"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 25 April 2013

Guest Post

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "LAST NIGHT'S CELL TOWER CHAPTER":

You’ve got to be kidding. (I see I'm not the first to comment in a similar vein).

Councillor Ballard is leading the council astray.

There’s got to be better causes to fight for.

I can understand that the neighbourhood has to deal with change, but there’s probably more risk to people using their own cell phones than this tower.

It’s titled as a “mega-tower” woo… what do then call the CN Tower.

In a couple a months people won’t think anything of it. It will just be part of the landscape. I drove past it last evening to see what the big deal was about and almost missed it. Really what's the big deal about. It's not like you can use it as a new Aurora landmark. "Oh, I live over by the cell tower". "Oh, really, where? Which cell tower?"

Councillor Ballard labels the tower with a caption of “a once idllyic vista is now ruined for dozens of home owners”. Really… time to get over that. What if it was a new subdivision going in there, well there goes the neighbourhood, there goes the idllyic vista. What about all the development straight across Aurora of what used to be farmland, meadows, forest and nature. Now that was a vista, no one seems to care about the thousands of home and people that are being “intensified” across Aurora and the loss of that vista.

This is NIMBYism at its finest. Everyone wants cell coverage though don’t they.

What’s Bell going to say… we followed all of the regulations, did everything that Industry Canada said that we needed to do, we covered all of the bases with King Township, the tower is up. End of story.

Does anyone really think it’s going to move. Unless it can be proven that it is a grave danger to life and limb, forget it. Lawyers are the only ones who are going to benefit. But… but… C. Ballard is there to lead the fight don’t forget it at re-election time. He went to bat for that neighbourhood. Do some at the Town think they can “buy” a move with $100k. Has common sense been thrown out the window?

Unbelieveable…

I’m surprised though that C. Ballard has published some negative comments (to him) on his blog about this affair. (we’ll probably soon see those disappear). Mark my words this is going to be another checkmark on Ballard’s list at election time as to his perceived mismanagement of Aurora and why a crusader such as himself is needed to right all of our wrongs.

I guess I step back I have to see the bigger political picture. At times our representatives have to look like they are listening and helping and finding solutions so that in the end they can then say “sorry, we tried our best, but it just couldn’t happen”, full well knowing it was a lost cause from the star


Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at April 25, 2013 at 11:33 AM

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

An absolutely super day at the office. Thank you, Evelyn. This has been a blast for someone who never laughed about politics much in the past.

Anonymous said...

I looked up the plural of lemming. It isn't idiots as I had expected.

Anonymous said...

I'll post here instead (thanks Evelyn for the guest post).

I submitted the 11:33am comment and joked about it being a "mega-tower" and comparisons to the CN Tower.

But I didn't know that to others the comparison is no joke.

For info, this cell tower is 60 meters and the CN Tower is 553 meter close to a 10 x difference.

By chance this afternoon I picked up a print version of the Toronto Star in a waiting room. More specifically just by chance it was the GTA Section of today's Star which had a lead article titled "High Anxiety" about Aurora's cell tower.

You can also find it at

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/04/25/cellphone_tower_divides_aurora_and_king_township.html

Have a read of the comments too - many of them seem to be from Aurora residents in the area.

The web version is under the title: "Cellphone tower divides Aurora and King Township"

The Toronto Star now makes out as if there is a feud growing between King City and Aurora as they state: "Despite their differences, suburban Aurora and rural King Township have always maintained an amicable relationship. But there's no love lost between the neighbouring municipalities over a newly constructed cellphone tower on the King side of the Bathurst St. border..."

An Aurora resident is quoted as saying "It looks like CN Tower No. 2, here in the middle of nowhere" (I have omitted the resident's name on purpose) and also states "This impacts on most of the town of Aurora". Really? Most of Aurora is impacted give me a break, this Tower #2 is a toothpick compared to the CN Tower.


What an embarrassment to Aurora to be reported on this.

I would bet a toonie that Ballard is all put out by this article since it fails to quote him after all his work at making the a cell tower into the CN Tower.

By the way - why not turn these lemons into lemonade. if the tower impacts on most of the Town of Aurora, why don't we turn it into a tourist attraction. Come see the amazing anti-gravity defying Aurora super Tower. You may have seen the CN Tower or the Eiffel Tower but they just don't compare - we'll dig some dirt out from the foundation and we'll call it the "Leaning Tower of Aurora" - no worries we'll ensure it leans back towards King's town hall, just in case it falls.

Anonymous said...

I believe that Aurora did fail. We failed to send King a thank-you note for allowing the tower on their land. Bell could have stuck it on the High Tor property & then our well- insulated ones would really be howling.

Anonymous said...

Councillor Ballard's poll on the tower is tainted. Individuals can vote more that once from the same computer. The numbers therefore mean nothing to Aurorans.

Anonymous said...

I had written about Ballard's poll. Cancel that. He has tidied it up.

Anonymous said...

You must be feeling like a ring-master with the town hanging over your head. I cannot believe that this has happened but we really did the best we could with the material at hand. So sad.
When the dust clears, I would have one question for each councillor seeking re-election:
" What losing legal actions did you vote to pursue while on council ? "
Maybe only Evelyn & Paul Pirri would make the cut?

Anonymous said...

this is too much at the end of a long day so I will cut to what floated to the top. Who mentioned ' bribes ' and in what context? If it is Counciilor Ballard again. he needs a quick refresher course in libel. Aurora has enough damn law-suits floating around. He should put up or shut up - indefinitely.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I believe that Aurora did fail. We failed to send King a thank-you note for allowing the tower on their land. Bell could have stuck it on the High Tor property & then our well- insulated ones would really be howling.

April 25, 2013 at 6:33 PM


Actually Bell could not have put it on High Tor land because it would be too close to an existing tower... the water tower in Evelina MacEachren's backyard has a cell antenna on the top.

My argument to those that think that this new tower will effect health is this same water/cell tower. If there is any potential health issues, why would they put it within 100 yards of houses?

It is a bogus argument.