"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

Friday 27 February 2015

Bathurst Tells The Story

An elaborate accoustic fence  is being constructed to enclose the former Glenway golf course  on Bathurst Street in Newmarket. Obviously by the developer.

Further  south, in Aurora ,a decorator wood fence has been constructed on the same side of  Bathurst to enclose  back yards of subdivision.homes. It rises and dips with the contours of the land. In some places it disappears  below  the road level and serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Not even decorative.,

It was built by the Region. No expense spared. Trees were cut down. New trees planted.

Aurora originally  required lot lines be thirty yards back from  the.road  easement to maintain the ambiance of   countryside. No doubt the Region will be responsible to  maintain that fence forever and a day.

I believe $2 million tax dollars were spent. Regional staff  are said to be extremely accommodating to regional  council members. From the way it happened I doubt the fence was a capital item in any long term forecast.

It would not therefore be in any calculation of development charges.

Homeowners gifted with the fence had complained they bought homes when Bathurst Street was a country road with little traffic aand expected it to stay that way. Since they came ,traffic increased  dramatically and they were entitled to protection.

And so it came to be. At the expense of the rest of us. No principles apply. 

I doubt we should look for principles other than purely political in any Regional decision. Out of sight.out of mind.

Any more than we expect them  at the Provincial or Municipal or Federal levels of government.

The similarities are outstanding.

It's not indifference we see at election times. It's  a severe malaise. Like a fever ,it my have to run its
course.

7 comments:

Christopher Watts said...

"It's not indifference we see at election times. It's a severe malaise. Like a fever, it my have to run its course."

Brilliant quote Evelyn, but what if what we are seeing is not a fever but the return of terminal stupidity?

Running its course seems to be the motto of the antivaxer movement when what we really need in out politicians is for them to muster the courage to roll up their sleeves and take a shot of common sense.

Anonymous said...

You are right, Evelyn. People are turning away from the polls and paying the price for their actions. And I am certainly not going to try and convince those who do that they might be wrong. Because my votes certainly do not accomplish much.

Anonymous said...

I love how you make statements as though they are the truth. However, I need a little more than your word that they are in fact accurate.

1. "Obviously by the developer." Of course the developer is doing, however do you not think that this was a condition of the project's approval from the Town? A developer would not do this in isolation.

2. "...serves no useful purpose whatsoever." According to you. You are not an engineer.

Anonymous said...

13:15
Too many times we have heard that complaint:
" You are not an engineer "
But we saw what happened when a young engineer or two ran for council. Evelyn has oodles of experience and common sense that they still lack.

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Anonymous said...

13:15 - The Error call themselves a newspaper, with educated professional reporters and editors.