Sometimes anonymous is good
Campbellford has just made it much harder to squeal on your neighbours. And that may not be such a good idea. In this story the municipality is reported as installing a complaints procedure which depends on written forms. No more telephone finks no more whispers to councillors, if you want to make a complaint you had better be prepared to give your name. In most cases that will mean that complaints will go down - score one for the bureaucrats. What these neanderthals on the Trent fail to realise is that many complaints are valid and very personal and therefore must be reported as an anonymous complaint. a bad move.
Now won't this be a nice piece of objective reporting? The Puffster is to interview SH.., in an industrial setting to boast about the government's record. This TO Star story tells all.
The election drums are beating - but not very loud. Ottawa is gearing up for the next confidence vote, June 23rd, the Cons are rolling out the "Stevie show" (glitzy announcements designed to make us feel good about them mishandling the recession), amid stories like this from Don Martin of the NP, and local Libs are emailing each other with glee about the latest polls in Southern Ontario. Rather like a bunch of Bull Moose banging antlers in the rutting season. Unfortunately the numbers will not be there for a combined vote of non-confidence as the next day is Quebec's National holiday and Bloc members will have left Ottawa to attend the festivities. So we may be able to survive the summer without noisy people asking for our votes. BTW if all our local MP can do for us lately is to try to encourage us, as a Riding, to be more patriotic, as demonstrated by putting fake flags in our windows, we surely are bereft of ideas. As more and more people are slipping off the EI rolls to the deafening roar of the lack of government response, this flag waving effort is a pathetic excuse for local notice. I ripped mine up and have refused to participate. As Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel!"
In a debate that we will see repeated in Cobourg Ottawa City Council has voted to reduce development plans on its City boundaries. Preferring developers to build inside the boundary instead of contributing to urban sprawl this vote left some developers very angry. Read this story for details. This issue is the biggie for Cobourg, in the next couple of years and if the trend is to build inside the boundaries instead of outside it, the present mayor's dreams of Cobourg II, (area C and its 16,000 intended inhabitants) could be scuttled.
Now won't this be a nice piece of objective reporting? The Puffster is to interview SH.., in an industrial setting to boast about the government's record. This TO Star story tells all.
The election drums are beating - but not very loud. Ottawa is gearing up for the next confidence vote, June 23rd, the Cons are rolling out the "Stevie show" (glitzy announcements designed to make us feel good about them mishandling the recession), amid stories like this from Don Martin of the NP, and local Libs are emailing each other with glee about the latest polls in Southern Ontario. Rather like a bunch of Bull Moose banging antlers in the rutting season. Unfortunately the numbers will not be there for a combined vote of non-confidence as the next day is Quebec's National holiday and Bloc members will have left Ottawa to attend the festivities. So we may be able to survive the summer without noisy people asking for our votes. BTW if all our local MP can do for us lately is to try to encourage us, as a Riding, to be more patriotic, as demonstrated by putting fake flags in our windows, we surely are bereft of ideas. As more and more people are slipping off the EI rolls to the deafening roar of the lack of government response, this flag waving effort is a pathetic excuse for local notice. I ripped mine up and have refused to participate. As Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel!"
In a debate that we will see repeated in Cobourg Ottawa City Council has voted to reduce development plans on its City boundaries. Preferring developers to build inside the boundary instead of contributing to urban sprawl this vote left some developers very angry. Read this story for details. This issue is the biggie for Cobourg, in the next couple of years and if the trend is to build inside the boundaries instead of outside it, the present mayor's dreams of Cobourg II, (area C and its 16,000 intended inhabitants) could be scuttled.
5 comments:
I have my own flag thank you. I mailed RN's flag back to him [as I do with all his BS mail].
Municipal Official Plans and Development: what I don't understand is how the Province expects municipalities to enforce these new Official Plans with their development limitations when the OMB consistently rules in favour of the developers.
Has the Province quietly stacked the OMB with members who are more inclinced to favour planned development over the profit driven needs of developers?
If they haven't, then what's the point of all this?
This is what some do with real flags:
http://cobourgtown.blogspot.com/2009/06/shabby-shabby-shabby.html
With this relatively newly announced planning initiative, (which is nothing new at all, really), I expect to see pressures mount on older established low density areas of low and average quality infrastructure to be torn up and reconfigured with higher density developments. Some important history and heritage may come under such pressures as a result. There will need to be some serious resolve to not let the developers overcome those concerns with suggestions of much higher tax revenue potential for the starving municipality that such redevelopment could provide. I just don't see the 'development industry' pulling back because the easier pickin's are less lucrative and perhaps temporarily out of easy reach.
Anonymous Complaints: I've got a problem with that when it comes to making an official complaint. As someone who has spent over 20 years listening to complaints from the general public, I can state from experience that some people will say the most outrageously silly and usually unprovable things if they don't have to give their name.
Anonymity allows revenge and anger to be the motivator rather than any real grievance. What a time waster too!
From the standpoint of the person who has to act on the complaint, it makes the job much harder. When the complainant has to identify themselves they tend to stick to the facts, otherwise, you can bet it's just so much hot air.
Believe me, it would make the investigator's job much simpler if the complainer has to say who they are. I can just imagine the type of crap people were calling about, and if they can cut this out to concentrate on the legitimate complaints everyone would benefit.
Post a Comment