Aurora Citizen

News & Views from the Citizens of Aurora Ontario

Veterans: Have we lost appreciation for their sacrifice?

Posted by auroracitizen on October 2, 2008

There was a very important Letter to the Editor in The Auroran (page 8) this week from a lady disappointed by the poor turn out for the”Candlelight Service” to honour our veterans. She asks the question; where were you?

She rightly points out the sacrifice made by the many who served and died so that we enjoy the freedoms we have today.

With TV and video, we have more exposure to the conflict in the world today than ever before — and therefore a greater understanding.

One has to wonder;

  • Are schools teaching?
  • Are parents teaching?
  • Are grandparents sharing?
  • Are children listening?

If we don’t learn from our past, are we destined to repeat the mistakes in the future?

Something to think about more often that November 11th each year.

What can we do to make sure that future generations have a “real” understanding of the cost of our freedom?

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Posted in Community Input | 2 Comments »

Guest Post: Graffiti Clean up day – a HUGE success!

Posted by auroracitizen on September 28, 2008

Thanks to Councillor Collins-Mrakas for the following Guest Post.

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

This past Thursday September 25th, on a gorgeous fall day, nearly 70 volunteers came together to offer their support and hard work towards the first York Region Police and Town of Aurora Graffiti Clean-up Day. It was a fantastic day as everyone came together to demonstrate their commitment to the community in which we live.

As a result of everyone’s hard work, well over a third of the identified sites of graffiti in town were cleaned up in a space of just under 3 hours!! At the end of a morning of hard work, our volunteers joined together at the Town Park to enjoy a well-deserved barbecue courtesy of Greg Foster of M & M Meats. The day was well received and covered extensively by Rogers TV, The Auroran, SNAP and Sing Tao Daily, Markham.

A huge thank-you to all the volunteers from: York Region Police, the Mayor and Aurora Town Council, Town of Aurora Staff, York Region Police Auxiliary, Town of Aurora Ad-Hoc Graffiti Abatement Committee, The students of Aurora High, the students of Dr. G.W.Williams, Neighbourhood Network, Bell Canada, Bacon Basketware, and the numerous other residents who simply showed up to help.

Special thanks to The Auroran and to the Optimists Club for their very generous donations which helped make the day possible.

Thank-you to the AURORA CITIZEN for publicizing the event.

Finally, thank you to everyone for your support and for making the first YRP and Town of Aurora Graffiti Clean-up Day a huge success!

Alison Collins-Mrakas,
Councillor, Town of Aurora

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Posted in Community Corner, Guest Post | 1 Comment »

Communication – strategy or tactic?

Posted by auroracitizen on September 26, 2008

Came across this quote from Dimitris Chryssochoou (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Crete) on a blog out of the UK about the development of the EU.

The quote is about theory, but as political leaders, if the word theory was replaced by democracy then it is extremely relevant for creating involment in our own community.

“Theory (democracy) generates pluralism, pluralism produces choice, choice creates alternatives, alternatives formulate debate, debate encourages communication, communication increases awareness, awareness minimizes dogmatism and in this way there is a propensity to develop greater and better understanding….”

Yes I know, big words for a blog, but I loved the linkages …. too many leaders forget the link. They view communication as a tactic to be used when it works for their own objectives. In reality it should be an overriding strategy — the source of understanding and community input.

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Posted in Community Input, Town Council | 1 Comment »

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.

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Posted in Growth, Town Council | 2 Comments »

Community Corner: Ward System — what happened?

Posted by auroracitizen on September 21, 2008

A reader sent in the following comment. We will run a poll question on this in the next few weeks.

During the last election, a number of current sitting Councillors for the Town of Aurora agreed the electorate would be better served having a Ward System. These Councillors promised that if elected they would do something about it.

It’s now been two years. What happened to this election promise?

Do you think Aurora should have a Ward System?

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Posted in Community Corner, Town Council | 5 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!

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

Council versus Staff Roles

Posted by auroracitizen on September 17, 2008

In this weeks Auroran there was a good commentary by Dick Illingworth about the ongoing battle between staff and Council. In it he expressed his opinion about the role of Council versus the CAO and how the break down in this role can and has created problems.

On a broader level, it has always been the general understanding that Council’s role was to establish policy and staff would then implement those policies in a fair and consistent manner.

It would appear that this division of responsibilities has broken down in Aurora in more areas than just between Council and the CAO. The recent situation concerning the lights in the Canadian Tire parking lot illustrates the point (also covered in The Auroran this week).

On 2 separate occasions staff recommended that Council not become involved in a matter between 2 private parties. Ignoring this advice, Council went ahead and intervened, resulting in incremental costs, some which will likely be shared by the broader Aurora tax base.

More importantly, it also sets a new precedent that indicates that Council is willing to step outside its own stated policies and get involved in areas that should rightly be left up to the private parties to resolve.

Is Council sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong, or is their involvement in these areas appropriate? What are your thoughts? Let us know!

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Posted in Town Council | 9 Comments »

RSS Feeds are being fixed

Posted by auroracitizen on September 16, 2008

We have experienced some problems with the RSS Feed and some of our subscribers have not been receiving their updates. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

If you have not received recent updates automatically, you can use the the new subscription links to the left side of the screen to re-subscribe.

If you continue to experience problems please let us know. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we are working to correct this issue.


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Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Guest Post: How much are we wasting on waste?

Posted by auroracitizen on September 15, 2008

Thanks to Councillor Collins-Mrakas for the following Guest Post.

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

Why is it that everything you purchase today is encased in multiple layers of packaging? I don’t know about you, but in my humble opinion it shouldn’t require a blowtorch and an engineering degree to get a doll out of its wrapping! And you most definitely shouldn’t end up with a bag of garbage all for one ten inch high doll.

I understand that companies want to market their products in a certain way but it seems to me that they have little or no regard for the consequences of their packaging choices – and why should they? It is you and I – the customer – that pays the price for disposing of the packaging waste.

We learned environmental economics terms such as “full-cost accounting” and “cradle-to-grave” product management more than fifteen years ago in undergrad studies. The question is why isn’t it applied??

In Europe – Germany in particular – and in Sweden there have been regulatory mechanisms in place for well over 2 decades that require manufacturers to take back the packaging within which their products are sold. That’s a great concept. I doubt we’d see toys and electronics and novelties wrapped up in elaborate packaging if manufacturers or retailers were responsible for its disposal.

As we approach another municipal budget season, we need to look at ways to trim costs and manage waste. Given that a goodly portion of our levy dollars goes towards waste management and given that a significant portion of our waste stream is due to packaging waste I think that it is high time that our federal government look at appropriate legislation to address this issue.

I’d like to hear your thoughts…

Alison Collins-Mrakas
Councillor, Town of Aurora

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

Who is Aurora Citizen?

Posted by auroracitizen on September 14, 2008

A few readers have expressed concern about “the person” behind AURORA CITIZEN, and why they have not declared themselves. Interestingly, the folks who have expressed this concern are solely those who are offended by criticism of the current Council and always sign themselves as “anonymous”. Hmmm?

The fact is, there is no single person behind the AURORA CITIZEN, any more than there is ever a single person behind any open community discussion. There are simply a number of concerned citizens who are interested in their community that decided to open an online conversation to see if others shared their concerns or had other issues they would like to bring forward.

If you are interested in the well-being of our community you can become a contributor to this conversation as well. Simply send an email to moderator@AuroraCitizen.ca and express your interest, or send an email comment as a guest post.

Any topic is welcome and as long as the discussion is respectful, the post will be posted unchanged. The direction that the conversation takes is dictated by those who participate.

Which brings us to a second point. The tone of some of the comments have become quite personal and vindictive. These comments have been rejected and will not be published.

This vehicle is intended to provide an opportunity for all sides of an issue discussed. It is not intended to slam individuals because you disagree with their point of view. A more productive option would be to share facts that demonstrate another side of the issue.

That said, we do acknowledge that elected officials are subject to comment because they have chosen to stand for office. This is unfortunately one of the downsides of public service, but obviously one that is well understood by those who choose to serve.

It is our sincere desire that this vehicle become a balanced and relevant conversation in our community. Together we can make that happen.

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Posted in Community Input | 3 Comments »

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