I hope Don isn't right

There is a nasty discussion going on about a proposed development that sums up everything that is wrong with the  planning and approval process as currently designed.

The old curling club building, on Queen St., that for years has housed a procession of auto repair shops is now going to be torn down and a developer proposes to build (what else?) condos. The problem is that this is a small site and in order to maximize his profit he needs to build five stories high. In an area where there is only one other five storey building, the norm is three, this will be a high one. Not only that the building will be abutting two popular bars and grills. The owner of the nearest, the Oasis Bar and Grill, is predicting that if the building goes ahead and is built during the next two summers he will be out of business. Unfortunately if he survives the building period that will only be the start of his troubles. The new owners of the condos won't be long in complaining about the mirth and merriment on tap. Those corrosive complaints will put to shame the nasty complaint process seen recently from the 'Baystreeters' about noise in the Victoria Park. Neighbours will complain about anything they can, witness the complaints the Marina receives regularly about its noisy lawnmowers.

Where does the problem lie at the moment? On Council's doorstep. The committee of the whole approved the application 4-3 with the Mayor obviously casting the deciding vote. While the Official Plan calls for progress that progress must be balanced with the uses of the existing neighbourhood. Obviously the two uses here - a quiet residential domicle and outdoor music on a busy patio will clash. Council for its own sake - does it want to be the referee of noise for the foreseeable future - should declare the two uses incompatible and come down on the side of common sense and limit the building to three storeys with sound barriers or not allow it to be built citing incompatibility.

Declining Fortunes by Deb O'Connor

Yesterday I travelled along Highway 2 from Dale Road in Welcome on to Oshawa. It was the first time in nearly two years I had taken this route, a familiar one I have grown to love since I was a kid before we even had Hwy #401. Then, it was the only way to get to Toronto and my Dad would entertain us with stories of local history as we made the rather long trip. At least for a kid it was a long trip.

After this long, there were changes along the way. Ugly sub divisions have started to mar not only Bowmanville but Newcastle too, where they seemed especially out of place among the rolling hills and creeks. A new and huge suburban nightmare has grown even larger west of Bowmanville, with a brand new Wal Mart announcing it's open for business even as the construction continues around their store. Oshawa itself looked especially run down and dirty with large expanses of concrete and dust and rubble all over the place.

While I noted these so-called improvements, there were revealing indicators that suggest prosperity is dwindling for many of us. Stores and businesses that didn't exist the last time I went by are already closed and empty, and the shops and restaurants in Bowmanville, while appearing quite busy, seemed to be catering to a demographic that is unlikely to support much growth on a long term basis. Like in Cobourg, I wonder how many dead flower arrangements and wooden carved objects a consumer can buy before satiation occurs. Likewise, how many restos offering lunches of fancy salads and miniscule portions of seafood can a community use?

What really struck me though was the number of single family homes with large boats and recreational vehicles small and large with For Sale signs on them. Many of the homes had the same signs on their front lawns. Seeing all this it's hard not to wonder if the inhabitants lost their jobs, used up their unemployment benefits and were now looking at their possessions to try and generate some grocery money.

In Cobourg we now have two pay day loan type places, and three pawn shops in operation. What does that tell us about the state of the local economy? Combined with the dramatic increases to the welfare rolls, the increased use of food banks and emergency assistance, it's nothing to celebrate. Are our candidates for municipal office even aware of the desperation and poverty that exists here?

Coming at it from a larger perspective, we know that home sales have tanked, not only in the USA but now in Canada too. Stock exchanges all around the world keep falling, and while Canadian banks are still posting profits, they are not as big as the banks expected.

Is this all just summer doldrums, a blip on the trading floors that will soon reverse itself? Or are we seeing the early symptoms of a world wide decline in human fortunes as some think. Combined with the ravages of extreme weather all over the world, not to mention the extreme politics that seem to be emerging, are we in big trouble that we are totally unprepared for?

The next few years are going to be very interesting as the consequences of human development land on all of us, rich or poor. Are we ready, willing, and able to meet the challenge? We'd better be, this ain't gonna be pretty.

Australia is in a mess

For those who did not know Australia had an election a few days ago and we still don't know who won. The ruling Labour Party (somewhat lefties) and the somewhat righties the Liberals now have to woo three very independent independents to get a majority story here.

So how did Aussieland get to this point? The ruling Labs only a couple of months ago, while struggling in the polls, tossed their leader overboard in a palace-coup. The new leader - Julia Gillard - seized power and proceeded to drive the electoral bus right into the ditch. The electorate thoroughly cheesed at the shenanigans and the lack of meaningful policy and U-turns on existing policy were apathetic about all of the pols and it showed in the "anyone but those" votes at the polls.

Lessons learned for us are: that Pols need platforms not personality, the electorate are not sheeple to be pushed by polls or pols and substance beats flash everytime. But the danger is that voters get indecisive results - look at the UK and now Australia and wait for the American results in November. Locally look at Ford in Toronto beating up on the rest because the rest are bad candidates. Even in Cobourg we only have seven people on the Councillor ballot where the average for years has been twelve. Nobody but bums wants to be politicians - Why?

Council briefs

Today at 4pm the cobourg Council will listen to seven delegations, that's good for at least two hours of listening and questions. But one of the delegates is a person named Jerry Ford, perhaps he is the putative candidate for Council who may be sussing out the joint and picking a chair. He will be talking about a very valid issue - why is there no pool in the Community centre.

Also for the watchers of the Community Centre questions will be asked about the move to set up a "special contingency fund" of $500,000 to be funded from council's 'playmoney' fund - the HoldCo dividends. If the Project is on track why do they need another half million?

And the hoary chestnut of a pay raise is being punted to the next Council, a report about the wisdom of a payraise and how much it should be is to be presented as a first order of business for the new Council in January. No cajones in this motion. This Council should be ruling on this before the election to avoid the stupid gotcha questions at an all candidates meeting - "Will you be taking a raise?" and the equally stupid reply from cowardly candidates of "No", "Perhaps" and "I'll decide when I see how much it is".

Another decree from Councillor NO

Cobourg is a fine collection of signs telling us what we cannot do. Wally Keeler has chronicled this fact with a mighty fine photo essay here. Well on Monday night Councillor NO - Bob Spooner will add another notch to his "ban list" - a "No Diving from the Pier" law. Citing the fact that people who perform this practise have been cutting their feet on zebra mussels that have attached themselves to the rocks Council will now protect the bottoms of people's feet by banning them from stepping on the rocks by prohibiting them from diving off the Pier. So folks say goodbye to the happy practise of the young playing on the Pier.

In a facebook posting today somebody who will remain nameless complained about a pimply-faced rentacop searching his wife's purse before entry to the fenced area that contained Ribfest. This civil libertarian then faced howls of scorn for protesting and was told many times "If you don't want to be searched don't go in there". A very simplistic and fascist argument. Kudos to the guy who complained, now all we have to do is highlight Cobourg's many "do not do this in our Town" signs and then we can move on as lovers of freedom instead of being obedient sheeple.

Rob Ford vs. Immigration Facts

Since Critical1 was interested in having a discussion about immigration in the face of Rob Ford's recent rants on that topic, I did some poking around to come up with the following facts. They are rather different than the myths we keep hearing from Fold and his ilk.

Ford claimed last week that Toronto is planning for an additional one million immigrants in the next ten years. Actually, the city's Official Plan predicts half that many (537,000) over the next twenty years. Quite a difference. You could even call it significant. Ford is either lying to play to his base, or just doesn't know the facts.

Our own Critical1 opines that maybe we are getting the wrong kind of immigrants since most of them end up in poverty. That ignores the reality that our government rules make it almost impossible for trained professionals to qualify to work at their professions once here. Despite years of promises to change those rules, nothing much has happened and we have trained doctors driving cabs. We have rigorous screening programs that eliminate prospective immigrants who don't have money and skills. That is the truth of the matter. So we are getting the "right kind" of immigrants, we just go to extraordinary lengths to grind them down once they are here. Ask the provincial Medical Associations why they do that, my own speculation might suggest a motive like hobbling the competition and that would be totally unfounded, only the gut feeling of a tired cynical socialist.

The Conference Board of Canada, hardly a special interest group, tells us our national economy would gain five billion annually if immigrants were able to work in the professions they trained in. Sounds good to me.

The Royal Bank of Canada recommended boosting immigration in Canada from the current rate of 240-265,000 per year, up to 400,000. The report, called "Diversity Advantage" was produced in 2005. Among other things, it reminded us that we need more people in Canada to keep the engines turning, meaning working and paying taxes. As someone poised to begin collecting my government retirement pension after all those years paying into it, I certainly see the value in having younger, working people continuing to pay into Canada Pension as well as funding our vital public services like health care and education. Since people of my generation and younger just haven't produced enough offspring to do it, more people from other parts of the world are required if we want to maintain our current system and lifestyle, and most of us do.

Immigrants aren't the problem, it's how the federal and provincial governments go about their settlement that does that. For starters, we should be running aggressive programs to ensure they choose smaller centres to go to live, then providing whatever additional training they need to get to work in their chosen fields. Our new citizens will fare much better that way, and all of us will benefit from their presence here.

We can no longer pretend that Canada is some sainted haven only for those born here. Our future will be bleak if we persist in that kind of xenophobic thinking. In the 21st century it is all one world, and we will sink or swim together.

A facebook hack?

This was the entry on John Floyd's facebook page. John Floyd in an interview vehemently denies that he posted it. Strange.

The immediacy of the Internet

This just in at 09.33

"I must say Ben I did not put that there a friend posted that as a bithday joke as yesterday was my birthday ."
thank you
John Floyd

so there you are folks John is not looking for a cartoonist his friends are!

People will complain about anything

A Solar energy farm located on scrubby class 6 agrictultural land story here was the subject of a meeting in Baltimore recently. Those in opposition don't have much to complain about except the charge that their view of the countryside will be affected.  If that's the case people you go ahead and buy the land and then you can look at pristine, but agriculturally poor, land without the blight of passive solar collectors.

Meanwhile here's my whine of the day: the music in the Victoria Park bandshell in Cobourg should have a decibel limit placed on it. When you can hear the bandshell music as far away as Elgin St. don't you think that's a good indicator of "loud". This is one complaint of the Baystreeters that I agree with, oops that's wrong they only complain about ethnic music!!

If you want to win get serious

John Floyd is looking for a campaign cartoonist. apply within. This appeal appeared on Facebook yesterday.

As we all know John Floyd will be announcing his candidacy for the position of Mayor of Port Hope on the 25th at a BBQ at his house on Madison St.. This perennial candidate has tried before and lost, this time he feels it will be a better chance. But in order to do better he has to lose his image of gad-about populist angry guy and get serious. This facebook appeal may have been in jest but the last thing a serious candidate needs is a cartoonist. Try a good copywriter instead perhaps even an image-maker too.