Happy Canada Day - hope it doesn't rain!

Happy 142 Canada.

I'm unleashing the right wing opinion dogs on this one, a comment in the TO Star by Sid Ryan about striking workers and the tendency for employers to bash them into the ground, for as the 649 man says, "I can"

Monday evening Council was faced with an interesting situation over heritage windows. Gary Sharpe, the owner of 4,6,8 King St applied for a heritage permit to replace the 2nd storey windows. LACAC took a look and decided that in order to confirm to Town guidelines (in place since the early 90s) the windows should be repaired not replaced. Mr Sharpe disagreed because he wants to refit with vinyl windows. LACAC stuck to its guns and the application went to Council on Monday. Mr Sharpe, a very popular local businessman was present to see the coordinator of planning present a motion rejecting the application that did not get a seconder - a very unusual situation. Obviously the rest of Council was determined to support Mr Sharp and showed it by not supporting the motion. The Mayor determined that this motion and recommendation from LACAC could not remain in limbo and asked for another motion to dispose of the application. Councillor Stan Frost made a motion that was, by design?, a clever motion that the other councillors failed to understand - they after all only wanted to give Mr Sharpe his windows. SF's motion read"That the replacement windows be of material reflecting latest technologies but must be compatible and fit with the heritage surroundings". Up went the hands in support but in order to comply surely the replacement vinyl must be specially designed to fit the surroundings as opposed to the normal replacement windows. A Machiavellian response.
The situation gets murkier as during the debate Mr Sharpe said that he wanted to fit the same kind of window shown on the right (see pic above). These were fitted two years ago with the approval of LACAC. When the BR investigated the situation the conclusion was that the LACAC folks of two years ago were not the same as today - they had lower standards! So how do we achieve consistency? We have to find a way.

We may have to stop following George across Canada as he might get too famous. Another email in this morning from Connie in Moosonee. She says she is looking forward to meeting him. All George wants to do is ride his bike not do interviews. Ah the power of the Internet!

A statement from the former MP of NorthumberlandQuinteWest, Paul Macklin has crossed the wire wherein he has ruled out another crack at the nomination. Throwing the race wide open expect aspirants to be blitzing the riding for support in an election that may or may not come in the Fall. Names being bandied around as horses in the race: local Cobourg businesswoman Kim Rudd, Andrew McFadden from the riding centre and perhaps Christine Herrington from Brighton.

It is Wednesday the 1st today Blogspot is fooling around with the date on the entries.

Went to Council last night to see what they did with the CC

The resolution to approve the Community Centre was on the fast track - as soon as the resolution was read the Mayor barked out, "All those in favour?" hands shot up and it was done - five seconds!

The bike and rider have been on the trail six days now and are approaching Cochrane.
email from George:
"Anyway, things here are going reasonably well. Took the train to Longlac, - along with 40 passengers from England, who had never been to Canada. Their only complaints were that the cabins were too small, and that people weren't dressing properly for dinner in the dining car!

They were aghast that I was getting off in the "wilderness"! I started biking east from Longlac on Hwy 11 last Thursday. Two days of great tailwinds took me to Hearst by Friday PM. I was worried about overdoing it (in terms of what my legs would stand), so I purposely cut back on Saturday and ended at Mattice at noon. Then heavy rain on Saturday AM, to the point where it was too dangerous to continue on the highway:virtually non-existent paved shoulder, and lots of trucks avoiding hilly Lake Superior route).

Had to relent, and hitched a ride with a couple in their truck, who took me to "Kap". Back on the bike again today, and arrived at Smooth Rock Falls (Abitibi mill town, but mill has been shut for a few years now). Should make it easily to Cochrane tomorrow, then on to Moosonsee by rail. I've had no physical problems yet (which is very encouraging), and equipment/clothing is working pretty much as expected. Heavy rain highlighted a leak in the tent, so I'll need to get some seam sealer before Quebec. I'm sending this from the public library in Smooth Rock, which is just about to close. I'll have more time to catch up in Cochrane/Moosonee. Bye for now,

What a difference a week makes in politics, last week the developers for a site on Elgin St were granted a fraction of what they wanted and this week they were back congratulating Council for being flexible and donating enough land for a new soccer pitch adjacent to the existing ones. So what went on this week for such a change of heart? More discussions with the staff and a new report presented to Council that's what. The early report restricted the build of 285 houses to 1/3 singles, 1/3 medium density, 1/3 high density. The new report reduced the number of medium and high density homes and increased the number of single family homes from 75 to 122. One soccer pitch and park equals 47 singles!

Another delegation was the appearance of a very frustrated homeowner. Adrian Worley, who lives at 157 King St W. has the misfortune to be the first to have his road swept, three time a week, by the very loud and slow mechanical Town sweeper. His beef is that the sweeper starts at 5.30am, well before his normal wakeup time. he has done everything right - complained through all the official channels and to the pols - for over a year, but was told by the Director of Works, "The Town is exempt from the noise bylaw!" Well he came to Council to say enough is enough and he is mad about the runaround. So what happened? His complaints were sent off to the Director of Works for a report.

OK found some time

Michael Jackson - tragic but inevitable, ironic that his estate will make piles of money and a cottage industry will spring up fighting over it
The PC's have elected Tim Hudack - another urban rube for the snotty liberals to try to patronise.
The talk shows in Toronto will have found their Messiah by tonight - reports that John Tory may run for Mayor has orgasmic quivers all over it for these guys.
A new Doctor in Town - it will be interesting to see just how fast her book fills up as she signs up the "orphans". With the Port Hope Health Centre 50% under subscribed it looks as though there might not be as many "orphans" as the experts predicted.
Dare to dream - another airy-fairy exercise of the "chattering classes" will take place, but only if we can get a grant for it! Council has decided to let the citizens play at being community builders by asking for those interested in playing in the sandbox to help design something on someone elses's land. A "design charrette" will held led by a hand-picked consultant who will be paid $10,000 to hold a session where people come in and tell someone else just what they (the chattering classes) think should be built on the old Tannery Lands. Interesting, plan away but this land is the most polluted environmental toxic waste dump in the town. The site which has had the contents of the chrome tanks, used in stripping hides and fish, routinely dumped on the ground for many years, before the practise was outlawed in Ontario. Just what mix of chemicals lies underneath is unknown but plan away - just another waste of public money.

The first missed deadline

Had a busy day yesterday admiring eleven fine gardens, plenty of work went into this years participants in the "Big Sisters, Big Brothers" garden tour. All the gardens were in the Brighton/Salem area and just goes to prove that Cobourg and Port Hope don't have the exclusive green thumbs. I couldn't resist this setup - Alex Colville times four!

More copy later in the day, have to help move seaweed this morning.

A couple of pics of Scottish guys

The Highland games came to Town today and here are a couple of early pics of the parade. The first one is "The Scots are coming!"







The second would be titled, "The big guys are always at the back!"

Another look at the figures

Prompted by a comment to a recent post, signed by a person, who says he will never reveal his name, - "born and raised here" the financials for the new Community Centre were revisited. Interesting stuff to a CPA but tough slogging for the rest of us. With Disraeli's quote, "Damned statistics etc..." in mind a couple of charts were analysed. using the consultants figures the estimated first year operating costs for the complex show as $667.443. That is a complete and additional cost to the existing costs for the operation of the existing arenas. Revenues for ice time are shown as $525K but no figures for the loss of revenue from the loss of the Memorial Arena ice or the reduced ice time in Pad 2. So you need that figure for an overall impact. Where the report gets murky is on the Non-Arena estimates.
The chart on the right side is taken from the report and shows Programme Space revenue, but where is the revenue from the Soccer Club paying for its change rooms, where is the rental from the Bowling Club to pay for its clubroom and kitchen? Where is the revenue from the storage space needed by all the different groups? All of these questions would bring in extra revenue, if applied, but right now look like gifts to the clubs from the Town.

But more disturbing is the question of the YMCA's involvement. Cobourg has no recreation department and has paid the Y to assume an informal role in this. Consequently there is a deficiency in recreational opportunities because citizens have expressed displeasure at the rates charged by the Y (This was even mentioned by a questioner at the last public meeting) - so before all the Y fans jump all over the writer for mentioning this it is a common perception being repeated here. So the Y has offered to joint venture the operation. They would operate the 'non-ice' side of the complex, and thereby reduce the Town's operating cost . In table 8.5 of the report found on page 30 there is a chart illustrating how they intend to reduce the Town's cost. Showing a list of Y expenses totalling $504,961 to run the complex if they joint ventured. In the same column the Town's expenses were shown as $215,947.98. A lot lower than the Town's cost of $667K.
But the unknown here is how would the Y spend half a million dollars of its money to run the joint and still allow the residents of Cobourg to access the facility without paying the normal Y fees? Because the way it looks to the BR that if the Y comes in they get a new building for half a million per annum and still get to charge the same fees. Please correct me if we are wrong.
So the conclusion to us folks here is that a much more thorough analysis needs to be done asking why rental income is lower than possible, why the overall impact of the transfer of ice rental revenue is not explained and the impact of ticket prices to the complex if the Y comes in. We are sure that these questions and more will be answered before the vote on July 21, but only if people ask.

The backstory

In this story a developer who wants 600 units only obtained 284 and then was restricted to the type of units to be built -1\3 single family dwellings 2\3 higher density homes. The reason given by Council for not approving the 600 units was that there are sewage capacity concerns. Acknowledging that there is excess capacity in the system due to the Kraft closing Council wants to reserve it for use on the site.
But more interesting is the way the servicing will be accomplished. This application is in the Area "C" development area and the developer has two options for now, one for the future. If he hooks up to the Elgin St. sewer, on a temporary basis, he will have to pay for a sewer extension and development charges for area "C" and then when the Brook Rd. sewer is installed have to hook up to it at a later date. The ratio of houses to build is due to the higher standards for density in Provincial policy statement. With all these restrictions, the days of building in a "greenfield" are over - Praise the Lord! Either way this developer has a choice now, either build the houses or give it up. Just shows how much the environment has changed in a few years. I'll bet that when this guy started his application he thought, "I'll get a quick approval for 600 units, obtain the necessary zoning and then flip it to a big builder like Mattamy" It will be surprising to see this development go any further - at least until the "Places to Grow" policies are adopted - and there's a slim chance of that. Just goes to show that the days of traditional development practises are gone. Especially in a Town that has an historical build rate of 200 units a year.

OK here's the deal, I am posting this for discussion purposes. Martin has laid out his opinion - that the operating costs are going to kill us and I know from talking to him he has a genuine fear of Cobourg's budget ballooning for any reason.

Now here is my opinion about this. We should be snatching this money from the upper tiers as soon as it is offered - last week. But we should only build the facility if no money comes from the existing budget base. Now you ask how can we do that - simple we take Steve Robinson up on his statement that this can be done with little or no tax dollars and this is how:
#1 We use the "playmoney" that Council has been using to fund its pet projects like the hospital and the CT scanner. This money - dividends from HOLDCO and Northam Industrial Park amounts to about $1.75 million dollars per year. We use this to fund a debenture for $6.5 million and the other $2.5 million has to be raised by the users and public.
#2 If we cannot raise 10% of the project we don't deserve to have a facility.
#3 The operating costs have to mitigated by realistic user contracts. For instance why should the Lawn Bowling, Soccer Club , Hockey Leagues and potentially the Y not have to pay user and affiliation fees.
#4 The "playmoney" should be endowed to provide an income to offset operating costs.

So folks if you want to hash this out with Council I suggest that a delegation be formed to appear in front of Council on the 20th of July. If you wish to ask councillors just what is the plan for the funding and will the plan be released to the public before the public meeting, it should be done immediately, or else it will be like every other decision in this saga - read the agenda and vote on the same night.

Today the long journey starts for a local biker

George spent this morning saying farewell and receiving loads of good wishes from his friends for his lonely trek. "I grew up in the North and am used to the conditions and I can live alone very easily." he explained when talking about the prospect of isolation. "Besides there will be settlements along the way that I will visiting to get more supplies - it's not entirely a solitary experience!"
Unfortunately we will not be able to share his experiences until his return as he is a 35mm Kodachrome sort of guy but he will be emailing from time to time.
This just in a CBC guy has seen the post and wants to meet George when he gets into Goose Bay - how about that for the power of the internet?

Does this bike look ready for a 3,000km ride?

George Parker, a resident of William St., Cobourg, thinks so, and he is preparing for a trip across the most Northerly roads in Canada to prove it. Tonight he boards a train from Nakina to start his ride to Cape Spear, and all in three months. After planning this trip for many months he is now in the position to do it."I've put my family affairs in order and am now able to go biking", he said in a recent interview.

As he cannot do all the Trans-Canada route, in the time he has allotted he will start at the midway point - Nakina, in Northern Ontario and cycle eastward. The train will deposit George there, on the way to the road to Cochrane. The Polar Bear Express, the second train ride, from Cochrane to Moosonee will put George on the first of a couple of Air trips. "Flying crosscountry is the only way to connect roads, especially when the road ends in a settlement." George explains.

Flying from Moosonee, across James bay to Wasganish is the next leg and then a bike ride (a long one) to Caniapaskau along the Tiger Trail. Another plane to Schefferville and the trek is half done. The second train ride is on the cards and it will take him South to the intersection of the railway and the Trans Labrador Highway.

Still riding East, with the wind at his back he will head for Happy Valley , Goose Bay. The first ferry ride is here, he needs to get to Cartwright, on the South side of the headland and the South road to Blanc Sabion on the coast of Labrador. The second ferry takes him the Island of Newfoundland and the final leg of his trip across the Island.

Dipping his toes in the water at Cape Spear is the only thing for him to do before he flies home. We look forward to having him back in Cobourg in September.

Two sleeps to go before the Pols get a break.

In the second last meeting before the summer break (a whole three weeks) the Cobourg Council is not courting any controversy. A few normal heritage requests two planning applications to approve, a project manager to hire and a fire engine to dispose of. I hope that the powers that are took notice of the hooh-hah that ocurred in Trent Hills when they decided to dispose of their old truck a few months ago. They refused the results of a tender and then had to go back to the tenderer when subsequent marketing efforts failed. Cobourg has turned down a guaranteed $10,000 and will attempt to sell it on its own.

In Port Hope the agenda is packed. More discussion about the dreaded "flail mower" - you know the one that murders little trees and leaves a scarred landscape behind in its wake. But there is also a meatier item. The murder of prime farming land. A company called Sunbay has optioned the land for a "plasma-gasification" plant to incinerate recycling residue. This should be a controversial topic but it won't be because one man - Carroll Nichols, has made it his life's ambition to locate such a plant in this area. A long-time Wesleyville resident he has evangelically lobbied all governments for years for an incineration plant. He has finally made it, it's coming. However this field in this picture, one that many of us see fully planted year after year, is coming out of agricultural production to accommodate it.
There is a presentation from a group of landowners pleading with the Council to be allowed to exceed the growth levels outlined in the County Growth Study and build more homes in the greenfield, their presentation will be forwarded to the County consultants. And finally of mention is a report from Heritage Port Hope Advisory Committee about the centre pier (probably the building demolition idea) and it's being punted off to the Harbour Commission. With that body being mired in an open/shut meetings policy I guess the ideas that Heritage Port Hope have about the demolition of the buildings on the centre pier may never even see the light of day.

The only way to get rid of the robbers' roost is to burn the f***er down. A good story from a middle-class survivor on how the middle class will survive - unionise!

Have you ever read such rubbish as this?

In this story the Government of Canada is refusing to tell the taxpayers how much the war in Afghanistan is costing, because of national Security Issues. Now we have heard everything, it's a pity that the Rick Mercer show is on summer break this move would be satirized for weeks if it was on.

In this story we have Iggy backtracking some more, anymore and he will be off the edge of where he started. EI reform - last week definitely or I will defeat the government, this week when it's too late to do anything because everybody is sucking back pop and chewing 'burgers, EI reform is not guaranteed. What's on next week?

The things politicians do! - a bit of Sunday fun

Last week a public unveiling pf the latest piece of art placed in a public space was unveiled and our intrepid art observer, in this case a severe critic also, was there to cover all things artistic. His review is here, not a very flattering one though but all opinions must be heard. Anybody else who wishes to provide a rebuttal - email here. But on the site was a pic just begging to be altered. I guess DM-GB was standing in for the wandering Mayor - who's been away all week doing other important mayoring stuff!

Whilst we are on a cultural kick let me introduce another facet of the BurdReport the cultural page. Contributions by our cultural critic - Wally Keeler will be presented in a very observant and fair way. Click here to see.

A bit of a fizzle

Last night's public meeting, to discuss the proposed Community Centre didn't have much of a spark. A droning performance by a consultant, a Chair who wanted to keep the meeting moving, a couple of people who asked good questions and a very good performance by Stephen Peacock, Director of Works who demonstrated why he is on the "sunshine list".

After starting late the consultant Mary, "don't forget the Catherine", Mehak ran through a PowerPoint presentation and explained the essential items like: a 2 pad arena one with 2000 seats, a mezzanine running track, rooms for seniors and youth, a double gym and a lawn bowling room all inside a 116,040 square foot building at a cost of $27.4 million.
Most people were there to hear the bits about the funding costs, a slide was presented but it didn't make too much sense to most of the older audience (the younger ones didn't figure it out either). But essentially the committee will have to do more work on explaining how the $689,700 (or was it $889,700) will compare to the existing costs. Later in the evening, in answer to a question it was revealed that the existing Jack Heenan arena will stay as ice and the Memorial arena will be converted to an indoor recreation facility that will recover all of its operating costs through user fees. However as the report is now to be sent off to the staff and reappear at Council in July there should be plenty of time to sort that stuff out.
One of the big concerns raised and was quickly put down was the early perception that there would be allocated space for specific groups inside the facility. One person, John Gear, presumably a leader of an older peoples organisation asked, "Where is the seniors space, we need more than just a small room?" Then the Koombayahs came out. Peacock stated that everybody has to learn to share and expands on the "nature of sharing", "everybody owns this place it is not a collection of group spaces." The consultant stated, "Everybody gets something!"
Bill Henry (a lawn bowler I believe) was the first up and he dominated the question period with the volume of questions. Basically he wanted to know two things: when would the public get to hear about the funding arrangements and why was the "Y" heavily involved, "In fact if you read this report it is obvious by reading it, that the Y is an integral part of the proposal - why?. Council must know that they are separate!" he asked.
The question of the lack of a swimming pool came up and the answer was "Nobody indicated a need and the "Y" didn't say that their pool was up to capacity." - oops did the swimmers not understand the process, I guess not. Someone following on also pointed out that that some people couldn't afford to go to the "Y" and stated that a municipal pool should be cheaper and therefore should be included.
Finally the last set of questions, asked by Bill Henry, "How accurate are the population projections that this proposal is based on?" That question finally stirred the lumbering elephantine personage of Councillor MacDonald who blustered his way into a rambling explanation of the housing developments (not that many) on the books and in that area of Town. concluding with, "Even the province's consultant admits that the low numbers in the County Growth Study will go up, so we will have a population to support it in 2031"
All in all an exercise in democracy for the one hundred or so people who bothered to come out, stay tuned for the next step - a Council meeting July 20th. A bit disappointing for those who wanted to hear about the funding arrangements though!

A bit of a tempest has turned up inside these pages as a result of the report of the recent raise given to the firefighters. Essentially a retired firefighter, who had the nerve to sign off with his name, made a comment about the raise being excessive and some other opinions about the workings of the present department. Predictably that elicited a response from one of the serving firefighters who questioned both the accuracy of the report of the raise and the RF's opinions. All I can say is the original report about the raise was just that, no opinion or comments about the merits of the deal or criticism of the Fire Department and those who work there, and the accuracy stands.

County Council at its most expedicious

County Council was always known in my day for leisurely sessions and long lunches. Boy have things changed. If today's meeting is any indication of how government works in the new age I'm not sure I like it. And I know Bill Finlay, Mayor Alnwick-Haldimand doesn't. First off the agenda is trimmed to the scalp, only the barest of reports of monthly or quarterly action get the eyes of the councillors, for example I never did hear how many people are on the Social Assistance rolls this month and that's a stat all councillors use to wait for. This month had no correspondence worth talking about on the agenda, there was a letter proudly passed around as it contained news of substantial funding to Social Housing. Nope the agenda was full of delegations and the bare minimum of governance bylaws. The Growth Study item was just a report on bureaucratic process and Bill Finlay stated bluntly that his municipality will not be supporting it. The presenter then retorted with the biggest news of the day, "Because the County has no planning function it cannot legally accept this report, it must receive it" Then why the heck are we spending money on it if it has no legal status at the end of the day? Especially if the members of Council have unanimously condemned the premise set out by the province as unrealistic.
In the Broadband report Bob Davey of BarrettXplornet had a PP and stated that the potential customer base was 7,279. He then went on to explain that as of yet, halfway through the build he has 193 prospective customers, and 215 people have contacted dealers and an existing customer base of 250. A far cry from the potential. But in his defense he says that it is policy not to market the program until the towers are in place. I hope so for all of the whiners about the lack of broadband this investment is looking like the GM fiasco.
The Canada Assistance Fund application was the subject of a question, "In the light of the fact that this program is designed to alleviate unemployment how many unemployed people will be put to work on this project?" The question was received by people who resembled deer caught in the headlights of a Mack truck. Mr Pyatt knew the answer - sort of, "The proposal states 13 full time people for 4 months, how many of those will be unemployed we don't know because we will be using consultants and contractors" So there you have it folks another kick in the arse for the unemployed.
In another report congratulations to Hamilton Twp residents, they picked up 153 kg per volunteer in the latest garbage pickup challenge. Either they worked really hard or the Township was full of trash!

Bizarro comes to Town

Bizarre cannot describe this move, in the Chris Garrett saga. When one gets invested by the GG it is common practise to allocate three seats plus the recipient making four. When Chris Garrett's son gets his dad's medal his grandparents and an aunt will be in the three seats, read about it here. That means someone decided that his wife won't be there, and I won't even speculate about that family discussion. But the wrinkle that puzzles all who read the story is why the Chief of Police of York Region is there instad of our Chief Paul Sweet. Why an extra seat and why LaBarge?

Just in

The overall cost of the smokies deal is 5.58% for 2009 and 4.74% for 2010. (source S.Robinson) a total of 10.05%.

Another part of the deal not mentioned!

When the Firefighters' contract was ratified on Monday DM Brocanier pronounced the deal to cost 7.5% more than the last one. However what he didn't say was that this increase was only to bring them to parity with the Police - 1st class cop = 1st class smokie. There is another cost that was not mentioned and that is the "service" increments - bonuses tacked onto the base rate for being in the service 3yrs, 6yrs and 9yrs. These bonuses originated in the Toronto police as a way to justify higher wages and the rationale being was that bonuses were necessary to stop cops from fleeing the crime-ridden streets of Toronto to the idyllic plains of suburbia. Eventually all police services have implemented the bonuses, now the smokies have decided to push for them. The cost of the bonuses has not been revealed to the BR yet but we estimate that the total package in this round was 10% increase over two years. Another nail in the coffin for support for the public services. This wage-envy is virulent in the small-business/private sector and it wants to eliminate all the goodies that the public service has. So if Council expects accolades for this contract they are mistaken in this day of forced retirements and layoffs. BTW as told to me yesterday by a member of Council the justification for not voting against it was the fact that province wide nobody has been able to stop this pattern bargaining. If you vote against the local contract you will lose at Arbitration so vote yes now and save court costs later.

County Council this morning, where the upper tier is governed in one day (per month). Highlights will be a report about the Growth Study: presumably the rubes will bitch about the small number of jobs allocated to the rurals, and the urbans will gloat that they have them all. But overall it will be a whinefest against the Province.

How much to take the pause that refreshes?Trent Hills in this story has had it with the Ferris Provincial Park. This park/conservation area has been managed by the Municipality for many years but as the province still owns it they place restrictions on the managers. The straw that broke the camel's back was a demand to help pay for a better outhouse - and it's a beaut' "It's their cookie-cutter comfort station, so the project was in excess of $300,000; we heard last it could be $500,000," Mayor Macmillan said. "This year, we're told $850,000."

I had written something in anger but,

Last night, at the news of Iggy playing silly buggers, I wrote something that would have offended most people, best of all my liberal friends. Basically it was a commentary about the folly of trying to prove who's got the biggest ego, opinion and other male appendages and attributes. If anybody is supporting an election call on Friday they must be stark raving mad, and that's my last comment on it.

Remember this, the hole in a brand new street? Well there is a good reason, and there had to be one to get around the "5 year rule" - no digging on a newly paved street for five years. All homeowners, contractors and other interested parties are asked before the road is closed about future hookups and other works that require a hole, any thing after that has to wait 5 years. The reason was simple - the Gas Company, notorious for ripping up streets, had reported a gas leak. A week after the paving, an old gas line ruptured and the street was dug up to locate it.

Now here is a very interesting idea. contract the size of Towns and Cities for urban efficiency. This article describes a movement, that has actually started to bulldoze unused houses in suburbia, reduce the service area and save money in the delivery of municipal services. Should make some planners think about current dogma about expanding areas for "growth".

Are you atwitterin' and shakin' just waiting for Iggy?

A couple of bits of local stuff first. This is all we have to show for a promise of $29 million - a drawing. But we can have more. On Thursday at Vic Hall the consultants and, presumably, the full Council will be there to present another prep session for the yokels with a presentation from the consultants. Hopefully they have more than a Power Point presentation and are prepared to face the first full session of questions from a yet to be convinced population.

One of the stimulus programmes is called the "Community Adjustment programme" and is based on the level of unemployment in any area. The premise being that if there are unemployed people there should be a programme to put them back to work. Well in its wisdom the County of Northumberland has discovered this programme (I guess that's why we pay Bill Payett the big bucks) and has decided to apply for some funds and hopefully use them to put people back to work. But in an obscene corruption of the guidelines the County has applied for funds to build a new landfill cell at the Brighton Dump. How many people will be put back to work by doing this, it a highly mechanised project and all of the heavy equipment operators and sewer workers are already back to work, so how many unemployed workers will benefit from this application?

Decision day for Iggy. Today is the day that opposition leader Michael Ignattief will declare if the Libs will vote non-confidence. He has backed himself into a corner and twisted himself around more than a ripe pretzel [enough enough - ed]. Locally no signs of heated campaign emails. the dippers all received an email from the party prez saying that an election could be coming send us more money but no serious stuff yet. Pundits figure Iggy on backing down, my money is on Bloc MPs not being around for the vote and Iggy not getting his numbers. National News Watch has put up the first of many stories to come about Iggy's moves, this one (in French) says that 'reliable sources' say no election!

A stimulating essay bound to be dismissed by the blockheads who will first read who wrote it! here An essay by Ian Brown of the G&M about the relevance of traditional Marxism in todays reality.

"Democracy isn't voting it's the counting!" Tom Stoppard from the play "Jumpers" Iran has certainly played up to that quote. All week the West has been trumpeting how close the election is and now the 'official' results claim that the incumbent has won by a thumping majority. Here's the first commentary on the numbers in the Iran election,

And the experts said it would not happen. In this era of biometrics and enhanced passport identification all was supposed to go smoothly at the border. But this story tells of a woman who was pulled aside and asked to strip because of her name. Canadian Border Officials will not explain the case or issue an apology but does admit that the woman was mixed up by an identical birthdate of a criminal in the system. So much for the enhanced stuff when the bullies at the border still rely on old technology!

Well worth the wait. Rented, in what must be the bargain of the year - $3.99 for two nights from Blockbuster, "Gran Torino" Clint Eastwood's latest movie. Nominated for an Oscar but not arriving anywhere near the podium, this movie is a traditional bad guy redeems himself to good guy. I enjoyed it but then I always enjoy the hokey complete tale.

Lots of grandparents DownTown this morning and this was a good place to take a rest from the pleas, "can I get my face painted?", "I want to try the jumping castle" as any. The act after Washboard Hank, on the centre stage was this guy - a magician with just enough skills to capture the attention of many kids. Good clean fun and a fine morning to boot. No rain and just enough sunshine for comfort. We enjoyed it.

I couldn't find my tools; are they under the street?,

What's the story here? Three weeks after paving the street someone has dug it up again. Haven't phoned the Town yard to find out the real reason but I'm sure we can come up with lots of speculation: "I had to look for my tools, I couldn't find them after the Havelock St job!"
Seriously though this has to be a major problem for somebody. The street will never be the same, and only after three weeks.

Hamilton Twp pols are POd and they deserve to look beyond that. In fact if any of them had a semblance of political sense they would be scurrying into amalgamation talks as soon as possible. But that would mean that these little gatekeepers would have to give up their fiefdoms. The sooner they realise that you can't be a rural Twp and rely mainly on the urbans for the running costs. the better. If the residents demand to be left alone on their rural manors and demand urban services without any base to a working economy then the governing structure has to change. Despite Cllr Marston's whine about "amalgamation through the back door" it is going to happen. But realistic change will not happen until Pat McCourt becomes Mayor. Growth is not going to come to places that cannot provide jobs. Lower taxes can only be achieved by expanding the tax base, you don't do that with horse farms and weekend hideaways so if Ham Twp wants in on the action there is only one word - amalgamation!

It looks as though the traditionalists lost and the folks pushing for transparency won. This little ad has caused great consternation among the local Libs as they debated the merits of placing it.
Some wanted to demonstrate openness and a new way of doing business and others, mainly the incumbents, took the position that the ad laid them prone to attack by pin-headed fools who would say, "Those guys couldn't find a candidate and they had to advertise for one!". Well I can assure them, the pinheads from the right, that the Libs, because they smell victory by about 1100 votes, have all kinds of people are coming out of the woodwork - sniffing a winner. And, I'll bet the bank on the fact that the candidate doesn't come out of a newspaper ad.


Holy Crap we're getting older, a video of that refrain here on the video page

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.

Give the woman an Oscar

In this story, the woman of the day, in Ottawa, gave a teary apology to assembled journos. I wonder what their cynical response to the waterworks was? My response was less than charitable, especially when I heard the tape. I'm sorry but I don't believe a bloody word these people in Ottawa or Toronto say. This Raitt performance will be viewed as maudlin nonsense.

What an obnoxious fellow

This man is John Baird, much satirized by Rick mercer and a rabid pitbull of a politician. His other claim to fame is that he is a favourite Squire of the PM's wife. When Steve doesn't want to go to artsy-fartsy, airy fairy functions she calls upon the man that "Frank" magazine used to refer to as a "carpetmuncher".
John Baird is now guilty of telling the City of Toronto to "F*** Off". Read about it here. I am sure that the opposition will be asking some questions about it in the House today. be prepared for the rebuttal to be complete with frothing of the mouth and spittle charged invective reaching across the aisle. This man does not take criticism easily.

Money items today

Finally the Provincial Government has canned the head of e-Health Ontario. This agency was established from the ashes of its predecessor agency that that was dismantled after spending over 600 million with no results, this came after another fiasco with computers a few years earlier with computerized land records and another with welfare systems. Anyway the Head of e-health presided over eight months of gravytraining and questionable contracts awarded to buddies and one alleged family member. So what does Sarah Kramer get for her supposed expertise? Nine months salary at $26,500 per month, a bonus of $114K after five months and a severance of $317K to go away and not sue them for breach of contract. A total of $700K for nine months work; nice if you can get it. No wonder the opposition and the news people are all over this, it is salacious. But the scandal here isn't the obscene wages being paid to civil servants to administer outrageous consultants fees but the inability of any government to understand how computers work and the cost of networking lots of them. Because it is technology that most MPs do not even understand they are prepared to pay the ridiculous fees demanded by computer specialists, sad!

Back to the local scene, we now know how much money the local pols pulled in for doing a part time job. Last month the County published its "remuneration report" which details the amounts paid to councillors for being at the County level. Tonight the Cobourg report will be published it is here for those who missed it on the agenda [it never appeared on the agenda, the memos never Are - Ed] it shows all on the Council payroll.
But the big thing for Cobourgers to note is that the Mayor by attending a monthly meeting at the County is able to bump up his $30,272 + expenses of $3,482 ($33,754) by adding his County money - $9588 - for a total of $43,342 but you then have to add in the money he gets from the Local Utility for being a Director of the Company and the money he gets for being a Director of a subsidiary ($4,500 estimated total) and that comes up to a grand total of $47,842. Not bad for a job that could be called full time, if he worked at it constantly.
The sad part of this is that although most people I talk to hold the Council in low esteem for their actions over the past few years and complain about a lack of vision nobody is chomping at the bit to want to be the next mayor, even if it pays a respectable stipend.

How to leave a name on your comments

Some people have been unaware of how to sign a comment with your name and have been attracting more attention than they should by posting comments as "anonymous". So if you look at the image to the left you will see that after one has clicked on the radio button "Name/URL" a box drops down. Put your name in this box and you have a comment that has your name on it. Try it and stop annoying those who think that all comments should be signed. Personally I don't care just keep the comments coming in! To make the image larger just click on it.

It will be interesting to see just how many puffed out chests there will be at Council tomorrow evening and who gets to announce the kickoff for the public fundraising campaign for the new Community Centre. As Bob "I raised a pile of money for the Jack Heenan Arena" Spooner told me, he already has pledges from some community groups - keep 'em coming Bob you can do it better than anybody else!

Let the fundraising begin

Went to the Police BBQ, a fundraiser for the Hospital and came away with a bigger story than hotdogs on a bun.

The Stimulus money is coming, the stimulus money is coming! the real fun now starts. Bob"have I got a story for you" Spooner figures that the amount to be raised to keep the taxpayers' money away from this project is about 2.5million, others on Council think it is more but whatever it is Cobourg's contribution, after using the "Playmoney" should be raised and paid for by interested people and future users. Don't expect the taxpayer to put up money for this out of the tax rolls when the majority of taxpayers wait to be convinced of the need. The BR position is simple those that want it should find the money to fill in the blanks. And if they, the users, can't find what amounts to about ten per cent of the cost then they don't deserve a building.

But back to the hot dogs. This BBQ was organised by Deputy chief Dave (Cromlish) - seen on the left, and raised $255 dollars - 51 citizens came out and had a cheap lunch and raised money for the hospital while chowing down with lunchbuddies and had a good time. Well done!

Only in Port Hope, we hope

A snippet from a letter to the paper from John Miller.

One council, two opinions and closed doors
Let me see if I've got this right: Port Hope's councillors, sitting as elected officials, paid two consultants to look into the operations of the Harbour Commission. They concluded that it was a municipal board, not a private corporation, and its meetings should be open to the public.
Those same Port Hope councillors, sitting as appointed members of the Harbour Commission, are now paying a lawyer to see if they can get different advice. Mayor Linda Thompson (who is obviously quite comfortable meeting behind closed doors when she's wearing her nautical hat) is not saying which set of advice her Harbour Commission will act on.
Very interesting set of circumstances and all too common with local Councils, unfortunately they get away with it because of the lack of voter oversight. Where was the crusading press on this one?

Can I have a chicken in my backyard?

Fresh eggs, what kind of image does that evoke? Farmers' wives with their baskets feeling under brooding hens to take the eggs. The noise and smell of the fowl. Take your pick but what are the rules? Raising chickens is about as "back to the country" as you can get. But is it legal in Cobourg? After spending time with helpful people, in Town Hall, such as Susan Beer and Steve Ashton the legal status of a back yard chicken is still not definite. If your chicken does tricks then it is banned under 59-2004 - a bylaw to prohibit wild or exotic animal exhibitions. But if all the chicken does is produce eggs for the kitchen table it may be legal. Residential zoning bans agricultural uses and the Zoning Bylaw (ZB) allows "general farming". "General farming", the only agricultural reference in the ZBL , is not allowed in residential areas. The legal argument is - "What is general farming" (GF)? How many chickens do you have to have to fall into GF? Can you build a coop that is legal? The answer to that one is easy; keep it under 100 square feet and you don't need a permit. But the general consensus is that if you get on with your neighbours and don't keep too many chickens and house them in a coop less than 100 sf you will probably be allowed to do it. But don't boast about it and don't have a rooster!

If there ever is a "black hole" for policing costs it comes under the heading "Communications". Over the years the amount of money devoted to this subject, Cobourg and Port Hope, has been LARGE. Now a consultant is recommending that PH spend even more. How much will Cobourg spend? Why is it that parochial pols still abound where Policing costs occur? The latest report of the Port Hope Police Services Board exposes some of this thinking. Pull the prisoners out of the Cobourg police station and put them at the OPP station, just to save cents - what shortsighted thinking. How's this for an idea - amalgamate and share the costs!

A linkage between the GM fiasco and Wall St and guess who gets to keep their money? This story links Obama and his car czar to a scheme whereby GM's pensioners will lose their fund to 2 Wall St banks who, in the end, will never share the pain of everybody else in the bankruptcy. In addition the proposal is illegal but being done in the name of Obama and his Wall St buds.

Words of wisdom from our MP. Mr Norlock musing about the prospect of an early election

(snip) Norlock, who was re elected last fall, says canadians clearly don't want another costly election so soon.
He says an early election call would amount to crass political opportunism to try to take advantage of economic hardship in order to win public favour. (snip)

So the question to RN is this - "What about the crass political ministerial responsibility crap that SH , is putting out to sack a Quebec male "swordsman" and to keep his "pet" over identical mistakes. Read Don Martin's comments about the incident here.

Another lost chance to demonstrate integrity

One would have thought that when the Cons and SH have little else to hang on to they might have taken the high road - some chance. In a demonstration of Political Cowardice of the highest order, (story here)  the Minister of Natural Resources, who was responsible for State secrets found out that a binder full of docs marked SECRET was left in a TV studio and not even noticed, the TV people had to phone her office and ask, "Anything missing over there?", the PM-SH dropped the ball. Admitting that he, SH  , had received the offered resignation obviously treated it like a garden party ticket and declined to take her up on it. I can't imagine the oinky squeals of high dudgeon and fake outrage that would have emanated from the opposition benches if SH  , were occupying them today. But another lost chance for integrity and another nail in the coffin of credibility. Sad!

The RCMP may have ineffective tasers but ours are better

Information from the Cobourg Police Services should put the minds of Cobourgers at rest. A headline story last night on the National (CBC) reported that the RCMP is pulling most of their Tasers out of service. They fail to meet standards and are an earlier Mk 1 Type.
In an interview this morning the BurdReport discovered that Cobourg has the newer model, there are only two of them, which are tested yearly, and they issued to Supervisors who are also trained on a yearly basis by Durham Police and only used in situations of "Aggressive Behaviour". Only one is on the streets at a time and in the hands of a trained and capable Supervisor. So ours are safe!

Government goofs!

I know that we want to castigate government severely for anything they do because it is usually perceived as incompetent. But two examples hit the ether this morning, three if you count the secret papers left behind by Lisa Raitt for reporters to read, one was a federal story and one was a Provincial story thus putting the lie to the theory, at the moment that the Libs know how to do the job!
Number one - the Feds have lost some gold and silver at the Royal Mint. Here's the story.
Number two - the Provs have been accused of all sorts of nasty things including mismanagement and insider deals as the honchos of E-Health have pocketed huge wages and still claim for cups of tea on their expenses. A comment by Christina Blizzard here. The sad thing about this E-Health fiasco is that it was setup to take the place of an earlier Agency that spent over 600 million and failed to connect the provinces computers to deliver E-Health.

Yet another tale of Wall St ripoffs here is a detailed story of how Wisconsin School Boards lost a pile of dough by falling for Wall St's slick salesmen. It even makes a Canadian Bank look bad.

A classic play to the crowds

In a masterful piece of political puffery the Cobourg Council led by the Mayor played to the standing room only crowd in the room. This story recounts the action last night. Essentially the Mayor trotted out some memories of a free beach and said he would do what he could. Which by the way, if the owners stand firm, is very little.
If the Mayor and Council were serious about this they would have studied the existing legal opinions gathered over the past four years and actually done something. Blaming failed negotiations and obdurate owners is not good enough. If expropriation is an answer do it. Council was approached by a citizen in 2007 who asked for something to be done. and nothing was done. Amazing what can be done with a packed room. But remember when we were told that 2500 names on a petition was not good enough, good on the 150 who went to Council last night. Getting in the faces of Pols actually does work. But as with many other Councils this Council has been guilty of saying yes to a crowd and then disappearing into the backroom to discover that it could not be done. So the crowd should expect to be disappointed. And as for the offer that the Beach Society is making, "We will clean it up and police it" Didn't work so well for the Ecology Garden did it?

A suggestion from Michael Moore designed to drive the Cons nuts. In this story MM, the filmmaker of "Roger and Me" fame suggests what Obama should do to make GM work.

Local Art or just a good warning?

Correction, this was art: These signs appeared to be at the edge of the "nasty lady's" house at the west side of the Bagot St road allowance on Sunday. A local artist had told me over coffee that something along these lines was being planned but having seen the end result it looks like more than just art but could be utility. I mean who would be stupid enough to cross this line in ignorance if they ever saw them. But on the other hand would the perpetrator stand charged with crimes in violation of the "Art in Public Spaces Committee?"

On a National level, the election drums are beating, An NDP bill is being proposed that would make changes to EI. With all opposition parties in favour of changes and this bill being a confidence vote if it passes we could be off to the hustings. Locally the Libs are drooling, salivating and generally slobbering over the very thought. In fact there is, behind the scenes and out of the spotlight, quite a vigorous nomination race going on. Paul Macklin's people are jousting with Christine Stewarts people and it is all coming to a head soon. But back to the prospect of an election a blogger who describes himself as "Angry in the great white north" writes here that Jack Layton has cooked up a deal with the devil himself - SH - to put the boots to Iggy and foil an election.
In a nutshell here is the leaked stratagem: "What Jack Layton has done is to give the Conservatives their way out. The NDP tables the bill. The Conservatives offer an amendment or two (no doubt already agreed to, in advance, between the Conservatives and the NDP). The Liberals offer their own amendments. Votes are taken. With NDP support, Conservative amendments pass. Liberal amendments are rejected. No election. So there no election. The other reason, for no election, is that the next installment of election money ($1.95 per voter) is due in August, so who is going to pass that up in a needless election?

At tonight's meeting of Council, after all the histrionics and public outrage abates (the beach debate) a sensible letter will be accepted into the public domain. This letter here is from the Cobourg Sustainability Committee and outlines what they think about the proposed Community Centre's design. The committee suggests a green building (not the colour of paint but the actual design!). All sensible measures and has been referred to the Community Centre Feasibility Committee. I doubt it will get a mention in publc but will be buried in the bureaucratic paperwork of the project. Still nice try!