23:18
We might save one expenditure or at least maybe reduce it. Looks like that ugly thing is not going to be in the Peace Park.
It might cost less to shove it somewhere else.
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 6 November 2015 at 08:01
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It would cost nothing at all the town didn't accept it.
Why do we need it ? Some wallah in full uniform comes and tells a tale about the federal government having bought or commissioned to build two-hundred and fifty infernal machines, cobbled together from spare parts, and looking for places to park them.
And Council jumps at the opportunity
With an agreement yet.
They have to be properly displayed and maintained.
They could be a hazard and that would involve insurance premiums.
We know the insurance company has no problem taking the town's money and giving it away.
What about graffiti?
If I feel no reverence for a war machine, why should a would -be teen-age artist with a handy-dandy can of spray paint refrain.
Council has agreed to spend $15,000 to cover grass with a bloody great slab of concrete to support the frigging thing.
Lake Simcoe Conservation won't allow paved surface for parking in Shepherd's Bush. But the town can pave a green and verdant war memorial garden with concrete and a chunk of ugly metal, likely painted in camouflage.
Trees planted in that space commemorate every name on the Altar of Sacrifice. Which of them will be cut down to make room for the machine?
Apparently nothing indicates it's a giveaway. Or the cost, if not.
Who will pay for it ? Queen's York Rangers?
Where would they get the funds ? Out of their own personal pockets? Or the Department of National Defense?
But DND commissioned them, to sell them.
Whose interest was being served with that sleight of hand?
Some job creation scheme in a riding to a garner votes possibly ...or pay off a campaign contributor...certainly nothing noble
We know the Aurora Legion doesn't have what they need to maintain their facility. They have to fund-raise . The town pays their taxes to the Region and school board. If they have money to spare to buy a tin can facsimile if a light armoured vehicle then they should have money to pay their taxes.
That's something Council should be talking about .
Collecting taxes to pay for services provided, where taxes are due.
Instead of throwing money about for a reminder of the worst days of the lives of war veterans. What kind of twisted thinking is that?
President Obama mentioned in passing a week or so ago, "volunteering" for the army is down 15% in the U.S.
That's one way of ending all war.
If recruits were required to spend time with the army of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress and not getting any help from their government, they might get a more realistic sense of what war is about before they sign up for it.
Who are these people with the military mind set so keen to litter the town with war relics ?
Are they Aurora residents? Who says so?
A vote on the Auroran poll must be cast on line. That's not an indication of local support.
If everybody at the hydro building belonging to the militia, cast a vote in favour and none of them were Aurora taxpayers ,why should that count?
Wattstrending has a post on the f....ing appalling record of these monuments to bureaucratic military dunderheads who have never been within five miles of a battlefront and how many lives of Canadian sons,brothers and husbands they've taken.
Posts
22 comments:
We took the armoury and paid top dollar for it. Pretty much the same council is sitting now so I expect we
will take the other thing too to go into the armoury. They do not turn around easily.
According to Cllr Abel, the matter should maybe go back before council.
That really does not mean much. Those three trees must have gone before them at least 4 times, I think.
Someone got the commission to create these suckers. Why can't our council be one of the ones who declines ?
because 16:11 Darrell Bricker sits on the Community Selection Committee and he's affiliated with the Queen's York Rangers:
http://lavmonument.ca/en/how-to-get-a-monument/selection-committee-and-criteria/index.html
The program website says: Applications will be accepted until the program concludes in 2017 or until inventory is depleted.
For a program that intends to deploy 250 of these monuments it's more than a little underwhelming to see from their own news section a total of only 4 communities biting: Orangeville, Fredericton, Sarnia and Aurora.
They rushed into it assuming it would be a welcome thing. This was one time when a delay would have been a good idea.
If there are only four communities that have so far agreed to the department's munificence it might be incumbent on them to increase their commitment to, let's say, half a dozen.
Ours could then all be placed in the 6 acre $2 million + park, courtesy of failed mayoral candidate Gallo, as a kind of playground for the neighbourhood kids.
But only under parental supervision. No more "camel" incidents in our town.
I do not see council turning this down. It is not in their DNA to admit making an error in judgement,
Fredericton makes sense, There is plenty of space on the GageTown grounds to lose the thing.
To 10:01
Do you mean GageTown where Agent Orange was dumped.
I do not think it is the only location.
I wonder if Ontario is safe?
The Auroran poll had some credibility until the last local election when it was clearly being manipulated.
Now it only mildly interesting to see the numbers.
Christopher
I just read the last post by Christopher Watts in which he says that the town of Aurora, or whatever town, has to fork out a purchase price of $17,000 for the LAV3, a transportation and delivery cost of $10,000 (is this uniform across the country or is there a distance factor?) and finally $15,000 for a concrete pad and pedestal for a total of $42,000.
This is almost triple the figure that council committed to.
Is this part of the budget process to which you refer in your post following this?
This is blatant stupidity and bordering on a fraud perpetrated on the taxpayers of Aurora.
Be careful about throwing out words like fraud. Be more careful about publishing them.
00:48
The word has other meanings: Deceit Smoke and Mirrors Deception
Please refer to Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 13, 2015.
General Committee Meeting Report of October 6, 2015:
PR15-031 - Placement of Light Armoured Vehicle at the Aurora Cenotaph (NOT THE AURORA PEACE PARK) - my hyphen
That Report No. PR15-031 be received; and
THAT the placement of a Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) at the Aurora Cenotaph Peace Park (now it becomes the PEACE PARK)
in 2016 be approved; and
THAT an expenditure, not to exceed $15,000.00, sourced from the Council Discretionary Reserve Fund be approved in the 2016 Capital Budget for the purposes of site preparation and memorial signage that will be required to accommodate the LAV.
There is no reference to purchase price or delivery cost as per Christopher Watts of $17,000 and $10,000 respectively.
Once not a Peace Park and then a Peace Park.
Quite frankly I don't think members of council have a clue as to what they are doing besides raiding its own Discretionary Reserve Fund. But have no fear, the funds will materialize in the 2016 Capital Budget.
SMOKE AND MIRRORS
00:48
I believe that comment used "bordering" as a qualifier.
And, no, it was not my comment. I just got here.
00:48. I believe that Evelyn is quit experinced in knowing what to and what not to post. This is her blog. Thanks again Evelyn for all that you do.
The Aurora Cenotaph is a simple, elegant structure, perfectly centred in an elevated piece of ground and marked by flagpoles.
To desecrate this site by placing a Light Armoured Vehicle in it destroys its original purpose and appearance.
Is this LAV a Heritage thing, like the trees that Councillor Abel spent countless time discussing?
Why is it deemed necessary for members of council to despoil that of which our town is justifiably proud?
SHAME!!!
Take a walk around the Cenotaph grounds and try to place the LAV anywhere. There is no place that will not throw the entire
area out of proportion. It simply cannot be done/
We don't have to spend the money on a concrete pad. I believe there's concrete right out front the doors of the Town Hall. It would remind people of those that fought in wars for our democratic rights and freedom. For all those that think that this is such a great Town initiative...what an appropriate location....Yup! right beside the flag pole bearing the Canadian flag. Now...if this sounds ridiculous to you?...placing one of those ugly war machines in the Peace Park or Cenotaph is disgusting.
We don't have to spend the money on a concrete pad. I believe there's concrete right out front the doors of the Town Hall. It would remind people of those that fought in wars for our democratic rights and freedom. For all those that think that this is such a great Town initiative...what an appropriate location....Yup! right beside the flag pole bearing the Canadian flag. Now...if this sounds ridiculous to you?...placing one of those ugly war machines in the Peace Park or Cenotaph is disgusting.
It is a useless exercise. We have veterans committing suicide who need real help. Have a huge fund raiser if council wants
but lose the symbolic stuff. The Cenotaph is just fine as it is,
I volunteer to take it and put it on my front lawn. Not as a glorification of war but as a tribute to those that fought and died in those vehicles. Something that most Aurorans appear to not care about.
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