{"id":13367,"date":"2016-02-10T11:58:36","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T16:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=13367"},"modified":"2016-02-17T17:59:30","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T22:59:30","slug":"brocks-banter-smoother-than-a-stale-jar-of-skippy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/brocks-banter-smoother-than-a-stale-jar-of-skippy\/","title":{"rendered":"BROCK’S BANTER: Smoother than a stale jar of Skippy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t believe them? Just watch.
\nEvery once in a while I have the itch to watch a Council meeting, or similar public spectacle, from outside the confines of the press box.
\nLate last fall, I was sitting in the press box for the thrilling conclusion of whether or not York Region Councillors would like to elect their Chair. For the entire time of the lengthy meeting, I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the climax to come: a deferral to this month, in a move that shocked absolutely no one. As the scene unfolded, however, I had the pleasure of a running commentary from the Region\u2019s answer to Statler and Waldorf in my right ear.
\n\u201cOf course he would!,\u201d said Statler who, in my mind\u2019s eye, was throwing up his hands in exasperation, when one of the team of 21 elected members did something presumably exasperating. I wasn\u2019t going to give him the satisfaction of turning around to watch his arms flapping around in the breeze, but the breeze on the back of my neck was telling.
\n\u201cIDIOTS!\u201d exclaimed his compatriot in heckledom.
\nThey found themselves in a lather and wasted no time in rinsing and repeating throughout the three hour meeting, to the point where my colleague from another newspaper turned around to comment on their rudeness. She was right, of course, but let\u2019s be real: it was more entertaining, and more raw, than what was unfolding on the dais.
\nThat was an exciting week overall.
\nIf I hadn\u2019t been so entertained by their antics, and if there had been a lull in the debate, I would have turned my mind back to a discussion around our own Council table earlier that week.
\nAurora\u2019s lawmakers launched into their semi-annual marathon talks about how many trees Aurora residents should be able to cut down on their own property.
\nIt is a debate that invariably brings out the tears, snark, an unusual amount of theatrics and enough talk about trunk girth to make Sue Johansen blush.
\n\u201cHas anyone seen that movie Groundhog Day?\u201d asked Councillor Michael Thompson at the time.
\nThat\u2019s when I wished I was sitting in the public gallery.
\nBasically, I had to sit on my hands lest I yell out, \u201cYes! Yes! Oh, God, YES!\u201d
\n(Sue: I\u2019ll have what he\u2019s having.)
\nWhen dead horses are on the brink of being ground into a smooth, buttery paste, sometimes you need to let it all out. In my case, that had to come later. I had to stick to the task at hand through repeated and reheated arguments over why the tree bylaw should be tightened up. Or not. Rehashed arguments on why golf courses \u2013 apparently the last bastion of wildlife preservation in our ever-changing world, or so the story goes from some people \u2013 should be exempt from the Town\u2019s tree protection bylaw.
\nSlide presentations-cum-neighbourhood travelogues with Councillor Abel. The detailed history of Mayor Dawe\u2019s admitted ineptitude when it comes to his own landscaping prowess.
\nOn and on it went. And on and on it goes.
\nBy the time last November rolled around, it was clear few people were actually following this endless debate.
\nWhen Council first got the ball rolling on this discussion in the previous Council term, the place was packed with concerned residents who groaned and cheered as they saw fit, there were delegations galore, and no shortage of expert opinion. Last fall, just two people stuck around to soak in the rehash: the Executive Director of the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust and the couple who brought the issue of tree cutting on Beacon Hall Golf Course to Councillors\u2019 attention in the first place.
\nEven the golf course owners themselves seemed to have lost interest in the debate.
\nYet, that November General Committee meeting agenda, the bulk of which pertained to trees (the value of, protection of, replacement of) ran just short of a whopping 300 pages. Considering every single report that has come out about this over the last three or four years, it probably accounts for a whole 2C\u2019s worth of pulp and paper, not to mention the reams that have been dedicated to the subject in local media.
\nEventually, you get to a point where you almost feel complicit in the destruction when absolutely nothing new is being said.
\nSo, when Councillors once again put on their spurs to saddle up their favourite hobby horse last week, a few remarks were made and Councillor Thompson, who happened to be chairing last week\u2019s General Committee meeting remarked, \u201cI understand the local paper will not be reporting anything on this issue.\u201d
\nThat is not strictly true (see: the 777 words preceding this paragraph) but in the lengthy discussion last week, which ran nearly 40 minutes, almost nothing new was said.
\nThe possible exception were comments at the start of the meeting from Councillor Abel mentioning the fact he works for a golf course but, following advice, did not believe he had a pecuniary interest in the debate and, later on, Councillor Gaertner\u2019s challenge of that view.
\nThis hasn\u2019t been discussed around the table in over two discussions on this very topic.
\nAs of our press time this week, Council is to convene once again to see if they can make a decision one way or another on whether the tree bylaw needs to change, whether it should stay the same, and perennial discussion on whether all this has been trying to solve a problem that doesn\u2019t exist.
\nPersonally, I will be curious to see just how many people turn out to this week\u2019s session to speak out one way or another or, if the dwindling attendance last fall indicates a general frustration at the lack of any movement whatsoever.
\nEver the optimist, despite being disappointed oh-so-many-times, I am hoping \u2013 and I am sure I am joined by people on both sides of this debate — for some closure this week. I eagerly anticipate reporting in our February 18 edition that there have been some significant changes to the bylaw.
\nOr that the majority of Council has agreed to keep the status quo.
\nSomething.
\nAnything.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir Don\u2019t believe them? Just watch. Every once in a while I have the itch to watch a Council meeting, or similar public spectacle, from outside the confines of the press box. Late last fall, I was sitting in the press box for the thrilling conclusion of whether or not York Region Councillors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3tB","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 11:02:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}