BROCK’S BANTER: New Council Wishlist

December 3, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Brock Weir

I often feel sorry for my shoes.
It might be an odd thing for a guy to say, but hear me out. As a rule, I generally don’t pay much attention to what I put on my feet other than being sure in the knowledge they will get me from Point A to Point B. No one would ever mistake me for any sort of progeny from the Marcos family. I’m content with a pair of white runners, a tasteful darker pair on occasion, two dressier pairs in black and brown, and a hardy work boot to accommodate for the Canadian winter.
Needless to say, I am hard on them. Not unlike a particularly addicted smoker who likes to puff down to the filter, I hang onto mine until my toe comes through the increasingly bitter end.
It is not unusual to be out in the rain or snow and find my soles have sprung a leak.
Nor is it unusual for them to be poked or prodded with stones.
More unusual for them is to plow through the mess left on the floor during a recent excursion to the Royal Winter Fair by a cow that had a particularly volcanic reaction, but it is all in a day’s work for these babies.
As I got out of the passenger side of the car to take in the recent Santa Under the Stars Parade, I didn’t think too far ahead to where we were going to park. Our parade routine is just that: routine. Park on Centre Street and stake out a spot in close proximity to Bonsai Hill to keep warm with the steady stream of tea and hot chocolate practically pouring out their doors. Staying warm from the inside out waiting for Santa Claus to pass by, and then grabbing fish and chips from a nearby restaurant to eat at home while thoroughly thawing out.
As I got out of the car, and sank nearly ankle-deep into the muck left over from the ongoing Centro condo development on the northeast corner of Yonge and Centre, I let out a few choice words. Hoofing it out of the muck was not a particular challenge, but getting back up to speed was another story. I must have looked like a prime candidate for an intern at the Ministry of Silly Walks as I came down the hill covertly trying to kick, scrape, and flick the muck off my shoes.
After stopping when a few concerned faces lining Yonge Street practically screamed fear I was spraying their little darlings with mud, I was content.
“That,” I thought to myself, “is progress.”
Indeed it was.
It wasn’t all that long ago when the source of the annoying muck was dry and covered with a crumbling block of stores, which people only walked past at their peril, as the building gradually became smaller, brick by brick. Now, a beautiful condo and retail complex is underway – after a few false starts – and should be ready within the next year or two.
Part of the fun of the Santa Under the Stars parade every year for our readers often seems to be the traditional roll call of which members of Council did or did not take part in the procession. Many of the Councillors-and-Councillors-to-be participating in the parade cited this condo as an indicator of good things to come for Aurora’s Downtown Core.
It might not be a magic bullet, but it was encouraging just the same. But, as they made their way down Yonge Street, well ahead of Santa Claus, I wondered how the view from their vantage point differed and if it inspired any last minute entries on their respective holiday wish lists.
So, with the new Council firmly installed into their seats as of Tuesday night, here is Part One of my tentative Council wish list for the next four years. Feel free to send in your further suggestions to brock@auroran.com.

LIBRARY SQUARE
For the love of all that is holy at this time of year, please make a decision on the future of Library Square, even if it is a temporary measure. As Scott Johnston notes in his column this week, this is often the time of year when several issues surrounding that busy quadrant of our community are cursed quietly – and not so quietly – by countless people making their holiday rounds, but this crescendo gets ever-louder with each passing year.
This crescendo has grown to include a veritable laundry list of suggestions on what to do with the site, whether it is a swanky new facility for the entire community to enjoy, or a simple demolition to improve area parking, letting other thriving components of the quadrant, whether it is the Aurora Public Library, Aurora Cultural Centre, or any of the four churches within a two or three minute walking distance, grow even more successful.
Take some time, evaluate the options, and build a consensus.
Maybe Year 13 of this debate will turn out to be the lucky one!

AND IF YOU THREW A PARTY, INVITED EVERYONE YOU KNEW…
Any regular reader of this column could tell you I am loath to suggest any consultant studies, so hold on to your respective headgear as I make a bold-yet-anticlimactic suggestion.
Council members should sit down and seriously consider during the first year of this term how they view their roles and come to a general agreement on what they would like to offer to the community.
The role of a Councillor in Aurora, of course, is to represent the interests of the community at the municipal level. Thus far, it is a principle most Councillors have taken to heart in my experience covering Council, but it takes at least two to play ball – and many residents don’t seem inclined to step up to the plate. Many are the issues that have been delayed and otherwise put on the backburner pending “further public consultation, input, or views” that never seem to come. People don’t often turn out to public meetings or consultation unless their dander is well and truly up, and dust gathers on the seats of the Council chamber during the all-important Budget process.
Perhaps it would be a worthwhile investment for a (brief) study to be conducted to evaluate which issues residents would like to be directly consulted on, and which issues they trust the people they elected to handle such issues to do what’s necessary on the tasks to which they were appointed.
Things could be streamlined considerably with a bit of a recalibration.

EAST MEETS WEST
A detailed look at this fall’s election results indicated relatively consistent trends throughout Aurora, with the two anomalies being the two polling stations in Aurora which happened to fall east of Bayview Avenue. With more candidates from east of Bayview standing in a municipal election than ever before, although there have been a few changes in composition only two candidates living in this area of Town were successful in securing a seat – and voters in these areas clearly voted for something a bit different from what they got in the end.
A concerted effort should be made to integrate this community more into the civic life of the whole. Meet them halfway. Space out some municipal events. Town Park has a certain ambiance, but it is not the only game in Town.
Aurora’s Cultural Master Plan will continue to develop over the coming year. Maybe it is wise to look at developing further cultural resources beyond what has come to be considered Aurora’s cultural hub.
Aurora is an expanding community. Perspective should expand with it.