Taxi Talk Causes Tempers to Flare
Every Orangeville Council Meeting seems to have a word-of-the-day….usually it’s at Budget meetings, and its usually ‘reserves’….but at this Monday’s meeting, the word-of-the-day was Taxi. There has been a lot of talk about the Taxi Bylaws in Orangeville over the last few months, so much so, that they even formed a committee to take a look at them. Then back in November, there were concerns from some local Drivers that they missed the opportunity to apply for the committee due to the way the posting was handled…so council extended the deadline to apply.
Well, Monday night during question period, outraged Taxi Drivers were back up at the podium voicing their displeasure about the way the Taxi Committee was handled. When the Committee was initially formed, the outline was that it be comprised of 5 public members (including taxi drivers) as well as representatives from the Town’s bylaw department and Orangeville Police Services. The outrage came when a couple of local Taxi Drivers realized that they are not represented on the committee at all as Council did not place even one current driver on the committee. Also of concern to them, was that the people who were placed on the committee have been very vocal on social media about their displeasure with the way that the current bylaw is, and the taxi drivers don’t feel that will be a balanced or fair committee.
After a very heated discussion, it was decided that the committee would not be changed but it was made clear that the taxi drivers could voice their opinions at the committee meetings because all meetings are open to the public.
Well imagine my surprise when, later in the meeting, the topic of the Taxi Committee came up again…{insert sarcasm font there} and this time after a vote, the Committee was eliminated….so it seems as though this bylaw won’t be looked at anytime soon…although I am confident that we haven’t heard the last on this topic yet.
I’m thinking that members of Council may have a hard time hailing a taxi……maybe its time for Orangeville to get more Uber Drivers?!?!?
Tony Rose Improvements????
Ok friends…bear with me for a few minutes cause I need to rant. TONY ROSE…need I say more?!?!?! Last year, the Town of Orangeville paid HUGE money to a consultant to look at Rec Services in the town…and it was suggested that they needed to look at changing Tony Rose…either closing part of it, or at least turning B Rink into a Dry-Land Training area. Council last year, flat out refused to look at closing or changing ‘B’ Rink into something else or doing something useful (and profitable) with the pool. In fact, a motion was passed at a Council Meeting last December stating that council WILL NOT look at Tony Rose for the remainder of this term. If you have been reading my blog since day 1, you probably already know my view on Tony Rose….if not, I will tell you now. In my humble opinion, the fact that it operates at a SIGNIFICANT loss year after year should be enough of an indication to the people who are happily spending my tax dollars, that SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE!!!!!
Fast forward to Monday’s meeting – an architect was paid ($10,000) to look at adding family change rooms to Tony Rose…I can’t believe we even paid to have someone look at making improvements to this facility in the first place, but that’s a topic for a different day…and they came back with 2 options. Option #1 would be at a cost of over $300k and Option #2 would be a huge reno and would cost the Town of Orangeville close to $2 Million. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! This is just insanity. And what’s even more ridiculous is that some on council are prepared to SPEND THAT MONEY!!! The motion didn’t pass….yet. But what did pass was a motion to send the architect back in…at a cost of who-knows-what to take another look at it to see if there are any other options that would cost less….In my humble opinion, unless it is FREE, it is not a good or viable way to spend MY tax dollars!!!! Ok – end rant.
I’m curious though…what are your feelings on Tony Rose? Do you think it should stay as is (operating at a loss every year) or do you think the Town of Orangeville should look at changing things up?
Urban Slide
Now here is something pretty cool that happened at Monday’s meeting. Council gave the go-ahead for Urban Slide to come to Orangeville this summer! The only details missing were final decisions on date and location. Have you heard of Urban Slide? It is pretty neat…basically they set up a ginormous water slide (around 1000 feet) in the streets…how fun is that?!? Residents will have the option of a few packages to purchase including either one-slide, a 3-pack or an all-day pass to enjoy the slide.
The only decisions left were where it was going to be set up – initial thought was on Alder, but there were concerns about parking and viability of this location; and the other was the date – initial thought was over RibFest weekend, but there were concerns that this would cause RibFest to be too pricey for a family of 4 as the slide alone could cost a family of 4 around $100-$150 for the day.
After some discussion, it was decided that they would leave the Events Committee to look at possible dates and locations and bring their thoughts back to Council for final approval.
Judging by an article posted today by The Orangeville Banner, it sounds as though with the support of the Orangeville BIA, Urban Slide will be taking place on July 23rd on either Broadway or First St.
I don’t know about you, but I am pretty stoked to see one of our main streets turned into a waterpark for the day!!! Will you be attending this event?
Next Meeting
There is a budget meeting scheduled for Monday, February 8th at 7pm and they have added a special meeting of council to that date as well.