"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

Wednesday 17 February 2010

In The Wee Small Hours

As I often do, I fell asleep in my big comfy chair. Depending how long and whether I attended a meeting the night before, by the time I get to bed, there's no sleep near me. My mind is teaming .
There's nothing for it but to get up, come out to the computer and unload at least one of the ideas pestering me.

In the first year of this term, a group of young mothers from a new neighbourhoods came to council to tell us about a celebration planned for the anniversary of their school.

It was to be in the adjoining park on Saturday. They asked if the fees for placing picnic tables could be waived. It was a piddling sum.

Events like that are what makes a neighbourhood a community. It's always the kids that bring us together.

If I re-call correctly, they didn't get an answer right away. There had to be a staff report
Staff did not recommend the fees be waived because of precedent

Last week, I noticed on the Environmental Advisory Committee Report, an invoice for over $1000, as a" contribution" to an organisation called The Clean Air Alliance of Toronto. I inquired of theTreasurer how would an item like that be classified in the budget. I didn't get a precise answer. Just that the committee has a budget and " the contribution" would be paid out of their budget.

There's no way of knowing what such an organisation as the Clean Air Alliance is about. It could bean individual with a web site and a post box to receive "contributions".

We had an individual like that appearing regularly on invitation of the Mayor when she was hot to "solve" the issue of the hydro transmission lines and the alternate, a generating station. He claimed to have "millions" of members.They paid no membership fee. Just donations. Grants can be obtained from foundations by the same method.

Advisory committees are composed of two-thirds non-elected representatives. That is not in accordance with the municipal Act. Non-elected should not number more than elected. They are not accountable to anyone and according to The Book of Mormac, their feet are not made of clay like the rest of us.

Last night, we had a staff recommendation to add $7,100. to the budget of the baseball diamond under construction behind the Stronach Centre.

It was the cost to RE-LOCATE one of the new lights.

It cost $100,000 to install the lights. Staff were recommending spending an additional $7,100.

A resident living nearby could see the pole from his dining room window. He did not like looking at a pole. It spoiled the view from his dining room window. He did not respond favourably to the idea he might contribute to the cost of moving it.

Staff recommended the $7,100. be spent .

There were politely raised eyebrows. Several Councillors diffidently expressed reluctance. It was was 10.40pm. I expressed my sentiments in a fulsome manner. At ten minutes past the hour of adjournment, The Mayor was just entering into deep analysis of the issue. I left the Chamber.

Up to that point it looked like the recommendation didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of being approved.

In my judgement, there should not have been a snowball's chance in hell of such a staff recommendation ever seeing the light of day.

But it did.

As I drove home, I took note of all the poles I saw. Street light poles, telephone poles, hydro poles, traffic light poles, traffic sign poles, railway light poles, flag poles. A veritable forest of poles are part of the urban landscape which is ours.

I'll go back to bed now and count poles and try to get some winks.

I believe no recommendation ever comes before this Council that doesn't have the Mayor's Imprimatur.

4 comments:

someone who loves this towm more than the Mayor said...

I couldn't find anything on "The Clean Air Alliance" specifically for Toronto.

There is a provincial organization and their website is here:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/about

Paul Sesto said...

I was also very curious about this comment from Evelyn, since as she mentioned do we always know what the purpose of these various organizations are when Council is asked for funds.

In fact I found the invoice at the Town of Aurora website with a bit of searching and it is from "The Clear Air Partnership" (www.cleanairpartnership.org) and not the "Clean Air Alliance" (www.cleanairalliance.org).

It is important to note the difference when you read both websites, as both are for clean air but the "Alliance" also promotes shutting down Coal generating plants with their top banner of "Knock out coal by 2010", but in their body of information they are also strongly anti-nuclear which the "Partnership" doesn't appear to be.

I live in Aurora, and I am not afraid to say that I work for an engineering company in Markham that does business in the nuclear industry along with general manufacturing in Ontario. But we also have been searching for business in both the wind and solar energy business. We go where the business is for engineering.

With that said it is interesting to see at a number of Ontario cities and regions support the Alliance (see their website at http://www.cleanairalliance.org/about_members) and would therefore support their anti-nuclear stance. Of course, Canada is a democracy and they have a right to do so.

But I am surprised that the Region of Durham supports the Alliance since I believe that the cities of Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa and Clarington are all supporters of nuclear and the stations located in their area.

Very curious! Perhaps the Region of Durham doesn't know what it is truly supporting.

I think the Alliance has mixed their message of "No Coal" with "Anit-Nuclear" without others truly knowing it. So it is important to know what the group is all about.

Just a thought...

William Cobbett said...

It's infuriating that someone would complain about something like that. It's even more infuriating that the complaint would find a receptive audience at the Town Hall, and that a pandering response would be crafted.

But the most infuriating aspect to me is that when the opportunity to really listen to the public was there, the mayor didn't. I'm referring to the repudiation of a by-election when Grace Marsh was driven to resign by the MorMac pair.

Ninety percent of those that responded to the invitation for input stated a preference for a by-election over an appointment. But the possibility of a 'wild card' taking a seat on council didn't suit their political purposes so the supported option was dismissed out-of-hand. (Actually, there were snarky comments about organized opposition and something about names just being collected on petitions - like that's a bad thing in a democratic society!?!)

So the ridiculous complaint about the light standard is pandered to (at the cost of staff time and taxpayers' money) but a real expression of democracy falls on deaf ears.

It's all just politics - and politics can be so unseemly.

Anonymous said...

"Unseemly"

What a wimpish word to use in connection with the second oldest profession.

It should be obvious by now that the majority of Aurora Council members are total losers driven by their shrivelled egos into positions that they gain by lying.

It is doubtful that most of these creatures could garner an honest job for an honest day's pay.

Instead they squander hundreds of thousands of dollars on everything from decaying cabins, to deviated sidewalks to chicanery on our streets.

They should be dragged from the chamber and locked up in stocks for the amusement and pleasure of those citizens responsible for the disposal of spoiled produce from the subsidized farmers' market.

This would be more entertaining than yet another Canada Day parade.