Is the County going to buff up Hector McMillan?

Will the move to hire a project manager for the 2nd bridge project in C'ford help Hector McMillan in his reelection and if it does why should the rest of the County have to pay for it? Mayor Hec' admits that the proposal to fix the bridge has run into difficulties. He says that the steering committee is not informed, the residents are not informed and the whole project needs better management. Wasn't this project being noisily touted by King Hec' as the only thing to do when he wanted to bulldoze several houses and build a new road to service the bridge? Didn't the Council vote for Hec's project? So who mismanaged it - yep you guessed King Hec'.
But the County rides to the rescue. In a closed meeting, which could be called illegal by some, the County suddenly agreed to hire a project manager to supervise communications and coordinate the engineering studies fore the project. Now who will claim the credit, especailly in an election year when his one opponent to date, an experienced politician moving from Port Hope to C'ford - Bob Fudge - says the bridge will be a campaign issue.
Hey I don't mind Hec' playing politics but when Cobourg's taxpayers will be paying 23% of the PM's wages it's a bit too much.

A couple of questions

As we get into the nuts and bolts of the Community Centre design/build a couple of questions pop up for me. One is the amount of time that the high-priced consultant will spending on the job. His CV, if I remember, gives his full time occupation as a position at Queens University and Partner in the Fundraising Company. That means he really will not be available to give good effort until school is out in April. The other is the methodolgy being adopted here. According to the timeline reported by NNews "The campaign plan breaks down into four phases and Phase 1 has just begun, inviting major donors to donate over $100,000. After May, those who want to donate $50,000 or more will be invited to give. In September, the committee will be looking for donors at the $10,000 level, before opening up the campaign to everyone in the community. Phase 4 begins in April, 2011, and that will be when the campaign ends and volunteers focus on collecting the donations and getting the facility built on time."
So a list has been made up and mailed to all potential donors assessed by the committee as being able to donate $100,000. Lots of luck on that one, can anyone think ofhand just how many companies/businesses/individuals are willing to pony up a 100K? Then anybody approached after May will be thinking "gee you guys think that I am only worth 50K, I'll just keep that extra back in my pocket" A peculiar concept - 'means testing' in reverse! So if at the end of the year you get an invite for money just remember the committee is only doing it because they think you have less money than the people being asked earlier in the year. A very dangerous way of raising money. If the committee thinks you have money you will be asked and if they don't know or just guess wrongly then you will probably be asked as an afterthought.

A guest post

Grahame Woods

If you shop at Cobourg’s Metro supermarket, you might have noticed how little the management of the store cares for the well-being of its staff. You might recall how, under its previous A&P ownership, the store had an enormous, expensive, and ill-conceived facelift, with no consideration given to the cashiers and staff working at the service desk adjacent to the exit at the west end of the building. Now, in the throes of a bitter winter, those employees, bundled up and chilled to the core, have to withstand the biting winds each time a customer leaves the store. In the redesign no thought was given to this concern. All management has to do is look at the Staples store to the east to see how to fix the problem. One cashier told me she’s afraid to complain out of fear of losing her job. This in Cobourg in 2010? It’s shameful.

Another prorogue mention

Pundits are divided about the internet movement concerning the proroguing of Parliament. There is a group called "Canadians against proroguing of Parliament". This group started off as two and then merged. The online membership, as of now - 7.41am Tuesday - is 165,283. This number has now surpassed the number of Canadians who signed up online to demonstrate against the Coalition, last year. Opinion is mixed about the efficacy and influence of this group. A better demonstration will be the rallies planned for January 23rd. There are rallies planned for Peterborough, Belleville and Oshawa. Check out the details here. The Peterborough details are here, this group has 144 members already.

Now you know where to vent you should be there, a gathering of people is far more impressive than just writing letters to the ed!

Back to the Prorogue

On December 31st I sent the following email to our esteemed MP RN.

"Mr Norlock
I note with dismay that your back to work date has moved from Jan 25 to march 3rd. Could you please explain just what you will be doing in that time to advance your constituents concerns?
yours sincerely.
Ben Burd "

In a two page letter from an untitled person who signed himself, on behalf of RN MP, dated Jan 7th I was informed of all the good things that the Ruling Party has done for us. Not one answer to the question posed. Today on "Cramahe Now" Bob Owen has published a "presser from the said MP RN which lays out the schedule for public consultations. here it is:

Public meetings will take place on:

January 16th, 2010
10:00am-11:30am
The Oddfellows Hall, 243 Victoria St. Campbellford On.

1:00pm-2:30pm
The Multipurpose Room City Hall Quinte West, 7 Creswell Drive

January 20th, 2010
4:00pm-6:00pm
Rick Norlock’s Office, 277 Division St. Cobourg On.

The Federal Government will be seeking responses from Canadians on a number of questions, including:

1. Are there measures in the Economic Action Plan that should be revised? Measures that should be extended? Measures that should be ended prior to their planned retirement date? Are there areas where funding should be shifted to meet changed priorities?

2. Our government has outlined a plan to eliminate the deficit as the economy stabilizes, without drastic spending cuts or increases to taxes. If warranted, we will slow the growth of direct program spending in future years to ensure balanced budgets. In what areas should we focus spending growth restraint?

3. To what extent has Canada's Economic Action Plan been effective in stimulating activity in their industry, sector or community?

4. What suggestions do they have for improving the effectiveness of the Government's stimulus measures or the speed of their delivery?

5. What steps should the Government take to improve the competitiveness of the Canadian economy and ensure that Canada continues to attract investment and create jobs once the recovery is achieved and the Economic Action Plan is wound down?

Note that the meeting in Cobourg will take place at his office, which is only big enough to hold a meeting for less than a dozen. Also note that he is seeking answers to questions, nothing about receiving suggestions or opinions from constituents. So now the challenge is up to you, the angry people. Go and see Mr Norlock at these places. and if the locations are not large enough to hold the number of people who wish to speak to him, force him to change locations. But do so at your peril any sign of organisation will be decried as "political activity sponsored by .... insert name of hated organisation here...."

I think this is funny, does that say something about me?

Southampton man cut free after getting privates stuck in steel pipe (From Daily Echo)

'Day-to-day' issues covered in closed session, Macmillan says - Northumberland Today - Ontario, CA

'Day-to-day' issues covered in closed session, Macmillan says - Northumberland Today - Somebody should inform King Hec that "day to day" issues are not proper for an in-camera session. Never mind that the resolution to pass the consensus was held in open session the topic being discussed, the 2nd bridge in C'ford, should have been in open session and with adequate notice to the affected taxpayers. The Chair Warden Peter Delanty should have known better!

I couldn't resist this

This story explains that our esteemed MP Rick Norlock is going to setup Town Hall meetings for the Parliament hiatus, just so that he can demonstrate he is working, not goofing off, when Parliament is not sitting. He intends to hold "Town Hall" meetings so that he can hear from his constituents. He wants to hear what they think about the economy, pension reform and anything else that might be on their minds.

Wow what an opportunity, let's see all the angry people, you know the ones that signed up for facebook sites objecting to the proroguation, get out and tell Mr Norlock just what they think. At the least the nominated candidates should be present to tell him what they think should be done in this period of minority parliament. Even the donut shop yackers with an opinion should put their money where their mouths are - so all you opinionated folks line up at the mics and tell Mr Norlock just what is on your mind.

One item from the COW meeting on Monday

There will be a motion to buy three acres of land from the landowner at the Kraft lands for the building of "the Kerr St extension" at Monday's Committee of the Whole meeting. This is a road that will eventually bisect the Town in an East-West direction and relieve traffic pressure on University Ave. It is also another bag of public money being handed over to the developer. He really is making out like a bandit on this deal! The way the report is written leads one to believe that perhaps the Town may be paying too much.

This road plan has been in the works for many years and is outlined on many Official Plans and if it is in private hands, as opposed to just being an easement on title of the Kraft deed, the land is totally useless to the owner because the Town has earmarked it for a road. The price being paid by the Town is $40,000 per acre, not bad for useless land but a little high for a road. Especially when the building of the road brings many benefits to the landowner abutting the road. The Development Charges schedule quotes the cost of the road, from William to Division, as $3,796,700 (2006 figures) the benefit to existing taxpayers is $1,852,200 a 48% - 52% split. The land in question is one third of that project

If the Kraft lands abut the road the benefit to the landowner will be immense, a guaranteed entrance to his land from a separate road, no congestion at the main gate anymore and the opportunity to open up the Northern section of his land. In this light is the rate of $40,000 an acre fair to the taxpayer when given the circumstances an argument could be made for the land to be given to the Town for increasing the value of the Kraft land?

Just a question from an overloaded taxpayer!

Hate to do this but I'm off again

yep Mexico this time, just a quick cheap flight and then a stay downtown in a boutique hotel. Won't be posting as much as I did last time but maybe some. See yah on the 12th