Blame Game

You wouldn't be faulted if, last week, while passing through parts of Stittsville, Glencairn and Beaverbrook, you thought you'd travelled back in time and found yourself in New Orleans Lower 9th. Ward after the Hurrican Katrina catastrophe.

Deja vu all over again. The smell. Sewage-logged clothing, furniture and personal posessions on front lawns. Soggy carpets and mouldy drywall. All the detritus left behind after a flood.

If you were among the 900 affected families, you wouldn't be faulted either if you thought you too had travelled back in time and were in New Orleans' Katrina-ravaged Lower 9th. Ward -- waiting for help which never seemed to come.

The flooding on July 24 -- after a month of almost daily heavy rainfall -- was a disaster of major proportions to the families now dealing with the aftermath.

But it wasn't the proverbial 100-year storm which caused the damage. And calling it that was a pretty shabby attempt by city bosses to absolve themselves of any blame for the situation.

For your information, "100-year storm" is a term used by civil engineers when designing a structure -- whether it be a bridge, a building, a levee etc. "Will it withstand the 100-year storm" they ask as they contemplate the blueprints. The hurricane which devastated Galveston, Texas back in the 1890s -- with a tremendous loss of life -- was a 100-year storm. Hurricane Katrina wasn't a 100-year storm -- but it had something in common with the Galveston storm. In both cases, the cities involved had allowed urban development in areas which would be ravaged if the big one hit -- a fact well understood by experts of the day but ignored by municipal authorities and the developers who were allowed to go ahead and build. Just like the city of Ottawa has allowed development on flood plains and wetlands.

The city dropped the ball on July 24. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Those supposedly in charge didn't enact emergency measures despite hundreds of calls to the 311 emergency number.

It became apparent early on that there were cracks -- chasms even -- in the city's emergency preparedness system

Why did it take five days for city staff/councillors to get to where they should have been after only one or two days at the most. Why couldn't city staff communicate with each other ? Countless tax dollars and staff hours have been devoted to emergency preparedness training over the years. Is the system breakdown in this case an indication that such training has been a waste of money ?

It begs this question: if city staff and councillors didn't realize they had a crisis on their hands following the torrent of 911 calls on July 24, how will they react when the really big disaster/emergency situation occurs ? Doesn't leave one feeling confident they're taking care of business down at city hall -- especially when we may be facing a real emergency if the H1N1 flu has a resugence in the fall, as many experts predict.

Are Ottawa ratepayers getting good value in return for the ever-escalating salaries and wages paid to city staff ? The July 24 fiasco would indicate the negative.

Here are some figures for you to contemplate from the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group:

In 2007, the City Manager's office had a salary/wage/benefit budget of $3,913.000 for 35 FTEs ( FTE==Full-time Equivalent). That's $118,800 per person. The average city salary is $78,000.

In 2008, Emergency Measures salary/wage/benefit budget was $502,127 as compared with $215,653 in 2001. That's a 132% increase.

In 2007, Emergency Management had a salary/wage/benefit budget of $482,000 for 5.33 FTEs.

That's $90,431 per person.

In 2008, the salary/wage/benefit in Public Health Services was $36,806,448 as compared with $13,750,490 in 2001. That's a 167% increase.

In 2008, the salary/wage/benefit budget in Protective Inspections was $20,470,438 as compared with $3,707,382 in 2001. That's a 452% increase.

Now some of these percentage increases can be explained away by amalgamation. But we should still be asking if we're getting value for money -- given the slow response, and lack of proactive communication in the July 24 disaster. Then there's the question of inadequate infrastructure. The ground was saturated with water, the sewers were compromised and the resulting backup went into people's basements -- the third such occurrance, in some cases, over the past 20 years. People who paid municipal taxes for years are now left with uninsurable and probably unsellable houses. Some return on their tax dollars !

The city must be faulted for continuing to allow developers to fill in wetlands and build on flood plains -- against recommendations from envirnmental experts and even their own engineers.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that when natural areas for water dispersement are filled in to accommodate development, basements will be flooded somewhere.

Election Fever

Guess who wants to spend $5 million to have a by-election should Mayor Larry be found guilty when the judge hands down his decision this coming Wednesday ? Why it's none other than tax and spend Councillor Alex Cullen who's positively panting to don the robes and chain of office. Could it be he knows he won't get the appointment from within if that's the route council chooses if Mayor Larry has to be replaced ?

Party On....

Observed OPP brass, decked out in smart uniforms, quaffing free samples of Dewar's finest at the Glengarry Highland Games on Saturday past. Commissioner Julian Fantino officially opened the games and droned on and on and on.....perhaps he thought he was there to give his annual report to the taxpayers of Ontario..... when all the audience wanted was for him to get on with it so the massed pipe bands could take the field Anyway, Citizen Ellie had to wonder who would be doing the driving when the party ended.....

Postings usually on Monday during summer months