I don’t back down to bullies

It’s hard to believe I have posted 229 discussion posts so far. It has become part of my daily routine. In watching the August 22 Council meeting, I couldn’t believe how many times our elected officials mentioned that they had heard or read something in Social Media when they were justifying their decisions.

My goal in starting this project was to solicit an audience that wanted to stay informed about what was happening in local politics. My motivation was the void of local news availability with the combination of four specific things:

TorStar no longer printing and distributing the Wasaga Sun.
Torstar’s local arm, Simcoe Dot Com does put out an e-version, but Facebook (Meta) no longer permits Canadian News Content that is not paid.
The local newsletter that puts out a Newspaper style publication does a great job of sharing certain community stories, but is so politically biased that no true unbiased political examination is ever done. It is a BS/ Council support tool.
Finally, local Facebook groups had been overwhelmed with BS Bullies that would lash out at ANY person questioning “His” direction. This created an awkward silence. Even those who knew what was happening, didn’t dare posting their concerns as the attacks would be instant and from a large number of identities. (Many were simply fake IDs)

So, I got underway. I don’t back down to bullies. I never have and never will. Today, 228 discussions are behind us and the constant barrage of insults provoked by some discussions continue. C’est la vie!

What I am discovering is that there is a VERY large number of people following what is written here that do not comment or “like” the posts. They message me, they speak to me at the grocery store and they are all welcome at my kitchen table.

So, again… thank you for following.

For those who have followed politics closely, you will recall that I have been critical in the past about the original proposal for Townhouses at Beach Two presented by the FRAM group during Brian Smiths first kick at the can. One of the criticisms I always leveled was that they breezed over a barely noticed detail in their plans, which was that they wanted the Province to move the Provincial Park Boundary a little.

My laughing emojis were frequent in regards to this. I figured the province would never budge on this.

Guess what? It’s time to switch to a concerned emoji

. A very long motion was introduced by Mayor Brian Smith at the Council Meeting in August 22nd. It involved sending correspondence to several key members of the Province of Ontario. The motion contained some interesting ideas, but there was also a familiar ask I had heard before….

Our Council is asking the Province of Ontario to move the Provincial Park Boundary again.

There are many other asks in this motion, but TODAY I want to focus on that specific bit.

Is our Mayor asking the Province to transfer parkland to our care so we can operate a park differently than them? I don’t think so. I think what they are asking is to provide a larger area for the soon to be announced Private Condominium Neighbourhood that will soon replace huge areas of beach one and two.

For years now, everyone supporting condos at the main end kept saying, it’s not the “Beach” that Condos will be built on. The beach itself is Provincial park they would say, and THAT would never change.

But now, we are saying, give us more of that Provincial Park so we can create private properties for the wealthy.

IT’S TIME TO STOP THIS INSANITY!

I can share my vision for where this all ends. The Town of Wasaga Beach has already decided (under this councils watch) to support private property owners asserting their claim of beach access rights in the East End. The Town has erected permanent signs warning the public they are entering private property. These signs are both on the beach and at paths providing access to the beach that have been there for generations.

Why does this matter when we are talking about Beach One and Two? Properties protected by those east end signs are just the beginning. Once the Condo’s get built and owners start to occupy them, do you think they will welcome visitors from other parts of Town or out of Town to walk through their land in order to get to the beach in front of their home/ cottage? It doesn’t take a genius to see where this will lead.

Take the most populated Beach in our Town and fence off more than half of the public parking space. Inside that fence, put 400 or more families that can afford the Millions it will cost to live there (even if only on weekends). Now, have those elite grab their beach chairs and walk out to the sand every morning to claim their spot.

What is left? Really carefully think about this. I did and I am thankful that the Province created our Provincial Park when they did.

Rebuild the commercial component around Main Street and the first couple blocks along the face of Beach Drive. But… leave the remainder of the property at our “main end” for access, parks and facilities dedicated to public access!

The town is allready trying to diminish access in the Allenwood Beach Area. What will be left in 50 years if the Province gives it away piece by piece.

Private Property signs will outnumber welcome signs before we know it.

Even their big announcement that a hotel might locate there. Pause for just a moment and think about the last hotel you stayed at. Where did you park? Was it just hotel guests using the lobby amenities, or were the bathrooms and air conditioned lobbies with couches filled with beach visitors.

It all makes for pretty pictures, but truly reflect on the visitors of the future at our Main End.

There is so much to talk about in the next few weeks, but today please read the letter Council voted to send off. It truly is important to our future.

Then please consider this: Council is not allowed to move the business of the town forward outside of Council Meetings. But how much discussion was there at council about this complex, extensive motion? None… zero discussion. It was a recorded vote. The whole process took less than five minutes. The vote… 7-0.

Alternatively, in the very same meeting, every member of Council discussed another issue at length. They could not get consensus and the vote was 6-1. This issue took about 30 minutes of Councils time. Care to guess what it was….

Backyard Chickens.

Chickens, wolves, sheep, foxes…. Watch the meeting and you decide.

Quick Review:

After the report on AMO activities where they patted themselves on the back for looking so good, Mayor Smith said he had a Motion to Read.
This Motion was NOT on the Agenda. A copy of his Motion was not in the Agenda Package for public review.
Mayor Smith yielded the Chair to Deputy Mayor Snell.
He then read, what he referred to at the beginning of his speaking as a “Notice of Motion”
A Notice of Motion is to be read at that point in the meeting and no discussion or vote is to occur. That notice of motion becomes a Motion at the NEXT council meeting.
Deputy Mayor Snell ignored protocol and asked for comments. Seeing none, she made comment herself, then she called for a vote.
After the vote, the chair returned to Mayor Smith. He thanked everyone for their support.

No comment should have been made, no vote should have been taken and one can only hope no letter has been sent.

Surely they are aware that a Notice of Motion is to be handled in a specific way. When Councilor Belanger introduced a notice of motion to have his integrity Commisioner Rulings overturned, they never did bring the matter forward at ANY future meeting. He never withdrew the Notice of Motion and the Council endured plenty of public criticism at that time.