keoadmin
01-06-2006, 09:04 PM
A wish list for Kingston in 2006
From I.M. Pertinent
Before kicking off the New Year with what some may argue is a 2006 fantasy, I’d like to say thank you to all the KE readers who click in to read my irreverent ramblings on Kingston affairs. Thank you for your emails and for taking time to add your thoughts, even the not-so-flattering ones. And now to get back to the irreverent (some of you say, and probably rightfully so, irrelevant) ramblings…
Beyond predicting that Isabel Turner would not be returned as mayor this term - and that being a pretty safe prediction given that the Tuesday night council debacle earned its Gong Show title during the latter part of Turner’s term - my record on crystal ball gazing is not exactly stellar. So as not to be held to public ridicule down the road for predictions that don’t materialize, I offer instead a wish list for Kingston in 2006:
1. Someone please get Harvey Rosen some decent political advice. A good man and a potentially decent mayor, Rosen spent ’05 lurching from one self-made crisis to the next alienating most everyone in his path. His tendency to put too much stock in the self-interested opinions of the business community and not pay enough attention to potential citizen hot spots before they burst into flames has badly damaged the mayor’s credibility and his reputation with veterans, with Williamsville and King’s Town residents, with the heritage community and a growing list of others. Worse than the fact he’s clearly in trouble is the fact he doesn’t seem to know it.
2. Put KEDCO out of our misery. Maybe we could send the $2.5 million in savings to the Grand Theatre and Market Square restoration projects since council’s bungling of naming rights has seriously impeded the ability of community fundraisers to bring in donations.
3. Find someone at City Hall who can (or will) read the stockpile of engineering reports on the North Block so we can stop pretending contamination problems have been solved. This area is a toxic wasteland unrivalled in much of Canada.
4. Stop wasting time and money pretending to look for savings in the bureaucratic morass called a service review. If council has not managed to save a dime or exit a single business after two or more years of reviewing, chances are pretty good they’re not going to find any savings now.
5. Find someone to give Karen Hitchcock the public hearing she’s been pleading for since allegations surfaced that the Queen’s principal, in her former life, may have possibly had the potential at some point to profit and maybe gain a bestowed chair as the result of a development deal no one’s really sure ever actually got done. Surely between two of the world’s great countries we can find a single person to conduct such a hearing and put an end to what Hitchcock and her supporters insist are baseless allegations.
6. Since we can’t have the Toronto Maple Leafs running LVEC, that we at least have the good sense to hand the thing over to the Ottawa Senators. (Assuming, of course, that LVEC gets built) An NHL presence in Kingston would be a huge boost to the city and an important marketing tool.
7. Build the new police headquarters we’ve been planning since before the turn of the century before we turn another century.
8. Remind the Whig-Standard it is a newspaper and ask it to take a shot at breaking up the fluffy drivel with some news occasionally. Preferably accurate news. Lessons could be learned from The Heritage, which does a better job covering city hall.
9. Whig editors could actually tune in to council meetings once in a while to see Rick Downes, their so-called “champion of democracy” in action. Have we forgotten that it was Downes who, in the midst of the vote on the smoking bylaw, wrangled an unprecedented break in council proceedings to haul one of his council colleagues out in the hall for a tongue-lashing by the medical officer of health and thereby turned the tide of the vote? He certainly wasn’t standing up for any vocal minority, nor was he showing the least bit of interest in listening to the pleas of war veterans on that occasion. Champion of democracy? To the Whig maybe. To regular council watchers, not so much.
10. Lobby groups could take it down a notch with complaints of lack of consultation. Kingston is one of the most open and consultive cities around. Public LVEC consultations, though we seem to conveniently overlook this, went on for almost 90 days.
From I.M. Pertinent
Before kicking off the New Year with what some may argue is a 2006 fantasy, I’d like to say thank you to all the KE readers who click in to read my irreverent ramblings on Kingston affairs. Thank you for your emails and for taking time to add your thoughts, even the not-so-flattering ones. And now to get back to the irreverent (some of you say, and probably rightfully so, irrelevant) ramblings…
Beyond predicting that Isabel Turner would not be returned as mayor this term - and that being a pretty safe prediction given that the Tuesday night council debacle earned its Gong Show title during the latter part of Turner’s term - my record on crystal ball gazing is not exactly stellar. So as not to be held to public ridicule down the road for predictions that don’t materialize, I offer instead a wish list for Kingston in 2006:
1. Someone please get Harvey Rosen some decent political advice. A good man and a potentially decent mayor, Rosen spent ’05 lurching from one self-made crisis to the next alienating most everyone in his path. His tendency to put too much stock in the self-interested opinions of the business community and not pay enough attention to potential citizen hot spots before they burst into flames has badly damaged the mayor’s credibility and his reputation with veterans, with Williamsville and King’s Town residents, with the heritage community and a growing list of others. Worse than the fact he’s clearly in trouble is the fact he doesn’t seem to know it.
2. Put KEDCO out of our misery. Maybe we could send the $2.5 million in savings to the Grand Theatre and Market Square restoration projects since council’s bungling of naming rights has seriously impeded the ability of community fundraisers to bring in donations.
3. Find someone at City Hall who can (or will) read the stockpile of engineering reports on the North Block so we can stop pretending contamination problems have been solved. This area is a toxic wasteland unrivalled in much of Canada.
4. Stop wasting time and money pretending to look for savings in the bureaucratic morass called a service review. If council has not managed to save a dime or exit a single business after two or more years of reviewing, chances are pretty good they’re not going to find any savings now.
5. Find someone to give Karen Hitchcock the public hearing she’s been pleading for since allegations surfaced that the Queen’s principal, in her former life, may have possibly had the potential at some point to profit and maybe gain a bestowed chair as the result of a development deal no one’s really sure ever actually got done. Surely between two of the world’s great countries we can find a single person to conduct such a hearing and put an end to what Hitchcock and her supporters insist are baseless allegations.
6. Since we can’t have the Toronto Maple Leafs running LVEC, that we at least have the good sense to hand the thing over to the Ottawa Senators. (Assuming, of course, that LVEC gets built) An NHL presence in Kingston would be a huge boost to the city and an important marketing tool.
7. Build the new police headquarters we’ve been planning since before the turn of the century before we turn another century.
8. Remind the Whig-Standard it is a newspaper and ask it to take a shot at breaking up the fluffy drivel with some news occasionally. Preferably accurate news. Lessons could be learned from The Heritage, which does a better job covering city hall.
9. Whig editors could actually tune in to council meetings once in a while to see Rick Downes, their so-called “champion of democracy” in action. Have we forgotten that it was Downes who, in the midst of the vote on the smoking bylaw, wrangled an unprecedented break in council proceedings to haul one of his council colleagues out in the hall for a tongue-lashing by the medical officer of health and thereby turned the tide of the vote? He certainly wasn’t standing up for any vocal minority, nor was he showing the least bit of interest in listening to the pleas of war veterans on that occasion. Champion of democracy? To the Whig maybe. To regular council watchers, not so much.
10. Lobby groups could take it down a notch with complaints of lack of consultation. Kingston is one of the most open and consultive cities around. Public LVEC consultations, though we seem to conveniently overlook this, went on for almost 90 days.