Buy a $24 license or get a $150 fine next week when they come back.

Nice non-confrontational summer job college kids shaking you down.

All nice and legal but it stinks like dog poop on your shoe.

Thanks to “Ron, The the Magician” for his help

Lost the most recent posts.

Around Aurora you’ll find all sorts of yard and house displays. We’ve collected a sampling of the beauty of the season for you to enjoy!
(click the pics for larger images)

The city’s century homes look beautiful in their simple and stark lighting. Inflatable yard decorations add holiday themes to the colored light strands. In Four Seasons there’s is a huge tree decorated in white lights, (how did they get them up there?) and a minimalist group of trees that look like modern art. Geauga Lake has some great decorations.

Hawthorne is decorated with an assortment of displays, lights and spotlighting. Make sure to drive through the historic district and see the City’s display of lights!

If you are getting the family in the car for a road trip to look at lights, here’s three that you won’t want to miss. At the corner of Egglestone and Taylor May Rds. in Bainbridge is a drive-thru yard, off Bainbridge Rd. west of 306 turn left on Kenston Lakes Dr. you can’t miss it, a huge display and lastly take Bartlett Rd. east a couple of miles and look on your left. Here’s some more in Aurora.

Finally back up with new security upgrades.  Merry Christmas to all

And who are the 700+ stupid people who voted for Richard Duncan?  What a waste of a vote on candidate who has no clue.

The school treasurer presented a report and a 5-year plan.  Here is the Financial Forecast and Treasurer’s Report. The 5-year financial plan did not seem good, but i could not hear much of the treasurer’s report due to the lack of a sound system. The state of Ohio is late with a payment, and tax revenue is down.

About 15 Lice Moms presented information to the board and urged them to establish new guidelines for lice and other medical conditions.

An $18,000 gift from the sports booster was gratefully acknowledged. Money for overnight field trips was approved. Long term subs were approved. One parent asked why long term subs don’t have to have teaching certificates. They will get back to her.

Public comment portions of the meeting are limited to 15 minutes at the beginning and 15 minutes at the end.

The board then held an executive session and expected no  voting actions to come of it.

Aurora — An attempt at rezoning the 206-acre Aurora Golf Club so that more than 250 homes can be built is being made by the property’s owner — Aurora Recreation LLC.

At its Oct. 7 meeting, the city’s planning commission accepted the proposal for study. Planners have between 30 and 90 days to decide whether to send the proposal to City Council.

But some residents and city officials are already opposed to rezoning.

Hunter Banbury, the managing partner of Aurora Recreation LLC, said the firm now owns the property “free and clear” and is “looking to put it to a better use.”

Plans call for rezoning the acreage on Trails End from R-2 residential to the higher density R-4, which would allow nearly 500 homes to be built. However, Banbury said only 224 single-family and 52 attached single-family homes are proposed, and some of the land would remain as green space.

The plan also seeks to rezone a 5.8-acre parcel, where the clubhouse, swimming pool and other buildings (33,000 square of structures overall) are situated, to C-1 commercial.

“The clubhouse is one of the city’s biggest and best places for gatherings, so we’d like to keep it for that purpose,” Banbury said.

John Lateulere, a land planner for Atwell-Hicks LLC, said it would not be feasible to develop the land under the current zoning, which would allow only 68 units to be built.

“WE REALIZE it’s a challenging location for housing, because the property has a lot of physical restraints, but we think we could build the number of homes proposed,” he said.

If the planning panel and Council ultimately favor rezoning, the question would go to the voters at a future election — possibly next spring.

Mayor Lynn McGill argued that he believes the property “could be developed under R-2 zoning. It’s difficult to justify the possibility of putting 500 homes on this property.”

He pointed out that a “pristine river” — the Aurora branch of the Chagrin — runs through the property, which is adjacent to protected land owned by the Audubon Society of Greater Cleveland.

“There also are the issues of an extensive flood plain, a peat bog and major elevation changes on the property,” he added.

Councilman Robert Galaska Jr. said it would be “a disaster” if the city continues on the path toward development of the property.

“We [Banbury and city officials] need to get together and talk to avert a tragedy,” he added.

“My residents wouldn’t support this type of development and I don’t see that I could,” added Ward 4 Councilman George Horvat.

“It would be a shame to see this plan go through,” said resident Bill Avalon. “I don’t want to see a housing development there. I don’t want to see Aurora become like a Solon.”

“IT’S A NO brainer that the city should buy this land to preserve for its residents,” said resident Gail Demming, who is an owner of the old railroad depot adjacent to the property.

“If the city can afford all the other land that it’s bought, I don’t see why it can’t afford this property.”

Resident George Mazzaro said he believes “there is no way” residents would pass the proposed rezoning. “The only change I’d support is to rezone it for governmental use,” he said.

Resident Al Linek cited the impact the additional homes would have on the schools, and also questioned whether the city’s sewage system could handle the increased load.

Councilman Tom Dreher said some 75 residents near the golf course met recently with the three mayoral candidates, and the citizens asked the candidates to devise alternative proposals to rezoning.

“We’ll bring back some suggestions in the near future, which may include the possibility of the city purchasing the property,” he explained.

A meeting between the three candidates and Highlands area residents will be Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. in the golf club’s clubhouse.

Earlier this year, Council voted not to buy the property for $3.2 million after members said the purchase would put the city in debt.

Recently, McGill told the Advocate he favors selling some land the city doesn’t need to raise capital for the purchase of the golf course.

This is apparently part of the Union negotiating tactics, “Black Monday” a pre-planned show of solidarity with their negotiating team or it was some kind of Ninja day, or a Johnny Cash tribute.

The School Board and administration is unable to comment on specific items due to legal restrictions of the Federal Mediation process.  The head of the teacher’s union had no comment about the black and the buttons, but referred my questions to this Advocate story.

Additionally, here is link to an Advocate article from a year ago which outlines salaries in the county  here.

Here is a state wide comparison. This seems to be the most complete listing.  Decide for yourself. It seems to be a complicated problem, some districts get more money per pupil, some excellent districts pay more, some less.

And more info about the district here.

 http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/10/inkstop_abruptly_closed_all_15.html

check out the discussion,

 http://www.oliveaurora.org/uncategorized/veterans-stadium-inkstop-field-wow/#comment-13022

“We understand that the individual who bought the Big Dipper, which was the 12th roller coaster in the world when the park closed in 2007, at the June 2008 auction is still expressing an intent to preserve it. What form that will take we do not know, but as long as the Big Dipper remains intact we are hopeful that keeping it at Geauga Lake as part of the future development is a possibility.

The Geauga Lake “Skyscraper” observation tower (formerly known as the “Needle”) was removed this summer.  Around that time there was a media report quoting property owner Cedar Fair spokesperson Robin Innes as saying that the Big Dipper buyer had been asked to remove it from the property as soon as possible. While we understand that no firm deadline has been set and the statement was just echoing what had been said back at the time of the auction, we are concerned that this may suggest an unwillingness by Cedar Fair to consider options for keeping the Big Dipper on site at Geauga Lake.

We would like to ask everyone to consider writing a respectful and concise letter to Cedar Fair asking them to consider options for preserving the Big Dipper on site as part of the future development of Geauga Lake. Letters can be sent to the following address:

Mr. Jacob T. Falfas
One Cedar Point Drive
Sandusky, Ohio 44870

Thank you for your time. We are convinced that for many years to come people will continue to celebrate the good memories made at Geauga Lake. For now the Big Dipper is still intact and we are hopeful that it will be part of future fun times as well”.

The Aurora rock comes to life and eats someone! Click it for a larger view

Saw an interesting show about Zombie Highways. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/zombie-highways/overview/782/

Seems the Aurora situation happens everywhere. Old traffic studies, changing traffic patterns, government $, and then the project won’t be stopped IT BECOMES A ZOMBIE! Wasting money and coming to eat you.

It all adds up to highways built when they are not needed.