Just 126 more days…
Ron Bolin: July 15, 2011
My internet date calculator tells me that it is now just 126 days before our next Nanaimo municipal election on November 19. It is time that we start to consider our options for this election.
Of course, if we are happy with the way things have been proceeding in Nanaimo –and they have not been a disaster unless you are one of those many citizen/taxpayers who are living on the margin of the economy and personal finance or among the about 15% unemployed here- you can join our City Council and Staff in the slogan, “I’m alright Jack!”, and go back to sleep.
If you are not among the currently impoverished but can see it coming along with the grand insurance and growth plans that the City is undertaking on our behalf, perhaps you should give it some thought. And of course it you already find yourself at or over the economic edge put your thinking cap on quickly. Is there anything we can we do about it at the November election?
The first question we need to address is whether there is anything that can be done by Council to stave off the wolves. Are we so enmeshed in old infrastructure, both capital and operating, and so enthralled by the plans of our Staff that it doesn’t matter who sits on our Council? If so, then we can all go back to sleep and let the inevitable happen. An election won’t make any difference.
If, however, we think that something can be done, then we had best define both what it is that hasn’t been done and why this and previous Councils have not done it. It is the objective of this piece to try to elicit some thoughts on whether, like Dr. Pangloss, we live in the best of all possible worlds and would be best off recognizing it, or whether we think things could be better and come up with some suggestions to bring this about using our upcoming election as the springboard.
For the sake of argument I am putting forward the notion that one of the things that could be better, particularly for all those of our citizens who find themselves at or near the margin of financial survival would be to establish a property tax growth rate that doesn’t exceed the cost of living while ensuring that new growth pays for itself. Why hasn’t our income kept pace with the growth of our taxes? Surely we have already invested huge sums in development via taxes that exceed the necessary. Why haven’t we seen a payback which would reduce our taxes?
Is it possible to meet such a goal? If so, is the failure to meet it over the last decade due to a failure on the part of our Council? Does election to Council somehow clear the scabs from the eyes of even former naysayers and convince them that the costs of running the city must always exceed the growth in the income or cost of living in our community? Is Council tainted in some way? Is there any way to elect a Council which has serious and measurable goals and to hold them to it? What should these goals be?
The clock is ticking. Just 126 days until November 19. Is there anything we can do that will provide results more democratic and desirable than what we see today? Your suggestions and opinions are requested. Time is running out.
Posts and Comments on Nanaimo Governance 
For the sake of argument I am putting forward the notion that one of the things that could be better, particularly for all those of our citizens who find themselves at or near the margin of financial survival would be to establish a property tax growth rate that doesn’t exceed the cost of living while ensuring that new growth pays for itself. Why hasn’t our income kept pace with the growth of our taxes? Surely we have already invested huge sums in development via taxes that exceed the necessary. Why haven’t we seen a payback which would reduce our taxes?
…Because this City/Town is the product of stick builders/real estate & land developers & continues to be so.
It is interesting that no one has come forward to take control of this sinking ship for the next Municipal election!
As the world teeters upon the edge of another recession , Nanaimo decides to provide water to suspect land developers!
Same old, same old…
Trailblazer: Your description may be correct… But unless you think that this is what has been ordained for all time, we need are some ideas about what might be done to change the situation. Is there any way that you can suggest that the next election can be set up to get a different and better result. I would observe that at least the last three elections have led to no perceivable change in Council’s attitude to their communication with citizens, their unquestioning reliance on Staff, the lack of transparency with which they carry out their dealings with business and development, the secrecy with which too many deals are made and their contempt for democracy.
Let’s try something new.
I hope that Nanaimo’s love affair with the Stick builders/ real estate has began to wane..
Unfortunately their influence lingers on mainly because of their influence on the advertising departments of the media.
Perhaps a more open ,honest, candidate would help change things; or am I too optomistic?
The problem is two fold. The Council & the City staff.
One we can change at the next election ; the other is more difficult to counter.
To add to our problems the alternative vote is a Provincial virus that will be used by future Councillors when the need strikes.
Totaly agree that the Alt App. process is going to be utilized frequently. I keep challenging them and they keep coming back with the example of Fred Pattje. Thing is unless people find enough meaning in the process you will never gather the required signatures
Before ANYTHING will change in the city of Nanaimo, it will be absolutely necessary to spark the imagination of the 70% of taxpayers who feel it makes no sense to participate at all.
If not, the same old base, will support the same old candidates (who ever they may be this time) and with 15% support, they will continue to provide the type of governance that will one day see Nanaimo turn into a ghost town.
If you move to Comox right now, the municipal tax burden per capita is $400 less than it is in Nanaimo.
In total between a water treatment plant, emergency water line and new staff office, this council has agreed to spend the equivalent of ONE YEAR’S total of all municipal taxes collected in the city of Nanaimo. All of these funds have been directed at events that are neither imminent, nor likely to happen. With the water plant, they are sucking multi-millions of dollars out of the city and sending them who knows where, which the local economy can ill afford. Ditto for the emergency water line.
And this city council, and the press in this city, simply, smile and nod, get out the rubber stamp and endorse the lunacy inspired by an uninspired city hall management team.
All the time the taxpayers choose to ignore the situation and instead of accepting responsibility for their part in this whole mess, they sooth their conscience with claims that it doesn’t matter who they vote for as everyone is the same. That is simply an unacceptable excuse to explain why the average citizen has completely failed their civic duty.
In the end it is not the Councillors, nor the civil employees who bare the greatest burden for our current state of affairs, but rather, it is the average Joe Schmoe Taxpayer who would sooner close his eyes and ears, and keep muddling along, every now and then perhaps stopping to bitch or complain, or perhaps even send a letter to the paper, but other than that won’t do anything to bring about any real change, as that would require far too much effort.
There, I’ve done my civic duty for the day, now I can go back to sleep.
Do we know who voted for or against these large & controvertial projects?
It’s easy for us to charge the whole Council with the same crime when there could be dissenters.
Hey. We have only 125 days left until the election. We need to get over the griping and on to an action plan. Any ideas?
Action Plan???
What’s the message? What has to change? Who can make the changes? How to inform the general public? How to get the public to listen?
There’s the basis for a plan. Now, let’s fill in the blanks.
Some how need to elect people that are not afraid to ask pointed questions, challenge staff and other councilors, and not afraid to raise a little Kontroversy. Otherwise we will end up with the same old.
How about Ron & Jim having a shot a Council?
Or..are you still up to it Gord?
I’m in the RDN but would gladly help a suitable candidate where I can.
I have been reading all the comments from the blogs and wondering what you guys are looking for? Ron, you said this in one of your comments, “I would observe that at least the last three elections have led to no perceivable change in Council’s attitude to their communication with citizens, their unquestioning reliance on Staff, the lack of transparency with which they carry out their dealings with business and development, the secrecy with which too many deals are made and their contempt for democracy” Would you please fill me inwith some examples.
As I am new here, I would like to appreciate why you and others are saying the things you say within these blogs.
LS
Hi Lynn: If you are new to Nanaimo or didn’t pay much attention to Council in the city from which you came, you may find it difficult to follow the comments. You might find it difficult even if you did -unless you watch our Council meetings and/or read Council agendas. My comments are aimed at the amounts of public money which are spent which are not fully analyzed in terms of cost benefit and then made transparent to the public; at decisions made in hidden in-camera meetings; at tax increases which very significantly exceed the cost of living or the increase in income in Nanaimo; at the lack of credible debate in Council; at the absence of discussion of issues in public. One cannot help but ask what is being hidden, even if it is nothing. As the saying goes, it is not enough to do right, it must be seen to be right. My comments are oriented to the political culture of the city, not at its members as individual. It is not that the city is falling apart -at least not quickly. It is that it has the makings of being much better.
I have been reading the council meeting minutes, and to be very honest have not found anything that interesting but then again being new I don’t know all the history to some of these items. When there is the Alternative Vote where does a person find the notice. What paper and where do you find the form that I as a voter can send in? Do the people of Nanaimo fully understand the process. I read that it is 10% is that what happens here? There are appropriate reason for in-camera sessions. Is everyone here saying that major decisions are always made this way? How do you know that there has not been a complete cost benefit analysis done? Unless Nanaimo gets some more businesses here any tax is going to exceed the incomes here. They are extremely low.
I realize that you are not referring to individuals but you did mention that this council and the 2 before are reacting in the same manner. Do these members just blindly accept what the city staff say, do they question the numbers or reasons why?
Perhaps I will start attending the council meeting, I have been thinking about it since reading the comments from the blogs.
Tell me though, has there been anything good come the last 3 councils?
Lynn: The Alternate Approval Process (AAP) puts all of the effort of a referendum campaign on the shoulders of citizens and takes it off municipal government in cases where either the length of term of borrowing or of partnering exceeds five years and thus demands a referendum. While I am sure it has a place in minor modifications of little consequence as a method of saving taxpayers the time and money involved in a full referendum at a time between elections, one finds that it is used in cases of much more importance. The likelihood that citizens can arouse sufficient knowledge even of the event, let alone its consequence, while finite, is small. (The required notification to the public by the City consists or a couple of notices in local newspapers. These notices need not do much more than notify that the process is in progress.) And of course it takes no less effort/money on the part of citizens to take on the AAP issues than it would the municipality in a normal referendum. More, in fact, as not only the message and its distribution but the organization must be put together. While the fact that once in a while the process has demanded a real referendum is put forward as a sign that the process works (i.e. leads to a real referendum), its costs to the public are exhausting. And in point of fact the two AAP items which are now before the public could very well be handled by appropriate referendum questions on the November civic election ballot at virtually no extra cost. Ask our Councillors why they have selected the AAP as opposed to a straight forward referendum. What is it that they want to avoid? And why?
The history of distrust is a long one and deserves more detail than can be presented in a comment. One source you might investigate is a book published by the Friends of Plan Nanaimo entitled “Nanaimo between Past and Future: Critical Perspectives on Growth, Planning and the New Nanaimo Centre” edited by Eric Ricker and published in 2005. The book is available at the Public Library.
Lynn;
Congratulations for actually being interested in how the city is being run. On the issue of ‘in camera’ meetings, yes, there are legit reasons why some matters need discussing in camera. However, the decision to spend $16 million on a new office for city staff is not one of them. The decision to award a $12 million building contract without going to public tender was the outcome of that in camera meeting. To this day council have chosen not to disclose who voted for this decision. You can bet it was not unanimous and those responsible chose to hide. The mayor is quoted as saying ‘if we had the luxury of time, we might have done it differently’. He has never explained what he meant.
On the subject has anything ‘good’ been done? If you are to put the ‘good’ on one scale, and the ‘bad’ on another, the bad would far outweigh the good, IMHO.
This council has chosen to spend the equivalent of one years taxation on three projects which address problems that are neither imminent nor even likely to happen. Nanaimo would be much better served if those funds were either held in reserve, used to hold the line on taxes, or invested in something which will stimulate the local economy.
You will never get a city staff to seriously want to stop spending money on projects, as that is what justifies their existence. Why city council does what it does, to me is a complete mystery, and that is a conclusion made after three years of intense observation.
Be sure to attend those meetings, better yet, ask councilors some questions, as you will observe very little real discussion at the Monday night ‘shows’ which have been pretty much decided in advance at the Monday morning rehearsal as Councilor Sherry calls them.
Jim Taylor
http://www.Nanaimo-Info-Blog.com