Feedback is essential to all communication.I love it.I mentioned in a previous post that Clr. Buck provided some for me in a rather favorable way on her blog here: http://evelynmbuck.blogspot.com/2012/01/bric-brac.htmlShe also shares the opposing viewpoint too, and I love it just as much. Here it is: http://evelynmbuck.blogspot.com/2012/01/its-so-silly.html In my best Samuel L. Jackson voice to said anonymous commenter, "Well, allow me to retort"
"The future requires people with similar skills to be able to execute them without making an enemy of everyone."
Actually the future I see requires people with a diverse range of skills being encouraged to apply them in a way of maximum mutual benefit.
I've made several friends on this journey. No doubt I've made enemies, but not of everyone as this poster claims.I don't expect more than a small percentage of those that I criticise on my blog are enlightened enough not to take it personally. That is life.You can't please everyone, and trying to do so makes matters much much worse.Egos in politics are greatly inflated which makes them that much more delicate. Is it more so in Aurora than elsewhere, I'm not ready to make that call.
"Believe it or not, you can't be right every time."
No, you can't. I believe that is a component of the human condition.
However when those of us, humans that is, champion, self congratulate, defend or promote as accomplishments and justify their words and actions when there are indications they are not right, then they should be expected to be called on it. And although you can't be right all the time, there is no harm in striving for excellence.If those in our community are indeed promising more, then they better deliver.
Humans are rarely satisfied with the status quo.
Ccil Beaton has some great advise here:
"He feels that his opinion is the only valid opinion."
Not so. I go out of my way to include and share several opinions so you can better understand where my opinion is formed. Something this poster is either unable or unwilling to do from his armchair anonymous position.
"Personally his expertise is of today. The future will be different as technology evolves."
The future is already different. A 24 hour cycle erases built expertise where it builds others. How this poster "personally" claims to know the lengths of my expertise or how I am capable of applying it is news to me and should be heavily suspect to others.
"I think Watts' grade 4 report card probably said "Does not play well with others".
Is that you Mrs. Gibson?
Nah.Unable to locate my 4th grade report card I'll try and impart what I do remember of that school year. Grade four was my final year attending Country Day school, after returning from spending my grade 3 year in England. Team building was a skill that was reinforced heavily during my education there. I excelled at group projects throughout my middle and high school years because of the foundation I received in these years.If there were negative remarks regarding my performance I believe they would have been in the areas of cursive writing and french, both of which I played catch up on not having either while in England. On the flip side this was replaced by some great English history. If there was a grade in trying to paint an image of me this poster would of course be given an A for Anonymity but an F for everything else.One thing that is obvious from reading the comments is that where I chose to continue learning past grade 4 this poster seems to be content in having stopped.If nothing else it seems to have drawn out another troll from the past, that being the once dead, then zombified, then retired, now posting again,but still diseased Robert the Bruce.Mentioning him on Evelyn's blog was all it took to confirm that Robert The Bruce has got Oscar Wilde all backwards. For him "The only thing worse than not being talked about is being talked about." I'm sorry Mr. Unclean, did I break your concentration?Perhaps a follow up post to give him a proper Pulp Fiction ending is in order.
A commenter on Clr. Buck's blog was inquiring as to my opinion on the recent annual South lake fundraiser hosted here in town that is Mardi Gras themed: http://evelynmbuck.blogspot.com/2012/01/mardi-gras-in-aurora-is-spectacular.html The commenter seemed to elude to a comparison between it and an elitist fundraising event I commented on that was hosed, not surprisingly at the Aurora "Cultural" centre.I have not, nor do I intend on attending either. From the outside I don't see the comparison, at least not a complete one, but I'm willing to make ones that do jump out, perhaps what caught this poster's eye. The levee at the Cultural center was an unnecessarily exclusive event. It's low attendance spoke volumes of how effective it was as a fundraiser.As for the Mardi Gras event, it is certainly interesting that organizers and members of our municipal government in the region would rally around this theme above others. From the countless pictures I've seen of elected officials all dressed up like Barbie Prince and Princesses, it all looks so cheesy.Mardi gras is of course French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. If there is any comparison to draw perhaps it could be to the Mayor's attitude when attending a recent outlandish affair held to commemorate the ground breaking of an incinerator. He walked away with a shovel and a full stomach that we as tax payers foot the bill for. I can't be sure that there was truffle salt sprinkled like fairy princess dust all over the food at the Mardi Gras event, it wouldn't surprise me either way.On somewhat of a tangent it makes me wonder if truffle salt is more or less insoluble than road salt. If it is perhaps we just found our solution to the crazy road salt collection issue that Clr. Buck rose on her blog recently. The difference I see in these two events has already been covered in one of Evelyn's follow up posts. The Southlake event wasn't housed at the "Cultural" Centre, and it wasn't funded by our tax dollars being passed of as a cultural offering which it clearly wasn't. Nor did it create a barrier for Aurorans to honor their men and women in service I don't care if a bunch of fuddy-duddies want to play dress-up for an evening. I've been to New Orleans (before the recent wave of devastation), and none of this captures the spirit that I recall.New Orleans is the home of real jazz (not Jazz"+" , the new Coke of that genre). No, you can walk in off the street and sit down and listen to some kids in some nowhere bar blow your ears.It's also the home of spookiness, hauntings, great ghost walks and real magic.And then of course there's the food. In the French Quarter a hotdog is served with a Chili Po-Boy, and it costs less than $6: http://johnnyspoboys.com/menus/po-boys/hot-dog-with-chili-po-boy/ I expect if this was attempted in Aurora by the minds that grind out the events at the Cultural Centre we would see something served more along the lines of this: http://www.thestar.com/living/food/article/1120185--introducing-the-100-hotdog-infused-with-2-000-a Better bring Mr. Creosote a bucket to catch all that culture.You need a healthy appetite for those that want to be king.
If Aurora's Mayor wanted to label something in Aurora as a "Money pit" he certainly didn't need to cite a heritage home that had already had a plan for its inclusion and restoration. There are clearly two elephants (or at least a conjoined one) in the room that the Mayor seems all to happy to ignore.The Aurora "Cultural" Centre took out a full page ad the week of january 3rd, 2012, you can see it here:
To add insult to injury the as is printed in color, which is unecessary and ads unecessary cost to this iniative.
I understand the approximate cost is $1000.Among financial donors the ad actualy thanks previous and current board members. WTF?The town, through a fixed 5 year contract, hands over wheelbarels of cash (over $300,000 a year) to the Aurora Cultural Centre and, then they double-dip and run counctless "fundraisers" for the centre, and this is how they re-pay it? Unfortunately they're not alone.In the Auroran week of December 13th 2011 the Aurora Historical Society took out the entire back page in which 1/10th of it was used to congratulate their board of directors and showcase their autographs:
It also included an antiquated clip-out donation/pledge form. The suggested donation for which was set at $150.If one does the math over 6 of the donations received are required just to pay for that ad. To an organization who has cried poor while seeking $50,000 from the town annualy they supplement this through donations.Wondering exactly what those donations get used for, other than soliciting more donations, I have reviewed the Society's strategic plan for 2010-2013 which was prepared in 2009. In which strategic priorities are outlined that no longer align with the recent changes announced by the society. I understand the impetus to shift the "Aurora" collection, and potentialy the Hillary House is to free up the society to achieve its goals that it has seemingly been unable to do over the last 10 or so years because of the attention it has focused on Hillary House. Over the past 5 or so years, and especialy after walking away from a museum that it helped fund, the society seems to be 100% focused on Hillary House and that does nothing but neglect the needs of the town as a whole. It was in this weeks Auroran that I noticed another ad by the society, this one was on page 19 and it was a call for applications to fill (up to) 3 vacancies on its Board of Directors.This peaked my interest as it appears that the society has recognized, or been forced to recognize, it needs to change immediatley and significantly. Inc. is running a series this month on boardsIn the first of this four part series Margaret Heffernan points out exactloy hw a board can be extrordinarily useful, as in doing more than self congratulatory exercises and looking smug. You can read it here: http://www.inc.com/margaret-heffernan/advisory-boards-why-bother-with-one.htmlOne area that popped out was this:
When it comes to new products or strategies, your board should also represent a sufficiently relevant cross-section of your market that they can give honest feedback that is a plausible stand-in for your market. Would the directors, or their businesses, buy from you? Is the offer or product compelling enough? They may also be blunt about your competition in ways that you find difficult. Defensive thinking is a normal but dangerous quality in leaders and you need people around you prepared to tear those defenses down.
Obviously something that is absent from the Cultural Centre's board of directors. All of the things that Centre is missing, objectivity being the most obvious it holds at arms length.
Diversity is essential: If everyone around the table has the same background, the homogeneity of thinking won't help you. Different ages, gender, ethnicity, and technical expertise will all make your business smarter.Similarly, you want a good mix of highly-experienced directors and those who have newer, fresher blood.Finally, try to find someone who has experience being the outsider, the one person prepared to articulate what everyone else isn't saying. You want people like this inside your company too, of course, but board level is the last place where unspoken-but-obvious truths have the chance to emerge. Groupthink is a systemic problem for boards but tough-minded contrarians resist it.
It is my hope that the AHS sees the opportunity in their recent shake-up to shake off what isn't working. "Museology" is not the way of the future. It speaks of an organization that has flirted (if not reached third base) with giving in and giving up. Like clip-out begging forms these antiquated and costly directives are not a viable path for Aurora and neither should be advocated at the board level. We've already lost a lot more than just our money, and the "Cultural" Centre is proof that you can't buy it once it's gone, so lets hope that the AHS is smart enought to embrace the here and now and tap into the resources of the entire community to bring its past alive.
With every war there are strategies and plans, and there are winners and losers. The George Browning House, like The William Wells House, the Issac Petch Farm House (no, not the Petch shit shack) the Hartman House to name a few are all casualties in the war that rages on against Aurora's Heritage. Some of them casualties to friendly fire which makes their loss that much harder to deal with. Yes the town has saved, and been rewarded time and time again for, saving the Church Street School (albeit at the cost of its museum) and Hillary House amongst others but the scene fro Tuesday night's council meeting was clearly one of a losing battle for one of Aurora's landmarks. It's hard, no downright impossible to turn the tide when the Mayor of the town's attitude was summarized as "well, you can't save them all."I never understood that was ever the approach. Sounds more like a cop-out soundbite.Of course heritage conservation isn't about saving them all, but don't you save the ones that your own Evaluation Group deems of "major significance and importance"? Don't you save the ones that are recognized as being "a significant contributor to the character of Yonge Street"?Don't you save the ones that are designated under the Onatrio Heritage Act? Don't you save the ones that you are bound to under provincial policy?And don't you save ones that owners have already purchased with the intent to restore and invested money on their upkeep?When the mayor describes the property as a "money pit" it's clear that when I approached council through open forum a passion plea wasn't going to cut it. As unusual there was a complete absence of passion in that room. Instead I decided to to point out exactly how the town was clearly contravening 3 of its own policies.Unfortunately consistency rarely trumps short-sightedness, my points were almost swiftly dismissed by the majority at the table. I have to say it felt very different getting the support from Clr. Ballard who tabled the item and echoed one of my points.What unfolded was a sad display of frustration and consent to a wrecking ball as the answer, when clearly more work could have been done. I will construct a post mortem post of my feelings on that meeting over the next week highlighting some rather disconcerting trends and attitudes that are not eroding but swiftly erasing from our town its history. I draw no comfort in appeasing the town's collective conscience through, plaques or monuments built from a couple bricks to pay homage to a structure that ignorant people fail to save.I believe it was brought into the discussion that one of George Browning's houses was demolished to make way for the library, and therefore because the library offers excellent service the loss of the house is inconsequential. That same argument could be made for the Church Street School, that it was restored but the loss of the museum was a small price to pay given that it now runs a Cultural Centre, or that the Hartman House had to be demolished because the community is better served by having a Toyota dealership. I'm a Toyota owner and a library card holder, but I cannot agree that the way in which their current buildings were implemented better serves the town than the historic buildings that have ben erased from our street scape. Could they have reworked the existing structures into their design? You bet they could have. A heritage house I will outline in a future post that is property of Matamy homes is being re situated into a new subdivision that will be going in on the NE corner of St. Johns Side Road and Baview. The effort here is much more in line with the attitude the town wants to project about its heritage. It was also deeply disturbing to listen to our Mayor say that there "is no questioning our commitment to heritage " when referencing the recent awards the town has received.As if to infer that the town has accomplished its goal, and not only can it rest on its laurels it can excuse the demolition of significant landmarks because, well we have a plaque to say it's okay. So what will work?Even if the HAC and council are content on demolishing properties that they designate only a couple years prior there are several venues to pursue to increase accountability and ensure compliance with the tools that already exists without pontificating about new ones. I will be exploring all of them, and even though it would be easier to have their support, it is not necessary.That being said there were a couple positive things to spring out from this meeting.The first was a gesture from chair of the Heritage Advisory Committee to engage me further about my concerns. Unexpected, considering she was a prime target of my presentation.Clr. Humfreys may have proven not to be the bobble-head I once thought she was. That said, even she recognizes she has a lot to learn and we're one year in. I expect she could turn the tide and lead that committee to gets its head out of its ass, because if she doesn't there will be an incredible negative impact to our town that will be remembered well beyond the next election. Something else that was unexpected came from Clr.Buck, who gave me a nod over on her blog: http://www.evelynmbuck.blogspot.com/2012/01/bric-brac.html If there was one Clr. Tuesday night that I disagreed with the most it was Clr. Buck.Her comments were infuriating. Each one of them made me cringe.There was enough material to fill 4 pages of notes from that meeting, 2 of which pertained to Evelyn's points. I'll get to it, when I get to it but in the meantime the Clr's blog post gave me reason to pause.Politics is a strange beast, more so when the players don't behave as you would expect them to. I don't claim to understand it.I know what I know, which is myself.Having two young daughters one gets to re discover philosophers on a regular basis.They rarely get better than Dr. Seuss:
It's a much different attitude than can be afforded to a politician.Which I'm not. And one of the reasons I never plan to be. Politicians start wars.They rarely finish them.That's job is up to you and me.So here's some music to get us started.In honor of the planned demolition of Giants Stadium, New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen wrote a tribute song called "Wrecking Ball" and debuted the song during his final concerts at Giants Stadium in September and October of 2009. !
Smart Commute, an unproven organization, approached council back in the 2011 budget process begging for $10,000 from the town. They said it would be used to promote healthier and greener commuting options through awareness.
They must have thought the $ was assured, I mean who could say no to that?<insert guilt, outstretch hands>Clr. Buck was the only one at the table that had questions for the delegate as to the operational costs of the organization to better determine how this money would be spent. The % spent on staffing was over 50% and that was a red flag. But they got it.This year it looks like they have returned to the trough hoping again to gobble down town funds in the 2012 budget so I was curious to see exactly what Smart Commute had been doing to be able to judge how successful their efforts were. Especially considering how much $ they must have amassed during their pleas to governments not to mention business.Checking out their website and social media outlets is not surprisingly very disappointing. Let's take their most recent tweet as an example:
Smart Commute @SmartCommuteMore proof that cycling and walking contribute to reduced rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. fb.me/1bzET6UXu
Well......... duh!
Does Smart Commute believe that it's audience does not recognize the value of healthy living? Do they think everyone is, well, dumb?I'm not alone in being turned off by overtly self rightous Public Service announcements that are directed in such a way to insult its potential audience.How is it the town isn't capable of spreading these kind of "duh, didya know that walking is gud for ya!" messages without handholding from some organization that it then pays $ for the privilege of being associated to. Well it looked like the town's woefully inept communications department was doing exactly that before council had provided any input on the matter, which I brought to their attention in a budget presentation I made here: http://christopherwatts.posterous.com/anyone-notice-how-the-word-discretionary-prec Imagine if the town spent an ounce of creativity, and perhaps a fraction of the $10,000 on an ad campaign like this :
Something like this rewards the intelligence of its audience, not insults it.It's a hook, it helps draw in the audience and make them want to discover what they don't know. That's something that doesn't happen when they are bombarded by facts that they already do. Communications is not tricky if you understand how to properly serve them in the correct channels. It's also built on relationships, not unlike one's that are formed over money.Smart Commute (like Bullfrog Power) needs the town's endorsement as a customer more than the town needs it. When do we stop handing over thousands of tax $ to redundancy, and in the case of Smart Commute insulting redundancy?I'm hopeful it is this year when the budget is announced, but given there are a few dumb council members that would rather drive the easy road instead of hitching up with those we already know, and pay, we'll have to wait and see. Just like the waiting game that the dummies at the Region have been playing with the transit strike.Which will come first, and end to the transit strike or the town's 2012 budget?Either way, a 3 month strike and a 5% increase both have missed their chance for a free ride.
The following is a series of predictions of "What may happen in the next hundred years" made by John Elfreth Watkins Jr. as published in the Ladies Home Journal back in 1911:
Given that 100 years has transpired since those predictions were made it is fun to see which ones were on the mark and which others were indeed "strange, almost impossible".When you've finished with that list you may also wish to check out the BBC's predictions for 100 years from now at their site here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16536598#TWEET62929 I suspect I wont be around to see how accurate these predictions are but I do take some comfort in not having to live in a world without blondes, which is also what the BBC is predicting 200 years from now: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm David Lynch (no not the 3-time oscar nominated director) explores the difference 200 years make in his song performed live here : The track is from his 2011 album I Can See Sound available on Itunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-can-see-sound/id418442677For more information, visit http://www.davidlynchmusic.com/
The black bear sighting in Aurora from a couple years ago is now being joined by increased sightings of coyotes. It was the subject of my column this week which you can read here:
Last week I was a little taken aback to see the passive response by our M.P.P. with hosting a "public information meeting". Here is an announcement excerpted from the Era Banner: In response to concerns about increasing incidents involving coyotes, Newmarket-Aurora MPP Frank Klees has scheduled a public information meeting with representatives from Natural Resources Ministry. The meeting is today at 7 p.m. at the Aurora Town Hall 100 John West Way in the Skylight Gallery Considering coyote sightings have been an issue in town going on 3 years, perhaps we're past the "information meeting" point.What exactly is the Ministry going to tell us that we don't already know, or that's available on their website: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FW/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_088694.htmlIn my mind starting an education campaign like this:
is about as helpful as one like this:
Instead of solving the problem these efforts are all smoke and mirrors, not unlike those in the Looney Tunes cartoons.To give some perspective a child was bitten by a Coyote in Oakville last Friday: http://m.cp24.com/news/20120119/120119_coyote_oakville.html#menu When are our local politicians, the same ones that champion our expansive parks and trails, going to man up and take the position of Bruce-Grey Owen Sound MP Larry Miller: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2922290&archive=true We don't need to be vigilant, we need to be pro-active.Coyotes and bears are proactive.Politicians, especially like our M.P.P. are proving to be anything but.
Yesterday I left the follwing comment on Clr. Buck's blog with some suggestions as to content curation as it seemed to be an escalating issue there:
In lieu of a continous and active online community forum here in Aurora I think Evelyn should be commended for embracing and engaging with comments on her personal blog. It requires a lot of dedication. When it comes to setting comment policies I think Evelyn's has been more than fair, and given the thriving readership her blog has attracted there may be some additional tweaks she may want to implement in order to adopt the recomendations in an Economist article, summarised here:
Anil Dash, the first employee of blog-software firm Six Apart, and who is currently involved in not-for-profit efforts to help governments and citizens talk effectively to one another called on sites with communities and forums actively to police themselves, rather than allow the most egregious participants to set the tone. "If your website is full of assholes, it's your fault," he writes bluntly. "And if you have the power to fix it and don't do something about it, you're one of them."
Although Clr. Buck has always appreciated my input in the past I should have suspected that the ususal suspects, or suspect given they are all anonymous, would weigh in but I wasn't expecting to have to squash a rumor that I am am somehow "leaving", or "moving on". Leaving what is not specified. I'm in good health and despite the wishfull thinking of certain ignoramous anonymous commentors I have made no declarations here or elsewhere that I am reducing my social media presence. It appears the confusion originated in the comments left by Anonymous 4:14PM, who I will rename "PigPen" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig-Pen )
PigPen felt that my suggestions were "messing about". He claimed "Eveln is doing well with the tools she is familiar with." If PigPen actualy read my post you would see that I agree, I commended her on her efforts. Then PigPen stirs up a whirlwind of nonsense about "a number of us will have to miss you when you move on at the end of the month."I expect that PigPen has confused my previous post about changes I am making with regards to autoposting to facebook here: http://christopherwatts.posterous.com/facebook-stop-the-sanity with me abandoning my blog entirely and moving it to facebook. I will clarify for the benefit of PigPen and others.The posts on TemporarySanity were set-up some time ago to autopost to my personal profile on facebook. After working with the pages feature in facebook it was evident to me that it would be beneficial to create one as a landing page for my posts. There are additional benefits of having a facebbok page for my blog which include with greater conectivity with the facebook community as well as increased opportunities for comments and dialogue.It is unfortunate that PigPen's comment fed the Anonymous 5:19PM, which due to the preocupation with cats I wil rename Eleanor Abernathy the crazy cat lady from The Simpsons ( http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Eleanor_Abernathy)
"Your critique was poorly timed as, having already lost the Citizen, we are now parting company with you."
Again, my suggestions were not a critique.
I was simply pointing out additional tools that Evelyn could consider implementing into her site as it evolves to assist with comment moderation.
"Your choice but one that does not allow you to advise Evelyn on the way she runs her Blog."
How exactly does my switching auto-posting from my blog to facebook have any bearing on the suggestions I have extended with regards to comments?
Eleanor obviously needs to remove her head from her many litterboxs before smashing it on the keyboard to enter comments on Evelyn's blog. Anonymous 3:50 PM , I will call Paperbag Prince Humperdink
Humperdink believes my blog doesn't contain comments: "oh there aren't any he refuses to publish them." Perhaps Humoerdink should poke some holes in his paper bag before he goes online.There are comments on my blog, and yes you can read them or post your own. As for refusing to publish comments, yes I have refused a few. I moderate comments on my blog, as does Evelyn, and as did the AuroraCitizen.The debate on anonymous vs. identifiable commenting as it pertains to engaging a community is ongoing, the following is an interesting read on the subject: http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2011/11/anonymous_v_identifiable_commenting_what.phpThere's a couple more points on the subject I will save for a seperate post. To sumarize the tools outlined in the 7 Ways to Love Blog Comments Again piece I mentioned originaly are a good place to start when looking to acomodate anonymous comments while clean up commenting that has gone amok. Comments in Social Media are not like letters to the editor.They have evolved.The tools to engage and manage a community are evolving too, even if a handful of the commentors themselves refuse to.
Continuing on the subject of the town's budget where council and staff are giddy to rip their teeth into and spend D.C.s (development charges) my attention is always peaked on items that offer little to no sustainability. This is where items like investing $400,000 on asset management software, $1 million on sidewalks to nowhere and $500,000 on Cultural centers that do nothing to fulfil any "cultural" obligations.What happens when all the money is dispensed and development dries up? Well it looks like Mississauga is about to find out: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/mississauga/article/1118316--hume-mississauga-waking-up-to-a-new-reality The 7.4% tax increase this year is going to sound good next year and the year after that as they struggle to maintain infrastructure.Aurora charges developers $14,000 per house, add in the region's charge of $31,000 and the take is almost $49,000: http://www.yorkregion.com/iphone/news/article/1070636--towns-development-charges-among-highest-in-gta What is grossly insulting in this Era Banner article is Newmarket regional councillor and chairperson of the region’s planning and economic development committee, John Taylor's comments:“I don’t think they should be lowered,” he said. “We know the costs don’t cover the cost of growth, so if we were to decrease development charges, then the money has to come from somewhere, so we have to increase taxes.” WTF?The development charges of almost $50,000 per new house, among the highest in the GTA don't cover growth?John Taylor is okay living in a false economy, are you?
Aurora council needs to approach it's budget and trim more fat. Yes it's painful, but unless you do it's not "sustainable".And if anyone on staff or council is about to champion or endorse it's new strategic plan it can't do so without appearing hypocritical if they aren't prepared to do the heavy lifting at budget time.
Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic and The Giving Tree are family favorites.Among his most most well known titles is Where The Sidewalk Ends
Inside are 166 pages of poems and drawings :
When reviewing Aurora's budget items I also found this abnormality: Sidewalks on both sides of "Industrial Parkway" are being budgeted to the tune of $1 million dollars: http://evelynmbuck.blogspot.com/2012/01/prime-purpose-of-council-is-budget.html There's a big dollar figure, almost a million I believe, to construct sidewalks on both sides of the Industrial Parkway.The Mayor says Policy requires it . Time to change the policy. Before you spend the money, not after. WTF?Industrial Parkway! You mean the bypass designed to move car traffic off Yonge street?Just where exactly would one walk to on Industrial parkway?Morons.In Aurora the sidewalk is as inconsistent as the town's attitude towards effective communication. There are numerous areas where the sidewalk ends only to start again a short distance way. It makes traveling difficult if not impossible for the mobility impaired, or families with strollers. Being the latter I think I may have discovered most of them in the NW quadrant. Just ask yourself why a town would spend such a huge sum of money on this instead of prioritizing the sidewalks it already has in order to achieve a unified walking community.This project is a joke.It needs to be swept of the table and focus need to return to Aurora's real sidewalk issues. For the children, they mark, and the children they know the place where the sidewalk ends.How is it that member of council and town staff are so blind?
