The Mayor’s latest glossy election leaflet arrived today. But why isn’t there a flattering photograph of the great man himself with a mop of hair on top of his head?

Answer: He doesn’t look like that now.

So why is he still using an out-of-date artist’s impression of Davis Drive where the hydro poles have been air-brushed out in a manner worthy of the old Soviet Union?

The fact is the hydro poles and the cat’s cradle of cables will be there long after construction ends. They give Davis Drive a frontier town look. We are left with an eyesore after spending an eye-watering $143 million.

Curiously, the buildings seem to be on a human scale. But after the changes made to the Secondary Plan in June this year, this, too, is another artful deception.

(Go to schedule 4 on page 128 of the final version of Newmarket’s Secondary Plan - June 2014 -  to see the changes on height and density recommended by officials at York Region and accepted by our councillors.)

The hydro poles have been talked about for ages.

So why does the Mayor continue to recycle a vision of Davis Drive that is simply inaccurate? 

Is it just laziness? Or can’t he find anyone with a sharp pencil to update the earlier artist’s impression?

Does any of this matter?

In the wider scheme of things, probably not.

However, my eye is drawn to the Mayor's claim that Newmarket is an effective council "with a culture of transparency and accountability".

Now that is inaccurate. And it takes a certain chutzpah to say it.