I Want $23 000 Too!

So, our current Mayor John Gray, who I always thought was doing a good job for the city. Mr. Gray has done a lot of good things to improve the city but after hearing about this scandal I really cant support him anymore, sad.

For anyone who doesnt know what happened ill give you a short version then ill go into some more detail. John Gray has sent two of his associates to school to get MBA's. The entire bill is being paid by the city out of taxpayer money at a cost of $23 00 each. Councillor April Cullen and the Mayor's exectutive assistant James Anderson. What makes this an even bigger scumbag move is the fact that John Gray passed a bill to grant money to city employees for work related studies and courses up to $2 000. I have no problem with that. He then to sent these two officials to school and far above the $2000 limit. Apparently, what he did was present the bill to the council members, the council agreed to vote it in then just before it was to be voted on he changed a clause in it to allow him and him alone to make exceptions to the bill. No one noticed this until Gray signed off on the tuition fee.

So, after the bill got passed the two official left for school and their bill was quickly signed of on and paid out. $46 000 gone on education for two city officials on a program that is only suppose to pay $2000.

April Cullen's assistants spent the whole day today in her office shredding documents too. Gee, I wonder why. I fucking hate politics.

Coffee Time

Well its finally happened. The infamous Coffee Time at the corner of Mary St. and Highway 2 (King St.) has closed its doors.

This place has always been seedy hotbed of activity for many years earning it the nickname of "CrackTime". A lot of people have been hoping it would close for years (including me) but now that it has I cant help but feel bad. Bad because it was actually a legitimate business and in a downtown that is losing businesses at an alarming rate it seems that it was ultimately good for the downtown.

Although I cant argue that this was a nice place to go and hang out. If you ever said that you were going to go there I would have advised you to leave your wallet at home unless you are a crack dealer, then its a great place to go. Plus, good god the actual coffee you got from there was absolutely herendous It tasted like it was filtered through old gym socks and weak as hell, like 80 year old grandmother of 13 weak.

I just hope they replace it with something good, even a higher end coffee shop like Second Cup or something. Maybe high end atmoshpere and product will keep the good people happy and the bad people out.....or at least make them a little uncomfortable.

It's Been Too Long

I cant believe its been so long since I have entered anything on this blog. I started this thinking that there was no lack of topics I could pick from and I had a bunch in mind but I totally forgot about this whole experiment I had here.

This whole blog is about documenting the city of Oshawa and the changes it goes through because change can happen so gradually that you dont even notice. I, like this city have gone through a lot since last time, good and bad and I thought about just giving up on this but I feel like its necessary that I keep pushing on.

Last year I lost a friend of mine in a tragedy that anyone who reads or watches the news im sure has heard and that is Rick Kelly. Rick along with his wife Leslie and his son Nathan were violently and fatally attacked during a birthday party. I knew Rick for about 10 years and he was a loyal friend of mine. After this happened I really didnt have much passion for anything and I threw myself into my work and found myself leaving town frequently for up to 2 months at a time. While some of the people that knew his family still havent gotten over the loss I feel that if they and I cant get over it then it will continue to ruin lives.

So, im back and god willing I will make a successfull go of this thing.