So,
This reorganized city now called "Greater Sudbury" has an image "problem"
and it's going to cost $750,000 over the next three years to "fix" it.
You know, I am getting real tired of paying tax monies
to cover the screw-ups of this and previous councils
that made this city what is is today...
The first thing they (this council) did was drop the "greater"
when creating this "My Sudbury" image campaign.
That's the first move in five years that makes any sense.
Sudbury didn't get any greater because of amalgamation,
it just got bigger as did the problems.
The "restructuring" process, led by George Lund,
has proved to be an exercise of cost overruns and
inadequate planning.
Two things were said by councillors at the Jan. 11, 2006 meeting.
Terry Kett used the word VOTERS to describe the people who
are paying for this current "band-aid" solution.
I guess he knows that there is an election just around the corner
and some hard questions are going to be asked
and answers required!..
(like how much money did we get for the property that COSTCO sits on)
Ted Callaghan suggested that any "nay-sayers" get a "visit"
from "high-profile" people to "convince" them to come on board.
Very disconcerting...
Once again council will throw our money at an issue
that goes a lot deeper than just a "brand-name" solution...
Well,
In MY SUDBURY
Every child goes to bed well nourished.
Every Senior has adequate dentures and glasses
and doesn't have to swelter in the the summer
or freeze in the winter.
We don't have any food banks for the 13,800 people who use them
because we don't need them any more.
We don't have any more telethons or fund-raisers to cover funding "gaps"
or "short-falls". The 13,000+ families don't need the "help" any more
because well-spent tax dollars eliminated that need.
INCO doesn't emit 300 to 15,000 tonnes of SO2 gas/day.
Instead, they mine COLD (10 degrees C at the 500 foot level)
and they mine HEAT (60 degrees C at 8,000 foot level)
When they do get "fined" for polluting the environment,
they have to pay the full fine.
(As it stands, INCO gets to declare them as a business expense,
and they are tax-deductable!)
In My Sudbury,
street signs, light posts, curbs, and pavement are not
cracked, peeling, rusted and outright dangerous.
Sudbury has now reached national fame, not by the huge number of pot holes
but rather, that there weren't any!
Science North/Dynamic Earth needs no tax money to function.
They have become so successful that they don't need any...
Oh! They, Jim Marchbank, may want money but, as a priority,
it was so low on the "list" that it was denied!
The CEO of the Sudbury Regional Hospital was fired for incompetence
and the previous CEO(s) were forced to return to Sudbury to explain
why it has gone from $80,000,000 to $500,000,000+ in costs.
And, if the answers are inadequate,
they are held personally responsible for the cost over-runs.
People who say "Let's forget the past and move on.",
get smacked along the side of the head.
People who ignore the past are bound to repeat the same mistakes
over and over and over and over again!
In My Sudbury,
people, wards who pay the most taxes/capita get the most service.
(most-to-least, the Donovan, West End, Flour Mill... Ramsey Lake Road.)
(Just see where, when, and who gets all this new pavement going down
and all the "pretty stuff" that goes along with it...)
I am sure that anyone who has been a "friend" of this and previous councils
will, or has already been "taken care of" before they (city council) leaves office
in a year and a half.
($280,000 in "bridge funding" for 2 city managers who "retired" early.
A $27,000 raise for the current CEO which makes his soon-to-be pension
just that much higher.)
Well, there is so much more but you would have to dredge up
the last 35 years of self-interest, perks, pals, and politics.
An impossible task except for those with good memories
and I have a great memory...
I doubt, though, that I am significant enough to warrant a "visit"
from the "My Sudbury Police" to get me on board.
That remains to be seen...
