Tag Archives: Mark Cosens

05.29.10
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No Garden of Eden over there on Isabel Street

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What a sad commentary that the crop getting the most attention in the St. Thomas Community Garden is the abundant supply of hot potatoes.

Let’s be honest here, the joy of horticulture at 26 Isabel Street has now been supplanted by the nastiest of political posturing — in the process choking out rational thought as if under siege by the most pervasive of weeds.

And, there are no winners. In fact, the city’s reputation has been the target of thousands of insults from internet eejits who couldn’t point out St. Thomas on a map, let alone Canada.

To be fair, both sides in the garden hoe-down must share responsibility for ratcheting up the rhetoric.

Organizer Brigitte Cosens emphatically told the T-J on Wednesday she had concerns about the inflammatory comments posted on YouTube over the past week.

She assured reporter Kyle Rea she would talk to the city resident who uploaded a video that has garnered thousands of views and pages of comments ranging from inane to downright insulting.

So, what does she do? Turn around and agree to appear on a second YouTube video that already has attracted a bushel load of rants.
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05.22.10
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‘I have tried to make St. Thomas a better place,’ — Cosens

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Back in April, this corner documented a segment of an interview with popular television host Dan Reith and mayoral hopeful Mark Cosens on the fate of a $40,000 city loan. You can read the story here

After a discussion with him, City Scope is printing the following statement from Cosens as a clarification on his part.

On February 2, 2010, after much encouragement, thought and consultation with family and friends, I announced my candidacy for Mayor of the City of St. Thomas in the upcoming municipal election.

I declared my candidacy early to have plenty of time to work on my campaign, get better known throughout the community and find out from the citizens of St. Thomas how they see the future of our city unfolding. I am looking forward to working with a broad spectrum of people to make our community a better place to live and work.

I started out by talking to many people, building a campaign and raising some funds. I then released the first plank in my platform, the necessity of hiring a Chief Administrative Office to better position St. Thomas moving forward.
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05.08.10
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When the going gets tough, head out on a road trip

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Last week in this very space we outlined a sweetheart lease deal offered to Elgin St. Thomas Public Health by their landlord at 99 Edward St.

That would be the County of Elgin, which is willing to cut the lease rate in half.

So how did CEO Cynthia St. John respond to this generous incentive?

On Tuesday, 11 managers trundled on up to Owen Sound to check out the spanking new building that houses Grey-Bruce Health Unit. The building has been described as, “extravagant” and OPSEU notes, “At least $20 million has been budgeted for this building, dubbed the ‘copper elephant’ by local media.”

As we understand it, that organization took on the financing of the building and we can only speculate St. John relishes the opportunity to pursue a similar financial route.
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04.24.10
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Full transcript of Mark Cosens’ response to whereabouts of $40,000 city improvement loan

Full transcript from segment of Dan Reith’s Politically Speaking taped in early April dealing with $40,000 community improvement loan received by mayoral candidate Mark Cosens.

Dan Reith: “Yourself or a company controlled by you received a $40,000 community improvement loan from the city which, subsequent to the bankruptcy filing, still remains outstanding and owing to the city. Is that true?”

Mark Cosens:”That is something I’m really not able to talk to in a sense it wasn’t a decision I made. It was a decision made by the city, without my involvement in that decision and I don’t think that’s something that can be held against me for running for mayor because of that.

“It’s something that hasn’t been fully disclosed at this point in time either. So, that may get cleared up as well. At this point in time, It’s hard to say what that might do to my bid.”
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04.24.10
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Fate of the $40,000 city grant nothing but a kerfuffle

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In what surely has to be one of the oddest television interview segments in some time, Dan Reith, host of Politically Speaking, sat opposite Mark Cosens earlier this month and deftly forced the mayoral wannabe into damage control mode.

The bombshell question from Reith that had Cosens backpedaling furiously came right out of left field, as follows.

“Yourself, or a company controlled by you, received a $40,000 community improvement loan from the city which, subsequent to the bankruptcy filing, still remains outstanding and owing to the city. Is that true?”

What followed is nothing short of a Gray Line Mystery Tour, starting with this opening rebuttal from Cosens.

“That is something I’m really not able to talk to in a sense it wasn’t a decision I made. It was a decision made by the city, without my involvement in that decision and I don’t think that’s something that can be held against me for running for mayor because of that.

“It’s something that hasn’t been fully disclosed at this point in time either. So, that may get cleared up as well. At this point in time, it’s hard to say what that might do to my bid.”
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04.10.10
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A ‘tough budget’ to blame for employee dismissals

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After hiding behind the no-comment curtain for several weeks, the less-than-transparent brass over at Elgin St. Thomas Public Health passed along a media release this week to shed some light on recent events.

According to Executive Director Cynthia St. John, the organization has approved its 2010 mandatory programs and services budget, resulting in an overall increase of 3%.

The “tough budget,” as characterized by St. John, is the reason being touted for the dismissal of four employees last month, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

“We anticipated it was going to be a tough budget year and a 3% increase is insufficient to meet current demands for the services we provide,” she notes.
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03.23.10
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Cosens unveils first election plank – the importance of hiring a CAO


ST. THOMAS – Mayoral candidate Mark Cosens delivered his first of several election platform statements today: installing a Chief Administrative Officer of the Corporation of the City of St. Thomas.

“I strongly believe that a city the size of St. Thomas, with its complexity and challenges, now more than ever in today’s economy, needs a true professional leader at the helm of municipal staff,” Cosens said. “Hiring a CAO is one of my first priorities once elected, an initiative I believe would assist putting St. Thomas back on the map in an effort to attract jobs to our community.”

While he considers improving the St. Thomas economy and creating jobs his overriding task as mayor, the hiring of a CAO would further that goal and the task is a priority on Cosens’ agenda when elected.
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