After falsely claiming the Town of Aurora has NEVER had a place where the community could come together the Town of Aurora is continuing its series of insulting videos on what they believe to be the most amazing thing to happen anywhere on the globe; Town Square. Yes the bloated project that will only “get done” after exceeding its budget and a lengthy delay going on 2 years.
This new video features the CAO of the Aurora Public Library where he compares the “Treasure Hill Bridge” to the Eiffel Tower. I shit you not:
Methinks the hardhat is a little too tight if he honestly believes that a unique architectural landmark is comparable to a bland redundant bridge that no one asked for.
But the delusions of granduer don’t end there.
Oh, no. He has to double down and proclaim “Future generations will remember that this is where they had ALL their memories of the community”
WTF?
How reductionist to assume that “all memories” will occur in one small spec of an entire town.
How insulting to all the landmarks, institutions, parks and homes in Aurora. Not to mention all of the town’s own departments, and cultural partners that will provide programming all around our town.
Of all the spaces at Town Square, both inside and out who honestly is really going to remember a boring ass bridge?
The CAO of the library goes on to boast that he has been involved in a lot of construction.
Slow clap.
He has also been involved in a lot of controversy during his tenure here.
Let’s not forget the decision during covid to layoff the majority of staff even though the Libary carried a reserve fund.
Never before have I been aware of the APL’s reputation being tarnished due to censorship of an artist resulting in the CBC covering the story as it looked to become a clear charter of rights and freedoms violation. Then adding insult to injury for hoping it would go away instead of addressing it publicly to the satisfaction of the artist that was censored. That is not a good legacy to leave behind.
But this bridge isn’t legacy material. Not the legacy of the ass-hat whose brain imagined it, nor the idiot politicians that approved it.
What it is, is a “nice to have” add-on that will incur huge expenses to maintain as it ages. In an area of town that has structural issues due to high water table.
In an old post before he was “strong” mayor, Mrakas claimed this after-thought bridge would cost $4.5 Million:
So, after inflation, poor project management and god knows what else expect that figure to bloat to around $6 Million.
We learn that Treasure Hill donated $500K to slap its name on it.
So the town allowed them, a developer to pay less than 10%, while the town through debt financing pays the 90% and passes those costs onto taxpayers.
WTF?
Just think about how that original $4.5 Million figure could have been used elsewhere in the square, or even elsewhere across the town’s infrastructure.
The town underspends annually $36 Million. This bridge represents 9 years worth of gap funding on bridges:
Looked at another way it isn’t even half of the annual requirements the town needs to spend to maintain its existing buildings.
So $ the town doesn’t have, had been diverted to pay for assets it already has to pay for a bridge that no one needs, that a developer can put their name on to reclaim an embarrassingly low amount for.
And if you just turn your head 90 degrees you will see what the Library CAO sees: Aurora’s Eiffel tower.
#ABridgeTooFar
#ABridgeOverTheRiverWhy?
#AllYourMemoriesBelongToUs
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