Conversation
Shire Hall was brought into this world in January 1998. It will be 26 next month. But rather than emerging as a young adult, Shire Hall seems stuck. It seems trapped in the body of a prepubescent teen— moody, sullen and detached. That is, when it isn’t screaming in rage. Simple questions are met with […]
Squish
It was the third time Council came together to make a decision on the file. This time, it was to undo the decision it had made just a few weeks earlier. It’s how things work these days with this council. Some folks don’t like a decision—so they badger Council to reconsider. To make the decision […]
Howling into the wind
You know what they say about folks who do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result? For 20 years, this column has dug into municipal budgets. It has been a generous vein to mine. For two decades I reminded readers that it took just $10.3 million of property taxpayer funds to […]
Pencils down
Councillor Bill Roberts brought the data. “Prince Edward County is losing its working-age population,” said Roberts glumly, citing a report prepared by the Ontario East Economic Commission (OEEC). “Overall, Prince Edward County has the slowest growth in eastern Ontario, the weakest development and the weakest economic diversity of all municipalities in eastern Ontario.” “We also […]
Forgetfulness
The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. – The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats The population was bitterly divided. The centre of politics had retreated to rhetorical and ideological extremes. Folks were struggling under economic hardship. A pair of elections the year before had produced only a political stalemate. […]
500 days
It is a good thing. The developer in Wellington has paid his bill. Beyond this, little has changed. Are we closer to new homes, new apartments? Yes, we are. Incrementally. Still, there is no guarantee that any new homes will be built in the village. It may yet be decades away still. If at all. […]
Claims rush
Residential developers have various paths to create wealth. When markets are cooking, they sell homes. When markets cool, they find other ways to make money for their shareholders. Among the more lucrative methods is to convert farm fields and vacant land to subdivision plans. Like squirrels gathering nuts, developers scour the countryside searching for future […]
In the dark
Construction happens. Disruption follows. Daily patterns get altered. Delays. Closures. Detours. These are the costs of progress. Of improvement. Most folks understand it. (Although most are not at all clear about who, precisely, is being served by the installation of trunk lines across the village.) Most folks can come to accept most of it. Harder […]
News
These are the in-between times. The shadowlands, as C.S. Lewis put it. Neither here nor there. A moment in which we seem to be collectively holding our breath. Will America choose Donald Trump again, or can we stop worrying about the fever gripping our powerful neighbour? For a time, anyway? We are in the lull […]
Talking to strangers
How we talk about home tends to say more about us than the place. Home is where we reside for a while. It’s the place into which we pour deep personal significance, and then we move on. It becomes someone else’s home. It changes a little along the way, but is still the same place. […]