Guest Post

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Former Hydro Facility is Ours...We Need it":


Members of Council seem to be well intentioned, but naive. Naive when it comes to expect residents to express an opinion about just about anything, including the two multi-million dollar projects presently under consideration, the joint facility and the Heritage Park.

The public is aroused by an issue or a thing that can be identified as a matter of personal interest, often very small in the broad scheme of things.

During this term a few were able to stoke the fires of something that became huge, out of all proportion to the town. One was the Culture Centre agreement, that saw a virtual mob seize and hold the council chamber hostage to an outpouring of vitriol. This was totally unnecessary and a symptom of irrational behaviour. The same end could have been achieved through civilized intercourse, and ultimately could have resulted in a better and more meaningful agreement.

And who can forget the three-time delegation to Council in connection with the camel in the park? This was total lunacy and wasted hours of Council and staff time, with, in the end, no change taking place. A firmer hand at the tiller should have been able to control this better.

More recently the three trees occupied an inordinate amount of Council and staff time over a matter that had originally been handled with dispatch by the Director of Parks and Recreation. Unfortunately the feelings (rights?) of a few neighbours hijacked a simple administrative matter and created an expensive mountain where the smallest of molehills had existed. This should never have been permitted, and in the end the first decision was also the last, the only logical one.

Trees seem to be a sacrosanct subject, as witness the ad nauseam discussion about numbers and size and public and private property, including golf courses. A golf course is designed for whatever degree of difficulty is desired in combination with a pleasing aesthetic. Usually these represent investments of several millions of dollars and the operators of these facilities are aware of the need to care for the grasses and the ponds and the trees. They usually have experts either on staff or in a consulting capacity. For a town council to dictate to the owners of a golf course how many trees may be removed and of what size yearly is really none of the town's business and the inclusion of golf courses in the new tree by-law is simply wrong.

The town is embarking on another ill advised project, a downtown Heritage Park on Yonge Street involving a potential real estate site of some 4.2 acres that contains a National Heritage building, in dubious condition and a couple of other houses, one of which has been boarded up and empty for 20 years. It is suggested that this project could be feasible if at least half the funding ($5-$6 million) could be dug out of the provincial and/or federal government. Considering the state of the finances of these two I doubt they will be sending over a cheque via courier anytime soon. And if Aurora is going to have to finance what could be a $20 million joint facility it may find it difficult to find its half.

The point of all of this is that the populace of Aurora, as is the case pretty well everywhere, is not interested in this sort of stuff. People want their garbage collected, the snow ploughed from the roads, water, heat and hydro, parks, a safe environment in which to live and raise their children, and all of this at the lowest possible cost. They simply don't follow the blogs and the newspaper.

How many people turn out for publicized public meetings to provide input into anything? How many people even bother to vote?

There, you have answered my question.

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Whatever the number is, it determines the outcome  of the election.

People are reading blogs....watching Council ...talking among themselves

The elephant in the  rational you present is failure to  understand the significance of leadership . 

A failure not entirely the fault of the  current Mayor.

  I knew it would be an uphill battle  .

I hoped to be allowed to help.

I thought it was do-able. 

But first the need had to be  recognised.

Then  there had to be  the will.

Then courage.

Finally, respect. 

Without  these  elements, there  is no leadership. 

Regrets are not useful. 

Change had to be.

While things are not best they are better than they were.

I once made a claim in a campaign

As good as the best....better than the rest.

The comment    on   adequacy  of  current Councillors ... an obvious response  ? ... may we expect to see your name.?..  will you care to disclose it ?  on the ballot ?