Risk managers
They tie our kids’ skates. They urge them to try just a little harder. Until they are sailing down the ice under their own power. They are the folks who head out with pruners and saws to cut back the overgrown brush on the Millennium Trail. So that others can walk, cycle or motor along […]
Lost revenue
Council pushed back on a Picton Library expansion project last week. Originally pegged to cost about $1.2 million, it was greenlighted by council in March despite the fact that the price tag had already risen to $2 million. On Thursday, the project proponents presented their chosen contractor and were ready to go. Except the cost […]
Black hats
I expect the anxiety percolates beyond County coffee shops. That state of general unease when strangers come to town. Seeking to invest. It is, of course, the clichéd premise of most every western saga. A familiar pattern. First suspicion, as the unfamiliar rogues roll into town. Then arched skepticism when their scheme is unveiled. Followed […]
Of rabbits and men
Fewer folks live in Prince Edward County than did 10 years ago. Our population is shrinking. Not by much, but two successive StatsCan reports demonstrate the trend is heading the wrong way. This fact tends to confuse people who see a steady influx of new folks in their midst. Less surprising is that we are […]
Getting around
Most of us who commuted, attended appointments or ran errands today in Prince Edward County (91 per cent) travelled in our personal vehicle. To do so, we needed a valid driver’s licence, insurance, a working car, and the resources to maintain it. Those are substantial hurdles—to employment, to community participation and, ultimately to good health. […]
Waiting for CAO
Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed…Yes, in the immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come – Samuel Beckett Even a slug exhibits motion on occasion. While it chugs forward at a pace that exposes it to […]
Good water
Wellington has exceptional water. Literally. The intake pipe extends about a kilometre into Lake Ontario. The source is clean and the supply is bounded only by the capacity of the great lake. Our water requires little treatment compared with other sources, and our system can deliver vastly more volumes of fresh, clean water than our […]
Focus
The province moved to spur the pace of residential development in Ontario a couple of months ago. For the sake of getting directly to the meat (lightly seasoned) in this column, I will assume that most readers understand that new homebuilding is not only desirable in our community, but rather a necessity if we hope […]
First step
Bold is good. Bold disrupts. Stirs urgency. Bold ideas are welcome, and likely necessary, to rouse a stodgy, risk-focused bureaucracy in which inertia has become a defining characteristic. And this was a bold move. Last week, Andreas Bolik, the first-term councillor from Ameliasburgh, sought and won support to direct management to find 10 per cent […]
Carnegie’s formula
Libraries are the connective tissue in our community. More than just places filled with books and information, libraries, particularly in rural places like ours, are living organisms reaching out to form flexible, dynamic bonds that unite the disparate and changing character of our community. Libraries in Prince Edward County have also done an astonishing job […]