Process ‘very flawed,’ despite editorial

March 20, 2013 · 0 Comments

Regarding the editorial in the March 14 edition of the Citizen, “No perfect process:”
In defence of those persons who raised questions about process and the Bolton Expansion Study, please consider these facts:
We have qualified people on the Town planning staff. Yet we have hired consultants at a cost of approximately $300,000 to conduct a study on the best options for future “possible” growth in Bolton. Why hire consultants when we have qualified staff who can do the same job?
Where are the documents on the planning process conducted several years ago, requested and promised at the open house in November at Albion-Bolton Community Centre? Are we repeating the same process as last time and likely to get the same outcomes?
The Feb. 28 meeting or open house at the Wellness Centre consisted of one hour and 45 minutes of consultant time explaining and selling six possible options the consultants identified for consideration with 15 minutes on the agenda (from 8:45 to 9 p.m.) for question and answers from the public. The process seems to be very flawed; are we trying to sell something to the public or do we consider the public who are paying for this and other exercises to be real partners? The first possibility calls for us to be consumers of the consultants’ ideas, which requires the community then to operate within that limited parameter. The second possibility holds out the need for a new political culture that respects people and their input.
Many members of the public are sick and tired of so-called “experts” selling us on what will be good for Bolton. Some suspect that the entire process is a sham, a public-relations exercise. Let’s give the public and the community credit for having brains and our own objectives and goals, instead of accepting the agendas of others.
Try being a tad more alert and objective. The folks paying the bills are the hard-working people of Caledon. Give the people of Bolton and Caledon the same consideration you seem to give to our politicians and their consultants.
Frankly, I expect more of a paper called the Caledon Citizen.
Joe Grogan,
Bolton