rather have a single-use bottle infront of me

Back in 2017 the Town of Aurora’s Environmental Advisory committee endorsed a memorandum from staff to launch a BYOB initiative at town facilities.

The result was the town removed bottled water from meetings in their facilities including their meeting rooms as I pointed out in this post from 2018.

And no leadership could possibly “get things done” without of course taking a selfie:

Fast forward to 2024 and guess what is back.

That’s right, at the April 9th Finance advisory meeting there were multiple single use plastic water bottles on the meeting table:

I count 3 including one in front of “strong” mayor Mrakas and 1 in front of the town’s CAO.

And it isn’t just this meeting, here are snapshots from previous finance advisory meetings:

What excuse will be made here?

Is the public to honestly believe that all of these plastic bottles have been converted to multi-use containers being refilled at town hall since 2018?

Facts matter, and the fact is when I view the meetings of the Environmental Advisory committee that made the motion back in 2017 I see no single-use plastic water bottles. They have been able to sustain this initiative so why are the bean-counters, including members of the town’s executive leadership team no longer up to the challenge?

We elect and hire those to lead by example, and this my friends is a piss poor example.

The strong mayor powers taken by Mrakas haven’t increased his ability to use reusable containers as mentioned in this previous post.

I chalk this up as one more example of floating the whole “rules for thee, not for me”.

Not unlike encouraging and paying for advertising in print over-runs that tax the Region’s recycling system.

Not unlike the timely installation of smart water meters and the ability to alert customers of water leaks avoiding needless water loss.

Not unlike cutting down trees and bringing them to town park to decorate when one exists at town hall.

Not unlike allowing the running of gas generators for a christmas market event at town park.

Not unlike turning a blind eye to the the running of gas generators at town tennis courts for pickleball.

Not unlike driving a Hemi V8 powered personal vehicle.

#AuroraProud

#GettingThingsDumb

#EnvironmentMattersJustNotThatMuch