If six halves of grapefruit are placed together on the table ,is the total three whole grapefruit?
Yes indeed.
If six half intellects are seated around a table , is the total three pr even one whole intellect?
Not a chance,.
Last week's news was full of tumult catastrophe. and grief.
Floods wiped out homes and belongings in the west. A runaway train created nferno in a small town and fifty lives were lost.
In Pamplona,Spain , a bunch of maniacs "ran with the bulls " for excitement and twenty-three suffered injuries from being crushed in tight spaces and two were gored by bulls.
On Momday my geat granddaughter Claire's stitches were removed and the cut on her forehead is healing nicely.Thanks to a fastidious team of doctors at South :Lake Health Centrte.
On Tuesday, Council had the July meeting to deal wiith town business . It started at six and finished at miidnight. The business was not completed.
The same thing happened in June. The meeting adjourned at midnight without completion of the agenda.
From seven until nine on Tuesday however , all who decided to use the Council meeting for their own objective were accommodated from seven until nine. Leaving one and a half hours to deal with twenty- six items of business and spending millions of dollars.
Town business always comes last and gets short shrift in the time available.
It's one of those odd equations mentioned above.
Contracts were recommended to be awarded for work on several streets.
Work leading to this point is what occupies a team of employees in their daily occupation.
Two residents appeared before Council to request cancellation of the projects They claimed to speak for all residents on three streets. Hilldale, Hillside and Kenlea Court.
Since hundreds of thousands of expendirures have already been made, we may assume the work is needed, The streets are public rights of way. The municipality is responsiibile.
Nevertheless, Councillor Piirri moved the requests be granted.
The final decision was to defer and direct the Director of Environment and infrastructure to determie the wishes of the neighbourhood.
It wasn't clear how., But Council did spend time debating the issue and deferring decision.
Yet anbother recommendation came forward to increase funds for a youth centre by $1,6 million because costs of utilizing a site unknown at the time the site was selected.
Deferral was requested for time to consider and consult with the communiy.
No such consideration was givem . Th valiant five needed no further time to donsider spendijng $7.4 million as opposed to $4.8 million.
So confident are they of the superior quality of their collective wisdom.
In the next post I will try, according to Clause 3 of th Code of Conduct unenforceable bylaw attempt to explain the reason and attitude of the majority decision.
Posts
23 comments:
They claimed to speak for all residents BUT when it was determined to go back and canvas for opinions again, councillor gaertner protested. She complained that they would get at least 3 different opinions.
Makes absolutely no sense unless the complainants did NOT represent all the residents.
Truly from Oz
During that endless show & tell session, the only person who made any sense was the old guy with all those whiskers. And that was a first.
So the youth centre was estimated at $4.8M to $7.4M and add $1.6M for extras the steering committee would like. That's a total of $9M prior to final design, drawings, tendering and construction. Final costs could well be expected to be in the 10M to 11M range. This is out of control.
There seems to be absolutely no financial control. I understand that some on Council do not have what it takes to deal with the big issues. They prefer to squander precious time and energy with easy nickel and dime issues.
How could anyone possibly justify this kind of expenditure on a building for youth?
This Mayor seems to have his head in the clouds. But I guess it is a simple matter of adding up all the expenditures and asking the Treasurer to calculate a tax increase to pay for them.
A Mike Duffy balloon & a Referendum on the Senate have been launched in Ottawa. Can anyone weigh in on whether or not a referendum has any possibility of succeeding? I thought it was written into the Constitution & out of the reach of ordinary people/
Credit when it is due. Council was available on TV & computers.
A youth centre, I may add, which cannot be reached by bus.
What a bunch of fools on staff, and council.
To 6:36pm
Why do you continue to post snippets of national or provincial political crap when the thread you put it in is about a local issue?
For the 100th time, get your own blog.
For the record, a referendum is not possible nor legal. Read the constitution.
" No matter how cynical I become, I just can't keep up "
Lilly Tomlin
9:26 AM
Political Points
" Constitutional can of worms? Saskatchewan motion looks to abolish Senate "
Maybe you could be wrong?
"Why do you continue to post snippets of national or provincial political crap when the thread you put it in is about a local issue?
For the 100th time, get your own blog."
FYI: Whoever is posting those non-pertinent to 'Our Town and Its Business' comments isn't the same person you constantly harangue about getting a blog (BTW, have YOU got your own yet?).
counselor buck I commend you for voting no to this proposal absolutely mind-boggling the expenditure that was passed on Tuesday.
I'm a pretty even keel person but even I was scratching my head. Specially because the leisure complex has major structural flaws. It will be well north of $10 million dollars before all is said and done. This has to be the election issue.
I am sorry to say this will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in this councils term.
I will do my part to make people well aware of this issue.
I've never been so animated before. Respectfully Tyler Barker,
It seems that the business of Council is not the town's business.
8:27 PM
It's summertime, been hotter than blazes & you can't let up with the whining. Get yourself a popsicle.
What a glorious day! Hope that you are doing well.
To Tyler, I agree this could be an election issue and yet how much of this is deflection and spin.They may,be keeping the focus on giving when we are possibly at risk.We have bigger issues which effect our youth, such as enviornmental cover-ups regarding the moraine.
11:32 AM
One province cannot abolish the Senate. Like the previous poster said... "Read the Constitution".
@ 2:35 PM
An even keel ? How very disingenuous of you! We have read your twitterings on subjects ranging from Codes of Conduct to alcohol expense abuse and through the order of irritants presented by Councillor Ballard.
You are most welcome but keep it honest.
I voted in favour of the cost to upgrade the Aurora Family Leisure Complex - AFLC. It is an increase in cost for the construction of an addition to the AFLC for a Youth Centre Facility.
The vote was 5 in favour, four against. It was the exact same vote taken in May (2013) when the budget for the facility was first approved.
To tear down the AFLC and build a Youth Centre from scratch, with a rink and pool would cost over $30 million.
To purchase land and make a stand alone Youth Complex would be at least $20 million.
As it is, the total cost is;
$4.8 million for Youth Facility ( May 2013 )
+ $2.6 AFLC upgrade (July 2013)
= $7.4 million ( plus permit fees ) Total
To postulate over $10 million is misleading. So is the statement - there is no public transit. The AFLC has designs flaws, but not structural flaws. Property taxes will increase, yes, but not due to the construction of the Youth Centre, or the AFLC upgrades.
90% of the cost is funded from DC's. For a term of 30 - 50 years, the construction of this facility will have little impact on property taxes. There will be additional funding from grants, community organizations, advertising revenue to help offset the Town's contribution.
The issue is not; are we going to pay.... it's are we going to pay now, up front, or are we going to pay more, a whole lot more later on.
How do we enhance our children's mastery over the tools needed to live intelligent, creative and involved lives? By investing fully in children today, we will ensure the well-being and productivity of future generations for decades to come.
That is why we provide schools, libraries, and recreational facilities.
Today, we are using 11 different facilities to run the 145 youth programs.
Dedicated youth space would allow the Town to offer more diversified programming, which would gear more towards special interests (i.e. technology, cooking, theatre, etc )
A recent article in the Toronto Sun "it takes a true political Leader to invest in children, because children can't vote"
There is an obesity crisis among our youth.
Unsupervised, inactive kids are glued motionless to social media.
It is imperative to take an action when presented all the documentation. Delays and deferrals can cost the taxpayers a lot of money. Council's job it to be informed and to make decisions.
DC funding is available for recreational facilities, and a long overdue (since year 2000 ) facility has been identified by Staff ( 4 separate reports on Youth Needs ) The Youth Centre has been set as a high priority.
By combining and constructing an addition to the AFLC, which is an excellent location, we can save millions of dollars.
The AFLC is a burden left for our Council to address. It has to be brought up to code, and modified to meet the design shortcomings of a past Council decision.
Why did four Councillors vote against a Youth Centre in the first place?
Have they forgotten about our children and forsaken the next generation?
Tyler might be correct. This could be a 2014 election issue.
In 2010, the issue was a Town funded SLAPP Litigation, approved by the then Council, that was front and centre during the 2010 election campaign. That didn't sit well with the electorate.
In this case, opposing the Youth Centre is about supporting the same political agenda. Ignore the reports, mislead the facts, and create division & confusion. Only empty heads and empty hearts would adhere to that sort of rationale.
If we don't stand up for youth, then we don't stand up for much.
Children are a quality of life. When our children are happy, then we are all better human beings.
Why did I vote in favour?
It's about investing in an identified, well researched, facility, funded through growth revenues (DC's ) that provides services for our Youth.
Our community is better, more attractive, and subsequently drives up our retail property values.
An opportunity to invest in our Youth and our Community, that's why I voted in favour of the staff recommendation.
Canadian Press
" Ottawa says it will defend new royal baby law from Quebec challenge "
It is the Silly Season.
"You are most welcome..."
Yeah, like that's up to you. Get over yourself.
Cllr Abel, I usually think you're thick as two short planks, but on this issue I think you're correct (although not all of your reasoning is sound).
11:17 PM
So you would not welcome Tyler? Just to make your petty point ? You have found your spot, haven't you?
Speaking of points, 8:34 AM, I think you misunderstood mine. It's not about who is "welcome," it's about how someone without the power to publish or delete would think that they had any say in who should - or how to - contribute (after having a go at Mr Barker).
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