Hmmm

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

Leave a comment

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.

Municipal

Attracting is about Attitude.

Leave a comment

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.

Municipal

Might as well just burn the money.

Leave a comment

No wonder the City of Abbotsford is always claiming to have NO MONEY to invest in reducing poverty, homelessness, addiction and other pressing social issues. When you like to waste money in $60,000,000.00 chunks, you would tend to find yourself a little short of cash.

They will have lots of excuses, which they will call explanations or reasons, why Abbotsford paying $75 million when Langley is only paying $15 million does not mean Abbotsford is overpaying by $60,000,000.00. Although why they believe and expect taxpayers to believe paying $75 million for what someone else pays $15 million isn’t overpaying …

With just 25% of what they have chosen to overpay we could build the social housing facilities and fund programs to make serious inroads on poverty reduction, homelessness, addiction and affordable housing. Even a paltry (to City staff and council) 10% would fund innovative new approaches to addressing these stubborn issues. It would also provide funds to enable groups within the City to put together applications for monies available from more senior levels of government.

Funding is needed by these groups due to the fact it takes a great deal of paperwork to write up such applications – a very time consuming process when relying on volunteers. It seems that searching for and submitting grant applications is too much work for taxpayers to expect city staff and council to do so. Which may explains why senior city staff felt they deserved big salary bonuses for working during the strike they provoked last summer?

It does cause me to wonder how many thousands (hundreds of thousands, millions?) could be saved every year on the City’s yearly budget through responsible fiscal, grant and management practices? Such sound practices would appear too much work for city managers and council to bother doing in an effort to leave a few extra dollars in taxpayer’s pockets. Now if it were their own pockets …

When I consider how much good could be accomplished in 2007 with a fraction of the money City staff and council are in such a headlong rush to throw away, I am left wondering if I had better get my doctor to double or triple my prescribed antidepressants.