11779 replies to this topic

[Hotel Mike]

It's always better to have eight Councillors you can approach to discuss City business and concerns, than one. If you have a ward system, either your individual council member pays attention to you or not. He or she doesn't like your attitude, so long to your opinions. 

[gstc84]

My hometown in Ontario has always had a blended system: 7 ward councillors, 5 at-large councillors, and the mayor. That structure is (in theory) kind of the best of both worlds, except for the bloat of having a 13 member council for a city of 100,000 people. And in the end they've always been just as dysfunctional as any other city council I've known...

[rmpeers]

I'd be much more curious to learn that it didn't get approved. Has any travel request by a member of this council been turned down?

Yeah, certainly nobody seemed to voice any concerns of the additional 4k. Just a rubber stamp. About as dull as the rest of the proceedings - presentation... blah blah... zoning application... yada yada... fascists are out to get me... another presentation... etc etc

Edited by rmpeers, 06 September 2019 - 08:49 AM.

[Nparker]

It's always better to have eight Councillors you can approach to discuss City business and concerns, than one. If you have a ward system, either your individual council member pays attention to you or not. He or she doesn't like your attitude, so long to your opinions. 

There are currently 7 councillors and one mayor who don't care for my opinions. I'd be willing to give the ward system a chance if for no other reason than at least it would feel like fewer people were working against me.

[tedward]

There are currently 7 councillors and one mayor who don't care for my opinions. I'd be willing to give the ward system a chance if for no other reason than at least it would feel like fewer people were working against me.

 

And it would be easier to organize people to lobby a specific councilor or run someone against them in the election. 

[Mike K.]

Council is asking for more travel funding, this time for a councillor to attend the UBCM convention in Vancouver. The total budget is $1,360, which has helped push council's $35,000 travel budget to $2,372 over budget.

 

The interesting thing to note is the mayor's travel "budget" has been increased to $18,553 despite last week being $15,000. This new budget also shows $513 in available travel spending.

 

The mayor's trip to NYC for a UN conference is now funded "from contingency" ($3,360 for the trip; $194 for carbon fees).

[Nparker]

It's insane for a council representing fewer than 90,000 people to be traveling hither and yon. Also, how come they seem to be exempt from finding alternatives to in-person meetings during this time of  !!! CLIMATE CRISIS !!!       

Edited by Nparker, 09 September 2019 - 09:51 AM.

[rmpeers]

Council is asking for more travel funding, this time for a councillor to attend the UBCM convention in Vancouver. The total budget is $1,360, which has helped push council's $35,000 travel budget to $2,372 over budget.

The interesting thing to note is the mayor's travel "budget" has been increased to $18,553 despite last week being $15,000. This new budget also shows $513 in available travel spending.

The mayor's trip to NYC for a UN conference is now funded "from contingency" ($3,360 for the trip; $194 for carbon fees).

So... around 55k for mayor and council travel now? How much of that couldn't achieve the same results through email, skype conferencing, phone calls, etc?

And given the state of the city, is that really the best way to spend 55k?

[Nparker]

,,,How much of that couldn't achieve the same results through email, skype conferencing, phone calls, etc?...

If measured in benefit to the taxpayers of the CoV all of it could be achieved through those means. If measured in benefit to council and their future careers, none of it apparently.

[Mattjvd]

Council is asking for more travel funding, this time for a councillor to attend the UBCM convention in Vancouver. The total budget is $1,360, which has helped push council's $35,000 travel budget to $2,372 over budget.

The interesting thing to note is the mayor's travel "budget" has been increased to $18,553 despite last week being $15,000. This new budget also shows $513 in available travel spending.

The mayor's trip to NYC for a UN conference is now funded "from contingency" ($3,360 for the trip; $194 for carbon fees).

Well at least attending a UBCM conference within the province is relevant to their duties, I don't mind the Mayor and or members of council attending that. It's a shame they've burned through the travel budget on other things first.

[rmpeers]

Some drama in twitter after some dude in a cowboy hat supposedly tweeted an allegation that Mayor Helps wants to ban Christmas. I never even saw the original tweet, but the Mayor's retweeting of it, to let people know the kind of bullying she's subjected to seems to have given it way more profile.

[Rob Randall]

There is a risk involved but I think it's better to expose these cockroaches to the light of day. 

[rjag]

I saw the tweet, he's a total nutjob. I blocked him as it wasnt worth engaging

[RFS]

So basically Helps is shaming and bullying the mentally unstable on twitter

[RFS]

I can't decide if helps attending a UN conference in NYC is a more damning indictment of her or the conference..

[SimonH]

Some drama in twitter after some dude in a cowboy hat supposedly tweeted an allegation that Mayor Helps wants to ban Christmas. I never even saw the original tweet, but the Mayor's retweeting of it, to let people know the kind of bullying she's subjected to seems to have given it way more profile.

Oh the irony. Helps is bullied on line by a nutjob.

 

Residents and visitors to Victoria are subject to every type of abuse on a daily basis from a certain section of the downtown inhabitants and thats OK by her standards.

 

Bring it on.

[Victoria Watcher]

twitter is not real life. get past it.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 September 2019 - 04:31 PM.

[A Girl is No one]

Thank heavens!

[spanky123]

I saw the tweet, he's a total nutjob. I blocked him as it wasnt worth engaging

I have to admit, I am. Impressed. One day after Focus yet again exposes more details on the bridge fiasco, a social media ‘crisis’ arises and the news cycle is filled with Helps threatening to shut off twitter because some anonymous fool mixes up her and Isitt and claims she supported removing xmas lights.

How convenient. Lord forbid that the media talking heads might start asking why City staff lied and said the bridge was fixed when it wasn’t and what damage was actually done when the seals and o-rings failed!

Edited by spanky123, 09 September 2019 - 06:44 PM.

[spanky123]

I saw the tweet, he's a total nutjob. I blocked him as it wasnt worth engaging

 

From what I can tell, the dude posted the comment on his own twitter feed and never posted anything directly to Mayor Helps or on her feed.