Monday, December 03, 2007
What a Blast!
I'm trying (but not too hard) to come down from an emotional high which was Karen and Joe's wedding in Punta Cana.
I thought going down to a wedding with people you know would be fun. In spite of a few downer things, the event way exceeded my expectations.
We (Carmen and I) hung around with a group of Marion's friends (mainly trailer park group). They are such a fun gang. Whether it was bargaining on the beach for stuff or doing karaoke or casino or just lying around the pool, we just felt like part of a group that knew us for years not for a few days. Thanks gang. Not to single out anyone but these are just impression of some people. Marie is such a kid. OK pretty drunk at the wedding reception but just immediately picked up on the funny faces thing (see Facebook photo gallery) and brought out the worse/best in the people as we swept the crowd. Laura, the Urban Planner and her mom Mary, the eternal teacher (seems to always want to interject with a fact or observation). Laura really took me back to high school where one of my teachers taught us about urban sprawl, dangers and ways to prevent it. The really stupid thing is we are here 30 years later with the same problems and the same inaction. She works out of Alliston and the developers have just skipped over the Oak Ridges green belt and just push further north.
I had been told 30 years ago that the simple community includes mixed use like small retail within the communities, so there is at least an option of walking to the corner store. This is not happening in these bedroom communities. This creates heavy reliance on the car. While there is the Honda plant in Alliston, the majority of the new homes will be bought by those commuting to the GTA. Crazy stuff, how can that be Urban Planning for the good of society? The reality is town council want to expand their tax base and will approve anything that fits in the town plan and follows all building requirements. To insist on small commercial in a development rather that creating "big box" malls doesn't bring in any tax money. Each town fends for itself, there is no overall Ontario "master plan", so we will continue to see prime farm land swallowed up by houses that people will live and commute farther and farther to avoid the smog in Toronto. (I hope you laughed and then wrote your MPP.)
I thought going down to a wedding with people you know would be fun. In spite of a few downer things, the event way exceeded my expectations.
We (Carmen and I) hung around with a group of Marion's friends (mainly trailer park group). They are such a fun gang. Whether it was bargaining on the beach for stuff or doing karaoke or casino or just lying around the pool, we just felt like part of a group that knew us for years not for a few days. Thanks gang. Not to single out anyone but these are just impression of some people. Marie is such a kid. OK pretty drunk at the wedding reception but just immediately picked up on the funny faces thing (see Facebook photo gallery) and brought out the worse/best in the people as we swept the crowd. Laura, the Urban Planner and her mom Mary, the eternal teacher (seems to always want to interject with a fact or observation). Laura really took me back to high school where one of my teachers taught us about urban sprawl, dangers and ways to prevent it. The really stupid thing is we are here 30 years later with the same problems and the same inaction. She works out of Alliston and the developers have just skipped over the Oak Ridges green belt and just push further north.
I had been told 30 years ago that the simple community includes mixed use like small retail within the communities, so there is at least an option of walking to the corner store. This is not happening in these bedroom communities. This creates heavy reliance on the car. While there is the Honda plant in Alliston, the majority of the new homes will be bought by those commuting to the GTA. Crazy stuff, how can that be Urban Planning for the good of society? The reality is town council want to expand their tax base and will approve anything that fits in the town plan and follows all building requirements. To insist on small commercial in a development rather that creating "big box" malls doesn't bring in any tax money. Each town fends for itself, there is no overall Ontario "master plan", so we will continue to see prime farm land swallowed up by houses that people will live and commute farther and farther to avoid the smog in Toronto. (I hope you laughed and then wrote your MPP.)
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