Politics-Ottawa

Ottawa City Staff Heading To Spain?

Mulder

I don’t normally criticize Jan Harder much. She is one of the Ottawa City Councillors that, typically, is on the ball when it comes to what is right or wrong. And I was pleased to hear that she was cleared of issues surrounding inappropriate aid to her daughter’s campaign. Today, Susan Sherring is reporting on an upcoming trip to Spain for four city employees, including Harder.

And why are they heading to Spain? To see an operational Plasma Waste Conversion facility in Castellgali in light of the Plasco pilot program going into the Trail Rd. Waste Facility in Harder’s riding.

Now I am all for PGP or (plasma gasification processes) that convert biomass to burnable gases which are then used to create electricity, but this is an unwarranted and not necessary.

At the end of the month, Kirkpatrick, Harder, acting deputy city manager Richard Hewitt and director of utility services Ken Brothers will go to Spain on Plasco’s dime. Plasco Energy Group, owned by Rod Bryden, has inked a contract with the City of Ottawa for a pilot plasma waste conversion project at the Trail Rd. facility The Spanish plant located in Castellgali is owned by Plasco, and operated by HERA Holdings, in which Plasco has a 40% share. The four leave on Feb. 25 and return to the nation’s capital on March 4.

Why would four senior level city employees head off to Spain for a week to view a facility we will have a pilot program for locally? The deal for the pilot facility has already been inked? Why not just drive a few miles down the road once it is built and see how it is going?

Don’t mistake my disdain for this trip as some slight against Rob Bryden. On the contrary, I think he has been an exceptional businessman in the city and built up some of the most interesting, socially responsible organizations. But I do question public servants, (and that’s just what these four nation hoppers are) with inappropriately accepting gifts/donations which they cannot reciprocate. This is the rule for our City employees.

Now, the only ways this trip could be done would be to say either 1) yes we can reciprocate, which puts us on the hook for carting four businessmen around the world, or 2) having the city pay it’s own expenses, which defeats the purpose and was already discounted as a reasonable expenditure above.

Munter Gives Kilrea A Valentine's Day Gift

Mulder

It may be 9 months before the municipal elections here in Ottawa, but the polls are already starting up.

An informal poll on the Ottawa Sun website today already is showing the Munter effect.

At the time of this post, there were 384 respondents with Terry Kilrea being favoured by 33% of them. But the left wing vote (47%) is split between Munter (27%) and current Mayor Bob Chiarelli (10%).

Munter’s impact will be much more quick and painful than the left can imagine. If the right can keep Walter Robinson from running, Kilrea has a real shot at dethroning the two term Mayor.

I will update this post again later when there are more respondents.

Wait 30 Minutes After Eating Before Reading This…

Mulder

…Because you are about to go off the deep-end.

Randall Denley in the Ottawa Citizen is reporting about $2.3 Million being spent on a boat transport system to haul boats around the Chat’s Falls at Fitzroy Harbour. For those who aren’t sure what I mean, a boat transport system they are talking about would entail hauling a boat out of the water on one side, and driving it up past the falls and dropping it in on the other side. (or vice versa). i.e. a couple of boat launches and a transport. The cost to the boater? $50 per trip and 24 hours notice.

The Municipality put in $350,000 and the rest was put up by the Province, the Federal Government and Ontario Power Generation.

The service would be in effect from June to September. There are several of these types of services up river and last year the total count of boats hauled in the whole system was a whopping 233 boats.

The net benefit to boaters? 50 extra km of river upstream when there are 500km of river open to them already.

How officially screwed are we taxpayers getting on this one? I would love to know who has cottages on the land which they build the two boat launches.

$10,000 Study Calls For More Study – How Screwed Can You Get?

Mulder

Susan Sherring’s article in the Ottawa Sun today tells us about a consultant’s report on the delivery of French language recreational and leisure services. The report’s content?

Services are not meeting the needs of the francophone community. So what is the result?

Let’s start with setting up a task force, establishing a “work unit” responsible for planning recreational and leisure services in French, developing a five-year operational plan for the delivery of recreational and leisure programs responding to the needs of the francophone population, and for the city to “analyze all services offered by the parks and recreation branch.”

Bureaucratic blabber — and it cost taxpayers $10,000.

A task force made up of representatives from the city and interested parties in the community?

Isn’t that what the French Language Services Advisory Committee is for? This seems like nothing more than throwing good money after bad

What’s that? The French Language Services Advisory Committee? What’s this? Well the City Of Ottawa website says the following:

Mandate

The mandate of the French Language Services Advisory Committee is to provide advice to Ottawa City Council and its Departments, on issues that impact official languages in the City.

Responsibilities

The French Language Services Advisory Committee shall be responsible for:

* Providing a forum for citizens to raise issues and concerns;
* Providing advice and guidance to Ottawa City Council, through the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee, on matters pertaining to policies, programs and practices involving the use of official languages and services in the City;
* Reviewing the policies and procedures governing the use of the French language in City of Ottawa material and dissemination of such information to residents;
* Advising on appropriate policies and procedures on services provided in French;
* Reviewing and commenting on policies such as language training, or translation.
* Evaluating the provision of services in English and in French in the City and report as necessary through the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee to Council.

(emphasis added by me)

So we already have an advisory committee tasked to do exactly what we just paid $10,000 for. We also have an advisory committee that should be doing what this task force is going to do, which would cost us nothing.

At least one councillor is on board with me here.

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Georges Bedard dismissed the report, suggesting it doesn’t advance the issue at all and does nothing to deal with the heart of the issue.

“It’s very disappointing, it doesn’t give us any practical solutions to the problem. In actuality, they should be making some firm recommendations. It has basic motherhood statements, like we should be respecting bilingualism,” Bedard said.

The report suggests the rate of registration by Francophones in programs offered in French “is disappointing, leading even the city to wonder if Francophones are interested in these activities.

I have a big suggestion. Quit cutting services, and start cutting consulting fees. Take the savings, and as a council, investigate one service or item at a time, and fix it. Then move on to the next item. How’s that for some common sense.

Our city council starts up the hot water and soap for the dishes, then runs off to clean the bathroom (no reference intended) and by the time they come back to the dishes, the water is tepid and suds are gone.

When you leave people like these consultants unattended, you get what you pay for. In this case nothing. This is not the fault of the consultant. It is the fault of a city council not vigilant enough with our tax dollars.

Facts About The New Footbridge Over The Rideau Canal

Mulder

If you live in Ottawa, by now you may have heard about the new 5+ Million dollar bridge being erected over the Rideau Canal at the end of Somerset. The bridge is already under construction, but rumour has it, the price tag will be more than expected.

It may be too late now to stop the construction, but for posterity, I thought I would do my own analysis.

(click to enlarge)
The nearest bridge to the new footbridge heading north along the Rideau is the Laurier bridge. As you can see from the image (click to enlarge), the distance one way from the location of the Rideau footbridge to the Laurier bridge is 0.4 Miles, which makes a round trip at it’s longest point 0.8 Miles.

(click to enlarge)
The nearest bridge heading south from the location of the footbridge is the Hawthorne Ave. bridge which is 0.6 Miles one way. This means the worst case scenario for walking is 1.2 miles.

Lowell Green and his listeners are pretty livid about this bridge and its’ cost. And it seems that there is now a push to make the bridge a “toll” bridge with some kind of turnstiles and tokens or monthly passes. Not a bad idea. Considering the cost may run as high as $10 Million dollars by the time it is complete, at least this would help with the overrun. When the total cost of the bridge is recuperated, the proceeds could then be given to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. When all those who petitioned to reduce their walking and have this bridge built get older, many are going to have wished they had chosen the excercise.

A Lazy Sunday Searching A Lazy Site

Mulder

Today was a lazy Sunday for me. Some light reading online….my daughter had two separate 2 hour stretches of gymnastics and my son had Taekwondo and we did our usual Sunday dinner out. This has gotten to be a family ritual. We alternate weeks picking restaurants. This week my wife chose. The remaining three family members (in this case, Cookie, T-Bone and myself) each scribble down on a piece of paper their guess as to what restaurant will be chosen. Then when we get in the car, we play hangman with the restaurant picker playing host. Once we figure out what the restaurant is, we open up our scraps to see if anyone got it right. I think today was the second time ever someone got it right. T-Bone guessed Jack Astor’s and that’s where my wife chose.

Anyway, aside from that I have been online sporadically looking at the City of Ottawa website, trying to see what kind of information I could gleen regarding this foot bridge they are building over the Rideau. I found a few scraps, but I must say this. The City Of Ottawa website is up to date, but impossible to really find anything specific. Am I missing something?

If anyone has any tips, I would love to hear them.

p.s. Ottawa Blogger gathering will be happening. I will have details online in the next day or two.

Ottawa Ex-Councillor Looks To Split The Left Wing Vote

Mulder

Living in Ottawa, I can say that we have been under the mayorship of Bob Chiarelli, a known Liberal supporter, for far too long.

Ex-Councillor Alex Munter, well known to be left of center in his political views is one of the names being bantered around as a Mayoral candidate when the municipality goes to the polls later this year.

Via: The Ottawa Sun

The municipal election might still be 10 months away, but it seems some city councillors are already getting ready to rumble.

While former councillor Alex Munter might not yet be a declared candidate in the race for mayor, he’s already finding solid support around the council table.

To date, just two councillors are ready to publicly declare their support — Bay Coun. Alex Cullen and Kanata Coun.. Peggy Feltmate.

“I think it’s time for some debate,” Feltmate said of her support for Munter, support which isn’t surprising given that the two are both from Kanata and Munter lent plenty of support during her campaign in 2003.

“He’s been my mentor,” Feltmate said.

This has me nervous. Peggy Feltmate is the councillor for MY ward. I know she is a diligent, hardworking councillor, but I disagree with many of the ways she has voted in council. Of note, the $10,000 expenditure on “Crack Pipe Kits” to help reduce the spread of hepatitis, and the building of a walking bridge over the Rideau Canal to give students quicker access to the bars on Elgin Street. Yesterday, on CFRA the topic of the overrun on this bridge was discussed. Estimates are that the cost will exceed $8 Million and possibly reach $10 Million. The bridge is under construction now and there is talk of charging a toll or providing a token based turnstile system or monthly passes to pay for the cost of operation, graffiti cleaning, and construction.

Cullen said any suggestion that Munter is putting together a slate or party of candidates is just nonsense.

“Munter is too smart for that,” he said.

Cumberland Coun. Rob Jellett said it’s difficult to talk about whom he might support for mayor when so few candidates have registered.

To date, only Mayor Bob Chiarelli, Terry Kilrea and Don Rivington have officially registered.

I see this as a bonus for Terry Kilrea, the “conservative” minded politician who was a runner up to Mayor Bob last time around. The popularity of Munter among Ottawa residents would take a big chunk of votes out of Bob Chiarelli’s vote total should Munter choose to run.

Since leaving council, Munter has taken on a role as political science professor and still appears to speak regularly on the various local television and radio programs as an municipal political analyst.