I admit it came as no surprise to read about Abbotsford having problems with the contract and installation of the all-weather soccer fields.

Sadly, it would only surprise me if the city managed such a project without mishap and with sound management practices. Given the current council and city management, successful implementation and installation of any capital project and contract seems pretty much a Forlorn Hope.

What is of concern to me about mismanagement of the soccer fields, in contrast to the last fumbling mismanagement exercise, is the possible consequences.

Award a pool construction contract to a company who has never built a pool and you get the Centennial Pool debacle. Worst comes to worst you only have a leaky pool – and the high costs of repair. Athletes and other users are in contact with the water, not the pool structure itself.

With an all weather soccer field the athletes and other users are in direct contact with the playing surface, the structure, of the field. An artificial surface over artificial support materials, on a foundation/base prepared to provide proper support for the field.

These different layers need to be installed and bonded securely, safely and above all properly. Which is why you schedule the installation for a time of year were you could expect good, dry weather and want to have the installation done by a crew experienced in the installation of these types of materials.

Not during the cold, rainy weather of our local winter. Not with inexperienced labourers.

Because if the installation is not done RIGHT you have an increased, significantly increased, probability of the field itself causing serious or crippling injuries to the citizens of Abbotsford and visiting teams using the fields.

The question of increased risk to the safety of those using the field is what is of primary concern to me. I can live with the usual ineffective, wasteful and costly management by council and staff – as long as the safety of those using the field is not negatively affected.

Not just because of the potential for costly lawsuits, but because citizens have a right to expect the City to provide playing surfaces that are well constructed and safe for citizens and their children.

So I want to know what has council and staff done to ensure proper and safe installation?

I ‘m sickened by the damage and misery that result from the Abbotsford Salvation Army and its PR machine constantly harking upon how successful its outreach program is in housing the homeless. It present s a false and misleading picture of what is happening on the homeless front in Abbotsford, allowing “leadership” in Abbotsford to avoid taking action by citing non-existent “real results”.

The outreach program at the Salvation Army is more about generating good-looking numbers to ensure more funding than it is about generating lasting, positive results to help the homeless to move off the streets.

The public would be shocked and dismayed at the facts an independent audit of the 180 people claimed by the Salvation Army as housed. Of course, that is using my definition of what I would mean by housed: they remain in housing and off the streets at the time you claim them as being housed successfully.

This would mean that those on the list who lasted only days, weeks, until the end of the month or a month or two before ending back up on the streets would not count as successful – although they are counted “successful” in the Salvation Army’s books. It would also mean the Salvation Army could only count an individual once – not every time their outreach “successfully” placed them in housing.

Such an audit would reduce the number of “successful” outcomes in housing the homeless to a number that would not even require removing your shoes to have enough digits to total those still housed and off the streets.

Public awareness of the truth will deny city council and other community leaders false “results” to hide behind, forcing them to face reality and act. One can only hope that public scrutiny would force the Salvation Army to change focus from good-looking numbers and PR to reality-based positive outcomes and results.

Until public awareness of the facts behind the claims of “real results” occurs I can only shake my head and remember the words of Franklin D, Roosevelt “Repetition does not transform a lie into truth.”