Thursday, November 4, 2010

Lessons to be learned.......

S0 the new council members are attending a boot camp of sorts this week, learning the ways of city hall in preparation for taking office on December 1.
Citizen Ellie fervently hopes they're all learning how to say "NO" and working hard at the exercises required to stiffen the backbone. Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor-elect, Peter Clark, was excused from these sessions. The former mayor of Cumberland and regional chair had plenty of practice running a tight fiscal ship in his previous incarnations.
The ability to say "No" along with a stiff backbone are prerequisites in dealing with the myriad of special interest groups which come out of the woodwork during the budget process, demanding property taxpayers fork over more and more of their hard-earned money to support these special interest groups' pet projects -- projects for which these special interest groups appear to be unwilling to go out and fundraise. After all, it's easier to pick the taxpayers' pockets than to do the necessary work required by a fundraising campaign. The failed concert hall is a case in point. It should also be remembered that some of these "special interest groups" are nothing more than a front for the protection of CUPE jobs and should be treated as such.
Citizen Ellie has always believed that if a group or organization wants something, they should finance it themselves through their own organized fundraising efforts. Start a foundation, obtain a registered charity number, promote the project, convince people to pledge funds -- if the public thinks it's worthwhile, they'll support it. Look at the success of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation's "20 in 20" campaign -- $20 million raised in 20 months for the cancer centre at the General Campus. Look at the Cornerstone Foundation's project to provide housing for 42 disadvantaged women, 20 of whom will be senior women. Construction is underway now on the Booth Street building. The public has demonstrated their support for these endeavors by opening their collective pocketbooks. The public didn't feel the same way about the proposed concert hall. And the public probably wouldn't feel the same way about many of the special interest projects they've been forced to support with their tax dollars.
The newbies joining council's ranks on December 1 should remember they were not elected because of their good looks. They won their wards because Ottawans were fed up to the eyeballs with tax-hiking lefties who thought it was their job to blab on about tanning parlors, signs in farmers' fields, cow statue on roof of a shop selling cheese and other dairy products, transfats in restaurant food etc. etc. Ottawans were fed up to the eyeballs with councillors who worked hard to demonize developers; councillors who worked hard establishing roadblocks to progress; councillors who wanted to be "nannys", interfering in and controlling every aspect of citizens' lives; and councillors who didn't recognize the importance of economic development and job creation.
Economic development and job creation should be at the top of the new council's list of priorities -- especially since unemployment figures in Ottawa are catching up with the national average. New industry, providing good-paying jobs, must be brought into the city -- to offset the job losses which will come as the public sector (federal, provincial and municipal) downsizes.
"No new money" should be the watchword and zero-based budgetting must become the norm. The Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group (OTAG) is once again calling for a financial summit and is demanding the city's auditor-general take a long, hard look at salaries and benefits paid to the city's non-union/management staff. Citizen Ellie is always shocked when the "sunshine list" is published in the spring of each year. Too many are earning above six figures. She was reminded of that again this week when the discharge of the sewer manager was announced. The person who couldn't figure out how to keep raw sewage from flowing into the Ottawa River was being paid in excess of $100,000. What's up with that ?
The auditor-general ought to have a look at the city's use of consultants. We're paying big bucks to city staff so why should we require consultants unless there are exceptional circumstances ? If consultants are being brought in because city staff can't or won't do the job, then maybe city staff should be eliminated. We'd at least save on the gold-plated benefit/pension packages.
The auditor-general also ought to take a look at staffing at the cop shop ? Are well-paid sworn officers performing work which could just as easily be performed by civilian employees at a lower rate, freeing up sworn officers to get out on the streets where they should be -- a solid review of staffing would provide answers.
What do Ottawa ratepayers want ? They want a council which will slash the bureaucracy, collect the garbage, ensure the streets are plowed in the winter and the sidewalks are safe for pedestrians, get traffic moving, and promote economic development -- in other words, a council which will look after the meat and potatoes issues as set out in the Ontario Municipal Act -- and forget the esoteric !
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Ouch ! That hurts !
Citizen Ellie won't be posting on a regular basis for the next couple of weeks. She's undergoing knee surgery tomorrow (Friday) and will be out of commission for a while -- at least until she's released from hospital and rehab and is back home where, while she's away, oldest grandson will install her new iMac computer. Citizen Ellie is pretty much of a doofus when it comes to hi-tech, so it's great to have access to the younger generation -- they who understand which USB port is for the printer and which USB port is for the wireless router. In the meantime, she'll continue to keep her eye on city hall in anticipation of the December 1 changeover.
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