Year ’06 in Review: Part I; NO – Plan A

Contrary to City council and staff accusations I am neither a naysayer nor a negative person.

It is that I hold myself to a standard of excellence and expect of others a job well done. I cannot abide a half-assed effort such as the one City senior staff and council made on Plan A.

Below is what I demanded that the City do before asking my agreement on their plans and the outcome when another Municipality did the work I demanded of Abbotsford senior staff and council. You judge the outcomes.

I felt it was necessary, that as part of my program of mental health and self-improvement, to reflect upon how I behaved and what I had learned over the past year before setting any goals for 2007. Since Plan A was only a month ago I decided to start my year in review there.

I asked myself if my objections, questions or position on the matter were reasonable since council, senior city staff, people conducting commerce and people laying claim to representing various groups of citizens acted as though it was heretical to question the dictates and decisions delivered to the serfs, I mean taxpayers, from the rulers in their castle, I mean city hall.

What I asked about and wanted the City to provide before I would consider supporting a proposed facility was:

1) I wanted a set of architectural and engineering drawings in order to determine exactly what would be built.
2) I wanted a business plan setting out projected revenues, expenses (all expenses) and deficits. As part of the business plan I wanted to know anticipated users and usage to evaluate how realistic the financial projections were. This would also demonstrate the need for and priority of any facility.
3) For facilities such as an arena I wanted to know who the major tenant would be, permitting the building to be planned to match the actual need and avoid costly overbuilding of the facility. Also avoiding ending up with an expensive white elephant that would be a money devouring black hole.
4) I wanted to explore all possible funding avenues, being ready to adapt and change the building plans to access government $$$. I also wanted to explore private participation in the funding of the projects – whether sponsorship or partnership.
5) I wanted to explore private participation to take advantage of expertise and solid fiscal management practices.

For having the audacity to suggest applying the good governance and financial practices any BCom, Chartered Accountant or businessperson would insist on I, and others of like mind, were vilified as nay saying, negative people. It was asserted none of these actions were needed or would be of any benefit to Abbotsford’s taxpayers and their pocketbooks. During those November days I might have begun to question myself, except that in looking around at those I was standing with – I realized I was onside with the people of reason and intelligent decision making processes.

The questions of heresy and what, if any effect the City having done the homework required to answer my questions would have had looked to go unanswered for years. Then like an early Christmas present, a huge and much appreciated present, Langley made their arena/recreation center announcement.

By doing their homework Langley’s city staff and council will build an arena and recreation center for a net cost of $15 million. Abbotsford’s city staff and council are building an arena and recreation center that will only cost Abbotsford’s taxpayers $75 million. It would appear that Abbotsford’s city staff and council refusal to address my questions and use basic common sense will cost the taxpayer’s an extra $60 million. Chump change, it would seem, to this city staff and council.

You can count an a few things happening in the New Year. Senior city staff and council will have all kinds of excuses for why addressing the questions I and other stopplana.com supporters asked would not have had similar massive savings for Abbotsford’s taxpayers. They will also have excuses for why it was that Abbotsford chased a hockey team out of the City then decided to build an arena, while Langley agreed to build an arena after they had a hockey team – the same one chased out of Abbotsford. You can be sure that they will also have some kind of unsatisfactory explanation that no, the reason they could guarantee the quoted price of $75 million for arena and recreation complex was not that it should only cost the $45 million total that Langley will pay for arena and recreation center. You can count on council and city staff to have many excuses as to why they cannot learn anything from Langley and why re-examining the Abbotsford projects in light of Langley’s behaviour is a “waste of time”. They also can be counted on to insist on rushing ahead while making all kinds of excuses as to why such haste is necessary, that it would only waste time to look for grants and/or private sponsorships or participation.

You can be positive that Langley’s citizens would refuse to trade their senior city staff and council for ours, even if we offered to throw in $50 million. You can also be absolutely certain that even at a cost of $50 million the trade of senior staff and council would be a great deal for the citizens and future of Abbotsford.

Thanks Seven Oaks Alliance

Thank you to the good people at Seven Oaks Alliance church for coming on board for the extreme cold/wet weather plan and giving the plan a much-needed refuge in a more central Abbotsford location.

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you and pass along something I observed today (Friday). One of your Thursday night guests was boasting, perhaps more accurately taunting, the people who were given relief from the freezing cold somewhere other than Seven Oaks. He was going on and on comparing how well Seven Oaks had treated them and what all the people sheltered elsewhere had missed out on. It was humourous but the best thing was the joy in his voice as recited his list of “goodies”.

When last seen Mr. Steven Ross was slipping quietly out the door with thoughts of the need to flee for his life in his head, as a result of his words of praise for Seven Oaks.

So thank you not only for opening your doors but also for the generosity of your treatment of your homeless guests. Even if they do not express it well they are very grateful for you humanitarianism and benevolence. Paean.

When pondering the Imponderable ….

…. depression can take advantage of your inattention.

I made the mistake of not allowing sufficient time to have passed in this New Year before I let my mind wander to consideration of how to change Abbotsford from a community to a community. I should have known better than to let my mind ponder such a seemingly impossible task until the season of despair (aka Christmas season) and its mental booby-traps was long past. I most certainly should have been vigilant enough not to miss taking my medication when contemplating such a potentially depressing undertaking. spirit downward spins/ screaming fading lost quiet/ despair triumphant.

The truly disheartening part of all this is that the widespread reaction on the part of the inhabitants of Abbotsford to reading “change … a community to a community” will be HUH? That’s stupid: a community is a community, is a community.

Untrue. A community is merely a happenstance involving a group of people, usually being in the same spot or area to which we apply a label such as, in the case of Abbotsford, a city. On the hand other a community is much more spiritual in nature involving as it does concepts such as fellowship, connection, empathy, helping, even kinship.

In Abbotsford this is further complicated by the practice inhabitants have of getting together to form cliques. This results in a turning away, a turning ones back on, those who do not belong to the closed circle. Next-door neighbours, if they are not a member, seemingly have no real relevance to clique members.

This past year has resulted in my having connections across several of these groups. With their inward focus these groups, even in areas of mutual concern, do not play well together. Collaboration is necessary to address the needs of our neighbours since the scale of the need has become so large as to require all of us to resolve. The thought of liaising in such a manner as to get them to work together as part of a team is intimidating.

It is even more nerve-racking to consider weaving a web to connect all the city’s differing groups together so that, by tweaking the web, you can center their attention on a vision compelling enough it is capable of drawing all the varied groups within Abbotsford together in such a way as to give rise to a community is.

Contemplating conceiving such a vision is, to say the least, daunting. So daunting that it hovers on being overwhelming. Which is why I definitely should have waited until the bleakness that this season holds for me was solidly behind me. Because part of being able conceive of that inspiring vision is also being able to see the human toll that will be paid in 2007, and the years beyond, if Abbotsford does not achieve the change from merely a community of geographic coincidence to a community with spirit, heart, a soul.

Just who is it that is responsible for turning off the Christmas Spirit, for throwing the Switch from ON to OFF?

On Christmas Day less than half of the clients at the Abbotsford Emergency Shelter wanted even a small plate of food and the Shelter itself was just over half full. The free breakfast and turkey dinners around town this Christmas Day had them all as stuffed as the turkeys they had consumed. During the previous two – three weeks there was an abundance of meals, food and care packages for the poor, hungry and homeless.

On December 26th the switch was thrown, the Spirit turned off for another year and greed was out in full force prowling the Boxing Day Sales. And the Shelter was again full of the homeless who were once more cold, hungry and unwanted.

This is written on New Years Day in a Shelter overfull with clients who have devoured every crumb to be found. What a difference a week makes. They face the bleak cold hungry days of January and a year lacking the promise of anything better. With the upcoming year holding out to me the promise of challenges to be met and things that need accomplishing I cannot help but ponder the Christmas Spirit Switch.

This Switch is why the Abbotsford Food Bank and other such charities work so hard and long at raising funds through donations during the Christmas Spirit Season. They HAVE to raise the majority of their yearly operating budgets during this short yearly outpouring of the Christmas Spirit. Because once the Switch is OFF, getting donations is an uphill battle against the inertia of indifference.

Of course the answer to the question about the Switch is that we are each responsible for our own Christmas Switch and turning OFF our Spirit. I have resolved for the New Year to try to keep my Spirit Switch in the caring/helping/giving position, even when some members of the homeless community have me contemplating homicide.

We each get to choose whether the Spirit of this season if OFF until next year’s Christmas season or stays ON in the caring/helping/giving position throughout the entire year. Take a moment to ponder your Switch and whether your Spirit will be ON or OFF during this New Year. It is Your Choice.

Attracting is about Attitude.

I saw in the Tuesday December 26th News that Mr. Raymond Szabada wants to attract high-tech to the Fraser Valley and possibly Abbotsford. Which I think is an excellent idea for Abbotsford and that Abbotsford has several large advantages to offer. A growing international airport, a few minutes travel time from a US border crossing, straddles the Trans-Canada Highway, available industrial land and Greater Vancouver just down the road.

Unfortunately for the citizens of Abbotsford, their tax bills and the City’s future the City lacks a major requirement – city staff and council to work with who are innovative, flexible, future oriented and willing to put in the hard work necessary to attract highly desirable industries with high-paying employment. This is why we currently suffer the phenomena of businesses bypassing Abbotsford on down the highway or across the Fraser River. Fortunately for Mr. Szabada he also plans to work with Chilliwack and Mission, two cities who have benefited from Abbotsford’s anti-business behaviour while demonstrating their ability and desire to attract good industries and their well paying jobs.

Despite Moe Gill’s enthusiastic support Mr. Szabada stands an excellent chance of running into the same situation I have when enquiring about why the City is not working to attract certain businesses with their well paying jobs and excellent tax base potential: a long, long, long list of why nots, can’t dos and an attitude of discouragement.

I do wish Mr. Szabada the best of luck. After all when the City could not seem to get their act together enough to put in place a life saving extreme weather strategy a group of citizens got together and had one in place in time for our November deep-freeze. For the citizens of Abbotsford one can only hope that Mr. Szabada and his group are hugely successful – notwithstanding city staff and council behaviour and attitudes.

Of course the need for Mr. Szabada and his group does cause me to wonder why and for what we pay Mr. Teiehroeb and his entire heavily staffed development department. But then in light of their ill-considered plans to rashly rush to overpay $60,000,000.00 for arena and recreation center I suppose that a few hundred thousand (millions?) of dollars is a petty waste and should be of no concern to taxpayers.