{"id":26337,"date":"2020-04-09T18:47:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T22:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26337"},"modified":"2020-04-09T18:47:24","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T22:47:24","slug":"covid-19-questions-dominate-special-council-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/covid-19-questions-dominate-special-council-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 questions dominate Special Council Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Town of Aurora\u2019s ongoing response to the COVID-19\npandemic dominated the first electronic Council meeting of the temporary \u201cnew\nnormal\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While formal business on the Council agenda took up just\nless than an hour, the bulk of the discussions centred on New Business and\nCOVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, local lawmakers asked staff to address questions\nthey had received from the public on the Town\u2019s response, including social\ndistancing, park closures, and making rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PARKS CLOSURES
\nSince the Town of Aurora closed parks and public open spaces late last month,\nresidents have had a number of questions, including enforcement measures and\nwhether pathways connecting parks to nearby streets and neighbourhoods can be\nused by pedestrians for through traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issue was raised by Councillor Rachel Gilliland who\nsaid people need to know that these pathways can indeed be used to walk through\nthe green spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a very fine balance we\u2019re having to deal with in\nterms of messaging,\u201d agreed Mayor Tom Mrakas. \u201cAt one point, we\u2019re saying that\neverything is closed and at the other we\u2019re saying you can walk through. At the\nend of the day, it is about the responsibility of everyone doing their part in\nensuring that they stay six feet from anyone else and adhere to those physical\ndistancing protocols that are being put in place. We have been trying to relay\nthat message to everyone, but it is a difficult message when you\u2019re saying\nyou\u2019re closed at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Gilliland pressed for further messaging: \u201cCan\nthere be further signs to say you can walk through with proper social\ndistancing? I hear residents would like some sign with clarity. I have had\nnumerous people come to me and say there needs to be more clear posting,\nespecially at Town Park.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Al Downey, Director of Operations, said he didn\u2019t see\nthe need for further signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have no objection to people walking through the park\nas long as there is social distancing, but I don\u2019t believe there is a need to\nchange the message in that if there was a barrier around Town Park, they can\nstill walk on the streets around Town Park. The concern is that we wanted to\nkeep the trails open so people could continue to walk, exercise their dogs and\nthat kind of thing. I don\u2019t know anyone who is going to object to walking through\nTown Park as long as social distancing is respected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAYING RENT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week\u2019s Council meeting came less than 24 hours\nbefore the start of a new month, a time when residents and businesses alike are\nconcerned about paying rent. This is a challenge that was acknowledged by Mayor\nMrakas who said it is a top of mind issue from tenants he has heard from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of landlords who are doing some\nincredible work [with] their tenants to provide them either with some relief,\nwhether it is a deferral or cancelling monthly rents, but there are a few that\nare not even responding to their tenants. We all need to be there to help each\nother. It is about communication and I just can\u2019t believe that people are not\nresponding to their tenants calling. It is a plea from me to ask anyone who is\nwatching or anyone, if you\u2019re a landlord, just respond. Have a conversation\nwith the tenants, try to work something out. We need to work together through\nthis, otherwise we\u2019re not going to get through this. The only way we\u2019re going\nto get through this is if we work together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SHARING HOMES<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Sandra Humfryes made special note of a concern\nreceived by a resident who shares a home with other people and the problems\nthis can cause in maintaining social distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe wants to do her due diligence in self-isolation but\nreally has nowhere to go,\u201d said Councillor Humfryes of the resident. \u201cI am just\nwondering if staff can maybe focus on this, if possible, to see if there is\nsomething we can come up with where we can help residents, especially seniors,\nwho share accommodations and are really in a bind. I can see this can cause\nquite a serious problem. I know it is more of a Regional issue, so if there is\nsomething we can focus on, think of, or come up with, that would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STREET SAFETY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintaining social distancing, while also getting out for\nsome exercise and walking to grocery stores and pharmacies for the essentials\ncan sometimes prove a difficult task, as noted by Councillor Wendy Gaertner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Gaertner said some municipalities are reducing\nthe lanes of their main thoroughfares by one, allowing pedestrians room enough\nto maintain six feet of social distancing if they cross paths with their\nneighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it is a great idea because as this emergency continues people are going to go crazy just to be in their homes,\u201d she said. They need their exercise and this is something to think about. I know Calgary is doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Town of Aurora\u2019s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic dominated the first electronic Council meeting of the temporary \u201cnew normal\u201d. While formal business on the Council agenda took up just less than an hour, the bulk of the discussions centred on New Business and COVID-19. Here, local lawmakers asked staff to address questions they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26326,"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":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2020-04-09-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6QN","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 15:27:59","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\/26337","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=26337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}