Tag Archives: Ald. David Warden

02.02.13
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Six-year saga of skating sculptures, and other stories

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We’ve all heard the expression, “spending money like a drunken sailor.” That’s the common theme this week in City Scope, whether it’s questionable requests for taxpayer dollars, accountability, or “who made this financial commitment anyway?”

It all comes together like the wind and the water this Monday in the council chamber at city hall, starting with the whereabouts of two wayward sculptures.

Seems when the Timken Centre opened, the fundraising committee, under the leadership of Hilary Vaughan, commissioned $60,000 to create a donor recognition wall and fashion a pair of sculptures — a hockey player and a figure skater.

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12.29.12
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A quotation for everything: the past year in review

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It’s been a City Scope tradition to greet the incoming year by surveying the past 365 days to savor the wit and wisdom of our elected representatives.

As a collector of quotes from a variety of sources, it lends credence to the words of wisdom from British author Dorothy L. Sayers: “I always have a quotation for everything – it saves original thinking.”

Of course, when media scribes document a response or comment to the pages for posterity, we must be prepared for the inevitable charge of being taken out of context.

Or, as one anonymous wag noted, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.”

With the preamble out of the way, let’s glean through a year’s worth of columns to fully appreciate what transpired in 2012.
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12.15.12
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The meter keeps ticking to maintain the status quo

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A supplementary item St. Thomas council will deal with Monday leaves the distinct impression we are going to be slowly nickle-and-dimed to death while some aldermen press their case to rehabilitate the existing police headquarters in the Colin McGregor Justice Building.
To wit, a report from John Dewancker, director of environmental services, requesting $24,000 in additional funding to complete the Phase 2 environmental site assessment at 30 St. Catherine St.
The work is being undertaken at the request of those members of council who would rather pump money into a toxic site, rather than construct a new facility on land the city has already purchased for that purpose.
To date, the environmental assessment, undertaken by Conestoga Rovers, indicates soil samples from the northern portion of the property exceed Ministry of the Environment standards for benzene, lead and petroleum hydrocarbon contamination.
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06.09.12
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With regrets, your appointee doesn’t cut it

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It’s like watching the proverbial train wreck in slow motion . . . and, you’ve got a front seat.
The board of directors at St. Thomas Elgin-General Hospital and city council are destined to butt heads, once again.
And, the object of their attention is none other than Ald. Sam Yusuf.
Let’s run the video back to Tuesday, when the hospital held its annual general meeting and elected Paul Bode as board chairman for a two-year term.
And, things were proceeding nicely from that point.
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04.30.12
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The full story, Elgin St. Thomas Public Health – as related in a Shmuel Farhi email

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

London developer Shmuel Farhi’s accounts of the events leading up to a tentative deal with Farhi for property at the west end of Talbot Street to be the new home of Elgin St. Thomas Public Health as taken from an April 19, 2012 email to Ald. David Warden and Mayor Heather Jackson, with copies to Ald. Gord Campbell and Ald. Tom Johnston. This follows April 28,2012 discussion in City Scope which you can read here. The email is entitled Without Prejudice . . .

Hello Dave:

I am very pleased we finally had the opportunity to talk at length yesterday about the history of the Health Unit’s search for a new building.

As I told you, I met with Paul Smith, Cynthia St. John, Amy Dale and others in my office in the early fall of 2009 and we received “verbal agreement” on a design/build/lease package.

On November 5, 2009, Cynthia sent an email that included the following: “I am pleased to report that Amy will be in touch with you and Colleen to finalize the offer to lease. The board did have some specific questions about materials used in the design and such but nothing that will hold us up. Once Amy, Colleen and I have finalized the offer to lease, I have direction from my board to sign it so we are moving ahead which is great news. Thank you for your patience and availability over the last while to finalize this deal.” (Emphasis mine.)

On November 5, 2009, Kim Eitel of the Health Unit emailed the following to me: “Amy Dale will be in touch with your office Friday or Monday to finalize the “offer to lease”.” (Emphasis mine.)

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