Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
- Details
- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Clock Tower developer, Bob Forrest, has told the OMB he wants his appeal heard "at the first available opportunity".
He says his latest appeal and the earlier one - which claimed his completed application had been lodged with the Town before the Heritage By-law had been enacted in 2013 - should be rolled up together and heard at the same time. 
Forrest's lawyer, Ira Kagan - who represented Marianneneville Developments at the Glenway OMB Hearing - complains Town staff have been dragging their feet, taking years to deal with the application.
Whoa! Not quite so fast.
This is a good example of Kagan's trademark bluster and swagger.
Forrest knew Town staff had significant reservations about aspects of his proposed development. As Forrest sought to accommodate these concerns, his project morphed over the years from nine storeys to six and finally settled on seven.
He thought he would bide his time, tweak the project as necessary and, eventually, with a few endorsements from important people, he would get his approval.
It didn't work out that way.
Staff concluded Forrest's final seven storey version could not be supported and brought forward their amended proposal. Both Forrest's proposal and the staff's recommended variation were rejected by councillors on 5 December 2016.
"Good planning" Are you serious?
There is nothing in Ira Kagan's letter that comes as a surprise.
Even his contention that the proposed seven storey apartment block in the heart of the town's Heritage Conservation District represents
"good heritage planning"
didn't make me laugh as it might once have done.
These words are standard planning speak. A template to be used as and when the occasion demands.
Updates will follow as more information becomes available.
You can read the appeal letter here. Scroll to the bottom of the page and open.
- Details
- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The fragile and tortured Maddie Di Muccio has withdrawn from the race to become the Progressive Conservative Party candidate for Newmarket-Aurora in the forthcoming Provincial election. 
In this curious article published today she infers she is the victim (there's that word again) of sexism in the PCs with a Committee of Party grandees asking her all sorts of inappropriate questions such as how she could possibly combine being an MPP with motherhood.
Of course, these kinds of questions are totally off-the-wall and smack of ancient prejudices. So why didn't she face the old grey-beards down?
I think her outrage is a tad contrived. There are lots of able and personable women who have succeeded in politics. But Di Muccio's problem is her poisonous personality which repels people even in her own Party. She says terrible unsisterly things about other women. The evidence is everywhere.
She says she had the support of the Party leader, Patrick Brown, who, when told of all these shenanigans, advised her to stick with it. But she didn't. She quit.
But why? If she had recruited zillions of new supporters her path to the nomination surely would have been clear.
Not smooth necessarily. But clear.
But no. She threw in the towel and lost the chance of gaining an important platform to promote and promulgate her views - zany though they are.
I honestly don't know if I am surprised by what has just happened.
Probably not.
I'd like to think I saw it coming.
- Details
- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Aspiring Provincial Parliamentary candidate for the Newmarket-Aurora Progressive Conservatives, Maddie Di Muccio, today deleted tweets claiming I am a paedophile.
Di Muccio liked tweets from the troll, TruckMafk TMTM. He has also removed a lengthy series of tweets alleging my paedophilia.
Derek HighwayMonitor, who, like Di Muccio, re-tweeted baseless allegations of paedophilia has also deep-cleansed his Twitter account.
I am still waiting to hear from Patrick Brown MPP, the Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, and from Derek Murray, the President of the Newmarket-Aurora PC Riding Association.
Yesterday I asked them to take whatever steps they considered appropriate to get Di Muccio to remove the Tweets. I also asked them to secure an apology from Di Muccio. In my letters to Mr Brown and Mr Murray I included screen shots of Di Muccio's smears.
Although the offending tweets and re-tweets have now been taken down - and I am grateful - the issue is not completely resolved until I get an apology from Di Muccio.
I shall post updates.