TOMORROW! From 8 to 9 pm, EARTH HOUR, Mississaugans have a chance to view Mississauga City Hall about as dark as it can be (I mean without the staff and elected officials actually being inside...).
Yes, tomorrow, from 8 to 9 pm, In the Darkness, Ontarians have this unique opportunity to view their city halls "AS IS".
(Look really really closely...Let your eyeballs adjust to the DARK)
ONTARIO MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE --THE LIGHTS ARE OFF AND NOBODY'S HOME
Now faithful readers around here know me. They know that I've been visiting Ontario's city halls from Niagara to Whitby. I can tell you this.
NO CITY HALL will be more dark, more shadowy, more... ripe for YouTubing than BIG YELLOW!
[Caption: Big Yellow Transparency-Metaphor --on a Good Day]
THE MISSISSAUGA MUSE WRITES OMBUDSMAN DURING EARTH HOUR!
Yep, I'm going to "write" the Ontario Ombudsman IN THE DARK. Here's my letter to Big Yellow.
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:40:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: MISSISSAUGA WATCH (mississauga_watch@yahoo.com)
Subject: EARTH HOUR VISIT TO PHOTO/VIDEO AROUND CITY HALL (NOTICE of INTENT)
To: EarthHour.Info@mississauga.ca
CC: mayor@mississauga.ca, george.carlson@mississauga.ca, mississauga_watch@yahoo.com, John Stewart (jstewart@mississauga.net), the_mississauga_muse@yahoo.comHello,
I visited your Earth Hour webpage at:
http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/earthhour
and noticed "Let us know how you plan to reduce your energy consumption in your home and workplace during Earth Hour."
I'll do that now.My husband and I will be participating in Mississauga Earth Hour 2008 by shutting off all unnecessary lights and electrical equipment.
Please be advised that I will be coming over to Mississauga City Hall to "write" a letter to the Ontario Ombudsman, Mr. Andre Marin, using light sticks. Yes, "light sticks".
I will be inviting the Ombudsman's office to view the proceedings via the Mississauga webcam (so please don't shut that off --plus it would be neat for people to view Mississauga City Hall in this unique hour).
Please note that while I'll be performing Semaphore "letter" to our Ontario Ombudsman, my husband will be present to videotape and photograph (yes, even in the dark).
Please MAKE SURE that you inform Mississauga Corporate Security --I can't stress that enough.Thank you for your consideration and if I/we need to register with Mississauga Corporate Security first, I/we will comply.
Yours for a dark Earth Hour,
The Mississauga Muse
MISSISSAUGAWATCH
You (and Ontario Ombudsman, Mr. Marin) can watch Mississauga City Hall Earth Hour activities at their webcam --CLICK HERE.
For those who want to "lipread" what I'll be writing to Mr. Marin...
OH! AND SPEAKING OF THE ONTARIO OMBUDSMAN...
Some dude wrote a Letter to the Editor of the MissyNews and I just couldn't take it anymore. I urge you to read it --especially those of you who've really been paying attention to the Bill 130 closed-meeting "investigator" issue.
"Fee a good thing
By: Abe Paul
March 18, 2008 10:59 PM - Dear Editor:So the Region of Peel is going to impose a $170 fee for complaints about closed-door meetings?
Good for them!
What could be fairer? If the complaint is legitimate, and not frivolous as many are, the fee is refunded. If not, it makes sense the complainant, not the taxpayer, pays the cost of hearing the complaint.
This ensures a legitimate complaint will still be heard free of charge.
Brampton already does this: The City of Mississauga would be well advised to follow suit.
Then a frivolous complaint will not pick the pocket of (residents), but is paid for by the complainer."
COMES A TIME
That did it. I wrote a response Letter to the Editor.
"Not a good thing
By: Ursula Bennett
March 20, 2008 07:46 PM - Dear Editor:I'm responding to letter "Fee a good thing" by Abe Paul.
Mr. Paul writes: "So the Region of Peel is going to impose a $170 fee for complaints about closed-door meetings? Good for them! What could be fairer?"
What could be fairer? Clearly, Mr. Paul hasn't done his homework. Otherwise he'd know the "default" in the Bill 130 closed-meeting provision is an investigation conducted free-of-charge by the Ontario Ombudsman.
Instead, the McGuinty government buckled under the powerful lobbying demands of the Association of Ontario Municipalities (AMO), on which Hazel McCallion and Caledon mayor Marolyn Morrison sit as members of the Board of Directors. As a result, The Province created a total farce of the process and allowed municipalities to choose their own investigators.
The News editorial correctly points out, "not only do residents have to pay to inquire about the validity of a closed meeting, only those with a wad of extra cash in their pockets will have the financial means to do so."
Very few people know that through the act of hiring their own"investigators, municipalities block citizen access to the free complaints process by the Ontario Ombudsman.
‘What could be fairer,’ Mr. Paul? Ask the mayor of Fort Erie, or Billings, or Bluewater, or Cochrane, or Sudbury, or Grimsby, or Hamilton or London or..."
If Mr. Paul wishes to continue to debate (publicly), he knows where to find me. Should he wish an entire Blog entry here to detail the merits of Peel choosing its own investigator and then charging people $170, while other municipalities gave their citizens a free-of-charge investigation by the Ontario Ombudsman, he can be Blogger-of-the-Day.
ANYWAY--THAT'S IT. BUSY DAY
Have to go to Big Yellow and drop down couple of new Freedom of Informations. AND practice my Semaphore.
Signed,
The (SHINE THE LIGHT) Mississauga Muse
P.S. I suspect that I should've put this warning up front. If other Ontarians are thinking of visiting their city halls during The Dark Hour, be sure to let their security guards know in advance. Also know this. Ontario municipal security guards and municipal enforcement officers have no provincial oversight and are not subject to Bill 159. You've been warned.
P.P.S. The last Mississauga Environment "SIGN" I made was back in September 1990 at Sandford Farm.
(Click here to go directly to YouTube or Google Video)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUIS CUSODIET IPSOS CUSTODES? "Who Watches the Watchers? --The Mississauga Muse
"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear" ---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)
Want (or worse, need) to learn more? Link to MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments (2)
Dear Mayor McCalliun,
I apologise if this letter interrupts your corespondence in the dark, but I really felt it necessary to write and tell you that as a long time resident of the Village Of Port Credit, which as I understand it is a part of your Imfamous Mississauga.
I am very disturbed and upset by the small amount of participation that was forthcoming in The Village during Earth Hour. I don't actually know what you did in the big city of Mississauga, of which I know you are Mayor, but you did little to encourage those of us in Port Credit, which I have always thought to be a part of Mississauga!
Street lights were left on, Port Credit poster signs were left on, and not once did I see you yourself on T.V., or in the paper encouraging the people of Port Credit or surrounding areas to turn out their lights in participation of this wonderful event!
Shame on you for not taking more pride in our community.
My household participated without your encouragment, but others that didn't might have, had you come forward on the news or in the local paper asking them too, and perhaps if you had managed to get a few more small store owners or even large companies involved, we might have made the news for our get up and go attitude, and not for the little village who didn't care.
It makes me ashamed to say I'm from Port Credit, or even Mississauga, when we can't even spare one hour out of our lives to dim the lights to help the world!
Margo Maguire
Lakeshore Rd. E, [Ed: address details removed]
Mississauga, Ontario
L5G 1G2
[ED: Please note that Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion is on a tour of the East to drum up business for Mississauga. Regardless. Ms. Maguire's comments, "not once did I see you yourself on T.V." doesn't excuse McCallion not being on TV on Earth Day. She could've prepared a telecast message in advance.]
Posted by Margo Maguire | March 30, 2008 2:13 AM
Posted on March 30, 2008 02:13
“The shot heard around the world” was Innovative Jim Flaherty announcing NAFTA to back off doing business in Ontario that’ll have all our dim bulbs flicking every body off on every Earth Month of March.
Posted by Wayne Nagy | March 30, 2008 1:46 PM
Posted on March 30, 2008 13:46