"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

Wednesday 23 October 2013

The Light Dawned

Another  motion  I presented last night raised the ire of the righteous ones.

I moved space  provided to Sport Aurora  be terminated.

It's the use of a desk along with the town hall address and telephone number

It was like the night I  asked for a report on information about a bar at the firehall.

One after the other ,Councillor's rose to  address the chair and excoriate  me for my  dastardly deed . We didn't have microphones.

I learned that night ,beer was  being dispensed from a coke machine . I did not know that.

Nor  was I aware the firehall was a popular watering hole for those in the know, including the postman.

There had been a food drive at the firehall on Saturday. I received a phone call that two merry men in full uniform,drunk as skunks  and perfectly congenial were receiving donations.

My caller did not identify himself.  He was probably a public works  employee. There was  some discontent  there. They had asked permission to have  beer in their frig to have with their lunch on hot summer days.  Angus Macgregor, public works supervisor , no doubt with his own sense of mischief , forwarded the request to Council.

It was refused.

I asked for a report from the Fire Chief  about beer in the firehall.

The night it came forward volunteers' wives were in the audience.

Every  Council speaker defending the volunteers' contribution to the community was vigorously applauded.

Jeers and catcalls were my lot .

A coke machine appeared later on the verandah of a house on Metcalfe Street.

The same struggle was  reported in other places in Canada as Volunteer Brigades were replaced by full-time fire departments

Councillor Abel was applauded last night by a single spectator.

Sport Aurora has been given space and the town hall address to process grant applications from other levels of government.

The funds ,it's  said , are used for the benefit of community sports organizations ten thousand participants strong.

I listened to my colleagues.  I drove home in a mood of contemplation.

I was distracted for a bit with news of  Senator Mike Duffy.

 Then  my thoughts returned to the issue at hand.

Sport Aurora , I realised ,  by definition is a lobbyist  for sports organization in Aurora.

As if they need it.

In Toronto lobbyists have to register.

In the States , lobbyists  control the  government.

In Aurora,  a lobbyist gets a desk, a telephone and a Town Hall address.

Courtesy of your elected body.

How cosy is that?

Or chilling  depending on one's perspective ?


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Strike 2!

Anonymous said...

What's fair for one has to be fair for all. (Some people just don't understand this concept and so yes we do have special interest groups that seem to stand outside this axiom.)

What if other organizations approach the Town to get space with the claim "all we're looking for is a desk and a phone"? It has to be an anomaly as to why this was approved in the 1st place.

Everyone always has the argument because we're doing good work on behalf of the citizens, or the children of community, etc. There are lots of groups doing good work around town but they don't get special treatment and they simply have to forge on with their own efforts.

Anonymous said...

What was ' striking ' was that lengthy list of upcoming fund-raisers and the cost of tickets. I am sure these are all marvellous events for worthy causes. But Aurorans only have so much money with which to play and pay. Much like when Councillor Ballard held his first Ranger evening.

Anonymous said...

Guess what, 14:49? You don't have to attend any of them...

Anonymous said...

There is definitely what you call Lobbyist in Aurora. They’re not looking for little sums of money either. Look what happened at the “Cultural” Center. And to think how Council thought it was “great value” for the community still makes me ill. It did not “improve my standard of living” or the community, but it did for a small group, with a large portion of our tax $. That incident alone determined the way I will vote in the next election.

Anonymous said...

15:10
I think you might be missing the point of that comment which I take to mean that the various organizations can only take so many trips to the well. I am seeing a growing resentment towards one very large charity which appears to be forever on the mooch.

Anonymous said...

16:00... who is that charity?

I can think of alot.