Aurora Citizen

News & Views from the Citizens of Aurora Ontario

Follow Up: Lack of Business Support Already Documented by Town of Aurora

Posted by auroracitizen on September 18, 2010

 In regards to the lack of support for small business this is not something new, the Mayor has known about this directly from the below:

(I reference from the Town of Aurora’s website from the page) http://town.aurora.on.ca/aurora/index.aspx?ArticleID=2949&lang=en-CA

2009: The Year of Business Initiative (page title)

2009 Achievements (subheading)

A Business Retention and Expansion Strategy
In the ‘Year of Business’, the Town of Aurora engaged the consulting firm of Millier Dickenson Blais to prepare a Business Retention and Expansion Strategy. The purpose of the Strategy is to expand and strengthen the Town’s relationship with the business community. The Town of Aurora Business Retention Strategy was presented to the Town’s Economic Development Advisory Committee on December 17, 2009 and is available for download in PDF format.
 Download the Business Retention and Expansion Strategy   (see document EDAC09-10_BRES.pdf)

Town of Aurora – Business Retention & Expansion Strategy, November 20, 2009
(It is filled with pages and pages of demographics, filler material etc. but I note the following: )

Pg 44 – under the heading

Weaknesses
Finally the Town of Aurora’s role in supporting businesses was viewed as being a weakness in retaining and growing businesses in the town. There was quite low recognition of economic development within the business community and it was felt that there was little direct support of small businesses and entrepreneurs, through the provision of advice and guidance. The Town was also seen as bureaucratic with too much red tape and too many layers of approvals, though there was an understand of the need for this it was believed that the Town could provide some assistance through the process.

Pg. 45 – under the heading

Threats
Aurora is not currently seen to be very supportive of their businesses or new business start-ups. Businesses or entrepreneurs looking for support will often migrate to those places they will be supported. Indeed one of the attendees at the focus group, though he lived in Aurora, has established his business in Markham so that he could be close to the town’s Innovation Synergy Centre.

So though it is great to have a study, what is truly happening in order to encourage business? What has happened in 2010 in order to go forward with implementing the Study and turning the Weaknesses around and reducing the Threats? It is far easier to commission a study than to actually do the work to move forward and get results. Perhaps the 1st step is to have a positive attitude towards those businesses.

What do you think?

Is the Mayor sucking and blowing at the same time — or does she really have no clue what is going on in her own town.

Posted in Community Input, Guest Post, Local Business | 20 Comments »

Mayor (Phyllis Morris) dismisses small biz study

Posted by auroracitizen on September 16, 2010

The Banner: Thursday September 16, 2010
Article written by Sean Pearce

However, Mayor Phyllis Morris dismisses the results of the survey, saying it only represents a small fraction of the total number of businesses in the town as only federation members were polled, she said.

“As the mayor, I serve more than just small business; I serve the entire community, large employers and taxpayers, as well as the residents of Aurora,” Mrs. Morris said.

The town has been doing a great deal to improve things for businesses, she said, from declaring 2009 as the Year of Business Initiative to developing a business retention and expansion strategy and launching a new economic development website and newsletter.

It sounds like she doesn’t care about the Aurora businesses that responded to the poll. Perhaps they are the now vacant businesses lining both sides of Yonge near Wellington.
And yes we already know that you represent others in Aurora, what’s your point? Does this mean you are to ignore this study?

And so, how is this “business retention and expansion strategy and launching a new economic development website and newsletter” working for you? Any results? It may appear to be good to “push” this out but what has it produced? Where are the numbers of new companies, new jobs, new businesses, new results.,,,

In contrast, in the same article Newmarket’s Mayor states:

“There is always an opportunity for improvement,” Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen said. “I am proud of the fact that we ranked the highest in the awareness category in the GTA.

As for the dissatisfaction expressed about the control over government wages, he is not turning a blind eye, as he believes the town should improve communication surrounding the calculation of wages.

Also from the article: 

Based on the results of the surveys the federation (Canadian Federation of Independent Business) said towns must do better with their business communication.

“Small businesses are the backbone of their local communities,” federation Ontario vice-president Satinder Chera said. “These results are a wake-up call for local leaders who need to become more engaged in addressing the local issues that matter to small business”.

Appears to be different results and approaches between Aurora and Newmarket.

What’s your opinion?

P.S. I recognize for all the AC does, we are in fact feeding into the Mayor’s hands as to how she needs to improve, but I guess it’s OK since she never reads this does she?

Posted in Guest Post, Leadership, Local Business, Media | 15 Comments »

Questions for the Candidates

Posted by auroracitizen on September 16, 2010

A number of weeks ago we asked for your input on questions for the candidates. We have compiled them and presented them below as an email to each candidate.

Dear candidates, the following questions have been raised by readers of the Aurora Citizen. They would be interested in your responses. If you chose to respond, simply visit the following link and leave your response(s) as a comment.

All Candidates

  1. Why are you running for mayor/council?
  2. How do you see the role of senior staff (department heads) in operating the town vs. that of council? Do we get sound management in place of political posturing?
  3. Given the current economic climate, what is your stance with regards to town staff hiring and the accompanying impacts on the town’s budget? Do you support the 20% increase in staffing we have witnessed in the first three years of the current council term as well as the most recent accompanying tax increases?
  4. Given the apparent increase of freedom of information requests being demanded by the town in order to answer even the most simple and reasonable questions and the increase in closed-door (“in-camera”) meetings, do you feel that these policies reflect an open and transparent government and what would your stance be on how the town should conduct its affairs from a transparency and accountability perspective?
  5. In a contentious debate among council members involving a matter of policy (or principle), how would you approach the matter to find a consensus that satisfies the majority and is in the best interests of the town? Are the two possible?
  6. What is your position on the Code of Conduct and the existing use and cost? What will you position be with regards to spending upwards of $100,000 per year towards an integrity commissioner and the accompanying legal fees in order for Council to police itself. Do you feel that elected officials should be able to speak their mind without the fear of persecution from the Mayor?
  7. How will you “Listen” to the community?
  8. What are your views on the role of Town Council in support of Aurora Food pantry and Habitat for Humanity here in Aurora?
  9. What are your views on the role of Town Council in support of Affordable Housing?

Candidates Seeking Re-election:

  1. What was council’s biggest accomplishment this term?
  2. What is the most important issue facing Aurora, and what they plan on doing about it. What did you do about it this past term?

Candidate comments will be posted as submitted. The following candidates answers can be seen by clicking on their names — you will be taken to their personal pages:

Mayor

Geoff Dawe

Councillor

John Abel

Evelyn Buck

Brian Duff

Milton Hart

Darryl  Moore

Paul Pirri

Michael Thompson

Posted in Election 2010 | 60 Comments »

Opinions, Allegations and Threats

Posted by auroracitizen on September 16, 2010

The Aurora Citizen is again the target of a letter from the Town solicitor demanding that comments be removed from this blog.

On Sept 14th, Mr Bill Hogg received a registered letter from Christopher C. Cooper, Director of Legal Services/Town Solicitor with the comment “While the Town does not seek to stifle fair and accurate comment, we hereby ask that you remove the posts from the Blog, which posts suggest  Mr Ballantyne is or has acted unethically and illegally in his role as the Town’s manager of Corporate Communications.”

Within the letter he also indicates the specific comments that are the subject of the letter.

So let’s be clear –in the quest for accuracy.

The comments identified by Mr Cooper are not posts written by someone associated with this blog — they were comments submitted by readers of this blog.

The first comment suggested that a Phyllis Morris quote included in a Banner article on her campaign for re-election was written by Mr Ballantyne.

The second comment indicated that they hoped that Mr Ballantyne was not responsible for updating comments on Wikipedia since they could be looked upon as electioneering edits.

Both comments expressed opinion. They were not asserted as statements of fact by the commentors.

The issue from the town perspective is that these comments implied that Mr Ballantyne was improperly using his office to help a candidate for re-election — which is inappropriate and a serious accusation under the Code of Conduct governing Town employees as well as the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

Fair enough — we have removed the 2 comments at the request of the Town since it is the Town’s position that “the suggestions made in the posts were not true, have no basis in fact”. You can read the entire letter by clicking on the pictures above.

We also do not want any allegations published — either by contributors to this blog or the numerous readers who comment.

We believe the protection of staff from being embroiled in political debate is an important issue. Staff are expected to remain outside the political battles at all times. After all, this terms enemy, might be next terms boss.

We trust that Phyllis Morris and the remainder of Council share this view.

Posted in CAO, Election 2010, Integrity, Leadership, Staff Turnover, Town Council | 41 Comments »

Mayor Morris’ Re-Election Website

Posted by auroracitizen on September 15, 2010

Well Phyllis has finally launched her re-election website. And frankly it exactly reflects her political style. Glossy looking, completely lacking in anything of substance and a willingness to mis-represent or  twist facts and stretch the truth to suit her own purposes.

One of our readers has provided their view on the site and asked for your feedback.

Mayor Morris has now updated her re-election webpage.

Without knowing the history of Town Council for the past 4 years and having a critical eye for the lack of detail it would be easy for anyone to think that perhaps we should all be re-electing Mayor Morris. For perhaps the thousands of Aurorans who do not follow town politics this could be an easy conclusion. It’s up to the informed and the other mayoral nominees to set “the record straight”.

The other nominees should also note her “tag line” of “Leadership, Vision, Ability”. This is what they will have to counter and what she is running on as the incumbent. She doesn’t have to demonstrate these qualities she just has to keep repeating them and the voters may believe her and vote her in again.
 
I have included a few comments below of my own but would be interested in what others may think of her presentation. She of course would not speak of the negative and must spin it all to her best light. I believe it whitewashes over the conflicted town council and all of the problems of the past 4 years.
 
There doesn’t seem to be any message in her website of what’s going forward by electing her once again. She perhaps doesn’t want to disclose a platform at this time and will only do so when needed.

Reference www.phyllismorris.net  (Homepage)

  1. “It has been a pleasure to work with a fantastic Town Council that successfully considered and charted new directions. The public record shows it to be the most capable in a decade at both finding common ground and achieving results.”  Wow! Has she really enjoyed all of the turmoil. What new directions have been charted? Where are the details of this success? What is the “public record” that she is credit for as being “the most capable in a decade?”
  2. “Our town is remarkable! Aurora is quiet neighbourhoods, heritage homes and nature trails.”   No mention of traffic jams at Yonge & Wellington or at the GO Station on Wellington or that Aurora has urban sprawl.
  3. “Aurora is for everyone!”   Wasn’t the Mayor the one that commented that low-cost housing isn’t needed in Aurora. It is for everyone that can afford to live here now and in the future with rising taxes.
  4. “Aurora has grown stronger because we respect and nurture new ideas. Your local government is better because it has become more open, accountable and fiscally responsible. With fresh energy, enthusiasm and commitment, we have developed a clear vision of how to further enrich our community.”  ??? more open, accountable & fiscally responsible? Where’s the proof?
  5. “The New York Times wrote: “Aurora is exactly the kind of hip, upscale, well-educated town where conflicting values are put to the test.” You would need an US paper to quote as the Canadian papers with local knowledge have not printed favourable reviews of what’s happening in Aurora.
    (Editors addition:  Knowledgable readers know this is related to a New York Times article that appeared on April 17, 2008, headed “A Line in the Yard: The Battle Over the Right to Dry Outside”  Is this what our election is all about? Or is this possible mis-leading to people not fully aware of the context)
  6. Reference www.phyllismorris.net/About-Phyllis-Morris (About Phyllis) “Mayor Phyllis Morris is known for her integrity, energy, positive attitude, sense of fair play, genuine concern for people”   It’s all depends of course on your perspective.
  7. “Phyllis Morris was elected Aurora’s first four-year Mayor in 2006.   “Of course emphasis has been placed on the “four-year”. Come on, really??  Is that what you are calling your accomplishment? Well somebody had to be the 1st.
  8. “Mayor Phyllis Morris has consistently demonstrated her leadership skills by identifying issues critical to the Town and rallying the community, councillors and staff to find solutions.”   From what I have read I would question her methods of “rallying”. It would appear more like “it’s my way or the highway” in how she deals with issues.
  9. “In areas such as the environment, town planning and heritage preservation, she is often at the leading edge of what is happening in politics in Canada and the world.”Really?? That’s putting it on a little thick. Mayor Morris is “often at the leading edge of what is happening in politics in Canada and the world”. Wow that’s stretching it! I don’t seem to seeing her on national news etc. Is she taking personal credit for all of Aurora? She doesn’t include any examples. Is it perhaps a couple of heritage awards and the “line laundry” issue but of course no mention of the code of conduct fiasco.
  10. “As an elected official, Phyllis’ key goal has always been to facilitate the public’s access to the processes of government, so that her constituents’ needs are heard.”   This seems to contradict the many requests for information that other Aurorans have issues to Town Hall and the numerous closed sessions of council.

What’s your take on all of this?

Posted in Election 2010, Integrity, Leadership | 59 Comments »

Aurora Back In the National News

Posted by auroracitizen on September 11, 2010

Aurora was once again back in the national news due to the political infighting that has taken place under the “leadership” of  Phyllis Morris.

Today’s Toronto Star article about key issues in the GTA lists Aurora as 1 of 6 municipal elections to watch. But the reasons are the political climate that has been seen here for the last 4 years.

Aurora, a usually quiet town on the Oak Ridges Moraine, finds itself split into two factions: one camp that favours Mayor Phyllis Morris, and another that favours the mayor’s longtime vocal critic, Councillor Evelyn Buck. The two have been embroiled in a nasty battle that started with Buck’s outspoken political blog and ended in a $5.2-million lawsuit that Buck filed against Morris and five other council members last year, alleging they abused their power by launching an ethics complaint against her.

This is not the first time we have been front and centre for the behaviour of this Council. We made the national press when Phyllis and Councillors Gaertner, Gallo, Granger, MacEachern and Wilson banded together to fire David Nitkin, our first Integrity Commissioner, after he threw out the first complaint against Councillor Buck for being politically driven.

This is the basis of the $5.2 million lawsuit against the 6 individuals by Councillor Buck. However, the 6 are using town funds (yours and mine) to fight this battle.

Some Relevant Posts:

https://auroracitizen.ca/2009/10/31/lawsuit-continues/

https://auroracitizen.ca/2009/10/18/an-unbiased-opinion-the-globe-and-mail/

https://auroracitizen.ca/2009/09/09/toronto-star-council-spat-gets-uglier/

https://auroracitizen.ca/2009/09/07/the-spin-continues/

https://auroracitizen.ca/2009/08/13/toronto-star-editorial-weighs-in/

https://auroracitizen.ca/2009/08/10/keystone-cops-alive-and-living-in-aurora/

If you are interested in more of the history of this situation, click on the  category links below (or in the column to the right):

Posted in Code of Ethics, Election 2010, Integrity, Leadership | 10 Comments »

And They’re Off

Posted by auroracitizen on September 10, 2010

5 candidates for Mayor, 19 Candidates for Council.

Let’s hope that this bumper crop of candidates is also reflected in the voter turnout in October.

The full list can be seen on the Town website — or just click over to 2010 Municipal Election on this blog

Each of the candidates has been extended the following invitation;

Congratulations on your decision to run for election in 2010. Many citizens will be interested in hearing what you have to say as we get closer to the election.

The Aurora Citizen is committed to providing equally access for all candidates to our readers. You will be able to interact directly with voters and any information supplied will be posted without editing.

We will dedicate a page to each candidate who provides information. Your page will be set up with its own URL which you are welcome to use in any campaign communication to direct people to your page if you don’t already have your own online presence.

You are also welcome to simply provide a link to your own website if you would prefer.

Good luck on October 25th.

We will continue to monitor comments for the candidates as outlined on the 2010 Municipal Election tab. Here’s hoping more than Geoff Dawe take us up on the opportunity to initiate dialogue with the voters of Aurora.

Posted in Election 2010 | 47 Comments »

Dawe’s Response on Canvassing at The Farmers Market

Posted by auroracitizen on September 9, 2010

Spotted Geoff Dawe’s post on his blog about the experience he had at the Market last Saturday. We thought it provided some insight into the man’s approach that was worth sharing.

Of particular note were his comments about respect.

The more important issue, is respect. I was advised that I was breaking the rules and I chose to honour those rules — regardless of whether or not I agree with them. One of my main issues has been the general lack of respect – for rules and for people – demonstrated by the past Mayor and Council. There is precious little reason for me to talk about that issue if I don’t live it.

Regardless on your position on whether he should or should not be allowed to campaign, possibly we can all agree that respect is an essential component of a leader — something that has been missing this past 4 years.

And make no mistake, a leader who respects the rules is not the same as a coward.

Let’s hope that Geoff will stand up against bullies that try to dominate by intimidation.

Posted in Election 2010, Leadership | 10 Comments »

The Aurora Citizen Turns 300

Posted by auroracitizen on September 9, 2010

This is officially our 300th post. We have also surpassed 4,700 comments.

We’ve had in excess of 150,000 visits since moving to the new WordPress platform in October 2009, which together with the almost 100,000 visits on the original site, means we have had almost 250,000 visitors since we started in August 2008.

We’ve been threatened twice by the town lawyers, yet here we are, still offering citizens of this great town the opportunity to provide commentary on what is happening in their community.

Councillor MacEachern asked for more balanced commentary, so we offered both her and Mayor Morris the opportunity to contribute. So far nothing — at least nothing that they have added their name to 🙂

We’ve been blitzed by supporters from both sides of issues and have used our best judgement to encourage dialogue versus diatribe.

We have numerous people regularly writing articles for the blog — some like Richard Johnson publish under their own names, others, desiring anonymity, offer their opinions for debate under the Aurora Citizen banner.

We also have a number of volunteers share the role of moderator duties to ensure that the comments — while somewhat direct and pointed — do not degenerate into diatribe, allegations and foul language.

This forum has become a platform for communicating with fellow Aurora Citizens. It has far surpassed expectations. We are glad to be part of the discussion and look forward to contributing long into the future.

Posted in Community Corner, Community Input, Guest Post | 7 Comments »

Kean to Take 10% Cut in Pay if Elected

Posted by auroracitizen on September 7, 2010

Nigel Kean has recently released his first ad that makes any concrete commitments.

The first commitment was a 10% reduction in pay “to stop the wastage  of your money”. That caught people’s attention — which we guess was his intention.

But he wasn’t very clear on what this commitment actually is or whether it is even achievable. Was that also his intention?

First, is he talking about the Aurora portion of the salary or the Regional salary as well? Many people might not be familiar with this distinction, so the bold claim could certainly be mis-leading. Shouldn’t he be more specific with his commitments? Otherwise, how can voters hold him accountable?

Secondly, it is virtually impossible to guarantee that he will take a cut in pay in his salary as a Regional Councillor — this would require a Regional Council resolution to change a single salary — which would be highly unlikely since it would also require support of his fellow Regional Councillors. Something they would probably not want to discuss. So has he made a commitment he can’t deliver?

If he is strictly talking about the Aurora portion of the wage — shouldn’t he be clear? This would probably amount to around $5,000. This would also require a Council resolution for it to be enacted.

The big question is; Shouldn’t he make sure he can deliver against his commitments before he makes them?

Making commitments you cannot guarantee you will deliver is not what we are looking for in our next Mayor — we already had one of those.

Wouldn’t it better to actually provide some concrete examples of where he plans to find these promised cost savings rather than making a vague promise that is probably never achievable?

Let’s hope that he starts discussing issues that are important to this community rather than trying to create silly sound-bites.

Stay tuned. We will expect clarification of these issues as the campaign unfolds.

Posted in Election 2010 | 14 Comments »

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