"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

Monday 31 March 2014

A possible clue

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Only The Shadow Knows":

22:49- “Isn't necessarily from the Town’s grant” So how is that $70,000 being used? When they can stand up on their own feet and not ask for another red cent….your “hyperbolic outrage” comment may be valid. Until then….expect any and all types of “outrage”.


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The Aurora Sports Hall of Fame  sent out a bulletin last week.  A Trillium grant  of  $192,000 has been received providing  for a new staff person.

Their  address is the Aurora Town Hall.

Remember when the erstwhile jazz festival applied for a Trillium grant. The Town had to support  them  to validate  purpose for a trillium grant.

Maybe the Historical Society has received  a Trillium grant as well.

If you know how to work the system and all parties co-opeate, the money just flows.

It may be why the Aurora Historical Society continues to exist.

No money is provided in the Town's budget to operate the museum.

We have a room in Church Street School. We have  artifacts.

Funds flow freely in grants to organizations  allowing them to hire staff .

But no operating funds for the town's museum.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps someone with greater internet skills than mine can access a list of Trillium grants ?

Anonymous said...

12:59- There are people you can hire to find all sorts of grants that all levels of government has to offer.

Anonymous said...

"It may be why the Aurora Historical Society continues to exist."

No, I'd say that's down to a shared, keen interest in local history.

Anonymous said...

13:57
I have lived in Aurora long enough to see the Historical Society got through all sorts of shape-turning from what you claim to exist now to what really exists. ... just a shadow of its former selves. You can hype the local history all you want but it is mundane at best and the basic job of taking care of donations from residents has been handled in a disgraceful manner.

Anonymous said...

12:59

The Trillium website tells you. What it does not tell you is who applied and was denied. I know of a place that has applied multiple times but denied because they make just a little more than they are supposed to.

Anonymous said...

They have to know that their welcome mat has been withdrawn. Every councillor stressed that point - not one exception. I have crossed off the name of the one candidate married to someone on the ' new ' board because it is time for a fresh look at cutting off all funding.

Anonymous said...

The elephant in the room is that when Aurora " matches " fund with Trillium or a grant from the Region. it all comes out of the same pockets. The Town has Donor-Fatigue from other people handing out money to causes that we might or might not support.

Anonymous said...

I have been reading all the negative comments - most of which I agree with - and trying hard to think of anything positive that Council accomplished as a unit.
All I could recall is one meeting after the first Lucid presentation when a photo was taken of all the councillors smiling.
It turned out that the nastiness was already in place. Even the town's birthday party was not of any interest to council as a whole. The Mayor literally said that someone else ' was going to have to drive that bus ' and it fell on the shoulders of a volunteer group.
What a sad result to so much hope and expectation.

Christopher Watts said...

Recipients of Ontario Trillium Grants for the past 5 years are available on their website by region.
Here is a direct link to York Region:
http://www.otf.ca/en/grantRecipients/simcoe_york.asp

The Last Trillium Grant the Aurora Historical Society was awarded 2009-2010

Aurora Historical Society
$60,800 over three years to help preserve the Town of Aurora's heritage by restoring the Hillary House National Historic Site and enhancing its programming. A staff member will be hired to promote community relations, develop volunteers and fundraise.

Wow, that was $60,000 well spent.

Some other ones of interest are

Church Street School Cultural Centre in 2013-2014

$172,000 over three years to engage a full-time fund development officer to carry out the centre's fundraising plan, which will diversify revenues and increase arts and culture programming in Aurora. An accredited charity, this centre offers art and heritage exhibitions, history lectures, tours and community events as well as art classes and musical concerts.

and 2010-2011

Church Street School Cultural Centre, as lead organization on this collaborative
$79,700 over three years to help aspiring playwrights take their work from early drafts to production-ready scripts through a new mentoring program, the Writers' Springboard Project, which matches experienced theatre professionals and local theatre companies with beginning playwrights.

Notice how the "Aurora Cultural Centre" has to apply for grants under its incoporated name of the "Church Street School Cultural Centre" but then drops that for all other purposes of communication and branding.

Another one from 2011-2012 to the York Region Amateur Radio Club

$39,600 over one year to upgrade equipment from analog to digital technology, so the club can continue assisting at community events with safety communications and assist during local emergencies in York.

And where was the York Region Amateur Radio Club exactly when the Town of Aurora was trying to get the word out regarding the snow storm and garbage clean-up?

Anonymous said...

"Notice how the "Aurora Cultural Centre" has to apply for grants under its incoporated (sic) name of the "Church Street School Cultural Centre" but then drops that for all other purposes of communication and branding."

Yeah, because one actually informs those that don't live in Aurora where it's located. It also denotes that the building is a Town of Aurora property.

Is it the Aurora Heights Drive Community Centre or the Aurora Community Centre? Likewise, other Town-owned facilities: Aurora Family Leisure Complex; Aurora Seniors' Centre; Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex; Aurora Public Library; Aurora Town Hall.

You get the point...I hope.

Anonymous said...

Slightly off-topic...

Heard a rumour this morning that someone that used to post here often will be registering as a candidate today.

Anonymous said...

22:30 You mean like the Aurora Banner with whom you communicate in Newmarket ?

Anonymous said...

7:46?? Who?

Anonymous said...

No, 08:35, I mean like the "Town-owned facilities" that I listed. Is the Aurora Banner a Town-owned facility? (A clue is in the description)

Anonymous said...

10:42

I cannot say who it is. All I am allowed to say is that this person posted here for a while under a known "handle" but stopped for a while. They have been quietly watching from the side lines and is going to throw a tam into the ring.

Anonymous said...

A tam, you say? Could that mean Bruce Orrell (aka Robert the Bruce)?

Anonymous said...

15:18- For Mayor or Councillor?

Anonymous said...

16:48

Is that a good or bad thing?