I say this without prejudice to whether Cable Bay is good for Nanaimo or bad for us.  What I do say is that, once again,  we are dealing with a very large project which is going forward on talk.  There has been no demonstrated examination of the consequences for Nanaimo taxpayers of moving on approval nor have we done a proper risk analysis.  Instead we seem to be marching to the tune of a staff report which reads as though it were written by the developer proponent and which excludes any of the cons to go with any of its unsupported, and in some cases directly misleading pros of the report.

 The Pied Piper visited St. Petersburg and Nanaimo back in 2004 and we got, at great public expense, a conference centre.  We now know that the promises of our" partner"  were written on the wind.  Do we have another such situation where big promises have been made, but we have neither independent review of the project or any mechanism by which to require promises to be kept?

To be sure, Councillor McNabb pointed out that first and second readings which Council voted 3-5 to give tonight leads to a Public Hearing.  What was not pointed out was that a Public Hearing has not been an effective mechanism for eliciting information, but rather a meeting through which Council is forced by legislation to sit, hearing but not necessarily responding to questions or comments put to them by citizens.  And after the public hearing, case closed.  Councillors are not to listen to anything more after the public hearing.  Where is the forum where the public and their representatives meet to discuss issues??  Where is the forum in which our Councillors discuss issues among themselves -and if they have one, why n

 


Comments

shanker

03/10/2009 18:50:28

Every major decision by the City of Nanaimo is made behind closed doors where Jerry Berry is able to manipulate council to approve his personal choice in the matter at hand.Berry thereby assures there is no meaningful discussion that takes place in front of the taxpayer and there is no chance to shine a light on his pathetically bad decisions.I think that Berry truly believes that the money received from taxpayers (municipal taxes) are his to spend any way he wants.The faster he spends,the faster his salary goes up.

 

Ron Bolin

03/11/2009 16:50:51

Right you are. Watching a Council meeting is generally like watching a well choreographed set piece which has had the life taken out of it in rehearsal. Rarely is there dissent, and when there is it is so polite that no issue is ever really debated. While I am not for discourtesy or worse in public discourse, abandoning a topic because it seems like it might lead to some agitation is courtesy taken too far, and certainly far off the purpose of public debate.

 

shanker

03/13/2009 09:52:57

I am for discourtesy because it's what I am.I am also for ridicule,insult,disrespect and derision because it helps a little to offset the contempt for the taxpayers of Nanaimo held by senior staff and some long term electees.

 



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