Idiot? Really that seems to be a bit harsh. It is someone with a contrary opinion. Does that make you an idiot in his/her eyes?
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 15 July 2016 at 14:24
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Well now...what have we here ?
Criticism...challenge ...sly, skulking maneuvering to get a comment published or a simple query of non-intellectual quotient.
Doesn't matter. These are the hazy, lazy days of summer. Time for the trivial.
Is the term idiot, used in this context harsh? I think not.
Almost three decades of observing Rules of Order in council debate makes discipline a habit hard to break.
One Indicates to the chair a desire to speak and then awaits one's turn.
Three or four speakers may intervene before being recognized to speak to a question, respond to a point or both.
Civility must be observed at all times. No matter the provocation.
Nothing can be prepared beforehand for there's no knowing what will come up in the course of
debate .
Often a speech is prepared though and bears little relevance to the discussion.
If one really listens in the circumstance, a person's speech can read like an open book.
There is always time to judge accordingly.
Over time, I acquired a vocabulary, words and expressions, never seen in any dictionary,never
heard by anyone but always helpful to me to occupy the time.
The term idiot is familiar and by far mildest among them. Not the least harsh. Especially since, in the current circumstance, no-one knows who is assigned the monicker.
As for twisting it to suggest a mere difference of opinion means I must be an idiot too.
Well.....nice try.
In a half-century, insults have rained upon my head; old and bitter, jealous and slippery, out of date, mired in the past, not of the future, and many less than salubrious epithets......one notable one quoted in a court of law ...."senile old bag" ....I've heard them all.
No- one has ever called me idiot.
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5 comments:
It never ceases to amaze me how people who comment here don't understand that this is your sandbox. If they find it harsh...simply leave.
Speaking of idiots, how would you like to be the person tasked with briefing Trump on the mess in Turkey ? You could start with a map but after that how would you cover the history in his attention span ? Our Council is proving to be intellectually and physically lazy - that is not necessarily a bad thing given the scary options.
Enjoy the short bit of coolish weather - that patch of rain last night was lovely.
In parts of the teeming metropolis of New York City streets are numbered and they are alternating one way. This can be a blessing or a curse depending on the morning or afternoon rush hour and the direction in which you are travelling. In the cops and robbers movies of old the robbers tried to escape the cops by driving the wrong way up or down a one-way street, to be greeting by the gnashing of brakes and the blaring of horns.
Aurora is not a teeming metropolis, but one of our councillors recently proposed that three streets in our "core" be designated one-way. BRILLIANT!
And to further aggravate aesthetic matters one of these streets should be available for angled parking. This brings back memories of my travels through much of the great plain and mountain states of America, where dirt main streets, 100' wide, were occupied by all manner of cars and pick-up trucks, many with trailers attached, all angle-parked outside the local shops, restaurants and saloons - and an occasional horse tethered to a hitching rail. Aurora is not cow-town Kansas. Angled parking would somehow be unseemly.
And while I'm on "our Town" - which by the way is a pretty nice place to live - it would be remiss if I did not mention a couple of other things that annoy the hell out of me. One is the notion of Aurora having a "cultural precinct." I always associate "precinct" with police procedurals on TV. Whose brainwave was this? What is a CULTURAL PRECINCT? There are a couple of old buildings on Victoria Street that should be meeting the wrecker's ball, not an ongoing subject of "repurposing." I hate this word and equate it to "issues" - "she's got issues." Or foodie or selfie. There are many more that have crept into common use. The only thing to say about them is that they are "common."
A four-story condominium with a facade similar to Wells Street Public School would fit in beautifully, with its own underground parking. Enough yammering after more than a decade. Council - GET OFF THE POT.
To be continued...
Part 2
Aurora is not Newmarket or Unionville with their historic and vibrant main streets. We have Yonge Street, part of Highway 11 - the world's longest street. Along with numerous "For Lease" signs in store-fronts where once there were thriving businesses. One of the mayor's first imperatives upon his election was to bring more businesses to Aurora. Yonge Street seems to have been forgotten. What is the Chamber of Commerce doing to alleviate this situation? At the very least they should keep the citizenry advised as to the number of vacant premises and whether this is increasing or decreasing. It seems that the business "core" has relocated to Bayview and Wellington/Leslie.
But Aurora does have an historic assemblage of houses, on Wellington east of Yonge. These have been restored, repainted, landscaped and are downright attractive, and if viewed slowly and individually are obviously of an age. The town should place plaques on each of these outlining their history. It doesn't take long for one of these properties to sport a "Sold" sign shortly after listing.
One of council's front burner issues (there's that word) is to turn Aurora into a tourist destination. This would ensure that a hotel could locate in our town and be a commercial success. Excuse me, but what attractions do Aurora possess that will lure the public into our environs? What do we have that would amuse or entertain tourists?
Finally I will focus on banning left turns at Yonge and Wellington between the hours of 7:00 - 9:00 am and 4:00 - 6:00 pm. At the present time there are advanced green lights on Wellington east and Yonge south. These last about 10 seconds. I would suggest that if this time were doubled or even tripled it would clear those wanting to make that turn. But that's beside the point. Our council learned, after much discussion, that the Region was responsible for this intersection, in addition to which it required a formal decision by Regional council to bring about the proposed change. All of this will require further study by Regional staff, not Aurora's. Why was our council not aware of this?
The first thing that occurs to me is to count the number of vehicles making left turns at this intersection between the above two time periods. Second, if the change goes into effect, what is going to happen to the homes on the eight streets that will carry this new and additional traffic burden. These side streets, by the way are used by residents for parking. Will this be banned and where will their cars go?
The point of all of this: why does our council waste so much time on dumb things instead of caring for our money that they seem to spend without a second thought?
There are a lot of towns in Ontario that use angle parking to this day on their main street. Collingwood and Southampton come to mind immediately. I see nothing wrong with the implementations. However, angle parking on Yonge Street in Aurora would be a bad idea. Every angle parking car must do a reverse manoeuvre. Backing onto Yonge Street traffic would be a nightmare. At least with the current parallel parking, not every car needs a reverse to get in or out.
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