How do you rate this city council with the previous one?
by Andy Wolff Sunday, May. 29, 2005 at 6:08 AM

I’ve attended a number of council and ward meetings, since this new council was elected. I’ve grown to respect some councillors, while others confirmed my doubts about them.

Present council tends to make decisions based on what administration tells them, rather than use administration to provide information as a basis of making a sound decision. Also, our present council has a block of seven to ten councillors, voting the same way on every issue. There were two factions in previous city council with about five councilors somewhere in the middle. Which scenario provides a better setting for democracy to work? A like-minded council? Or one that is on opposite ends of the spectrum? Is in fighting a bad thing?
Present council has a STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN. I looked at how it was progressing and tried to find any tangibles to what they are planning to how it affects what I actually see around me. What I see are more ongoing plans, implementations and studies, with no physical results as of yet. For instance, the “Economic Development Plan & Implementation Strategy” just has “Implementation ongoing”. Has there been additional employment created as a result of this? Do any of these things tie into whether or not the elections issues were addressed? Will this PLAN make a difference for the better or worse?

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