Cobourg Blog

I cannot understand why we have a religious ceremony to start our Council meetings. I am not offended, I think the Lord’s prayer is as close to independent of religion as you are going to get. But it is a religious thing! OK, it’s also a tradition. But that’s not a reason to do something if it’s inappropriate. If we had a priest come in and bless the councillors or everyone had to use the “sign of the cross” every time they said anything, there would be objections. But it will continue because “there is a consensus” according to Peter Delanty. Consensus amongst whom? Certainly I was not asked - nor was a survey done in the town - there was not enough time. As Miriam says, it’s a personal thing and I say that personal things and religious things do not belong in council meetings.
“Render unto Caesar..”

Our Town Council announced with much fanfare that parking would not be permitted on certain roads in winter.  The reason given was that snow plowing can’t be done if cars are in the way.  So we just had a snow storm that meant plowing was needed - and Hibernia street had cars parked and the plow went around them.  But no tickets were issued and no cars were towed!  So why make a law if it is not going to be enforced?  It just makes sure there are empty parking spots for people who ignore the law.  I wonder if there was enforcement for any roads on the list.  The Police can’t do the enforcing on a stormy night - they are busy with other problems.  So who enforces?

“Does it make any sense for councils to employ economic-development staffers, and then allow competitors from beyond our borders to come in and usurp business from our taxpaying merchants who support everything from local charities to minor sports?” asks the editorial in the Cobourg Star.
Yes, it does!
The largest amount of Cobourg’s tax revenue – by far! – comes from residential assessment, not commercial. Cobourg residents are consumers and it is in their economic interest to spend their dollars where they get the most value and selection; just as it is in the economic interest of the merchants to restrict competition to get the highest prices for their goods.
As far as supporting local charities and minor sports is concerned, for Cobourg’s business people that is a form of advertising. As the old saying goes, “they want to do well by doing good”. But Cobourg’s residents contribute countless hours volunteering for community activities without seeking economic gain. Without them the business community would not have any events to sponsor.
Now what about the huge ad for an Oshawa jeweller on our Cobourg buses?

“Trauma counselors have been called in to work with employees of Northumberland County Council, shocked by the news that a senior manager had been charged with fraud.
The trauma counselors were available to the 500 county employees on a round-the-clock basis for as long as they are needed.” Brighton Independent
Haven’t we come a long way in shielding our public servants from the stark realities of life in Northumberland County?

Even in winter when the weather can sometimes be miserable, Cobourg is a great town to live in. Who else has a Santa Claus parade, lights in the park, a New Year’s Eve “First Night” and a Mayor’s levy? The season kicks off with a Santa Claus parade - yes I know it’s commercial and lots of other towns have them - but we do have one. Then Victoria Park has so many lights decorating it that bus tours come to see it! And for New Year’s eve, we’ve had a “First night” celebration for many years where several restaurants and other venues have entertainment with a great fireworks display over the harbour. Everyone said this year’s was the best ever!

Above is the Wagon used for a Hay-Ride to transport between venues on First Night. More photos here: Cobourg photos

Then the next day, the Mayor and all the councillors, put on a reception (levy) to meet and greet anyone who came. The Cobourg Concert Band had a concert and a “good time was had by all”.  Some reasons why they call us a “feel good” town.

The moral of all this? A blog does not have to be all negatives!

John Draper

Up till now, I have not commented on the issue of an award to Constable Garrett because it seemed like a no-brainer - if anyone ever deserved the highest award, he does.  But the gloss is wearing off our glamorous Governor General - it seems she can’t make a decision on her own.  First she refers the decision to a committee who don’t want to change the rules even when obviously needed - and now she passes the buck to the Prime Minister!  Is she saying she can’t decide?  If so, why does she have the job?  She’s supposed to be smart and caring - but apparently not.  Or at least she does not show any indication of caring.

Full marks for Rick Norlock’s support - and hopefully he’s pushing more “in the background” to get this award settled.  There’s nothing worse than letting a wrong “rule” stopping the right thing from being done.  We have politicians (and all managers for that matter) to make and change rules - anyone can follow them.

Also full marks to our local press for their support - and I see it is getting the attention of the National Press - The National Post had a supportive column on page 4 today.  The key quote which I heartily agree with: “Before I was upset.  Now I’m pissed off” (Karl Walsh - Ontario Provincial Police Assoc. President).

The good news is that so far, there have been no dissenting opinions by members of the public.

John Draper

I have been checking this blog daily but not looking below the first item and I had faith that all Spam was being caught before being displayed (I get about 10 per day that do get caught).  Turns out I was wrong - a large collection of ads for ring tones found their way onto the site.  I’ve deleted them and made some other changes so hopefully it won’t happen again! But this episode underlines the fact that there are people in this world who are selfish and totally uncaring.  I knew that, but I don’t meet many - maybe I live in a protected world.

But this will not cause me to give up on this blog - there are many issues coming up that will need comment.

• What will happen with Policing after we have the Public meetings?  Despite the relatively large attendance, most people in favour of changing (and some against) will not go to the meetings.  Politicians know that so they won’t make much difference to the end result.
• What will happen to our economy with the insanely high dollar?  It may feel good but there will be major negative repercussions on our manufacturing industry if the dollar stays above parity.
• Will Harper make it all the way to October 2009 before the next election?  It will be a first if a minority Government can survive to it’s full term!
• Will the frink controversy die down? Will the rink get the usage predicted?
• Who will buy Condos for $1.1M at the Illahee development?  We thought $699,000 + was high!

So the blog will stay.

John Draper

What a surprise! As if we could not predict it - the County wide quote for OPP to do the same or better job is less than it currently costs. The same people doing the same job in the same buildings with better management and tools but different dispatchers. So if you are in favour of Cobourg (and Port Hope) keeping their own Police force, you are saying “Let’s spend $2M per year to have better local dispatcher knowledge”. What am I missing here? Don’t give me hidden costs - there are some up front costs - paid for in the first year by savings - and don’t give me it would really be inferior service - how can it be with mostly the same people and the same contracted level of service?

John Draper

With all this talk of Municipalities now “uploading” to the Province - one would think it was a a win for the long suffering taxpayer. But it just transfers the responsibility from one tax authority to another. There is only one taxpayer in the end - or do we think that if the Province pays, “we” don’t? It just comes out of a different tax! Or do we think Cobourg will offload (sorry, upload) its costs to the broad based Province but Toronto won’t? Dream on!

So we should be discussing tax methods - not up or downloading. Is it better for some things to be paid by taxing property or by Income and Sales tax? I have always been of the opinion that school costs are better handled by the Province and not a tax on Properties. So let’s hope the transfer started by Mike Harris gets finished and 100% of school costs are paid by the Province. Some of the downloads Mike did were clearly an error but the uploading of some school costs was on the right track. This of course brings up the issue of managing schools and school boards. Already, curricula and standards are set by the Province so I have a hard time understanding what value is provided by local school boards. Parent-Teacher groups yes - boards that control budgets - why?

Anyway, these are the sorts of discussions we should be having - what tax base should pay for what? If the activity relates to property and therefore property taxes, then it should be Municipalities - if not, it’s a Provincial or Federal matter. For example, local roads, sewers, drains, town planning, parks, fire departments etc are related to Property. There are some grey areas like Police, Social Services etc but let’s for now focus on the issues that are clear.

John Draper

I started this blog some months ago with the idea of stimulating discussion and airing my views to the people of Cobourg. It started well with a fair bit of interest but has faded recently. From what I hear, there are quite a lot more people who read the blogs than people who contribute. And those who do contribute have other outlets for their opinions - and they are generally the same people on each issue.

The technology of this particular blog works well and the many spam attempts never get past the moderator (me). But the 30 or so per day are a pain to delete regularly. Spammers want to be shown so their links to sexual and other products will be “aired”. Frankly, the work to keep the software updated plus deleting spam comments seems to be not worth the result of the few original blogs, comments and viewers.

Any Comments on this?

John Draper