Thursday #3

Arts funding is always contentious, mostly because afficionados are seen as non-productive artsy-fartsy lefties who don't work on real jobs and use taxpayers money, supplied by "ordinary canadians" on making junk. Can anyone identify a piece of public art that can be interpreted by everybody, even the fat man on King St has a peculiar attachment in it's title. But how can average Joe relate to the piece described as a "dog turd" designed to commemorate victims of abuse. All in all money devoted to an art fund is a hard sell but who will begrudge a 1% levy on all projects? Obviously the Council of this day. Led by "do I or don't I wanna be Mayor" Brocanier they have been successful in capping contributions to the fund at 1% or $50,000 whichever is smaller. With the comment "I don't think the taxpayer who fundraised for the Community Centre would be happy knowing that $247,000 of it went to public art" Well Gil get your math right Joe Public will only be contributing, in his fundraising, $26,000 the rest will be coming from the other contributors. And as a commenter asked "Is the money from a project only going to that project or does it go into the fund?"Anyway one doesn't get much bang for the buck when buying public art. The stone with a plaque on it that sits in the Duke of York Square (anybody knowing where this is move to the front of the class) cost in 1989 dollars over 50K. The seven stones in front of the County Building cost over $26K and more examples of pricey items can be cited. I don't know what the answer is but to establish a lofty ideal and then underfund it is shortsighted.

Thursday #2

You want to know what the leader of the Con party really thinks - get him to talk behind closed doors and no media are present. This tape surfaced, of such an event in the Soo, and was sent to the Libs and the CBC. Interesting but predictable. Take a look.

Thursday #1

Today's the day that the little libs (riding ones as opposed to ruling ones) come out to play in their sandbox. It's Nooooominaaaaation day! So you ask, who is going to win, well don't ask me, I supported Hilary, Jack and a host of losing municipal candidates, heck I couldn't even elect myself most days. But first indications are that Kim Rudd is supposed to have signed roughly half of the lapsed and new members and gained a few of the old regulars. It will be close but could be a first ballot win, but only if it is a low turnout and she gets her supporters to the Arena. But, here is the big But, because it is a preferential ballot and only one ballot, it will come down to the second choice on all ballots. Who is the second choice of all? The phones have been ringing and various people of different stripes have been seen talking together and pundits are lining up opinions about where the second choice will go. So turn up at the Grafton Arena tonight and watch all the fun.

Don't let this be buried in the comments section

If anybody in Cobourg had any doubts about the impact that Cobourg Beach has on peoples' lives watch this video here, the link was sent in a comment to a previous post:

Note to Councillor Spooner - these folks obviously enjoyed their time downtown, I bet they spent a bit of money too!!

No Baywatch Babes here, just a silly policy

It seems that all the lifeguards at the beach can do is watch for events in non-dangerous settings. Just when you think you might need a lifeguard at Cobourg's beach - when the conditions get uneasy - that's when the babes take a walk. No Hasselhoff rescues, no Pamela Anderson runs; just an evacuation of the watch towers. Kinda makes you wonder why they are there at all. In this story by Pete Fisher, it was reported that the lifeguards walked after determining the beach was unsafe due to wave conditions. Seems silly to do that but the guards were backed by a supervisor who is quoted, "We have to watch our situation from a legal point of view because we can't have lifeguards putting themselves at risk."
This is a stupid policy and unfair to the public. We expect lifeguards to be just that - lifeguards and they should supervise the beach at all times. After all when the Y whined that they couldn't patrol the beach because they didn't have enough money the Town gave them some more. I guess we should have had them sign a performance contract at that time to safeguard our interests.

A morning at Vic park

Decided to investigate the "weekenders" this morning. I had two objectives in mind: discover who they are and why they come. 9am revealed nobody except a couple of locals who read newspapers and drink coffee. I confined my investigation to the East end of the park - area B. Took a couple of pics the one on the left is the Park at 9am, the one on the right is the Park at 11am.
Finding a man of South East Asian descent, Lingam, I asked him if he liked Cobourg and where did he live. He hesitantly answered, "I come from Scarborough and visit a lot, we have seven families with us today" I left him still trying to blow up the rubber boat for his son.
Moving on I had more success coaxing conversation from these folks after I pointed out where they could park without getting a ticket. These folks came from Scarborough and would be leaving at about six pm after a couple of meals, I noticed all of the visitors immediately ate breakfast after setting up the area. Again they were repeat visitors and like Cobourg because of its proximity to Scarborough. "Wasaga Beach is too crowded and too far for us" one of them said.
Not all the weekenders were coloured, Rob Barnett, a caucasian, brings his family down for many weekends and did admit, "The Canada Day weekend was very busy!" but driving in from Oshawa was a 'no-brainer'. After watching one of Cobourg's finest, first drive by and then walk through the Park, I asked what he looking out for - "Charcoal bbqs and alcohol". I asked one of the visitors if they felt the Police were hassling them, "No" was the very quick reply. Although when the Parks employee, who came by to crush the garbage in the Moluks, pointed out to the Bylaw Enforcement person, a charcoal bbq, he did investigate and issue a warning to the owner. All in a days work for him.
Another tour of the area, at 2pm revealed more visitors on the Beach and a bit more use of the picnic tables, definitely not a heavy use weekend - fitting for perhaps the last day of summer holidays - people must be getting their children ready for school and not wasting it on the Beach.

And who says happy stories only exist in books?

Dog saves toddler lost in Yukon bush - The Globe and Mail This is the story of a toddler lost in the bush and the mutt of a dog that saved his life, a real life Lassie story! A nice Labour Day start to the day

Aren't you glad Burlington gets this event?

The world's largest Ribfest is going on as we speak, but in Burlington.
Wikipedia post:

Canada's Largest Ribfest is an annual festival held in Spencer Smith Park by the lake shore in the Town of Burlington, Ontario. It was started in 1995 by The Burlington Lakeshore Rotary Club. The Ribfest runs for four days during the Labour Day weekend. In 2008 over 130,000 visitors attended the event.

Over 90,000 pounds of ribs were sold in 2006 and over 131,000 people attended in 2005. Fifteen "Rib teams" from across North America attend yearly. Over $1.2 million dollars has been raised over the last 10 years.^[1][2].

For a video of the event click here Just give Billy P and his Rotary sidekicks time and this is what we might get!

The first ad of the campaign

here it is folks; the first campaign ad from the libs:

You be the judge!

friday

What's Gary hull done to deserve this? Deputy Chief of the Port Hope Police Service will not be promoted as interim Chief when the present Chief retires on Sept 30. Told by the PSB that he will not be the interim Chief, he was quoted as saying, "it's important for the service "to move forward" and "adapt to the needs of the community." The focus is on the job and assisting the new individual taking over from the chief. So can we expect to look for another Deputy as the reality of a careerblockage looms?

False claims from the local MP - anything new? Pols are always spinning for the best news but the latest from MP Rick Norlock really does stretch it. In a recent mailer he claimed credit for bringing money to the Riding. However in an email from an informed source it is pointed out that what appeared in the mailer is not necessarily correct.

"I received our MP's latest flyer and was quite amused that he was patting himself and the Harper government on the back for the federal Broadband Canada program. What Mr. Norlock failed to note in his promotional piece is that Northumberland County does not qualify for the Federal program!
Northumberland (and all counties within the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus catchment area) are ineligible due to other federal funding they have recently received (through the Build Canada infrastructure program).
I have no issue with our area being excluded from Broadband Canada as we will have the benefit of the Build Canada funding. Fair is fair. Double-dipping of funding from the same level of government should never be allowed.
What I do take exception to is Mr. Norlock's self-promotion when he knew, or ought to have known, that Northumberland would not be a beneficiary of the Broadband  Canada program.