Thursday, March 10, 2011

Sheeple Reign....

Mayor Jim's budget with its 2.5 per cent tax increase passed in record time and without comment earlier this week. Mayor Jim, good shepherd that he is (having learned from his master, Dalton McGuinty) led his sheeple (also known as councillors) to that green and promised land where never a harsh word is spoken and never a taxpayer's continued ability to pay is taken into account.
But there was a wiley old fox among the flock. Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor Peter Clark knows how to read a budget (unlike the other newbies on council) and as a former mayor (Cumberland) and regional chair who never considered "surplus" a dirty word, he spotted a number of areas where cuts could have been made and savings passed on to ratepayers.
Councillor Clark also knows how to choose his battles. Experience told him this was not one he could win so he backed off, leaving Mayor Jim and the sheeple to indulge in a round of self-applause and group portraiture -- recording the historic moment for posterity.
Like other city hall watchers, Citizen Ellie is somewhat concerned with this turn of events. Yes, voters made it clear they were tired of council's shenanigans when they went to the polls last fall and turfed out those among the chronic obstructionists who hadn't the wisdom to retire prior to the election. So it's not unreasonable to expect the newbies to swim carefully in the uncharted waters of the budget process. After all, this was the first big decision facing them -- and only weeks after being sworn in.
Perhaps the newly-elected don't know the difference between raising legitimate questions of concern and deliberate obstructionism. The previous council was characterized by deliberate obstructionism on the part of the lefties who, in the grip of the unions and the Ottawa and District Labor Council, were upset the lefty candidate lost the mayoral election to an upstart right-winger. They then used every opportunity in and out of council meetings over the next four years to vent their spleen and exhibit their personal dislike of the mayor and his ideas.
Citizen Ellie finds it hard to believe the voters who cleaned house last fall elected a pack of Watson yes-men (and women). It remains to be seen if the love-in will continue -- there are contentious issues yet to come before council, including Lansdowne Park, LRT, OC Transpo reforms and Mayor Jim's personal desire to create a borough system. Will the sheeple continue to remain silent when it's their personal ox that's being gored ?
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Who Should Pay ?
Some Westboro residents think the city should hive off part of the old convent land on Richmond road and turn it into parkland for their personal enjoyment -- prior to a major development project proceeding on the site. Problem is that they want someone else to pay for it.
Shades of the Lansdowne situation, where the very few who think this choice piece of land should be for their enjoyment only want the taxpayers to foot the bill for their legal action against the city -- never mind that the taxpayers will be footing the bill to defend against this foolish waste of the court's and everyone else's time.
A suggestion's been made that rather than stiff every ratepayer in Ottawa for the cost of purchasing part of the Richmond Road convent property, the cost should be charged only against ratepayers in the ward where the convent property is located.
What a hornet's nest this one is opening up ! Letters to the editor ! calls to talk radio ! Ratepayer against ratepayer !
Pity the poor ward councillor in this can't win situation.
Citizen Ellie believes that if a group of people are opposed to development, they should be prepared to foot the bill to buy the land in question from the developer. And that goes for Lansdowne Park too.
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Goodbye $14 million....
Was spending $14 million on more social housing in Ottawa at the top of your list of priorities ? It was at the top of Mayor Jim's list and that's where a good portion of the money which became available to the city as a result of last year's social program upload back to the province is going.
Aren't we getting it backwards ? Shouldn't the focus be on getting people out of public housing and into the mainstream rather than putting all the focus on getting people into public housing ?
Getting people out rather than putting more people in is a radical idea. It's not one which is welcomed by the poverty industry -- where continued employment in one's job as a social worker is dependent upon ensuring people remain in poverty.
Whatever happened to hand-ups instead of hand-outs ? Citizen Ellie is looking for answers to some questions. What's the average length of stay in public housing ? How many public housing occupants are second or third generation ? How many working age public housing occupants have employment income ? How many household heads in public housing are employed ? How many are unemployable because they can't speak either English or French ? How many don't learn to speak English or French because they are living in public housing which has become a ghetto where the majority don't speak English or French ? Citizen Ellie is making an Access to Information application in order to get answers to these questions.
New postings weekly now that Citizen Ellie has returned from afar.