Why don't Newmarket politicians focus on Newmarket's priorities?

York Region Council is deciding between adopting a 40% or 45% population density rate. Regardless of whichever rate the politicians accept, Newmarket has already exceeded the established target.

Our town could stop intensifying right now and tell the developers who want to build high rise apartment buildings and high density quad town homes to look elsewhere.

But at least one Newmarket politician, Deputy Mayor John Taylor is calling for more and more intensification of our town, saying we should target for 100% intensification. He doesn't tell us about the various landholdings he and other council members may own in areas of town slated for "intensification." You'll have to judge for yourself if our Newmarket council members are motivated by personal profit. It certainly seems that way, when members of Council repeatedly "forget" to declare pecuniary interests, or go as far as denying they own property along the Yonge Davis corridor, when in fact they do.

Instead, at the recent Council meeting, Mr. Taylor droned on about "white belt" farmland in places like Whitchurch Stouffville and East Gwillimbury that could be developed if we don't allow mega developments like Slessor Square, Hollingsworth Arena, and the Clock Tower to proceed.

A February 29th Town of Newmarket staff report even calls for rolling back designated green belt land, formally protected by Ontario Legislation, in Whitchurch Stouffville and East Gwillimbury. It seems that our Council is fine with using up farm land for that purpose, saying nothing of course of the acres of light manufacturing and warehouse lands sitting empty along Harry Walker Parkway.

As a resident of Newmarket, is it too much to ask for our politicians to concern themselves with the needs of our own municipality before they worry about what's going to happen to Whitchurch Stouffville and East Gwillimbury?

Our town's economic plan is centered around creating public sector jobs at the hospital and with a post secondary institution. That's fine, but keep in mind that these institutions don't pay property taxes.

Private sector employers, like those who have set up shop Aurora, King, Markham, Richmond Hill and Vaughan, not only create good, well paying jobs, but they also contribute to their host municipality's coffers.

When Newmarket Council sends private sector jobs elsewhere and instead focuses only on residential growth, then government services associated with growth are borne mostly by the residential tax base. That means higher taxes for homeowners.

Wouldn't it be better to slow the high rise development that this Council seems too keen to promote and instead look to host the next area's next big head office or light manufacturer?

That makes sense -- except of course, if you are a council member who owns a property located within the official plan's intensification zone.

Council worries that adopting complaints process will generate complaints from residents

At tonight's council meeting, the agenda contains a recommendation for hiring a municipal Ombudsman.

There are no reasons why a municipal Ombudsman is necessary. Newmarket taxpayers already support the Ontario Ombudsman, who has authority to oversee municipal government services. So at no extra costs to the Newmarket taxpayer, residents could simply continue with referring complaints to the Ontario Ombudsman's office.

But our Council is inclined to spend extra money and have taxpayers pay for this additional, Newmarket specific Ombudsman. The cost is expected to be in the range of $12,000 annually as a retainer - plus $280 per hour for any complaints received.

What an Ombudsman does is to ensure that government services are provided in a fair and equitable manner. The Ombudsman makes sure that the Town of Newmarket doesn't discriminate against anyone and that processes are applied consistently. Residents can only file a complaint to the Ombudsman once all other avenues of complaint within the municipality have been exhausted.

With that in mind, last week's debate at the Committee of the Whole meeting on the hiring of an Ombudsman was bizarre. The main crux of some Council member's arguments was a worry that there could potentially be 15-20 complaints, as Deputy Mayor John Taylor insisted. He felt that paying $280 per hour for this many complaints would be excessive.

Councillor Twinney asked for reports from staff on the number of the complaints received. When she asked for these reports annually, Mr. Taylor interceded and suggested that the reports should be made monthly.

There was even a suggestion that the contract with the Ombudsman contain an "out" clause, should there be too many complaints received.

All of this may seem reasonable except when you remember what the purpose of the Ombudsman is. The Ombudsman investigates only when government services are not distributed fairly and equitably.

So if there are a lot of complaints, then the issue isn't with the Ombudsman. The issue then becomes one of where the Town of Newmarket is failing to provide government services to residents.

And also remember that the job of a Councillor was to ensure that the staff of the Town of Newmarket fulfills its duties owed to the public.

Why would our Council members want to take any measure that would prevent residents from complaining if the staff of the Town of Newmarket isn't doing a good job?

Make Rental Happen. Newmarket's Decision on the Clock Tower Re-Development

York Region's "Make Rental Happen" campaign was widely promoted by Deputy Mayor John Taylor and other members of Newmarket Council, including Ward 7 Councillor Christina Bisanz.  For a while, the #MakeRentalHappen hashtag was all over their social media correspondence.

With the Clock Tower development proposal for a new 165 rental unit building located in the heart of Main Street's heritage district, Council will have an opportunity to actually make rental happen for Newmarket.

On paper, this proposal is exactly the kind of development John Taylor has been advocating for.  It is high density affordable housing located in a mixed use area.  There is no reason for him to be anything less than enthusiastic about this project.

Even arguments regarding "heritage" are moot because the developer is proposing to preserve the facade of the existing heritage buildings facing Main Street.

So why is Council being uncharacteristically quiet about this exciting development opportunity?

Voters electing a York Region Chair is just a façade

A lot of people were critical of Tony Van Bynen for voting against a motion in support of MPP Chris Ballard's private member's bill on electing the York Region Council Chair.

Personally, I think the criticism would be best directed at MPP Chris Ballard who, despite putting his name on the bill, has done literally zero to promote it locally. As more time passes, Newmarket residents have come to realize how lazy our MPP is.

As far as I am concerned, I see the election of the York Region Chair more as a negative turn of events as opposed to a positive one for York Region.

Here's why.

Other than the existing Chair, Wayne Emerson, the most credible challengers for York Region Chair would be any of the existing York Region mayors. These people are experienced with the administrative duties required to be the Regional Chair. Few others would have the requisite credentials to do the job.

But in considering whether they would want the Chair job, these politicians know that mayors are "big fishes" in their respective circles. The position of Regional Chair doesn't have the same cachet as a being mayor does. There is very little prestige to being Regional Chair. You have to remember that ego is a big driver for anyone wanting to enter politics.

A mayor has a mandate to govern the town and drive an agenda. A Regional Chair does not have the same credibility. The Regional Chair will still have to wheel and deal with nine separate municipalities in order to get anything accomplished. As such, it's almost impossible to promise anything during an election campaign.  

Looking at Durham Region for an example, it cost Roger Anderson over $82,000 to win the Durham Regional Chair position in 2014. Durham is about half the size of York Region, so a fair estimate would be that the York Chair race will cost a candidate approximately $170,000. The majority of Roger Anderson's donors were connected to home developers.

It's a lot of money to spend on a position that doesn't have much power or prestige. It's highly unlikely that one of the sitting mayors in York Region would want the job, when the job they have already is better in every possible way.

If there is an election in 2018, I predict that Wayne Emerson, with the endorsement of the sitting York Council behind him, will run and easily win. It won't happen because he's the best man for the job, because he's not. He'll win because nobody of any substance will challenge him.

The York Region mayors' endorsements will carry tremendous weight with voters who otherwise don't know anything that can distinguish the various candidates. It goes without saying that Metroland Media/York Media Group newspapers won't help educate the public.

The election of a Regional Chair is simply a facade - making voters believe that they are electing their candidate while in reality, the Chair remains in the hands of the sitting mayors.  

Schizoid Council running out of ideas

Is this current edition of Newmarket Council schizoid?

Motions tabled and voted down last term are being repackaged and supported this time around.

For example, last term former councillor Maddie Di Muccio pushed to have all meetings of council live streamed. That idea didn't receive support from the rest of Council. Now I'm reading that they've adopted a motion from Councillor Hempen to live stream their workshops. I actually had to read that document twice because throughout the 2010 to 2014 term, Tom Hempen only tabled 1 motion over the entire 4 years - and that was the infamous 1% tax levy that passed while the rest of us were watching the Leafs vs Penguins in a game 7 playoff.

It's nice to see that Tom Hempen has already matched his work output from the previous 4 years.

Also being tabled is a motion at Regional Council by John Taylor to live stream and archive Regional Council meetings. We recall how stridently opposed he was when former Councillor Di Muccio tabled the same motion last term, which would have the Town of Newmarket Council asking York Regional Council to live stream. It actually made the news.

Finally, on Monday, Newmarket Council is going to vote on supporting an elected Regional Chair. I couldn't find the exact citation (because the new version of the Town of Newmarket's web page is missing a few documents), but this idea was tabled in the past as well. If my memory is correct, it was former Councillor Di Muccio who was leading the way on that initiative as well.

What all of this says to me is that this current version of Council has run out of ideas. They are rummaging through the trash bin of suggestions they already rejected and resubmitting them lest the public catch on that these members of Council have run out of steam. I don't think its mere coincidence that these ideas belonged to former Councillor Di Muccio.

There's a saying that just like diapers, politicians should be changed often and for the same reason.

I think what we are seeing in Newmarket is a group of people who have hung around on Council for one term too many.

It's time for new energy and new faces to take their place.

The end of an Era?

With news of layoffs, printing press shutdowns, and publications ending, it has been a tough week for the newspaper industry.

Earlier, Metroland Media announced the early retirement of Ian Proudfoot. This move likely signals significant changes for Newmarket as well.  Could we be seeing the final days of local newspapers in our town?  Newmarket has had its own newspaper publications dating back to the 1850's.

The yorkregion.com web page reportedly attracts 500,000 hits per month.  Could this pan-York Region model replace the local newspapers?  Will we see the Newmarket Era, Aurora Banner, East Gwillimbury Express, Stouffville Sun-Tribune, Markham Economist & Sun, King Connection, Georgina Advocate, Richmond Hill Liberal and Vaughan Citizen being replaced by one single newspaper covering all of York Region?

That is the route Post Media has taken in Ottawa when it amalgamated the newsrooms of the Ottawa Sun and Ottawa Citizen cutting jobs in the process.

Based on current events, its likely that we won't see is the free paper being replaced by paid subscription.  Yesterday, Metroland Media announced that it was ending the paper publication of the Guelph Mercury (which is a paid subscription newspaper) but the Guelph Tribune, a free delivery paper would continue to print.

Back in April 2015 at the Newmarket Public Library's Idea Market forum, Newmarket Era editor Tracy Kibble called out my Newmarket Town Hall Watch and my brand of citizen journalism.  It was a brash move considering that my blog will likely outlast her publication.

Maybe after all the dust settles, Tracy Kibble can start her own blog to compete with Newmarket Town Hall Watch?  Personally I doubt it.  Tracy Kibble's brand of journalism is a paid job.  For citizen journalists like me, writing is our passion.  And for the reader, it is easy to tell the difference between the two.  

Why Tony Van Bynen shovels public money into the Newmarket Era

Why is Mayor Tony Van Bynen so obsessed with controlling what information gets released to the public?

Back in the dying days of the 2014 municipal election, Tony Van Bynen and his allies went apoplectic when a secret Glenway memo was released to the public. He decried the "breach of confidentiality" condemning it in the strongest of terms.

All of it was nonsense of course. There was no breach because the secret memo was distributed after council voted to make the document public. The only reason Van Bynen was upset was because he couldn't put his spin on the memo. The memo was released in its pure, unvarnished form and it revealed to Glenway residents important information that the Mayor didn't want them to know.

So it is of no surprise that the upcoming Code of Conduct revisions is equally obsessed with so-called "confidentiality" matters. Namely, unless the information is made public by approved methods, Councillors are bound to keep quiet.

It's a nice way for Tony Van Bynen to sit on information until his spin-masters in the ever growing "Communications Department" have polished and massaged the details that the public is entitled to know.

Earlier in Council this week, we saw how Tony Van Bynen reacts to facts. When confronted about his salary, which apparently Freedom of Information reports reveal to be substantially higher than the $151,000 he told the Editor of the Era, he says, "I don't think your facts are correct."

Van Bynen could end the controversy by making his tax filing public for the 2014. He chooses not to. Instead, he lives in the grey, murky world of half truths and obfuscation, hoping that residents will get lost in the fog.

Keep in mind the Mayor's stranglehold over what stories the Newmarket Era publishes (certainly never a disparaging word - ever - regarding Mayor Van Bynen. Miraculously, the Era has agreed with 100% of what Van Bynen does for more than a decade).

Here are some extremely relevant stories that the Era has ignored in the past year:

1)  The Mayor's salary fiasco.

2)  Deputy Mayor John Taylor keeping secret the fact that his wife is a senior executive of the media group which owns the Era. Not only did he keep it secret, he voted to advertise "announcements" in her paper on many, many occasions without ever declaring a conflict of interest.

3) The paper wrote about campaign compliance audits in other municipalities but did not cover the regional councillor John Taylor's (even though he was made to return a fat cheque to a company owned by billionaire Frank Stronach).

4) A lawsuit alleging that Steve Hinder, Stronach's bag man and the debate moderator in the 2014 election, punched a man at a political event, resulting in the victim spending months in the hospital recovering.

5)  Councillor Tom Vegh living la vida loca on the taxpayer dime via his discretionary expense account.

Each one of these topics are big news even in a small town like Newmarket. Could you imagine the furor if someone like Rob Ford were to be embroiled in anything similar? It wouldn't just be making headlines in Toronto, but across the nation.

But in Newmarket, due to the cowardice of  Era publisher and editor, Ian Proudfoot and Tracy Kibble, too afraid of the Montgomery Burns character we have as our mayor, cower at the feet of Tony Van Bynen. They call themselves a "community paper" but the Era has long given up serving the community. The Era serves just one master.



In an era when Canadian newspapers are closing their doors and laying off staff, the Newmarket Era is one paper that deserves to be shut down for being a propaganda rag that only publishes state-sanctioned talking points pre-approved by Tony Van Bynen and his stooges.