Machinations and Manipulations

I have another little story to tell.

In 2007,included for the second time in the budget, was replacement of playground equipment in the Harry Seston Park.

Councillor MacEachern stated it was her neighbourhood. Speaking for her neighbours . she said they would be wondering why we were wasting taxpayers money on replacing the equipment.

The $70 thousand item was removed because the Councillor was once again the ultimate authority.

Before the budget was confirmed. two mothers came to Council. They'd been reading about all the wonderful things happening elsewhere in town, like the traffic calming plan in the northeast
quadrant.

That neighbourhood had been identified by the Mayor as " special". They wondered when it would be their turn for consideration. The mothers were very respectful.

They were unaware money had been budgeted several times and removed.

While they were there, Councillor MacEachern challenged the Director of Leisure Services for his statement that none of the playground equipment was dangerous.

He confirmed his advice. None of the equipment is dangerous. The town removes dangerous equipment to ensure no child will be injured by unsafe equipment in a town park.

The item however remained out of the budget.

It was included in 2008. The two mothers were invited to participate in planning and selection of equipment and helped to see the project to completion.

At the end, they came to Council to express profound appreciation for Council's generosity.

They never understood their playground equipment was recommended by staff for replacement and removed by a political decision of Council.

Even while quarter of a million dollars were spent on the traffic calming project in the Mayor's "Special" Heritage neighbourhood .

I believe we even provided a grant for new equipment to a private playground in a co-op housing project that year.

The story illustrates Mormac Political Strategy at it's smoothest, finest and most effective.

Clever ?? Oh Yes .

Calculating?? Undoubtedly so.

Trustworthy??? Not by my standards..

Watching trusting individuals being used that way does little to elevate our public standards.