Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Trust
is not a commodity":
"But then, lo and behold, following heated
debate on the issue, the mayor turned a full 180 degrees and voted against the
motion."
This scenario has often been repeated here by Cllr Buck and
others. I think it is a matter of perspective - you heard what you wanted to
hear ... until you didn't.
What I heard was what I hear about any number
of issues before Council. A member will speak to the matter, often giving the
pros and cons, and may even speak twice to the motion, etc.
The council
members that get castigated here for some perceived switcheroo did nothing of
the sort. I heard them address both sides of the debate, the good and the bad,
before proceeding to the vote. I wasn't surprised by the result - as many of you
were - because I was listening to what was actually being said, rather than what
an opponent of the Cultural Centre expected to hear.
I think this
rewriting of history, based on a bias and a misperception, is really unfair to
these particular members of council.
***********
Times have changed. Council deliberations are no longer dependent on media for interpretation.
People can see and hear what the Mayor and Councillors have to say about town affairs.
Double speak and backtracking are not new in politics, they are just no longer so easily practiced.
"By their deeds, ye shall know them"
One might imagine the fate of the last Council at the hands of the electorate might have sounded a warning.
But no, perhaps the new order is too new.
Only one reason existed to create a separate autonomous
not- for-profit board to govern Church Street School;
The intent was the facility would be.self-sufficient and never become a burden on homeowners and busnesses of the community.
The commitment was betrayed in the first agreement. .
The primary purpose for the building's renovation was to stand as a symbol of the community's values.
The agreement's second draft makes it clear the first was intentionally crafted to ignore the requirementof self-sufficiency.
The financial burden is intended to be continued.
This community's values have been trampled into the dirt by
people who clearly have no sense of principle.
That is not what Aurora is about.
There will be a price to pay.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
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5 comments:
Just a generalization
None of us expect tonight will be pretty. But try & have some fun anyway. We cannot see the body language or hear the nasty little asides. You are our photo taker of images for your Blog. Be safe.
It is simple. There is no business plan. No attempt to wean the Centre from Aurora's tax base. Whatever way the cards fall, they will likely fall tonight or at the next meeting.
This is like watching a tennis match. Mayor Dawe is already down a set. You lose if you miss 2 sets. It is possible to turn the thing around if you start taking sets.
I watched Mayor Dawe's statement on the Culture Centre at this evening's GC meeting, and I agree with him, namely "culture" is synonymous with "society." Our society is our culture. I believe I heard similar words expressed at the lynch-mob meeting last February in the Council chamber.
It is most unfortunate that it was the former mayor and a handful of her zealots who saw an opportunity for self-aggrandizement when they "created" the agreement and lease for the Centre in June, 2009. The agreement was flawed, as was succinctly stated by the Town Solicitor in a report to Council dated in December, 2011.
These flaws could have been remedied in a matter of a few weeks. Instead we had the spectacle of an ad hoc negotiating committee or team or whatever take the better part of nine months to create documents that are still flawed.
Had this project been initiated by a different group of Aurora residents none of the bile of the past few years would have festered and we would have a building with a purpose of which we all would be proud. And its finances and operation would be a part of "our town." Instead we have division and distrust and extreme dislike, some of us for some few others of us.
When you look at what is happening all around us, in our country and in our world, it is almost laughable that we would make such a big stink about such a small issue, something that should never have been permitted to occur in the first place.
If we don't have the common sense to deal with minor irritants, how will we ever be able to deal with large ones?
Much as I love Aurora, there are times when living here seems offensive, all because of a few.
That was not unexpected but it is still sad. There will be no one to blame for self-inflicted damage after such a long time to get things right.
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