Visibility
For more than a century, Wellington managed its own affairs. The village council managed the streets, the electricity distribution network and its waterworks. It cleared snow. It built sidewalks, parks, docking facilities in the harbour, and a beach. It built and rebuilt an arena. There were challenges and hardships along the way, but the village […]
Piercing MDS
It was wrong for Prince Edward County. It has likely caused more problems for farmland owners than shielded them. Now the province is giving municipalities an off-ramp. Shire Hall should take it. Minimum Distance Separation (MDS) is a tangled and cumbersome set of calculations and measurements designed to do one thing: reduce complaints about cow […]
FOMO
The Leafs won a playoff round for the first time since Magellan found passage through Tierra del Fuego. The Bruins lost too. An expansion team defeated the Stanley Cup champs. It was a big weekend in the NHL playoffs. With the promise of more to come. So why, in this most joyous of weeks, am […]
Bluegill sunfish
A cormorant lifted off the dark lake this morning. Empty of gullet and unsated as it slid across the grey horizon. Whether it was the presence of an ever-sniffing poodle—fully preoccupied in identifying which of her animal brethren had moved bowels or emptied bladders by this tree or that rock—or it was the prospect of […]
Feelings
How big is it? How big was it? How big will it be? Don’t we need answers to these questions before tinkering with our economy? Last week, Council considered but ultimately rejected a notion to increase the municipal accommodations tax—a tax applied to accommodation providers as a proxy for the entire tourism sector in Prince […]
Black hole
Things have improved at Shire Hall. While this corner tends to trade in the aspects of local government that need attention—habits and priorities that may be out of step with the residents and the economy— this focus can obscure the huge strides Shire Hall has made in 25 years. It has learned and become proficient […]
Gang of fourteen
Cows have gone rogue in Prince Edward County. It was bound to happen. When you’ve spent your career snorting, chasing clowns, and flinging young men off your back, a few rolling acres of grass just won’t cut it anymore. Once you’ve felt the warm glow of a raucous crowd cheering your every kick and pivot, […]
Collectors
The County has a hoarding problem. Or, more precisely, County Council has a hoarding problem. It’s not knickknacks or keepsakes crowding out our shared living spaces; instead, it is land and buildings. Like piles of old newspapers no one has looked at or thought about for years, Council clings to scattered bits of property. Many […]
Relationshipping
Relationships are peculiar things. One side may feel things are going great, while the other stews in discontent. Each smiles as they pass the other. One oblivious, the other not quite so unhappy as to make it a thing—to risk the conflagration that would follow. Both have learned that ‘talking about it’ doesn’t produce lasting […]
Call for urgency
Finding an affordable place to live is too hard. For some, it is becoming impossible. This crisis has deep and profound societal impacts that reach far into each of our lives. Whether looking to buy or rent, prices are out of reach and getting further away. Housing costs are chewing up an increasingly unsustainable portion […]