What Is The Delay At The Opera House?

FOR THE LOVE OF GRAVENHURST - SPEAK UP OR ELSE

THE FUTURE IS CALLING

     IT'S THANKSGIVING. I HOPE EVERYONE HAS GIVEN THANKS, AND ENJOYED THE OCCASION CELEBRATING THE HARVEST, OUR HOMES, OUR TOWN, AND WELL, OUR DAYS YET TO COME. HERE'S A PREAMBLE TOAST TO THE GOOD LIFE HERE IN GRAVENHURST, MUSKOKA. CHEERS EVERYBODY.

     I HAVE A BLOG JOTTED DOWN IN LONG HAND, THAT I WROTE SEVERAL DAYS AGO, WHICH IS ACTUALLY IN THE CATEGORY OF A "TOO-WORDY" FOOTNOTE,  REGARDING A BLOG SEVERAL WEEKS AGO. IT'S NOT A HOLIDAY WEEKEND COP-OUT FOR A COLUMN, WHICH SHOULD BE ABOUT PEACE AND GOODWILL ON EARTH. BUT AS MANY TIMES AS I PUT IT ON THE SHELF, FOR ANOTHER DAY…..A MORE SUITABLE OCCASION, IT KEEPS BECKONING ME WITH AN UNREASONABLE SENSE OF URGENCY…..AS IF TELLING ME, YOU SEE, THE EDITORIAL SIMPLY CAN'T WAIT. MUCH AS IF SOMETHING IS HANGING IN THE BALANCE. IT'S POIGNANT FOR ME, BECAUSE I'M OUTSPOKEN AND EDITORIALLY AGGRESSIVE ABOUT THE SUBJECT OF HOW OUR TOWN FARES FROM THE INSIDE OUT. THERE ARE A LOT OF PRESSING ISSUES FACING THIS TOWN, AND I WISH TO BE MORE CONFIDENT THAN I AM AT PRESENT, THAT THINGS ARE AS SOLID AND STEAMING-AHEAD, AS THE GOOD MAYOR HAS PRESENTED FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION. ON THE OTHER HAND, A FEW OF US HARD-TO-PLEASE CONSTITUENTS, ARE NOT SURE WHAT TO MAKE OF IT ALL. WE GET SUSPICIOUS WHEN WE SEE WORK STOP AT THE OPERA HOUSE, FOR NUMEROUS DAYS, WHEN OUR MUSKOKAN GOOD SENSE, TELLS US THERE IS SNOW ON THE WAY, AND AN UNFINISHED ROOF THAT SHOULD, BY THE TIME IT BEGAN IN EARNEST, BE NEARING COMPLETION. WHAT WE SEE IS A PIECE OF PLYWOOD PATCHING, AT THE PEAK OF THE ROOF, A BUCKET FULL OF DEBRIS, AND NO WORKERS ON THE SITE EVEN ON RECENT SUNNY DAYS. HOPEFULLY, WE WILL FIND THE ANSWERS TO SOME BASIC QUESTIONS, IN THE BANNER THIS WEDNESDAY.

     AS I HAVE OPINED MANY TIMES OVER THE YEARS, TO LITTLE REACTION, WE TEND TO, AS CONSTITUENTS OF THIS COMMUNITY, MAKE THE RECKLESS ASSUMPTION, THAT OUR MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT, WILL REPRESENT OUR BEST INTERESTS, ALL OF THE TIME. WE DEPEND ON THIS BEING TRUE. YET WHAT ARE OUR BEST INTERESTS ANYWAY? EACH RESIDENT HAS A RIGHT TO THEIR OPINION. WHEN DOES IT BECOME CONSENSUS? HOW MANY FOLKS HAVE TO BAND TOGETHER TO MAKE A POINT, AND HAVE AN IMPACT, ON A GOVERNMENT DIRECTION, AND PUBLIC POLICY? IT MAY BE IMPLIED BY THE OATH OF OFFICE, THAT SWORN-IN COUNCILLORS SHALL WORK IN THE BEST INTEREST OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO ABSTRACT CONCEPTS SUCH AS FLAG WAVING AND CHEERING, FOR THE HOME CLUB, IT'S NOT REALLY THEIR JOB. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS USALLY PAINTED THIS WAY, AS A TOWN BOOSTING COMMITTEE REPRESENTING THE TOWN'S "OPEN FOR BUSINESS" STRATEGY, BUT IT'S NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH CHEERING ON THE LOCAL HOCKEY CLUB, AGAINST RIVALS. IT'S BUSINESS, NOT A SHOW OF PASSION, OR LOVE FOR GRAVENHURST. IT'S A CASE OF "WE WANT YOUR INVESTMENT….HOW CAN WE HELP YOU." IT'S ALL RIGHT, BUT IT'S NOT FROTHING WITH SENTIMENT, ABOUT PRIDE AND HOMETOWN VALUES. IT IS WHAT IT IS. A MATTER OF BUSINESS. AND HONESTLY, FEW OF US EXPECT THAT COUNCIL SHOULD DEMONSTRATE THIS "WE LOVE GRAVENHURST" THING ANYWAY, BECAUSE IT ISN'T THE HALLMARK OF GOOD GOVERNANCE, THE WAY WE EXPECT THE TOWN TO RUN. BUSINESS IS THE TEN OUT OF TEN, BECAUSE WITHOUT IT, WE'D SWING BACK TO HAMLET STATUS. THERE IS HOWEVER, A GROUP OF CONSTITUENTS, THAT WOULD ARGUE IT IS THE ONE ASPECT OF MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT THAT IS MISSING……AND SHOULD BE A PART OF THE FOUR YEAR EXPERIENCE. THE "RA RA," OF PASSIONATE APPRECIATION OF HOMETOWN VALUES. THIS ISN'T TO SAY THAT PRESENT GRAVENHURST COUNCILLORS MIGHT BE SECRET BRACEBRIDGE LOVERS, OR ADORING FANS FOR ORILLIA, BUT THAT THERE IS A DEFINITE SHORTFALL OF INTIMACY, REGARDING THE WAY WE SHOW OUR FEELINGS FOR OUR HOMETOWN THESE DAYS. IT WASN'T ALWAYS THIS WAY.

WE NEED TO BE IN THE LOOP - AND HERE'S WHY

     In the good old days, town ambassadors like Hugh Clairmont, would have been standing in the doorway of the mayor's office, demanding an answer about the state of the Opera House roof….to take a contemporary issue, for example. As the hugely passionate, wild-about Gravenhurst citizen, he was, Hugh would have been all over this issue, and knowing how staunch he was about getting answers, he wouldn't have left that doorway without getting a satisfactory (to his news sense) answer. Not just an amusing anecdote, spun to create the fog of politics. A real, worts and all answer. As a columnist, we would have found out all about it, because he took it seriously, this public's right to know aspect of a vibrant democracy. He paid attention to what was going on around here, and he had a nose for news, do doubt about it. Well sir, I miss citizens like Hugh Clairmont, because we're missing important stuff happening right in front of us, and apparently we've lost the will to ask why. There isn't anyone of vintage, who would deny that Hugh Clairmont loved his home town. All the Clairmonts are proud of their legacy in Gravenhurst, and the leadership they've provided over many decades, in so many different capacities. When we moved to Gravenhurst, in 1989, I gambled pretty safely, that any place that would be graced by a character like Hugh Clairmont, would be a good place to raise a family. I wasn't wrong. I tell him that, every time I pass his tombstone, at Lakeview Cemetery……with the typical greeting we used to exchange in life. I miss Hugh because he was huge when it came to our town's identity, and it's coming and goings, and he kept a lot of folks on their toes, who might have done something adverse, if he hadn't been there to report on current events. He was a watchdog as much as he was a citizens' advocate. If he sat on a fence at all, he was more on our side, than the politicians' point of view. When he talked, I listened. He was savvy about the most intimate details of how this town has grown and matured over the years….simply because he paid attention when others let things slide. I'm telling you, Hugh would have been penning a pretty meaty column, about the reasons we have an unfinished roof at the Opera House, with nary a word from the Mayor, on why oh why, we are tempting winter to bury it with snow.

     We are treated to many amusing anecdotes these days……seemingly clever covering statements, that depict us as a worthy ship upon stormy seas, pushing forward, and conquering what needs to be conquered. It is all very allowable under the requirements of the Municipal Act, to be evasive, non-transparent, facade-building, and noncommittal, always pushing dates of reckoning further and further into the future, such that when we finally arrive there……we forgot the question, and what was supposed to be the outcome. You see, hale and hardy folks like Hugh Clairmont, and many more from his vintage, would have set these modernists straight, regardless of the facades and protocols they may wish to hide behind. They lived at a time, when you weren't frightened of bad press. You were frightened instead, of losing the allegiance of your friends, and fellow homeowners. The word transparency never had to be used, as a promise to constituents, about the role of a new council. It was not something that had to be proclaimed. It just was. It doesn't mean that some things weren't deemed sensitive, or confidential, but just not so much. As we stare at the odd shape of the long overdue repairs to the Opera House roof, and the lack of a work force to continue the repairs, are we to suppose, the information is confidential, such that we shouldn't be looking up, and noticing untended problems. This is the way we feel frankly, that even if we were to ask, there would be a spin on it, to make it look a lesser evil, than what we, as voyeurs, see as a troubling turn of events. As I didn't read anything about this in The Weekender, where a notice from the mayor could have been published, regarding the news of the work stoppage, and the closed Opera House, instead, we are left with what our senses tell us about a partly finished roof. Would any councillor be surprised, that we have noticed this, and wish to ask some questions? Would town staff be shocked to get phone calls, asking what's going on with our main street jewel? It sure seems that our representatives, are carrying the "I can't provide that information" thing, way too far, for our own good. But it is the general apathy here that lets them get away with it……to the point, they feel successful, at slipping by yet another problem that just might have caused us some concern. No, it's not like the old days, and we are less informed because of it….and I can't find anything positive about this present situation. Fobbing it off on the rules of office, is just silly, waste of energy b.s. We own the Opera House, in case they are unsure about this, and we need to know why things are at a standstill. Plain and simple. If the press doesn't phone them…….here's an idea……phone them.

     Sure, maybe I am old fashioned, and a relic from another era. There is a lot of nonsense these days about what the public can handle, and what they shouldn't know about, and how it is all quilts together to make a pretty picture, under its warm and cozy length and breadth. But underneath, there's an interconnecting of situations and important information, that we aren't entitled….and in the end, the final harvest, we are expected to pay for; either in cash from taxes, or fallout from yet another staff person walking, or being led out that town hall door. Council has sown these seeds, that have created dissension and mistrust. They have no one to blame but themselves…..not bloggers like me, or those who vent frustration in letters to the editor. It is all proportional to the way council dodges and darts having to give reasons for the decisions they make, that are very much influencing the future of this town…..whether we know it or not.

    The Opera House is on the main street of our town….right in the heart of BIA country. Even the tourists were looking up at the patchy roof of the Opera House, and asking what the problem was, and would it be closed for long…..or for good. Speculation thrives on such things…..so don't blame me for asking for clarification. While councillors haven't opted to meet the public in a suggested mid-term Q. and A. session, which is no surprise, I can only hope they don't feel this way, about the urgent necessity to inform us, about the problems encountered, fixing the roof of our historic and landmark Opera House. This would be the proverbial straw, on the old camel's back.

    There are already council candidates mustering for the municipal election in two years' time. One might expect there will be some sharp criticism to come, for perceived shortfalls of this present council. So if councillors are feeling a little pursued and roughed-up by negativity, they should start opening up to constituents now……certainly if they plan on seeking a second term. Just a suggestion from an historian who has seen this all before…..and reported on the fall from grace, of politicians, who forgot all about, the truly fickle will of the people…..when their goodwill and support is taken for granted. The way council handles news about the Opera House, will very much be a case in point. I want to be impressed by their willingness to share what they know……with the people who share its ownership. This is the public's right to know. Plain and simple.

     Thank you for joining me today. I value your interest and respect in freedom of speech. I may be a curse to some…..but my wife likes me. Please visit again soon.