{"id":9747,"date":"2015-02-04T16:41:17","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T21:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9747"},"modified":"2015-02-19T07:52:55","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T12:52:55","slug":"inside-aurora-groundhog-daze-vi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-groundhog-daze-vi\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: Groundhog Daze VI"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Celebrating that we were well over halfway through winter, I was taking a brisk stroll through the Arboretum the other day when I spied a small figure sitting on a bench.
\nUpon closer inspection it turned out to be Aurora Annie, our local weather prognosticating groundhog.
\nShe looked depressed.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong,\u201d I asked, brushing away the snow and sitting beside her. \u201cDo you think your forecast for spring is incorrect?\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not that,\u201d she sniffed. \u201cI may have to leave Town!\u201d
\n\u201cWhy would you have to do that? You\u2019ve been a fixture in Aurora for years. We love having you around.\u201d
\n\u201cOh, I feel welcome. It\u2019s just that I may not have a place to stay, anymore.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d I asked.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the ongoing development that\u2019s taking over all the open spaces. I live over near Industrial Parkway, and do you know what Council wants to do?\u201d
\nBefore I had a chance to say anything, she told me.
\n\u201cWiden it. That\u2019s what they want to do. Do you know how much land that will take up? And how much more traffic that will cause?\u201d She shuddered.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard enough getting across two lanes, but four?\u201d She sighed, and flexed a knee, which emitted an audible crack. \u201cI\u2019m not as young as I used to be.\u201d
\n\u201cBut the additional road surface will only take up a small amount of green space,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that bad.\u201d
\n\u201cAre you kidding?\u201d she exclaimed. \u201cIt all adds up. And besides,\u201d she continued, \u201cI already had to move once to make way for the new Joint Operations Centre.\u201d She added, with amazement, \u201cthat place is huge.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, there must be somewhere else in Town you can go.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere, the 2C lands? That\u2019s the last remaining open area of Town, but it\u2019s all under development.\u201d
\nChecking them off on her tiny fingers, she continued: \u201cHighland Gate? Soon to be houses. Timberlane? Ditto. Industrial Parkway? It\u2019s getting the Family Leisure Complex expansion and proposed turning lanes. Leslie Street? More commercial and headquarters space going in. Bayview Avenue? There, too.\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d she said, slumping a little lower on the bench, \u201cI think my days in Aurora are numbered.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, there must be some solution,\u201d I noted, pondering the snowy landscape.
\nWe sat companionably for a minute, the silence broken only by the occasional, muffled, rodent-sized sob.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve got it!\u201d I exclaimed. Annie looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes.
\n\u201cYou like this area of Town, right?\u201d She nodded.
\n\u201cAnd you\u2019re looking for a place that\u2019s available now?\u201d Another nod.
\n\u201cAnd is unlikely to be developed or used for anything in the foreseeable future?\u201d
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\n\u201cThen why not Petch House?\u201d
\nHer eyes widened.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been there for years, with no sign of anyone using it. In fact, the Town just bought the Armoury with no confirmed tenants, and is looking at purchasing additional properties in Heritage Square, so there\u2019s little chance they\u2019ll find uses for them all.\u201d
\n\u201cBest of all,\u201d I concluded, \u201cyou could move in right now.\u201d
\n\u201cThat might work,\u201d she nodded, sitting up a little straighter. \u201cIn fact, I may head over there right now to take a look.\u201d
\nWith that she bounded up off the bench and headed towards the south end of the park.
\nAs I watched her disappear into the distance, I just hoped that for Annie\u2019s sake, the recently-elected Council would continue to focus on new initiatives, and not what to do with leftover projects from previous years like Petch House.
\nAt least, not right away.
\n
\nFeel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston Celebrating that we were well over halfway through winter, I was taking a brisk stroll through the Arboretum the other day when I spied a small figure sitting on a bench. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be Aurora Annie, our local weather prognosticating groundhog. She looked depressed. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong,\u201d I […]<\/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-9747","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\/p3D2k4-2xd","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-12 02:08:57","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\/9747","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=9747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9747\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}