By now you have likely heard of “strong” mayor Mrakas’ last minute $500,000 addition to the Town’s budget for a ridiculous sign that no one asked for and fills no need.
This coming from the town that under Mrakas’ leadership through 1.5 terms of council can’t even operate a simple LED sign.
This small idea came out of left field, was no where in any discussions surrounding Library/Town square and big surprise it looks to be a mediocre copy cat of the Toronto Sign that was erected back in 2015 for the Pan American/Parapan American Games then replaced in 2020 with a more durable version.
I guess the vibe that Mrakas wants to establish is “anything Toronto can do better, Aurora can just do”?
In this 2016 National Post pice we learn that Interactive, three-dimensional signs bearing the name of a city are commonplace around the world. They can be found in Amsterdam, Guadalajara, Budapest, Istanbul and many other cities. We also learn that the Toronto signs origins aren’t without their own copy cat issues.
What about municipalities a little closer to home, say like in Ontario.
In 2022 The city of Oshawa explored funding options to pay for a $500,000 copy of the Toronto sign.
In 2022 The city of Barrie installed a sign in Heritage Park. Their sign cost $200,000 and was community-funded.
The city of Ottawa installed a sign in the York Street Plaza. The $225,000 cost was funded by the city and Ottawa Tourism.
The city of Hamilton installed a sign with a $350,000 sticker price funded by private donations.
Notice that all of these are cities, not towns. These cities all have tourism boards, committees, plans and budgets. The town of Aurora is a fraction of their sizes and has none of the policy architecture to justify this kind of spend.
We read on page 3 of the Aurora Letters budget attachment that:
Other towns and cities where these signs are located report that they have become a popular spot for selfies and group photos among residents and visitors alike. They are also often ranked as one of the most Instagram-worthy spots in town. The sign also supports public engagement and interaction and becomes a visual backdrop for media coverage.
First off, it insulting that the justification for this 1/2 Million spend is that the $60+ Million Town square isn’t enough of a backdrop for media coverage.
Secondly, if this is the goal then why was a matrix of these signs not created to illustrate all their pros and cons? You know, similar to the one the Mayor was requesting from the Region for their application to build an urgent transitional shelter in Aurora.
Amongst the aforementioned signs would be the landmark sign the City of Kingston installed in their Confederadion park back in 2017. What makes it unique to all these other signs is that it is missing the letter “i” to encourage people to pose for pictures in place of the missing letter:
Right, so there is a ability for residents and visitors to engage with Kingston’s sign. Unlike the mayor’s small idea of a closed Aurora sign which isn’t unique in any way.
Let’s review some more of our “strong” mayor’s small ideas.
1.) Aurora’s Canopy of errors
If we rewind to October 3rd 2019 we read in this Auroran article that Downtown Aurora was to get a canopy of lights. This “bright idea” was also covered in the Error banner here as well as well as in the mayor’s tweets:
Yet, 5 years later when you go downtown there is no canopy.
I’m confused. For an idea that was claimed to be a “hallmark” of the downtown core why is there no canopy? What exactly didn’t get done?
This “bright idea” was approved by council with an upset limit of $100K, but what wasn’t approved was the mayor’s sense of urgency to have it errected prior to the 2019 Santa Claus parade.
Surprisingly Clr. Thompson, who usually gets all of his voting cues from the mayor prior to the meeting, expressed hesitation saying he was concerned that the date was “driving” the process.
The mayor inflated his small idea with a lot of big words. Stringing lights will somehow “encourage people to explore the Yonge and Wellington corridors on foot and see it as a gateway “where a narrative unfolds with every passing block, telling a story about Aurora’s past, present and future.” Who writes this bullshit?
The mayor is quoted as stating he believes a canopy of lights would create a focal point, something that will attract people from not just within our community, but also from outside our community, to come into our downtown core and experience it.
Oh, so it is for tourism, okay, how does it align with the town’s tourism strategy? Oh right the town doesn’t have one. I guess it is too hard to get something like that done.
But the fact that the mayor stated that “Sometimes you need something unique and this is something that will bring that uniqueness to the area.”
Something unique?
You mean like the cavalcade of lights that has been ongoing since 1976 in Toronto?
The assumption that people will come from out of town to get tax advixe, an orthodontist appointment or a hair cust because of some christmas lights strung across a major road is absurd. It is the buisinesses that make up the downtown that wil be the attraction.
It is a good thing the canopy of lights didn’t get strung up with such speed as Anna points out in her post crucial concerns regarding clearance for emergency and operational vehicles had not been explored by staff prior to council approval.
What I can’t understand is how much, or how little preconsultaion was done by the mayor and staff with the businesses that this canopy was to be attached to.
If the business owners upon which the lights would be attached to were in favor, they would have been consulted by the BIA. The entire idea could have been fleshed out by the BIA and then came to council to work together to get things done. But that’s not what appeared to happen here.
The entire exercise seems backwards and the idea too small to gain any traction.
2.) Ugly Metal Arch(s)
This one seems to have been floated by the BIA as they confirmed that they would be focusing on the creation of a metal archway over Wellington Street to signify the entrance to Downtown Aurora.
This small idea is quoted as receiveing a boost from Mayor Tom Mrakas.
“I like [the idea] of the historic metal archway at Wellington,” said the Mayor, noting he and the Communications Manager for the Town, had been brainstorming ideas earlier in the day. “We thought [about] not only one, but possibly a second one at the other end.”
The proposed archway was “similar to the arch that indicates Newmarket’s Historic Main Street when coming from the north.
In this 2016 error banner article we learn from Newmarket’s mayor at the time the rationale behind Newmarket’s arch was to sent the message “that our Main Street is not Yonge Street. It heralds the entrance into Main and (shows) how Main is different from everything else.”
So tell me why exactly is it such a great idea to for Aurora to copy Nemarket’s efforts and put on one Yonge Street.
Facepalm.
I’m not sure how much the BIA to engaged the public on this small idea, or even at all but when Collingwood’s BIA did exactly that they received 727 responses with 72.8% against the idea of any gateway feature.
Note the costs of $280,000.
What is most revealing about this idea is that the Mayor is quoted as workshopping it with the most random of staff members. The communications manager, wouldn’t the planning manager be way more appropriate before doubling the number of them? You get an arch, and you get an arch!
Make it stop.
3.) Watered down mural
Not just a generic mural, Kim’s motion speaks to the desire for a potential second wall to be more inclusive of Canadians of diverse racial backgrounds who contributed to the building of Canada.
From the engage Aurora site you can download the .pdf for the submission guidelines for this mural.
On page 2 the second point outlines the Mural’s themes to be:
- Highlights historically significant achievements made by diverse individuals from Canada’s past and present
Pages 9-11 list several names for consideration.
When the mural was erected in a questionable location in the fall of 2022 there doesn’t appear to be any of these named individuals recognizable in the design.
The entire trajectory of this small idea draws parallels with the canopy of errors, where the end date drove the process.
The Anti-Black racism task force is listed as a partner in the Engage Aurora documents, but as pointed out in my previous post that committee was unsure why they were tasked with the project. Doesn’t seem to be a willing parter but one that had something pushed on them to check off a box.
The conclusion I reached from my findings was that the mayor and Clr. Kim directed staff (Manager of Library/Town Square) to a specific location…which of course was unsuitable and a scramble to find a much shittier location ensued.
This is not the only occasion the mayor’s leadership has received push back on proposed mural locations. Check out this letter from the Our Lady of Grace Parish.
These locations could have easily been avoided if there was leadership that actually got things done about a public art policy.
Let’s just check on that Master plan status:
What’s that say Winter 2022? Right I guess it doesn’t seem to be a priority under Mrakas’ leadership.
4.) Moving Town Hall
In 2023 mayor “floated” his small idea of moving town hall downtown, then demolishing the current structure instead of adaptive re-use.
It lasted a single council meeting and was laughed out of the chambers by the majority of council.
I pointed out in a previous post how the town has recently spent significant amounts of money to upgrade the facility, yet here we have a mayor who is supposed to respect the environment suggesting the demolition and redevelopment of this asset instead of adaptive re-use.
What are the common threads here between all these small ideas?
Well they are all shallow and performative initatives that provide large visual backdrops that politicans like our strong mayor to take selfies in front of.
All of these small ideas showcase significantly misplaced priorities.
Where is the same passion and urgency to affect policy surrounding affordable housing, community safety, urgent regional transitional housing pressures, transportation bottlenecks and safety issues downtown, increase in food bank usage etc.
These are big problems and thus they require big ideas that take muliple steps and involve multiple organizations. The end result is not something that a selfie can be taken infront of. There is no singluar glory, just the satisfaction of being able to provide leadership to get the things done that actually need doing.
Not all this performative bullshit that no one asked for.
#WorkingAloneToGetThingsDumb
#SmallIdeasSmallMinds
#WeakAssMayor
#PrioritiesAreWhack
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