Not much room for conversation at city council Monday night

General Forums General Chat
21

Well, ajaye, time’s running out for the mayor to start doing that, considering that the next election is only a year off and major initiatives are unlikely to be taken during the last few months in office. Not a lot seems to have been accomplished over the past two years, truth be told, and there really isn’t a lot of time to turn things around before quite a few of us head off to cast our votes for a new mayor and council.

One wonders what the councillors, who are by and large mild mannered and well spoken people, make of the current situation, a question ThePodunkian touched on in his blog:

"However, perhaps what is even more disconcerting than the Mayors’ rather short temper with Ms. Martin, was the response, or lack of actually from the remainder of council.

Not one of the councillors in attendance appear to have interjected to suggest Ms. Martin be allowed to finish outlining her position, rather they sat quietly as the Mayor rebuked the citizen who had come to express her thoughts …"

I’ve heard that at least one councillor found the mayor’s conduct to be a bit unsettling, the finger pointing (or pen pointing more accurately) being noted in particular.

I doubt that many people would have the confidence and diplomatic skills to correct the mayor in a public forum when he’s on a roll. Hopefully at their next closed session, on November 8 presumably, when the video link and mic are switched off, the councillors will overcome their reticence and provide some wise counsel to the mayor to the effect that citizens are not adversaries; they by and large just want to see some progress on some issues of common concern and if that’s not possible a bit of patience and courtesy, especially to elders, is always appreciated.

22

im sorry anna i didnt mean you jack has a beautiful young lady she is the one who
would get jealous if i gave jack a huggy.far as im concerned your all doing a good
job you all deserve a big hug.

23

Real smooth move there Ajaye , do you work with Glue , Paint or Paint Thiner on the job ? Because I for one feel that it is messing your brain up more and more . Was that Jacko’s girlfriend who was sitting in camera 's view just shaking her head like she agreed to everything he said ?

24

Instead of knocking hours off Saturday, why not open an hour later on weekdays. Assuming that most people work an 8-4 or 9-5 type job Saturday is a good day to get out and recycle. It also benefits out of towners that travel to recycle that were mentioned in the news clip.

How many people are at the depot between 8:30 and 9:30 Monday to Friday? How many people would be out on Saturday if you tacked the five weekday hours onto 10-2 making the hours 10-7? I’m willing to bet you’d have more on Saturday.

25

[quote=“ajaye46”]im sorry anna i didnt mean you jack has a beautiful young lady she is the one who
would get jealous if i gave jack a huggy.far as im concerned your all doing a good
job you all deserve a big hug.[/quote]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
And giving Jack a “huggy” is your code for…?

26

jack is a nice guy has alot of money mike curnes is a good looking man but it s to
bad he is taken also.

27

[quote=“BTravenn”]

Well, ajaye, time’s running out for the mayor to start doing that, considering that the next election is only a year off and major initiatives are unlikely to be taken during the last few months in office. Not a lot seems to have been accomplished over the past two years, truth be told, and there really isn’t a lot of time to turn things around before quite a few of us head off to cast our votes for a new mayor and council.

One wonders what the councilors, who are by and large mild mannered and well spoken people, make of the current situation, a question ThePodunkian touched on in his blog:

"However, perhaps what is even more disconcerting than the Mayors’ rather short temper with Ms. Martin, was the response, or lack of actually from the remainder of council.

Not one of the councilors in attendance appear to have interjected to suggest Ms. Martin be allowed to finish outlining her position, rather they sat quietly as the Mayor rebuked the citizen who had come to express her thoughts …"

I’ve heard that at least one councilor found the mayor’s conduct to be a bit unsettling, the finger pointing (or pen pointing more accurately) being noted in particular.

I doubt that many people would have the confidence and diplomatic skills to correct the mayor in a public forum when he’s on a roll. Hopefully at their next closed session, on November 8 presumably, when the video link and mic are switched off, the councilors will overcome their reticence and provide some wise counsel to the mayor to the effect that citizens are not adversaries; they by and large just want to see some progress on some issues of common concern and if that’s not possible a bit of patience and courtesy, especially to elders, is always appreciated.[/quote]

Amen BT, Elders and Seniors should be respected especially when they know so much of the history of this community!! As for Lester being in position at the time of the start of the SQCRD, who was the cooperate administrator and general manager of the city? :smile:

28

Forgive me, but I just can’t help myself … I have said for years, what the world will now long remember … the people of Prince Rupert really didn’t know Jack. :smile:

29

[quote=“ajaye46”]jack is a nice guy has alot of money mike curnes is a good looking man but it s to
bad he is taken also.[/quote]

Your such a weird guy Ajaye

30

Ajaye must be off the anit depressants cause hes posting fricking bullshit again.
He almost had me believing that jack was having a relationship (romantic) with Anna.
Good thing she asked to be left out of it …causing the village idiot to clarify what hes talking about.

For the love of hey zeus

31

[quote=“AnnaA”]

[quote=“ajaye46”]i think i will let anna do that as his young beautiful girl friend will get jealous if i do it im good looking
but not that good looking as her.[/quote]

Ajaye, please leave me out of any dispute you are having with other people on this forum. I respect your right to voice your opinion but please do not include me in your rebuttals. Thanks.[/quote]

Glad you stood up to the mighty Ajay, certainly would be more impressed if you were as brave with our Mayor.

32

Resist the urge to feed Ajaye everyone or he and his moronic comments will last forever, just what he yearns for ! I will try and starting now, resist the urge to shove his illiterate keyboard where the sun don’t shine. All with me, don’t say a word!!

33

You are right, back to the topic. OK, Jack really hurt the team with his “shut-up you” to seniors blunder. Wonder just how many more of these he’s got in him? I’m not keeping score but it seems Jack and nearly all of his whipped Council members have swung and missed an awful lot of civic pitches this year. Sorry for the baseball reference but I believe it is timely. Does anyone have any idea of just how many strike-outs they’ve had, in say, just the last year, if you get what I’m saying?

34

come on cant you take a little joke?

35

If there is a score card available, I would appreciate a posting of it so I can put it on my fridge and look at it every day until election time.

36

Chookie - That’s a cheap shot. As I recall, Anna and Gina stood up to the former Mayor when they were concerned with the non arms length dealings going on and received much rougher treatment than Jack dealt out. Lets not forget that they subsequently ran for office to attempt to change the culture of Nepotism that seems to be a hallmark of this city hall. For any of their perceived faults, these two councillors are trying to engage the public and are being met with low turnouts and apathy.

If you’re half as brave as Anna and Gina, lets see you storming the barricades at city hall the next meeting leading your neighbours bearing pitchorks and torches to teach Emperor Jack and his Imperial Court a lesson in manners. Frankly, council is due for a broom to sweep clean the deadwood that’s sat on their asses for so long while Prince Rupert burned, but Anna and Gina don’t seem to be part of the problem with this council.

37

Actually I agree with chookie, where was A. Ashely and the others when Mussallem went on his little tirade over senior citizen Jean Martin.

Not ONE of the councillors said a damn thing, and continue to say nothing, inlduing councillor Ashley. I have seen this in the past, it seems this council agree with almost anything that comes out of Jacko’s mouth!!

This council has no balls with this mayor, they sit and do nothing, and by doing nothing they are essentially agreeing that actions and things he says and does are ok by them.

Sure they are making a valiant effort in trying to engage the citizens of PR in discussions on issues currently plaguing this city, and the apathy that is being shown to them I feel is certainly more directed at the entire group of city officials, the citizens feel like this has been one dud of a group.

Vandalism has been on the rise for the last 3 years yet not one thing has been done (officially by the city) to curb it and we are just NOW talking about this with council in community groups at the civic? GMAB…this should have been taken care of almost immediately by city government.

As I said before, too much talking and NOT ENOUGH ACTION, so I don’t blame one person for apathy over these community meeting discussions that have been occurring.

38

Obviously I’ll be accused of bias… But I can’t help but feel that just like it was inappropriate and rude for the Mayor to treat Jean Martin the way he did it would also have been equally disrespectful and inappropriate for
councillors to publically chastise the Mayor.

39

[quote=“chookie”]

Glad you stood up to the mighty Ajay, certainly would be more impressed if you were as brave with our Mayor.[/quote]

In a way I’m with you, but I would put things rather differently. Butting heads with Jack would not be very productive, as Ms Martin’s experience and councillor Ashley’s first weeks in office both illustrate. I would hope that councillor Ashley will bide her time, try to accomplish whatever can be achieved under dysfunctional leadership (probably not much), and run for Mayor in November 2011.

The current Mayor tells us to “add it up” and there has been talk about scorecards. Okay, let’s take a scorecard and look around the council table.

Mayors often serve as a councillor for a term or two, sometimes longer, to learn the ropes; some experience helps (even Peter Lester did a brief apprenticeship as a councillor). I don’t think, though, that many voters are interested in voting for someone whose experience dates from too far back, whether on this council or a previous one. Their thinking may be stuck in the past.

That’s really been the situation with Jack, as his comment about “losing $30 million” demonstrates, as if there was a pile of money that the city was supposed to get, but “lost”. When the mill closed down, the tap was turned off and there isn’t, and hasn’t been, any going back to the way things were. Most everyone seems to understand that except the Mayor. Most of the councillors are okay, but who is most likely to think in terms of current realities rather than the way things were? Tick off the scorecard.

This place faces serious problems, but if change is to happen it has to start with more positive communications and greater trust between City Hall and the citizens. That’s been sadly lacking over the last two years especially. Again, tick off the score card. I voted for Gina last time and will if she runs in future, but who’s most likely to bring about the changes that are needed? All else aside, the personality has to fit the situation.

If she is willing to run in 2011, I think that Anna Ashley is the best person to bring about the changes that this place badly needs.

40

[quote=“eccentric”]Obviously I’ll be accused of bias… But I can’t help but feel that just like it was inappropriate and rude for the Mayor to treat Jean Martin the way he did it would also have been equally disrespectful and inappropriate for
councillors to publically chastise the Mayor.[/quote]

I don’t think anyone necessarily thinks that any of the councillors needed to chastise the mayor, rather simply request that the lady who took the time to attend city council chambers be allowed to air her concerns over an issue of importance.

I don’t think she planned on hijacking the session, rather as any concerned citizen might be inclined to do (or at least would have been inclined to do but may have second thoughts now) she simply appeared at council and wished to make her presentation and maybe ask a few questions of her elected representatives.

I noticed that later on in council (or perhaps before I’m not aware of the timeline) that local hotel owners were allowed to offer up their comments on a controversial sewer issue and if the news accounts are to be believed, not one of them was told “No you may not”.

bclocalnews.com/bc_north/the … 18193.html

Guess Ms. Martin had the poor fortune of not having the right cause, on the right night.