{"id":23436,"date":"2019-04-04T19:31:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T23:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23436"},"modified":"2019-04-04T19:31:52","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T23:31:52","slug":"brocks-banter-in-on-the-ground-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/brocks-banter-in-on-the-ground-floor\/","title":{"rendered":"BROCK’S BANTER: In on the ground floor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The old phrase, \u201cyou win some, you lose\nsome\u201d is just about threadbare as clich\u00e9s go, but there\u2019s a reason why it\u2019s a\nsaying that has such staying power: it\u2019s absolutely true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever your circumstance, you learn this\nlesson hard and fast. Sometimes you learn from it, sometimes you don\u2019t, but\nit\u2019s unavoidable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a writer, particularly a writer\nwhose work is sent out into the world with any degree of regularity, you learn\nthis lesson time and time again, from many quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, at the risk of trotting out another\nclich\u00e9, each hard lesson learned makes you stronger \u2013 well, that is, for\nputting forward a stronger debate, whether in the public sphere or in the close\nquarters at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, close to home, there is one argument\nI\u2019ve never been able to win \u2013 or, at the very least, make any headway in\nbringing people around to my way of thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not too long ago, I bowed out of a social\nengagement early because I had to get to bed at a reasonable hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d they asked. So, with some\ntrepidation, I began explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without going into too much detail, the\ngist was simple: I had to get to bed in good time in order to get up at the\ncrack of dawn to watch a live news event unfold halfway around the world\nthrough the wonders of cable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as I write this, I can feel you\ncocking your eyebrow as you read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, I saw many eyebrows raised in real\ntime as I unfolded my explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you just set your PVR?\u201d asked\none thoughtful individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Point taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, it will probably be on YouTube\na couple of hours later, right?\u201d asked another, doubtlessly rhetorically, as\nhis eyebrow assumed the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My eyebrows stayed put.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d been down this road before. But,\nknowing what was to come, I launched into my time-honoured explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is history,\u201d I said. \u201cYou guys all\nstudied history in school. Would you rather read about it after the fact, or\nwatch it unfold as it happened?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was met with familiar blank stares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their sleep took top priority. And, I\nassume, it would have taken priority for you as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I\u2019m still dug deep in this belief\nand that is why Thursday night\u2019s Special Council meeting hit so many of my\nbuttons just right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAha!\u201d I hear you exclaim! \u201cThere\u2019s a point\nto this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, there is! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you attended Thursday night\u2019s meeting\ndedicated to Library Square, you either shifted to get comfortable in your seat\nas words like \u201chistoric\u201d, \u201cexciting\u201d or phrases like \u201cpivotal moment\u201d were\nthrown around with what some might argue was close to wild abandon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re adamantly apposed to the\ndevelopment of Library Square, you probably thought they were each exercises of\nhyperbole, but if you have a vested interest in the outcome of Library Square,\nyou were probably ready to raise your hands and shout out to the God of your\nchoice, if you happen to be so inclined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stayed firm in my seat, quiet, as is my\njob, but if anyone actually did stand up and shout, \u201cHallelujah!\u201d I would have\nset aside my agnostic beliefs for a moment and jumped up in spirit as well \u2013\nafter all, when you have been writing about a topic several times a year for\nnearly a decade with little or nothing tangible to show for it, you develop a\nvested interest in seeing something like Library Square brought to fruition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was almost nine years ago that I stood\nin front of Council in Halifax and asked Council to approve the Halifax Central\nLibrary project,\u201d said Bruce Gorman, CEO of the Aurora Public Library, in his\nremarks to Council. \u201cAnd fortunately\u2026they did. That was the day that changed\nthe trajectory of the City of Halifax forever. Looking back now, my hopes and\ndreams were realised like I couldn\u2019t have imagined\u2026[and] right now, here\ntonight, the same opportunity is here in Aurora. I never thought I would have\nthis opportunity to be a part of something [like this] again but I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is important that you realise how\nimportant tonight is here in Aurora. I come from experience; this is a golden\nopportunity for everybody here in Aurora to step up and make today, this day,\nthe day we say, \u2018Aurora changed forever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that certainly made me sit up in my\nseat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Thursday, March 21, turn out to be\nthe day Aurora changed forever? It\u2019s too early to tell, but it seems well on\nthe way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If anything, it is certainly the beginning\nof a new chapter, and I can\u2019t wait to see how it all turns out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People might assume that people in this\nprofession are, by nature, jaded pessimists, but I remain \u2013 as someone who has\nalways been a proponent of Aurora stepping outside of its relatively staid\ncomfort zone and taking a bold move towards the future \u2013 optimistic about\nLibrary Square\u2019s prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday\u2019s meeting also prompted me to dig\na bit deeper and re-read some of the earliest stories I wrote about Library\nSquare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the briefest mentions date back to\n2010, but the more substantive stuff turned up in the spring of 2012, with the\nstory \u201cRedevelopment ideas are in the air for Downtown Aurora.\u201d The article,\ndated April 2, touched upon the bold vision of then-Councillor Evelyn Buck for\nthe Victoria and Church lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Councillor Buck suggested the\nold homes of the Aurora Public Library and Seniors\u2019 Centre meet the wrecking ball for something much larger,\nall supported by Aurora\u2019s Hydro Reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The sale of Aurora\nHydro] was a very difficult decision to make and even now I am not sure it was\nthe right decision,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what will make it a right decision is if we\nreplace the Hydro with another asset of equal or better value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t argue with\nthat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An adequate\nreplacement, she argued, was a multi-storey building (check!) with space for\ncommunity groups (check), a youth space (done elsewhere, the Aurora Family\nLeisure Complex, in the intervening years) and multiple levels of underground\nparking (well, we can\u2019t have everything).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we\u2019re getting in the Library Square plans\nnow is a bit less grandiose but, in my opinion, no less exciting \u2013 and I\u2019m\nexcited to be in on the ground floor as an observer to see how this will all\nunfold.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir The old phrase, \u201cyou win some, you lose some\u201d is just about threadbare as clich\u00e9s go, but there\u2019s a reason why it\u2019s a saying that has such staying power: it\u2019s absolutely true. Whatever your circumstance, you learn this lesson hard and fast. Sometimes you learn from it, sometimes you don\u2019t, but it\u2019s […]<\/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-23436","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\/p3D2k4-660","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 19:35:32","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\/23436","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=23436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}