Columnists
Bunkers + Bleachers
What we are, and where we are, where we are going, and what we do is reflected in our newspapers. Think about this for a second. Our newspapers are a forum for our voice—our feelings, our opinions, our thoughtful thanks for the many good deeds we do each day, because we are County.
I also see that we are a dichotomy. We are mainly two things: Watchdogs of our communities (monitors of our Council activities), and enjoyment of our life and lifestyle here in the County
Wikipedia says a dichotomy is: A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.
This I feel is what we are, as County people, right now. We are one people, but we have our own ‘things’. This is the way it should be. Many of us volunteer for the numerous campaigns, which need our money to survive and grow. The hospital build fund is a prime example, County FM is another, but many charities call for our help. We choose them. My brother died from leukemia when he was 40, with so much left to give. I’ve outlived him by 30 years. Not fair. I give money to the group fighting to find a cure, and they are in my Will.
This is what we do. I’m always shocked at the amount of money our County can contribute. For all of the people begging for money, we turn up thousands of dollars, when thousands of dollars are needed to bolster us up, so we can carry on.
Make no mistake. The County is a special place because we stand up for it. Us, together. We just do it because it needs to be done. If there’s a problem, we face it, because it’s a problem that needs to be solved. So we stand up.
THE OTHER SIDE
Though I know the people of the County actually run this place, there’s another group we technically elected to run this place. This, as a matter of course, brought out our second group: Those who keep an eye on Council.
Council does what it does. Sometimes it does really good stuff. After several years of my columns pounding on the sorry shape of Closson Road, which was heavily trafficked and pounded into a surface of war zone acceptability, they fixed it. We also know they do good stuff like snow plowing roads and garbage pickup, except that is about to change. The thing is, Council does not seem to strike a balance between good things and bad things. Sometimes even their good intentions take a bad turn into the proverbial road to Hell.
That’s where we come in. It usually starts with, “Hmmm.” Then it goes to “What?” Then we tend to do some research, which usually leads to alarm. Council holds public meetings to explain to you what they are about to do to you. These seem to be: “What we are going to do” meetings. It’s sort of like a trial, in which the judge says: “We’re already putting you in jail for life, but let’s hear your plea anyway.”
So we try to make our voices heard. And, among us, we have some serious voices. Professionals of all sorts, who moved to the County to stay the County. Their voices are heard to us, through our news outlets. They are heard by Council members as well. Trouble is: Council thinks the job of planning our future is their job. We told them as much when we elected them.
The County has changed. Our demographic has changed. There’s something around 14 people running us, and planning our future. We have thousands of homeowners who have a stake in our community, and our future. Another dichotomy. A contrast between two things.
BREAKING IT DOWN
Make no mistake, the County-lovers and the Council- fighters are not mutually exclusive. They intersect and overlap. Like a Venn diagram (if you’re an ex-science guy like me): Two circles of thought which interact with each other where they join a common cause. We need both.
Both groups outnumber the seats in Council, but we gave away the gift of the one thing we wanted. Preserving us. Not growing us. Keeping us.
I’m not a fool. Growth is inevitable, and, since we became the ‘hot’ place to be, people are going to be coming here in droves to live here, and pay any price, and developers bring us roses and boxes of chocolates, because we are ‘hot’.
BUT ARE WE?
The question is: Will we continue to be? Don’t get me wrong. If a developer builds, all of the units will be sold. They will be occupied. This happens all over Ontario. Some of the price tags will be reasonable; some not, but they will sell anyway. To people who can afford it, and are retiring to the ‘country life’ without septic tanks, sump pumps, but with lawn care, snowplowing, and full property maintenance for a yearly fee.
I don’t dislike them. I just don’t get them. ‘Country’ is not side-by-side houses, identical in every form. If you get drunk one night, you can’t find your home, you sleep in your car.
The places we’re building (or planning to build, depending how the Council gods work things out) will be found on the Internet. They don’t plan to be County people. They just searched us, and compared us to the hundreds of other developed homes in hundreds of other communities, and stumbled upon us.
Not because we’re ‘hot’. Because we fit their ‘Want List’: Country home, waterfront if possible, preferably a swimming pool, over garage loft for guests, no bugs or snakes, turtles okay. Hot tub and personal masseuse optional.
I asked a resident of Wellington on the Lake how she liked it here. She said, “Too many bugs.” I said, “What about ‘On the Lake’ did you not get?”
What the ‘Life in the Country’ people get is not often what they expect. Unless they have all the amenities of their previous urban homes. Developers get that, and they accommodate. It’s like, “Pretend you’re not here, but you are here, and everything you had before will be here, and we will make all you had before be here, in your new ‘country home’ just like your suburban home, except for the bugs. There will be bugs, but no snakes. That’s covered under your property maintenance contract.”
This is Council’s problem. Yes, we can bring them in. Yes, they will come. Will this pay off? That’s a dice roll they seem to be willing to play.
In the end, we will be what we are. The people who buy into the County—for whatever reason— will never hurt our core. They will be what they will be, and we will always be what we are.
Maybe we’ll blend? By that I mean, teach them how to be County. If we fail, leave ’em be.
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