In a move guaranteed to revive the issue of whether Cobourg Council has its priorities straight, the Council approved the purchase of a truck that will haul garbage for the Parks Dept., even though they refused to purchase the crane needed to lift the garbage!
The last couple of months in the fiscal year of any Council sees fun and games. With most budgets spent on goodies by the staff there is always an item that either is not in the budget or costs more than the estimate approved in the budget. Consequently we see councillors standing on front of each shilling for "their department". This is what happened this week. The Parks department wanted a truck but the budget was $3,000 short. The original budget item was for a 3 ton truck with a crane on it. To be used for lifting the huge garbage bags that we have spread in deep holes around the parks it is deemed more efficient to get a special lift truck as opposed to using the old, and paid for, backhoe tractor they use now. Anyway when tenders came back in the estimate was so inadequate they only had enough money to buy the truck not the crane, so they did, claiming that the truck has to be ordered this week to get it by May! Calling it "Two different horses" Deputy Mayor Bob Spooner responded to criticism that he was buying a useless truck, with $3,000 taken from emergency contingency funds, when reminded that he refused to do the same for the $7,500 needed to make the front doors of City Hall accessible to the challenged. I guess when one thinks about it it really is two horses, two different envelopes and two different budgets. But Bob you don't get judged on the technicals (it isn't figure skating) the big picture is what counts here. You pulled money from contingency to buy a truck that will lift garbage bags from a hole in the ground and then refused to buy the crane to do the lifting whilst still not fixing the front doors.
More from the strike front at the local paper. The war of words is in full flight. Radio ads have been blaring the
publishers point of view and flyers have been distributed in response.
A free newspaper (website) has been instituted and workers want to get back
to work. Comments passed to this edition have been unflattering and
i hope for Mike Walsh's sake the writers of the Colborne Chronicle don't quit
or leave, where else would Don Horne get his copy from, for he appears to
be writing very little of the paper he is putting out. In a conversation with
one of the columnists he mentioned that before the strike started his night
editor told him that if he wanted to keep his point of view in the paper
he had better submit during the strike. Another columnist is telling people
that he has had his contract enforced or else he would lose his spot. Kudos
to the columnists in Port Hope - Dan Christie and one other whose name escapes
me - for not giving in to intimidation and not publishing. A copy of the
rebuttal flyer is here, one thing to be noted is
that the regular inserters earn $8.60 it has been reported that the scabs
are earning $8.00!!The picture to the left captures the image of a hardworking security guard, I bet the chairs get taken away after this picture is read tomorrow.
An item from last week was a request to Council, by a local resident, for some costsharing in a fence that is next to a public park. The request was referred to next year's budget discussions. This had only one councilor upset as he felt that the decision to help a local resident pay for a fence that under normal conditions he might have to pay for completely. When one looks at the name of the resident one might be wondering if this was the elite being helped. The man you see was The Rt. Hon Allan Lawrence QC. Living next to Victoria Park he is asking that the Town pay for half of the fence. But under normal conditions he would probably be assessed by the Fences and Boundaries Commission to have to pay the full cost being on the wrong side of the line. So instead of debating the issue - should we help residents build fences, the decision was to put it over until next year's budget. On the face of it that presupposes that we will help him and only argue about the cost. Bad precedent and would Joe Blow's request receive such a speedy resolution?
The school closings get curiouser and curiouser. At a meeting this week in Grafton it was discovered that the School Board is already backtracking on the $100,000 report that advocates gutting the school system in the name of efficiency. When faced with evidence that the report had not taken into account the growth and planned growth in Grafton major backtracking was seen. The Superintendent in charge at the meeting pointed out that was going to be an amendment to the report and "Grafton was not likely to be on the list! (closing list)" This put the local trustee on the spot, and took him off just as fast, as he just answered, in response to a question of where he stood, "I stand by the report which means that the school has to close" Hardly supportive words from the local politician.
Can we now see the "Accommodation Report" being selectively manipulated to protect politicians' hides? And what will be the criteria for the change of such a definitive report. Just remember the bulk of the closings have to take place this year as next year is an election year and who would want to run for re-election closing schools?
The biggest scandal of all is the exorbitant waste of 1/4 BILLION dollars over the next 15 years building totally unnecessary schools. After all you can't get grants to build new schools unless you close old ones. And one of the schools on the list is only 12 years old.
Just come back from the Remembrance Day parade and came across something I have never seen before - the Mayor joined the Legion a couple of months ago and now today he carried the Town flag as a member of the colour party. A good job of volunteering. On the other hand the heaviest and obviously the most out of condition councilor, Bill MacDonald looked like he needed oxygen at the end of the parade after the march, I guess he forgave oxygen for a good old pint of suds. Still it was a good day for a parade, no rain. Crowds and marchers were down though!.
Talking about Hydro, all I know is that the prices have gone up. How much is apparently up to the person you speak to. My analysis of the situation is simple. I took my bills since Jan 00 and put them into a spreadsheet. Guess what? the bills started to rise just when we knew they would May 02 - deregulation time. We have had three bills since then and each bill has been getting bigger than the last. But when one looks at why one sees that the energy charge has risen but not as much as the extra eight charges. When a constant charge is calculated, by dividing the Dollar cost of the total bill by the kilowatts used you can easily see what the real cost of the hydro bill is. Further comparing bill #5 of this year, the latest one, with bill #5 of last year the I am paying 70% more for the constant kilowatt. Enough said and I don't think that any punky $75.00 rebate will cure that, especially when that money is coming out of my taxes. If we have that kind of money available ($75 for each hydro account in the Province) why are we not putting back into education or healthcare. Some wacky stuff going on here folks.
October 27th, one hour later!!
Here is some more stuff that you will not read in the mainstream press - coverage of the strike at the local papers. It is in the form of point notes as there are so many aspects to cover.
Security
If you attend the strike scene and attempt to get into the office on King St and the office in Port Hope and then travel to pick up your paper at the mailing room you will notice the number of security guards at each entrance. Here is the count: 4 at 99 king St. W, 2 at the 415 King St W , 2 in Port Hope and 4 in Trenton. Throw in 2 managers and 1 mobile person and you get 11 confirmed and 15 suspected employees of a company called Accufax. (website here). This company boasts about being " AFI International is Canada’s largest supplier of labour dispute services" quote from the website!
The picture below shows one of the Accufaxers in action.Oh I forgot the most bizarre news of all: one of the Accufaxers is acting as Mike (mikey) Walsh's bodyguard!! And if you see a white van plated - AMDA643 - it is the Company van full of security people which ferrys them back and forth to the Motor Inn. So what are the costs of all of this, especially when Mikey is claiming poverty? Who knows but one looselipped and silly guard did let it slip that he is taking home $1,000 for an 80 hour week (Accufax obviously doesn't pay very well) so multiply 15 by $1500 and you get an approximate costs for security wages - $22,500, throw in a labour burden of 18% = $26,550 and then double it for management fees and Mikey is paying, I guess, the scabs and strikebreakers about $60,000 a week plus accommodation costs. These costs do not include the cost of the internal security measures taken before the strike started. So as the union asked in one of its ads this week, "Where's the money gone, Mike?"
Union News
The local has a website here it is very comprehensive and includes a "Wall of Shame" a collection of photos of people that are working against the union's interests. In a related tale from the picket line a sportswriter from the Port Hope Guide has decided to cross the picket line and this activity became known to someone who obviously took a dim view of it and decided to show some feelings about the episode. Being Port Hope what better symbol of displeasure would be a dead salmon - one ended up being hurled through the back window of the scab's SUV by persons unknown. I think the scab got the message, we know he got the fish, he returned it to the picket line the next day, "I do believe that this belongs to you" was the greeting on the line.
The finances of the strike As laid out above the Company is spending a fortune every day to ensure that production is maintained and to create the appearance of normality. On the other hand the strikers, as pointed out in the latest info sheet, are receiving strike pay. Being members of a large International Union membership does pay and very well. This week, the second full week they are receiving money from local sources of strike funds on the 15th day the International strike pay kicks in and all members on the line will get $250 US and $50 cdn. On the 29th day of the strike the members will get $300US plus $50 CDN, more than they used to get working, a sad commentary on the economics of the dispute. So unless Mikey settles this in a matter of days what's the incentive for the workers to go back?
The battle of flying letters. Last week saw a flurry of letters between the Labour Council and the United Way, this week was no exception,
First the email that contained a copy of the letter that the United Way sent to the Labour Council:
Please read attached letter from United Way. Please note they have also asked for a meeting with the Labour Council. They are denying responsibility for Karen's participating as a replacement worker at Northumberland Publishers.
I called Nigel, who is the staff rep of the CWA local at Northumberland Publishers. He informed me that Karen has not been seen at the workplace today or tonight. He suggest a 'wait and see" action hoping that United Way has got the message and Karen won't be returning to Northumberland Publishers.
I can tell you the letter has had an impact. A number of people have called the United Way in support of CWA.
Perhaps if Karen should attend the workplace of CWA members who are on a legal strike again we should again take action, more serious next time.
I am very disappointed with the United Way in this situation. I have been a long time supporter of United way (in one way or another), myself and this latest event has certainly affected my strength of solidarity with the United Way.. I can certainly understand how this event took place, with Mike Walsh being Karen's husband and Mike the Chair of the United Way board and management at Northumberland Publishers, however.........., should labour's support of United way not also be considered before such an action would take place?
I guess we are being considered now.
I sincerely hope this is the end of this situation.
In solidarity,
Linda MacKenzie-Nicholas,
president,
Northumberland Labour Council.
A small number of the public at large decided to attend a meeting this week. About twenty people, half of whom were staff and politicians and committee members, sat in the ballroom at Town Hall last Wednesday. It was time to discuss the 'smoking bylaw'. This piece of municipal legislation has ben pushed hard by Councilor DeVeau since her election. It is now at the final draft stage. But the public had to be asked what they thought of it. Without any representation from the hospitality industry, all five of the appointed members from that sector were absent (a telling thing) the only real support for the bylaw came from the members of the committee. Two councilors (Jackson and DeVeau), one reformed smoker, Tony Dekeyser, a professional dedicated to the elimination of smoking and the Bingo Hall Manager (I bet she felt sandbagged during this process) proceeded to sit at the head table and lecture the minority of the public what was good for them. "We're not going to make everybody happy, but we tried to be fair" said DeVeau as she explained the bylaw. But she explained her bias, "I would have liked to have seen a 100% ban on smoking but we settled for 40%". As the meeting dragged on and became a debate with three members of the public and Councilors DeVeau and Jackson it became obvious that this piece of legislation has little to do with smoking, as anybody who wants one can get an exeption permit at any time for any place, it became about control. Public places cannot be smokeplaces, unless they get exemptions and any one can simply by asking, and they must be protected from smoke. "It's a health issue" became the mantra droned by the Marie Antoinette of Cobourg Council - Pam Jackson. This mantra was expanded upon by Ms Mutton from the local health unit, "We need to protect the public from smokers and because tobacco is legal it must be controlled! We attempt to control it by municipal bylaws"
It was pointed out to the zealots that smoking is still legal and smokers have a choice a member of the audience, Karen Emond a 10 cig a day woman, retorted to the committee, "It's wrong for a group to make decisions for others - it's a Human Rights issue. There is a simple solution, put a sign in the window, the public will decide it's just business" Local business owner Scott Carrigan addressed the committee and pointed out that he sells tobacco, "As a business owner I should be able to decide, the people will choose [whether to smoke or not]. I don't see you guys in my store - I guess you don't smoke!"
At the end of the meeting I spoke to Councilor DeVeau and asked why she is not letting the market decide about the issue and Councilor Jackson butted (no pun intended) in with the mantra, "It's a health issue we don't want children to be exposed" Councilor DeVeau did tell me that if marginal or struggling businesses have to comply and the cost of compliance is too much and the business fails she is convinced that it would not be the compliance costs that made marginal businesses fail. "There may be businesses in trouble but this will not affect their business!" (spoken as a true politician not a business owner!!) The last word goes to Scotty Carrigan, "2% of retail space in Cobourg is smoking so why attack it. Smokers should have a choice!"
Scanning Michael Moore's website today this clip deserves more than a glance Yes, It Was a Bushmaster.
Opinion ahead!
In a slightly different vein, the local papers wrote an editorial that really sizzled, hot type indeed this week. The object of their ire was an appeal to the Port Hope Council last tuesday by the employees of the local papers not to advertise in the paper during the life of the strike. A reasonable request but one which really got up the nose of the editorialist. The Council had the temerity to comment, after asking a few questions that perhaps the paper should settle. Quoting the right of the employer to pay as many or as few benefits as he wanted to, it was no business of a Council to ask what those benefits were, that was an internal matter! Well I beg to differ. The local newspapers have spent many years and much effort on becoming a "community paper'" not just fishwrap that a local owner makes money from, but a "community newspaper". Well guess what Mr Newspaper Owner being a 'community paper' has obligations to the community. Some of those obligations would be to pay a fair wage, and comparisons with other papers in the chain show that a fair wage in Cobourg is not the same as a fair wage in Lindsay. Community values are not enhanced by spending gobs of money on strikebreakers and security guards and some people in the community are offended by the "community paper" resorting to those tactics even before the strike started. Community newspapers do not stuff 7/8ths of their paper with advertorials and Southam newspaper chain pap and filler. Report the local news pay a decent wage and settle up and you might get the coveted accolade. "community newspaper" back.
Mr McGuinty was in Town this week, and he unveiled some of his plans for the education policy. Saying that all children should have access to apprenticeships, college or university he also dropped the clanger that , "All children will be made to stay in school until they are 18" Well what a fatuous statement. I would guess that anybody who has had 18 year olds in school and tried to make them go when they didn't want to go greeted that remark by rolling in the aisles clutching their sides in hysterical laughter. Has McGuinty tried this trick? We have and it failed miserably, did that mean we were failed parents? perhaps but let's see McGuinty do any better.
October 20th 2002
It's over - the Liberals have a nominated candidate! At a nomination meeting which went on until at least 7.30pm the white smoke appeared and then the local boy (and good ol' boy too) Lou Rinaldi proceeded to give his victory speech. A few things of note have been passed on to me for publication (I did not attend due to domestic duties so I have been working the phones today to catch up).
Firstly some of the voters were very young and stepped off two school buses. Secondly only 1199 of the 2200 registered members bothered to vote. The result required four counts of the ballots.
The way the vote was conducted was in the form of 'preferential ballot' it works like this: each registered and eligible voter is given a ballot with as many spaces as there are candidates and each voter has to mark their choices in the order of preference. The ballots are collected and counting starts. All candidates are awarded their votes on the first count. The second round starts with the distribution of the last persons preferences to the other candidates. If nobody gets above the 50% of ballots cast the ballots are counted again and the bottom candidates votes are distributed amongst the remaining candidates and so on until a candidate gets more than 50% of the votes cast.. So here are the results of Saturday's ballots.
| count | Campbell | Carter | Daigneault | Grizzle | Rinaldi | total | % |
| 1 | 244 | 110 | 285 | 26 | 524 | 1189 | 44.07% |
| 2 | 253 | 114 | 289 | 531 | 1187 | 44.73% | |
| 3 | 285 | 315 | 559 | 1159 | 48.23% | ||
| 4 | 430 | 612 | 1042 | 58.73% |
Mr Rinaldi's opponent in the next election, the Minister of nothing (without portfolio) is being questioned about the activities of one of his members. Doug Galt, in his capacity as 'Chief Whip' is responsible for the attendance of his caucus and party in the house. Well, if you didn't know already the MPP for Mississauga East (or West or South?) has gone missing in action. John Snobolen, a member dumped from the cabinet by the new premier, has been camping out at his ranch, a flourishing cattle ranch! In an interview this week, from the ranch in Oklahoma USA, he said, and I paraphrase, "There is nothing better for me than sitting on a horse looking at the backside of a cow" to which a letter writer in the Toronto Star compared the comment by him to looking out over the government back benches and thinking there was little difference. Anyway back to Doug Galt. Being responsible for his members' attendance his competency is being questioned as Snobolen has missed 8 recorded votes. Just where was he Doug? By the way I wouldn't want to be on the end of the phone when Doug's new executive assistant summons John back to Ontario. I couldn't think of a better person to make that call than Lynda Mitchell ("she who must be obeyed"). Talk about being on the 'hotline'.
One would have to look very hard in this week's local papers to find any mention of the issue of the Front Doors of Victoria Hall. These doors are very heavy and non accessible for those who need special help in getting through them. Both papers failed to note that there was a presentation made by the chair of Cobourg's accessibility committee about the yanking of the funding from the accessibility fund to the repair of the clock tower. Steve McCahon spoke to Council and told them what he thought as an individual, even though he is chair of the municipal committee. He received the usual council blowoff (no questions about what he said) and then they moved on to disburse without any regard to budgets $2500 to the Juno Beach project. After the presentation by the veterans Councilor Williams was so moved he offered to pay for the project himself. Pity he couldn't do that for a project he is actually responsible for (the front doors) rather than grandstanding for the veterans' vote!!
News from the strike front on Division St. The news for Mike Walsh, the publisher of the paper only gets worse. Not only has he screwed up his own business but his extra-curriculars are about to go down the dumper. Mikey is this year's chair of the Board of the Northumberland United Way (UW). It should be noted that about 68% 0f the donations to the UW come from local labour. So one would think that this constituency should be nurtured and valued and what they think is important. So Mikey in the middle of his own labour dispute proceeds to screw up the UW. His wife, who works at the UW office, no conflict of interest there??, decides to become a scab and help the hubby out in the evenings, both trying to get a paper out. Naturally the local on strike is incensed and appeal to the Labour Council for support see below. The Labour Council tonight (Sunday) issued a letter to the United Way asking it to clarify its position, to read the letter in PDF form click here:
Here is the letter from the CWA that asked for support
The CWA Local union at Northumberland
Publishers has asked the Labour Council to write a letter to the United
way regarding Karen Walsh, staff of the United way and the wife of Mike
Walsh, Chair , United way of Northumberland.
Please see attached letter. CWA
would appreciate any letters of a similar nature being sent as well from
your local union/organization,
Unbelievable. What is this world coming to?
Linda, Also - we would appreciate a letter from you to Northumberland
United Way, as head of the labour council addressing the issue of United
Way employee Karen Walsh (yes, Mike Walsh's wife) doing the job of those
in our
bargaining unit. She was at the Cobourg Star office on Tuesday
night working on page layout schedules according to the person who normally
does that job. As you know unions and industry make up a significant percentage
of
donations to United Way. Not only is Karen a United Way employee
(previously in the Cobourg Star bargaining unit) but Mike is the board
chairman of the United Way this year. (You should check his exact
title.)
We'd also like to get the heads of local unions to do the same
thing. Can you assist?
Thanx for your help,
So if anybody wishes to tell the UW how they feel click here Meanwhile
the striking local is asking the public to support them both on the picket
lines and at the Port Hope Council on Tuesday 22nd at 7pm in the Council
chambers. They will explaining their side of the story, to be repeated in
Cobourg the following Monday. Also support is still appreciated on the picket
lines at 8am
Just to show how figures are spun, by every one of us! Here is an email from a local reader:
Dear Burd Report: As a regular reader of the report I always enjoy your stories behind the news- Cobourg's version of Frank Magazine, that is often missing in the local press. However like Frank errors often creep in, like your item about the Rinaldi Greeter. What Malcolm actually said was that there were 2,200 Liberal members signed up and as the usual percentage attendance at nomination meetings was 60% he predicted a maximum vote of 1,500, and if Rinaldi's 637 signups all attend then he would have 40% of the vote on the first ballot count. On Saturday October 19th the attendance was actually 1,200 (55% of membership) and the count Rinaldi had 559 votes (47% of the vote)) Of the final count Rinaldi won by 612 votes (59% of total vote of 1,042) to Daignault's 430 ( 59% of total of 1042 ballots). Note: Some 150 voters did not indicate their second or third choices and 2 candidates received less than 100 votes. Sorry about my error of 55% instead of 60% and 46% instead of 40% but my crystal ball was a little cloudy yesterday. Keep up the good work providing background insights into the Cobourg community.
Malcolm Mathmman
To respond to this column click here
October 13th 2002
Well this is the last week for frantic politicking by the local
Liberals. 2200 members signed up and all of them sick to death of being
phoned by the campaign teams. Who's winning the numbers game - who knows.
Listen to all the bean counters and there are more people who can vote
than actual signed cards. One example: at a 'greeter' last week an enthusiastic
campaigner proudly boasted of having signed up 40% of the cards, that works
out to 880 members - try 657 cards Malcolm!!. At that same 'greeter', I
was invited to accompany a friend of mine - a staunch liberal, I counted
31 people when I left. The interesting thing was that of all the people
in the room the complete team of local Liberal staff, ex campaign managers
and office staff of the previous Liberal MPP was there. For months these
people about five of them, had been rumoured to be attached to Carolyn Campbell's
team, now they turn up with Lou - boy there must be a story that no-one
wants to talk about in there somewhere. The final word about this nomination
- I guess that of the 2200 signed members only 950 will show up and it will
be a close race. I received an email from the CUDGEL team last week claiming
that they had signed up 50 people and with spouses concluded that they
had a bloc of 61 people. Perhaps a position of influence in next week's
vote? We still haven't had the really big news from those people yet, who
are they going to recommend? I can hardly wait! No predictions of the winner
here as I still think the weight of Dalton McGuinty will drag whoever wins
down and kill strong local efforts in the next election. Nice try people!
In an effort to point out that one of the top three
candidates is an anti-environmentalist a letter was published in the Port
Hope Guide last week, this letter was not the letter that the writer sent
to the papers for publication but a severely edited version. In the first
letter Tom Lawson made the point that Lou Rinaldi, as Mayor of Brighton,
was guilty of despoiling the environment by his defense of the use of "Dombind"
on the roads of Northumberland. Of the 90 municipalities that continue to
use the allegedly toxic substance to dampen dust on roads 14 have refused
to phase it out and of those 14 holdouts 5 are in the County! Lou still
maintains although the environment should not be compromised because Dombind
was provided free "to ban it would impact our budgets", but these details
never appeared. Meanwhile in true Liberal attitudes Lou continues to have
it both ways: "I am an environmentalist" but "I will still spread Dombind
because it is given to us!" - neat straddle.
A most peculiar meeting took place last week, concerning the
long-termplan for school closings in the public school board's jurisdiction.
I say most peculiar because the subject matter and the report that explains
the proposal was very technical and too much for most people to absorb in
a 60 minute presentation and a Q & A session. It goes like this: bring
in the educrats and let the lady consultant explain in not too boring a fashion
the report that she has written, let the chief bean counter, not the Director
of Education, take the nasty questions and allow the warm, fuzzy lady consultant
to ignore the pointed criticism of her work and direct questions she didn't
like. I mention the gender of the consultant because this message is best
served by nice kindly people - just like mom - don't use a man, it's too
harsh. In short this report is based on the hated "Funding Formula' a mechanism,
devised by the ruling party, that allocates money based on 'facts' not 'feelings
and values' and the result of the present application of the FF has been
the decimation of the schools' place in neighbourhoods and local education.
Parroting the mantra, "small schools don't allow all the students to get
a full education" the educrats, with the trustees in lockstep half a pace
behind, march solidly toward the establishment of 'teaching factories', each
with a minimum of 600 in an elementary school. This report being explained
last week, reinforces that ideology. Of the seven elementary schools in the
Cobourg area by the time 2005 rolls around only two will be left standing.
The others closed/merged/moved. Now what is the mechanism that allows all
this to happen you ask? Money is the answer. There is money available for
the Board, from the province, to renew or build new schools as it marches
toward consolidation (NPPG's). Nearly one quarter of a billion dollars in
fact - $216 million over the next 15 years.
So when the first question appears that wants to
expose this huge waste of taxpayers money, "What would have been the impact
of closings in the report if the NPPG money was not available?" it
was pointedly ignored. As were the comments that a couple of people made
about the wisdom of recommending that both High Schools in Cobourg be closed,
ship 200 of the 1100 pupils to Port Hope and house the remaining 900 in a
landlocked inaccessible new school. When confronted directly with the question,
"What's wrong with this school?" (the CDCI East that can house 1200 pupils)
Joe Hubbard mumbled that the school needed to be rewired, for the new computer
network, and the science labs would not be of the same standard as new ones!
To his credit in an interview afterwards the wee trustee did say that the
idea of closing and building anew was preposterous. "I'll fight it to the
end!" and continued to say that "People must not construe the report as gospel,
there isn't a vestige of a chance that this will be carried out" Unfortunately
we know that when trustees go up against the educrats they very rarely win
- wish you luck on this one Gordon.
The silly season is still going on at Cobourg Council. rewind a couple of weeks ago; Council voted to take some money from the accessibility reserve to pay for the repair of the clock at Victoria Hall. Saying that because the Province failed to come across with 50 cents dollars Cobourg couldn't find the necessary matching $7,500 to fix the heavy and old and non accessible front doors to the municipal building and now the accessibility reserve has money - we should use it. Decision made let's move on. But all the decisions made by a Council are cumulative and the sum of the whole is mostly bigger than the sum of the parts. So having given away a prime piece of commercial land to a local developer, last month, and also having paid an exorbitant price for a piece of land to be added to the main park in town, last year, Council's reputation as a conservator of our tax money has taken a bit of a beating lately. This is the background to the debate of the front door; "We can't afford it!" We cannot find a measly $7,500 in a 20 million dollar budget I ask? And to illustrate that point another previously budgeted item comes to the table this week. Cobourg Council is going to spend $95,000 to 'beautify' two parking lots with flower pots, and lose nine parking spots in the process. So what gives in this big picture? Don't any of our political brains on council (that's an oxymoron) say "hold on a minute some of this stuff looks bad". Steve McCahon the chair of the accessibility committee will be on hand at the next Council meeting, I hope he asks the question, "Why can't you find the money to fix the door?" In the meantime all the moves made from now on will not repair the image of a Council that really doesn't have its priorities straight.
In a move that does nothing to alleviate confusion the brains at durhamregion.com have expropriated by means of 'cyberstealing' the name of a local information agency. InfoNorthumberland was founded more than ten years ago to provide community information. Last year they decided to change their name from ShareInfo to InfoNorthumberland and have invested considerable capital into the new name. Unfortunately they failed to register the new name as a .com and thus failed to get an internet presence using infonorthumberland.com. Well enter the big corporate guys of Metroland, whose local free papers blanket the earth (at least in Southern Ontario, The Northumberland News being ours). Handing over the internet responsibility for all of their local papers to durhamregion.com they expected those folks to produce local websites for their local newspapers. Having done an internet search these corporate guys discovered that infonorthumberland.com was available and promptly registered it, something the info agency could not afford to do, or else they would have. Well now that the name is directed to the Northumberland News confusion abounds. The local info agency sees their brand name being used for the purpose of others and also the Northumberland News is receiving email and enquiries that used to go to the info agency. How silly, perhaps a phone call could have avoided the whole mess. I am told the corporate guys didn't even consult the Northumberland News before setting up their website.
Picking up the pieces appears to be a way of life for Councils
and Cobourg is no exception. At the next Council meeting terms of reference
will be adopted that will set out the components of a landuse planning
study for 'Area C'. This is the land that was moved from Hamilton Township
to Cobourg in the annexation agreement of a couple of years ago and
consists of about 300 acres in the northeast part of town. As the then Reeve,
now Mayor, of Hamilton Township Fred Holloway commented at the time, "Cobourg
has enough land for a hundred years"
Now all we have to do is to figure out how to use
it. In an eerie comment Councilor Dean McCaughey revealed either ignorance
of the past or a a wish for the future when he commented, "We have to know
where to put the industrial land." I guess if he hadn't given away the best
industrial land to Walmart he wouldn't be in such a hurry to get some more
(maybe he wants to give that way too?)
In the spirit of Haloween:
This picture has been flying around cyberspace, I first saw it at the
regular internet class at the Legion Village....cute (I hate that word but
what else sums up the picture?).
Serious stuff now folks, the workers at the Cobourg Daily Star are on strike. The vast majority of workers voted down the package that Mike Walsh is touting, obviously inadequate Mike - do better. Friday morning a large number of the strikers were picketing both entrances to the office, on King St and Albert St. As yet the average reader will not notice any difference as stories written before the strike are being published under the bylines of the staff writers. Tuesday may be a different story. Everybody who wants to see the strike settled should be putting pressure on the employer to do so. I for one will not renew my subscription until the mess is settled. Others are encouraged to cancel subscriptions to bring pressure to bear.
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