{"id":16078,"date":"2016-12-14T12:41:45","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T17:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16078"},"modified":"2016-12-14T12:41:45","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T17:41:45","slug":"inside-aurora-the-christmas-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-the-christmas-wish\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: The Christmas Wish"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twas two weeks before Christmas, up north saw a gale
\nWhile a well known elf inside was reading his mail.
\nHard copy letters once were the way it had been
\nSanta now sat back before the glow of a screen<\/p>\n

From Aurora, he saw the next letter was from,
\nSo he reached for his milk, and added some rum
\n\u2018Cause this Town always asked, for things big and small,
\nRegional reps to hotels, he had heard it all<\/p>\n

He rarely gave them these things for fear they\u2019d abuse \u2018em
\nOr like the rebuilt Petch House, might hardly use them
\nSipping his drink he scanned the list with a frown
\nTo see what tests awaited him this time around<\/p>\n

All it took was a quick glance, it soon became clear
\nWhat impossible task the Town wanted this year
\nHe looked up from his reading and said \u201cRudolph, my stars
\nThey want me to solve issues \u2018round parking and cars!\u201d<\/p>\n

You might not believe me but I tell you they\u2019re true
\nListen to these examples, I\u2019ll read you a few
\n\u201cTo smooth traffic congestion, and make it all fair
\nPlease arrange for one way streets, \u2018round Library Square\u201d<\/p>\n

Traffic flow changes crossed municipal lines
\nBut maybe Santa could help, and bring them some signs
\nFolks in this area could then drive only one way
\nAnd like Council go \u2018round in circles all day<\/p>\n

Please ensure snow doesn\u2019t fall, after it gets dark
\nSo people on the Town\u2019s streets can legally park
\nThis request of St Nick was an impossible ask
\n\u201cThey should get Mother Nature to handle this task.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on St John traffic near the four oh four
\nWider streets weren\u2019t enough, they wanted much more
\nAn interchange linking this road and the highway
\nCould St Nick possibly fit that into the sleigh?
\nOf course more traffic calming was on the Town\u2019s list
\nSpelled out in bold letters, so not to be missed
\nBut Santa was not a fan, recalling with dread
\nThe year speed humps on Golf Links, had damaged his sled<\/p>\n

Santa frowned at the things on Aurorans\u2019 minds
\nAnd read still more requests of vehicular kinds
\nFrom congestion, construction, and other dislikes
\nTo pleas for underpasses, for people and bikes<\/p>\n

Yonge Street left turn restrictions were also on there
\nAs was the widening of select thoroughfares
\nThe lack of GO parking spots was one more Town fear
\nBut St Nick had seen this ask each previous year<\/p>\n

Santa sat back in his chair, and sighed once more
\nPondering all that Aurora\u2019d asked for
\nTo his friend he then asked, \u201cRudolph, all this talk
\nOf driving and of parking … why don\u2019t they just walk?\u201d<\/p>\n

Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston Twas two weeks before Christmas, up north saw a gale While a well known elf inside was reading his mail. Hard copy letters once were the way it had been Santa now sat back before the glow of a screen From Aurora, he saw the next letter was from, So he reached […]<\/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":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4bk","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 23:21:36","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\/16078","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=16078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}