I Gotta Take A Break

Now I'm reading a mountain of stuff that isn't mine. It's more tedious than reading mine.  It has to  be done though and some of it is enlightening.

But  re-living the 2006/10 term of Council, is  worse than living it was.  People watching it at home told me how awful it was. Looking back on it now  gives me the perspective of distance.

I just read Chris Watts post about the demolition of a church in Picton. I have a different outlook on that   from  Chris.

A whoopee was expressed in a comment last week about a  disagreement between Chris and myself about the Petch House.

What is that about? Why should   a different opinion have to mean hostility and antagonism? Why can it not just mean a  difference of opinion. Why does a line have to be drawn,  cudgels raised and personal invective fly.

Why should a respectful discourse about options and alternatives not be more stimulating and interesting than the collective minds of sheep.

And a little salt in the language does not go amiss.

Chris compares a church on Main Street Picton, to a modest cabin in the hills of  Whitchurch Township  and finds the cabin of lesser significance.

It's like comparing apples to oranges. Picton County and all along the Ontario lake front to Kingston and beyond is chock- a- block with United Loyalist history.It's a feast for a history buff. A complete  delight and an almost undisturbed journey into the ambience of the past.

Once when I was B&B ing it, while my family were camping, I stayed with a couple who came from West Toronto.They were involved in Picton's Little Theatre and trying to get the former movie house on Main Street donated to the municipality for a theatre. I  believe they were successful.

Their's was an interesting story. They had  a seasonal campsite for years.They saw a house they liked for sale. They loved the place and having no idea of how they would make a living,  they put in an offer for the house and got it.

They took whatever opportunities there were; drove school buses,wrote bits and pieces for the newspaper, took  paying guests and whatever else they could  come up with to make a dollar. I stayed there twice.

Another time, I stayed  at a farmhouse owned by a farming family of several generations.

When I was on the Social Assistance Review Board,I visited most places in the Province at least once.  I amused myself on long drives contemplating where, if I won a lottery, could move anywhere and take all my family with me, where would it be? Prince Edward County was the stuff of dreams.

I would not presume to opine whether the church featured in Chris's blog should have been saved. But generally I think  if a municipality has a different idea for the fate of a building, from it's lawful owner, the municipality should be prepared to pay a fair price for the building in order to exercise rights of ownership.The new Heritage Act notwithstanding.

It becomes a question of a municipality's role; appropriate use of tax resources collected for the purpose of providing services to property.

Is ownership and preservation of every old building in the community a service and the responsibility of the municipality to provide? I don't think so.

I represent people who have a hard enough time holding on to and maintaining the property they own. Often, it's all they have to show for a lifetime of hard work. It is at one and the same time, security of shelter and independence in old age.

The Petch House is not on my pedestal.

It's a project I put forward because non-tax resources are available to partly pay for its restoration. A good location and a practical use for 500 square feet of additional space has been identified.

Council gave staff the opportunity to undertake the task and do it for the least and tightly controlled expenditure. I am grateful and completely optimistic. I look forward to the project demonstrating to council, the simplest and most obvious route is likely always the best.

I think an opportunity for a council to be creative and add something of interest to the life of the community at minimal expense is golden.

This year, we expect to place two pre-fabricated public washroom facilities in two separate parks at a cost of $200,000. It's a one source supply and cheap at the price with a discount of $10,000 because we are buying two.

We expect the Petch House project to come in at considerably less than one of those public washrooms.

It will not be a three hole privy, I am pleased to say. The inside of the cabin is not in the same stage of rot as the outside. Craftsmanship is the key to restoration.

Not engineers. Not architects. Not building inspectors.

Psshaw!!!!

The Hartman House was a more interesting building. It had historical connections.We lost it.

The small school house on Wellington  that came from somewhere else, had an adaptive re-use processed. It proved to be impractical and has now apparently reverted to residential use. It sits almost on top of the railway, within feet of; horrendous road traffic and exhaust fumes. It's the least likely location for a home.

How long will it last?

I have to go back to my reading.