Vote…

The Region of Durham is holding a public meeting tomorrow morning at 10 am,  I am taking the day off work to attend.

This is in regards to the issue of Direct Election of the Regional Chair position. 

I have a confession to make.  In 2006 when only Ajax, Oshawa and Pickering had the question on the ballot, I voted No.   Let me explain.  I thought at least the Chair should come from elected Councillors though. 

I was under the impression the Regional Chair was a figurehead and only chaired meetings and was like the Speaker of the house per say, I know it sounds silly but really what do other people know about his role, the average citizen , of which I was in 2006 before opening this blog.   I did not think he had a tie breaking vote though like the elected Speaker in Ottawa.
I was not as politically aware in either Ajax or Durham politics.   I don’t vote yes for something I don’t understand. 

Then…. I learned the Regional Chair moves motions and has a lot more power then I knew so in 2010 I did vote Yes. 

Over 200K in salary, moves motions, sits on every Committee, should be elected by me.

Others say- “Why not appoint from sitting Mayors or Council?” 
** I don’t get to vote for anyone but a single Ward and Regional Councillor plus my own Mayor. 
**Local candidates run local elections in scope.

Urge your Council to support this Democratic method of Selection of the Regional Chair.

 I will endorse the site :
www.accountabilitystartsatthetop.com    It’s my job as a citizen do this advocacy.

If you can’t make it to the meeting tomorrow, let your views be known to Councillors, your own and WHITBY’S !!!!!!!!!!!!!  
 

We have 2 Farmer’s markets to choose from in the Ajax and Pickering area, the first one is at Vandemeers every Thursday from 1-6pm  until October 27th, the next time I am home in time on a Thursday I will check it out. 

If you are in the Pickering area and available earlier there is a new Market running weekly at Ontario Power Generation.   Here is some information I was provided from Don Terry.

Everyone is invited to our farmers’ market in Pickering…Every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m…It’s on the north west side of Montgomery Park Road (Brock Road south and west on Montgomery)…Watch for signs directing you…Local farm fresh fruit, vegetables, breads, baking, beef, lamb, preserves, jams, kettle corn, and much more… 

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The website with the environmental questions for candidates has the candidates  rated.  You can see Ajax and other available municipalities.  

On Saturday I went to the Whitby Ajax Community Garden open house, here is a link to pictures I took. They had tours of the garden, some craft displays and Richard Cooke involved with Durham Lives was doing Geocaching demonstration, I won a small prize, you can find out about geocaching in Durham Region here. I had already put my camera in the car and was going to go home so when I decided to stay for a geocaching demo, I have no pics of Richard.

My son and I help out at the garden when we can in the communal garden area that benefits foodbanks.

This garden is a seven years old and is another example of what a successful community garden can be.

We are hoping that a garden in Ajax will come to be.

My Plan B location did not work out.

I may not have been very clear on my issue with the 20 year old approved housing subdivision in Deer Creek and made it out like I wanted every single rural house on full city services.

Not really, if you flee the urban area for the country and it is a long way to your neighbours house then no I would not expect you to be hooked up to city services , you chose to live in the boonies and that is your price for it. Well water and a septic tank. (more…)

I am sure you all read about the approving of the Estate Homes that will be in current Greenbelt land.

I saw the public meeting listed and based on the lot description I read about I was sure it was in the greenbelt as the application did not mention that part. I contacted the town and the planning department confirmed it was in the greenbelt but they said it was grandfathered in as it was approved “in principle” but I only found out it was 20 years ago, 1989 that it was first approved from the newspaper. (more…)

Sometimes I will post an article from down where I am from. This is about development coming in the Wainfleet area, of Niagara Region. I played baseball against them when we were kids and they were our Russians. This however could have been in our paper by someone in North Ajax or anywhere in the Region.

The following is a letter to the paper in regards to sprawl.
Edit: Here is another letter this letter seems to be in response to the first one.

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