The Greatest Show On Earth....or London

Come one , come all and see sights that will amaze and astound you. Hear tales that will take you to another world, and see people that seem almost other worldly. Or as the locals refer to it….City Hall.
It’s that time of election when the smoke and mirror shows come out in full force. The skills of double speak and sleight of hand becomes almost second nature to these combatants. All this effort for what you may ask? Why another four years of ‘service’ to the population of London. But let us take a trip down memory lane and see what ‘service’ we Londoners have received by these great showmen/women of the three ring on Dufferin Ave.

Now if I was to comment on all at City Hall, I am probably sure I could fill a small novel. So instead I shall focus on my opponent in Ward 6. Now one of the main issues raised was value for taxes. Now the value seems to have many definitions depending on who is using it. Is value saying that a tax freeze is impossible? Is value saying that starting a pilot project green bin program at this time is wise, even though it would add six million dollars to next years budget?, that even though Londoner’s want a tax freeze 71% of councils recorded votes since 2006 have been in favour of increased taxes and spending. Is this the definition of value you remember as a kid? Water and sewer surcharges where the delivery fee is sometimes more than the usage fee? The fact that fair property value assessment seems to be a magical unicorn in this city. Always talked about but never seen. Supporting the water , sewer and infrastructure seems to be a fairly easy statement to make. The trick though is how much do you want to spend of taxpayers money to come up with a support you feel acceptable with.

Continuing to preserve , enhance and protect our trees, parks and pathways also seems like a fairly easy stance to make. How many politicians are going to say burn the parks down, chop down the trees for fire wood? But as always what they don’t mention is that in order to do this we will increase spending without the revenue to back it up. As always to spend money you have to have money. Where does the money come from? They like to use fancy words like uploading funds etc etc. The reality is whether it comes from Federal, Provincial or Municipal it is still OUR tax dollars. We need to have healthy investments in this city in order to have a healthy plan for preservation and enhancement. Or do we just end up with metal trees and tell our kids this is what our parks used to look like. We can ill afford to keep spending when we are not bringing in the revenue. Councils answer? Why of course….RAISE TAXES AGAIN.

Nancy represents Ward 6 which is where the University of Western Ontario calls home. She comments constantly about her Town and Gown committee which is her way of showing support for students. Yet, she wants to enact more bylaws to regulate and govern them. She has rode with local police officers to stop student parties. She wants to hire more by law enforcement officers (again value for taxes?). Essential she is stating that the students are great for the city as long as they are seen and not heard. As long as they stay in their corner and only come out when asked. With the economic down turn enacting a bylaw that restricts room mates makes no fiscal sense. Restricting parking without solution also is a brain scratcher. By not first coming up with solutions to the problems, she feels that the best way to solve them is through aggressive enforcement, regulation and segregation. This solves nothing except sending a strong message, you can come and study but please don’t stay here. Which as history has shown us is very common. We must learn to adjust to modern times, modern students and modern economic fiscal reality. With the cost of tuition going up, the cost of living going up and jobs going down, it becomes harder for students to survive..let alone survive without sharing costs. Becoming a ‘Nanny” state does nothing to help this situation, what it does do is cost more and more to enforce with little to no return on investment. Value for taxes right?

Where is the real talk. Where are the real solutions to real problems? Where? I can tell you where there not. City Council. All this talk about fiscal responsibility with no checks and balances. Talk of an impossible tax freeze without cutting essential services. Yet, they are willing to spend more and more on pilot projects and outside research firms. This election will be one without a board of control, and as we have been told council will form the executive committee and be in place for the four years. With the track record they have do you want them to have that much control over the budget? We need to stop this and get back on track. We need to stop the out of control spending. We need to get council back to reality and quit the three ring circus. In order to do this we need to vote out those that have have become to comfortable with the chair they are in. We need to change the core of our council that has increase spending and taxes with no end in sight.



On October 25th vote Bob Howard and help stop this circus and get us back on track.