We went to Richmond Hill and drove up and down the town centre on Yonge Street a couple of times.
I was looking for improvements.
Councillor Thompson indicated Richmond Hill had enacted a Community Improvement Plan.
That's where a municipality spends massive amounts on infrastructure improvements and offers to provide grants and loans to property owners to spruce up their properties at the expense of other property owners ,who may or may not be able to maintain their own property properly because of lack of resources.
Heavens to Betsy...whoever heard of such a thing in Aurora. Certainly not among the well-heeled crowd at the Council table.
Community Improvement is a planners scheme for revitalizing town centers against all the odds.
It's what you get when you believe there is no inevitability that can't be reversed if you just throw enough money at it.
Exchange excessive cash for excessive verbiage and you get the picture.
Change the audience from experience to eager neophytes , add an army of redundant civil servants heavily interspersed with graduates from programs taught at universities by those who cannot do and you have Australian sized flocks of sheep ready for shearing.
I noticed little improvement in Richmond Hill. Yonge Street is a higgledy-piggledy mess with an assortment of store fronts on modest , downright plain, frame structures.
Signage has no uniformity and less style.
There is certainly plenty of retail presence; not much in the way of pedestrians. Nothing to indicate business is flourishing.
Interlocking brick sidewalks ,the precursor of patterned concrete, are severely undulating and in need of replacement.
Spindly scabby,unhealthy replicas of trees are perched precariously at the edge of sidewalks. Deformed stems lean out to avoid structures in too close proximity.
I saw nothing in Richmond Hill yesterday to encourage me to accept a Community Improvement Plan as something we should follow.
It probably looks much better in Spring.
Everything does.
But the fact is,winter in Canada is at least a third of our reality.
Beautiful pristine snow on trees and fields is a breathtaking sight to behold.
In a down town traffic oriented area ,it's just a mucky mess to be avoided if at all possible.
One of my first experiences in Canada was to be drenched to the shoulders of my new camel- coat by a car driving through a puddle on a street north of Bloor.
It wasn't nice.
D'you know......I would rather find a way to protect store fronts and pedestrians from splashed up muck and slush on Yonge Street in the down town core of Aurora than all the airy-fairy heritage schemes in Christendom.
I am beginning to hate the word ...heritage.
Maybe we should label it unacceptable ,,,,as in biased against being.
It has occurred to me ...downtown Aurora is one helluva lot more tidy and attractive than anything Richmond Hill has to offer.
We haven't just kept talking about preserving what is best.
The private sector has just been quietly going about it for the last fifty years with a little encouragement from their friends and representatives at the town.
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
31 comments:
Council should stick to the basics. Do what is required to make Aurora a safe place in which to raise families, hammer that tax rate down until it is at least average with other towns, create decent jobs when possible, build useful structures on the land we own and enjoy the place. It really is a good little town.
Have a nice day.
Every time Cllr Thompson cites an example for a project on his wish-list, those familiar with that area point out the inconsistencies. He is forgetting that Aurorans come from all over the country.
Unfortunately things won't be getting much better for Richmond Hill. An earlier comment indicated there will be a mixed housing building with a youth drop in center right on Yonge St. Is this the government spending Clr Thompson is talking about to improve the down town? No thanks!
Councillor Thompson talked himself in a circle. He admitted that there was no government funding available for Hillary while he speaks of just such money being possible as grants for the concept of 3 buildings.
In my view, Thompson should stick with items like garbage bags and tree branches. He can't make a decision on anything and expects staff to prepare endless reports for his pleasure. I thought there was some hope for him but I think I have made my mind up now.
Aurora is much better off for Main Street appearences. We don't have Porn shops or Pawn shops yet, or any adult only clothing stores, that I am aware of. Now that Mr. Evans and family are finally retiring after selling the decrepid building, we need not hurry to spend the money on the street, as the only 'Squeaking wheel' to appear before council is closing shop. No takers on renting the property yet, Another building to leave vacant and prosper from our Promenade Improvements.
14:54
You're right. Vacant shops, or shops advertising that they are going out of business is much more appealing.
By the way, it may not be on the main street exactly, but we do have a pawn shop in the south end in the McDonalds plaza.
Businesses can take care of themselves. They have been for the last 150yrs without having to follow a study or plan. If there is anything the Town can do to help the down town core is build a parking facility...one that you have to pay to use. Nothing ridiculous, but maybe enough to pay for some of its maintenance. If you think that a few more potted plants, some benches with some fancy sidewalks will help revive the core?…News flash…It won’t. Geez…Unionville doesn't have those stamped sidewalks!
16:41
Have you ever taken kids into a pawn shop ? Their eyes pop at all the merchandise. I bought a watch at one for a grand-kid fully expecting it to get lost. It's still a treasure.
Try it. It doesn't have to cost a penny.
There is a new restaurant where Blockbusters used to be. 40 minute wait for a table last week. Leave the main core alone. The survivors have done so without Council interference.
@ !6:49
Strings showing
I am curious about the Kaitlin Group Centro condo on Yonge north of Wellington. It's just sitting there, no work going on.
What's even more curious is why that ugly block-house structure on Yonge to the north of the above wasn't bought at the same time. It looks like something let over from WWII. Maybe the promenade study will knock it down for a mini-park.
14:54
I'm pretty sure the purchaser told the Evans that he did not want a hardware store there. That seems to have decided them that they would really leave. It must have been very hard for them after all those years.
Now the purchaser might be trying to be choosey. We'll see how that works out for him.
Thank you for asking for a recorded vote on the Community Improvement grants. It will be interesting to hear candidates explain how spending so much money ' will save money '.
That quote is from Cllr Thompson this evening.
Back to your topic heading-
Councillors are circling the wagons. We are likely all to be biased when the minimum requirement is ONLY $200, 000 and the decision appears to be to spend $220, 000. But as Councillor Abel has said,
" $ 10,000 is neither here nor there "
so why not double it ? Yuck.
It's really very interesting to watch individual councillors when they have the opportunity to dispense taxpayers' dollars to businesses to revitalize the downtown core. The downtown core lives and dies according to the decisions made by the business owners that occupy that portion of Aurora.
Councillor Humfryes was so excited at one point in her commentary that I was afraid she was going to jump out of her pants. Councillors Thompson, on the other hand is slow and steady but boring, really very boring. The same words and phrases permeate his commentary, over and over and over. He still wants to communicate with the townspeople, to get them to understand the tremendous potential that the CIP offers, the honey that will attract the bears to come and park and shop.
Every week the Auroran has pages of advertising, paid for by businesses in our town. Mind you I have not plotted these on a map to see where they are located - core or not core?
Why doesn't the town offer incentives to core businesses in return for things that they determine will attract customers and improve their sales and profits. Town staff could devise a sliding scale of business-originated ideas to entice people to their shops, and these could be rewarded, not by grants and benches and plantings but farther by reductions in their property taxes.
They might just go for such a concept. It would be their ideas and their businesses that would benefit them and in so doing would enhance the core.
The town is not a business and it has no business being in business.
great ! the purchase of the Dome is on hold. Well done, you !
14:27 Councillor Thompson even fudged the clear garbage bags tonight. We need a bag limit like other communities do. You pay a few dollars every time you are over & put a tag on the xtra bags.
I have to say I used to enjoy this blog, but lately it is so very one sided it seems a bit contrived .....
8:29
Like any media outlet, the product is a result of the editorial slant.
But, you get what you pay for.
@ 8:29
What can you possibly mean by contrived? This is Evelyn's blog. It is not a neutral, 3rd party managed, objective outlet. It is her blog, she can do with it as she pleases. And she does!
Evelyn publishes many contrarian views on here - albeit often it is a judo manoeuvre on her part, but so what. She does NOT publish any of the (plentiful, I'm sure) abusive posts that she gets attacking her. Who would?
Do you at least see that the very fact that she posted your comment defeats your argument?
8:29
Please add balance if you feel it is required. I'm pretty sure the moderator welcomes new voices.
08:29, it's the blind leading the blind...
Anonymous said...
"I have to say I used to enjoy this blog, but lately it is so very one sided it seems a bit contrived"
Interesting.
One -sided.
As in most posts seem to be of a similar view?
Perhaps too critical of the council?
Are you suggesting that Ms. Buck deletes posts that don't mirror her own opinions?
I know this blog has been criticized but I don't recall accusations that dissenting opinions were unwelcome or discouraged.
Or perhaps to maintain fairness Ms. Buck should apply affirmative action rules?
A critical post must be put on hold until a supportive opinion of "equal value" is available to publish along with it?
And what do you mean by "contrived"?
That the posts are fake?
or that one or two people are sending in all of the comments?
Granted, the fact that hardly anyone has taken the time to come up with a screen name can be confusing at times but doesn't it seem like a very convoluted way to make one's point?
Is Ms. Buck in on this conspiracy?
Does she purposely delete a post every once in a while and tell us that the comments "crossed the line" just to maintain an illusion of journalistic integrity?
Who has the energy for that, never mind the time?
What would be the point?
I choose to believe that these are all subjective opinions, perhaps some are more informed than others, perhaps some criticism isn't completely fair, but opinions come in all shapes and sizes, and as they say - they are like noses - everyone has one.
Even you.
8:29 – You “used to enjoy this blog”. The only thing that’s changed in this blog since its conception is the number of posts which have increased and the readership which has also increased (substantially). You actually like this blog and all the comments, and so do many of those that disagree with Evelyn’s posts and her “buckaroos” comments.
To 19:36
The new owner of the hardwear store property was hoping that the business would continue, and the rent would help cover expenses. I guess it wasn't to be. That's the real truth.
16:36
Thank you for that info. I obviously had only one side of the story. Now we will have to see which of us got it right. A minor mystery in all this heavy-duty stuff.
16:36
I guess a business that sells things that have been sitting on shelves since Pierre Trudeau was in power can't survive in today's world.
Mike and his wife just wanted to retire. They’ve been in business for 30-40yrs. They've been debating for years whether to sell the business and keep the property or just pack it up all together. I believe they entertained some offers for the business but then decided on the latter .I’m sorry to see them leave after all these years, but happy that they can now move on in their next stage in life.
8:15
What a goof. They had or would get anything you needed. Often in bulk so that it cost less. I think you were one of those people who walked in and turned away because you didn't understand customer service or loyalty. Ask someone at the big places for an item, their eyes glaze, they check their computers and waste all sorts of time. Either of the Evens would go right to the proper shelf and find what you wanted.
I echo 19:06's comment - well, apart from the "goof" insult. I've always enjoyed my visits to the Evans' hardware store. They are very helpful and can somehow divine the location of any requested items.
We're losing a vestige of smalltown Aurora.
Post a Comment