Monthly Archives: March 2007

Municipal

But Abbotsford City Hall is SPECIAL! at least in their own minds.

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It is behaviour such as Abbotsford City Hall’s action on the Old Spaghetti Factory application that leaves thinking people shaking their heads.

I expect that something will be worked out and that we will get an Old Spaghetti Factory in that location. I also expect that the business people who had the misfortune to find themselves dealing with Abbotsford City Hall will be telling other potential investors that they DO NOT want to do business in Abbotsford; that you want to drive on by Abbotsford if you are looking to do or open a business simply because dealing with Abbotsford City Hall is a time wasting, irrational pain in the a*s.

Perhaps there are some parking issues but… we are not talking about building a NEW Old Spaghetti Factory, we are speaking of putting a restaurant into an existing building that housed … a restaurant. That is correct: they are proposing to put a restaurant into a location that previously housed an approved restaurant, same location, the very same building. Understandably someone looking to put in an Old Spaghetti Factory would choose a location that previously contained a restaurant and expect no problems.

I do not care if there are some minor parking issues (if they were not reasonably minor the project would be dead). Abbotsford City Hall approved putting a restaurant in that location originally; it is unreasonable, unpredictable behaviour to suddenly question the suitability of this location for a restaurant. And Abbotsford City Hall wonders why rational, intelligent people do not want to do business in the City.

Personally I think the people behind the proposal should have told Abbotsford City Hall that there was no problem. There is a city bus route servicing that location and customers can park at Seven Oaks Mall and take transit to and from the Old Spaghetti Factory.

What I, potential investors, business people and any reasonable human being what to know is why there is such a difference in the rules for businesses, citizens etc and Abbotsford City Hall. A shortage of half a parking space can scuttle a proposal for others, but Abbotsford City Hall can be short thousands of parking spaces and create traffic chaos and all is fine. Is this the kind of behaviour you want in people you do business with? If Abbotsford City Hall wants to see why people and businesses drive on by and avoid the City – just look in any mirror.

Homeless

7PM Executioner

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I have developed a severe dislike for 7PM: zero hour at the shelter, the point in time where those waiting on the seven o’clock rule for whom there is a bed available get in and you tell those for whom there is no room that they must leave and you close the gates. At which point you get to tell anyone who comes that there is no room and that there is nowhere else in Abbotsford, not even a barn, to find shelter in.

In a job that is by its nature stressful, counting down that first hour to zero has taken the stress to a whole new level. The bell tolls 7 and you become Ming the Merciless, at this time of the year often sending the surfeit off into the rain. On those very rare nights where the shelter does not fill up until after 7PM the lifting of the burden of sending people away at 7 results in a feeling of profound relief, of almost being on holiday.

With the flood of new homeless inundating the shelter these days those rare occasions of relief are to be treasured, for they are scarce and threatened with extinction. It is no longer unusual to turn away a dozen people because there is no room at this “inn”. In fact in the last couple of weeks we have twice narrowly missed (by one) turning away more people than we can accommodate when full.

I wish my words could convey what it feels like night after night to say no, in effect saying: get your hungry ass back out into the rain and the night. To see and record the numbers as the situation worsens. They are far from saints, many of them there as a consequence of bad choices and/or stupidity, but just as many are there because of mental illness, the personal challenges they face and a growing segment who is there as a result of the poverty entrenched in society by our current social and economic policies.

I could, have and will again in future list solid, materialistic, self-centered, it is all about me reasons that people should be demanding those they have chosen to represent them address these growing social issues. But not here and now as this is about feelings.

NO, this is not about “those type of people” except indirectly. It is about us and what our inaction, our complacency on these issues says about US. Those who claim “I am not responsible…” are either lying to themselves (something we all do to varying degrees), lacking in spirit or lacking in substance – that is to say: shallow. We are all responsible for the outcomes of our actions or inactions.

The current society we decry so loudly as uncaring and cold did not just spring into existence. This society is the one we have built using the building blocks of our deeds, our refusals to act and our evasions of engagement. One of those building blocks is that there are so many people I have to turn away at 7PM. We are capable of addressing this and similar issues, of building the society we claim to want – If we choose.

It is about our choices, about the fact that a significant portion of what I feel at 7PM is despair with and disgust for our so-called Society.

Municipal

Spectrum: $5,000 for what?

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So we are paying Spectrum $5,000 a month, a fee soon to increase by 50%, for their “expertise”. This would be the same “expertise” that produced the debacle at the ECHL all-star game? I am sure the ECHL was impressed by the lack of preparation and knowledge displayed by City representatives travelling on the taxpayer’s credit card.

Given Abbotsford City Hall’s track record I fail to understand why they had to pay for Spectrum’s “expertise” to appear of questionable intelligence. With brilliant moves such as their behaviour/failure on the Provincial funding front, Abbotsford City Hall is clearly capable of demonstrating incompetence without wasting tax dollars on outside “expertise”.

While on the subject of Spectrum: was it not just a few months ago that Abbotsford City Hall was claiming the reason to have brought Spectrum in was not to help sell Plan A snake, but to help secure an ECHL team through “expertise” and “connections” – the same rational that was used to sell the claim that major Ice Shows and Bands would be breaking down the doors to perform at the new arena? We have seen Spectrum’s performance with the ECHL, which raises serious questions about their ability to deliver the promised performers.

I would like to know why it is the city is doing the work vis-à-vis the ECHL when this was part of the stated reasons for brining in Spectrum and where were Spectrums claimed “connections” and “expertise” at the ECHL all-star fiasco. Based on their performance so far I fail to see why we are wasting our tax dollars on Spectrum Unless of course Abbotsford City Hall feels the need to have someone to blame, blame and excuse making being a demonstrated expertise of Abbotsford City Hall, when the arena shows its true colours: white, as in Abbotsford City Hall’s giant White Elephant – bleeding taxpayers dollars.