"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

Sunday 16 December 2012

Don't Tell Me It Isn't Mormac Revisited

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Political Chicanery":

"Heads should roll.
Heads did roll."

The cultural services agreement v2.0 has NOTHING to do with MorMac.

*************
Au  contraire, mon ami.
Mormac created  the monster .
The agreement leaves public space in the hands of a select few.
At no cost. To use as they see fit. To make and retain revenue.   With  potential for continuing to receive funds siphoned out of the public treasury.... because that's how it started.
It's the situation the new Council found on entry. And seem now  content to continue. 
Mayhap because of  insufficient familiarity  with  how we do things in Aurora.
It is not Aurora's idea of fairness and equity.

While parents come home from work, volunteer to coach,struggle to raise funds to keep a sport affordable, make do with working out of  basements, schlepping  gear wherever it needs to be and doing it  cheerfully because it's what you do   when you are part of a community.  

They do not expect  Council to  spend 3 million dollars  to provide  a facility for  a specific purpose and slither it out through the back door to an erstwhile unheard of group.
An autonomous  group  that answers to no-one, hold secret meetings, pay no rent or maintenance  and  receive  hard earned  tax dollars funneled out of the town treasury into the fingers of the usurpers. And mount a campaign to prevent anything from changing.
Don't tell me it has nothing to do with Mormac. 
It has  everything to do with them and their pals still working to maintain the status quo.
There is only one improvement in the draft agreement.It is slim to nil. 
They no longer receive hundreds of thousands of dollar with an automatic 3% annual  increase  handed to them without even having to ask.  
If the agreement is approved, they will have to make a  request  and set out  how they plan to use the money.
 Instead of a four year contract,they get twenty years
It's set up so the next four Councils won't even have to think about the enormity of the boondoggle let alone comprehend the scheme.              

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, if they roll this time we will have seen it coming. Not like last time when that sucker came out of left field. Fool me once, maybe my fault. Fool me twice???

Anonymous said...


I am getting sick and tired of reading the drivel that keeps getting written concerning the Culture Centre agreement.

Please direct your readers to the following three issues of The Auroran.

The Page One headline will be quoted for each issue.

Week of February 28, 2012 - "Council decides fate of Cultural agreement this week"

Week of March 6, 2012 - "Town, Cultural Centre given one month to make progress"

Week of March 27, 2012 - "Deadline set for new Cultural Centre agreement"

I will quote from the last mentioned issue:

"Since the February 28 meeting, Mayor Geoffrey Dawe and Town Staff have been meeting with members of the Cultural Centre board in developing terms of reference for a committee to oversee the negotiation of a new agreement.

When the ad hoc committee gets underway next month it will consist of two council members, plus the alternate and two reps from the Cultural Centre, and "a neutral third party" to act as facilitator during the negotiations, the cost of which will be shared equally between the Town and the Centre (read Town).

Participating in the discussions as "technical support" will be Aurora CAO Neil Garbe, the Centre's Executive Director, the Centre's lawyer (read at Town expense) "and other stakeholders". It is also noted that the two Councillors sitting on the ad hoc committee will not be appointed Town representatives on the Centre's Board of Directors.

In their report to Council, Aurora CAO and Parks and Recreation Director Al Downey singled out Council representation and having financing for the Centre as part of the budget process as two of the most significant issues during the negotiations."

The present draft agreement for consideration by Council at its next meeting December 18 does not adequately provide either.

A woman who conceived in late March would be ready to give birth by the middle of this month.

If the two most significant issues are Council representation on the Centre Board and fiscal responsibility, could someone please explain how it could have taken almost nine months to draft an agreement that deals with these two "significant" matters, one that Council could still amend before final approval in January?

Anonymous said...

"To use as they see fit."

Um, no - to provide cultural services to their fellow Aurorans, actually.

Anonymous said...

Someone has already commented up here that the Centre risks losing it's status as non-profit or charitable foundation if it involves itself in partisan politics. We did not know that the last time they emerged to threaten councillors. This time we do. Hopefully there is someone reading this Blog who can advise if they step over the legal line ? Or someone who knows someone? Whatever.

Anonymous said...


TO ALL MEMBERS OF AURORA COUNCIL

If the proposed draft agreement with the Culture Centre is for a term of 20 years, why not just give them the damned building in return for which the Town ceases any and all financial costs for its upkeep, maintenance, insurance, etc.

There would be a caveat on the title that the building can not be sold and at the end of the 20 years period title reverts to the town.

Anonymous said...

It isn't MorMac revisited.

It is a majority decision of THIS Council.

Anonymous said...

Let's sign a twenty year contract with the food bank first. Then we can consider council funding twenty years of nights out on the town.

Don’t get me wrong, I love culture and the current council has to be given credit for cleaning up after the previous council term, but let’s get our priorities straight.

Anonymous said...

8:45 PM
But at what cost? And accountable to whom? And with what degree of support towards the town tax base?

Anonymous said...

What is a "monster" to a few is a boon to many!

Anonymous said...

Maybe a dent could be made in their armor by pointing out what a dangerous precedent is going to be set ? Any other group could demand equal treatment. The Centre is the only organization getting so much money and so much attention. They have earned nothing from Aurora's taxpayers. No revenue is contributed to the smooth fiscal running of the town.

Anonymous said...


What if all "recreational/cultural" activities in Aurora were suspended until the full costs of providing these were met by the people who actually use them?

What would this do to the town's budget and tax rates?

Anonymous said...

11:18 AM Are you saying that in addition to your 'deserving' the Centre, you consider it to be a ' boon ' ?Really, like manna from heaven?