"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

Saturday 23 August 2014

A Retrospective

Every time I drive  on Yonge and pass the vacant site of  United Church I feel good about the town we share. The old Church is gone but something beautiful remains.

A Banner  reads....Thank You Aurora For All Your Love.

Yes we do have unhappy people in the community. Life is tough and some make it harder for themselves. But  far more feel good about themselves and have much to give.

I need to re-read the report  about the Joint Operating  Centre and tell you why I think the cost is horrendous and does not serve our best interest.

The decision has been made and  The Auroran Poll says 75% support the decision?

I am not persuaded.

I didn't vote in the poll. I didn't call and ask people to vote against it. Both had potential to influence the result.

If my blog numbers are an indication, people are drifting home from summer expeditions.  The poll  numbers could have ben as few as twenty or as many as a hundred. Either would have been insignificant in the grand scheme of things. As noted. My blog gets more than 200 comments in a week.

The deed is done. . I  won't pose for a picture with the winners. It doesn't feel like a win to me.

I don't have to pretend to like it.

I didn't get to pose for a picture with the sign for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Park . Though my motion proposed  the tribute.

Did I tell you about the award handed  to me  by the Mayor from the Province of Ontario for twenty-five years of public service. Twenty- five years were actually completed in 2011.

At the end of  2014 I will have completed twenty-eight years  service on  Council. I will have been
elected ten times  by the people of Aurora. Appointed  for nine years by the Province to the Social Assistance Review Board and three on York Region Police  Services Board.

Aside from  recognized achievement ,which it wasn't, I think experience and knowledge might be considered an asset, which it isn't.

Probably because  self-promotion is a  skill I lack and it's too late now.

I received a comment from anonymous that he "would sooner. be pushing thirty than eight

Councillor Pirri  recently challenged my argument salt and snow do not co-exist with an e-mailed excerpt from Wikipedia that they do if the temperature is low enough. In debate he accused  me of providing "false" information.

In Southern Ontario winter temperature is not low enough .

I received a comment  " I would rather be pushing thirty than eight

Someone else offered the argument education is more  important than age. Can't say I 've  heard the equation  offered as a definition of judgement or wisdom or even plain old  common sense.

And having been thirty and eighty, I would note the option does not presents itself.

Another comment was accidentally deleted....that I "just like putting a burr (pun intended)  under someone's saddle "

I was sorry to lose that one. I am prepared to admit to the element of truth. I do find it difficult to resist seizing with great appetite ,an unintelligent comment made by a politician at whatever level.

I think it is the essence of democracy and freedom.

I admit, I crave the  opportunity far more than a framed certificate presented three years overdue.

As if they really didn't want me to have it or let anyone know they gave it or  have any respect the people who kept choosing me to represent them.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

That Auroran poll was taken AFTER the fact. Those conducted earlier showed residents' anxiety and reluctance due to the escalating costs.

Anonymous said...

Ah…Was that award covered in the Error or the Auroran? I don’t remember reading it in either one or on the Town’s website.

Anonymous said...

Some of the awards the town hands out are confusing - one never knows quite how they have been earned. Since yours was deemed to have been from the province, I guess no one bothered to check the facts on it. Pity that. Could have been remedied before the presentation.

Anonymous said...

You saw just how accurate polls are. On the night of the recent provincial election the well respected pollster Nick Nanos reported the election was too close to call based upon scientific polling.

The good old days of residents at home ready and waiting to answer their land line are over. Many now operate from unlisted cell lines and many others use call display and do not pick up unknown numbers.

I suspect pollster now have a difficult time getting an appropriate data set to conduct the analysis.

Local newspaper polls are, of course, not scientific and simply may or may not be accurate. Sometimes, if the question is slightly rephrased the result will be much different.

In my case, I might say a new works garage is good but not at the reported price. So I could give a yes or no depending on how I was asked.






Anonymous said...

WOW - you started off on a tiny positive note, which was surprising enough ... and then sunk to your usual low ......

Anonymous said...

16:53
Meow to you too.

Anonymous said...

#16:53
Pistachios

Anonymous said...

How could this award by the province and what I think is one helluva of a service record be missed? or acknowledged by the Town or local media??

Anonymous said...

Pistachios?? Love it.

Anonymous said...

I live in the town to your North. I enjoy reading the Auroran on line. I can vote in their poll. I can also do it a few times if I wish. So much for the poll!

As far as Evelyn's award, the town had that in their possession so maybe someone there might like to answer that. Or maybe that in itself is the answer.

Anonymous said...

20:11- As one comment posted on another thread, they may have been "simply not in the loop." Whatever the reason...its shameful.

Anonymous said...

"I live in the town to your North."

Oh, you poor soul.

John B. said...

It is so interesting you state"self promotion is a skill you lack".
Watts and Heard were shot down as self promoters.

I am confused.Is it a skill or not?

People are sucking and blowing on here again.

Anonymous said...

9:56
One individual tried to shoot them down.

Evelyn Buck said...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Retrospective":

9:56- For some.... I'm sure it comes quite natural. For others... it's a struggle.

Publish
Delete
Mark as spam

Moderate comments for this blog.

Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 24 August 2014 12:23

Anonymous said...

Evelyn...there's got to be more to this story. How the heck did they justify giving you this 25yrs service certificate 3 yrs late? You're a lot more gracious then I would have been. I would have told them to take it and ......

Anonymous said...

Off- topic
A Heads Up for those who might have missed it:
Rogers is instituting a new fee for usage.
But - when you call & ask for a way to monitor your usage or for them to let you know if you are too high, their tech guys say they cannot do that.

Anonymous said...

18:57
Me too. /maybe that is why she sits in the chair & we in the cheap seats just enjoy her.

Anonymous said...

The Auroran Poll??? Really you put that much creedence into an online poll of a variably distributed local newspaper? The results of that poll are about as indicative of the public feeling as this blog is.

Anonymous said...

I'd say less so, 08:57. For the most part, this blog tends to preach to the converted.

Anonymous said...

11:21
But you are here too

Anonymous said...

Your right 8:57. I think everyone should be reading the Error, where you can read all about truth and feelings there. The truth about that paper is that it makes a great liner at the bottom of my kitty litter box. How’s that for feelings?

Anonymous said...

Preaching? What preaching?? Your reading comprehension skills need some help.

Anonymous said...


@8:57
You harken back to an ugly time when one did not dare to be seen reading the Auroran in the Town Hall.
No one would even bother trying to ban the Banner - it is self-banning.