{"id":3285,"date":"2013-07-24T17:25:17","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T21:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=3285"},"modified":"2013-07-31T10:06:26","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T14:06:26","slug":"brocks-banter-the-money-pit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/brocks-banter-the-money-pit\/","title":{"rendered":"BROCK’S BANTER: The Money Pit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In the course of their terms as Aurora\u2019s lawmakers, Councillors invariably develop a makeshift brand of shorthand to get their points across.
\nVariations on \u201cwe\u2019re putting the cart before the horse\u201d are often deployed to get a fellow Councillor to stop in their tracks, as are phrases like \u201cwe\u2019re throwing good money after bad\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m looking to something new to hang my hat on.\u201d
\nWhile putting a cart on either end of the horse has rarely been a personal consideration, I would be lying if I said the other two did not cross my mind listening to Councillors debate Aurora\u2019s planned \u201cCommunity Space for Youth\u201d last week.
\nSpeaking against recommendations to increase the price tag for the project by $2.6 million, Councillor John Gallo said he \u201cnearly fell off his chair\u201d reading the report.
\nPerhaps it was a slight exaggeration. I can\u2019t imagine anyone would have been caught completely off guard at the increased price tag. This is, after all, a plan to revamp the well-used Aurora Family Leisure Complex and tack additions onto a building which this Council gave serious consideration to mothballing and starting fresh just two years ago.
\nWas it really beyond the realm of possibility that a building roundly criticised for being inaccessible, not user-friendly and well past its sell-by date might cost a pretty penny to bring fully up to code?
\nCouncillors arguing in favour of going ahead with the increased price last week, including the Mayor, argued that the extra $2.6 million would ensure the building would be fresh and usable for a further 30 \u2013 50 years.
\nIt is a nice sentiment and one which makes sense in theory, but it was a sentiment originally shared when this building was constructed in the late 1980s. Although residents have made good use out of the building, the honeymoon between the building and the people it was intended to serve quickly soured. As did its relationship with the people that put it there.
\nNevertheless, Council has spoken. More money will be invested \u2013 with the best of intentions, I am sure \u2013 in revitalizing the building. It will be more accessible, interior facilities are promised to be brighter, and the youth will have a place to go.
\nFrom my perspective \u2013 and it is a perspective that has been consistent \u2013 the plan is akin to slapping a fresh coat of paint onto the Titanic as the violinists prepare their last encore.<\/p>\n

IT’S NOT ALL BAD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Had I fallen off my chair while reading the report, I would have picked myself up and dusted myself off, heartened in the fact that local high school kids have indeed been involved in steering a facility which at least part of is ultimately intended for them.
\nWhen Councillors took the \u201cshow on the road\u201d to local high schools last winter, students came up with a list of wonderful ideas from a climbing wall and a snack bar, and both are included in the plan.
\nTheir voices have been heard. They have made their mark on the designs. Now, the next steps will be for the construction tenders to be awarded in October. If all goes according to plan, the new constructions will be complete by the end of Fall 2014.
\nThen it is time to play the waiting game. To borrow an equally hackneyed phrase so often used by Council: if they build it, will they come?
\nOn that point, I am still unconvinced.
\nWhile young Aurorans will undoubtedly find a haven in the adjacent skateboard park, and there might be some initial novelty in having a climbing wall at a better price-point, I wonder whether youth will really embrace a \u201cdedicated youth space\u201d lost within a much larger facility.
\nIt is hardly the kind of place where they can just drop in, hang out, perhaps bring a guitar for an impromptu jam session, or just unwind, that youth seem to want.
\nI will, however, hope for the best and would truly love to be proven wrong.
\nNothing yet, however, has convinced me that this will not evolve from a \u201cdedicated youth space\u201d to merely an annex to the already overused Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre in 18 months and then we\u2019ll be back where we started.
\nCouncillors hoping to hang their hats on this Youth Centre as an election platform next year might be in luck if construction continues well past October and there will be time yet for it to be realised as an avoidable disaster.
\nAt that point, it might be up to the next Council to say once again, \u201cYou know what Aurora really needs? A Youth Centre\u201d and then the arguments will begin again.
\nHopefully in time, someone will eventually get it right. They might consider building a separate building, tacking an addition onto a place which has a bit more of a spring in its step, and is both centrally located and easy to get to.
\nThis plan will be a boon to kids in the immediate area, but those from other parts of the Town hoping to make good use out of their own space better hope they have either a willing parent to get them there, or a change of heart from York Region Transit to provide bus service to the Youth Centre other than at times when they are largely stuck in the confines of the classroom.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir In the course of their terms as Aurora\u2019s lawmakers, Councillors invariably develop a makeshift brand of shorthand to get their points across. Variations on \u201cwe\u2019re putting the cart before the horse\u201d are often deployed to get a fellow Councillor to stop in their tracks, as are phrases like \u201cwe\u2019re throwing good money […]<\/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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-QZ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-21 23:33:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285","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=3285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}