Development & Growth – Page 4

Obstructionism killing 1,600+ jobs & growth

Just when you thought Collingwood Council couldn’t set the bar any lower, they go and move it down another notch. On Monday, Oct. 31, The Block had a chance to save face, rectify their blatant mismanagement of the Collingwood Regional Airport development and save the proposed, $300 million, 260-acre, industrial park that could bring 400 full-time and 1,300 part-time or temporary jobs to the area. They didn’t. No surprises, of course. Barry Burton, the deputy mayor of Clearview Township, made a presentation to our council, Monday*, reiterating his community’s commitment to the development and growth at the airport and asking ……… click below for more ↓

Collus report debunks Block conspiracies

2016-10-10 2016-10-10 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies2 Comments

Every year, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) publishes the scorecard of local distribution companies (LDCs). Across the province, more than 70 LDCs are ranked and rated according to performance, customer service, efficiency, progress and other measurable data for residents to see how their utility is doing. It’s a thing called openness and transparency. As the OEB notes: The scorecard includes traditional metrics for assessing a distributor’s services, such as frequency of power outages, financial performance and costs per customer. In addition, performance results for 2014 and onward will include a number of new metrics that directly reflect the customer experience, ……… click below for more ↓

Sabotaging the hospital (again)

2016-09-27 2016-09-28 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies6 Comments

Last night at council, The Borg Block again took another step towards sabotaging the Collingwood General & Marine Hospital’s redevelopment plans. Not unexpected: destroying the community is a key plank in their platform, as we’ve seen by their actions against the airport, water utility and Collus PowerStream. Plus, they need to pander to their ever-dwindling group of supporters who want to stop the redevelopment on a site they don’t like (but which 84% of medical staff do). That handful of venomous folk – which includes some former politicians and former VOTE members – hold sway over The Block and thus town ……… click below for more ↓

The Wasaga Beach G&M Hospital

2016-09-03 2016-09-04 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour6 Comments

You’d think supporting your local hospital’s redevelopment was a no-brainer for municipal politicians. And since ‘no-brainer’ has been the exemplary style of Collingwood Council this term, they should go hand-in-glove. But apparently for The Block, ‘no-brainer’ means merely thoughtless focus on personal agendas, not the community’s well-being or future. That’s not news, of course; just signs that another disaster is brewing. The Wasaga Beach General and Marine Hospital. Like that name? Get used to it. That is likely what this council’s actions are going to result in. And Wasaga Beach council is as firmly behind making it happen as our ……… click below for more ↓

More secrecy, more witch hunt, less accountability

2016-02-03 2016-02-03 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

“Those who gain a good reputation should be commended.” So starts the Lay of Guigemar, by Marie de France. It seems like mere commonsense, doesn’t it? We should laud those who achieve good things, who accomplish feats and goals, recognize with thanks those who work for our greater good. But it ain’t necessarily so, Marie warns. The 12th century French poet and fabulist known only as Marie de France wrote fables and poems with stories and morals – the earliest woman in France to do so. And what she wrote still has resonance in today’s world. She continued: “But when ……… click below for more ↓

More Bad Ideas

2016-01-13 2016-01-13 Collingwood / Critical Thinking / Development & Growth / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

Arguably the worst decision ever made by a Collingwood Council in my memory was to rescind the heritage permits from the Admiral Collingwood development, back in 2007. The results of that motion – moved by former Mayor Carrier and seconded by Councillor Jeffrey (the same one who sits at the table today) – can still be seen in the empty lot at the corner of Hume and Hurontario Streets. Locals called it Carrier’s Pond for years, before it was filled in. Had that council not put personal ideologies over the public good, the site would today be a thriving downtown development with residences, ……… click below for more ↓

The Airport Mystery

2015-11-17 2015-11-19 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies12 Comments

What’s happening at Collingwood Airport? Or better yet: what’s NOT happening? And why isn’t it? Once touted as the role model for regional cooperation, and having the best potential for local economic development, it is now a topic for murmurings about a secret sale, and ugly rumours that this has become the worst regional relationship this town has ever had. Every time the airport comes up on the agenda, our oh-so-open and transparent Collingwood Council scurries behind closed doors to discuss it. But while that may seal a few local lips, it hasn’t stopped people in our surrounding region from talking about ……… click below for more ↓

Feathers A-Flying in Collingwood

2015-11-01 2015-11-01 Collingwood / Council / Critical Thinking / Development & Growth / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

Chickengate: despite urban chickens being outre among the trendy these days; a fad long abandoned by hip who are now pursing some new form of glitzy hobby, some folks in town want to raise chickens in their yards. Seems we’re only a few years behind the trendsetters. What next? Urban cows? Urban sheep? Urban bison? It’s a bad idea, but one this council will likely endorse – not simply because they are prone to nurture bad ideas, but because some of them owe hefty political favours to campaign supporters who, coincidentally, happen to raise chickens here already (in violation of the law, of ……… click below for more ↓

The high cost of affordability

2015-10-20 2015-10-20 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Municipal Politics / Planning & Policies / Politics / Provincial PoliticsOne Comment

Affordable housing is crucial to the economic and social vitality of every municipality. Without it, people cannot afford to live here, which means they will look for jobs in places they can afford. Young people, especially, will move to places they can afford better. Collingwood is especially vulnerable to housing issues.* Given that the growth trend in our area is in low-paying (minimum wage), and part-time employment, finding affordable housing has become increasingly difficult for many people. Simcoe County itself estimates that a “single individual on Ontario Works would need to spend 108% of his/her monthly income to afford to live in ……… click below for more ↓

Apps are making us criminals

2015-10-16 2015-10-16 Canadian Politics / Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / International politics / Municipal Politics / Planning & Policies / Politics / Provincial Politics / US Politics / User fees and costsLeave a comment

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og3PjvcR1Pc] Almost every week you read in the news about another taxi driver protest against Uber and its drivers. Taxi drivers go on strike, some rage against Uber and attack the drivers or damage their cars. Similar protests – albeit not yet as violent or large – have been made against Airbnb for its effects on local property values and changing social conditions like the loss of rental properties. These are just two of the apps whose effect on our society and culture are challenging laws and policies. There are others now that attempt to clone the success of their ……… click below for more ↓

Tourism and Collingwood

2015-08-10 2015-08-10 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

Tourism is the world’s fifth fastest-growing industry and growing at five percent per year. A recent story on CBC Radio this week suggests growth has been even higher for Canada, thanks to our lower Loonie: at least six percent. According to the Tourism Association of Canada, in 2013, Canada’s tourism industry: Represented more of Canada’s GDP than agriculture, forestry and fisheries combined Generated $88.5 billion in economic activity Was responsible for more than $17.2 billion in export revenue despite a growing travel deficit Generated $9.6 billion in federal government revenue Fostered 628 000 jobs across the country, spread across all 308 ridings Tourism ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Wrap Up: Addintional Comments

2015-08-07 2015-08-07 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

Yes, the web page really does call for “Addintional Comments.” Well, I suppose consultants aren’t hired for their spelling or grammar. Otherwise there wouldn’t be all that bizarre capitalization or the missing punctuation. But you’re here to read my summation of the Collingwood’s fledgling strategic plan, not my editorial critique. Which is pretty simple: woo-hoo. I reiterate that a strategic plan can be either practical and pragmatic, or woo-hoo. This one is woo-hoo. By which I mean it is airy fairy collection of generalities, seasoned with ignorance, ideology and irrelevancies and very little actual direction. Well, most woo-hoo plans are. They aren’t ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Part 6: Culture and the Arts

2015-08-06 2015-08-06 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

The fifth and final objective in Collingwood’s developing strategic plan (the woo-hoo plan) is culture and the arts. For something so important to the community, with such a huge potential, it encompasses a mere two goals. Disappointingly, neither of them relate to its huge economic potential, which everyone else seems to understand except this committee and its council. “The rapidly evolving global economy demands a dynamic and creative workforce. The arts and its related businesses are responsible for billions of dollars in cultural exports for this country. It is imperative that we continue to support the arts and arts education both ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Part 5: Healthy Lifestyle

2015-08-06 2015-08-06 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

I suppose we can all agree that a healthy lifestyle is better than an unhealthy one. And to a certain degree, a municipality can help residents choose a healthier one or at least give them opportunities to pursue it. But you have to ask just how seriously committed a municipality is to a healthy lifestyle when it sells pop, candy and junk food in the vending machines its own recreational facilities. How committed to a healthy lifestyle is a council many of whose members take the town hall elevator up a single storey rather than make the effort to walk ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Part 4: Economic Vitality

2015-08-05 2015-08-05 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Planning & Policies / Taxes / User fees and costsLeave a comment

What, you may ask, is meant by the term “Economic Vitality” – the third objective in our town’s strategic-plan-in-the-works? Apparently it’s one of those motherhood statements people make on soapboxes and campaign platforms that have little grist in them to mill into actuality. Sure, we all want a town that has a lively, thriving economy. but how do we achieve it? No one has an answer – not one-size-fits-all answer. certainly it isn’t found in the woo-hoo strategic plan. The economy’s health depends on creating a suitable, supportive environment that both attracts and sustains business and commerce. Let’s start with an ……… click below for more ↓