{"id":14261,"date":"2016-05-18T18:06:11","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T22:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=14261"},"modified":"2016-05-25T17:12:32","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T21:12:32","slug":"brocks-banter-on-the-hordes-of-a-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/brocks-banter-on-the-hordes-of-a-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"BROCK’S BANTER: On the hordes of a dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In a world of Felixes and Oscars, I\u2019m most decidedly an Oscar with a Felix rising.
\nI like a place to look lived in. If a workplace, for instance, doesn\u2019t have at least a handful of papers strewn about the desk I find myself focusing on how spotless the work area is rather than on the task at hand. That being said \u2013 and I\u2019ll say it with apologies to Raptors fans everywhere \u2013 I would much rather go to the theatre than watch most sports on television. It\u2019s a mix that makes life interesting and, if anyone complains, they can send a letter directly to Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, although the correspondent might have quite a wait for a reply.
\nThings inevitably, however, come to a head and there is just one paper, pen, or seemingly useless tchotchke that is the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back and becomes just one \u201cthing\u201d too many.
\nWhen that happens, I\u2019m bitten by a cleaning frenzy and everything must go and become spotless. Sometimes the results can be alarming. The \u201ckeep\u201d pile is often dwarfed by the garbage pile which is, in turn, dwarfed by the pile of mystery, populated by papers, widgets, and assorted junk which seems to be useless.
\nThe problem then becomes what to do with them. Objects might appear to be useless at the moment, but it stands to reason they once had a purpose. Cables and power cords seem to multiply on their own accord, leaving little to no clue as to the appliance \u2013 obsolete or otherwise \u2013 they once belonged to but, as my luck goes, the moment I take a deep breath and consign whatever it is to the garbage can or blue box and carted away on Thursday afternoon by GFL, only then will I realise why I was hanging onto the item, or what the cord powered up and inevitably the time will come a few days later when I will need whatever it is to get through the day.
\nPerhaps that\u2019s why when I need a laugh to perk up a dreary afternoon, I log onto YouTube and take a gander at the hilarious video, courtesy of the Punchy Players, entitled \u201cHollywood Hoarder: Judy to the Rescue.\u201d I got a kick out of the new movie Hello, My Name Is Doris, featuring a tour-de-force performance from Sally Field as a lovelorn office drone dealing not only with an office crush but with the death of her mother, which has left her engulfed in \u201cstuff\u201d from her life and no direction on what to do with it.
\nShe earns the wrath of her brother and sister-in-law, for instance, for keeping a pair of skis in the kitchen, countering that she still has time in her life to take up skiing and, besides, they had sentimental value because they were gifted to the family by long-departed neighbours. A reasonable argument, perhaps, as their use is easily identifiable. The problem, however, is there is only one ski left, the other long since lost to time and trash.
\nWhile I occasionally have the last laugh in my family come Christmas time as I usually have just the right size of cardboard box for that hard-to-wrap Christmas present, I have been thinking a lot about this phenomenon over the past week, courtesy of some remarks made around the Council table from Councillor Harold Kim.
\n\u201cDid any of the structures seem to you like \u2018Holy Smokes! Why would I want to save this structure?\u2019\u201d he asked of consultant Arthur Diamond. \u201cI find in my house there are a lot of things we keep for sentimental value.\u201d
\nCouncillor Kim was responding to a formal presentation from Mr. Diamond who was outlining his company\u2019s findings on ways to repurpose a number of community amenities including the buildings on Library Square, the Aurora Armoury, and Petch House.
\nThe report highlighted a number of ways Aurora could breathe new life into the relatively underused spaces, including a \u201cclubhouse\u201d for myriad service groups, such as the Optimists, Lions and Rotarians in the old Library building.
\nThis is a value that was already made clear at the podium over the last year by the President of the Aurora Lions Club who said they would love to have club space in the old library after selling up the Lions hall and taking their meetings to the Royal Canadian Legion.
\nTheir argument was the Lions Club worked tirelessly to help the Town pay off the debt from the building\u2019s construction in the first place and, in a nutshell, having some space would be a good return on investment.
\nCouncillor Kim was right in his assessment, however, when he noted that buildings and amenities like these often provide a community with a sense of heritage and a \u201csense of home\u201d but can sometimes veer close to \u201ctrying to force a structure to be something that it isn\u2019t\u201d \u2013 all in the name of sentimental value.
\nOver the numerous \u2013 and I do mean numerous \u2013 public consultation sessions that have been held to answer the now-age-old question of what to do with Library Square, arguments in favour of the buildings\u2019 retention often circle back to that sense of sentiment. While it must be said there are very few advocates in favour of keeping the old seniors\u2019 centre next door (with the possible exception of the building\u2019s current tenants), those speaking out in favour of keeping the old Library usually point to the fact the Library was Aurora\u2019s centennial gift to itself, events that have taken place in there, and memories they have of studying in there or learning a new skill which proved very valuable later in life.
\nThey are valid points, particularly for a heritage-conscious community like Aurora, but a balance must be struck.
\nAt the last Library Square meeting, I took off my Auroran hat and posed a question as a resident wondering whether parts of the existing buildings, such as a fa\u00e7ade, cornerstone, or plaqued wall could be incorporated into a new structure on the site if that is what is ultimately decided. That suggestion did not make it into the resulting report before Council, but perhaps that is a way to satisfy both parties: those valuing sentiment and those who are as mad as hell and aren\u2019t prepared to take it anymore.
\nThat, however, is not likely to pass.
\nDespite some Councillors fully galvanized to make a decision and clear the deck, as it were, when it comes to Library Square, I fear sentiment will ultimately win the day. After all, this is a Council table that can get caught up in hours of debate over whether home owners in heritage districts should be able to build a new porch or whether an owner of a new home should be able to remove three dying trees from his back yard to prevent his house from flooding.
\nIf all else fails, a hoarding intervention might be in order and \u201cJudy to the Rescue\u201d and \u201cHello, My Name Is Doris\u201d provide plenty of tips on where to start.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir In a world of Felixes and Oscars, I\u2019m most decidedly an Oscar with a Felix rising. I like a place to look lived in. If a workplace, for instance, doesn\u2019t have at least a handful of papers strewn about the desk I find myself focusing on how spotless the work area is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14261","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\/p3D2k4-3I1","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 12:58:12","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\/14261","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=14261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}