yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, egg rollls…
It’s probably worse than the food you eat at Panda Express…
Hi Astro, I don’t know is the short and correct answer.
As this was the 2007 survey and CityWest is now not part of the City’s workforce, I would have expected CityWest numbers would not be included but then again, I’m still scratching my head at the number of seasonal workers. Hopefully the Mayor or Council will see fit to explain.
Some may jump to the conclusion that the staffing numbers and the fact Rupert has some of the highest municipal taxes in BC may be connected but lets hear what the Mayor and Council have to say on this.
http://hackingthemainframe.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=10205.0;attach=4096;image
[attachments over a year old automatically deleted]
I have a question for Mayor Pond.
I am concerned about the lack of playgrounds and parks in our community. In 2005, in an effort to save roughly $100,000, the municipality decided to bulldoze playgrounds rather than repair them.
[quote]In 2005, the city was informed by staff that the parks, many of which were paid for by community groups, were in a deplorable condition. Two of the ‘tot lots’ - the Gyro Tot Lot on Ninth Avenue West and the Dolphin Tot Lot on Jamaica Avenue - were closed because it would have cost $60,000 to bring up the safety levels to the required standards.
In addition, some equipment was removed from the Ukrainian Tot Lot on Cassiar Avenue, the Kinsmen Adventure Tot Lot on Kootenay Avenue, and from George Casey Park, because required work would have cost an additional $30,000.[/quote]
Honestly, how can you justify levelling most of the communities playgrounds over cost and replace them with nothing only to then effectively remove the revenue provided by then CityTel? It seems to me that this took so much away from our neighbourhoods, our children and the tax paying families. It also made our community a less desirable place to live. In my estimation it would now cost roughly $400,000-$500,000 to have any playground equipment replaced in these locations. I understood at the time that tough choices had to be made in our community but I don’t see this as a reasonable cost saving measure.
It is also my understanding that Sun Wave was to provide money that would go to sustain and upgrade recreational equipment and sites in lieu of taxes.
What is your hope and plan for our community regarding playgrounds and recreational facilities as a whole? I’d like to know how, what, where, when and the anticipated cost if possible. Why should I keep my family here and what can I tell other families who are looking to relocate here to expect?
Thanks Bonecracker, these are precisely the types of questions that the Mayor and Council should be answering.
I don’t know who (in the City) compiled these numbers but there certainly aren’t that many local CUPE members, especially 161 full time members. Even if you add workers from the Airport Ferry, Library, RCMP, Firehall, Cityhall, Civic Centre, and Public Works I don’t see 161 full time employees. 
Maybe the same one who gave us the five million dollar error?
Who is in charge of playgrounds for the city? Does that person have a working plan to get grants,etc to help replace the equipment torn down? Does this person liase at all with the various service clubs around town in a further effort to help raise funds to upgrade the playgrounds?
People knew that Ms. Hesse was hired. It’s not like she went to work via underground tunnel.
Again, since you are not a lawyer it’s foolish for you to close yourself off from the possibility that everything is alright. However, you’re definitely entitled to your opinion, as am I. And just so you know, you don’t make much sense sometimes either–but that’s because you seem to have trouble stringing together coherent sentences. But you’re an expert at interpreting laws, correct?
[quote=“Become the change”]
I certainly hope you are not suggesting we don’t have the right to assembly - even if it is a virtual assembly.[/quote]
By all means, cyber assemle all you want. I’m just saying it’s going to be about as effective as mounting an anti City Council protest at Oliver Lake. The things being expressed might be completely reasonable, but Councillors don’t have time–and it’s unreasonable to expect that–to drive out to Oliver. They’re in Council chambers at every schedule meeting.
This is the third or forth time I’ve asked this, but people keep side stepping it. What perspective is Council missing.
I challenge you, and everyone else here–one by one, what are our Councillors doing wrong? I’d honestly like to know, because if there’s something I’ve missed about a certain Councillor I want to know before I go down to the Civic to cast a ballot.
Wilf, those numbers regarding employment were brought up before and it was suggested that they’re not totally accurate.
Do you know what the average City close to our size has that would require employees. Do most other towns our size have a full theatre, swimming pool, library, etc?
But yea, 161 could very well be correct for Full-time permanent–though it seems like a huge number. Eight part-time permanent employees, though, is simply incorrect.
I’m curious as to whether the only place to find these numbers is from Civic Net, if indeed they got their numbers from a survey done by Prince Rupert herself. The secondary nature of the source might be our issue.
Thanks for the contribution Eccentric and certainly if you have a public source of information that we should consider, by all means make a positive contribution to a fact based discussion on what questions we should be asking our Mayor and Council about the operation of the City. I’ve posted the link to civic net before so that the skeptical can investigate the source themselves civicinfo.bc.ca/81.asp rather than take what I’ve posted as gospel. To quote from that site;
"Local Government Surveys
The Local Government Surveys are administered jointly by CivicInfo BC, the Union of BC Municipalities, and the Local Government Management Association of BC. The surveys collect some general information not found in the Ministry of Community Services statistics, as well as information related to fees and charges, election procedures, staff salaries, staff benefits, and remuneration for elected officials.
Local governments are surveyed for current-year information in the month of February, and results are posted to this website in March. As with the MCS Statistics, the accuracy and reliability of survey results depends on the inputs of local governments.
Most information collected through the surveys is freely available, however information about salaries, benefits, and remuneration can only be found in the “Membersâ€
I would like to know about the money that was given to the city for updating rushbrook trail. It was to be completed in aug.
[quote=“eccentric”]
Apparently you don’t read what I post, but I’ll say one more time. I merely used the left/right comment to prove that when most people on the site lean one way, I end up leaning the other. That’s where it stopped–I never took the left/right idea and applied it to our discussion. [/quote]
I read each of your posts with avid interest - as yours is the only dissenting voice.
Did you read my post? It was an invitation to engage other people, with other perspectives. I am always encouraging folks to check out this site. It is a great way to vet various perspectives and get exposure to (hopefully) a range of opinions.
[quote=“eccentric”]
This is the third or forth time I’ve asked this, but people keep side stepping it. What perspective is Council missing.
I challenge you, and everyone else here–one by one, what are our Councillors doing wrong? I’d honestly like to know, because if there’s something I’ve missed about a certain Councillor I want to know before I go down to the Civic to cast a ballot.[/quote]
If City Hall actually represented the citizens and issues of Prince Rupert - if the Mayor paid half the attention to those as he does to fostering relationships with China and Alaska - the following are a small sample of the issues that would be foremost on their agendas…
- vandalism of downtown merchants
- rampant drug and alcohol abuse (often causing above)
- violent behaviour downtown
- 11 raw sewage outflows into our harbour
- crumbling roads - now with transport trucks moving containers to and from the port
- train whistles at railway crossings that were promised not to disrupt neighbours
- closing schools in the only part of town identified for growth in their OCP
And don’t even START telling me that they don’t have the money to do this stuff - or that it is outside of their jurisdiction. If they actually put their minds to it, they would find ways to get the finances to make it happen - and the lobbying to other levels of government would be loud and relentless. Prince Rupert is becoming a very important link in transportation corridor - and I don’t see them lobbying for overpasses on Highway 16.
Oh - but that is outside their jurisdiction, right? Except it will be Prince Rupert residents on the Northern Health bus waiting for the train(s) to pass before they can finish carrying some poor addict to his detox – in Prince George – 11 hours away by bus.
The Mayor - and by association - his council are so busy trying to convince the province and the country that Prince Rupert is booming that they are completely in denial about the social and physical infrastructure that is beyond ailing.
Want more?
I have never claimed that we need a whole new council - but there is either experience or knowledge lacking on that board. That is a gap that urgently needs filling. Unfortunately, the longer the status quo continues, the worse the situation gets, the less likely that people with solution ideas are going to want to get sucked into the quagmire.
Apparently there are more questions and answers now bubbling to the surface as seen in this article by the CBC.
cbc.ca/canada/british-columb … gated.html
Somehow the mystery surrounding the absence of the Doug Jay memo from the council packages has another possible explanation for the conspiracy theorists out there.
The question I have is what date did the council members receive their FOI packages that were supposedly the ones that were handed out to Janet Beil?
Hmm, that may end up being a wee bit of smoking gun eh, considering the sudden disappearance of Mr. Jay from City Hall…
Shall certainly make things interesting, and while the Mayor may not choose to “stoop” to respond to the letter at this time, we suspect that eventually those points will have to be addressed by the Mayor, council and senior management of the City.
The allegations that the CBC have listed sure paints the picture of a rather dysfunctional and particularly nasty place to work at, that’s for sure. More of a place for bullying it seems rather than the effective handling of the city’s business.
If the allegations that the CBC suggest are proven true, then the entire council will have a real problem on their hands, as they seem to have endorsed the conduct of business there over the last five months or so of this controversial period.
One thing seems certain, this mess is going to end up costing us more I think, whether it’s in settlements or legal fees.
Suddenly that little third party audit of the hiring as requested by council, is going to pale in comparison to the need for a full fledged inquiry into what’s going on around city hall…
Interesting read on the web about the next generation of mobile services that we will see being rolled out over the next decade;
ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/0809 … le_lte_col
mobiletelevisionreport.com/c … tv_report/
The question for the Mayor and Council arising from the implications here would be;
What will the CityWest franchise be worth when the “Last Mile” copper and fibre structure is no longer needed and competitors like Rogers and Telus can broadcast all of their services including tv on demand over their cell networks bypassing the last mile that CityWest has?
Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS) that’s all I have to say…
Too funny!! Unfortunately it’s the citizens of PR that will have the “Black Shakes” once they find out what their telco will be worth without subscribers and an obsolete infrastructure. mmm well the copper sb worth salvaging.
I like citywest, 
I have always had good service from them, But I think Its time for it too go before it sinks our city.
Before I jump ship I would like to know if it makes money or is it in the black?