"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Monday 26 August 2013

No Policies or Principles Apply

In response to a  comment  on the difference between Mulock and Bathurst Street  to account for the Region paying for $2 millions worth of privacy fencing:

Before it was a  Regional Road  Bathurst was a  Toronto and York County Road under the jurisdiction of the Toronto and York Roads Commission.

The road stretches from Lake Ontario to Bradford.

It means  the traffic using the road is travelling from one municipality to another.

The function of the road never changed. it was always intended to be a north/south arterial collecting
and distributing traffic along the way.

There may have been only two lanes of pavement. The width of the  right-of- way established  the future use.

The fact that it formed the boundary between Aurora and King , Aurora being urban and King being rural   was not an indication that it was either a local or a rural right of way.

The development of  homes backing on to Bathurst  added to  traffic volume .

It was still a beautiful location to buy a home . Residents along its length, north and south , built their own privacy fences .

In Aurora they had additional setback and  a stand of  old forest between them and the traffic. It made their lots even more exclusive and no doubt more expensive.

I have heard Regional staff bend over backwards to accommodate  regional politicians.

Whatever the pols  want, they get . No principles or policies apply.

The half million dollar  Red Cross donation for Tsunami relief  was at the instigation of then Mayor of Markham , Don Cousens  with a large voting population from that part of the world.

I haven't heard a proposal  for a  similar donation to the flood victims of High River Alberta .

Or Lak Megantic in Quebec where that horrifying train wreck caused such
terrible  loss.

I do not suggest there should be.

  The  lack  of  consistency in financial management is my point.


Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on a  tree-planting contract. Without warranty the
job would be completed  satisfactorily. It wasn't. The money was pissed away.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And the Region is broke. But our Councillors keep on applying for grants to cover their posteriors.
" Well, there are grants available. I just wanted to see the direction of Council before applying for them. "
Which is translated into, " The money is available. "
Bunk!

Anonymous said...

Just look at the Senate. They are starting to eat each other.