11779 replies to this topic

[Harry]

The reality is Victoria needs a leader and council that listens to the community as a whole not create an echo chamber, remove all social media and surround ones self with individuals who tell you that you can do no wrong. Like it or not we as a City have a dictatorship going on. Helps has said time and time again "its happening" regardless of what people want. The other one is saying its just temporary when in reality it was always meant to be permanent. We need competent people on the council who work for all of the people. we have a montly crew of people that have hired yes men and women or friends of friends that will "do what is needed to achieve goals of inept councilors regardless of the benefit to the city. The business community has had to pay the price time and time again through higher taxes,higher crime, a pandemic, loss of parking and so on. From there the city has been force fed a collection of half thought out projects that have disconnected the flow and the life of the city all while its being well shared that if you work for the city you tow the line or else. On one hand the city is screaming the parks and city are safe and on the other they are issuing confidential reports that the parks and city are not safe.  Currently the city is facing an incredible financial obligation due to the social experiment in "the homeless issue". I can’t help but wonder how much of this mess would not have happened if the city council did not engineer this situation in a bid to force the province to provide money to deal with the people who have been invited from across Canada to gather within the city. Homelessness is a very concerning issue and each municipality has its challenges in providing for its homeless citizens. The city council put Victoria in a situation that invited people from other places with promises of housing this action increased the city’s homeless population several times over. The city has housed several times the counted homeless population as it was counted before this mess started so it is obvious that the city has taken on other municipalities issues. With the homeless came the criminals that often prayed on them as well as the drug addicted and other situated people. All while working to defend, discredit and actively working to overwhelm the police through funding and other issues. This would in the city councils hope cause the homeless issue and crime to raise forcing the province to fund projects headed by city councilors and their supporters. Their experiment failed miserably and now Victoria will be left to clean the mess up while the city council moves on from their jobs after the coming elections. Regardless who ever goes into the election with hopes of getting a seat it should be known that some current council members and their supporters are working hard to discredit and undermine anyone they see as a threat.  This city needs a drastic change of leadership and a change of policy on how it deals with its citizens. 

[FogPub]

... The business community has had to pay the price time and time again through higher taxes,higher crime, a pandemic, loss of parking and so on. ...

While much of what you say has merit, it's a bit much to blame city council for the pandemic.

[Harry]

While much of what you say has merit, it's a bit much to blame city council for the pandemic.

You are Correct they did not but they took advantage of state of emergency as well as using the pandemic as reasoning to do other things like shut down vehicle access to BHP then the reasoning changed and several other thins like the temporary patios, shutting down roads for business use etc There was also a change due to the state of emergency in regards to how you could get hings pushed through council. Helps said "its an exciting time and we can get so much done". in a pandemic the council went full speed with the spending and projects. Now the citizens will be footing the bill through higher taxes and higher costs of living. Council is not here to be served by the people they are to serve the people its high time they are reminded of this. It is time to vote them out.

[On the Level]

While much of what you say has merit, it's a bit much to blame city council for the pandemic.

 

True, but they used the pandemic as an excuse to further their agenda.  Instead of helping businesses survive, they created a worse situation with this whole survival crime, ACAB, and defund the police nonsense. 

 

Before Isitt took over Paul’s Diner by Fol Epi, that business had spent $150,000 to renovate, to then be put in a worse situation and go bankrupt.  Would they have gone bankrupt anyways?  We will never know, but what we do know is that Red Cedar benefited from the renovation and then funded operation through taxpayers.  It is a clear example where a bad situation caused by Covid was made worse. 

[rjag]

You are Correct they did not but they took advantage of state of emergency as well as using the pandemic as reasoning to do other things like shut down vehicle access to BHP then the reasoning changed and several other thins like the temporary patios, shutting down roads for business use etc There was also a change due to the state of emergency in regards to how you could get hings pushed through council. Helps said "its an exciting time and we can get so much done". in a pandemic the council went full speed with the spending and projects. Now the citizens will be footing the bill through higher taxes and higher costs of living. Council is not here to be served by the people they are to serve the people its high time they are reminded of this. It is time to vote them out.

 

A sign of leadership would have seen review times say a year or so after and organized feedback on these changes so as to see what impacts they've had on the community. Esp the BHP closures. 

 

They have shoved through so many disruptive pet projects, citizens heads are spinning

Edited by rjag, 11 January 2022 - 04:10 PM.

[Nparker]

This came up on my Facebook memories today (from January 12, 2020)

The Mayor and Council didn't travel in December since they had used up all (and then some) of their annual budget. Now that they have awarded themselves another $45K they are back at it in spades. We are not yet 2 meetings into the new year and we are retroactively paying for Jeremy Loveday's trip to crab fest in Port Angeles, Lisa Helps' to travel to Ottawa to meet the newly appointed Ministers, and for Marianne Alto to attend the capital cities conference in Ottawa.

Looking at the travel budgets to Ottawa the Mayor's flight is $1059 with a $180 carbon offset fee. Alto's flight is $736 with a $345 carbon offset fee. 3 days of incidentals will cost Alto $125, 2 days of incidentals will cost helps $350.

There's nothing quite like champagne socialism, is there?

If not for the plague, how much more of this frittering away of our tax dollars would we have seen over the past 2 years?

[Jacques Cadé]

https://www.iheartra...irms-1.16883342

 

CFAX 1070 has learned that on three different occasions in 2021, internal investigations conducted by the City of Victoria determined that Councillor Ben Isitt’s use of information from emails collected using his position as a councillor contravened provisions of British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act.

[Nparker]

Comrade Isitt should resign immediately.

[spanky123]

https://www.iheartra...irms-1.16883342

 

CFAX 1070 has learned that on three different occasions in 2021, internal investigations conducted by the City of Victoria determined that Councillor Ben Isitt’s use of information from emails collected using his position as a councillor contravened provisions of British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act.

 

Sounds pretty much what I get from the NDP now that they have my email address!

 

I would expect a lot more of this now that the municipal campaign starts to heat up and money flows in. Somebody did the research and packaged this up for CFAX and it wasn't free.

Edited by spanky123, 13 January 2022 - 10:39 AM.

[pennymurphy2000]

It is way more than 3 times. I received yet another unsolicited email from him last month despite me asking him at least 2 times to stop emailing me and to remove my address immediately. Which he clearly has not done. Again.

[JimV]

Stirling and CFAX did good work in exposing the details of Isitt’s violations.  On the other hand it’s kind of like proving the Pope’s Catholic.  Anyone who didn’t know by now that Isitt is a sleazeball is brain dead or hasn’t been paying attention for the past 10 years.

[Nparker]

...Anyone who didn’t know by now that Isitt is a sleazeball is brain dead or hasn’t been paying attention for the past 10 years.

And/or doesn't care, as is the case with the SJW/TV voters.

[Tom Braybrook]

And/or doesn't care, as is the case with the SJW/TV voters.

no such thing as bad publicity ---- as long as they spell the name right it's all good with Ben

[sdwright.vic]

If anyone has access to the way back machine for post, they will find somewhere on here my post about Isitt's illicit emails somewhere in the area of 2016. I reported Ben to city hall way back when, and if I am fully recalling correctly, I copied and pasted the response I recieved from city hall at the time.

For the life of me I can't recall which thread, nor can I go far back enough in my post history.

BUT it would prove good ol' Ben had his hand slapped (or should of) a long time ago.

[Nparker]

Comrade Isitt has been using this email scheme for years.

[Mike K.]

I’m having some trouble finding that exchange,
SD. I’ll keep looking.

[Harry]

Stirling and CFAX did good work in exposing the details of Isitt’s violations.  On the other hand it’s kind of like proving the Pope’s Catholic. 

Unfortunately the majority of this council subscribes to the deny, deny, deny even with overwhelming evidence and public disapproval. With out good hard evidence. Ben and others just say it never happened or "its all lies". its Gaslighting on a massive scale. Remember the city was saying just how safe the parks are all the while making secret in house rule books and warnings about how unsafe they actually are.  This alone should have thrown light on how the city council looks on the citizens of the city. Where is the news on this? I recall a local news agency doing a scathing bit on someone on council back when they had social media and there was a comment made to the reporter/author stating how they got along with every news agency in town and if they wanted to have any thing to do with city hall they better tow the line or face the music. Remember you are ether with the city council or you are just a how did helps put it? oh right a Troll... but did she recently tell the police to ignore what some city councilors are saying about them? I would also encourage anyone that can look back and see if around election time you got an unsolicited email from any council members running for election or any of the TV members.

[Stephen Andrew]

The issue of using email addresses inappropriately has been around for a while.

Council takes the position it is not working its purview to manage individual councillor actions/behaviour.

To have staff issue rulings or corrective measures is also doubtful. Any action would place them in an untenable position with the councillor. I believe the only authority would be the Provincial Freedom and Privacy Office.

I reported on many privacy breaches in my career changing policies of Canada Post and within the Provincial Government. It always frustrated me that not only did the agencies feel “it was no big deal”, but in general people paid little attention.

When I was elected, I placed the following statement in my emails. I hold to it to avoid any concerns.

“How I use your email. When you contact me via my City of Victoria email, I do not collect or use your contact information for any other purpose than to respond to you. If you wish to reach out to me politically, personally and obtain updates such as an e-newsletter etc. please contact me at info@StephenAndrew.ca”

I also use a software program that allows anyone to opt out of emails, calls and texts. It’s all done automatically to maintain a healthy list.

Edited by Stephen Andrew, 17 January 2022 - 10:54 PM.

[Daveyboy]

The issue of using email addresses inappropriately has been around for a while.

Council takes the position it is not working its purview to manage individual councillor actions/behaviour.

To have staff issue rulings or corrective measures is also doubtful. Any action would place them in an untenable position with the councillor. I believe the only authority would be the Provincial Freedom and Privacy Office.
 

So there is no interest in taking action on unethical or even illegal behaviour undertaken by Victoria  councillors.  Yet there is time spent and action taken using taxpayers money on issues that occur in Quebec that COV disagrees with.  What a sad state of governing we have in Victoria.

[Nparker]

Well said Daveyboy.