{"id":3180,"date":"2013-07-17T16:41:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T20:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=3180"},"modified":"2013-07-24T17:16:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T21:16:04","slug":"politics-as-usual-it-aint-sexy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-it-aint-sexy\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: It ain’t sexy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/p>\n

As the GTA recovers from its recent face to face encounter with the fury of Mother Nature, I think it is high time that our elected officials deal with a serious issue that was laid bare by the storm and its aftermath \u2013 our fragile, critical infrastructure.
\nYes, road repair and sewage maintenance and bridge building isn\u2019t sexy. No Council wants to blow its entire capital budget on fixing the roads. However, just like you don\u2019t install a $20,000 gourmet kitchen when what you need is a new roof, sometimes the bright and shiny toys of grand municipal projects need to be mothballed and funds invested instead in the maintenance and planning of our critical infrastructure \u2013 the things you don\u2019t see until they fall apart.
\nRepair and Replacement (R&R) has languished on the sidelines of budget deliberations for so long that we are now at the stage where patchwork repairs might no longer be possible; whole-scale replacement of key pieces of infrastructure will probably be needed in the very near future in Aurora, as it will be in many communities.
\nAurora is not there. We do not have our own mini-version of the crumbling Gardiner Expressway in our midst. We have many, many roads that need repair and resurfacing. We have aging sewage systems that need relining, repair or just replacement. We have culverts and swales and other water management systems that similarly need updating, repairs or replacements.
\nWith regards to the threat of flooding in particular, there are, of course, the hydrogeological realities of the Town of Aurora.
\nAs most people are aware \u2013 certainly those with active sumps in their basements \u2013 we sit on top of a very high water table. Aurora has a number of watercourses, both surface and buried, that crisscross the municipality. This can pose significant risks to both infrastructure and residential dwellings alike during substantial rains.
\nWith heavy downpours, the ground becomes super-saturated and, combined with the existing high water table, there is literally nowhere for the water to go.
\nThe fact that more and more of our community is being paved over and covered with impermeable surfaces exacerbates this problem.
\nBut what can be done? It comes back to the decision-making processes themselves. Budget deliberations are only part of the issue. How many years have we watched as Council after Council shaved percentage points off the funds going into the Capital Reserve fund \u2013 literally the Rainy Day Fund \u2013 to bring down the tax levy despite the pleas from our Treasurer to do otherwise?
\nWhen the day of reckoning comes and a major piece of infrastructure fails, will we have the funds necessary to address the problem? If we are like most of the municipalities in our fair province, I believe the answer is \u201cno\u201d.
\nBudget decisions are only part of the problem. It is the cumulative effect of planning decisions and budgeting decisions that pose the most serious risk to future infrastructure functionality and viability. Decision-making processes at the municipal level are undertaken in isolation.
\nCouncils are forced to look at what\u2019s on the table rather than how the decision before them is impacted by previous decisions and impacts future decisions \u2013 planning, budgetary or otherwise.
\nI mentioned the concept of triple bottom-line analysis in a column a few weeks back. This concept speaks to the need to consider the social, environmental and financial implications of any decision made. Yes, it is complicated. Yes, it is often time consuming,.. and yes, on its face it often leads to a more \u201ccostly\u201d decision \u2013 at least at first.
\nSo that\u2019s it for this week, until next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is after all Our Town.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas As the GTA recovers from its recent face to face encounter with the fury of Mother Nature, I think it is high time that our elected officials deal with a serious issue that was laid bare by the storm and its aftermath \u2013 our fragile, critical infrastructure. Yes, road repair and sewage […]<\/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":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-Pi","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 12:03:38","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\/3180","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=3180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}