"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

Thursday 27 September 2018

ONE STEP FORWARD

I didn't just stop writing.Several half-written blog posts are on hold,untitled and now out of date. 

I've been commenting on Facebook. 

Commenting is not the same. It doesn't require the same discipline.it's fast and lazy. 

I play scrabble with the computer and stay at beginners level so I score hundreds ahead. I like that. Winning is better and I have control.

Friends have been urging me to get back to writing the blog.  Because  they told me so...many have  looked forward to reading it every day. 

Mostly, it was about Town business. Not being on Council now, means not knowing first-hand whereoff I speak.

Meetings  are not televised any more...though I admit...I seldom watched.  Didn't when I was at the table either. Listening once was enough. 

Doug Ford's election has made Ontario politics interesting again. Can't really tell what's coming. 

America's politics are in a dark place.

There's no shortage of stuff  to write about. The challenge is choosing and getting back to the daily routine. 

A commenter would like to know what I'm thinking about the municipal election. I do think about it but I doubt my views may be well received. 

I do not endorse the incumbent for Mayor. Even now,at the end of a third term,his alignment with 
the Mayor of Burlington on an issue for the election must have been a surprise to most voters. 

He has never attempted to create a cohesive unit of council. He gave the impression he didn't see the need to associate. The staff arrangement of his predecessor seemed much to his liking...gave him the influence he wanted and continued to build. 

Of the challengers, I think Tom Mrakas has most going for him. He puts his heart and soul into the job.
What he says he means. 
 
My perspective, as might be expected, is different from Tom's. I believe the primary  function of a council is efficient business management of services to property. Transferring land from  
revenue to the liability side of the ledger, in any other business , is the road to bankruptcy with no 
way back. 

Cheerfully ushering in annual tax increases to make up the shortfall is not good stewardship. Nothing will ever persuade me otherwise.  

Of course it's not as simple as that. 

Nothing ever is. 

It's one of the reasons I stopped writing. 

And If I don't stop now this post now, it may never get posted either.