This is my commentary and I believe at this point that the new mayor and council should be given the benefit of the doubt and the chance to fix the issue that is at hand here.

Well now I see a pattern of hiding and oppressing here and my personal hope is that the new mayor and new councilors around the table break this pattern. Being new to the whole "Holding CBRM Accountable" effort, I didn't realize that CBRM has such powers to hide what they have done. In my article ( An ATV Trail! Really CBRM? ) I described concerning behavior (IMHO) of CBRM council (Pre 2020 Election) in putting an ATV trail in the backyards of residents of a dense residential areas.This ATV trail has decimated the lifestyle and most likely the property value of residents living near the trail.

The only people that I can see that wanted an ATV trail in a dense residential area are the Marconi Trail Blazers and the ATV Association of Nova Scotia. The reason seems to be: ability to drive their "non-essential toys" through homeowner's backyards to get to places, because it is entertaining. Well, what about the homeowners, huh?

This is a serious issue and the only organization in CBRM that I can see is taking it serious and making an effort to fix the mess is the Police Services.

Without knowing beforehand about Mary Campbell's commendable work (CBC: Sydney journalist condemns CBRM's lack of transparency) in exposing the lack of transparency on the Port file, I was feeling the same way about the ATV Trail that runs through District 9/10. I could see clearly (not speaking for anyone else here)  that a "Bait & Switch" (see article:Bait & Switch) had been pulled on the taxpayers because for 10 years CBRM had been publicly promising an Active Transportation trail there. And it seems to me (CBRM has yet to confirm or deny, but asked) that they were using the active transportation budget ($333,000 for 20 years AFAIK) with no intent of giving the residents an Active Transportation trail. I'm trying to find the trail committee minutes and/or council minutes that show who supported converting our active transportation trail to an ATV trail and why. I am also trying to find out what expenses were pegged to the Active Transportation budget with regards to this ATV Trail. I asked questions about the legality of motorized vehicles on the rail corridor / federal property without written consent or designation by the NS minister of transportation. Public Works and Government Services Canada stated to me personally that this is considered trespassing and it is not permitted. Yet Councillors and CBRM representatives are using this "trespassing activity" as an indication of precedence that ATVs should be permitted to run through our backyards. since they were there before (Ugh!). It is frustrating for me to have to deal with this type of deception(?) when I am just trying to make our community a better place to live, for the people that actually live here.  I am also trying to figure out the actual requirement for designation of this trail as an ATV trail by the minister of transportation. I've been fed a line on this by CBRM that I am sure is provided in good faith but I don't believe to be true just yet. It is sad that I don't believe the senior representatives in my own municipality...this is where I live.

I am also trying to determine the requirement for a bylaw to over-ride the provincial legislation around off-road vehicles on a shared pedestrian path in dense residential areas. It doesn't exist and CBRM (through their Lawyer) states that they don't need to create a bylaw for this because they said it is so and that's it. I am sure this statement is made in good faith but I don't believe yet.

You can see in this Presentation to CBRM General Committee February 5, 2019 That CBRM was still promising residents an Active Transportation Trail in 2019. This report has the Active Transportation Logo so where did the money come from for this? Also surveys were designed, printed and mailed out under the Active Transportation banner quite a few years ago, where did the money come from for that? I ask this because no Active Transportation Trail was delivered as promised but it seems the AT budget and resources were used as if they were actually going to build one.

In this Cape Breton Post article from March 05, 2019 (Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillors on board for proposed rail trail plan) you see, even at this point, the council was publicly speaking about  "a recreational walking trail that could be part of the CBRM’s active transportation plan". So the question bouncing around my head is; were the coucillors even aware that the ATV Association of Nova Scotia / Marconi Trail Blazers had plans of turning this into an ATV Trail all along? You will also note the use of multi-use trail which doesn't in anyway include ATVs. Since I debunked the use of this term to rationalize the Bait & Switch (See this article: What CBRM Council May Tell You....) CBRM are now using the term all-purpose trail which is new on the scene as far as I can tell.

I feel (at this point) that there has been lack of transparency here and a misuse of the Active Transportation budget that many good people have worked hard to secure. But, what do I know about the complexities municipal politics, eh?.

Maybe we will get to bottom of this with the new mayor and council (fingers crossed).