rub shoulders with those in power, they are somehow better than everyone else.

I have rubbed shoulders with both in the past. I was very disappointed with the Culture Minister. You could not understand a word he said.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Aurora should have it's own Festival that week-end next year, a Birthday Festival in The Park, without fencing. That would solve the problem of the Jazz Gang as you could mess with their timing AND get some stiff rules in place if they pick another date.