{"id":17743,"date":"2017-07-05T16:45:13","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T20:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17743"},"modified":"2017-07-05T16:45:13","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T20:45:13","slug":"inside-aurora-the-return-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-the-return-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: The Return Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cWelcome to Aurora,\u201d the Mayor enthused, extending his hand to his Swedish colleague.
\n\u201cThank you, sir.\u201d Indicating her travelling companions, she noted; \u201cIt\u2019s an honour for us to be invited for a visit to one of our favourite twin cities.\u201d
\n\u201cYes, I\u2019d forgotten that Leksand has several other twins around the world. Aurora only has one right now.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, we\u2019re honoured,\u201d the delegate repeated. \u201cWe\u2019re also very curious to discuss how Aurora conducts its planning and business. We feel there is much we can learn.\u201d
\n\u201cIt has been several years,\u201d she continued, \u201csince the last representatives were here from Leksand. I was reviewing their notes, and have some follow up questions.\u201d
\n\u201cFire away,\u201d said the Mayor, motioning them all to sit down.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s see,\u201d said the Swede, taking a seat and referring to a notepad. \u201cWhen our Town staff were here last there was much excitement about development of this downtown site you called Library Square.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are looking at updating our downtown, as well, and thought we might emulate your work. We expect that it may take as much as four years to fully engage our citizens, plan and implement our vision.
\n\u201cTell me, based on your experience, is this timeframe too long?
\n\u201cWell, actually,\u201d said the Mayor. \u201cWe have yet to make any decisions on that project.\u201d
\n\u201cBut that was …\u201d the delegate referred to her notes, \u201c…over 10 years ago. And at the time your predecessor identified it as the Town\u2019s priority project. You mean you haven\u2019t even come to a decision yet, let alone implement it?\u201d
\n\u201cWe did just decide to tear down the existing buildings. But as for the long term plans, well …these things take time.\u201d
\nThe delegate shook her head, and flipped to the next page of her notes.
\n\u201cThen perhaps we can discuss efforts to strengthen your Town\u2019s tax base. The last time we were here, Magna International had just established its corporate headquarters here in Aurora. That was quite a coup. Have they expanded their operations here?\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had a very positive relationship with that business over the years, but sadly, they are moving out of Town soon.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s too bad,\u201d the delegate commiserated. \u201cBut I guess it\u2019s hard for a Town of your size to compete with the attractive nature of the huge megacities for such important business partners. Tell me, where are they moving; Toronto? Vancouver?\u201d
\n\u201cKing City.\u201d
\nThe delegate did a slight double-take. \u201cWhat, that farming community of 7,000 residents we passed through on our way from the airport?\u201d
\n\u201cUmm, yes,\u201d the Mayor confirmed, shifting slightly in his seat.
\nAt this point, one of the Swedish contingent leaned forward and whispered in the chief delegate\u2019s ear. She nodded in agreement.
\n\u201cIt has been along and tiring journey for all of us from Sweden, Mr. Mayor,\u201d the delegate said. \u201cPerhaps we can continue these discussions tomorrow?\u201d
\n\u201cOf course, of course\u201d, agreed the Mayor, standing up with them.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll just head to our hotel. The Howard Johnson is on Yonge Street, is it not?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry, but that hotel closed a few years ago.\u201d
\n\u201cMy apologies. Then the one that replaced it in Town.\u201d
\n\u201cThat hasn\u2019t been built, yet.\u201d
\nSeeing the delegate\u2019s eyes widen, he quickly asserted, \u201cbut we are getting a new hotel.\u201d After a slight pause he added for emphasis; \u201cReally.\u201d
\n\u201cIn the meantime, we\u2019ve arranged accommodations for you in Newmarket.\u201d
\n\u201cThank you, Mr. Mayor. We\u2019ll see you tomorrow.\u201d
\nAs she and her colleagues headed out of Town Hall, the Leksand delegate mused that yes, there was much they could learn this trip from the experiences of Aurora. But not necessarily in the way they originally intended. <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston \u201cWelcome to Aurora,\u201d the Mayor enthused, extending his hand to his Swedish colleague. \u201cThank you, sir.\u201d Indicating her travelling companions, she noted; \u201cIt\u2019s an honour for us to be invited for a visit to one of our favourite twin cities.\u201d \u201cYes, I\u2019d forgotten that Leksand has several other twins around the world. […]<\/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_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":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17743","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\/p3D2k4-4Cb","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-03 04:21:29","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\/17743","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=17743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}