"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

Friday 22 July 2011

The Norwich Motion

The post I wrote yesterday was from the  on-line story in The Auroran. I read the comments  from the Judge's decision in the story. Reference to our  right to freedom of expression, to be anonymous , to use a pseudonym,  particularly relating  to politics, indicates Morris' defamation suit has no legs.

It's going nowhere. It's done like dinner.

So far as I'm concerned, it never did have a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding. It did however do  enormous  damage to three families in the community who did nothing more than exercise their democratic freedom. 

It  was but another classic Morris example of  creating the big splash  in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the election. Better than  anyone,  she had to know what was coming down the pipe.

 Morris was always a stranger to rational thought and she has still not dealt with the reality of being ignominiously defeated. The situation is made even more surreal by  the  cling-alongs who continue to  hang

Politics is not for the squeamish at the best of times and we  have known the worst in the past four years.

What went on behind the scenes caused collateral damage which may never be fully revealed or reversed.

We have another almost entirely new council with no knowledge of  how things should be, therefore do not recognise how they are, making charting a new course a bit like turning back the tide.

They mean well. That's not the problem. And I am persistent. But collectively, with the  certain exception of three members, as a council,we really need  to develop an assertive backbone.

It's not happening soon enough.There is resistence.

Some  things will take care of themselves eventually. I've heard the St.Kitts woman is telling people after this year's jazz festival. she is "done with Aurora".That's good news.

But another out-of- towner , Katherine  Belrose, "Friend of the Petch House", was at the Heritage Advisory Committee meeting, after Council made a decision, to  sneak in through  the back
door in an effort to gain control..

Eight years of the pesky building , crumbling at the side of Leslie Street, with not a smidgeon of interest, now there's a competition with the elected body to spend the public's money

The "Friends" were at the Farmer's Market, that hotbed of  plots and fantasy, for three months soliciting  funds and raising interest in the Petch House. They asked Council for  time to raise funds and an organisation to save the town's heritage. It's the operating buzz word in town these days.

They returned  to council claimng  to have a plan but without reference to funds.

But the town had a plan . We went with the sure thing.

Still the cauldron seethed and simmered. Mormac Cult members at the council table left their seats to consult with ."the friends" in the public benches about next best steps. They  turned out to be
solicitation for support to an advisory committee.

Now just think about that:

The elected body made a decision on an item pending for eight years.

An out-of-town  group with no profile but self-claimed status, doesn't like the town's decision  because  it leaves them out of the game.

So they go to a town advisory committee , perhaps by invitation perhaps not, and solicit their support to get themselves into the game.

Seems  they got  from the advisory committee what they went to get.

How disrespectful of  your Council is that?  By several parties.

Totally, completely and shamefully abysmal.

Not a good start to 2011 advisory committee participation in the process. 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does an idiot (a person with very limited intelligence who cannot think or behave normally

- Oxford Dictionary) ever come to realize that he or she is one? Is it only when they

come to take that person away to an institution does the realization strike him or her that

something out of the ordinary is happening?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps this Council should simply say "No ' to all requests for taxpayer money until the smoke has
cleared There may be a time for re-thinking
those 'no's once it can be seen that money is once
again flowing in both directions and under firm
control.

Christopher Watts said...

Anonymous 1:22 poses a good question, one that correlates with a recent speech given by John Cleese that I watched. There's edited version of it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGt3-fxOvug&feature=player_embedded

@ 9:02 Cleese says :

"To know how good you are at something requires the same skills as doing that something. Which means if you're absolutely hopeless at something you lack exactly the same skills to know you're absolutely hopeless at it.

Knowing you are good at something requires precisely the same skills you need to be good at it, so people who are horrible at something tend to have no idea they are horrible at it. And this is a profound discovery. For most people that have no idea what they are doing, have no idea that they have no idea what they are doing.

It explains a great deal of life, it explains particularly Hollywood. But it also explains why so many people who are in charge of so many organizations have no idea what they're doing.
They have a terrible blind-spot."

Anonymous said...

We don't need the Petch House from another
district for ' our' heritage. I f you want old Ontario'
there is Pioneer Village. Let your kids go wild, and
the place shows a profit. Unlike the Cultural Centre
which promises all things to all ages and drains the
bank accounts. No one seems to have noticed that
there are a large number of people in Aurora whose
'heritage' is not rooted in Ontario farmland.

Anonymous said...

What about other heritages if you are going to
bring them in from other places ? could we have an
area for Eastern European, Africa, South America,
India,West Indies ? Lose the damn Petch house - it
wasn't born here either.

Anonymous said...

Don't you think there is something a wee bit odd
about a woman who befriends a basket case of an
old house in a neighbouring town ? Are there no
needy ruins in Richmond Hill ?

Anonymous said...

You just gotta love Chris Watts blog on heritage values in the Town of Aurora , he hits the nail on the head when it comes to the priorities of the heritage gurus in this town and the do gooders who long for the ruins of Petch Ville. Don’t take this the wrong way as the Town has finally taken the most sensible course of action in moving forward on salvaging what’s left of that shack at the developers expense, but it makes you wonder what's really important when things like the Hartman SchoolHouse are completely and utterly left out of the picture

David Heard said...

At the last Heritage Advisory Committee meeting which I was in attendance as member,I stated clearly that the town staff, and council should be allowed to do their job.

One thing I pointed out, and it was verified by Clr.Abel(who was in the chair)is the anonymous donation made several years ago to the town.

The donation was to save the Petch house and the donation is from two terms ago I believe.

I asked for a recorded vote on a motion to have the heritage advisory committee involved.

I was told this is not a procedure that can be requested at a committee.

In this situation I think it was needed.

We do not know where the donation came from.That may be of interest moving forward.

I voted against the motion.

It passed with only Clr.Abel also in the nays.

The Petch bible is still in my possession.

I will pray the end of the journey is near for the old house.We need to move on to bigger issues.

Like where did our museum go and our stuff that our relatives and citizens donated.