Who is Hiding Behind Anonymous

We received 3 interesting comments to our latest post about staff being caught in the middle. We decided not to publish any of them.

Our reasons are as follows.

1. Not one of them was relevant to the topic.
2. They were asserted to be copies of correspondence between Councillor Bucks and staff at the Town, dating back to Feb 2008. One from a staff member in response to Councillor Buck. We say asserted because there is no way to confirm or deny their truth without investigation. Per our previous post about unsubstantiated allegations, that is not our job.
3. Surprise, surprise -- they were submitted anonymously, so Councillor Buck and the Town of Aurora have no recourse. Given that Councillor Buck signs her name -- wouldn't it seem only fair that her accusers do the same

But they did make one wonder.

It is possible they ended up on some agenda at some time, but who would have such quick access to staff correspondence, copied to all members of Council. Would it be staff? Possible a citizen? Possible a member of Council?

One must wonder who just happened to have 3 separate emails regarding Councillor Buck waiting to copied and pasted into a blog?

If the commentator would like to send these emails directly to the moderator, we will post them anonymously. At least then we will know who is accountable if the CAO demands to know who made the comment. Unlike the opinion expressed by New_Man_In_Town, these do involve staff of the Corporation.

Should we hold our breath -- we think not!

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Town Staff Are Caught in the Middle

A recent post included comments that suggested staff were happier now than in the past due to greater accountability. Follow up comments would contradict that point of view.

They serve to illustrate the difficult position staff often find themselves in.

When politicians are at loggerheads with citizens, often staff find themselves dragged into the middle and/or the target of citizens frustrations with politicians.

Politicians cycle through, but staff make careers. Staff are effectively barred from commentary for fear of reprisals, regardless of who is in power -- yet they are usually the only people who can make fact based evaluations of how things are being run one term to the next.

Even the recent actions of CAO Neil Garbe are not his own. A CAO would not make demands of citizens (or blogs) without clear direction from Council (or would not last long in the job).

So the next time you feel angered towards a staff member -- remember, they are just implementing the policies developed by Council.

As they say "Don't shoot the messenger".

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Political Spending

There has been considerable coverage of politicians spending habits lately. The Toronto Star reported on Sat that 20 Cabinet Ministers and backbenchers will resign or retire in Britain after expenses were made public.

Here in Canada, only 4 of 37 MP's contacted agreed to disclose detailed information on expenses.

Closer to home still, Auroran's have had difficulty getting details on legal expenditures. However, it appears that legal bills continue to escalate. Even when totals are made available, getting clarity on what matters they were incurred to deal with are still murky.

Around the world politicians are being held more accountable than ever for their spending habits. Should it be any different here in Aurora?

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What is the process that the Town of Aurora uses for road work?

A reader sent in the following comment. It is published unchanged. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of the AURORA CITIZEN.

I remember a couple of years ago that Henderson Dr. was repaved but they only put a base layer down and the final layer months and months later. During that time, access covers and curbs were an inch above the level of pavement. I also recall that at some point they had to patch up areas of Henderson because it broke up.

Now, Edward Street and Allaura Blvd were repaved but again they remain incomplete. The final layer of pavement has not been laid, there is at lease an inch gap from the roadway to the edge of curbing. it seems like forever when this work started.

It seems like the town starts these projects but never get around to completing them. Why is this? Does the time between the layers contribute to the premature patching that was required on Henderson?

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Newmarket vs. Aurora

A reader sent in the following comment. It is published unchanged.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of the AURORA CITIZEN.

I had the opportunity the other day to meet up with a friend who works at Newmarket's town hall on Mulock. I was invited in for a little tour. Needless to say, what a contrast with Aurora's hall upon entering. Pretty much the first thing you see is, oddly, people at work. Voices. Activity. People saying hello to each other, people pretty much around, period.

And then you have, for those of you who have never graced the halls of the palace on John West Way, er,1 Municipal Drive (that schmozzle is a whole post in itself, ain't it) entry into the front entrance where you are, hopefully, greeted by a lovely lady from Info Aurora - who doesn't even work for the town, bless their hearts they're volunteers - and the sound of your own footsteps as you walk over to the cashier's wicket where eventually, somebody might pay attention to you.

Now is this just a example of a poorly architectured building making the services of the Town cold and impersonal, or is this an accurate reflection of the Way Things Go Around Here?

I think you probably know where I might stand on this, given my slant, but I'd be interested in what others truly think.

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Should Anonymity Remain?

Well the vote is in and it seems people prefer anonymity on this blog (well most people do) -- at least for themselves.

We asked the question a couple weeks ago and over 75% wanted to maintain anonymity on the site -- although slightly better than half voted that people be required to use a pseudonym.

Should Anonymous Comments be posted?

• 35% said; Yes, leave things as they are
• 41% said; No, require people to use an anonymous online persona
• 22% said; No, require people to sign their names

So we have decided to leave things unchanged and simply ask that people honour the request and chose a nom de plume for the benefit of responding to comments.

We won’t enforce the policy, but it will be interesting to see the commentators who choose a name and those who continue to remain anonymous.

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An Open Invitation -- Will You Accept

Much has been made about the ownership and potential bias of this blog. Often, this is simply used to distract from the actual issue identified in the initial post -- simply refer to the last post about Development Charges as an example. Not one comment responded to the issue of why the Development Charges by-law was rushed.

So here's the invitation. One that has been extended a number of times already.

Send in a post -- anonymously if you wish -- and we will post your opinion (unedited and unchanged) on any issue in the Town as long as the post meets the guidelines (i.e. language should be consistent with what you would be pleased to have your children read, unsubstantiated allegations will not be accepted).

If you want to send it anonymously, simply write an anonymous comment in any blog posting and add a header indicating that the post is to be publish as a Guest Post. This has been done a number of times in the past.

If you agree with the conduct of Council in any aspect -- make your point and present your arguments. Then others will have the opportunity to respond.

If you disagree with the conduct of Council in any aspect -- make your point and present your arguments. Then others will have the opportunity to respond.

If you have an opinion about anything -- make your point and present your arguments. Then others will have the opportunity to respond.

If you have any doubt about whether they will be published -- look at the previous post. If the intent was to stifle comments, why would all of the negative comments have been published. It's hard to make that assertion stick in the face of hard facts.

If you chose not to accept this invitation to post an opposing opinion, then we will assume you are comfortable that your opinions are being heard through the comments section of other posts.

This blog will continue to present issues we feel would be of interest to the community and publish them in a forum that facilitates people expressing their opinions.

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Mistakes Were Made

The Banner reported in the June 2 edition that Aurora was hiking their developments charges -- but not as high as originally thought.

The explanation for the revised fees was explained by Dan Elliott, Director of Finance; "Doing this study was quite a rushed process, there were some errors made."

Is he serious? A rushed process? Development Charge bylaws are required every 5 years. So Council has known for 5 years when the old bylaw expires and a new one is required.

There is no surprise about this timing. This Council knew the day they were sworn in that a new bylaw was required and the specific date the old bylaw expired. If the process was rushed then it was as a direct result of poor planning.

This is a perfect example of this Council missing the big picture in favour of the absurd issues it feels are important.

This bylaw is possibly one of the most important issues any Council deals with in a term. The impact of this bylaw is significant -- it affects growth rates because builders will consider development charges when deciding where to build and it impacts our levels of service because of what is pays for.

So to suggest it was rushed and mistakes made reflects on poor planning either by Council or staff for not alerting Council of the timing.

How much notice do they need so the process doesn't need to be rushed in 5 more years?

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Aurora & Toronto Both Trying to Muzzle Their Critics!

Spotted a half page article (Pg 17) in the June 4th Toronto Sun (Note to Banner and Auroran -- the newspapers in that community are reporting on this issue!). Sue Ann Levy reports that Toronto Council Executive Committee has passed a policy that would allow Councillors to launch lawsuits against another Councillor or a third party (i.e. media or the public). It goes to Council as a whole July 6.

Seems more that just our Mayor is unwilling to allow free speech in their community. Sue Ann refers to "Communist City Hall".

However, at least in Toronto, "an independent external lawyer specializing in libel and defamation will be engaged to determine the merits of the claim before it is deemed eligible". Furthermore, it seems that Council will debate this new policy in public.

Aurora Council seems to feel neither are required. There has been no public discussion (possibly discussed privately???) and no checks and balances appear to be in place.

The Mayor is upset -- so the CAO has started to take action on her behalf.

Open and transparent? We think not.

Maybe our local politicians should spend less time and money trying to muzzle their constituents and more time listening to them.

Just a thought.

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Unsubstantiated Allegations Will Not Be Published

Earlier today we received a post that made unsubstantiated allegations against a former member of Council. We have chosen not to publish them for a number of reasons.

1. The allegations are unsubstantiated and unproven
2. The allegations are not opinions about known activities
3. These were not questions about known activities but put forward as fact
4. The post was filed anonymously, which leaves the accused with no recourse

This blog does not and will not investigate allegations to determine if they are based on fact. This is simply a communications channel to facilitate community dialogue. It is not an investigative facility -- we leave that to the news media.

If these allegations were documented (i.e. viewed on video, previously reported by the paper, documents supplied, etc.) and filed by a person willing to accept responsibility for making the allegations we would publish the comments. Until such time, similar allegations will also be rejected.

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CAO Repeats Request

The following email was received from Neil Garbe, CAO of the Town of Aurora Monday June 1. It is posted unedited in its entirety. This is the second request -- the original was sent May 29.

Please post the following:

I note that as of June 1, 2009 5:00 p.m. the comment of an individual under the pseudonym “New_Man_In_Town” is still posted on this site that alleges criminal wrong-doing on the part of the Corporation of the Town of Aurora. I am reiterating my request that the moderator of the Aurora Citizen immediately remove the comment, apologize for its inclusion on the site and contact “New_Man_in_Town” and solicit a retraction and apology from that individual. I feel it is a reasonable expectation to fulfill this request by 5:00 p.m. on June 2, 2009.

Thank you,

Neil Garbe
Chief Administrative Officer
The Corporation of the Town of Aurora

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