Ron Swanson’s advice is to never half-ass two things, but whole-ass one thing. Which is exactly what Aurora council did with their ill-conceived alcohol in town park pilot. You can rewind and watch the September 19th, 2023 GC Meeting, the item starts at 1:30:00 but I would advise getting a drink before you do: The […]

Read more "This is the wrong way to consume alcohol."

Aw Shucks is back with a brand new edition… of their health inspection history. And big surprise, they won another one of these: This Halloween they were cited for failing to ensure their floors and ceilings were kept in clean/good repair: This on the heels of this past January when they served a customer what […]

Read more "Alright stop, inadequate and repetition"

Last year saw a departure with lighting the town’s mature tree at town hall to having a cut tree hauled into town park for this purpose. This year our Mayor couldn’t wait to get his selfie with it: This change over to do the Christmas tree lighting at town park was a conscious decision, so […]

Read more "Deck the Bingo Halls with boughs of folly"

I first wrote about Wing Commander Norman Hobson Bretz D.F.C. in a post 12 years ago. Yesterday I had the honour of placing a candle and flag at his grave marker in Section M at the Aurora Cemetery: In those twelve years not a peep by the Aurora Historical Society on Bretz or numerous Aurora […]

Read more "Norman Hobson Bretz"

At last Tuesday’s General Committee meeting Clr. Thompson pulled the July 4th staff report on the bag tag program. You can watch the minimal discussion on Youtube at 13:15 here: Thompson claims the program is a “success”, likely because he accepted the report at face value and failed to scrutinize its contents. I did and […]

Read more "Aurora’s sad sack"

Citizen members sitting on multiple Town of Aurora’s committees is prohibited by the bylaws as stated on the town website: And on page 12 of the 2022-2026 Committee & Board Member Handbook: But this bylaw looks to be one of those “rules for thee and not for me” kind of deals where it appears not […]

Read more "Suessical Chairs"

For the entire time I have lived in Aurora, Hillary House has been the most boring place in town. It is not the house’s fault, it is because it is run by the Aurora Historical Society, a pretentious organization that manages to suck the air out of any room they are in. It appears that […]

Read more "Bored of Directors"

Back in 2002 there was discussion at Aurora council for a Bag Tag program with a proposed tag fee of $1: 20 years later the Town of Aurora implemented Bag Tag program with a tag fee or $5, it has been reviewed in a 5 page report circulated on July 4th, 2023. These are purposefully […]

Read more "This sorta thing ain’t my bag baby"

This piece in Thursday August 10th’s Banner about the Aurora Chamber of Commerce has two glaring issues.The first is the Error Banner, living up to its nickname used the wrong logo: The photo included even has a reference stating “This is the logo for the Aurora Chamber of Commerce”. But it isn’t, is it? The […]

Read more "Retire to your Chamber"

Not quite as catchy as New York but York Region is spending tax dollars on ads regarding littering: These ads are obviously falling on deaf ears here in Aurora as I had an Auroran share with me these photos from the downtown core recently: They reported the mess to the town which responded and cleaned […]

Read more "garbage humans"

Not exactly a Grand Theft Auto clone but 10 years ago an Irish company released Water Meter Dash, a video game to protest controversy surrounding water meters. The game lets you step into the shoes of Peter Splash, a water meter man who’s trying to get around the town to collect as many readings as […]

Read more "Grand Theft Aqua"

Anyone heard anything of substance from Sport Aurora in the last 3 years? I can’t find any links to them on the town of Aurora website. There is a list of Sport Organizations serving Aurora and Sport Aurora is not listed. Under Sport Resources for Organization & Community Members Sport Aurora is not listed. There […]

Read more "Sport Newmarket?"

Last year when the Aurora provided coverage of the Aurora Farmers’ Market (& Fartisan Faire) they quoted Clr. Humfreys who served at the liaison between the market and council. Clr. Humfreys failed to get re-elected last October so the question is who is the liaison for the 2023 season? Well a quick visit to the […]

Read more "Changes of liaisons"

The outcome of June 29th’s council meeting reports that council approved a $14 Million + spend on what is a single 8,000 sq ft gym without wet change rooms (showers) at the SARC: The town’s website provides more details on the project. Middle of last month there was a lot of debate on proceeding in […]

Read more "According to Gym"

Drove by the Electronic sign on Yonge Street multiple times through the weekend and today and noticed it is inoperable. When one consults the 2023 budget binder you can see that this new sign cost $70,000: The ones at the SARC and the Joint-Oops Centre seem to be running. What’s the problem here? No one […]

Read more "The Town of Aurora Unplugged"

A further read of the Aurora Historical Society’s 2023 budget report to the town you will notice that operating revenue is declining: The forecast for this year is 71% of what it was last year and only 55% of what it was in 2021. Notice that the AHS has received $100,000 of covid 19 funding […]

Read more "If you fear change, leave it here"

Sumerhill Market which recently opened in Aurora and calls itself a “Boutique” market (English translation : needlessly overpriced ) seems to be perfect for Aurora’s Mayor is always out posting selfies of food encouraging everyone to #shoplocal. Let’s pick at random their single Caeser salad at 400g for the low, low price of $17: You […]

Read more "Downtown Aurora’s Food Mirage"

Passed by Aw Shucks yesterday, you know the restaurant in the downtown core with a history of York Region health violations that recently served a rotten Charcuterie board to paying customers. Couldn’t help but noticed the exterior is looking very run down in comparison to its neighbouring businesses: But then I noticed that the portion […]

Read more "The difference between golf and government is that in golf you cannot improve your lie."

Back in 2021 Councillor Rachel Gilliland declared decisions made at Town Hall should be considered through a “climate lens”. The question now is does that include the decision to expand Pickleball a motion that was also advanced by the same Clr: This video shows a gas generator in use at Fleury park during a PickleBall […]

Read more "Pickleball. Court # 2. Fill’er up!"

Books are easily closed but the issue of censoring artists by the board of the Aurora Public Library appears to be far from it. The APL board has failed to address the situation it has created which I commented back n April. The censored artist made a delegation at the June 20th GC meeting. You […]

Read more "A closed mind is like a closed book"

The Town of Aurora’s banners hanging in the downtown core are neither star-spangled or gallantly streaming. In fact if you walk or drive down Yonge street it is hard to make out a single banner because they are occluded by large planters that share the street lights. Here is a gallery showing the issue from […]

Read more "Oh, say can you see?"

In one of their recent newsletters the Aurora Historical Society claims they are the “home” to the Godfrey Collection: That’s a bold claim for them to make as it is my understanding that real the home to this mound of neglected books has been inside 50 bankers boxes in offsite storage for over 20 years. […]

Read more "Storage Wars Aurora"

Anyone know what happened to Aurora’s section of sidewalk on the south side of Dunning Ave in front of #65? If you take a stroll on Google Maps it is fine here: and also here: But something has gone horribly wrong in the middle here: Is this some sort of new innovation, because it sure […]

Read more "The ballet of the good city sidewalk never repeats itself from place to place, and in any one place is always replete with new improvisations."

In 2022 The Aurora Historical Society held their fledgling annual black and white ball. You know what else is black and white? Security. You either are secure or you are not. “Good enough” is not an effective security plan but it does appear to be the one the Aurora Historical Society has employed for managing […]

Read more "lulled into a false sense of security"

Mayor Mrakas never goes anywhere without his selfie stick and his empty soundbite about how his leadership is all about “working together” to get things done. Well on Tuesday April 25th council was fully in attendance at the council table working together and definately got something done. That something was defeating Mayor Mrakas’ notice of […]

Read more "if the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts"

14 municipalities are participating in Doors Open this year but Aurora is not one of them. In the report from the 2019 event the town indicated it was going to participate in the 2020 event, then Covid hit. Well covid has loosened restrictions and doors are open as per normal all over town in both […]

Read more "Doors Closed Aurora"

Effective January 1st 2021 the town of Aurora imposed a 3 bag garbage limit for residents. Then a month after their ill conceived and communicated public roll-out faced council faced pushback and decided to stick a $5 band-aid on the problem of their own creation. That was 2021, yet here in the 2023 budget we […]

Read more "A man’s errors are his portals of discovery"

Among the highlights of the Town of Aurora Council meeting of Tuesday April 25th was receiving an Excellence Canada gold trophy from Excellence Canada, Canada’s national authority on quality and healthy workplaces. Excellence Canada certifies organizations for achieving continuous improvement and employee wellness standards. In achieving gold-level status, the Town has demonstrated that it is […]

Read more "Once you have experienced mediocrity you will never again be content with excellence"

Earlier this year a restaurant in Aurora’s BIA announced a charcuterie board as a perfect shareable to pair with your night out: Here is breakdown in greater detail they provided of this new offering: What was advertised was not what ended up being served to one customer who thankfully shared their experience for the benefit […]

Read more "Law & Oysters"