Cobourg Blog

Before the last Municipal Election, it was commonly said by many - including me - that the council was arrogant and ignored the public’s request for information.  Presentations were largely ignored, information was meagre and the only justification I heard was that “we can’t help it if the papers don’t publish what we give them”.   So we elected a new council with two new faces Miriam Mutton and Stan Frost.  So what do we have now?  Basically the same except that Miriam asks the questions for us inside the council but gets the same response - deathly silence.  The council publishes a small newsletter every few months but it gives virtually no detail on the contentious issues like policing and the Frink.

Since the council obviously thinks it has money to spare (spending big on the Police and the Frink), perhaps they could spend a bit on communications.  Perhaps a paid ad in the paper or a much larger newsletter. Or a low cost way would be their web site - for example detailed answers to questions publicly asked.  If they “can’t afford this” for some reason, I’d be happy to post answers on this blog!

I support Martin Partridge’s submission to the Minister of Environment on the Frink issue mostly because I think there are still unanswered questions which the council is arrogantly ignoring.

For example:

• What is the full true cost - start to finish plus maintenance?
• How many people truly support it as it currently stands - with no pond but instead a large concrete slab for most of the year.  I suspect most support disappeared when it became just a rink.
• Why do the council think it will be used enough to make it worth all this money?  What study was done?  Hopefully it was better than the recent parking study which was an utter waste of money - but I suspect there was no study at all.

I’m sure there are more questions, but those are mine.  And the biggest question of all, why does the council ignore all these questions and related submissions to council on the subject?

To download Martin’s submission to the MOE, click here.

The votes have been consistently 4 in favour and 3 against. Mayor Delanty, Bob Spooner, Dean McCaughey and Bill MacDonald in favour; with Miriam Mutton, Stan Frost and Gil Brocanier against. Agree with them or not, it’s interesting to analyze why they vote this way. Why would they vote as they do?
I suggest it breaks down as follows:

• Peter Delanty asked his Liberal friends for money, got it and now has to follow through or lose face.
• Bob Spooner is a big hockey fan and the more chances for people to play hockey the better
• Dean McCaughey - probably believes he is supporting the silent majority (the only acceptable reason)
• Bill MacDonald - maybe the same as Dean - who knows.
• Deputy Mayor Gil Brocanier - thinks it’s a waste of money - he manages the budget so is more attuned.
• Miriam Mutton - wants to delay to be sure the council really knows what the majority wants - a good thing in this case.
• Stan Frost - seems to share Gil and Miriam’s concerns.

The Rink is certainly not what was originally suggested. Originally a park was suggested with space for a natural rink with no concrete. Then the Fountain, Pond and Artificial rink were suggested when we got the grant (courtesy of Peter’s connections).

Let’s see what happens. The upside is that the Rink may turn out to be a big success - I’d be interested in a count of users through the next winter. We may even get bus tours with people marveling at the “”Rink in a Park”"! More likely it will be mostly deserted except for one or two families on one or two weekends in winter. With no fence, I can’t see hockey being played there.

Another upside is that the next council could spend a few bucks and add a border to the concrete and create our pond after all.  Council changing its mind implies the majority would (hopefully) vote for new councilors. However, I understand that at least two of the frink supporters are not expected to run again next time.  Something to look forward to!

When the Fountain/Rink project was proposed, it was a plus for Summer and a plus for Winter. In summer, the green space would be enhanced with a moderate sized shallow pool with a small fountain in the middle. No one imagined a large fountain (e.g. like in Las Vegas) - so the pool was the main feature. In winter, the pool would become ice and there would be skating. At all times, an attractive feature in our “downtown” park. Budget issues were covered by the Provincial Government grant (except for maintenance). We can argue about the actual usage of the rink but it would not be ugly.

Now, because of budget restrictions, the winter part stays much the same but the summer part becomes ugly - a large slab of concrete will certainly be ugly unless it is 100% covered with planters - I think the plan is just some planters. And lots of planters adds significantly to the maintenence cost (do we know the number?). I’d rather spend the extra cash up front to save on maintenance and end up with the original project. The bastardized version now proposed is no longer the original project - it will be plain ugly and awful in summer. We’ll start to look forward to the Rotary tent covering it!

All we need is one more councillor to recognize this situation and speak up.

John Draper

The revised Frink design was released today and is on the agenda for approval at Monday’s Council meeting. The new design is staggeringly atrocious. The pond is gone. The concrete basin will be simply that — a bare concrete basin — during all the warm months of the year. This is approximately what will be in the centre of the concrete oval:

Can you believe it — a self-contained crappy little fountain surrounded by bare concrete. The concept of a year-round water feature has been completely discarded. What we end up with is a skating rink for a number of months per year and for the rest of the year a huge patch of concrete sitting there in the middle of our beautiful new waterfront park. Does anyone else think this is insane?

Martin Partridge has called a public meeting on the Fountain/rink at the Library on August 9th. He got the word out by e-mail - he did not rely on the newspapers although they have picked up the story. He says he has “information on fundamental design errors”.

Who cares? The main problem is not design flaws but the process used. In Cobourg it’s not hard to find out the real story although it is harder to prove. In case you have not heard, the story is that Mayor Peter Delanty is one of the Liberals who knows who to call (or rather, knows his call will be heard). He asked for and received part of the $32M that McGuinty handed out - this is the hand-out that the Provincial auditor general called “one of the worst we’ve seen” for documentation and accountability. So it would seem that the rush to spend it is to avoid losing it if the Liberals lose the October 10th election!

Although my initial reaction was to take the money and run, the unanswered questions are:

1. What application process was used and how did Cobourg get selected?
2. Why did we get the money for this project and not other worthy causes in town?
3. Is this the best design?
4. Should there even be an open air skating rink/fountain in Cobourg anywhere?
5. If there should be, is the chosen location best? What about in Victoria Park opposite the “Park Theatre” currently being renovated? It would be downtown and use a space that is underutilized.
6. What is the on-going cost? Is it truly trivial?

So I think Martin’s meeting is just stirring the pot - the issue he wants to talk about would appear to be of low importance - BUT - there are still many unanswered questions.

Oh, and one more comment - some people and councillors seem to think that councillors should look after only their own “areas of responsibility” - but if only one councillor talks about an issue publicly, then there is no council debate. Everything then happens out of public sight - this seems to me to be the whole problem with this council and the last. Only Miriam Mutton and Stan Frost seem to understand this point - especially Miriam. The system of appointed co-ordinators has to go - it does not provide transparency - or has not to date.

John Draper

The objections to the proposed Fountain and Ice-Skating Rink in Rotary park seem to have been solved (except noise). With the recently revised version there is now more green space, no need for a special tent for the Rotary Waterfront event and lower cost so that most of the cost is paid by the Provincial Grant. It looks like the Town Planning staff have “found a way” to make it work! I will not personally be skating there in Winter but it will certainly be a year round attraction for Cobourg - in the same way that Nathan Philips square is for Toronto. And it has to be in the middle of town or it misses the benefit for downtown - so the Victoria Park idea misses that benefit.

The remaining issue is noise to nearby residents. I hate to think what these people will think of the July 1st weekend! But maybe that’s excused because it’s short whereas skating lasts a few months. I think the residents have to rely on closed windows and remember that they do live in the “heart of the ‘city’ “. Let’s hope the work can be completed in time for this winter.

John Draper

Some people have said they don’t like the Waterfront Rotary Park development as proposed. There are concerns about ongoing cost, noise from skating, loss of park open space and a general concern (mostly from Councillor Miriam Mutton) about lack of sufficient planning and consultation. This is not a new idea, proposals were shown to the public for comment several years ago - the current idea was well received then. One counter proposal was from Miriam - do I detect sour grapes here? Concerns about noise and night time activity - presumably from nearby residents - should not be an issue since the plan was in place well before the condos were sold.

The DBIA likes the idea - and so they should. A pleasant waterfront with winter activities will make downtown more attractive. The concerns about concrete/water/ice covering green space are misplaced - there is still a lot of green space and there were never plans to plant trees or provide picnic benches. This is a complement to Victoria Park - not a replacement.

But the big item that is mostly overlooked is the fact that “(Provincial) funding for this program was specifically allocated for this project and was non-transferable” (quote per Cobourg Star from David Peacock). So we either take the $1.35M from McGuinty and enhance our waterfront or we don’t. We can’t move skating elsewhere and we can’t make major changes because then there would be no $1.35M and the project would die.

Let’s move on and support this project - sometimes the council gets it right.

One of the best things the last council did (with help from Rotary) was to set-up the park that I will always think of as “Diversey Park”. (Which begs the question - does it have a name?) And now the Provincial Government wants to return some of our taxes by way of a grant to pay most of the cost of a fountain and ice-skating rink there. (Another question - if we don’t do the project, do we lose this grant - $1.3M?).

So wouldn’t it be great to have a fountain there in Summer? Right where a lot of people can see it and get to it. Let’s remember that part of the council operating budget has to be for projects to make us feel good about living here. We have clean streets (we could save money by letting that lapse), we have a good looking waterfront (vandalized items are fixed), King street looks good, roads are in good shape (compared to Port Hope), the flowers around Victoria Hall are good, etc etc - we don’t need to do these things - they are just good to have. So let’s have a fountain (and rink in winter) - the cost to us is about a third of what it would be if we paid the whole shot.

Let’s make Cobourg an even better place to be.

As an aside, it would be good if someone could suggest where all the visitors to our waterfront are going to park!

John Draper

The word is out. A public information session will be held at Victoria Hall on Tuesday, 8 May 2006, to discuss construction of a skating rink, washrooms perhaps, a shelter and a chilling plant. No time has been set.

Will this project include parking for busses on Albert Street? Probably. Should we be alarmed? We should.

The public meeting has not been advertised so far. Why does public works coordinator Councillor McCaughey ignore the protocol for advertising public meetings? Is this the new face of council communications?

One has to ask if the council has been involved and, if not, why not? Who will pay for this project? What’s more, can we afford it? The park area dedicated to Dr. Bob Scott is now public property. It is owned by the town. Deputy Mayor Brocanier been quoted as saying he doesn’t think public money is involved? Is something fishy is going on?

Let everything be brought out into the open or we’ll be again saying there’s something rotten in the State of Denmark.

Let everyone attend this ‘public information session’ and ask questions. There’s enough disfigurement of public places and spaces without countenancing any more. Watch this space for developments.