"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Wednesday 29 June 2011

A Day In The Life Of A Councillor

The following was received
On Tuesday 9.14p.m.
Councillors
I have been told that the park is going ahead on the old water tower site that is at Mosaics, Henderson and Davis. I would like to express my concerns regarding the park. On Saturday night between 12 and 1 am there were people in the field yelling and screaming and lighting off fire works. This is a common occurrence in the field. That field is not that far from houses and all of the tall trees it is not a great place for people to be letting of fireworks. People use it as a short cut to get to Davis Dr so, besides them yelling and screaming in field they then come through the development yelling and screaming. My concern is that when there is a park there then they will hang around more often and for longer periods of time. There will also be bottles getting broken and who knows what else. So, in the end it will not be a good place for kids to play. One night there was also a bunch of boys passing through the development to the field and one of them was going to go to the bathroom on my daughter's car in the driveway. I just happened to look out because they were so loud and they then took off. I feel that we will have more problems in our development if you go ahead with this park. We will also have people going to the park and the will come into our development to park. We don't have that much parking to begin with so we will have none.
Please reconsider this park. I think it is just going to be a hang out for people to cause trouble

Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 9:30 PM, I responded
Good Evening Mr.
There was a proposal to use this site for a children's playground in the last term of council. It did not materialise and is unlikely to do so. It is a completely unsuitable location for a playground hidden as it is from public view. All children's playground must be open and visible to passers by.
The vacant site does present a problem though. I think the only way to solve it would be to develop the site for use. Perhaps a small residential building. It is owned by the town and we can decide the best use. I would be interested in knowing if you have any views on the subject. Or your neighbours?
It is only one acre in size and I'm not sure of access. I'm not even sure it has the width of a driveway at the Davis Drive entrance
 On Tuesday 9.42p.m. I received:
Mrs. Buck
I feel that the site should be left as is the kids play in it and people have somewhere for their dogs to run. The only thing that is needed is signs for people to pick up their dog dirt. I think the field should be left as is
*********************
A single acre surrounded by Henderson Drive town houses,the Mosaic town houses and Davis Road, in my neighbourhood  the site in question was formerly occupied by a water tower, There probably is the width of a driveway from Davis Drive. The site could accommodate a small multiple residential building.

It is surrounded by trees. There is no reason it should remain vacant.Newmarket has been successful, working with the region in providing affordable housing for families. Not having to buy land is the first step to making a project affordable. We have another piece of land on the other side of Henderson DRive next to the Aurora Village Co-op which would also lend itself to a small multiple building.

There is no reason to keep the properties idle,earning no revenue  and a dozen reasons why they should be developed in the manner described.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You gotta love it , This has got to be one of the best examples of NIMBYism ever , this person writes Council to lay out their tale of woe about the goings on in the field and doesn’t want a park, You respond with a most sensible solution to the problem and what do you know ,the field is exactly what they wanted in the first place. Habitat for Humanity would be glad to get hold of it !!

Anonymous said...

Tuesday morning there was a water truck loading
up on the St. John's Sideroad, not from the Town,
a landscaping company. I thought that was all
protected. Is there any point in all of us
reporting these events to the Town? Or is it all
perfectly legal and fees are being paid ?

Anonymous said...

Who in their right mind would have thought that this was a good location for a park , hard to think of a bigger waste of tax dollars , surely you did not support this brain child.

Ya Know What They Say: said...

Be careful what you wish for...