Whichever Way The Wind Blows

What qualities should we be looking for in our next mayor -- when the next municipal election is held in November 2010 ?

Citizen Ellie would like to see someone in the job who's had experience running a business and meeting a payroll. Someone who can make a decision and live with it, not changing their mind whenever some group comes along which doesn't like it. Someone who's prepared to put the interests of property taxpayers first, not kowtowing to special interest groups. Someone who recognizes that not every property taxpayer in Ottawa enjoys the comfort and security of a well-paid government job replete with a rich benefit package. Someone who recognizes that senior citizens on pension have seen their incomes drop by 20% since last September, that 19,000 Nortel pensioners living in the area may soon have no pensions. Someone who understands the difference between "must haves" such as snow removal, storm and sanitary sewers, garbage collection, police and fire protection, road and infrastructure maintenance and "nice to haves" such as city-funded community gardens, city-funded museoparks, city-fundedconcert halls etc. Someone who is prepared to say "No".

There's a lot of politicking going on at City Hall right now even though council is hiatus for the summer. The politically ambitious, sensing they might get a leg up on opponents, are angling to fill the mayor's chair on an interim basis should Mayor Larry get bad news on August 12.

In Citizen Ellie's view, councillors who have made the decision to seek the mayor's chair in November 2010, should declare themselves now and step aside -- letting someone else take on the interim role. The playing field should be level, going into the next election. Occupying the seat on an interim basis creates an unfair advantage.

And do you really want someone in this post -- even for a short period of time -- who makes decisions based on whichever way the wind is blowing ?

Take Councillor Cullen, for example. As chair of the city's Transportation Committee -- the committee which oversees all things OC Transpo -- he voted in favor of raising the price of student bus passes. There was some flak from U of O President Alan Rock and some student agitation -- particularly on behalf of aging post-graduate students. Apparently one can be in one's 40s and still qualify for a student bus pass if one is attending uni. (Citizen Ellie must look into this. Are student passes cheaper than seniors ? If so, Citizen Ellie will immediately register to pursue her Spanish conversation classes at the university level rather than continue them at a city facility.)

Then there was Councillor Cullen, on TV, wearing a cycling suit, stating that he'd experienced an epiphany and would move reconsideration at the next council meeting. Was the cycling suit for real or was he wearing it to show support for the five who were seriously injured in the March Road incident only days earlier ? Citizen Ellie thought Councillor Clive Doucet had the cycling fraternity in the palm of his hand.

These epiphanies are frequent at city hall and Councillor Cullen is not the only one who "sees the light" from time to time. Problem is that said epiphanies tend to end up costing us taxpayers money.

There's also been talk of bringing back someone with experience -- such as former Mayor Bob Chiarelli to fill in on an interim basis. Personally Citizen Ellie would prefer it if former Nepean reeve/mayor Andy Haydon would step in should it become necessary to fill Mayor Larry's shoes.

Summer posts usually on Mondays

Go Ahead -- Laugh and Jeer. The Last Laugh May Be On You !

What should we make of the effort on the part of some city politicians and local columnists to portray individuals and organizations as kooks and weirdos, lacking credibility because they dare to express concern with the high level of property tax rates in Ottawa ?

Should we back off, stifle ourselves -- as Archie Bunker used to say ? Or should we keep up the campaign ?

It's interesting to note once the word got out that the Ottawa Taxpayers' Advocacy Group was planning a series of bus ads on the subject of property taxes, the city's largest union -- CUPE 503 -- immediately sprang into action with an ad campaign of its own. CUPE 503 must have a huge war chest as it can afford TV ads during prime time. A favorite spot is on Ottawa's most watched newscast -- with Max and Carol Anne at 6 p.m. on CTV. These spots don't come cheap. Could it be that CUPE 503 is worried ? Is this a sign that Ottawa's property tax fighters are gaining an audience and rather than lacking in credibility, they're building up a base of like-minded citizens?

Citizen Ellie is not ashamed to admit she voted for Larry O'Brien. Not because she believed in "zero means zero". That was unrealistic and she knew it. Instead, she wanted to see someone in the mayor's chair who had some business smarts, who would run city hall like a business, who would treat taxpayers as shareholders and not as cash cows to be milked in order to please every special interest group that comes along, looking for a handout.

What's wrong with expecting the city to act like every other enterprise in these tough economic times --tighten budgets and decrease expenditures. Common sense dictates that's what you have to do during a recession. Lord knows we've all had to do it at home and at our place of business -- unless city hall's your place of business. (Rumor has it that belt-tightening and expenditure control have even come to major media outlets-- which makes it hard for us ordinary folk to understand why applying the concept at city hall would be so foreign.)

Instead, we've had to listen to the same old guff from columnists and "he who wants to be mayor", Councillor Alex Cullen. We're told that our taxes are high because the province downloaded social programs such as housing and welfare on to the municipalities. True -- the formula is 80% paid by province, 20% paid by the municipality. Every Ontario municipality has had to deal with this. It's not unique to Ottawa. But Ottawa didn't have to exceed the 20% mandated by the province. That was a decision taken by our overly-generous city council.

We're told the feds don't pay their share. We get grants in lieu of taxes. City pols and columnists wail that if property tax was paid on every federal building in the city, more revenue would flow into city hall and our property taxes would be less. That mouldy oldie's been around forever. But nobody talks about the extras for which Ottawans would have to pay if we weren't the nation's capital. Do you honestly believe there would be five world-class museums, a world class art gallery, a world class performing arts centre, an experimental farm, manicured parks, flower-lined parkways and a national park within a half-hour's drive if the tab for all these amenities wasn't being picked up by the taxpayers of Canada ?

City council approved a 4.9% increase in property tax this year. But nobody -- city pols or columnists -- talks about the "hidden" revenue which flooded into the city's coffers as a result of the lifting of the provincial freeze on market value assessments in January. The 4.9% increase is small beer compared to the double-digit tax increases seen in the older sections of the city where market value assessment has had a dramatic effect on property tax levels . Just wait until next year -- market value assessments will increase once again and you may find yourself in the unfortunate position where your property tax exceeds your mortgage payment. Can't happen ? Don't be so sure. Will you be able to sell your house for its asessed value ? Don't be too sure of that either. One thing you can be sure of -- there will be no tax refund if you don't.

So what is council spending our money on ? Perhaps the new finance and audit committee will shed some light on why we're being taxed into the poorhouse -- if they can get their act together.

Thanks to attending some meetings during the budget process last fall,Citizen Ellie knows why. Councillors listen with interest when special interest group representatives take the microphone, but their eyes glaze over when someone tries to plead the taxpayers' case.

Electoral Reform ? Not !

Kingston's city council rejected a proposal to eliminate the ward system and elect councillors-at-large by a 9-4 vote at its July 14 meeting.

Proponents of the change say they're going to make it an issue when the next municipal election rolls around in November 2010.

Something's not right about leaving question of electoral reform to be decided by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Naturally they're not going to favor any change which might affect their prospects of re-election.

A better way would be to allow the electors to have a say -- by putting a proposition on the ballot at election time. Wouldn't cost much and might have the benefit of generating more interest in municipal elections where voter turnout can be described as dismal at best.

Summer postings usually on Mondays

Kingston An Example

Kingston's city council meets next on Tuesday, July 14. That's an important date for anyone interested in municipal electoral reform.

Kingston is currently governed by a mayor and 12 councillors, each representing a ward. Same as Ottawa -- except that we have more councillors.

A proposal coming to next week's council meeting in Kingston would see -- if approved -- elimination of the ward system, a reduction in the number of councillors and a great saving to the taxpayers in terms of councillors'salaries and expenses. Councillors would be elected at large. The advantage -- they would, when making decisions, have to look at the effect of said decisions on the city as a whole -- rather than on their own little ward bailliwick. Again, another opportunity to reduce taxpayer costs by eliminating the endless public consultation, second-guessing and decision-reversing which seems to paralyse Ottawa's council when a major project is contemplated and ends up costing the ratepayer considerably more when the project finally gets off the group. That's how Ottawans' tax dollars are wasted.

Kingston taxpayers are fortunate to have elected a group of civic-minded folk who are not afraid to look at alternative methods of governance. Electoral reform doesn't scare them

We're not so lucky in Ottawa where a seat on council is seen as a job for life. Where the report of the Mayor's Task Force on Governance was given short shrift by the poobahs at city hall -- that same city hall where staff cheered when they heard the news that the Mayor's trial was going to continue. Where no one at city hall wants to talk about limiting council terms and where only one councillor, Steve Desroches, has limited himself to only two terms of office -- recognizing the need for new blood. Where no one at city hall wants to think about electoral reform, let alone talk about it.

Given that city council orders public consultation on just about everything else requiring a decision, why can't we have public consultation on electoral reform ? What are they afraid of ?

It's disgraceful that electoral reform is left in the hands of those who stand to benefit from the status quo -- current council members. It's also unfortunate that the provincial Municipal Affairs Minister, Jim Watson, is also disinclined to act -- preferring to leave matters in the hands of those same current council members who benefit from the status quo. Could this be because he's got his own personal electoral reform plan -- i.e. seeking re-election as mayor in 2010 ? Shame !

Kingston's city council is avante garde in other matters too. Imagine this: they have set up a citizens' committee to review council remuneration. It's relatively new, having only started its important work this year. The committee's purpose is to review future compensation for the mayor and councillors. It's an eight-member committee, one each from the business, health care, non-profit, education and organized labor communities, two representatives from the community at large plus a former council member who was elected after November 2000 when amalgamation occurred.

What's good about this ? It will ensure that compensation for the mayor and councillors remains in line with salaries/wages/benefits paid elsewhere in the community. And the public has a say.

Municipal electoral reform mavens will be watching Kingston's city council deliberations with great interest next Tuesday.

Taxpayer Revolt Coming ?

There's increasing evidence that Ottawa property taxpayers are getting restless. Blogs, such as The Pitchfork, taxpayer groups such as Eye on Ottawa and Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group are examples of how today's angry, overburdened property ratepayers are using technology to get their message out and to connect with others holding similar views. The fact this is happening now -- a good year and some before the next municipal election -- should give sitting council members cause for alarm. After all, it was technological savvy that got Barrack Obama elected. And our technological savvy, including use of Facebook, Twitter etc. is what's going to change the face of Ottawa's council.

The Ottawa Taxpayers Advocacy Group web site can be accessed at www.OTTAWATAXPAYER.COM and it's a site well worth taking a look at. The organization is planning a bus advertising campaign in the fall. Good way to get the message out to lots and lots of people.

One of the questions the group asks is this: how is it that the city of Winnipeg has delivered zero budgets for 12 consecutive years while Ottawa has been unable to do this even once in recent years despite the fact Ottawa triple dips from properties (market value assessment, population growth, tax rate increase), user fees (bus fares, hydro, water, development charges, community centre, library fees) and government transfers(federal, provincial and NCC spending). Mayoral candidate and councillor Alex Cullen says it's because Ottawa has to carry provincial programs (social housing, welfare etc.) downloaded on municipalities by the Mike Harris Tories. Misleading.

According to the Ottawa Taxpayers Advocacy Group, the funds Ottawa gets from the feds, the province and through NCC spending more than compensates for the downloading costs. And they cite an example: in 2008, Ottawa received non-property tax revenues in excess of $1 billion; in the same year, Winnipeg received non-property tax revenues of less than $500 million. If non-property tax revenues are divided by population, Ottawa is getting 240% more non-property tax revenue than Winnipeg. How is it then, that Winnipeg manages to put together budgets without increasing taxes ? Inquiring minds want to know.

Summer posts usually on Mondays. Friday postings resume in September.

Election Squeaker -- Not Good News

You remember Andre Cornellier. He was the face of the Amalgamated Transit Union. Yes -- the union which left Ottawa bus users stranded for 53 days during the coldest part of the past winter.

Brother Andre has just been re-elected ATU president for another three years. But he didn't walk away with it. He had opposition. Leaving only 73 votes between him and his rival. Vote total: 689 for Cornellier and 616 for the union member with the cojones to run against him.

The closeness of this vote is an indication that Brother Andre no longer enjoys iron-fisted control of his union. Union watchers figured this out a couple of weeks ago when the rank and file refused to vote in support of an agreement Brother Andre and ATU international vice-president Randy Graham reached with the city which would have taken away the bus drivers' right to strike from future collective agreements.

In labor relations, timing is everything. The bus strike ended when the union agreed to let its dispute with the city go to arbitration. The arbitrator's report is expected sometime in September, but the arbitrator's signature will barely be dry on the document when it will be time to negotiate a new collective agreement.

Citizen Ellie's source within the ATU membership says the rank and file isn't interested in giving up their right to strike until they see what's in the arbitrator's report. The same source says the rank and file were divided on arbitration right from the get-go. Many felt another couple of weeks on the picket lines would have forced the city to cave in and meet their demands-- regardless of what Mayor Larry wanted.

An arbitrator cannot unilaterally take away a union's right to strike -- so the report will be silent on that issue. The city can't do it unilaterally either. Union members have to vote on it and Citizen Ellie's source says that unless OC Transpo is declared an essential service, the rank and file won't give up the leverage they enjoy with the right to strike.

It would appear that Brother Andre and Councillor Alex Cullen jumped the gun when they trumpeted that an end to bus strikes had been achieved. Somebody forgot something important. There's no agreement until the union membership decides.

A divided bus driver bargaining unit is probably the last thing Ottawans need. Especially when the bargaining unit is headed into a new round of negotiations. Can Brother Andre and Brother Randy make committments during negotiations which will be supported by the rank and file ? That's the big question remaining to be answered.

"Extortion" ? You Decide !

Councillor Alex Cullen's shorts are binding once again. This time he's in a state because a group of angry taxpayers are preparing a series of bus ads critical of the way the city manages our money.

The organization, Ottawa Taxpayers' Advocacy Group, issued a news release in advance of the bus ads. It stated: "Legal extortion by City Hall ? You decide." The news release claims Ottawa's property taxes are the highest in the country and the city is overstaffed and over-paid.

With regard to the over-paid statement, the "sunshine list" which names all city employees earning over $100,000 per year speaks for itself. It's a public document and can be accessed through the city's web site. (And what about councillors voting themselves extra funds for their office budgets ?)

Councillor Cullen tries to rebut the statement regarding the high property taxes by dragging out the old chesnut about the significant portion of property tax structure being set by the provincial government.

We know about the provincially-mandeated programs -- social assistance, childcare services, social housing, public health etc. which were downloaded by Mike Harris on to the shoulders of Ontario property taxpayers. There's a formula: 80% paid by province, 20% paid by municipality.

What Councillor Cullen neglects to say is that he and the other wealth-redistributers currently occupying seats around the council table decreed that 20% from the municipality wasn't enough and Ottawans could be more generous. Thank you, Councillor Cullen.

What Councillor Cullen neglects to say is that he and the other wealth redistributers currently warming the chairs around the council table also decreed that property taxpayers should subsidize over 50% of OC Transpo's operating costs -- and that's why, in Ottawa, we have the paradox of widows living on small fixed incomes (pensions) subsidizing bus fares so well-paid public servants can ride the buses on the cheap. Thank you, Councillor Cullen.

In Citizen Ellie's case, some 17% of her net pension income (net -- that's after income tax and other deductions at source) goes to municipal property tax. Of this, close to $1000 is her share of OC Transpo's subsidy. Thank you, Councillor Cullen.

Perhaps Councillor Cullen, in his capacity as a mayoral candidate, would like to visit Citizen Ellie's street during the spring run-off and whenever there is a heavy rain. Even if Citizen Ellie wanted to ride the bus on these occasions, she would need a pair of Wellies to negotiate the flood which makes the street impassable for pedestrians as it has no storm sewers ! Get out your hip waders, Alex ! There's a photo op for you ! Let's not even start on the subject of snow removal.

Is there a tax revolt in the making ? Could be. Citizen Ellie can't remember the last time irate taxpayers got together to sponsor bus ads (or any type of ads, for that matter) critical of how the city spends tax dollars. Now what we need is a mayoral candidate supported by a slate -- to unseat the wealth-redistributors on council who fleece us like sheep !

New posts usually on Fridays

Mayor-In-Waiting ?

Alex Cullen wants to be Ottawa's next mayor.

He wants it so bad, he can taste it.

There he was, earlier this week, at a National Capital Commission news conference; carefully seated in the front row in order to get his mug on TV, should the cameras turn to the audience for some cover footage.

Councillor Cullen hasn't formally made his announcement, but he's doing everything he can to position himself for the November 2010 municipal election.

"Experience". That's his favorite word -- as in council is working well now that Mayor Larry has taken himself off because Acting Mayor Michel Bellemare has experience. A sly dig at Mayor Larry's lack of council experience prior to getting himself elected to the top job.

Lord knows Alex Cullen has experience. First elected to Ottawa's city council in 1991, he's been a fixture at city hall ever since -- except for the period betrween 1997 and 1999 when he represented Ottawa West in the provincial legislature.

Councillor Cullen's biography on the city's web site (www.ottawa.ca) stresses his experience with community associations (he was president of one) and NGOs (he's been a member of a number of boards). It details the various municipal committees he's been part of -- more experience. But it is strangely quiet about what he did in the period between graduating from university and finding his "job for life" at city hall. One supposes that if he had started a high-tech company from scratch, made a success of it and turned himself into a millionaire in the process (as Mayor Larry did), he'd have boasted about it. Guess he didn't do that.

He also runs -- in marathons as well as in elections. But again his biography is silent about his 2007 running with the bulls in Pamplona. Animal rights organizations (such as PETA) are not overly fond of those who participate in this prelude to Spain's bloody bullfighting season. Guess he doesn't want to lose those votes. Don't think Mayor Larry ever ran with the bulls. Advantage: Mayor Larry.

Councillor Cullen is a big fan of social engineering -- especially when he's the one promoting the engineering as he did a week ago when he proposed that all city employees who are paid the minimum wage be given an immediate increase to $13.25 an hour. He also wants contractors who do business with the city, or companies receiving annual economic development grants from the city to pay their employees the $13.25 per hour. Disadvantage: taxpayers.

When Citizen Ellie heard about this, thoughts of Chicago and New Orleans immediately sprang to mind. Everyone knows these are two centres of excellence when it comes to civic politics -- where the municipal pols over the years have made an exact science of vote-buying and pay- to- play. Councillor Cullen's proposal sounds an awful lot like vote-buying and pay-to-play -- regardless of his fine words about helping workers meet their needs...... yadda yadda......

What about the working poor who aren't lucky enough to work for the city ? Or work for the province. Or work for the feds ? There are a lot of people working in retail and in the hospitality/tourism industries in Ottawa earning minimum wage.

We are starting to see two classes developing in this country. Public sector employees who enjoy good wages, job security and a wide range of fringe benefits are at the top of the heap. The rest of us -- who are being taxed into penury to pay for them -- are at the bottom .

When he makes these proposals, does Councillor Cullen give any thought to seniors desperately trying to remain in their own homes, whose property taxes eat up a large percentage of their net pensions (after income tax and other source deductions) ? What about these people ?

Councillor Cullen's proposal would make him very popular with the city hall unions. Councillors Rainer Bloess and Steve Desroches, voices of sanity on this council, see it for what it is -- a new floor on which the city's unions will want to base wage differentials. Disadvantage: taxpayers.

On another front, Councillor Cullen may not be as sure of his election to the mayor's chair as he purports to be. Otherwise why would he be so concerned about contributions by developers to election campaigns ? He must be afraid a "unite the right" candidate is going to come out of the woodwork with a big war chest.

He's been making a lot of noise about "double-dipping" -- i..e. a development company making a donation to a particular candidate, and the president/ceo of the same company making a personal donation to the same candidate. The candidate benefits twice. Of course this never happens with union contributions -- don't you believe it !

He says he doesn't take campaign funds from developers. A noble position. So it's to his benefit to ensure that other mayoral candidates don't get any campaign contributions from developers either. But how about union contributions ? Shouldn't they be limited too ?

All of this got Citizen Ellie to wondering just where Councillor Cullen and some other members of council who share his penchant for social engineering get their campaign funds. To this end, Citizen Ellie has sent off a cheque to city hall's election office to obtain copies of the campaign contribution records of Councillors Cullen, Holmes, Doucet, Deans, Bedard and Legendre.

Watch this space. All will be revealed in due course.

Glebe Doings

Doucet's Disciples (aka Glebe Community Association/Friends of Lansdowne Park) are holding another of their come to Jesus meetings on June 14.

How many of the so-called "Friends" are part of the same bunch who want the air conditioning unit on the roof of a Glebe seniors' building turned off because the noise is hurting their sensitive ears.

Not much thought being given by this "it's all about me" crowd to the comfort of the seniors left to swelter and possibly die in an airless building during Ottawa's hottest months.

New posts usually on Fridays

Short Takes

Noses out of joint: Doucet's Disciples (aka Glebe Community Association) are some miffed that City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick and Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group's Kevin McCrann won't be attending the organization's public meeting (bloodletting, anyone ?) on June 2 to "discuss" the future of Lansdowne Park.

Association president Bob Brocklebank says he's "surprised at the thinness of their skin given they are public figures." Yes, they are public figures, but they're smart enough to recognize a lynching when they see one. They're also smart enough not to get into a pissing contest with a bunch of snakes.

No plan for the revitalization of Lansdowne Park will satisfy the good burghers of the Glebe unless it's a plan to create a Central Park clone for their personal enjoyment.

Citizen Ellie has this question: how many current Glebe residents lived in the area prior to Lansdowne Park being established as a fairground ? None. They're all long dead and gone. Which means that all those opposing Lansdowne Park revitalization purchased their trendy Glebe properties in the full knowledge that Lansdowne was home to professional football, Ottawa 67s hockey, a domed soccer facility, numerous trade shows, outdoor concerts and the Ottawa Ex. They all knew this unless they were so stupid as to believe moving the Ex to another location meant that every other use of the facility would similarly disappear. Were they taken in by real estate agents ? Was it an election promise ?

Citizen Ellie has this dream for the revitalization of Lansdowne Park: rebuild the half-mile short track inside the stadium and bring back the ground- pounders. Nothing like the sounds and the smells of short-track stock car racing to liven up a summer evening.

Oh well.........only 69 more sleeps until Watkins Glen and the NASCAR weekend when we fire up the turkey fryer and get out the Texas Pete's hot sauce!

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There's a lesson here: before tunnel-promoting councillors take the final decision on Ottawa's version of the "big dig" they ought to take a close look at a recent ruling by British Columbia Judge Ian Pittfield.

The case involved a Vancouver woman who operated a maternity-wear store on the strip of that city's Cambie Street where a tunnel was being built as part of construction of a rapid-transit line down the street. The disruption it created, and the detours it forced had a devastating impact on a whole bunch of businesses on the street, including Susan Heyes' maternity-wear shop. Collateral damage, said public officials who refused to consider any compensation for the affected businesses for fear of setting a precedent. The transit line was in progress, they argued, and progress comes at a price. If that price included being forced out of business or having to eat hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, so be it.

Susan Heyes wasn't having any of that. She decided to wage a court fight with a half-dozen corporations and government bodies including the city of Vancouver, the province of B. C., and the government of Canada. Everyone laughed at her. What an idiot -- to think she could take on the big boys and win !

Well, win she did. A $600,000 judgement. Not the precedent the big boys were looking for. Judge Ian Pittfield ruled that governments could not use "progress" as an excuse to wipe out businesses and obliterate the financial and emotional investments people had made in them -- not without some form of compensation.

While his ruling probably will be appealed, it could have widespread ramifications. If it stands, governments, developers and maybe even city councillors desirous of building a tunnel through downtown Ottawa as a monument to themselves will have to consider the impact such a project would have on the financial livelihoods of others.

There are a lot of businesses, including several of the Ottawa's larger hotels, in the very area where tunnel proponents are planning to burrow. It could become an even more expensive proposition if those affected launched a class action demanding compensation for financial losses due to business disruptions resulting from tunnel-building.

And, by the way, when are Ottawa taxpayers going to be told the truth (in terms of dollars to be added to their tax bills) about what this this little exercise in "progress" is going to cost ? Why the secrecy ? Surely it isn't a matter of national security. Or is it that our esteemed elected representatives just don't know ?

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Sensitive ears ? Citizen Ellie was dismayed to hear two CBC newsgals express surprise earlier this week about language used by Mayor Larry on the tape of his interrogation by police -- evidence at his trial. Use by the mayor of the term "swinging dicks" in his description of a meeting with rival Terry Kilrea -- shocking, just shocking !

Wake up, ladies. That's just an alpha male talking to other alpha males (cops are all alpha males) about an alpha male wannabe. Locker room jargon, maybe. But boys will be boys.

Back in the day when Citizen Ellie started in the news business, one had to fight to get out of the "social department" and into the newsroom. Once in the newsroom, one had to fight to get out of always having to cover "soft" beats such as health or education and get into something more meaty such as police and courts. In those days it was thought that our female ears were too sensitive to be subject to the language of the cop shop or the courts. (Citizen Ellie, when assigned to write something about the annual police report, nearly caused apoplexy when she asked a senior police official to explain the meaning of two terms ("buggery" and "sodomy") used in the statistics. Citizen Ellie knew full well what they meant, but couldn't resist the opportunity.)

Beware. There are still MCPs (male chauvinist pigs) in positions of power just as there are still "soft" news assignments just waiting for the woman's touch.

New posts usually on Fridays

Tax Dollars At Work

Got a problem with a barking dog ?

Got a problem with garbage from a commercial establishment operating in a residential area ?

Got a problem with a sightline obstruction ?

Who do you call ? The city's bylaw enforcement people.

In recent months, Citizen Ellie has had to call upon bylaw enforcement to resolve a couple of problems which were affecting the quality of her life. What did she learn from this experience ? You have to be persistent and you have to be patient. You have to be fairly thick-skinned as your desire to have a bylaw enforced probably won't sit well with the offender. You also have to be brave enough to complain.

Citizen Ellie never ceases to be amazed at the number of cowards who live among us -- putting up with all sorts of nuisances; wanting anonymity; fearing reprisals; taking the view that there's no point in complaining because the city won't do anything anyway; endlessly bitching about the problem but doing nothing about it.

Wrong approach, folks.

It took Citizen Ellie a year to get something done about a sightline obstruction in the form of a cedar hedge at the intersection of her street. This cedar hedge blocked the view of oncoming traffic -- not to mention pedestrians including small children on tricycles approaching the intersection on the sidewalk. It was only a matter of time before an accident occurred or a child was run over.

The owner of the hedge kept coming up with excuses not to cut it back. In the spring, he argued, there were nesting birds which shouldn't be disturbed. In the fall, he argued, he was away on the Thanksgiving weekend and therefore couldn't cut it down. In other words, he was giving the bylaw officer the runaround. Shortly after Citizen Ellie pointed this runaround out in a letter to the director of the city's bylaw enforcement department (cc. to Mayor Larry) the hedge was cut back.

Citizen Ellie's usual approach in this sort of circumstance is to contact the person responsible for the by-law infraction. Snail mail is best -- registered mail even better -- copy to your files. You have a record of the efforts you have made to get the problem resolved. E-mails get erased. Phone calls are forgotten. If you can illustrate your concern with photos, do it. It's only after it becomes apparent that the problem-causer has no intention of acting that Citizen Ellie asks the city's bylaw enforcement department for help.

Citizen Ellie recently had to take action regarding garbage from a private school which continually littered her residential street. This school regularly put out for collection between 16 and 20 green garbage bags per week stuffed with remnants of student lunches. Judging from what the raccoons and other wildlife strewed around the street, the rich kids attending this school ate a lot of pasta.

Frequently the garbage was put out well in advance of collection. Last June, on what turned out to be the hottest weekend of the summer, the garbage was out at 4.30 p.m. on Friday for pickup on Monday morning. The wildlife had a field day. By early Saturday morning, most of the green garbage bags had been ripped open. By Sunday it was a reeking mess. To make matters worse, after the garbage was picked up no one from the school made any effort to clean up the trash which had been dragged by wildlife or blown down the street on to private residential property. It was left to the street's residents to clean up. A letter to the headmaster of this school, suggesting that a bin might be in order, elicited no response. The problem continued -- not so bad during the winter months -- even urban raccoons hibernate. But as soon as the weather turned warm and the snow melted and the raccoons woke up, there was garbage all over the street again. Another letter -- this time to the school's landlord, cc. to the headmaster. Again no response and no action. Time for a letter to the city's director of bylaw services. There is now a commercial bin outside this school.

As long as no one complained, this private school was able to get away with using the city's residential garbage pickup to dispose of its trash. Over the years it must have saved itself countless thousands of dollars given that commercial establishments pay more for commercial garbage pickup. The residential taxpayers on that street were subsidizing this commercial establishment which thanked them for their largesse by continually littering the street with garbage and lowering their property values. So much for social responsibility!

Citizen Ellie won't be winning any "Miss Popularity" awards soon in her neighborhood. But she won't have to get out her rake and clean up someone else's mess either.

New posts on Fridays