Aurora Citizen

News & Views from the Citizens of Aurora Ontario

Archive for the ‘Growth’ Category

Next Entries »

Discussion: Aurora Traffic Woes

Posted by auroracitizen on November 23, 2008

The northeast quadrant is proceeding with new speed humps along Mark Street. However, there doesn’t seem to any real consensus on whether the residents want these or whether they are having the intended impact.

What role will citizens have with the Traffic Advisory Committee on this issue?

What other traffic issues are we concerned about. Former Council Ron Wallace used to complain bitterly about Yonge and Wellington — is this still an issue. The new Dundas and Yonge traffic signals may have some learning we can benefit from.

What about the speed zone on St John’s where it drops for approx 300 yards from 60 to 50 kms. Most regular travellers along that stretch are well aware of the situation.

What is Wellington and Leslie starting to look like now that the stores are starting to open. Will it end up like in Newmarket leading to/from the big box area?

Traffic flows like water — to the path of least resistance. Whenever changes are made to one area to lower traffic just moves the traffic elsewhere and becomes someone else’s problem.

Until we reduce the cars on the road, the problems will not disappear — just become someone else’s.

Use the envelope and pencil icons immediately below to forward this post to friends or leave a comment.

Posted in Growth, Town Council, Traffic/Parking | Leave a Comment »

Community Corner: Green Power

Posted by auroracitizen on November 18, 2008

A reader sent in the following comment. It is published unchanged.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of the AURORA CITIZEN.

I noticed during a visit to the Town Hall some weeks ago that they’re now running on “Bullfrog Power”. The website at http://www.bullfrogpower.com/

There is a media release here:
http://www.bullfrogpower.com/08releases/york_aurora.pdf

“The cost to each municipality is three cents per kWh over current electricity commodity rates, representing an annual cost for the Town of Aurora of $20,000 and $70,000 for The Regional Municipality of York.

Bullfrog customers continue to draw power from the electricity grid in the same way that they always have. Customers don’t need any special equipment, setup or wiring. Verified annually by an independent audit by Deloitte, the amount of electricity Bullfrog customers buy is injected onto the electricity grid from EcoLogo-certified, green generation sources, including wind power and low-impact water power that displace polluting and carbon-intensive sources such as coal.”

I’m not a power expert… but I’m wondering if someone can explain how this works. If you think of it like a liquid…The Town buys $xxx of electricity, Bullfrog ‘injects’ that amount of electricity into the grid, and it zips it’s way along to the town hall, for a premium price.

Are there not laws that say ALL electricity should be as green as possible? The town hall is paying for the generation of the electricity at a premium – 3 cents per kWh over the current rate – but I doubt that there’s a way to measure exactly what % of this ‘green electricity’ is actually used. Going back to the water analogy – isn’t it the same idea as the Dasani water sold by Coke that starts out as Mississauga tap water? It’s marketed as ‘special’ and better for you – but how does a consumer REALLY know?

Things that make you go ‘hmmmm’.

Share your thoughts.

Use the envelope and pencil icons immediately below to forward this post to friends or leave a comment.

Posted in Growth, Town Council | 1 Comment »

Traffic Calming Results Mixed

Posted by auroracitizen on November 12, 2008

Good News! A report has been issued about the traffic calming measures in the Northeast quadrant of town. The skinny is that traffic counts are generally down, but the chicanes don’t seem to be effective.

Council has taken the initial step to install some speed cushions along Mark Street, but referred the balance to the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee.

One of the early criticisms of these measures was that all members of the public hadn’t been consulted. Hopefully now the broader public will have the opportunity to engage with this committee versus just a few interested residents.

Another question that needs to be addressed is, “What happened to the traffic that was cutting through this neighbourhood, and what has the impact of that change been to other residents?” Hopefully someone will provide some insight on this issue.

Traffic is like water, it goes to the path of least resistance. Since Yonge and Wellington hasn’t been fixed, one has to wonder if the traffic has just become a problem for another neighbourhood.

This is a good news story. In fact, even the Mayor is quoted as stating “We want to remain open and transparent as we mover forward on this.”

Use the envelope and pencil icons immediately below to forward this post to friends or leave a comment.

Posted in Community Input, Growth, Town Council | 6 Comments »

Lessons from Lincoln

Posted by auroracitizen on September 22, 2008

In the book Team of Rivals, author Doris Kearns Goodwin focuses on how Abraham Lincoln built his cabinet. Instead of choosing cronies and old pals, Lincoln’s choices included three of his major rivals for the 1860 presidential nomination, William Seward, Edward Bates and Salmon Chase.

None of these men thought Lincoln was presidential material, and, in fact, he was considered a light-weight who was not prepared for the job.

Lincoln won them over by genuinely and methodically building his relationships with them. In fact, relationship-building encounters were a key to Lincoln’s success, whether it was at the highest political echelons or meeting the troops at the front.

Is there a lesson here for our current Mayor and Council?

Every interaction can be a relationship-building encounter, if we genuinely believe that relationship building is at the center of what we need and want to do. We can all learn from Mr. Lincoln.

Use the envelope and pencil icons immediately below to forward this post to friends or leave a comment.

Posted in Growth, Town Council | 2 Comments »

How much growth is too much?

Posted by auroracitizen on September 20, 2008

Every municipal election, candidates make promises about the rate of growth here in Aurora. The favoured buzzword is usually managed growth, but what does that really mean?

Everyone recognizes that it is impossible to stop growth, but what can the politicians and staff really do to manage growth.

A recent article in the Era Banner prompted this question.

If historically, we have issued approx 400 building permits each year, is the new pace of 600 permits the new level of managed growth?

If so, are you happy with this rate of growth? If not, do we want more, or less?

What can we as citizens of Aurora do to let our political leaders know we are unhappy.

A second article indicated that a developer had been granted a turning lane that had previously been denied. What does this apparent reversal signal?

When the Mayor stated that the reversal was the result of careful consideration it begs the questions “what was the orginal decision based on?”

Was their a detailed traffic study conducted to support this careful consideration? What will the impact be on the already congested Wellington traffic patterns? Does this decision signal a more welcoming reception to growth and developers?

Share your thoughts!

Use the envelope and pencil icons immediately below to forward this post to friends or leave a comment.

Posted in Growth, Town Council, Traffic/Parking | 10 Comments »

Next Entries »