The Regional Councillor's Record So Far

Continuing the on-going series assessing the job performance of our municipal politicians and whether they are delivering on their campaign promises, our focus this week falls on Regional Councillor John Taylor. (Special Note: As a blog dedicated to Newmarket, (and not York Region), I am focusing this assessment on his work for the Town of Newmarket).

Like Mayor Van Bynen, Regional Councillor Taylor did not have to campaign in 2010. His opponent, Cheryl Richman, did not post a single campaign sign to challenge him. 

Although he didn't have a credible challenger, Taylor did provide us with the following list of "priorities":

1) Growth
2) Environment
3) Trails
4) Taxes and Debts
5) Social Planning
6) Recreation and Leisure

In writing about his Growth priority, Regional Councillor Taylor focusses on preserving our neighbourhoods, which is a striking "anti-growth" message. In fact, the only positive points he can muster about growth is the enjoyment he personally receives from new restaurants and shops. Newmarket has been designated in the Places To Grow Act to assigned, specific growth and densification targets of 25,000+ new residents within the next 10 years. Taylor's comments are akin to the ostrich sticking his head in the sand to avoid a predator.   

Since being elected, Regional Councillor Taylor has been active in the anti-Glenway dispute including his controversial support of paying $65,000 in "special consultant" fees to review the Kirbel Group's re-development application of the golf course.

Regarding the Environment, the Town of Newmarket has a committee called the Newmarket Environmental Advisory Committee. Regional Councillor Taylor is not a member of this committeee but another councillor is. One would think that someone who lists the Environment as one of his priorities would be contributing to the work of the Environmental Advisory Committee. 

On the matter of Trails, Newmarket has a committee called the Nokiidaa Committee. John Taylor is not a member of this committee but another councillor is. One would think that someone who lists Trails as one of his priorities would be contributing to the work of the Nokiidaa Committee.

On the matter of Taxes and Debts, Newmarket has a committee called the Audit Committee. Taylor is not a member of this committee but three other council members are. One would think that someone who lists Taxes and Debts as one of his priorities would be contributing to the work of the Audit Committee. 

On the matter of Social Planning, Newmarket has a committee called the Inclusivity Advisory Committee. Regional Councillor Taylor is not a member of this committee but two other council members are. One would think that someone who lists Social Planning as one of his priorities would be contributing to the work of the Inclusivity Advisory Committee.

On the matter of Recreation and Leisure, strangely, Newmarket does not have any committee relating to this. However, if Regional Councillor considers Recreation and Leisure to be one of his priorities, then why has he not already offered to create and participate on such a committee?  

I apologize for the repetitive nature of this assessment but I mean to illustrate that Regional Councillor Taylor appears to be promising much and contributing nothing to Newmarket towards his stated priorities. Why is he avoiding the drudgery of committee work and leaving the important decisions to others? I have no problem with what he lists as his priorities but ratepayers in Newmarket expect that he would act on his priorities.  Its a lot of big talk and little action.

Speaking of "big talk", a visit of Regional Councillor Taylor's web site (johntaylornewmarket.ca) gives the impression that he is in full campaign mode. His web site is entirely geared towards garnering support for the next election. He puts a lot of effort into recording every mention made of him in the media but there are scant details about his views on current issues (save for the transit strike). Ratepayers would remind Regional Councillor Taylor that the campaign is years away and there is much (committee) work that needs to be tackled beforehand. 

Do you want another example to illustrate John Taylor's shortcomings as a municipal politician?  Earlier this year he promised to report his expenses quarterly via his web site. He has not kept that promise and this is yet another example of his big talk/no action problem. 

Sounds Like a Mayor

Two radio interviews with the CBC last week concerning the same issue.  Only one represents Newmarket well.  Have a listen.

http://www.cbc.ca/ontariotoday/2012/01/05/newmarket-rallies-around-victims-of-racist-attack/ 
and
http://www.cbc.ca/hereandnowtoronto/episodes/2012/01/03/racist-attacks-in-newmarket/ 

When speaking to the media politicians will often coordinate their "talking points" beforehand, which explains why their viewpoints are similar.  Side by side, Councillor Di Muccio delivered a much more positive message about our community than the Mayor did. 

A very impressive interview Councillor/Mayor-in-waiting, on a very important community issue.

Fair Comment on Local Media Coverage Part 1 of 3

I am taking a step back from my promised series on Newmarket politicos and their campaign promises to comment on a couple of articles written by Era reporter Teresa Latchford.  The whole reason I started this blog was because I did not agree with how the local media was covering Town Hall.  Certainly we had more exposure than usual from Toronto and National media in 2011, but the local media has, at times, not provided Newmarket ratepayers with the appropriate coverage of major issues.

Case in point is this article on Councillor Chris Emanuel:　

http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1274572--councillor-lead-voice-on-glenway-redevelopment　 Certainly, Councillor Emanuel was a major newsmaker in 2011 but Ms. Latchford seems determined to re-invent his record.　 Councillor Emanuel has had no successes on Glenway development; he has divided Council with his tactics, (recent comments by Councillor Kerwin against fighting this at the OMB are contrary to Councillor Emanuel’s), and he has fought against public input at every turn, (refer to the August 29 Council meeting).  In fact, Councillor Emanuel promised a notice of motion on Glenway during that August 29^th meeting that he has failed to deliver on.  If Ms. Latchford is looking for a hero for Glenway, look towards the work that Jeff Brown and the Friends of Glenway have been doing.  Councillor Emanuel has been deadweight on this issue.　 　

Fair Comment on Local Media Coverage Part 2 of 3

Where Councillor Emanuel is a newsmaker is on his criminal conviction.　 In recent months, we have seen an Edmonton MP charged, a Milton Councillor convicted, a Markham Councillor charged and finally Councillor Emanuel’s conviction as part of a long string of politicians believing that they are above the law.  It is an outright shame that none of this group has (yet) resigned.

Integrity used to be a pre-requisite for elected office.

　

Related to Councillor Emanuel is this article also written by Era reporter Teresa Latchford:　

http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1274699--clark-always-willing-to-roll-up-sleeves A google search of Rob Clark turns up this gem from Snap: http://www.snapnewmarket.com/index.php?option=com_sngevents&id%5B%5D=176274 In this link, Rob Clark is quoted as hosting Councillor Emanuel’s 2010 fundraiser and clearly he is tied to Councillor Emanuel politically.　

Fair Comment on Local Media Coverage Part 3 of 3

Also on the topic of political alliances, Rob Clark’s wife, Shannon Clark, was the creator of the facebook page "Stand Up for Newmarket" which went unreported in the Era.　 For readers who aren’t familiar with "Stand Up for Newmarket", it was a chat site dedicated to posting disparaging remarks about Ward Six Councillor Maddie Di Muccio until it was taken down in the summer.　

Do these folks sound like community leaders to you?

All of this underlies the major issue with Town Hall.　 It is a "good old boys" club and Era reporter Teresa Latchford is helping promote and sustain the old ties.　 However, this isn’t Newmarket.　 Like what happened in Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill, the "good old boys" are waning and new blood is on its way.　

The Mayor's Record for Keeping Election Promises Part 1 of 2

With the calendar changing from year one to two, I thought it would be an ideal time to review the election campaign promises of each member of Council and provide Newmarket ratepayers with an opportunity to gauge each Councillor on his/her performance to date. Today’s edition focuses on Mayor Tony Van Bynen

With all due respect for Michael Cascione’s noble gesture of giving voters the opportunity to cast a ballot, Mayor Van Bynen ran unopposed in 2010. As such, there are very few campaign promises to compare his track record with.

In his mayoralty campaign kick-off material, Mayor Van Bynen made five key promises:

1. To reduce the rate of taxation without affecting services
2. To attract a medical university and health sciences research facility to Newmarket
3. To bolster shared digital infrastructure and reduce traffic congestion and pollution through Smart Commute
4. To construct a women’s shelter
5. To attract new businesses and keep the downtown heritage district a good place for business

Has he kept his word?

On the question of property taxes, Mayor Van Bynen’s record is not good. In 2011, he raised our taxes and Council voted another increase for 2012. What’s in store for the remainder or his term? If the newspaper is reporting it correctly, the forecast calls for higher taxes in 2013 and 2014 too. As if high taxes weren’t already a burden, don’t forget that we are facing higher water rates and increases in user fees.

In 2011, Mayor Van Bynen blamed the tax increase on the fire department hiring new firefighters. Seeing as only a few months separated his campaign release and the implementation of the 2011 budget, why didn’t the Mayor tell us about what was coming? Is it possible that he didn’t know that the fire department required the additional employees? If he knew about the new hires, then why did he promise to reduce the taxation rate instead of leveling with us about his plans to raise the tax rate again, (and again).

On the question of a medical university, you know the old saying "where there is smoke there is fire"? In the case of the medical university, there is no smoke, not even a wisp. There is absolutely no news out of Queens Park that this is ever going to happen. (Conversely we get lots of news about the Vaughan Hospital). Under the current economic and political conditions, it seems pretty certain that no new funding is coming from the provincial government at this time.

On the matter of Shared Digital Infrastructure and Smart Commute, the Mayor demonstrates a lack of promise in both these matters. When researching Shared Digital Infrastructure (see http://www.newmarketchamber.ca/Strategic_Initiatives and www.sdiproject.ca) there can be no doubt that there are a lot a catch-phrases in play (such as "intelligent", "collaboration", "digitization", and "partnership" to name but a few). Strip away the catch phrases and there isn’t much left to explain what all the excitement is about. The Canada’s Economic Action Plan provided $2,102,456 towards digitizing library media (which I assume is the scanning of back issues of the Era newspaper), with another $514,711 worth of funding coming from other sources (one supposes that means the Newmarket ratepayers through taxes and fees paid to the Town, the Library and Newmarket Hydro). There is some mumbo-jumbo about guest speakers for the Chamber of Commerce but it is hard to discern what we actually got in return for our $2.6 million investment. From what I read, I am afraid there is very little here for Newmarket residents. Maybe we should have used that money to build a new library or re-furbish the Hollingsworth Arena instead?

The Mayor's Record for Keeping Election Promises Part 2 of 2

Reading the Mayor’s campaign promises regarding Smart Commute is just too much for Newmarket commuters. The Mayor appears to be the world’s biggest hypocrite in light of his intrusive involvement in prolonging the YRT/Viva strike. While campaigning for votes in 2010, he talked about getting people out of cars, reducing congestion, and reducing pollution. All of this rings hollow now for those of us coping without the benefit of the YRT, forced to walk to work in sub-zero conditions for the past three months. The latest news is that there is no news on upcoming transit talks. Voters will remember that this Mayor is no friend of commuters.

On the matter of a women’s shelter, thankfully Belinda’s House is 1/3 of the way towards its fundraising goal. Emergency shelter is one thing but it is as important to see some improvements in the availability of affordable rentals in Newmarket, towards affordable transit so low income earners can travel to work, and towards affordable recreation for families. There is so much more that needs to be done for our most vulnerable in our community. We get a lot of lip service from politicians but when I am speaking to real people who depend on social assistance its clear that there are few services in Newmarket to help these families get a leg up and out of poverty.

On Economic Development and Downtown Business, the most notable thing the Mayor has done in 2011 is to give these downtown business owners a new tax break through the heritage designation. It has never been explained how this new tax break offsets the lack of parking, public transit, and other obstacles for people travelling into the downtown area. Drivers find limited parking and public transit is not an option.

On his overall record, despite the few promises he made in 2010 towards his re-election, Mayor Van Bynen has managed to disappoint us on all of them in 2011. This is a very unpromising start for his new term. His biggest fault, as evidenced by the $2.6 shared digital infrastructure fiasco, is his inability to communicate a clear vision for Newmarket’s future. Instead, he would have us bumping along without any regard for where our Mayor would like to see Newmarket end up. There is a cost to having a bumbler as a mayor. Past examples have constantly shown that the end result of poor municipal leadership is always higher taxes.