Have you noticed what's happening to your grocery bill lately?
Throughout southern Ontario, the cost of food keeps rising. In a province with public medicare, the long term effects of expensive food is magnified, as healthy food becomes unattainable for our poor. Those who cannot afford to eat healthy invariably resort to low cost, high calorie processed foods that lead to obesity and dietary concerns.
So good on Newmarket's Marc Mantha and his ongoing advocacy for backyard hens. Allowing residents to garden for fresh vegetables and have inexpensive access to fresh eggs can go a long way to bridging the financial gap for many.
But in a town where our local politicians believe that a $500,000 home qualifies as affordable housing, it should be no surprise that our Council wants to reserve this healthy lifestyle choice to the wealthiest residents exclusively.
They have passed a pilot project allowing for backyard hens for homes that have a minimum of 50 feet distance from the hens to the next residence.
In other words, if I were to build a coop in the middle of my backyard, and I have neighbours on either side of my home, then I would need to live on a property with a minimum 65ft frontage in order to meet that 50ft requirement. (32 ft to my property line plus 18 ft to the neighbour's home, provided that there is that much space to the neighbour's home). I haven't even begun to factor in how large the backyard would need to be if the home has neighbours to the rear.
But how many of our community's poor live on 65ft lots? How many middle class residents have 65 ft lots?
Unfortunately, it is only the wealthiest families in the community who can afford a large lot. Therefore it is only the wealthiest who can have a healthy lifestyle in Newmarket. Thanks to your Newmarket Town Council.
Saturday 27 June 2015
Bell Let's Talk About Internet Giga Bytes
Each month, our Newmarket Mayor publishes a column in the Newmarket Era, and without fail, each column boasts about his broad band internet plan. He talks about the need to connect. He talks about the Town's plans to create 32,000 new jobs by the year 2051, (despite the fact that his administration saw just a pitiful 100 new jobs since 2010, while the municipalities around us had much better job creation numbers).
This past week, Bell beat him to the punch. Bell has announced over a billion dollars in spending to make the City of Toronto a giga byte internet city. Toronto will have the fastest internet on the planet.
And with that billion dollar investment will come new jobs. Bell estimates that Toronto will see 2400 new jobs created because of improved internet access.
The Town of Newmarket has always been rather murky with their expected job creation numbers resulting from their broad band plan. Bell's 2400 new jobs estimate should give us some insight. Using the same ratio as Bell's estimate, Newmarket would see only 10.2 new jobs created by Van Bynen's broad band plan - a far cry from his own estimate.
It's time for Newmarket to be realistic about its broad band plans. To date, Van Bynen's administration refuses to discuss how much their plan will cost. We know that they have received and accepted a proposal from one company but the cost of this proposal is being kept secret. I expect that the money received from the Hollingsworth Arena sale will cover it.
And it is time for the Van Bynen administration to be honest about new job figures. Taxpayers will be spending millions to connect a few businesses. Most businesses in town won't have access. Curiously, the Town isn't connecting along the bus rapid transit corridor but is connecting the coffee shops, boutique restaurants and farmers market on Main Street for some inexplicable reason.
I am not opposed to having better internet connectivity in Newmarket. I am opposed to the way the Van Bynen administration intends to carry it out. The secrecy needs to go. The service should follow where the employment corridors are - Yonge Street, Davis Drive, and Leslie St. Main Street connectivity makes no sense whatsoever.
This past week, Bell beat him to the punch. Bell has announced over a billion dollars in spending to make the City of Toronto a giga byte internet city. Toronto will have the fastest internet on the planet.
And with that billion dollar investment will come new jobs. Bell estimates that Toronto will see 2400 new jobs created because of improved internet access.
The Town of Newmarket has always been rather murky with their expected job creation numbers resulting from their broad band plan. Bell's 2400 new jobs estimate should give us some insight. Using the same ratio as Bell's estimate, Newmarket would see only 10.2 new jobs created by Van Bynen's broad band plan - a far cry from his own estimate.
It's time for Newmarket to be realistic about its broad band plans. To date, Van Bynen's administration refuses to discuss how much their plan will cost. We know that they have received and accepted a proposal from one company but the cost of this proposal is being kept secret. I expect that the money received from the Hollingsworth Arena sale will cover it.
And it is time for the Van Bynen administration to be honest about new job figures. Taxpayers will be spending millions to connect a few businesses. Most businesses in town won't have access. Curiously, the Town isn't connecting along the bus rapid transit corridor but is connecting the coffee shops, boutique restaurants and farmers market on Main Street for some inexplicable reason.
I am not opposed to having better internet connectivity in Newmarket. I am opposed to the way the Van Bynen administration intends to carry it out. The secrecy needs to go. The service should follow where the employment corridors are - Yonge Street, Davis Drive, and Leslie St. Main Street connectivity makes no sense whatsoever.
Tuesday 16 June 2015
The Era and John Taylor in hot water after going too far with allegations
Based on traffic to my blog, it seems that there are many, many people looking for me to comment.
Over the past four years, the idea of our local council members "getting along" has been raised as a pretty consistent theme. The fact is, the gruesome-twosome wasn't getting along with former Councillor Maddie Di Muccio. They employed integrity commissioner reports and are believed to be associated with underhanded election campaign tactics to force her out of office.
But having full control over the council votes wasn't enough for the gruesome-twosome. John Taylor took things too far and continued to harangue Di Muccio even after she lost. It was an embarrassing display of hubris and now we are learning that the as the idiom goes, the chickens have come home to roost for at least one member of the gruesome-twosome.
Earlier this year, the integrity commissioner process was exposed for what is was: a kangaroo court. After the Integrity Commissioner ridiculously exonerated Regional Councillor John Taylor, even the senior management of the Town of Newmarket could not stand the embarrassment any longer. The senior staff admitted that the current Code of Conduct was a sham and ordered a complete tear-down/ re-build of the process.
After that exposure, Taylor and his ally, the Newmarket Era, went on attack mode against Di Muccio. It was a naive strategy because it appears as though they fell into their own swords.
We are now learning that both Mr. Taylor and the Newmarket Era have been sued for libel by Di Muccio. The Era has published a clarification to their story - which appeared to be an attempt to mitigate their potential payout. It will be up to a judge to see if their clarification helped them but on the surface it appears that they are admitting to libel because of its publication.
As a member of the public, I am keenly interested in these types of cases. A lot has been said by the gruesome-twosome and their ally, the Newmarket Era, about Maddie Di Muccio over the past number of years. Much of what was said seemed too incredulous for an educated person to believe. Now there is a legal challenge to prove the veracity of their words.
The reputations and legacy of the parties involved will be written based on who wins or loses. The Era and Mr. Taylor have only one defense: prove what they stated to be true. If they can't, they will be known as libelous from here on and never to be trusted ever again.
I have yet to go down to the courthouse to order a copy of the plaintiff's claim. I have done so previously with the Steve Hinder lawsuit and found it very informative. When I get a chance to get a copy of the claim, I will post details to update my readers.
Stay tuned.
Over the past four years, the idea of our local council members "getting along" has been raised as a pretty consistent theme. The fact is, the gruesome-twosome wasn't getting along with former Councillor Maddie Di Muccio. They employed integrity commissioner reports and are believed to be associated with underhanded election campaign tactics to force her out of office.
But having full control over the council votes wasn't enough for the gruesome-twosome. John Taylor took things too far and continued to harangue Di Muccio even after she lost. It was an embarrassing display of hubris and now we are learning that the as the idiom goes, the chickens have come home to roost for at least one member of the gruesome-twosome.
Earlier this year, the integrity commissioner process was exposed for what is was: a kangaroo court. After the Integrity Commissioner ridiculously exonerated Regional Councillor John Taylor, even the senior management of the Town of Newmarket could not stand the embarrassment any longer. The senior staff admitted that the current Code of Conduct was a sham and ordered a complete tear-down/ re-build of the process.
After that exposure, Taylor and his ally, the Newmarket Era, went on attack mode against Di Muccio. It was a naive strategy because it appears as though they fell into their own swords.
We are now learning that both Mr. Taylor and the Newmarket Era have been sued for libel by Di Muccio. The Era has published a clarification to their story - which appeared to be an attempt to mitigate their potential payout. It will be up to a judge to see if their clarification helped them but on the surface it appears that they are admitting to libel because of its publication.
As a member of the public, I am keenly interested in these types of cases. A lot has been said by the gruesome-twosome and their ally, the Newmarket Era, about Maddie Di Muccio over the past number of years. Much of what was said seemed too incredulous for an educated person to believe. Now there is a legal challenge to prove the veracity of their words.
The reputations and legacy of the parties involved will be written based on who wins or loses. The Era and Mr. Taylor have only one defense: prove what they stated to be true. If they can't, they will be known as libelous from here on and never to be trusted ever again.
I have yet to go down to the courthouse to order a copy of the plaintiff's claim. I have done so previously with the Steve Hinder lawsuit and found it very informative. When I get a chance to get a copy of the claim, I will post details to update my readers.
Stay tuned.
Friday 12 June 2015
Town's Spending Spree - Priorities?
The Town of Newmarket is on a spending spree. All of a sudden, the Town seems flushed with cash.
$1,000,000 for a broadband pilot? Sure.
Create a new 10-court tennis complex? Absolutely.
Renovate the lobby of the Newmarket Theatre? We can do that.
Build a new arena (either with Pickering College or construct an additional ice pad at the Ray Twinney Complex)? That's certainly on the table.
Construct a new fitness center? Uh huh.
New recreation facilities in every quadrant of town? Nothing but the best.
A turf field priced at approximately $750,000? Coming right up.
All of this sounds great - but are these really the priorities in Newmarket?
1) We have the Town of Newmarket admitting that the current business model of the Theatre is losing between $250-300,000 annually. Is a new lobby going to turn that losing streak around? After spending $11,000,000 on renovating the Old Town Hall into another theatre venue, does the Town really need to pour more public funds into this money pit?
2) Remember, when building infrastructure, you are planning for the future. Today's youth are playing basketball, soccer, and road hockey. Why is the town building tennis courts? The town has statistics regarding the number of youth who play in a tennis league vs. the leagues of the other sports. Their own numbers tell the story. I would rather that the limited recreation space was dedicated towards a cricket field than tennis in recognition of our town's changing demographics..
3) Another hockey rink? Again, the numbers don't lie. Youth involvement in ice hockey has been declining for years. This isn't a good investment for the future. I'm sorry adult hockey players but your numbers don't count. We're building infrastructure for future uses and the stats don't pan out for continuing strength of adult league registrations.
4) A fitness centre? The Town needed one years ago but because the Mayor was such good friends with Joe Persechini, the facility we needed wasn't included when the Magna Centre was built. Now that Persechini's Gym is no more, I guess there are no further reservations for a town facility to compete with local private gyms.
Amazingly, the areas that need investment aren't getting any money. For example, Newmarket sewers are getting old, but there are no ribbon cutting photo ops when new sewer infrastructure is installed. That's why homeowners will have to continue to contend with broken watermains and sewer back ups into basements.
And we'll continue to see yellow, bleach reeking water for periods of times as the Town will need to continue with programs to remove bio-film to keep our drinking water safe.
Traffic studies, residential street calming and other traffic related programs aren't getting any attention at all.
Those necessary but expensive infrastructure upgrades will have to wait for some day in the future when our current set of photo-op loving council members have been replaced by politicians who are more focused on running the town as opposed to cutting ribbons.
$1,000,000 for a broadband pilot? Sure.
Create a new 10-court tennis complex? Absolutely.
Renovate the lobby of the Newmarket Theatre? We can do that.
Build a new arena (either with Pickering College or construct an additional ice pad at the Ray Twinney Complex)? That's certainly on the table.
Construct a new fitness center? Uh huh.
New recreation facilities in every quadrant of town? Nothing but the best.
A turf field priced at approximately $750,000? Coming right up.
All of this sounds great - but are these really the priorities in Newmarket?
1) We have the Town of Newmarket admitting that the current business model of the Theatre is losing between $250-300,000 annually. Is a new lobby going to turn that losing streak around? After spending $11,000,000 on renovating the Old Town Hall into another theatre venue, does the Town really need to pour more public funds into this money pit?
2) Remember, when building infrastructure, you are planning for the future. Today's youth are playing basketball, soccer, and road hockey. Why is the town building tennis courts? The town has statistics regarding the number of youth who play in a tennis league vs. the leagues of the other sports. Their own numbers tell the story. I would rather that the limited recreation space was dedicated towards a cricket field than tennis in recognition of our town's changing demographics..
3) Another hockey rink? Again, the numbers don't lie. Youth involvement in ice hockey has been declining for years. This isn't a good investment for the future. I'm sorry adult hockey players but your numbers don't count. We're building infrastructure for future uses and the stats don't pan out for continuing strength of adult league registrations.
4) A fitness centre? The Town needed one years ago but because the Mayor was such good friends with Joe Persechini, the facility we needed wasn't included when the Magna Centre was built. Now that Persechini's Gym is no more, I guess there are no further reservations for a town facility to compete with local private gyms.
Amazingly, the areas that need investment aren't getting any money. For example, Newmarket sewers are getting old, but there are no ribbon cutting photo ops when new sewer infrastructure is installed. That's why homeowners will have to continue to contend with broken watermains and sewer back ups into basements.
And we'll continue to see yellow, bleach reeking water for periods of times as the Town will need to continue with programs to remove bio-film to keep our drinking water safe.
Traffic studies, residential street calming and other traffic related programs aren't getting any attention at all.
Those necessary but expensive infrastructure upgrades will have to wait for some day in the future when our current set of photo-op loving council members have been replaced by politicians who are more focused on running the town as opposed to cutting ribbons.
Sunday 7 June 2015
Newmarket Bear RIP
I have been asked to give my opinion on the Newmarket bear tragedy.
I've been reluctant to do so because I wasn't there and I don't know what the police saw that gave them justification to issue the kill order. Even if you watched the event unfold on television, you could never truly have the same perspective as the police officers on the scene.
There are some assumptions I feel relatively comfortable making.
1) The bear was lost, tired, hungry and thirsty. The bear was under a tremendous amount of stress after being harried by the police and sought refuge in a tree. Any animal under such extreme conditions can become unpredictable and dangerous.
2) The police must have perceived an extreme degree of danger that would have been considered imminent. Who was in danger? We don't know. But the amount of danger that this person was in would have outweighed the risk of firing multiple live rounds within a heavily populated residential neighbourhood.
As any police officer knows, once you squeeze the trigger, you have no way of being certain that the fired bullet will find it's target. Any bullet leaving a gun barrel can have lethal consequences for an unintended person and the exterior walls of most homes would not stop these bullets. The police are trained to only fire when so close to homes if there is immediate danger. In this case, someone must have been moments away from being mauled by this bear.
And if that is the case, then it was the right decision to shoot to kill.
If an officer or a member of the public got too close to the bear and that started the chain of events that led to the bear's death, then that situation needs to be addressed. It seems clear that something went wrong with establishing a safe barrier between the animal and the police/ public resulting in deadly consequences.
I won't put the blame on Ministry of Natural Resources. An imminent bear attack wouldn't have ended with any different result even if the MNR officer was present on the scene. Tranquilizers wouldn't have prevented a mauling and protecting human life is always our first priority.
I've been reluctant to do so because I wasn't there and I don't know what the police saw that gave them justification to issue the kill order. Even if you watched the event unfold on television, you could never truly have the same perspective as the police officers on the scene.
There are some assumptions I feel relatively comfortable making.
1) The bear was lost, tired, hungry and thirsty. The bear was under a tremendous amount of stress after being harried by the police and sought refuge in a tree. Any animal under such extreme conditions can become unpredictable and dangerous.
2) The police must have perceived an extreme degree of danger that would have been considered imminent. Who was in danger? We don't know. But the amount of danger that this person was in would have outweighed the risk of firing multiple live rounds within a heavily populated residential neighbourhood.
As any police officer knows, once you squeeze the trigger, you have no way of being certain that the fired bullet will find it's target. Any bullet leaving a gun barrel can have lethal consequences for an unintended person and the exterior walls of most homes would not stop these bullets. The police are trained to only fire when so close to homes if there is immediate danger. In this case, someone must have been moments away from being mauled by this bear.
And if that is the case, then it was the right decision to shoot to kill.
If an officer or a member of the public got too close to the bear and that started the chain of events that led to the bear's death, then that situation needs to be addressed. It seems clear that something went wrong with establishing a safe barrier between the animal and the police/ public resulting in deadly consequences.
I won't put the blame on Ministry of Natural Resources. An imminent bear attack wouldn't have ended with any different result even if the MNR officer was present on the scene. Tranquilizers wouldn't have prevented a mauling and protecting human life is always our first priority.
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