A Swimmer Comments on the New Pool

Collingwood / Development & GrowthOne Comment

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Here are some comments from a pool user emailed to me this week, slightly edited. I asked for and received permission to post these. Apparently some local people who don’t swim or use any of these pools – including our own – have been posting on social media that our facility can’t live up to the standards of other facilities. That bricks-and-mortar is superior. Seems the swim community – the people who actually use our facility, the people who actually know the standards and features – disagrees. I have not visited any of the places mentioned, so I cannot confirm the details. ……… click below for more ↓

The Cold War

History & Biography / International politics / Personal Reminiscences / Politics / War & Military / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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I was reminded by an article on Slate that the (to me) iconic film of the Cold War, Fail Safe, was released fifty years ago this week. And as the article records, more people remember the satirical film, Dr. Strangelove than the more chilling drama, Fail Safe. Perhaps they have forgotten it, as they have the Cold War itself. Forgotten too are the tensions and the fears that pervaded that era; the threats of nuclear war. the suspicions and paranoia about Communism, the McCarthy hearings, the accusations and the innuendo. It seems as distance today as the era of Frederick ……… click below for more ↓

The Real Facility Costs

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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Another misleading statement was made during one of the all-candidates’ meetings last week: that our new recreational facilities – the Central Park Arena and the Centennial Aquatic Centre – cost $20 million and that the pool was 30% over budget. Neither is correct. According to our treasurer, Marjory Leonard, who replied to my emails this week, here are the actual numbers: The original quote for the building alone: $3,425,000. Council later approved an increase of $1,300,441. This included the therapeutic pool approved October 15, 2012 in Staff Report PRC 2012-22 – $550,000. It included the pool tank enhancements approved February 11, 2013 ……… click below for more ↓

Your Election Choices

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / PoliticsOne Comment

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As the ballots start to trickle in, the campaigns wind down. The Collingwood election is essentially over – we’re just waiting for the results now. But if you haven’t cast your ballot yet, here are some things to consider before you make your choices. This municipal election has been polarized along several lines, but your basic choices are fairly simple: binary choices, if you will, about what sort of local government you want for next term. Choices between good and bad. The primary axis has been: Positive versus negative Some candidates have had a positive attitude, refused to engage in personal attacks, ……… click below for more ↓

Clarifying Municipal Taxes

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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Some candidates seem confused about municipal taxes this election. I thought I’d clear up a few facts about property taxes for your (and their) benefit. Property taxes are made up of three components: the municipal portion (roughly 60%), the county portion (24%) and the education portion (16%). The rate (also called the mill rate) for each portion is set independently by its own body (the province sets the education levy). The total rate is called the blended rate. The town’s portion is the town-own rate. Usually the blended rate is used because that reflects best what homeowners see. The rate depends on the type of ……… click below for more ↓

The Myth of Block Voting

Collingwood / Critical Thinking / Municipal PoliticsOne Comment

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I was amused by a recent comment I had voted “95%” the same as others on council. This was followed by the inevitable accusation of “block voting.” The complainer apparently wants everyone to vote in some helter-skelter manner. God forbid we should all agree on anything. It’s a tired old campaign tactic: to accuse your opponents of being a “voting bloc” simply because they can agree on things. Oooh, scary: people voting alike. Don’t vote for those people: they agree instead of fighting and arguing. Damning politicians for getting along. The vast majority of things that arise for votes at a municipal council table ……… click below for more ↓

Their Shoddy Potemkin Villages

Collingwood / Critical Thinking / Municipal Politics / PoliticsLeave a comment

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In 1787, the Empress Catherine II took a long trip to the Crimea along the Dnieper River. She wanted to see how her subjects lived. Not wanting her to see the actual poverty and hardships of the peasants, her lover – and the region’s governor – Grigory Potemkin, had pretty, fake villages of canvas and clapboard built along the way, with his own people acting and dancing the roles of happy peasants. After she visited one, the village was disassembled and rushed down river by barge to be rebuilt further away. These have become known as Potemkin villages. According to ……… click below for more ↓

The Perfect Cuppa

Food & Drink / Tea & coffeeLeave a comment

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I was incited to blog about the “perfect” cuppa by an article in The Guardian titled, “How to make tea correctly (according to science): milk first.” As a user of many tea bags – a single bag per cup – I must protest. You cannot possibly get a decent cup of tea that way. The milk cools the water too much for the tea to steep properly. It comes out like that stuff they serve in fast food places: greyish, diluted warm milk with a dreary tea bag floating in it like a dead fish. Sorry, but there’s gotta be ……… click below for more ↓

Promising to do What’s Already Done

Collingwood / Municipal Politics2 Comments

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It’s good for councillors to know we’ve already accomplished so much that everyone wants to emulate us. Listening to the all-candidates’ speeches and reading the campaign literature is a real boost to the ego. A lot of new people are promising to do what’s already been done. Incumbents can comfortably sit back and say, “been there, done that, accomplished that already.” We don’t seem to have left a lot for the newcomers to accomplish. It’s been a very productive term – remarkably so given that we have so few meetings that last more than two hours. (For a list of just a ……… click below for more ↓

My Speech at the All-Candidates’ Meeting

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Personal Reminiscences3 Comments

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Here’s the two-minute speech I gave Wednesday night at the Collingwood Legion, plus the wrap-up: In two minutes, I can’t list everything this council and staff have accomplished on your behalf. But here are some highlights: We answered your demand for more ice and water time. Parents no longer have to drive their kids to other towns for meets because we built two beautiful new recreation facilities right here. And we paid for them without going into debt or raising your taxes. In fact, we also paid down the debt by almost $7.5 million while adding $11 million to town ……… click below for more ↓

A Buddhist Guide for Voters

Buddhism / Collingwood / Faith / Municipal Politics / PoliticsOne Comment

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While it was intended as a general ‘charter of free inquiry,’ the Buddhist Kalama Sutra (or sutta) contains wise words that all voters – especially local voters – should heed during the municipal election campaign. The Kalamas were a people in ancient India. Gotama visited them and stopped in a town called Kesaputta, where he gave a sermon, now referred to as the Kalama Sutra. At first the citizens came to him with a deep problem: how to trust what people were telling them. They had been visited by many religious teachers who all held divergent views. Not unlike candidates for Collingwood council going door ……… click below for more ↓

Misconceptions About the Town Debt

Collingwood / Development & Growth / Municipal Politics5 Comments

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Yesterday members of council received a letter from our auditors that should clear up any misconceptions floating around about debt and debentures. It is clear and succinct. I was also forwarded an email from a candidate (sent to his supporters) with misleading statements about how much debt there is. I don’t know if it was deliberately meant to be misleading – I suspect rather that the candidate simply doesn’t understand municipal finance. But it isn’t really a complicated process. And no candidate should make claims based on misunderstanding or misinformation. It is their responsibility to get and present the facts, not fantasies, nor ……… click below for more ↓

Plato’s Apology

Critical Thinking / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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Plato records the trial and death of Socrates in four dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo. I’ve been reading The Apology this week and finding in it references that reflect well in today’s world, particularly in politics.* In The Apology – which meant defence in Greek, not saying sorry as it does today – Socrates defends himself against his accusers in a deft and bold way, but he loses his case anyway. Still, he defended himself by telling the truth, off-the-cuff and spontaneously. The Jowett translation of this dialogue opens with these words… How you have felt, O men of Athens, ……… click below for more ↓

Ke Ji Feng Gong

Collingwood / Municipal PoliticsOne Comment

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Back in 2007, I first wrote about those Chinese symbols in the image above. They spell “Ke ji feng gong.” This is an update to that older piece, because it seemed appropriate to raise it in the midst of our current political campaign. It’s an ancient Chinese saying that means: “Work Unselfishly for the Common Good.” An alternate translation, but similar in intent, is “Self-restraint and devotion to public duties; selfless dedication; to serve the public interest wholeheartedly.” Typically in the translation of Chinese characters, the phrase has a multitude of shadings. It can also mean, “Place Strict Standards on Oneself ……… click below for more ↓

Montaigne: The Depravity of Our Morals

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Philosophy / PoliticsLeave a comment

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“Our judgments follow the depravity of our morals and remain sick,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his essay On Cato the Younger (Essay XXXVII, Book I, Screech translation, Penguin Classics, 2003). That’s quite a condemnation.* Montaigne opens that essay by quietly commenting, “I do not suffer from that common failing of judging another man by me.” Would that we all had his strength, not to judge others by what we think of ourselves. But he was born long before the age of selfies. In our more narcissistic age of social media we are all too quick to judge, too quick to ……… click below for more ↓

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