Finding myself confronted by the in your face fence surrounding the “Friendship” Garden as I parked at Clearbrook Library recalled to mind the question that had posed asking: “Do you believe the city’s $1-million Friendship Garden was a good public investment?”

Where once visitors to the Clearbrook Library where greeted with an open vista of grassy treed space, they now are confronted by a fence that is a blight upon the landscape – ugly to the point of being an eyesore.

The glaring contradiction in calling something a Friendship Garden while building a solid fence with locking gates that prevents people from seeing inside and provides the means to lock people out demonstrates once again the desperate need for a dictionary at City Hall.

Just how can erecting such a fence be construed as friendly behaviour?

I remembered the view of open grassy green space with tall shade trees that had for years welcomed visitors to the library; the gentle slopes, soft grass and shade that invited people to step off the concrete walkway and into the green space.

During spring and summer there were always individuals, families and kids taking advantage of this space to walk, sit on the grass to read, eat lunch or just enjoy sitting there enjoying the sun and breeze with the trees providing shade as needed.

The green space that, lying outside the lower (basement) level entrance, was perfect for the library’s plan to relocate the children’s section to that more spacious and open area of the library. With a pond now just outside the entrance doors that plan is scuttled since the librarians are to responsible to locate the children’s section near the pond.

Abbotsford City Hall and Council had neither the courtesy nor the consideration to consult the library, whose space they usurped, about how this space should be used. Focusing on council’s wants and to bad about the children and their needs – highly Ironic considering the children will be the ones paying for the spending excesses of City Council.

In destroying what was a people friendly green space used by people and in denying the use of the space inside and outside the lower library entrance as a wonderful children’s area city council’s actions were not only NOT a good public investment but were a disservice to citizens, children and the city.

Despite Mayor Peary’s comments and Councillor Moe Gill’s decision on the issue of conflict of interest, I will not be setting my personal ethics at the minimally acceptable level allowed by law.

I was raised with and to have high standards govern the manner in which I conduct my life. It was never about setting my standards by what you can get away with.

As a point of information to Mayor Peary and Councillor Gill I also have an expectation that people making decisions on my behalf, such as politicians, will practice those same high ethical standards. Not slipshod, lowest common denominator minimal ethical standards and behaviours.

I concede that to date my expectation concerning ethical standards and behaviours has proven unrealistic as evidenced by the behaviours of politicians at all levels of government – municipal, provincial and federal.

With specific reference to Moe Gill’s voting on the gravel pit application I would judge, with apologies to Mayor Peary and Councillor Gill that the ethic’s bar was set below minimally acceptable ethical behaviour.

A quick web search reveals that “personal interest includes an interest arising from family, marriage or common-law relationships.”

Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia’s list of types of conflicts of interest includes “Family interests, in which a spouse, child, or other close relative….” Of particular interest on this website is an example of conflict of interest that cites a brother to brother relationship.

I fail to see how one could claim that the fact a decision will have a direct and substantial effect on a member (in this case members) of one’s family will not influence one’s thinking. Voting other than to benefit one’s family member would have serious family relationship and conflict consequences.

Thus one is predisposed to vote for an outcome favourable to family and is therefore in a conflict of interest.

As an aside – when wants to approve something one can always find “acceptable” reasons or reasoning to justify the decision you want to make.

Moe Gill has a clear conflict of interest here and when the matter comes before council again he MUST recuse himself on grounds of personal involvement.

Mayor Peary’s statement “We are truly, truly scrounging around for any money we can find …” teases Abbotsford’s beleaguered and impoverished taxpayers with the possibility the world wide economic meltdown may finally bring Abbotsford City Council to the realization that money does not grow on trees.

Unfortunately Mayor Peary’s statement “Here is the hard reality: we cannot support the city alone on property taxes anymore” makes it clear that City Council still views the citizens as having bottomless pockets to feed City Hall’s insatiable appetite for spending as if money does grow on trees.

Mayor Peary, here is the hard reality: It was city council’s spendthrift financially irresponsible spend, spend, spend ways that put Abbotsford in it current financial bind, so forgive me if I am not feeling terribly sympathetic.

It is hard to be anything but apprehensive when the Mayor’s statements underscore that City Council’s heedlessly reckless financial thinking and behaviours still have not been forced into line with economic reality.

When you are short of funds you economize, cutback and/or reduce expenses to the level of one’s income.

Unless that is you are Abbotsford City Council, who just keeps feeding their addiction for wildly ungoverned spending; whining “…we cannot support the city alone on property taxes anymore.”

So it is that City Council is looking for new and better methods to destitute its citizens by plundering them of their cash.

Cities surrounding Abbotsford set priorities and make the necessary hard choices and spending reductions to bring their spending into line with the money raised by property taxes.

Citizens need to tell council: “NO! Most emphatically NO! You were the ones who set the property tax increase at 5.5% deal with that reality.” Otherwise taxpayers will suffer the consequences as year after year City Council finds new ways to introduce numerous new taxes so they can continue to waste dollars and spend, spend, spend

When it is no longer the muggers and thieves you need to protect your wallet from but Abbotsford City Council – it is time City Council learned to live within its means, not continue to spend as if they were children run amuck with their parents (taxpayers) credit card.