Details

What on earth possessed Newmarket’s increasingly fragile and tormented Maddie Di Muccio to spend $1,181 on a half page advertisement in the “It’s You” Community Section of the local Newmarket Era newspaper denouncing her Party Leader, Tim Hudak, for blocking her attempt to win the PC MPP nomination for Newmarket Aurora?

I hope the cost of this absurd advertisement is not borne by taxpayers – as was the case with the earlier one when she used public money to condemn the Mayor’s alleged fondness for tax hikes. Spending public money to pursue a personal vendetta is a scandalous misuse of public funds.

The latest ad is a dense slab of text like something out of a 19th century newspaper. Di Muccio curiously writes in the third person to compare and contrast her record with that of her fellow councillor and Progressive Conservative MPP hopeful, Jane Twinney.

She aims to wound Twinney but misses the target by a mile. Di Muccio comes across as someone consumed by bitterness. She despises Twinney but can’t bring herself to say so directly.

In case any of her 2,688 Twitter followers missed the ad (which was buried on page 5 of the second section) Di Muccio helpfully tweets this link 

Maddie Di Muccio ‏@MaddieDiMuccio Apr 11

Last week @timhudak told @YorkRegion news that I "didn't meet pc party standards." Here's what I told them this week: http://twitdoc.com/2U8H 

Instead of howling into the wind, why doesn’t Di Muccio sue Hudak for defamation?

She claims he misled people, saying things that were simply untrue, undermining her reputation.

It is unusual, but not unheard of, for politicians to sue one another for defamation. Indeed, Kathleen Wynne has just sued Hudak for libel. So why can’t Di Muccio follow suit?

She threatened Court action against me a few months ago but that died a death. Then she went after Era journalist Chris Simon alleging she had been defamed, saying his tactics were “contemptible and outrageous”. That, too, fizzled out.

She routinely threatens Court action against those who upset her but nothing ever materialises. A Newmarket councillor tells me that over a dozen of us are still waiting for her lawyers’ papers.

But now she has a chance to make her mark on a much bigger canvas. If she were to sue Hudak (whom she loathes) she would be guaranteed lots of publicity (which she loves) and celebrity (which she craves) and notoriety (which she revels in).

It would, of course, mean the end of her political career as a Progressive Conservative.

But that, I suspect, is as good as over.

She acknowledged as much last month when she tweeted

Maddie Di Muccio ‏@MaddieDiMuccio  Mar 14. 10.06pm

We need Wildrose Ontario

 She has given herself another reason for settling old scores with Tim Hudak.

Update Tuesday 15 April 2014: Lots of publicity for Liberal Party MP wannabe, Christine Innes, who has launched an action for defamation against Justin Trudeau who blocked her from running as a Liberal candidate in the Trinity Spadina by election. It all sounds terribly familiar.

 

Details

The OMB confirms that Phase 2 of the Glenway hearing is scheduled to start on April 22 and conclude on April 25.  The hearing on April 22 will start at 10:00 AM and, as before, will be held at the Best Western Voyageur Place Hotel at 17565 Yonge Street in Newmarket.

I hope there will be a big turnout.

And councillors shouldn't stay away. They too should turn up to see the lawyers and planners at work, doing the Town's business on our dime.

Update on Saturday 12 April: The GPA has now posted details of what it would like to see come out of Phase 2.

 

Details

The OMB tells me it may be in a position tomorrow, Friday, to say when it expects the Glenway Phase 2 Hearing to start (if indeed it starts at all).

I am told the Town and Marianneville are still wrestling with various unspecified technical issues including ones brought up by the Glenway Preservation Association.

As a result, the “issues list” and the witness lists and statements have not been exchanged between the Parties (ie Town and Marianneville) as they would be in the normal course of events.

And, astonishingly, I am told that the Parties may agree to dispense with these fusty old lists altogether! 

This suggests you couldn’t put a cigarette paper between the two of them.

I am sure the developers, Marianneville, can hardly believe their good luck. Land bought for a song ($10m) and now worth an absolute fortune. And everything delivered to them by the Town of Newmarket on a gold plate.

 

Details

The Town looks set to do a deal with Marianneville Developments and decide the future of Glenway behind closed doors, telling people afterwards what was decided over their heads and on their behalf.

Of all the many ironies associated with the Glenway saga this, perhaps, is the most exquisite.

Marianneville's lawyer, Ira Kagan has made a habit of putting so-called “settlement offers” into the public domain to allow the Town to consult residents before any decision was made. He used this ploy with Slessor Square and again, twice, with Glenway. In the case of the former, the settlement offer was accepted by the Town. The two on Glenway were rejected.

In his concluding statement in the Glenway Hearing, Kagan told the adjudicator, Susan Schiller:

“… the fact that both of these settlement offers were intentionally made public and specifically provided to the GPA is further evidence of just how far Marianneville went to ensure a proper consultative process.”

Kagan is fond of telling us he was breaking with convention in putting the settlement offers into the public domain. He would tell us that, usually, councillors and developers would meet in closed session, do a deal and then tell the public afterwards.

Is this what is happening now? Are Glenway people – and their leaders – being cut right out of things?

Take a look at the video of the Special Council meeting at 5pm on Monday 7 April 2014 when the Mayor asks councillors to ratify the minutes of meetings held in camera. It is painful to watch. Staff are charged to implement decisions of councillors taken in closed session. Advice to them from Ruth Victor and the less-than-impressive Mary Bull is, for the moment, secret.

Of course, at the end of the day the Town has got to make a decision on how best to close the matter and move forward.

But if the Town is abandoning Phase 2 of the OMB Hearing in favour of negotiating a settlement with the developer, why can’t the terms of any settlement with Marianneville be put into the public domain before a final decision is taken?

Glenway people may appreciate such a gesture.

And Kagan, for one, can hardly object.

 

Details

Yesterday, Newmarket’s Committee of the Whole held an in camera session to decide where to go now.

The Glenway Preservation Association has worked heroically for the neighbourhood but has now run out of cash. They have let their lawyer and planner go and will rely on the Town to argue their case for them. My understanding is that the GPA have stepped back and say it is now a matter for the Town.

To recap. On 27 March, the OMB in the shape of Susan Schiller ruled that development is not prohibited on the Glenway lands. The precise nature of what might be acceptable and appropriate would be dealt with in Phase 2 of the OMB Hearing scheduled to start later this month.

There are two options open to the Council.

(1) The first is to abandon Phase 2 and seek a negotiated settlement with Marianneville. Councillors supporting this line of action will cite cost savings. This would be short sighted.

Marianneville is likely to play hard ball. They will want to make as much money as they can from their development and may be unwilling to cut significantly the number of residential units planned (730).

(2) The second option is to carry through with Phase 2, examining in detail the technical issues – the location of the roads and storm water ponds, the so-called “built form” and its compatibility with what is already there, and so on and so forth.

With this option everything is out in the open. Witness lists and witness statements (from both sides, the Town and Marianneville) should be made available to the public. Similarly, the “issues list” should be published showing everyone what is still in contention.

My spies tell me that the Town’s external consultant, Ruth Victor, who was hired to work on the Glenway file, has pretty much resolved the technical issues with Marianneville so there may not be much to talk about. If this is indeed the case the Hearing will be that much shorter.

People in Glenway are already spitting tacks over the OMB decision on the principle of development. They now know that all those well meaning and reassuring statements in the Town’s Official Plan about protecting stable residential areas are not worth the paper they are written on.

But for the Town to stitch up a negotiated settlement with Marianneville, in camera, away from the public gaze, adds insult to injury.

I suspect a clear majority of councillors want to cut a deal with Marianneville, no doubt advised by the same phalanx of “experts” and fifth columnists who got us here in the first place.

I hope I am wrong. 

A public debate at the OMB on the nature of development at Glenway is a million times better than a deal cooked up behind closed doors. 

 

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