Okay, it's a bit (or a lot) pedantic, but the Ottawa city budget, currently in the agonizing throes of council approval, is driving me crazy.Our recently elected mayor, Larry O'Brien (or Mayor Larry, as he's sometimes called) promised if elected to balance the city books with absolutely no tax increases while guaranteeing no reduction in services. Umm, I'm no economist, but...
His budget proposal seems improbable if not impossible in reality, and the idea that an already cash-strapped set of services could continue to be offered without even a meager a cash infusion in line with inflation is ridiculous. It's citizens who will pay the difference through semi-hidden service fees and stealth taxes, like a proposed increase in transit fares to the tune of 9.5% (just over five times the rate of inflation), and the gutting of parks and rec maintenance budgets along with a reduction in law enforcement capacity. All this because an unelected candidate made a badly researched and irresponsible promise in order to win an election.
The downtown wards, those that stand to lose most in all of this, virtually shut out Mayor Larry, while the affluent suburbs who could quite easily afford the needed increase, enthusiastically voted for O'Brien, public good be damned.
No matter what happens, Ottawa is going to suffer for the sake of one's man's political pride/hubris, and pay a high price when the city starts to fall to pieces because of a new culture of chronic underfunding being led from the top down.
The man has never held any public office, had never attended a council meeting before running for mayor, and rode into power on the strength of his experience implementing "21st Century management practices" (whatever that means). Oh, and the mayor can't stop wearing his ceremonial chains absolutely everywhere he goes. Dark times...
1 comment:
This is the first time I've seen Mayor Larry's photo. I once met a man who looked very much like Mayor Larry, and he was not a kind man.
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