Are you a woman who’s ever been raped? Are you somebody who has ever been otherwise physically assaulted? Are you elderly and afraid to walk the streets past dusk? Are you a parent who worries about the safety of your children after they leave your house? If so, this post is for you…
“The Municipal Council of the Corporation of the City of London has selected the Ombudsman of Ontario as the closed meeting investigator pursuant to section 239.1(b) of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended. Requests for an investigation of whether the municipality or local board has complied with section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended or a procedure by-law under subsection 238(2) in respect of a meeting that was closed to the public are to be submitted directly to the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario, Bell Trinity Square, 483 Bay Street, 10th Floor, South Tower., Toronto, ON M5G 2C9. Further information is available at the Ombudsman of Ontario website.”
Despite the fact that I have frequently suggested to members of Council that there needs to be an Ombudsman for citizens to appeal to, and despite the fact that I referred to that when I appeared before the Governance Task Force, and despite the fact that I have also suggested that interested citizens ought to be able to subscribe to topics of interest (via RSS feeds, listserve, etc), not much progress has happened. I only just stumbled across this announcement on the City of London website by accident, while looking for something totally unrelated. And a quick investigation shows that there was no mention of it in any media release (that are posted on the city website).
Given that fact, and the previous communication that I received from the Ombudsman’s office, I’ve decided to make an inquiry about something that’s been gnawing at me for some time…
Do the kind of practices employed by the Corporation of the City of London and which I’ve complained about, effectively constitute a ‘closed door’? Things like:
It will be interesting to see if the Ombudsman’s office is willing to investigate and, if so, whether or not they agree with me.
According to Paul Berton’s latest advertorial, “We’re redesigning the print version of The London Free Press…with a focus on local news.” *cough*
The LTC has been developing a ‘Long Term Transit Growth Plan‘ since mid-2006, and there’s been at least some involvement by the city’s Engineering and Environmental Services staff and by it’s Planning and Development staff. But what about the LTC’s actual users?
Just down the road, the TTC actually asked Torontonians this past Fall just what kind of TTC they wanted — “for today, and for the future.” They distributed a survey to their users over a 2-week period, and they went ‘all out’ in the attempt to get as much feedback as they could. Even though the survey was available “online, on buses, on streetcars, and on the subway,” it was also handed out “in stations, malls, and other public places.”
At its 2007/03/21 meeting, the TTC endorsed the Toronto Transit City Light Rail Plan as the basis and priority for rapid transit expansion in the City of Toronto. The plan describes “a new rapid transit vision for the City of Toronto, entailing the implementation of seven new light rail lines which would bring fast, reliable, environmentally-sustainable light rail transit to parts of Toronto which do not have it now and, in so doing, would introduce a broad, interconnected network of rapid transit throughout Toronto.” And 2007/06/15, the Province of Ontario announced the ‘MoveOntario 2020’ funding program which “includes funding for all of the light rail lines in the Transit City Light Rail Plan.”
Links:
TTC: Building a Transit City
TTC Reports
‘Transit City’ website
LTC: Defining the Future
Paul Berton over at the London Free Press likes to harp about the professionalism of his industry and to make aspersions about citizen journalism, but I think the fact is he’s scared. Scared that his shrunken workforce is no longer capable of turning out a quality NEWSpaper, and scared that the local online community is rapidly evolving into a force that can.
So, what’s up with the library lately? What secretive operational decision has reduced the library functionality and usefulness to those of us who pay for it? And apparently, without any political oversight?
If you read my recent LTC Bedtime Story then you already know that I’d much sooner see Larry Ducharme increase the frequency of all buses than spend millions on a couple of BRT routes. Well, Toronto seems to be clueing into the fact that the most unenjoyable thing about public transit is the waiting time.
“If you want to move people into the transit system, you have to provide frequency at a fare that is reasonable.” Bernie Magnan Chief economist; Vancouver Board of Trade |
They’re trumpeting it as “the most significant TTC service improvement in recent history”. 02
I will, of course, draw this post to Mr. Ducharme’s attention. He and other members of the LTC Board are always welcome to leave comments and/or submit articles if they wish to do so. But based upon past experience, I don’t believe that the odds of getting any kind of response are very high.
Sources:
01. 2008/02/14 – Transit Toronto: TTC makes major service changes…
02. 2008/02/14 – Transit Toronto: TTC makes major service changes…
Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Diane Finley, announced on Tuesday that Russ Monteith has been appointed as a citizenship judge for a 3-year, part-time term.
 |
 Pigs at the Trough |
Notwithstanding the fact that the election writ hasn’t been dropped and this is therefore legal, I find it distasteful that London-Fanshawe Liberal MPP Khalil Ramal’s office just sent out a full-colour glossy 5.5″ x 8.5″ PR postcard.
The justification from politicians for these things (and politicians of EVERY political stripe do it) is that it’s to keep their constituents updated about what’s going on. But, come on… how informative are they, ever? Truth is, these things are mainly taxpayer-funded PR pieces. The intent is to raise the politician’s name recognition, the biggest single factor in electoral success.
What I find most objectionable about this mailout, is the attempt to portray Ramal as somebody who is responsive to his constituents because he was “moved” by a purportedly oxycontin-influenced double-suicide and thereafter “introduced a private member’s bill to monitor the prescription of drugs like this one.”
Tugs at your heart strings, doesn’t it? I’m sure that it’s meant to.
Well, I’m another one of Ramal’s constituents. How responsive has he been to me?
To begin with, he didn’t demonstrate any respect for my democratic rights when I tried to contest the last municipal election and ran into a roadblock by ODSP and asked him for assistance. Apparently, that didn’t bother him at all.
Ask yourself this question… If Mr. Ramal doesn’t have any respect for the democratic rights of other citizens (and the right to participate in the democratic process is about as fundamental as it gets), then does Mr. Ramal have any moral right to hold public office himself?
Another example. I’ve been very active trying to promote pedestrian rights and speaking out about pedestrian safety issues. I was instrumental in having London police do a study about the intersection at Commissioners/Pond Mills, which is in the riding that Mr. Ramal represents. It’s one of those “channelized” intersections which are becoming increasingly popular with city engineers, and they’re characterized by rounded corners and pedestrian “islands.” In the study, London police confirm that this design is dangerous to pedestrians. Has Mr. Ramal shown any concern about this? Has he discussed the situation with the city? According to my recent Freedom of Information appeal, the answer is NO. Has he responded to me? The answer is NO.
I’ll give him credit for this though… he doesn’t seem to miss very many photo op’s.
Links:
pedestrian safety
http://www.londontopic.ca/article.php?artid=4798
http://www.altlondon.org/article.php?story=20070904084207978
According to this CBC News investigation, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley is attempting to downplay the number of Canadians who have already been stripped of their citizenship over the past 7 years because of obscure sections of the country`s 1947 Citizenship Act. And CBC estimates that there may be more than 200,000 current Canadians who are also at risk of losing their citizenship.
| “I am entitled to my entitlements.” | |
| – David Dingwall |
In today’s paper (“Politicians entitled to their entitlements?”; Victoria Stirling (London); LFP “Letters”; 2006/10/07), a local citizen muses aloud about the financial gulf between politicians and many of the rest of us.
I have long suggested that the salaries of politicians at all levels of government should be directly tied to the minimum wage, or to what those who are on welfare receive. Perhaps then, the politicians would be more cognizant of the plight of those that they profess to serve, as opposed to their own “entitlements.”
As part of my Ward 1 Municipal Campaign, I’ve promised that if elected I will attempt to have bylaw A-9 (which covers salaries and expenses for members of Council) modified in that manner.
miniBookExpo
