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The West End Secondary Plan, Deferred

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of getting your head around it, it was the age of reminiscing over past glories, it was the epoch of the rubber hitting the road, it was the epoch of meat and potatoes of the matter, it was the season of moving forward, it was the season of closed door meetings, it was the spring...



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Duncan's pushes back on patios

Duncan's Cafe has launched a series of colour newspaper ads in response to the unpopular but determined efforts for five members of council to force restaurants to move their patios to the curbside. Here are three so...



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The real way buskers play around the world

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM"]http: //www.youtube.c...h?v=Us-TVg40ExM[/url]
None of those buskers would be allowed to play on Collingwood's streets, because they use...



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Licensing bylaw gets its second reading, sent back for changes

The proposed "comprehensive licensing bylaw" was the main - and oft contentious - topic of debate at council, Monday night. We had been given a draft version to consider and discuss with our constituents, 10 days earlier. But the version we got in the agenda package, Friday, was very much altered from the previous draft (which in turn...



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Brother, I Can't Spare You the Time

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime is one of the most memorable songs of the 1930s, written at the height of the Great Depression, by the son of Jewish immigrants, Yip Harburg, with music by composer - and another Jewish immigrant - Jay Gorney. It was written in 1931, and later included in a musical, New Americana, in 1932. I thought it might...



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The death of language, bureaucracy style

I've often lamented that the Internet may be the death of proper English. I may be wrong. It might be bureaucracy.

Monday, Collingwood Council had a letter in the consent agenda portion - the section for outside correspondence - of the regular agenda. It was from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (bizarrely under-capitalized as...



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A modest tax hike in 2010

The good news is that Collingwood residents face only a very modest tax increase in 2010: 0.0030% according to a sheet provided by the treasurer, Monday night. On a house assessed at $200,000 that translates to a $0.08 increase over 2009's taxes. Whew. That's a bullet dodged for most of us.

The bad news is that it's not...



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Ideas for local government 2.0

The most interesting seminars I attended at the recent FCM were about what's been dubbed "government 2.0" - government that's open, accountable, and uses the technological tools to create interactive communication with its residents. It's as much a philosophy as a practice. But it requires an administration and bureaucracy...



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Patio issue defused - for now

The patio at Duncan's restaurant can stay where it is - for now. The councillors who wanted to repeal the old patio bylaw decided at the last moment to defer the motion (moved by Councillor Jeffrey, seconded by Councillor Labelle). Had it passed, it would have made all downtown patios illegal until (or if) a new patio bylaw comes into...



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Grand opening of the Collingwood Public Library

I attended the grand opening of the Collingwood Public Library, noon, Thursday, May 27, just before I drove t the FCM convention. It was a glorious day, and not merely for the weather, but because it was the culmination of years of effort by library boards, ongoing ever since I was first appointed to the board, back in 1991. All of the years of...




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