Community Clean Up Day is this Thursday April 26th, let us all lend a hand in a small or big way to make up for those ill-mannered litterbugs who lack the intelligence to understand what a garbage container is for.

It would be great if Abbotsford City Hall were to set an example about cleaning up the disorder in Abbotsford. To that end senior managers and councilors resignations would be a great start on cleaning up the ethical, financial and business affairs chaos their behaviour has given rise to.

Once we address and cleanse the various messes defacing our City we can get down to making Abbotsford a great place to live and do business. So City Hall, set the citizens a good example – just this once.

… may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

I was planning to heap scorn a society that, with growing homelessness, poverty and affordable housing needs, would spend $1.1 million on a trail. I thought to enquire if Greater Vancouver got $3.7 for trail improvement and Abbotsford got $1.2 million, how was it that when Vancouver got $80 million spent on affordable housing for the homeless Abbotsford got $0.00.

Do the homeless in Abbotsford not deserve help as well? More importantly why is it local politicians were/are silent rather than calling the Liberals on their continuing failure to recognize that the homeless and affordable housing crisis extends beyond Greater Vancouver into the Fraser Valley and particularly Abbotsford?

But …… it is a new week (Monday morning) and last week held excellent results for me with regard to the WRAP program, a program I strongly embrace. So, why depress myself because local politicians and assorted big-wigs don’t seem to care about those in need enough to act responsibly OR to provide leadership? Better for my mental health to focus on the positive aspect of this cash infusion and future plans to extent the trail even further with provincial $$$.

This trail network should encourage people to travel around west Abbotsford without wasting gas and while getting some exercise. While it would have been nice if the current project had pushed further west than Exhibition Park, it is close enough to Clearbrook that the Clearbrook homeless population will be able to access the trail network.

Not only will this provide access to and open up more good camping spots, it will allow the homeless population to spread westward along the convenient entrance to west Abbotsford. It will also relieve pressures on the mounting Clearbrook homeless population, which should in turn reduce the pressure for the downtown old Abbotsford to camp out in the Compassion Park area. Thereby saving their meagre possessions from confiscation by city work crews.

Indeed I would urge the City of Abbotsford to bring immediate pressure on Victoria to provide immediate funding for the western portion of the trail so that work on the east side can also be completed this summer. I believe it is more important to focus on the eastern area with its potential to open access to Sumas Mountain to the homeless via this network of trails.

While I am not sure opening up access to camping spots and spreading the homeless population out across the city is a good idea, it does serve to provide motivation to the entire city population to become involved in addressing homelessness and affordable housing issues. And at least council, our local MLA’s and the provincial Liberals are taking an action that opens up some interesting opportunities for the City’s homeless population

What do you know, there is a great deal of truth in the assertion that it is all in how you look at things. While not a course of action I would have advocated for addressing homelessness and other affordable housing issues, viewed from a properly skewed viewpoint this network of trails certainly constitutes an interesting approach to those pressing concerns.

Centennial Pool – is there a city bylaw against thinking?

Undoubtedly a portion of the blame for the damage that will be done to the Whalers Swim Club, their programs and their ability to be competitive does lie with the contractor. However, despite their finger pointing, senior city staff and council must bear the largest portion of the responsibility for this debacle.

I am tired, make that disgusted, with the fact that in making poor decision after poor decision senior staff and council insist on pointing their fingers everywhere and at everyone else, refusing to accept their responsibility for the decisions they make.

Worse, in the case of Centennial Pool they spent the past three to four months assuring the Whalers Swim Club the pool would be ready. This behaviour has clearly taken the matter of Centennial Pool past poor judgement into incompetence.

At the time the contract was awarded questions were raised by many, except for senior staff and council, concerning accepting the low bid from an inexperienced pool tank builder. Why did the experienced pool builders think building costs would be so much higher than the inexperienced builder, as reflected by their bids? With the incredibly tight deadline for completion and the devastating impact failure to open on time would have on the Whalers Swim Club, why take the extremely high risk involved in awarding the contract to a company that had never built a pool before? Exactly how is “highly recommended” preferable to a track record of actual pool construction?

I do not know the answers to these and similar questions that were raised, because senior staff and council refused to address any questions. Whether this was because the questions were from the public, arrogance, the projected $600,000 savings were desperately needed to feed the voracious appetite the capital plan has shown for consuming City cash flow or simply a lack of judgment and common sense is also unknown.

I do know it is time Abbotsford City Hall was held accountable for its actions. Mark Taylor and any other senior staff involved in this clear lack of judgment should be fired. Since Abbotsford has chosen to lack any adequate alternative facilities it is the responsibility of the city to find and secure alternative training facilities, bear any difference in costs of these facilities and provide transportation or reasonable compensation for transportation to these other facilities. Current council’s “firing” must await the next municipal election. In the meantime they owe a public apology to the Whalers.

It is past time that Abbotsford City Hall stopped blaming everyone and everything else and accepted responsibility for the consequences of the decisions they make and actions they take

In discussing the protracted delay in completing the Centennial Pool tank with people two items/questions kept arising. Since both are well within the demonstrated behaviour of Abbotsford City Hall I feel it is important to bring these points to the attention of all citizens. Only if the voices of many citizens demand an answer is there any possibility of getting a response from City Hall.

First is the disturbing suggestion that as part of this years budget City Manager Guthrie and Parks & Recreations Mark Taylor plan to slip the privatization of life-guarding at MRC wave pool by the public. Not as a means for saving money, since any money saved through lower wages is profit for the contractor not savings for the city, but as a continuation of their practice of attacking or annoying city unions.

I have been swimming at the city pools for over a decade and a half and over that time have seen and come to know just how well trained current staff is. In spite of any kidding I may give them I trust them with my life. I want the best trained, best qualified people guarding my life when I am at the pool. Just as an aside: the staff is young people from our area, many of who use the flexible work hours to permit them to be able to afford to attend UCFV or other educational institutions; some need the part-time employment to bolster the family income.

Not only should this change not be done, if true it is unconscionable that they would consider sneaking such a big change through as part of the budget process.

The more disturbing reports are that current city co0ntracts are being stretched out or delayed in starting because of very tight city cash flow as a result of plan A’s voracious appetite for city cash flow. Contractors are being paid on a stretched timeframe with the result that project completion is significantly delayed. The start of needed maintenance and projects are said to have been delayed or not scheduled in order to reduce cash outflow.

Raising the question if perhaps part of the reason Centennial Pool is three months behind is a direct result of actions taken by Abbotsford City Hall to stretch out contract payments, in direct contravention of their claim of not knowing why the pool is so far behind.

As I said, both of these fall within the city’s recent behaviour and it is important that the city provides a clear answer on these important questions.