When you engage in public debate you should know when to disengage, or as the adage goes “know when to stop digging” when you are already in the hole. A recent example is the furor and invective, as well as some derision aimed at the new Mayor of Cobourg. Lucas Cleveland said he ran for...
Author: ben
Last Year for Community Grants
Last year for community grants Community Grants (CGs) – perhaps the last connection between the local government and the Citizens. Often a last resort for cash and mostly a supplication to Council to reduce the payback for using Council owned facilities. Awarding CGs is an onerous task for the people assigned to deliver them. There...
Done & Dusted and it’s still “deceitful”
In the Cobourg News we have a summary of the second Budget Review day. This day was supposed to be the day that the Mayor would make his stand on cutting services to reduce the tax rate. Looking at the additions to the list of next year’s expenses – centennial pool, trees, beach mat and...
A magnificent example of feedback
Just this week an example of how much politics has changed emerged from the ether of the Internet to the bowels of the Council Chamber in Cobourg. As explained in a previous post a suggestion was made by the Town Staff person in charge of Community assets, to close the Centennial Pool on Charles St....
County looking at Northumberland Police Force
County looking at Northumberland Police Force, Every few years this old chestnut appears – just like a zombie the idea of a County/Regional Police Service refuses to die. The idea may succeed this time, the proponents – the people in short pants ( those Councillors with no or little experience of local politics) have proposed...
Another Budget surprise
Town to close the Centennial Pool! – that was one of the headlines to emerge from the recent Budget discussion. A couple of comments were made on the Draper report and then a “Change.org” petition was started by Meghan Thomas, a concerned Citizen. Sign the petition here. BUT checking the Town’s website a contradiction appears...
When is a large tax increase not a small tax increase? When you add a Fee
Storm water management does anybody know what it is and how we pay for it? Well the Citizens of Cobourg will soon find out just how deceitful (not my words but another commenter) Council has been and the result is that a huge increase will be coming down the pipe (no pun intended). Cobourg, until...
First look at the 2023 Budget
First look at the 2023 Budget, posted two days ago this post has garnered 51 comments from the usual commenters. Other posts about the same subject – the 2023 Budget have elicited another 57 comments, but most comments in one of them quickly moved off the topic of taxes and went into a lengthy discussion...
What can we do?
The latest outrage from the Ontario Government (OG) is the move to pay Private Clinics to perform procedures that Doug Ford – Premier of Ontario (DoFo) says the local hospitals cannot do and therefore by paying private clinics to do common procedures will reduce waiting lists. Let’s be clear the one reason there are waiting...
Taxpayer Input to 2023 budget
Taxpayer Input to 2023 budget This post has attracted, as expected; because it causes the commenters to think about a serious issue, and most of the comments are the usual whines about the lack of meaningful public input and where the money might be spent uselessly, few comments so far. The point of this...