Three Questions In A Fountain

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Degrees of Difference, Easily Identifiable":

Hi Evelyn,

Query for you, wasn't Holman and Glass repaved in the 1990s? I used to live on Knowles and remember getting a new pair of inline skates and found the new paving on Holman was perfect for skating?

I believe these two roads were repaved before the town decided to start using "urban" design standards and upgrading the sewers underneath. That would explain the existence of the ditches and the patching job along Glass as the sewer pipes failed due to age

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Points of Debate":

I would think Ms Buck's flogging of her street is a conflict of interest isn't it?

 ************ Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Degrees of Difference, Easily Identifiable":

I guess we use different definitions of urban/rural...

ur·ban/ˈɜrbən/
adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or designating a city or town.
2. living in a city.

ru·ral/ˈrʊərəl/ adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the country, country life, or country people; rustic: rural tranquillity.
2. living in the country: the rural population.
3. of or pertaining to agriculture: rural economy.
noun
4. a person who lives in a rural area.

Based on those, from Dictionary.com, Hunter's Glen would be urban. Glass Drive would be urban.
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I've lived on Holman since 1961. I remember it  being paved once
Long before the 90's They re-shaped the slopes of  the ditches. . Made them  too steep for me to cut  and  introduced  weeds  such as we  had never seen in our lives before.We  were never able to get rid of them 

The sewers in Regency strated to collapse soon after the subdivision was completed. A new material had been used known as Johns Manvile Asbestos pipe.
The lots had been sold by the developer. Not all the homes were serviced with the new material. They collapsed like drinking straws 
and had to be replaced, mostly at the expense of the home-owner. 
   
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 A conflict of interest happens when an elected representtaive 
exploits  authority, in breach of the oath of office, to access public funds and sometimes private, to enrich themselves with   money, goods and services that  doesn't belong to them. .

It's a bit like stealing. Having your hand in the cookie jar.

Mike Duffy says he didn't understand the rules about claiming for housing. He claimed expenses for his home in Ottawa and said the cottage he bought in Prince Edward Island was his principal residence. 

He is offering to return the money he obtained  by claiming he had to pay for a second home in Ottawa because  his  real home was in P.E.I. 

If my property was the only one on  Holman Crescent receiving improvement and I spoke for/and voted  in favour of  improving it, that would be a conflict of interest .
 
On the other hand ,if I was being severely criticized by anonymous  constituents and  retained legal counsel at taxpayers expense, to advise it would be appropriate for an elected representatives to use public funds to file suit for^$6 million dollars in damages, payable to me, myself alone,or a close family member,  that would be a conflict of interest.

If I refused to sign a document committing to refund  cost  of the litigation to the town , if it was successful, it would  be quite difficult for a  person in their right mind,  to argue  such a circumstances did not constitute  a clear  and unmitigated conflict of interest.

A conflict of interest is  exploitation  of a position of  trust and authority to  improperly access  town resources to benefit oneself financially.

If I were required to vote on the question of improvements to Holman Crescent, I would not consider that a Conflict of Interest.
because the street serves fifty properties. The road is not unique to my property.
 
 I would probably refrain from voting anyway.  Just to be cautious. Look what happened to Rob Ford  at  the first hearing. The funds in question were just over $3 thousand and he never had them. 

Toronto's  Integrity commissioner never did have  authority to order him to return funds to  donors. But she  regularly creates her own ideas of appropriate penalties for  contraventions of the Code of Conduct..    

Don't feel bad about not understanding the principle. The Conflict of Interest Act obviously  creates more problems than it solves. 

Numbers of people in the most unlikely places,  have failed to comprehend  the  essential nature of trust.

Hazel McCallion's hearing under Conflict of Interest charges was heard months before Rob Ford's. No decision has  been delivered as yet. What should we take from that ?

It's my experience, that neither  a Code of Ethics, a Code of Conduct or a Conflict of Interest Act takes the place of personal integrity or a  conscience.

People who promote the concept are least likely  to have  a glimmer of  sense of the principle of personal integrity.

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A dictionary is not the place to look for definitions of land use planning. 

Urban, rural , institutional , commercial , industrial.,  open space,  are terms used  in the context of planning,

 Check the  Town's Official Plan . Defnitions are part of the introduction.