"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

Tuesday 26 July 2011

My Contract Manager On Vacation

They are off on their annual trek to Sandbanks Provincial Park. We discovered it when she was fourteen . They have camped there  every summer since Adam was weeks old.

Heather is my contract manager, my campaign manager, my campaign organisation and  my right hand man, so-to-speak.

She called me last night with information. Along the way to camp,  they had taken note of various municipal playgrounds. In Consecon she found climbing equipment the same as when she  played in Confederation Park as a child in the seventies.

In a lakefront playground in Belleville, she found the same vintage equipment as when her children played in Confederation Park in the nineties  Nowhere did she find modern up-to-date equipment such as we have in Aurora parks.

"I think those  complaining are just a thoroughly  ungrateful bunch " she said.

I had to disagree. They are not a bunch. They are two.

The overwhelming number of comments I have received are in favour of providing children with stimulating play environment. No topic has aroused so much discussion on the blog.  Every day I receive information of another article citing experts in the field.

They simply affirm what  Leisure Services Director, Al Downey, verbally reported to Council at the July Council meeting.

I am hoping the Mayor and other Councillors are receiving the same input from the community I am.

Children need opportunities to strive.Parents need to take responsibility for their children.

Removing a piece of equipment at a cost of thousands to suit one parent and replacing it with another piece at a cost of more thousands which may not suit another parent, makes no sense at all.

When a citizen chooses to take the microphone to  lodge  a complaint, he launches a  public debate.

He  surrenders privacy. He  takes up the cudgels. He should be ready for what comes. 

What rule book states a politician must  be wishy-washy or peely-wally or obsequious in defending a principle when the principle is attacked..

I know of none.

Except of course the Morris- McEachern- Gaertner Concept;ACOCOSA the Aurora Code of Conduct of Selective Application. Fortified by ICSCFASP; Integrity Commissioner Selectively Chosen For A Specific  Purpose, And if  that strategy  fails go for a Harrassment Complaint under the Work Place Safety Act.

And devil take the hindmost

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know all those convoluted rules so please
excuse me if this is a dumb question. Can the
Council simply tell this fellow that they have heard
enough from him, and move on to reject the
idea of replacing the equipment ? Seems it would
save a great deal of unnecessary verbiage.

LivingInAurora.ca said...

Well I don't think the squeaky wheel should get the oil this time.
Children will always get hurt. If, and only if the equipment gets removed in the future, we should replace with absolutely nothing, and then children will have no opportunity to strive and some parents will have no need to take responsibility for their children. If this is what they want ... Anna :)

Anna :)

Christopher Watts said...

Sandbanks is a fantastic park with a great stretch of beach. We thoroughly enjoyed it last year while spending a week vacationing out in Prince Edward county last year, and I expect that Heather will enjoy her time there and understand why she is returning.

There are several fantastic wineries hid in and around that area that deserve recognition as well.

As we were traveling with 2 little ones I expect that we crossed paths with every park and playground in and around Belville during that week, which was a great number.

There was some playground equipment in Picton that I found to be exemplary, by that I mean very advanced and challenging to all ages and skill levels, more so than the one that is being objected two by the couple in Aurora.

I will dig them up and post them on my site to share.