Aurora United Church Celebrates 190 Years!

Today Aurora United Church held it's 190th Anniversary Celebration worship service. The celebrations included those young and old as well as a trip down memory lane via the Church's extensive archives. Here is a sampling of the photos of the event:

The Front Sign of the Church

 

Aurora United Church on the day of the 190th Anniversary Celebration.

 

The banner accross the front highlighting the 190th Anniversary Celebrations.

 

The "Memory Wall" of contributions of memories from members of Aurora United Church.

 

A historical photo dating from 1900 of Aurora United Church.

 

The Church Sanctuary during the 190th Anniversary Worship Service.

 Mitchell Arnold playing his bagpipes at the conclusion of the worship service.

"We went to the Zoo..." and Yvonne came too!

As part of the of the Toronto Zoo's offer of free admission to members of the Ontario College of Teachers' Members, I headed with my fiance Yvonne to the Zoo for the afternoon yesterday. The animals, especially the Lions and Tigers, seemed to be sleepy. The only other dissapointment was the polar bear and penguin exhibits were under contstruction, thus, these animals were not viewable

But nonetheless, the other animals didn't dissapoint as you can see from this sampling (more photos may be seen in the Toronto section of my scrapbook on my website):

A Tiger eying me for lunch?

 

All the piggies in a row. The Red River Hogs were in the mood for an afternoon siesta.

 

Of course! Who can forget the ELEPHANTS!

 And best of all, A female moose cooperated for a little movie time:

If you want to vote NDP in Newmarket-Aurora..

If you want to vote for the NDP in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora your out of luck. That is because as of this moment, the NDP do not have a confirmed candidate in the riding of Newmarket Aurora. I first noticed this when reading the local media and noted there wasn't any mention of an NDP candidate in this area or had seen any signs go up in the first week of the election campaign. So I started to look online in a couple of places.

The first spot I looked was the local newspaper's website for information as they had been advertising in their paper to have extensive coverage of the ridings within York Region. I clicked on the "Newmarket-Aurora" section of their website only to find four candidates running, none of which included an NDP candidate. Yet, I noted, the slightly less popular Green Party had a candidate in this riding. So I gave up my search there.

I wondered if perhaps the NDP in Newmarket-Aurora had been caught without a candidate in this area or any type of campaign organizing function to get the word out. But surely the first place to ensure NDP candidate would make themselves known is with Elections Canada. But apparently the list of candidates is not firmed up until September 25th at the latest and there were no official registered candidates in the Newmarket-Aurora riding as of this blog entry. But I have a feeling Elections Canada is a little behind in registering candidates as I imagine there would be a slew of pending applications coming in from accross Canadathat need to be processed.

Also this past week, I had noted the last provincial election's NDP candidate for Newmarket-Aurora, Mike Seaward, was around more than a little normal. I had seen him on the bus and in the local plaza. However, there seemed to be no campaign material (e.g. buttons, t-shirt, etc.) around him. So I guess he wasn't running. The last federal election's NDP candidate for Newmarket-Aurora, Ed Chudak, hasn't been heard from as of yet, so I doubt he is running either.

I also checked with the NDP's website and it only lists the local NDP riding president's contact information. I did note other ridings in Ontario did have candidates listed but there were quite a few ridings that amazingly enough still didn't have candidates selected. One would think the fact Newmarket-Aurora and several other ridings having not selected candidates after a full week of campaigning would be alarming for the NDP Party leadership.

I guess the NDP has given up on the Newmarket-Aurora area. This is mainly true because all the other parties in the riding have candidates already campaigning in the riding for a week already whereas the NDP campaign hasn't even gotten going in this riding as of yet. This the NDP is now handicapped by a week compared to the other campaigns who already have one week of campaigning in hand. Besides, the NDP may have given up on the riding considering the NDP has never won the riding of Newmarket-Aurora or its predessors that either the towns of Aurora or Newmarket have been part of. So even if the NDP tried to start a campaign, the party doesn't have a hope of winning in this riding. But the mystery of where the NDP is in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora is at least intriguing!

Coming Federal Election? You betcha!

There is a distinct smell in Canada of a possible federal election coming up. The clues are out there and they sure point to an election call coming soon. Last week and this week saw Prime Minister Steven Harper meet with the three opposition leaders at his residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa. In a nutshell, all the meetings were less than an hour in length and results of these meetings were far from positive. Then this week suddenly there are major announcements of funding for items to resolve issues of crime, health and job losses. A federal election does seem imminent especially when these clues are investigated a little further.

Steven Harper's meeting with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion on Labour Day Monday, lasted less than 30 minutes and, as the Toronto Star reports, produced nothing. EvenLiberal Leader Stephan Dion is convinced there is an election when, as the Toronto Star reported: "Asked if an election was inevitable, Dion replied, 'Yes, we all know that.'" Yet the Conservatives continue to deny an election is coming.

If there wasn't an election in the forefront, then Stephen Harper would be requesting the meetings with Opposition Leaders to possibly come to some compromise on some issues. In these meetings Harper would probably have a list of priorities that he would like to see if the opposition leaders might be able to negotiate on. From these and possible future negotiations there would be leglislation created and passed in the House of Commons and the current minority parliament would continue. But this doesn't seem to be happening as Dion's and the other party leader's meetings were less than an hour and all the Opposition Leaders left 24 Sussex with very little impression that the current minority Parliament would continue. This is the first clue a federal election is more than likely this fall.

This week the federal Conservatives have started making major funding announcements. These funding announcements include (click the links to read more on the announcements):

1. Peter McKay was in Calgary announcing each of 30 soldiers who participated in Cold War weapons testing would receive $28,000 in compensation.

2. Steven Harper promising a probe into the Maple Leaf tainted meet fiasco. The Toronto Star believes this probe is being done so as to not cause problems for the Conservatives on the upcoming election trail.

3. Steven Harper in Windsor announcing $80 million dollars to reopen a car plant.

4. Stockwell Day was in Toronto promising $4.9 million towards a three and half year pilot project to prevent youth in vulnerable neighbhouroods from joining gangs.

Promises of this magnitude coming in rapid succession by a government, in the past, usually occurred when the Governor General was about to be asked to disolve Parliament and start a federal general election.

Finally, if there was ever any doubt, campaign election ads by the Conservatives have been launched. These adds seem to run about three times per half hour on major Canadian networks (e.g. CTV, CBC, etc.). The real question is not if an election is coming, but when? Who knows, but the media seems to be doing a lot of speculating. So stay tuned! This fall could be fun!

Aurora Citizens SHARE YOUR OPINIONS!

Recently I came accross a new blog aimed at sharing one's opinions about the town I live in, Aurora. Seems that someone got so enthused about Aurora politics and community happenings that they required their own soap box.

Problem is, there is no identity to this person except the nickname "Aurora Citizen." The blogger even went as far as registering www.auroracitizen.ca" for their e-mail addresses. However, if you look at the registrar's file on this internet address registration, there is no name and address provided. How convenient. I don't suppose there is a way to dig even deeper on who is behind this blog (if so, please comment and I would gladly help out in digging further into who is behind this blog). I could speculate here about who might be behind the blog's postings and such, but no matter, it still makes for a great read.

A great read? The blog contains rants about the current occupant of the Mayor's chair, doings of local council that leaves quite a few people scratching their heads and now has added a section about community feedback. Postings from this blog have already ended up in the local newspaper, The Auroran, and probably will be featured well into the future as well.

Stay tuned to this blog if your interested in local Aurora politics and community happenings. Please note I've added it to my blogroll as well, so feel free to watch for the latest on that blog's postings right here. I hope this blog will stick around well into the next municipal election as it could make things interesting!

My FIVE Buddies.....

People constantly question what the meaning of life is on a constant basis. Author Mitch Albom has attempted to answer this by trying to investigate this question not from earth, but the other side. Albom's book, The Five People you Meet in Heaven, has one central character named Eddie who meets five people who were affected by him. Within this book there are a couple of types of people Eddie meets along with a few interesting lessons that a reader can draw from each type of person.

The first type Eddie comes accross is someone who Eddie didn't even know he affected the life of. An example of this is Blue Man who Eddie killed. Eddie, in his younger years, was chasing after the ball that had drifted into the road. Blue Man, who was driving his car, slammed ont he breaks barely missing Eddie. Eventually Blue Man dies of a heart attack due to being stressed over nearly hitting Eddie with his car. Eddie, of course, never knows about Blue Man's death until after he dies himself. The main lesson for this type of person is to remember each person you run into on a daily basis, no matter how long of contact, has an effect on them either positive or negative.

The second type of person Eddie meets is a person Eddie wishes to express regret to, but refuses to do so for so long that he never gets to. Eddie's father was an abusive parent. Eventually the Eddie and his father are no longer on speaking terms. This occurs right up to after Eddie's father dies. Eddie really only gets to apologize to his fater for his actions when me meets his father in the afterlife. The main lesson in this type of person is never hold off on apologizing to another because if you refuse to do so or believe you will eventually get around to it sometime, it may never happen.

Overall Albom loves to write books that make the reader think deeply about their own lives. Throughout this book I found myself thinking about both how Eddie tragically died, how Eddie comes to reflect on his own life by meeting five others in the afterlife and how my own life compares with each of Eddie's own reflections on his life. This book is easy to do that because the author vividly describes the settings and characters while advancing the plot in a fairly consistant fashion without dragging. By the end of the book, I'm not only glad I've learnedthe answer to Eddie's question of "did I save that little girl's life?", but am also reflecting on who my five buddies I will meet once I head to heaven.

VIVA Transit Improvements for York Region

Recently I received a flyer in the mail from the York Consortium explaining there is an upcoming open house for transit on Monday August 11th at the Newmarket Municipal Offices. The open house is to unveil the future transit initiatives for York Region's VIVA Rapid Transit service.

Currently, VIVA runs buses along the Yonge Street and Highway 7 corridors that stop at major intersections only approximately every one kilometre or so. These buses opperate in "mixed traffic" (i.e. along with the average joe's cars and trucks) with some signal priority.

The current signal priority is if the bus is late by three minutes or more from it's schedule, the light will hold green for up to an extra ten seconds. But this is only the case if the particular intersection's light hasn't been affected by the same process within the last five or so minutes. What this "signal priority" actually means in practicality for VIVA transit riders is the VIVA buses travel. This is in contrast to the VIVA's initial claim in their initial video advertising campaign: "what do you call traffic signals that change green just for you?" As any current VIVA rider or driver will note..."Not VIVA".

There are many other issues with the current VIVA service that were initially promised in that video which any regular VIVA rider or driver can contend are complete fabrications: "what do you say about a ride every five minutes?" (If your lucky they arrive every 15 minutes and barely on time). "what do you say about never being late for work?" (I've been late for work once...but that was because I give VIVA an extra 30 minutes to screw up) and "a bit of fun on your lunch break?" (I used to work at Downsview Station...I wouldn't trust VIVA to get me to and from York University in a fifteen minute trip due to issues with the VIVA Orange even running on time!) and, my all time favourite: "what do you say to making it home in time for dinner every day?" (Not VIVA: Leaving Downsview Station at 5:00 P.M. on VIVA Orange to York University, transfer to VIVA Purple to Richmond Hill Centre at 5:25 P.M. after a MISSED connection with the VIVA Purple at 5:15 P.M. and north to Aurora on VIVA Blue to arrive at 7:00 P.M. means I've missed dinner...right and I report the missed connection to VIVA Customer service multiple times and nothing changes while VIVA claims they have resolved the problem...yet problem still persists...).

Now there is a look at the future which, if VIVA for once delivers on ALL it's promises, will significantly improve transit in York Region to where it should already be today. VIVA promises to cut existing travel time down by 40% with the implementation of VIVA only transit lanes up the middle of Yonge Street and other routes. These lanes would be similar to the dedicated streetcar tracks on Spadina Avenue in Downtown Toronto but with VIVA bus vehicles.

These lanes, as promised in the literature and website, will greatly improve the reliability of the VIVA transit service. However, this will only happen if the VIVA plans and executes these lanes correctly. Thus, don't get two excited if things don't turn out as advertised as VIVA has promised the world before and, like the above examples, have failed to deliver.

But hopefully, the above examples will dissappear as these lanes are introduced. In order for these lanes to successful the following aspects MUST be concentrated on:

1. VIVA vehicles in the transit lanes must have signal priority over all other traffic except emergency vehicles. This means no matter where in the sequence the traffic control system is at, if a VIVA vehicle approaches an intersection, it needs to have the green light to pull through. Failure to do this will mean VIVA vehicles will their own transit lanes but very little other advantages.

2. VIVA fare machines need to be either brought onboard vehicles or drivers need to keep moving. Quite often drivers wait for people to purchase tickets or get off the vehicle to assist in purchasing a ticket for a passenger. This costs valuable time that could be spent getting the fifty other people on the bus to their destination. Helping people get tickets also means the VIVA vehicle is unable to make connections due to lost time required playing around to get one person a ticket. It seems VIVA is only interested in getting the fares paid instead of getting people there on time. These priorities need to be reversed as fast and frequent transit service will only attract more fare paying riders.

3. On all VIVA routes the first concentration from now to until after the lanes are implented should be getting the frequency of the buses corrected. Quite often VIVA promises buses every fifteen minutes in off peak team and deliver a bus 20 to 25 minutes. The same goes in rush hour when VIVA promises a bus at least every 10 minutes and delivers one in fifteen to twenty if your lucky. Failure to deliver a bus on time in the frequency promised means VIVA's overall on time performance is suffering. A passenger trying to call Customer Service to report the frequency based on the schedule posted on their website is told VIVA doesn't operate on a schedule. This situation must change in order to provide the frequent and reliable service the VIVA concept has promised since it's launch.

4. Clean stations. Currently some of the stations look like they haven't seen a power washing or broom in a while. I will admit the glass on the shelters is cleaned regularly. However, at Golf Links southbound station in Aurora on the VIVA Blue line there has been garbage and vomit inside the shelter that still has to be removed even two weeks after I first noticed it. Stations need to be cleaned and garbage removed on a regular basis. One of the cleanest stations, that VIVA needs to model their services after, is York University. This station sees a large number of people coming and going on the VIVA Orange and Purple lines yet looks pretty good. This is because York University sanitation looks after the cleaning of this station.

Fast, frequent, reliable and clean transit is what VIVA needs to aspire to. The introduction of the VIVA only lanes will only increase the propsects of VIVA delivering on these words. If VIVA is able to deliver these concepts, VIVA will finally be able to deliver what was advertised since day one.