EVOLUTION OR DEVOLUTION

Brickbat Returns has left a new comment on your post "Plagiarism of Sorts":

The Petch house nows looks nothing like its former self.What a joke.Even the Hillary house was part of King and not Aurora.Hey,lets bring everybody elses history to Aurora and hide ours away in boxes
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The Aurora  Historical Society has been approved a grant  in the budget of $60,000 for "their operation" I'm not sure what the operation is. 
The Petch House we were familiar with , mouldering on the shoulder of Leslie Street,  looked nothing like the original structure.
Those who would be saviours, were nattering about it being the oldest log house in Ontario when  it was nothing of the kind. 
It was a clapboard house.The last vestige of clapboard cladding could be seen in the triangle under the roof protected by the eaves.
There had been twin structures on the property.  
 One was built to serve as a chapel and  one  a home ,now in the Arboretum. 
The latter  was in the worst condition. 
The other was bought by Peter Van Nostrand, dismantled and reconstructed for a new owner on a site in cottage country.
When I came back on Council in 2003. the building was already  sitting on cinder blocks at the side of the road. 
The developer had committed to move it  wherever the town indicated.
$100 thousand was in the budget to resture the building.
There it sat, sad and forlorn. Nobody's child.
 $15.thousand had been donated anonymously as encouragement to save it but there were no takers.  
Every year  the money re-appeared in the budget.The house continued to sit.
Peter Van Nostrand had been called in early to  assess  whether it was salvageable.  He 
d been doing this stuff for years. . He'd already restored or was in the process.of restoring the first one.
He gave his professional assessment to the town ar no cost.
Before he got the contract, years passed and thousands were spent. Two other reports were commissioned.
The first  gave a price of $440,000 to restore .. 
Council MacEachern didn't like that report and demanded an engineer provide  a second  judgement. . 
There was an impression the developer had committed to moving the house to a prepared foundation and installing utilities leaving it complete and ready for function.
The town solicitor had to meet with the developer.on another issue.  He was asked to confirm the commitment.
It was $50.000.
The structure could no longer be moved in one piece. 
It had to be taken apart. Taken the short distance  to Van Nostrand's yard.   Material  had to be sussed out to replace the rotting parts. 
The project  was expected to take all the funds available.
Sometimes I prefer not to know how much has been funnelled into the pockets of consultants with  nothing at all  to show for it.
It makes me sick.
Saving the Petch House has been  anything but a  heroic story. 
Time was wasted. Thousands of dollars that couldn't be justified were  pissed  away.
Whether or not it was worth it in the end, the community will  decide.
I'm hopeful. 
I heard Katherine Belrose of Richmond Hill collected $70. and attention to herself at the Farmer's  Market during a season.  Whether it was donated to the cause ,I do not know.
One thing I do know,neither she nor Michael Seaman had a damned thing to do with saving the Petch House.

Did I ever tell you about  $167,000  cost to design a treatment facility to remove salt from a snow  melt .
Think about it. 
Where there is snow, there is no salt. 
Where there is salt, there is no snow. 
The two  do not  co-exist. 
We had $750,000 in  the capital  budget since 2007.  To design and construct  a treatment facility under a parking lot. 
$167,000 was spent on the design .It took a couple more years and another $100,000 added to the budget, before it  finally  became apparent the idea was without  merit. 
It's a classic case of  evolution we hear so much about and are expected to welcome. .    


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