| The Crystal Beach Strand page four |
It's Happening in Wainfleet Too. E-Mail from Wainfleet Ratepayers |
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A Blast From 2008 ~ Remember THIS? |
| CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS BEAUTIFUL STRETCH OF BEACH LINED WITH HIGHRISE CONDOS? |
Hi Sharon,
We are indeed in a struggle and that struggle is to keep a lifestyle and a township that needs to stay agricultural and
rural not urbanized by the developers that are out there just waiting to gobble us up to slap in townhouses that don't
fit or monster homes that none of us Fleeters could ever hope to afford. Once those monster homes get built those
home/cottage owners will be forced out because they won't be able to afford the taxes due to the neighbouring
properties being worth so much more.
This fight is all about development and if the darn pipe gets approved by regional council we are looking at a
potential for 9000 new units to be built not just the 200 infill lots that exist. They think we are stupid and have vastly
underestimated our desire to beat them at their own game. Our problem is the lack of money to do any real damage to
their claims because that is just what they are: claims that have been dolled up to look like they are saying something
that is real when in truth they have left out all the really important details that the councillors are not used to asking
for because they don't read the staff reports that come to them and if they do read them they think that the info must
be right because these staffers all have degrees of some sort and are really clever. Not. I have watched time after time
at both levels of government these folks that are supposed to be representing us and looking out for us just be totally
oblivious that these reports need to questioned and investigated and some home work done by those that represent us
but they have no time for that because they aren't given the time and they rarely if ever ask to have something deferred
so that they aren't jumping headlong into something that is going to backfire.
We need a whole new local council with some fresh thinking, which would be: we have an Official Plan why aren't
we using it and following what it says, rather than giving into developers the minute they show their faces at a
council meeting. We have started a flier campaign, one flier per month until the election to keep reminding voters
that there is an election in October to get out and vote and that their vote does count. We have identified the issues we
think we have in Wainfleet besides the water/sewer issue that are or will be important and will delve into each one
each month.
We are of the opinion that the whole system is broken and we need a revolution to fix it but barring that perhaps new
council members who are willing to put the municipality first following things like Official Plans and then telling
the staff to wind in their necks we are the ones in charge not the other way around. Don't know if it will work like
that if we do get elected but hey we gotta take a leap of faith here.
Betty Konc
We are indeed in a struggle and that struggle is to keep a lifestyle and a township that needs to stay agricultural and
rural not urbanized by the developers that are out there just waiting to gobble us up to slap in townhouses that don't
fit or monster homes that none of us Fleeters could ever hope to afford. Once those monster homes get built those
home/cottage owners will be forced out because they won't be able to afford the taxes due to the neighbouring
properties being worth so much more.
This fight is all about development and if the darn pipe gets approved by regional council we are looking at a
potential for 9000 new units to be built not just the 200 infill lots that exist. They think we are stupid and have vastly
underestimated our desire to beat them at their own game. Our problem is the lack of money to do any real damage to
their claims because that is just what they are: claims that have been dolled up to look like they are saying something
that is real when in truth they have left out all the really important details that the councillors are not used to asking
for because they don't read the staff reports that come to them and if they do read them they think that the info must
be right because these staffers all have degrees of some sort and are really clever. Not. I have watched time after time
at both levels of government these folks that are supposed to be representing us and looking out for us just be totally
oblivious that these reports need to questioned and investigated and some home work done by those that represent us
but they have no time for that because they aren't given the time and they rarely if ever ask to have something deferred
so that they aren't jumping headlong into something that is going to backfire.
We need a whole new local council with some fresh thinking, which would be: we have an Official Plan why aren't
we using it and following what it says, rather than giving into developers the minute they show their faces at a
council meeting. We have started a flier campaign, one flier per month until the election to keep reminding voters
that there is an election in October to get out and vote and that their vote does count. We have identified the issues we
think we have in Wainfleet besides the water/sewer issue that are or will be important and will delve into each one
each month.
We are of the opinion that the whole system is broken and we need a revolution to fix it but barring that perhaps new
council members who are willing to put the municipality first following things like Official Plans and then telling
the staff to wind in their necks we are the ones in charge not the other way around. Don't know if it will work like
that if we do get elected but hey we gotta take a leap of faith here.
Betty Konc
| Amen to that. |