"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

Sunday 17 July 2016

NOTHING NEW IN THE MUNICIPAL UNIVERSE

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "SATURDAY NIGHT POST PART 2": 

Short. funny letter in The Auroran about Council catering to special interests in the speed hump matter. 
The writer is correct. Mavinac and Kennedy do get problems fixed faster than the rest of the town's streets. 

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 17 July 2016 at 08:20

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The writer is not correct. There's a history . It will not be told at the current council table. 

Nobody there,neither Council nor staff, have a clue about Kennedy Street W and the Mavrinac 
Saga will not  bear their examination. 

But I can tell. 

Kennedy was not always open between Yonge and Bathurst. It ended at Murray Drive. Murray Drive wasn't always open to Kennedy. It ended just past Regency Public School. Henderson Drive didn't open to Yonge Street either. 

A hand full of old homes and at least one old farm house were in King Township on a dirt road that was Kennedy W beyond Murray Drive. 

MacDonald Drive had to be opened by Tridel Corporation when they built the town house and apartment complex on Wellington Street. A Writ of Mandamus was issued to compel the town 
to grant building permits for the complex. Council had pre-zoned the land for apartment density.

It was before a planning department, an Official Plan, development charges or any of that stuff. 
 
Council was doing silly stuff then as now. Tridel was a trio of Del Zotto brothers. 

Aurora's boundaries were extended when York Region was created in 1971. Kennedy Street was  
constructed  a few years after and services were extended. Old  houses were demolished and new homes built. 

Soon residents started agitating for speed bumps to stop traffic from using Kennedy  Street. 

The town had grown. They were part of its growth. Traffic increased. They were part of that too.
They had  two,three ,four -car garages. 

Not all  wanted speed bumps. For the same reason the town had always resisted the demand. 

According to insurance data,speed bumps damage cars. The town would be liable.

Former Councillor Damir Vrancic never wanted speed bumps. He drove  a low-hung, long, red 
convertible sports car and lived on Kennedy Street W.

Councilor Vrancjc has not been a member of Council for ten years.  

The Mavrinac Saga started on a summer Sunday in 2014 when former  Councillor John Gallo went 
rat-a-tat-tatting  on doors  to inform  residents the Separate School Board had decided not to take up a 6 acre site for a school . 

The Councillor told them the town should acquire it and turn it into a park. 

Lickety-split, the race was on before the whistle had even  blown. 

That story has so many twists and turns it deserves a post of its own. 

I have laundry to hang. 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Storm's coming - get that laundry in
I flunked a quiz on Aurora from Scott J - he is so good.

Anonymous said...

The three speed humps on Kennedy between George and Murray are extremely effective. If councillor Vrancic had not slowed down crossing these he would have lost the bottom of his sports car. Pretty well every vehicle slows down to cross these, especially trucks and gardeners with trailers.

The speed humps on Golf Links are a waste of money. You can speed across them without a ripple.

Are there no standards for these "sleeping policemen?"

T'will be interesting to see the new ones.

Anonymous said...

American Tourism is taking a dreadful hit. Cleveland, the " mistake by the lake " is the centre of a storm of anger and guns. I jus hope the have their insurance in order. Hard to believe water bottles are banned and guns are ok.

Anonymous said...

Clint Eastwood and his Chair are unavailable for the RNC
The best trump can do is that actor who played a part in Happy Days. Chachi ?

Anonymous said...

I don't give a hoot about speed bumps, there's a lot of speeding across some of these roads in Town, but those chicanes that redirect traffic should have never been installed. I remember when council voted to have those things removed, whatever happened to that? Righting a wrong has never been Aurora's strong suit. In fact...they're absolute cowards.