"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 12 June 2015

TIME PASSES

John Tory's progress in the Mayor's office is interesting to watch.He is not a light weight. His loafers 
shift on terra cotta. 

Time is money.  Decisions must be made lickety-split. 

He reads studies and reports,takes a position and answers questions openly and transparently. 

He is comfortable in the spotlight and supremely confident pushing for ascendancy.

decision made is worth two in the bush. 

The position is entirely  practical in the business world and to many in the electorate. 

 The Municipal  Act defines the Mayor's function to provide leadership and guidance. 

A couple of problems are inherent in the definition. 

Number one; the Act obviously anticipates the Chief Magistrate will be a person capable of judgement, knowledge and experience.  HA! 

Two ; the Mayor has a single vote. 

To provide leadership and guidance without personal experience or knowledge or ....Saints Preserve us.....judgement ...means  having enough sense to listen to experience,knowledge and judgement among the Council. 

John Tory's experience  was in the back rooms of  party politics where caucus members do as  bidden by party minions or risk expulsion. 

By contrast ,municipal councillors  have authority and opportunity to influence decisions.

Each  has a vote. 

Imagine all the foolish, airy-fairey notions of the  last term in Aurora that might passed had the people not been sufficiently well informed in time to bring them to a screeching halt. 

Think of the evil and appalling record of the previous term. 

Toronto's vote  last week on the Gardiner Expressway was a squeaker. It  has a long way to go and many hurdles to overcome. Many strong voices in the community are opposed 

John Tory's success has less than an even chance of prevailing in a fractured Council. 

Years will be wasted. 


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That planner knows more about the project than Tory and she was very opposed. If she can stop it without costing the city too much, I expect her to try. There are better and cheaper ways to go.

Anonymous said...

You bring up a point that I have been making for years as we hear constant complaints of the mayor that has been elected in Aurora.

The Mayor has only one vote. There are eight other that can change the course or continue to follow it.

Anonymous said...

7:53
I do believe the current mayor is discovering this now. Looks good on him too.....

Anonymous said...

Gaertner is in heaven. Trees and towers all over the place.

Anonymous said...

Cell towers and Post boxes. All under federal regulations. We do have a federal representative. I haven't heard squat how our federal representative is helping out on this matter. In fact I haven't heard squat from any of the federal representatives in any municipality. Have I missed something?

Anonymous said...

13:10
What do you want the Federal rep to do? Cell towers have to go up - people demand the service and they have to go somewhere. Geography plays a role in where they go. The feds have rules and processes that the cell company's must adhere to, and they appear to have done so. I don't understand what the problem with a tower is anyways, but maybe I am thick.

Post boxes? What's your problem with that? There is a national program to move postal delivery to CMBs. I have been using a CMB for 20+ years - time to get over it.

Anonymous said...

7:26- Your right, but the point of the mail boxes is that the residents and Towns have not been consulted to their locations. We all know that they have to go somewhere...why not work with municipalities and residents and work out their best locations instead of consulting "google maps" and arbitrarily place them where "they" see fit. Cell towers are a whole other issue. The point is where are our federal MP's in all of this? These issues in my opinion are pretty easy to deal with considering the financial mess all levels of government are trying to deal with.

Anonymous said...

7:26
The Post Box issue is utterly stupid. Hamilton is doing what they can and we will see what happens. Aurora ddid not need to show off. It just cost us money and gave Scott good material for his cartoons. The gov't has a whole team working on those boxes and their placement.