11779 replies to this topic

[Stephen Andrew]

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.

I believe in a code of conduct. That would at least give us some accountability.

I am not saying I agree with what I laid out, just the sad reality.

I’m not passing the buck, but I respect there is great power in the electorate. By that I mean elections AND between elections, holding the elected to account.

There ARE steps you can take if you are willing.

[spanky123]

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.

 

There is a very clear path forward here for people who feel as though their privacy has been violated. You can file a complaint with the OIPC, that is exactly why that office exists. No point complaining to Adam Stirling or the City. Now I assume that people did complain and the OIPC didn't get that excited about the matter which is why they are upset.

 

Using someone's email address for a purpose that explicit approval was not obtained is a violation of privacy rules but it is not a criminal matter. Unfortunately privacy rules have very little teeth.

 

I am no fan of Ben's but folks you need to come up with better stuff then this if you want to change the opinion of even one of his supporters. 

Edited by spanky123, 18 January 2022 - 03:00 PM.

[Nparker]

...I am no fan of Ben's but folks you need to come up with better stuff then this if you want to change the opinion of even one of his supporters. 

Agreed. His supporters are a lost cause anyway. It does give me even more justification for loathing the man.

[Harry]

 

I am no fan of Ben's but folks you need to come up with better stuff then this if you want to change the opinion of even one of his supporters. 

Truthfully some on city council could be holding the smoking gun and they would claim it wasn't theirs. Someone that has drastically been done wrong by someone on council (not saying there is someone) would have to come forward and the court of public opinion would need to have a massively loud voice against them in order to have things change. Currently there seems to be an understanding of not speaking against the city council as seen when Ben discussed the funding of someone that was being critical of city council and if one was to think this was a one off one would be counted a fool. The saving grace for most of the council has been the pandemic stopping the public from being able to access and publicly question council members. Not the hand picked questions and blatant just talking over or cutting off any of the public calling in to the council when its rarely aloud to happen. This city council seems to have distanced themselves from the general public and seemingly hand picked the public that could have access or able to be publicly responding to council. Hearing the Mayor and some council members  that they receives nothing but positive reactions from the public on the choices they have made for the city is tone deaf or carefully engineered. I would hope the next council doesn't place themselves in Ivory towers and actually takes their jobs seriously unlike some on the current city council.

Edited by Harry, 20 January 2022 - 06:13 PM.

[Nparker]

...I would hope the next council doesn't place themselves in Ivory towers and actually takes their jobs seriously unlike some on the current city council.

I mostly hope there are at least 50% new faces on the next council - none of whom are TV-ers or TV-esque. I know, dream on.

[Spy Black]

I’m not passing the buck, but I respect there is great power in the electorate. By that I mean elections AND between elections, holding the elected to account.
There ARE steps you can take if you are willing.

This line of thinking is predicated by the concept of the electorate endlessly having to police a group of locally elected government officials.

 

In general, I believe most folks (at least at the municipal level) believe that regardless of personal politics, once elected a politician will operate in a ethical and responsible (to the electorate) manner.

In this case, Victoria City Council wanders very far off the path, more often than not to the point of irresponsibility.

 

I get that you're suggesting the ballot box is one of the places to deal with this type of bad behaviour, but the disappointing (and likely illegal) behaviour of folks like Isitt, and the endless efforts to fulfil personal agendas that have nothing to do with the operation of the City of Victoria on behalf of its taxpayers - isn't really something those same taxpayers should be obliged to endlessly "police".

 

What on earth happened to local politicians offering excellent governance of the City of Victoria ... regardless of whether they lean to the left, or leant the right?

[Nparker]

....you're suggesting the ballot box is one of the places to deal with this type of bad behaviour...

So I guess we're just supposed to live with bad council behaviour for the years between elections. 

[spanky123]

What on earth happened to local politicians offering excellent governance of the City of Victoria ... regardless of whether they lean to the left, or leant the right?

 

Most decent people decided life is too short for a full time job that pays $40K a year and comes with 24x7 grief. Only those who would have minimum wage or adjunct professors careers at UVIC available to them apply.

[A Girl is No one]

And dictators wannabes

[Moderation]

Would starting at $150,000 and mayor $200,000 get better candidates to run and be money well spent?

[Mike K.]

It’s not supposed to be a job.

It’s about serving the community.

None of the other municipalities seem worried about the caliber of candidates in relation to renumeration, because the work loads they choose are consistent with the expectations for the roles they assume.

[On the Level]

Would starting at $150,000 and mayor $200,000 get better candidates to run and be money well spent?

 

Where would those funds come from?

 

I believe there is going to be a financial wake up for Victoria in a couple of years.  Scope of services has changed from municipal to a whole range of social programs usually funded by the province and feds.  The cities funding is very fluid, with property taxes being only 57%.  Policies have not been welcoming to others outside of the CoV boundary and Covid/work from home has compounded this.  As businesses go under or move out to the westshore, how does this impact revenue for Victoria?  

 

Have you noticed an uptick in funding "from contingency"?  It should make you pause.  How much was in contingency and how much is left?  What was the original purpose of having a contingency?  What happens if there is an unforeseen issue with infrastructure requiring significant funding, but the contingency that would have paid for it was spent on social programs instead? 

 

The mayor's position is part time.  Spending additional time on items that are not related to the municipality is volunteer work.  There is no funding for the city of Victoria to fix the world stage.

[lanforod]

^ that's easy. The funds come from the savings of having a competent person in the job to begin with.

Edited by lanforod, 21 January 2022 - 12:30 PM.

[On the Level]

I am not kidding when I say those that own property in the CoV are at risk.  As revenues dry up, there are very few levers Victoria can pull to make up the funding shortfall other than jacking up residential property taxes.

[On the Level]

^ that's easy. The funds come from the savings of having a competent person in the job to begin with.

 

Agreed.....someone that understands that it is a part time commitment and that Victoria needs to be run as a business.

[A Girl is No one]

I don’t remember seeing this link posted here. Apologies in advance if it’s a duplicate… but too good to risk missing it..

A storyline if Isitt’s privacy breaches.

https://vancouverisl...firms-1.5739319

[A Girl is No one]

Here is one excerpt:

“ Results of the City’s 2022 budget survey were contained in a report received by council December 9, 2021. During that meeting of Committee of the Whole, Isitt asked, “When organized stakeholder groups mobilize in relation to these engagement exercises, should there be a correction factor? Is it just something council takes into consideration?”
Isitt then suggested the existence of a “public safety lobby that’s underway, it involves Victoria city police union, a number of members of the media, and clearly that’s had an impact in this survey.”

I wasn’t aware of any other organized interest groups mobilizing to encourage participation in the survey so that’s why that’s the only one I’ve referenced,” Isitt added, not mentioning his own use of improperly obtained email addresses to encourage participation in the survey which would later be found to have caused a privacy breach.“

[On the Level]

 

Isitt then suggested the existence of a “public safety lobby"

 

“When organized stakeholder groups mobilize in relation to these engagement exercises, should there be a correction factor?

 

That is a little hypocritical isn't it?  He lost it and threatened the DVBA too.  You are allowed to form lobby groups provided they are in agreement with the political narrative of Isitt.    Everyone else's interests should be discredited through a " a correction factor".  We all know council ignores it's constituents but now we are seeing them trying to formalize the practice.

 

Why isn't there a "correction factor" to offset these political organizations?

• Together Victoria
• GVAT - Greater Victoria Acting Together
• James Coccola and the BCGEU
• Jimmy Thomson and the Capital Daily
• Red Cedar Cafe
• Backpack project
• LLEOHN

[Stephen James]

As I have said before, 100% of TV supporters show up to campaign and vote. During a good cycle, 20% of the "others" vote. Even if I accept your argument about name recognition with SA, he needs 5x as much "support" to beat Alto.

This has been true in the past, but the recent by-election is evidence to the contrary. The TV ppl had a pretty rough ride and the community is not happier, safer, more successful since that time, for heavens sake. The slum 1/2 of downtown is even worse, downtown is scarier, and the few items that make it from the council table to the newspaper are usually new levels of stupid. (see diverting tax from a tiny city to FN)

 

Marianne Alto is well known to be part of the destructive, ideological, community from UVIC who got us here and, even better, doesn't live or pay taxes in Victoria. I'm pretty sure the community has had enough of both.

[Nparker]

....I'm pretty sure the community has had enough of both.

That's not a bet I'd be willing to make.