On a recent Saturday night, I once again took the thought-altering drive through the Main and Hastings area of Vancouver. If anything, the situation looked worse than ever.
Last September, I took my second trip to New York City, the first being 40 years ago. In 1968, I couldn't believe what I saw -- street begging, bars on windows, people sleeping in doorways. Although that city has been cleaned up, Vancouver has now become what New York City was.
On my recent visit to Manhattan, tables were set up at various corners, with a vested attendant and a 40-litre plastic water jug for donations to the needy and homeless; those were the only places where passersby were encouraged to give money. Seattle's Pioneer Square had a booth for the same purpose the last time I was in that area.
The police presence (on foot) in New York was remarkable, frequent, friendly and effective. You could often see the squad captains talking to the officers, then dispersing patrols from the Times Square subway station. I felt safe on the subways I feared to ride in 1968. I went out alone (a 59-year- old woman) a few times in the evenings and felt perfectly safe. I would never do that in most downtown areas of Vancouver.
Little more than 10 months remain until our guests arrive for the 2010 Winter Olympics. It serves us not at all to pay later for what we don't do now, in human costs above all. Every one of us has a responsibility to help.
Don't let Main and Hastings as it is today be the memory that Olympics visitors take away.
Eileen Robinson
Pitt Meadows
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Council's extravagance too much for taxpayers - Vancouver Sun Letters
Re: Free tickets for dignitaries?, March 24
You have got to be kidding me. The city of Vancouver may be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars for bad decisions on the Olympic athletes' village, merchants are out of pocket or out of business because of bad decisions on the Canada Line and the cost of security for the Olympics is nearing $1 billion. The fact that city council has approved spending $257,500 to buy Olympic tickets for visiting "dignitaries" tells me that these people have either no clue or no consideration for their citizens.
Paul Shuley
Port Coquitlam
You have got to be kidding me. The city of Vancouver may be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars for bad decisions on the Olympic athletes' village, merchants are out of pocket or out of business because of bad decisions on the Canada Line and the cost of security for the Olympics is nearing $1 billion. The fact that city council has approved spending $257,500 to buy Olympic tickets for visiting "dignitaries" tells me that these people have either no clue or no consideration for their citizens.
Paul Shuley
Port Coquitlam
Council's extravagance too much for taxpayers - Vancouver Sun Letters to Editor
Re: Sustainability should include taxpayers' ability to pay increases, Miro Cernetig, March 23
Miro Cernetig deserves much credit for his well-written and precise commentary of what is posing as leadership at Vancouver City Hall these days. This clean sweep that occurs every time there is a change of government is a practice that must end. It is both costly and unnecessary. Letting former city manager Judy Rogers go and paying her more than $570,000 was wasteful and showed a total disregard for taxpayers. And why would we have to pay former chief financial officer Estelle Lo some $450,000 when she left on her own? There's more than $1 million right there!
Miro Cernetig deserves much credit for his well-written and precise commentary of what is posing as leadership at Vancouver City Hall these days. This clean sweep that occurs every time there is a change of government is a practice that must end. It is both costly and unnecessary. Letting former city manager Judy Rogers go and paying her more than $570,000 was wasteful and showed a total disregard for taxpayers. And why would we have to pay former chief financial officer Estelle Lo some $450,000 when she left on her own? There's more than $1 million right there!
Vancouver's City Hall out of touch with taxpayers - Vancouver Sun
Mayor Gregor Robertson and his council have to recognize the economic crisis.
President Barack Obama reports being "stunned" by $165 million in bonus payouts to execs at the American International Group Inc., even as taxpayers were bailing out the faltering company.
Many Vancouverites will be similarly stunned by recent city decisions approving payouts of $571,788 to one civic employee, $420,000 to another.
The payout to Judy Rogers, dismissed in December without cause after 10 years as city manager, included accumulated banked time. So did the payout to Estelle Lo, who left of her own free will in November after a decade at City Hall.
In more than 32 years time spent covering government activities across Canada, I've noticed such payouts -- which for some reason most frequently involve hospital executives -- always are justified as perfectly normal by human resources experts.
And sure enough, in the payout involving Rogers, a human resources consultant in Vancouver has reassured us that this sum is a fairly standard. But should it be?
Sustainability should include taxpayers' ability to pay increases - Vancouver Sun
We're supposedly all about sustainability in the City of Vancouver. Too bad city hall hasn't a clue about the concept where it counts most -- the bottom line.
It may not have hit home with our elected pols quite yet, but the City of Vancouver is in danger of sinking into an ocean of red ink. And Vancouverites need to start worrying.
Vancouver's political and bureaucratic stewards have managed to create a de facto structural deficit -- meaning they're spending more than the city takes in.
This problem has been disguised for years, of course, because city hall has hidden its bad management with small, steady, incremental hikes to fees and property taxes. That's easy to do in boom times. Harder to do now, when the economy slows. People are now catching on.
It may not have hit home with our elected pols quite yet, but the City of Vancouver is in danger of sinking into an ocean of red ink. And Vancouverites need to start worrying.
Vancouver's political and bureaucratic stewards have managed to create a de facto structural deficit -- meaning they're spending more than the city takes in.
This problem has been disguised for years, of course, because city hall has hidden its bad management with small, steady, incremental hikes to fees and property taxes. That's easy to do in boom times. Harder to do now, when the economy slows. People are now catching on.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
$571,788 severance paid to city manager - Vancouver Sun
Rogers worked for the city for 25 years and served as city manager for a decade.
Why did the city employ someone who was incompetent for this long? Or if Rogers was competent - why was she fired? How can this expense possibly be justified during these tough economic times?
I guess there is no problem - just foist the expense onto hapless taxpayers.
Why did the city employ someone who was incompetent for this long? Or if Rogers was competent - why was she fired? How can this expense possibly be justified during these tough economic times?
I guess there is no problem - just foist the expense onto hapless taxpayers.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Shootings to date in Vancouver
Click the link above to see locations of the 30 shootings so far since January 1st to March 6 resulting in 12 dead, 15 wounded to date.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Ideological war against big business sends wrong (and dumb) message - Vancouver Sun
City hall has no monopoly on bad ideas, but you don't have to delve too deeply into the agenda of any Vancouver city council meeting to find one.
Take, as a case in point, a motion last week by COPE Coun. David Cadman to ask the provincial government to create a new tax class for small business. The plan is to reward small business with a break on property taxes for, well, being small, while penalizing big business, with which Cadman and his ilk are engaged in perpetual, ideological war.
Take, as a case in point, a motion last week by COPE Coun. David Cadman to ask the provincial government to create a new tax class for small business. The plan is to reward small business with a break on property taxes for, well, being small, while penalizing big business, with which Cadman and his ilk are engaged in perpetual, ideological war.
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