The Pretzel Performance

I heard  something horrifying yasterday.  Grossly unjust. I can't believe it happened in our  town.

Last night I asked for an item to be added to the in -camera agenda and it was. 

I   am responsible to protect the privacy of the individual so I can't provide details. But I also needed 
to double check the facts.

Surprisingly that  proved to be problematic. Asking for the facts might be perceived as "micro-managing"

Perish that thought. 

The  job of a twenty-sixyear employee    with an unblemished record  is said to have been wiped out 
and taken away in re-organising  for the customer service plan. 

"Isn't that what you wanted ...for jobs to be reduced" I was asked.

I ended up swearing at a Councillor.

He asked "What do you want us to do?  Storm  the Bastille. ?"

"Damned  right" I said. "  and I will storm the F...... Bastille if I  something  so f.....unfair  is going on"

When I calmed down, I thought  about  their reaction.

The administration is the Bastille?    A No Go for Councillors?

The role of Councillor is nothing more than social convener.

Concerts, Sports Hall of  Fame, entertaining the crowd ,building a teen centre  and financing high -brow culture  with hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.

When  told the poor were rioting because they had no bread, Marie Antoinette said:
"Let them eat cake"

The old  bait  and switcheroo technique at work here . Now he's for it then he's not. With luck, if  someone tries to recall which side he was on,  they can easily be convinced he was  always on the side of the angels.   Whichever that happened to be.

BTW I haven't finished with the Level of Services study yet.

The  consultants  deemed recreation programs discretionary".  They could be eliminated to save money.

Budget  for recreation programs is $5 million.

Revenues recovered is $5 million.

Even  Steven

No other municipality recovers costs as we do. And it's not all in user fees. Staff  actively solicit sponsorships from  local business to keep costs down.

There's irony for you  Recreation staff ask tax paying employers to contribute to  programs for families . And they do so generously.

Then politicians put their hands into the same pockets and take  money to  hand over to private operations.

 Council is currently contemplating delineating an area of  downtown to be eligible for grants and loans to spruce up their properties. The  largesse  to come out of taxpayers pockets.

The idea came from  the back room boys.

You don't know who they are.

If I told you, you still wouldn't know.