{"id":7817,"date":"2014-08-20T11:51:36","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T15:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=7817"},"modified":"2014-09-11T15:43:56","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T19:43:56","slug":"vote-2014-aurora-needs-to-keep-pace-with-other-municipalities-says-candidate-bob-chapman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/vote-2014-aurora-needs-to-keep-pace-with-other-municipalities-says-candidate-bob-chapman\/","title":{"rendered":"VOTE 2014: Aurora needs to keep pace with other municipalities, says candidate Bob Chapman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2014-08-21-05\"
\nBy Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

After more than three decades working in municipal finance, Bob Chapman just can\u2019t stay away in his retirement.<\/p>\n

The 55-year-old Aurora resident has thrown his hat in the ring as a Council candidate in the October 27 municipal election.<\/p>\n

With an eye on maintaining and improving Aurora\u2019s recreational spaces \u2013 both indoor and outdoor \u2013 and making things easier for the average commuter, Mr. Chapman says he was inspired to get involved in the community he has called home for 24 years through a letter he found written by his grandfather.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a history teacher and he said that being a good citizen is important,\u201d says Mr. Chapman. \u201cYou might never invent something great, you might never become a billionaire or Prime Minister, but being a good citizen is something to strive for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always encouraged my kids to vote and get involved. This is something I see myself doing in contributing to the Town. I realise the value of these positions. Decision making is important, the Town is very well-run, but there are always things you can contribute as a politician.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a long-time commuter during the nearly quarter-century he has called Aurora home, Mr. Chapman says ensuring growth is \u201chandled nicely\u201d is one of the biggest challenges Aurora is going to have to face over the next few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 404 and the GO Train are just really holding back Aurora,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t get downtown to work on the 404. With the GO, I was glad to hear they are putting more trains on each way, and that will really help people stay downtown. I remember running to the GO Trains at 6.10 and not being able to stay [in Toronto] for things and hopefully GO Train service will improve for Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, as Go Transit, Metrolinx, and the 400-series highways are Provincial matters, some might question how this relates to municipal government. The answer, he says, is there will be increasing pressures \u2013 both positive and negative \u2013 for municipalities and all levels of government to work together over the coming decades, and much of this can be attributed to those growth challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is the potential of amalgamation with Newmarket and York Region, so I think Aurora should continue to work on an integrated system with other municipalities,\u201d says Mr. Chapman, noting he sees amalgamation as both a positive and an inevitability.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt saves money and it ensures uniform services. That is why a municipality has to be in sync with the other municipalities because, as we saw with the amalgamation of the City of Toronto, it is important for municipalities to be in sync with their debts, with their reserves, and the service levels they are providing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Service levels are not just limited to roads and sewers but, in Mr. Chapman\u2019s view, primarily to soccer fields and ice rinks, which people interact with every day. They are one of the key things that \u201cmakes the Town nice\u201d, but there are areas around Aurora that are lacking in this regard.
\n\u201cWe could have more resources devoted to recreation facilities and things in a manner that people use,\u201d he says. \u201cNot everybody is going to use the soccer field, not everybody is going to use the swimming pool, so you do have to be practical about allocating resources and that is one of the major decisions that Councillors make.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the budget needs to be kept tight for the sake of taxpayers and when you get a slightly tighter budget then the priorities become a bit more clear. When money is tight, people put money where it is a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through his municipal finance background, Mr. Chapman says it is important to perform a \u201cfair bit of due diligence\u201d when it comes to big ticket items like the recently approved Joint Operations Centre, as well as everything that might be incorporated into Queen\u2019s Diamond Jubilee Park in the future.<\/p>\n

Although he says this Council has been pretty well run compared to the \u201cdysfunctional Council a few years ago\u201d, one thing he says this Council has lacked is a solid vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they had any major decisions to make and they didn\u2019t go crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom a management standpoint, did they do a great job in managing? I think they could do a little bit better in terms of giant vision projects. I don\u2019t think they are taking on too many.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After more than three decades working in municipal finance, Bob Chapman just can\u2019t stay away in his retirement.<\/p>\n

The 55-year-old Aurora resident has thrown his hat in the ring as a Council candidate in the October 27 municipal election.<\/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":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vote-2014"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-225","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 21:30:20","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\/7817","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=7817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}