Discussion 113 of 365; The cost of bad data Catching up. Somehow I got behind a day. Here is today’s catch-up discussion. It is one that bothered me because I WANT to have my opinions about our community heard. So, I decided to complete a recent Town Survey. What a sham! In the survey, there is a question [...]

Discussion 112 of 365; Trust? I was reminded yesterday that the Town of Wasaga Beach has not introduced a method for public disclosure of the new Council expense funds. I don’t think they have publicly posted a policy on how Council members are to spend this money. Oh, there are all kinds of whispers, but Tax-Payers deserve to know [...]

Discussion 111 of 365; I look forward to having the Beach One/Two development dilemma resolved. The bottom line for this Council and the ones before it has always been “build condos”. We have all heard this same position for years…. Without putting up several stories of condos, they keep saying nobody will build ground floor commercial. I say, [...]

Discussion 110 of 365; Municipal Messaging Control. If the Mayor and Council don’t like what you post, it’s simple… they remove your messages and block your access. It may be staff tapping the switches, but our Council is ultimately responsible. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms deals with Governments who limit expression of conflicting positions, but someone would have [...]

Discussion 109 of 365; Fear? Control? Both! Today, I was told that the Town of Wasaga Beach had been boasting on their Facebook Page about meeting with the Minister of Education at the Roma Meeting months ago. So, it tweaked my interest and I decided to go read the post. Nope… I apparently can’t do that directly. It seems [...]

Discussion 107 of 365; The Devil is in the Details! Repeating some things may seem excessive to some. To those I am critical of, it will undoubtedly be seen as overkill. lol, oh well…. Here goes- I have recently received communication from the town of Wasaga Beach in relation to these Facebook discussions. I want to clarify that [...]

Discussion 106 of 365; Wasaga Entertainment Corporation – NO. For two days, we have been discussing the motion that our Council just passed where they are going to be paying $447,000.00 per year to four select employees to form an entertainment corporation. As part of today’s review, I want to remind everyone that the legal and “set-up” fees [...]

Discussion 105 of 365; Wasaga Entertainment Corporation- Why? In order to justify this lavish employment shell, the Town has said don’t worry, this is nothing new, they do it everywhere…. Ha! So let’s look at the comparables they put in their shiny presentation: Austin Texas; Population- 2,274,000 Wasaga Beach- 25,000 Most concerts in Austin are held in large commercial [...]

Discussion 104 of 365; Wasaga Entertainment Corporation. (Beach was left out by the planners on purpose- it was a choice.)   So many things to talk about, so I guess there will be no shortage of content in the coming months. For today, I want to start a discussion about our Mayors obnoxious plan to form an Entertainment Corporation. [...]

Discussion 103 of 365; Well it’s April 11 and the February Cheque register is available. Sure, check out some of the spending as there are several line that raise my eyebrows. https://www.wasagabeach.com/.../Council%20Cheque... When our discussions get spilled into some groups, often the same old Council Support Group get nasty and launch personal attacks not related to the topic at [...]

Discussion 102 of 365; Wasaga Beach Entertainment Corporation. More jobs for friends. https://pub-wasagabeach.escribemeetings.com/FileStream... Attention Wasaga Beach Taxpayers. Instead of building sidewalks, splash pads, parks and safe roads, your reserves and Casino revenue are now going to be used to create a party planning corporation. There are so many important questions to be asked regarding this, but don’t expect to [...]

Discussion 101 of 365; Wasaga Distribution Inc. Mayor Brian Smith has on two occasions produced campaign videos where he declares that he has never voted to sell Wasaga Distribution. THAT IS A LIE! I put that in caps to emphasize the importance of this lie. He has a team of Social Media supporters who are at the ready to [...]

Discussion 100 of 365; Hey, let’s build a downtown? …..3 After years of plans, what do we have? We have a lot of properties along Main Street that remain vacant. We also have some properties with a variety of buildings on them. The walking only section of Main Street at Beach One only has a couple of buildings remaining. [...]

Discussion 99 of 365; Hey, let’s build a downtown he said…… 2. Yesterday, we talked about why any community would try to build a downtown. We also talked about our official “Downtown Master Plan”. But today I want to talk about a Municipal Councils role in all of this. In my opinion, a council should create the right political [...]

Discussion 98 of 365; Hey, let’s build a downtown he said…… 1. There is a long standing complaint from some residents that Wasaga Beach does not have a traditional downtown. The first time I ever heard of it being a political issue was during the 2014 election. A few candidates ran on a platform of “building a downtown”. Not [...]

Discussion 97 of 365; Unify Wasaga was yesterday’s message. Today, we get to discuss wages. Due to Canadian Media rules, I have copied and pasted the following article from Ian Adams. I encourage everyone to subscribe to Simcoe dot com in order to get these articles directly. There are all kinds of “holly cow” statistics in the article. Feel [...]

Discussion 96 of 365; I said Wasaga Beach needed to unify in order to heal the divide. The reality is that there will always be some divide, as long as there are decisions that will cost some and profit others. However, when groups of people come together to support a project that is important to a large segment of [...]

Discussion 95 of 365; In the past week there has been an awakening of sorts with an increase in the number of old names re-appearing to simply hurl personal insults in response to some of these discussions. I am not surprised by this activity. In fact, I anticipated it. When I decided to start this year long project, I [...]

Discussion 94 of 365; Well the January Cheque Register has been posted. This is one of those times when it’s easiest to just say… Wow! In 12 years of closely following Municipal Politics, I have never seen such freestyle spending. https://www.wasagabeach.com/.../Council%20Cheque... I simply cannot imagine the tax increases we will have to endure again shortly. According to the most [...]

Discussion 92 of 365; I will make today’s short and sweet. Mayor Smith objected to a recent Facebook post where the use of the Arena was being questioned. For once, I agree with his assessment. It was wrong to be critical of this great facility and use photos that conveniently support an unused arena when we know it not [...]

Discussion 91 of 365; Here we grow again!   Several people have asked that we make these discussions available outside of Facebook so that those not using FB can watch and learn. My good friend Alan Clegg offered to build a website and has done a great job. Those who are dedicated Mayor Smith promoters have constantly criticized Alan [...]

Discussion 90 of 365; Ellen Tim’s has been telling people that there is a big announcement coming up regarding Beach One properties. Perhaps that was the real estate discussions being held behind closed doors yesterday. Will we finally see what deal FRAM has been hammering out? Will the property be sold outright for cash or will there be a [...]

Discussion 89 of 365; Transparency- Final chapter; Social Media Influences. For a few days we have discussed the various ways our current Council has rapidly and deliberately eroded several important mechanisms that have built a transparent environment at Town Hall. But why do this and how have they gotten away with so much damage? First, the why is obvious. [...]

Okay, much has been made of Mayor Smith holding an in camera meeting for “Educational purposes” to discuss WDI. my first thought is education? What does council need two hours to be educated on Wasaga Distribution? Its sort of there. Its has Brian Smith on its board and after a year I’m pretty sure they all should be familiar [...]