Last night, during the Town of Aurora Budget Committee Meeting (2024 Operating Budget – Community Partner Business Plans and Presentations) held on November 20, 2023, Klaus Wehrenberg, a dedicated resident and influential member of the Aurora community, took the floor before the Council. He expressed his concern regarding the current budget’s failure to align with Aurora’s environmental advancements. However, I firmly believe he is correct, our environmental progress in the Town of Aurora is regrettably veering in the opposite direction.
We have one of the department heads proposing to add a second environment person, but I want to know what the first environment person has done?
Klaus Wehrenberg
What do you think?
I would like to mention that during the last term of the Council (2018-2022), there was no Environmental Advisory Committee for the first half of the term. However, Klaus Wehrenber played a significant role in advocating for the reinstatement of the committee.
Klaus Wehrenberg’s Delegation (read/watch)
Klaus Wehrenberg, Resident (00:02:21): My name is Klaus Wehrenberg. I live on to _________. I’m here because I was here last Monday and listened to the presentations of the various department heads and what they intend to do next year and to see is after that. I was disappointed. As you know I am at the table of active transportation and environment things. I hear to see where any of the department heads at any solid suggestions as to what of course was going to be in their budget relative to either the environment or the active transportation issues in the town. You as a Council, made a resolution that we had an emergency in the environment [refers to climate emergency], I forget the words, it happens to me. Anyway, you know what I’m talking about. The other one was, a master plans _____ active transportation is now going to be incorporated in the active Transportation Master plans. The master plan was passed in 2011. You have proceeded to have an abysmal sort of results of what was intended in that plan where number of trails that should have gone in at the subdivision approval process and you hear to support the master plan you had passed. It was a Council decision, but you are not implementing what you’re passing, what you’re proposing! And when I listened on Monday, I was faced with the same thing. We have one of the department heads proposing to add a second environment person, but I want to know what the first environment person has done? How he or she has performed her duties in terms of what was on the budget and how the budget was being followed. It’s not very transparent, but I’m not convinced that a lot was done. I’m looking for heat pumps to go to Town. We don’t have either promotion for that no implementation for that. It’s left up to the developers to put in heat pumps. We are not really nailing it down that this has to be done. We are not making progress. Maybe we don’t have a transparent the way of communicating to the public as to what of the budget is being implemented. How you focus on the various new points of your budget. So I’m looking for you to tell me what in this budget in the next two or three years you’re proposing to do in the way of the environmental improvement, reducing emissions in Town for instance, and active transportation. You all know that over 30% of our emissions originates from the vehicular traffic and we need to do things about this but I don’t see any real action so far. So when you proposed or when you progress with your environmental agenda and your active transportation agenda with various department heads please let me know where you are going with a budget. That is all I would like to say. Thank you, very much for listening.”
Aurora walking advocate wants Metrolinx, town on board with pedestrian rail crossings
“Anyone who knows resident Klaus Wehrenberg knows he walks. Anywhere, any time. And he strongly advocates for infrastructure that encourages other residents to leave their cars behind and use their feet to take them where they want to go. About 35 years ago, Wehrenberg suggested Aurora could become a healthier community if it put in place a network of trails, a sentiment that led a quarter century later to the town’s trails master plan. The Klaus Wehrenberg Trail, part of which falls in the larger Nokiidaa Trail system, is named in his honour.” Read more …
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