am800 reports on the temporary skateboard park removal.
Aldo DiCarlo, Mayor of Amherstburg, says it’s being shut down despite having police and security there.
“We just can’t seem to get a handle on it,” he says. “We’re working on it but in the short term, unfortunately we’ve had so many complaints that we had to address it now.”
DiCarlo says everyone has been working on this since the problems started not long after the ramps were opened.
Thrive! Amherstburg will present its white paper on Open Air to council at its Tuesday, October 12 meeting.
The group recommends:
Some municipalities closed their downtown to support retail operations and specifically did not include entertainment or additional costs to the taxpayers.
Following an online request, Amherstburg Fire Chief Bruce Montone did not think 5 business days was an unreasonable amount of time and disclosed:
Events – afd a document that is provided on occasion to event organizers should they require additional guidance.
There are no specific dates for the original 2020 or the 2021 review.
On Friday, October 1, 2021, The Town of Kingsville was happy to announce that Paula Parker will join the Town’s administrative team as its new Clerk.
Along with acknowledging her experience and education, the news included, “Paula has spent her career focused on increasing accountability and transparency and ensuring corporate compliance with many pieces of legislation.”
CKLW am800 reports Mayor Aldo DiCarlo says town clerk Paula Parker and town treasurer Justin Rousseau are both leaving the municipality.
Paula Parker will not be missed.
CBC reported in 2017 on the dark history of Jeffrey Amherst, including text from one of Amherst’s letter;
“You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method that can serve to extirpate this execrable race. I should be very glad your scheme for hunting them down by dogs could take effect, but England is at too great a distance to think of that at present,” wrote Amherst in a 1763 letter.
The September 29, 2021 River Town Times reports, Councillor calls for no reference to Jeffrey Amherst in new school name.
“McArthur said he preferred if the new school would have a new name, free of any Jeffrey Amherst references, stating Jeffrey Amherst advocated genocide against the Indigenous population in the 1700s. The councillor did say he opposed changing the name of the town, noting residents have made it a beautiful and inclusive community.“I don’t think we should change the name of the town,” he said, adding people “have made it their own” despite the man for whom it was named.”
Is it not hypocritical to promote ‘a step towards reconciliation’ for the new high school, when council has no jurisdiction to do so, yet dismiss the idea of a name change for the town?
Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star, reports, “Town lawyer Susan Hirota was appointed Amherstburg’s acting CAO after three staff were told to leave town property on Aug. 9. On Tuesday, the Town of Kingsville announced Hirota will be moving to their organization as the director of Legal and Clerk Services.
On Friday, August 13, theburgwatch emailed Mayor Aldo DiCarlo, as a member of the media, and requested:
1. the press release you issued regarding staff being escorted out of town hall
2. that this email address be added to media lists for the issuing of notices to the media
3. a copy of the notice of cancellation of the August 9, 2021 council meeting.
Mayor DiCarlo questioned theburgwatch’s credentials, to which the reply confirmed that we already had this discussion in October 2020.
On today’s date, Mayor DiCarlo provided the media release as a public document, not as a media request.
A link to the cancelled council meeting was provided: https://calendar.amherstburg.ca/council/Detail/2021-08-09-1800-Regular-Council-Meeting-Public-Participation-via-L
As for being included in the media, the Mayor’s understanding appears to pertain to ‘media outlet,’ a traditional, or old media, definition. My understanding of ‘member of the media,’ includes new media.
If press releases were posted on the town’s website, one might conclude there is a willingness to embrace open government.
NOTE: In February 2020, I requested council establish a protocol to respond to inquiries from taxpayers and the media.
related:
I’m researching obtaining information from the Town of Amherstburg.
Has anyone been asked to refrain from contacting members of council for information and rely on the MFIPPA process?
Open government is of interest to me and has been since the 1990s when Amherstburg Police FOI Coordinator Bart DiPasquale routinely denied my requests for information.
Julie Kotsis, Windsor Star reports the results of requests for information to municipalities.
Emails were sent to every municipal chief administrative officer in Windsor and Essex County, requesting basic information that should be readily available to the public.
Taxes, development fees, number of staff employees, operating budgets and Integrity Commissioners were subjects of inquiries. Kotsis reports that response times varied widely, from one day to several.
What about Amherstburg?
More to follow.
the burg watch 