Yesterday Councillors received an e-mal from the specials project manager of the CAO's office.
It was noted time had elapsed since Council received the original presentation of the Hillary -
McIntyre theme park.
In preparation for next Tuesday's meeting , something known as The Prpbus Presentation " was
enclosed
A Pdf disclosed a succession of beautiful colored photos of heritage houses nestled in the midst of forests of high rises resplendent in the glory of night life in the city.
The last item of the presentation was funding.
It's a simple formula.
50% from the town.
50% from donations and fundraising.
Doesn't say who would be responsible for that,
Figures vaunted are $11 million from the town.
To be matched by donations and fund-raising.
WTF!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Council just decided to provided the Historical Society $50, thousand to cover their 2014 program.
Apparently it couldn't be raised from donations or fund-raising.
At the bottom of the employee e-mail to Councillors is the advisory clause that the communication is confidential. Not to be shared with any person.
This term of office continues to be a journey of discovery
All kinds of unexpected, uninvited , inexplicable confidences are thrust upon me
Usually behind closed doors.
Now in an e-mail from an employee.
***********
The list of contemplated mega $million projects keeps one's mind in a spin.
***************
The Province issued invitations to universities for "expressions of interest" for an outreach
program to accommodate 1000 students.
That's not a secret.
We are advised by those wiser than we , the offer of free real estate to a university could make us the newest university town in Ontario.
Whamo!!! It's in the Strategic Plan.
Of course it would not be free to us.
No time to waste confiding in stakeholders or seeking their input.
********
In the 2C development , 14.5 acres of land have been assigned service allocations and put out for bids to the development industry.
Ninety-two homes can be built on forty foot lots.
Value is what the top bidder/builder is willing to pay.
The land abuts the Stew Burnett Park.
The information is already in the public domain.
I can't tell you anything else. You are not entitled to know.
*********
The six acre unrequited school site on Mavrinac Boulevard has been valued by the owner at $6 million.
The town thinks we should get it at the price of raw land.
What do you think it would take to compel a developer to sell land worth $6million to the town for $2 million ?
You are not wrong.
But you are not entitled to know or have any input into that decision either.
****************
The list grows.
The joint works/ parks facility decision is pending at $26 million .
Youth Space needs are underway at $6 million.
The town hall renovation space was $6 million.
$300,000. was spent preparing .
Cancelled it at the point of awarding the contract.
*************
So here we are in an election year.
Don't they come wound fast.?
Now they're going to ask you what you think.
Thursday, 30 January 2014
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25 comments:
Wow ! Nothing wrong with your head. Now take care of the rest of yourself. We need you up and ' running '.
My adding machine makes the total of the numbers listed in your post as $55,350,000.
That's only $21,000,000 over the Hydro Fund.
No Sweat!
I don't think they are going to ask us what we think. E.
But I do expect that they will find out. At the polls unfortunately because damage will have been done.
You can see the priorities here - there were 2 budget meetings cancelled as ' not needed ' but there is time & money to fritter away.
"I don't think they are going to ask us what we think. E."
...and "E" won't publish what you think unless you agree with her.
But wait a minute Councillor, our Deputy Mayor assures us that in the case of the works garage there is no impact to the taxpayer. Why worry about a $4M or $5M price increase when it is not even going to be paid for by taxpayers. Apparently, there is a different pot of money in the basement over at town hall to cover this.
It is kind of like going to buy a new car. You think a modest Corolla would meet your requirements and budget but the salesman says he can give you a Lexus and it won't cost any more as long as you fund the difference from another account. Why not go for it? Only a few pennies more to keep the Lexus on the road too. To say no to this would be "irresponsible".
For a moment there I thought it was April 1.
Meanwhile another store front on Yonge is available for rent.
This e-mail thing is getting very murky. I received one today which I think comes under ' electioneering '. It was directed at me but did not include the spouse.
@17:51
So you think the Heritage Plan is acceptable ?
Seems to me you have to broaden your scope a tad.
Harping on the one councillor and the one item of extravagance might not be ' responsible ' either.
17:07 And I really don’t want to hear/read anyone who disagrees with her! If you want to hear about the Town spending money we don’t have, for some cockamamie projects that will put smiles on the faces of a selective group of people in this Town…..go somewhere else.
We're tripping over programs and services that are either duplicated,
can barely maintain or can't maintain at all. But somehow....we can afford and maintain new projects with some of them not costing us a dime?... That crack stuff in Toronto has arrived here in this Town.
This is completely insane. Even at my bank I am not required to pay for things I do not want, need or use. I have no problem with paying my share of the basics for this town. Services, maintenance and support. That does not include contributing to everything that falls under the headings of culture, history or improvement of life, nor staff-driven stuff like non-functioning computer systems and a real estate deal to compete with existing concepts throughout the Region.
Oh, 20:09, I'm sure you'd be able to keep an open mind if only it wasn't so small.
17:07
You have this thing about being ' published '. Try a book or two. Evelyn puts your material up as is shown right here.
To 20:09
It is from elsewhere. Sometimes the strings are obvious.
20:57 The mind of 17:07 is opened. It’s their wallet that's quite small, along with the rest of us and we don’t need minds like yours to pick at our hard earned money.
There is something suspect about all of these numbers.
In the January 9 Auroran the Joint Operations Centre was shown as costing $19 million, after some cost-cutting had knocked it down from close to $21 million. But the email that you mention from something called a "special projects manager" in the CAO's office apparently pegs this at $26 million, where a "decision is pending." That's a 37% increase. WTF!!!
When a small claque of hemorrhoidal Hillary House Heritage advocates proposed a plan to incorporate the two buildings to the south into a Heritage Park, with an estimated cost of a mere $10 million, some members of Council seemed to lap this up like cream before a starving cat. But wait a minute, the above same email, proposing a 50-50 joint venture between the town and fund-raising donations, now has the town's 50% share in at $11 million. That's an increase of more than 100%. WTF!!!
We are also advised that if we are prepared to offer free acres of land we could become the "newest university town in Ontario." WTF!!!!!
The developer of the land on Mavrinac Boulevard values six acres of land no longer needed for a school at a cool $6 million. The town's position is that it would not be prepared to pay more than the original value way back when, namely $2 million. Why are we even considering this? Just because local residents want another park within spitting distance is not reason for proceeding. WTF!!!!
The Youth Space needs are really not being properly addressed since they are just getting an add-on to an existing building which is presently shut for 12 months while major renovations are done. Do we even have a cost of this? I don't recall. WTF!!!
The town hall renovation had $300,000 spent on consulting/architectural fees and in the end the decision was not to proceed with another several million dollar project. APPLAUSE!!!!!
That makes five WTF's to one APPLAUSE.
Are we really being served by this council or are we here to serve them their engraved names in cornerstones of costly buildings?
WTF!!!!!!
You don't have to pay any attention to me 19:49; but thanks for the advice. As you say, it is only one item of extravagance. I think a reasonable person might ask if this makes it okay?
20:49
Since when do you have to need/want/use anything that taxes go to?
If you have no children, why should you pay the education taxes?
If you never have a fire, why should you pay for a fire department?
If you never get robbed, why should you pay for police?
If you never go to Hillary House, why should you pay for it?
8:35
I pay for & use all those services. We are talking about much larger projects. Don't be more of an idiot than is necessary.
9:39
No need to call someone names.
Guess what, there are people that do complain that they have to pay education taxes and they have no children.
There are all sorts of taxes that we pay for services we never use. Get used to it.
8:35 Gee…with that analogy…the Town should be paying for our movie tickets on weekends. It would improve everyone’s quality of life!!
Like Dorothy Says "we're not in Kansas anymore"
Must be something in the water
We have just returned from a tour of the Brock campus. Now that is a university town. Aurora doesn't even have a decent hotel and is leaking businesses & jobs daily. Roger Clowater ran on that idea & lost badly. I guess no one noticed ay the time.
11:39 It seems like the theme for Aurora’s “business plan” in Aurora is “Culture”. There’s no real interest in bringing in businesses that can bring revenue into this Town without continuous funding by the taxpayers.
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