The point of Councillor Abel's argument has no more validity now than when presented at the last Council meeting.
The recommendation was to increase the allocation of funds from $4.8 to $7.4 million,
The debate was not about providing a youth centre. It was for taking time to review the new information before making a final decision about the site selected.
The five who voted in favour were prepared to decide, not to debate. One might even suspect the decision was made before the issue was raised at the Council table.
It should be noted , the split is down the middle on this one.
If Council represents the community, the odds are, the community is also evenly divided .
Those are not good odds when deciding a capital spending project. It means half the community is foisting it's will on the other half.
A Council focussed on satisfying needs will work harder to gain a consensus which includes community input.
It's not all about winning. It's about doing the rtight thing..
Funding for the project is proposed by internal borrowing. From the Hydro Asset Reserve Fund.
The same source for the joint facility of public works and parks.
Which, by the way includes a million dollars for SNOW STORAGE FACILITY
That should be our new logo.
IN AURORA , WE HAVE OUTDOOR CLOTHES LINES AND WE STORE SNOW
FOR AN ELECT ION CAMPAIGN SLOGAN ;
BY SLEIGHT OF HAND ,HOW TO MAKE A MULTI- MILLION DOLLAR ASSET INTO A MULTI MILLION DOLLAR DEBT.
To Councillors Buck and Able....
ReplyDeleteThis is great debate... too bad it's not in the venue that the Government of Ontario decided that political debates should be held... the Town Hall!!!
For the dozen or so fanatical Buckeroos that visit this site, the content will no doubt please them, but the other 20,000 or so that care but don't care to see this blog will be SOL!
It is far too soon to be talking about electioneering. Let's get this thing settled now so that it cannot fester the way the Centre issue did. If there is indeed a split in the community, surely it can be reduced by working on the new information. Nothing will be lost except for some time used to debate the merits and perhaps provide solutions.
ReplyDelete"If Council represents the community, the odds are, the community is also evenly divided ."
ReplyDeleteThat's a helluva huge 'if' - also a totally unsupported, unsubstantiated extrapolation.
!0:35 AM
ReplyDeleteGrandiose verbiage to conceal lack of substance.
A good night's sleep would be a fine thing. Go for it.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThe Town's Notice Board states: "The Town of Aurora's Notice Board is published every Wednesday in the Aurora."
Does the Town not know the name of the newspaper in which the Notice Board appears?
To Youth or not to Youth?
That is a question whose answer is completely screwed up. If Aurora wants a Youth Centre it should build one. Its components should consist of:
Lobby
Administration
Multipurpose gymnasium
Common/Games Room
Computer Room
Teens Room and adjacent Patio
Activity Rooms
Outdoor Activity Area
Snack Room
Kitchen
Washrooms, Change rooms and Shower facilities should be provided where required.
No matter where this facility is located it will be inconvenient for most teens and their parents. Public transit can't do the job alone.
The existing Leisure Centre should either be restored or reduced to rubble and a new one built. To try and combine the above two facilities will never work and will be a waste of money.
Use the Hydro Fund!
The Promenade Study is a waste of money. It will never exist. Wellington east of Yonge to Baldwins is excellent due to the restoration of the original houses. Yonge Street south of Wellington for a couple of blocks has merit, again because the original buildings are more or less intact. Everything else in the Study is a pipe dream. Yonge and Wellington are the town's two major arteries and will continue as such indefinitely.
The Strategic Plan is now 10 years out of date as a result of the Province mandating planning to the year 2041. At best this sort of document is a very rough guide based on estimates whose outcome could change significantly over the years. Implicit in long-range planning are transportation facilities, public and private, population growth and job creation. Toronto has been hung up for the entire Ford term fighting over public transit, both as to type and as to financing. This will not become less of a problem with the passage of time because public facilities are always under-estimated. And what about the other infrastructure that will be required, both repairs to existing and new?
At present Development Charges fund the majority of Aurora's recreational facilities. If the town's population is going to increase by 20,000 or more in the next 28 years these charges will be astronomical and the next generation might have to do with less than the present one.
Council and its members are like a bunch of school children fighting over a ball. If you don't play by my rules I will take it home.
It's time to grow up and recognize that there are some very serious issues at hand and deal with them in a serious way.
Hmm, 7:05 PM, you may be correct about our host.
ReplyDeleteTo 9:58pm...
ReplyDeleteNice that you laid out what YOU would like to see in a Youth Centre.
I wonder still - how long ago did we last argue about this? - has anyone actually talked to a member of Aurora's youth? See what they want?
I think if you did you would be surprised. Those youth that are from well-off families would probably read through your list and not want any of those things. They already have that. If you asked a poorer youth, they would tell you a different answer.
So, before we force something down the throats of Aurora's youth, we need to decide what youth we are trying to cater to first.
12:37 PM
ReplyDeleteThus speaks that character who threatened to ' key ' my car if I took the kids up to roam on High Tor. Your kids might not need a place but Your kids aren't the only kids in town.
ReplyDeleteTo: 12:37 pm
Let me ask what YOU would like to see in a Youth Centre?
You can ask Youth and all age groups of adults what they would like to see in a Leisure Centre and you might get a list comprised of dozens of things, some useful, some instructive and others downright stupid. But they would all still be wanted.
What is an Aurora youth? Where does one find one? Is that a typical one of these or a perversion?
The list I provided originates with the National Institute of Building Sciences in Washington D.C.
I will quote:
The Youth Center is a social and recreational center intended primarily for use by children ages 11 to 18 years. In some cases, children as young as six years old will use a Youth Center, but usually only if special programs are in place to accommodate them. The Center supports opportunities for youth to develop their physical, social, emotional and cognitive abilities and to experience achievement, leadership, enjoyment, friendship, and recognition."
With what of these objectives do you disagree, and how many Aurora youth can you find of a like opinion as your own?
You are using economics as a basis for deciding who is in and who is out. If we start teaching our youth that it is not who you are, or what you are, but how much money you have, that will determine your path through life then the world is in for a great deal more of a mess than the one that already exists.
It's hard to believe that an adult living in our town in the year 2013 can be as stupid as you appear!
7:00pm... I don't know who you are talking about keying your car. I also do not have any kids, but I look at a list of things that people think the youth need (computer room for example) and I can tell you that it will never be used.
ReplyDeleteAll I am saying is, are we creating a Youth Centre for all youth or a sub-section of youth? You need to identify the audience before you figure out what to do.
7:54 AM
ReplyDeleteDo you mean like the Centre?
The town identified that to be a Museum .
7:32pm...
ReplyDeleteNational Institute of Building Sciences in Washington D.C. - they are specialist in dealing with inner-city youth I bet.
What do they have to say about youth from middle-income Yuppie parents that give them everything that they ever want?
This ain't Philadelphia.
Our very clever Dentist has installed a couple of computer games in a small room off his waiting room. The kids love them. They vie and wait for those machines & you see older ones helping the smaller ones. Since this is in Aurora, I suppose these are likely Aurora youths?
ReplyDeleteIs there a new Aurora by-law against parking in courts? We have friends who have parked on their quiet street for years except for during snow-plowing season. They got a visit - by 2 officers- to say this was not permitted. Funny how they never ticket developers' construction trucks on no-parking streets like Kennedy St. W.
ReplyDeleteCBC
ReplyDelete" Premiers take aim at Harper's new job training plan "
U think we have it bad. Check out the candidates for Mayor on NYC. Ours might be up to scruff but I think most of them pass the basic sniff test regardless of your preferences.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why there is such soul-searching on the Youth Centre. As someone pointed out a long time ago, Aurora already provides a building & subsidizes day-care for well-to-do adults. Maybe it's time to consider another segment of our society?
ReplyDeleteIf the building is not used as planned, the plans can be altered to fit the then-current needs of the town.
ReplyDelete1:44 pm
You must live in a different world with only yuppie youth from middle-income earners.
Or is it Alice, Through the Looking Glass?