{"id":9479,"date":"2015-01-07T22:27:01","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T03:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9479"},"modified":"2015-01-28T19:41:30","modified_gmt":"2015-01-29T00:41:30","slug":"inside-aurora-2014-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-2014-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: 2014 In Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jan 9 \u2013 Being built to serve Aurora\u2019s growing population, the new Joint Operations Centre (JOC) displays similar growth by having its budget increase from $14 million to $19 million.
\nJan 22 – Council confirms it will seek to recoup the cost of damages from the December ice storm, but is thrown off when a staff report notes that you can\u2019t sue Mother Nature.
\n Feb 2 – It\u2019s not a good sign for an early spring when the groundhog emerges from his burrow, sees his shadow, and books a one-way ticket to Tahiti.
\nMar 6 \u2013 In an effort to de-beautify Aurora, Council considers mandatory use of clear garbage bags for curbside pickup.
\nApr 10 – Council approves a proposal to make Ribfest an election-free zone, providing citizens with a brief few hour respite from 10 months of election campaigning.
\nApr 17 – For those who placed bets 15 years ago as to which would be done first, the Town\u2019s first Habitat for Humanity house is completed prior to the Youth Centre, meaning that the winners can collect their prizes: free passes to the Aurora Fair and Horse Show.
\nMay 2 \u2013 Aurora gets a failing grade when it is not short-listed as a possible site for a new university slated for the region.
\nMay 22 \u2013 There\u2019re no more rooms at the inn when Aurora\u2019s only hotel, the former Howard Johnson\u2019s, closes its doors for the last time.
\nJun 19 \u2013 Foreshadowing residents\u2019 vote in the fall election to decrease the size of Council, Chris Ballard\u2019s departure to the provincial legislature reduces Council by one member.
\nJun 26 \u2013 Despite the east side of Aurora clearly being the current centre of retail and residential development in Town, the Chamber of Commerce grumbles about the Home Show\u2019s move in 2015 to the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex, suggesting that no one will find it there.
\nJul 3 – The accessible playground proposed for Queen\u2019s Diamond Jubilee Park proves to have an inaccessible budget of $600,000.
\nAug 21 \u2013 Council approves an increase in the JOC budget to $26 million, despite a lack of a corresponding increase in population since January.
\nSep 11 – The Town ponders the introduction of LED street lights, until it is realized that this might make it easier to see the Town\u2019s crumbling infrastructure.
\nSep 18 \u2013 Setting a good example for kids goes up in smoke when Council allows the use of e-cigarettes in public facilities, such as the library.
\nOct 27 \u2013 The Buck stops here, when the long term councillor loses her seat by 41 votes.
\nOct 30 – Sports enthusiasts saddened by the planned closing of the Timberlane Athletic Club take heart in the fact that they can still golf at Highland Gate.
\nNov 7 – It\u2019s announced that Highland Gate is closing.
\nNov 20 \u2013 Canada Post\u2019s announcement that it will stop home delivery to 4,500 houses in Aurora next year in favour of super mailboxes raises the question: \u201cpeople still receive real mail through Canada Post?\u201d
\nNov 27 \u2013 Taking a page from its many books, the library announces plans for its own sequel when it says it wants to expand its services.
\nDec 11 \u2013 Council demonstrates its addiction to purchasing local buildings for which it has no immediate use, by suggesting adding Readman and Horton Houses to its collection which currently includes the still vacant Petch House and Aurora Armoury.
\nDec 30 \u2013 With lawsuit payments, proposed property purchases, significant infrastructure projects, and other big ticket items on the horizon for 2015, 2014\u2019s tax increase of 3.75% may seem like \u201cthe good old days\u201d.
\n
\nFeel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston Jan 9 \u2013 Being built to serve Aurora\u2019s growing population, the new Joint Operations Centre (JOC) displays similar growth by having its budget increase from $14 million to $19 million. Jan 22 – Council confirms it will seek to recoup the cost of damages from the December ice storm, but is thrown […]<\/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-9479","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\/p3D2k4-2sT","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 21:50:12","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\/9479","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=9479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}