{"id":21428,"date":"2018-08-22T19:27:23","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T23:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21428"},"modified":"2018-08-22T19:27:23","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T23:27:23","slug":"articles-are-pleasant-enough-but-we-need-a-real-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/articles-are-pleasant-enough-but-we-need-a-real-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Articles are \u201cpleasant\u201d enough but we need a real debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Re: Front Porch Perspective, August 2)
\n<\/em>
\nAs a resident of the town of Aurora, and I believe I speak for a lot of my neighbours, I believe that it is important to vote for and elect a mayor that truly shares a vision that the majority of citizens support.
\nWe need to understand the
\nincumbent candidates\u2019 views and how they voted on key decisions that have been made (candidates who are currently on Council). And to get new candidates\u2019 point of view to see who has the vision for the future that most of us want, is important to know before we vote.
\nWhile the articles in this publication on the candidates have been very pleasant, and you are quoting the candidates websites which are all very pleasant as well, I have noticed that they all sound the same.
\nIn this regard, it would be great for Aurora media to take charge and run a REAL debate that residents can attend so that we can truly understand where the candidates stand on the key points that have made it to council chambers and which will continue next term: mitigating traffic congestion, thoughts on home density and height restrictions, more development vs more parks and greenspace, sporting fields, development on the Oak Ridges moraine, snow removal, public transit (GO, YRT and impact it has on us) etc.
\nWhile the Library and the Chamber of Commerce puts on events where we hear very pleasant five minute speeches, they really end up sounding the same just like the articles we are reading in this publication.
\nSport Aurora, who is supported financial by the Town, runs a debate of sorts but they seem to me to be in a conflict of interest with potential bias to the candidate they believe will continue their financial support.
\nLike the Toronto election, recent provincial elections and other municipalities, where an unbiased organization like a media outlet (TV station, newspaper publication) runs it, I think that Aurora is now big enough that we really need a true debate so that all Aurorans can make a better and more informed decision vs just voting for a name we might recognize without truly understanding where they stand.
\nWould The Auroran take up this request?
\nMaybe there could be opportunity where Aurorans can submit questions so that the paper can take up the top 5-10 issues and run this as a true debate where each candidate can answer to the issue and then candidates have then the opportunity to respond and actually debate on what the other candidates said, like in a true debate.<\/p>\n

Michelle Boyer
\nAurora
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Re: Front Porch Perspective, August 2) As a resident of the town of Aurora, and I believe I speak for a lot of my neighbours, I believe that it is important to vote for and elect a mayor that truly shares a vision that the majority of citizens support. We need to understand the incumbent […]<\/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":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5zC","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 12:55:41","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\/21428","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=21428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}