Deputy Mayor Rant - Support Local Business

Springwater News – Deputy Mayor Facebook Rant – Yikes!

My lead in on this one is “Holy Crap!” This is what Jennifer Coughlin Deputy Mayor published on her Facebook Page a few weeks back. Her words are in italics my comments in parenthesis and bold print. You decide if she really is supporting local business.

Coughlin Writes:

Absolute BLATANT LIE! Absolute BLATANT LIE!

In today’s edition of the Springwater News, (referring to the March 4th edition) owner/editor Michael Jacobs states that I was one of three members of Council who “voted not to support local businesses in their municipality.”

This entirely false statement pertains to a vote of Council regarding a print media report on February 17th. ….. Jacobs, in his self proclaimed bias musing, does elaborate on comments made by other members of Council, however failed to mention the following.

….. I affirm that I would not support an increase to the print media budget and indicate that we could redistribute the existing budget to include communication in the Barrie Advance (Doesn’t that take away half of the Springwater News Revenue, a Springwater business and give it to a Barrie Business?) I suggest that we reach out to our residents to determine how they would prefer to receive municipal updates. (Idea has merit but that was not the subject matter of the Report. The Report specifically was on the use of Print Media, nothing else.) I state that “under no circumstance am I suggesting that we pull out of print media” and subsequently indicate my support for option three in the report (Option 3- That the Township advertises on a weekly basis shared between the Barrie Advance and the Springwater News.) with no budget increase. (How can you do that unless you cut the Springwater News budget in half?) Again … I say that the township needs to “remain present in every issue of the Springwater News”, and yet again two minutes later reiterate that “we remain visual in the Springwater News”. (How do you do that with no budget increase and be in two Print Media at the same time? I guess she thinks Springwater News will merrily still provide all the free space that they have for years for the Mayor’s column, Library and other announcements, even though the Township would have turned their backs on them. I wish I lived in her fantasy world along with her mentor?)

I voted against option one, the status quo “that the Township continue with the ongoing services of the Springwater News on a bi-weekly basis and does not engage the regular services of the Barrie Advance”. (I don’t think that is a vote of support.)

Just as there are some residents who either can not get or choose not to receive the Advance, there are residents who choose not to open the Springwater News (Well we know by her post that our Deputy Mayor reads it.). Just as there are residents who rely fully on electronic news sites and social media to keep up with what’s happening locally. (This was not the subject of the Report. Possibly an attempt to distract the audience I guess)

Jacobs also states that “to lose the income from the township would shutter the Springwater News”. The Beer Store just announced it is closing. Should the township start bulk orders in an attempt to subsidise this local business too? (I don’t think we use the Beer Store for Print Communications and since when did advertising in a local newspaper become a subsidy?)

I personally and professionally support our local businesses. (Not doing a good job with Springwater News!) What I do not support is a less efficient, less effective use of taxpayer dollars in order to maintain a status quo. If we can reach more residents for the same money, why wouldn’t we? (Sounds logical but the Report was only on the use of Print Media? If the Report had been a review of communication media in general, then her comments would have made sense.)

I also take exception that her Facebook heading states Deputy Mayor. Doesn’t that make her caustic comments an official position of Springwater Council?

Township Support for Business

When the Council was discussing broadband over a month ago, there was some suggestion of possibly dipping into the Community Improvement Program (CIP) funding. In these times of COVID maybe we can learn something from our friends in Barrie. One thing they did at the beginning of the COVID crisis was to provide a COVID kit. It included, floor stickers for physical distancing, samples of signage, “shop local” stickers for doors, face shields and even some small containers of hand sanitizer. I know this as I volunteer and manage an organization’s hall in Barrie and I touched base with the City and the next day they delivered my COVID package FREE. As far as Springwater and the use of the CIP funding over the past year, I didn’t see a lot of applications for the type of improvements funded under the CIP, so why not take some of that money and develop a special temporary COVID relief program for local business? I know of some local businesses that have spent thousands of dollars on glass and plexiglass barriers, special sanitizing and fogging equipment and other PPE’s. With a motion from Council some of this funding could go to help our businesses as they struggle through this pandemic. Maybe grants of 50% of their costs up to a $1,000 might be an idea. I would even suggest using some of the funds to launch a media campaign on radio, TV and yes local print to encourage all of us to shop local. If we are in it together, which seems to be the elected official catch phrase these days, shouldn’t the Township belly up to the bar and not just hide out with Zoom meetings until COVID passes?

A special note to the Coughlin Posse. Again, please remember these are my thoughts and I am not asking you to agree. I respect your freedom of expression and encourage you to SPEAK UP, before that freedom is taken from us!! One of our previous Councillors (Coughlin’s self proclaimed mentor) tried to do that about 7 years back and tabled an unsuccessful gag bylaw resolution, just so you know.

Springwater News Community Builder - COVID Lockdown Insanity

 Springwater News – A true community builder

I was surprised at the last  Springwater Council meeting when there was a report and discussion on print communication. Council was presented with various options with the main focus on either retaining the status quo with Springwater News, or splitting print advertising between the Springwater News and the Barrie Advance. What surprised me more was that the motion to retain the status quo was only supported by Councillors Cabral, Hanna, Ritchie and Ma-Chapman. Of course it would have helped if the chair of the meeting (Mayor Allen) would have kept the discussion on track, rather than allowing it to run off in tangents with broad discussions on communications and social media which was not the subject of the report. The communications person tried to mention a couple of times that this was a discussion only on the use of print media but that seemed to get missed in the confusing dialogue. What should have taken 10 minutes took about an hour. That is why you need strong leadership at these meetings, so Council members have clarity on the matter before them.

I took recent copies of the Advance and Springwater News and did a comparison. Both editions were 24 pages. The Springwater News pages are 50% larger to start with. About 20% of the Springwater News was advertising while 80% of Advance was advertising and virtually no news except for a few Barrie related matters. What keeps the Advance alive is the paid distribution of flyers which is the main reason for their existence. The Springwater News is received in your mailbox while, in my case and two snowblower shear pins later, the Advance is thrown in my driveway and becomes a brick in cold weather.

I grew up in the north part of Springwater, then known as Flos and, as the old timers know, Flos and Vespra became Springwater in 1994. It has developed into a true community of communities and I do attribute much of the glue holding it together to the Springwater News Community Newspaper. By simply reading an edition you do know what is happening in our roughly 525 square kilometer township. Each community is welcome to share their news and you see community articles from Midhurst, Hillsdale, Anten Mill, Grenfel and others, so we become connected. We also get regular updates from our MP and MPP which is quite helpful. It boggles my mind why our Mayor, who gets free space for a column, opposed it along with our Deputy Mayor. The reason the Springwater News is effective is because it is locally owned by Michael Jacobs and is not under the corporate thumb of someone analysing spread sheets in an office tower in Toronto or Montreal, dictating how it will be run. It would be nice to see readers compliment the work that has been done by the Springwater News to hold and unify our beloved Springwater over the last quarter of a century.

COVID19 – Another Lockdown – Does it even work?

We are back in the Grey zone but with many stores open at 50% capacity which, if nothing else, only adds to the confusion as that is a change from the lockdown at Christmas. So we, Toronto and Peel are in the Lockdown while York Region, which is about 5 times our Simcoe Muskoka population is in Red with virtually everything open with some restrictions. Considering we have many commuters to the Toronto and York Region areas, how will that stop the spread? The only losers again are those that are shutdown such as our restaurants and small retailers. I believe most of our community spread is from our larger big box stores and the careless behaviour of some individuals who gather indiscriminately. I do question the safety of the large retailers as I frequent them. I went to Shoppers Drug Mart twice in one day. There was no one monitoring people arriving, there was no sanitizer in the sanitizing station on either occasion, no one is disinfecting the self check outs and this is a business in the health care field! I went to Canadian Tire and again virtually no control or monitoring of any note. The spread I really do believe is from the crowds at these large retailers and not from your local restaurant or small business that has spent thousands on plexiglass seating and workspace separation. These smaller businesses have clear protocols and constant monitoring. I question, and would love to see any statistics that merited them being closed after the first lockdown. What is worse is that if you are a person of faith you cannot gather in a congregation in your Church with more than 10 people to worship. The statistics do show that few if any infection spread occurred in our churches, as most churches implemented some of the most restrictive protocols right from the start. Why are they not being allowed gatherings if sanitizing, mask wearing and physically distancing requirements are met? We are now a year into COVID and for some reason, the medical experts are running the ship and they keep changing the rules. We didn’t elect them either. I believe in science but when someone is making a decision that impacts so many and they as professionals have nothing to lose, I do expect our elected officials at times to question them and be the final sanity check. That happened in the beginning with Ford but now he seems to be gun shy which is disappointing. The only good news is that vaccinations, and some natural herd immunity is building as reported by John Hopkins University Health Centre and we will be out of this badly organized and executed Pandemic Plan. I fear the aftermath of the unbridled sovereign debts we have created will haunt us for three generations economically because of COVID being so badly managed by elected officials at all levels of government.