"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 18 October 2013

Portents and Omens present

At Councillor Gallo'a  meeting  on  Wednesday,the presence of" The Presence"
and suggestion of skullduggery in Council's closed session on the issue of a redundant school site ,brought  back a memory.

A double lot  at the corner of Cameron had an old house, more like a  summer cottage sprawled across the lot line.

The house  had to go to restore separation of the two lots.

It  required an application  for variance to  Committee of Adjustment, a quasi-judicial body appointed by Council but not subject to Council.

Zoning Bylaws are  passed to create order not hardship. When an existing lot needs a  variance to
bring it into compliance,  the committee makes the decision.

An application is circulated .  Neighbours and the town are invited to comment.

There's  a fee of ,I think $450.

A delegation appeared before Council demanding the committee be directed to refuse the application.

The area was historical. they said. The applicant had just finished restoring a building on Wellington Street and sold it. All he wanted to do was make money.

Like operating a drug ring or a house of hanky-panky or human trafficking or any  other unsavoury ways of making money.  Who knew what was in the delegates' mind  that would be sufficient detriment to the neighborhood to mount strong opposition?

Limits   Council's jurisdiction was explained.

Nothing daunted ,the delegate went off and collected a petition to oppose the application.

I received a call from the applicant. I affirmed the process.

Next thing , the house was gone. It was an old frame house without a basement. It disappeared
entirely from the landscape in an afternoon.

Didn't hear much about it after that. A nice two-storey brick home soon  occupied one of the lots.
The second was probably built after that  and  both added to the assessment roll.

The "Presence" was on Council at the time.

At regular intervals a puff of sulpherous smoke indicated  a fire being nurtured.

 "The Presence" was  never far. But a front man or woman was always there.

"The presence" was  very careful about leaving fingerprints.















9 comments:

Anonymous said...

We had one on our street that went ' Poof ' the day before it was to be declared an' Historical Site '. Probably during the same period as the one you describe. I expect it to happen now with trees. People own their properties.

Anonymous said...


A great Halloween tale.

"Every now and then a puff of [sulphurous] smoke indicated a fire being nurtured."

What a terrifying image does itself conjure up from the bowels down below.

Anonymous said...

Cllr Buck, are you once more in your element facing down your nemesis?

Anonymous said...

Every year about this time I wonder if some little girl is going to make a Hallowe'en visit dressed with a hand-made paper- chain of office & a scowl. Hasn't happened yet.

Anonymous said...

When I saw the late addition to the items of the closed session, it was quite chilling. I knew someone had been targeted but still have no idea if it was even staff or a fellow councillor. We were supposed to have gotten past all that sneakiness.

Anonymous said...


Oh that "chain of office" that 16:27 mentioned. If only her "Presence" could beg, borrow or steal it for just one night. Just one night.

Anonymous said...

17:32
Got lots of photos. Including the one with the Prince's Award that was for the town not her personally.

Anonymous said...

Canadian Press
" Pamela Wallin's lawyer threatens legal action against possible Senate suspension. "
You were right, Evelyn.

Anonymous said...


It's beginning to sound as though we should retain an exorcist.