I can't believe that one councillor was quoted as saying "If it doesn't cost the town money, it would be wonderful". I have lived in Aurora since 1974 and raised my family here. I have waited and waited and waited for the $30 million in the Hydro fund to be spent on a project the town can be proud of. This is the project. I urge you to support this, and I will be following the discussion and the vote.
----------------------------------------------------
Evelyn Buck
Begin forwarded message:
From: Evelyn Buck <evelyn.buck@rogers.com>
Date: June 23, 2013, 3:22:48 PM EDT
Cc: "mayor@aurora.ca" <mayor@aurora.ca>
Subject: Re: Heritage Park
Thank you for your input. I too have an idea of how the Hydro Asset might be used for the community's best interest.It does not involve spending millions of dollars to take million dollars , our breadandbutter revenue out of our assessment base to use Yonge Strreet property for a park.I doubt proponents of the project outlined to the University Womens Club outlined how a municipality plans its parks..I doubt they know or care.My idea has been put forward and won Council's support some time ago but for a reason not hard to guess , Councils direction has not been followed.It involves demolishing old worn out, no longer useful buildings that owe nothing to the cxommunity and using the site for purposes already established in popularity.Namely, the State of the Art museum that Church Street School was renovated to accommodate at a cost of $2,3 million from the Hydro Asset and several hundred thousand dollars raised in the community by the Aurora Historical Society for the purposeIt includes constructing a building of several floors to provide multiple studio workshopsfor people of every age, to acquire proficiency and perhaps excellence in every art imaginable not at the expense necessarily, of the taxpayers.The idea of financial self-sufficiency is not an anathema to me nor I imagine to any member of Council who understands why they were elected.On the other hand , current experience forewarns us of a lack of self-sufficiency of the project promoted to your club .Hillary House, completely and authentically furnished owned by Aurora Historical Society, is not self-sufficient. The Society obtains a grant from the town of $50,000 a year, this year increased to $60,000 to keep a program going , despite all efforts at fund-raising,.A Board operated Church Street School drains the town treasury of half a million dollars a year and enjoys free use of our most precious heritage building. A building that symbolizes the vision of a population of two thousand hard- working determined settlers,Ms .......taking responsibility for decisions that will affect a community years into the future is not the same as receiving a presentation during a pleasant evening of association with one's professional peers.Thirty-three million dollars were derived from the sale of a very important asset. The decision was forced upon us by a senior level of government.Owning our own hydro utility was a significant advantage to the development of the progressive town Aurora has been throughout her history.A flash-in-the pan promotion by a fly-by- night promoter who goes about soliciting support from influential community groups , for them in turn to pressure Council to buy a pig in a poke without by the way, putting any thought whatsoever into economic feasibility of the project.I was not here when Aurora was settled. But I know where those people came from. I know what they left behind. I know their hopes and dreams and their priorities and how hard they had to work. Fortunately for the well-being of themselves and more importantly , for their children, they would have had no difficulty recognizing this promotion for the cash-grab real estate scheme it is.You have been frank with me Ms ........ I appreciate and respect your effort for what you think would be best for the community. do hope my own position on this issue will enjoy the same respect.Evelyn Buck
Posts
14 comments:
For goodness' sake. Here we go again the the small groups with the loudest voices. Perhaps the Auroran can run a poll or the Town Communications outfit could do so. We do not need another annual drain from the tax base. Interesting that this occurs just when summer vacation kicks in.
I've lived here longer than your correspondent, and I agree completely with her.
You can't compare a project of vision, scope, and legacy with one that entails destruction and disrespect to a previous generation. Putting your 'pie in the sky' proposal in the middle of an already busy, congested area is ludicrous. Besides, your "vision" is a redundant one (a charge you often - and I do mean often - levelled at the Cultural Centre).
Also, you can't call the buildings "worn out" and "no longer useful" when they are, in fact, in use. Town staff is moving into the old library while Town Hall is being renovated, and now Seneca College wants to set up a "fab lab" there. I'm glad someone can see the renewed potential for our town's centennial project - particularly in this the 150th anniversary year. You'd think the one councillor who lived here in 1963 might feel the same.
That is a very well-crafted letter. It should impress the councillors as did the letters dealing with the waiving of fees for Saint Andrews. It totally fails to address the very real problems presented by this project which seems to keep switching about with each set of questions. There is nothing about the loss of taxable high-end real estate. Nothing about the fact that we do not need a park at that location. And there is no mention of sustainability.
Aurora has both The Centre & Hilary House, neither able to survive on their own. We need no more of them.
This Council cannot even agree on what to do with the land that Aurora already owns. Why should they want to add more to the useless inventory ?
Use what you have before acquiring more. Those buildings are NOT likely going to be sold anytime soon. And, if they were, so what?
@3:43 PM
Why is it so important to you and the original letter-writer to cite how long you have lived in Aurora? I have lived here an equal number of years and do not believe that this gives my opinion any more weight than that of a relative new-comer. It weakens your point by being in the lead sentence.
Correct me if I am wrong. I do not believe that Aurora is the only site being considered for that ' fab lab '. Council has a lot more work to do there.
Our town is a rather typical middle-class community, with its share of senior citizens, retirement homes and a senior's centre, as well as a thriving population of families with school aged children.
Having travelled fairly extensively and visited numerous castles and cathedrals in many countries, it does become tiresome to see yet another one of these.
Heritage is important and must have an honoured place in our society. But sites that cater to it do so at a financial cost; they seldom cover their operating expense. And eventually they become boring because nothing happens; one always looks at inert objects.
Despite all the screeching over the Cultural Centre, hopefully in the past, it does provide the opportunity for our residents to interact with some of the events held there. There is some life and a relationship between performer and audience.
This is not the case with a museum and its many artefacts, no matter how important they might have been years ago.
Instead of contemplating the expenditure of a potential millions of dollars on three old houses, some of this money might be better spent on facilities that permit our entire population, of all ages, to participate in activities that improve our minds and bodies, and in their own way contribute to our mutual heritage.
3:43 PM
Please don't be so condescending. A lot of families in Aurora are very familiar with the Old Library.
Town Staff are using it because they have nowhere else to go. They are going to be very uncomfortable.
You could also cease the personal cracks at your host on the blog but that might be asking too much.
"Why is it so important to you and the original letter-writer to cite how long you have lived in Aurora? I have lived here an equal number of years and do not believe that this gives my opinion any more weight than that of a relative new-comer."
That is only true in regards to the ballot box.
I have a hard time when people compare the "downtown" of Aurora to that of Newmarket. They are very different.
Newmarket's downtown is off the beaten track. You have to purposly go there. Aurora's is on Yonge Street. You happen by it on your way to other places. Newmarket's on a short quaint street. Aurora's is on a 4-lane highway that is on one of the longest streets in the world. Newmarket's has shops, restaurants, partking. Aurora's has banks, dentists, lawyers.
This "park" will do nothing for the Aurora downtown. It will not encourage anyone to come downtown.
10:39 PM
The ballot box & the tax office. That make us all equal residents. Sad that you don't understand that.
9:28 AM, the discussion was about the weight of opinion. The ballot box is where a resident can express their opinion about our town and its political representatives. The paying of municipal taxes is not an expression of opinion. Besides, it isn't "equal" - if your tax levy is greater than mine, you might feel that your opinion should count for more. Thankfully, it's one person, one vote.
11:23 AM
It's all just semantics to you.
No, 7:28 PM, it's not. It is often about educating, though.
Post a Comment