Oshawa's New City CenterCan't City Council Do Anything Right?

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City Council irresponsibly destroyed these---

To give us this $17 million
Aluminum "Beer Can"
as the focal point of our City Square
surrounded by existing architectural treasures





Prepare to be amazed
as Oshawa becomes Canada's laughing stock!

if we aren't already...what with
a) Cullen Gardens Miniature purchase
b) Only large city in Canada to use the General Vote without political municipal political parties which are outlawed in Ontario
c) The gall to hold a plebiscite and keep the question secret from voters to avoid public debate and understanding of the issue
d) The highest property taxation in the GTA
e) Attempts to bar minors from purchasing spray paint and magic markers in a mistaken view that this will limit graffiti
f) Refusal to return Provincial Ombudsman documents and widespread distribution of these contrary to conditions by which the city was given the documents
g) Housing discrimination against College and University students
h) Discussions to demolish all existing older arenas except Donovan and replace them with new facilities in the North end thus depriving South end children from easily accessible arenas
i) A mayor who has publicly chastised councillors for refusing to implement 9% tax increases
j) Giant fee increases for the use of taxpayer owned recreational facilties that will insure the facilities are under utilized
k) A giant run up of public debt with the continual explanation that it will not impact on the tax rate (I'd like to know where the money comes from if not from taxpayers!)
l) A Mayor who claims the city is well positioned to be a leading growth center in Canada despite problems in the auto industry, record city unemployment, and record city debt
m) Discussions to sell public park space at give-away prices to developers
n) Rationale for destruction of public buildings is that they need repair or are energy inefficient---if all governing bodies used the same rationale, they would destroy the Parliament Buildings, the White House, Buckingham Palace and every other public building in the world. You would also destroy your house every time it needed a new roof!
o) City Council allowed destruction of the historic Rundle House which they featured on their Historic Walking Tours Brochure
p) Wastage of staff time and tax resources on such publications as Restaurants of the Downtown and the many other publications distributed widely simply to put out political messages at taxpayer expense
q) The Mayor and a staff delegation going to England for a week for the Sustainable Communities Contest to learn that Oshawa was the third best place of our size in the world in which to live---brag about that to your friends
r) The numbers of taxpayer paid political ads at Remembrance Day, Canada Day, Easter, Christmas, Labour Day, Valentines, etc.
s) The destruction of city council chambers and "A" wing without firm prices and designs for the replacement...also hiding giant expenses behind two city hall projects...the refurbishment of Rundle Tower ($10Mill) and the reconstruction of Council Chambers and "A" wing (presently $17Mill)....the only purpose of this giant expenditure was to provide larger and more palatial office space for the politicians!
t) A Mayor who calls some of his fellow council members "Stooges"
u) A council that is becoming increasingly dysfunctional and unproductive as it moves to the general vote where every incumbent will be opponents of every other council member
v) Oshawa's new downtown arena set to lose another $300,000 to be billed to the taxpayer
w) A Mayor arguing citizens must pay $1.50 per withdrawal for "the convenience" of having ABM's placed in public places...he believes everything should be a "profit center" for the city...be damned the public interest
x) The city's use of an accounting system that is designed to hide the true costs of all projects since no master accounting ledger is used to track costs for any project and costs for individual projects are hidden across a myriad of ledger sheets with inadequate descriptors to obfuscate costs.
y) The city's wastage of countless tax dollars and staff time in preparing useless flyers, brochures, press releases, etc. and entering meaningless contests like the "Sustainable Communities" contest where every entrant is a winner
z) We could cite further examples of ineptitude ad nauseum




How will the "beer can" fit with these?


Click on following visual of buildings surrounding
"THE BEER CAN" for a larger view!

City doesn't have track record to manage harbour

Reprinted from July 2, 2009 Oshawa This Week
Guest Columnist Adam Mercer



Few people in the City of Oshawa would deny that the harbour should be well-managed by an agency with the money and clout to do a good job for the people footing the bill; the taxpayers of Oshawa.

In a recent opinion column, Councillor Brian Nicholson essentially posed the question, "Why will the federal government not honour the recommendations of David Crombie and let the City of Oshawa manage the harbour or appoint a body to do so?"

Seriously? Does council as a whole not understand this? Staying informed about events in the city over the last year or two should provide the answer to that question with little difficulty, but in case anyone has forgotten ...

The City of Oshawa has a habit of making business decisions that don't make much sense to an outside observer. The Cullen Miniatures are still out there being stored at the expense of the City of Oshawa. There was never a plan worked out as to what to do with these things once the city owned them. If they cannot plan something like a $250,000 investment, why should they be handed millions in federal cash to do whatever they want?

Taxpayers are also on the hook for something between $14 and $17 million for the cost of rebuilding City Hall. Oh, and there are all the other building projects that have happened in the city that were such a great idea we have had to remortgage the only asset the City has that makes money, our local PUC.

If that were not enough to discourage anyone from allowing the City to take over the management of the harbour, the recent discord among members of council itself might be the straw that broke the camel's back. Between accusations made regarding hidden agendas, letters being hidden from public view, the now infamous "stooges" comment and the massive mishandling of the Ombudsman's report on some of the activities of council, it is hard not to see why there are questions about Council's ability to function on any major question. (Editor's Comment---Don't forget that Council actually voted to refuse voters information about the rationale, impact and ramifications of the change to the General Vote---a system not used in any large city in the country. If the general vote was better, don't you think it would be used widely?)

That's especially valid when it concerns an issue as economically and environmentally sensitive as the harbour.

From the Federal Government's perspective, it is looking to hire the caretaker of an important public asset in the Oshawa Harbour. Our council is confused because it is not even on the short list despite making poor business decisions, mortgaging the City's assets to spend more than it has and it seems incapable of unifying long enough for a photo-op.

If we have to look for positive and important accomplishments, there is always the massive PR effort to bring Kiss to Oshawa.

If you were hiring for an important position in your own company and someone dropped off a resume with highlights like that, would you even interview them?

OSHAWA--the "Waning Backwater of Democracy:" The "Poster Child" for "Old Politics"

I am struck this historic day when full democratic justice comes to American when they elect their first African-American president.

This has not come easily. Freedom from slavery with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in the 1860’s, the right to sit in the front of the bus as tested by Rosa Parks in 1955, the universal right to vote which is still being fought on some fronts, The Civil Rights Act introduced by John F. Kennedy in 1963 which allowed for African-American’s Right to Vote and the achievement of high office by US Secretary of State Codoleeza Rice, and Colin Powell former Secretary of State and Chief of Defense staff. With universal black suffrage, black politicians flourished at all levels in Congress, the House of Representatives, as Mayors, etc. All these individuals won their success on the backs of those who had fought and died for democracy and the right to vote.

Things are still not perfect, according to complaints received by CNN about voter and registration problems, and long lines that test the patience of voters, but they are improving. Democracy is improving.

This is in severe contrast with what is happening in Oshawa. Our city politicians have implemented the general vote system purportedly on the basis of the confusing plebiscite question on the last ballot…a question that council asked but one they refused to inform the people about. According to the Mayor, city hall had no responsibility to inform voters about their question. He said this was up to interested citizens to fundraise and inform citizens about the question city politicians had asked. What they Mayor suggested was contrary to Ontario Municipal Elections Law but nevertheless it was the Mayor’s spin on whose responsibility it was to insure an informed electorate.

So while American elections are getting more democratic and both Canadians and Americans are fighting abroad right now to bring democracy and representative government to Iraq and Afghanistan, our political system in Oshawa is becoming less democratic, less inclusive, less accountable, less representative, less responsive and less productive with the general vote which only serves politicians by guaranteeing their re-election until their death or retirement. This will give us aging, tiring and less energetic political leadership in Oshawa.

We will have a system not used in any large city in the country. If the system was a good one, wouldn’t it be used widely in the country.

The system will be more costly to the Oshawa taxpayer as the huge constituencies of all city politicians will be twice the size of those of our Federal and Provincial Government Members. The size of their constituencies of 160,000 people will give rise to demands for larger office space (which has already happened with $14 million “reported” changes to Rundle Tower of city hall with an additional $12 million reported reconstruction of the demolished city hall wings and council chamber), demands for bigger salaries in light of the bigger constituencies, and demands for bigger political office staffs to handle the increased workload politician's will claim.

Over time, all of the politicians will come from a few of the richer areas of the city leaving most areas unrepresented and forgotten and the huge general vote ballots containing upwards of 100 names will make informed voting impossible. Name recognition will be the only determinant of election so politicians will backbite, bitch, bicker, and grandstand to steal the press as well as spend exorbitant amounts of your scarce tax money in sending flyers with their names heavily displayed to all residents of the city….they will campaign to promote their names at your expense.

Wake up Oshawa…don’t let them use you like this!

We fought and died for democracy and are still doing so in foreign lands today…but city politicians are reducing this most cherished democratic right…the right of a meaningful vote to determine our political destiny in Oshawa!

We are told that elections are won and lost by the questions people are asking as they enter the voting booth. The question will be obvious when they are confronted by the huge general vote ballot and most will be confronted by a task they don’t understand, names they don’t know, and an impossible task of selecting those to serve them best. At that point…many voters will be resentful about those that brought about this system. Our job is to make sure that people know this critical information.

So who is responsible for the general vote? Who are the politicians who have voted to serve their own interests rather than the interests of the community? Who are the politicians that must be defeated?

The answer! Mayor Gray and Councillior’s Pidwerbecki, Kolodzie, Parkes, Henry, Sholdra, and Marimpietri. Make a list—these self serving city politicians must be defeated for robbing you of your guaranteed community representation on city council and putting their own electoral interests above your interests and those of your community.

POSTSCRIPT

Having now just finished watching President Elect Obama's victory speech, I am inspired to write this addition to the story above that I wrote earlier today.

We have entered a new era...with new lessons for those who would lead. It is clear that people now expect honesty and integrity from their politicians. It is a new age of people power...yes we can!

People know and expect that power is IN the people--not the politicians! It is FOR the people--not for the politicians. Politicians are to SERVE the PEOPLE--NOT THEMSELVES!

With the support of Oshawa voters, we expect to be able to mobilize this message to remove all politicians from city council who voted for an election system not used in any large city in the country...simply to serve themselves!

Barack Obama's election ushers in a new political era with generous skepticism toward "old politics" and "old politicians". With your help we can rid city council of this cancer and bring in a new age. Yes we can! Yes we will!