Available on Brian Gallant’s blog in response to Peter
Rosners comments it looks like we are getting spoon fed the “truth” for
Christmas. Available at the following address:
I would like to address Councillor Gallants comments, first
impression for anybody that did not know better would be that everything is
good in our little community:
- He addresses the volunteer boards issue, looking from the outside I would have the impression that everything with volunteer boards is good. Did it not take six months of advertising to fill all the boards and committee’s if they are indeed filled. Question for my readers does anybody think council would have backed down on the Pool authority prior to the petition, the authority had two letters from administration telling them they were done. Did council not know? Is this one of those cases of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing?
- He appears to place all the blame on the firemen because they walked out. What did he and the rest of council expect? What would happen at the mine if a Union President was fired on the spot. No suspension pending investigation, no external review by an independent agency.
- Peace
Officers have given almost no tickets for bylaw infractions (10 in the
past six months) despite hundreds of complaints. That would lead me to
believe that the community has been cleaned up? Very good. They have given
a number of tickets to non-residents, so are our Peace Officers treating
residents different to non-residents? I can speed on
- He speaks to Peter’s comments on the Municipal Inspection, still does not get it 2500 taxpayers are not happy, with the exception of the hundreds upon hundreds that were bullied and intimidated to sign.
- He
addresses the “bureaucratic monster” has no substance. So it’s just a figment
of everybody’s imagination at this point in time we really don’t have a
- Tax increases no increase in 2011 and only 2.5% in 2012, yes Councilor Gallant puts all the blame for tax increases on the Provincial government and the seniors. Check out the mill rate bylaws in 2010 the Municipality collected $6,432,821 from the municipal taxpayers in that year. 2011 with no increase the municipality collected $123,000 more in general taxation than the previous year (0% increase maybe it was all those new houses going up, or our increased home values). In 2012 with just a 2.5% increase the municipality collected another $265,000 in additional general taxation (2.5% increase once again maybe it was all those new houses going up, or our increased home values). Lots of new homes and greatly increased property values I’m sure most home owners that are deciding to sell are doing well. Then lets not forget the additional tax increase (more commonly known as the Franchise Fee). Some will even attempt to argue that this is not a tax, 2010 it sat at $295,000 increased to $570,000 in 2012 and would have gone to $907,000 in 2013 had it not been for the uproar from the public. Instead, it will only jump to $682,000 next year being Christmas I guess we should be thankful that this little tax only jumped 231% in three years instead of the proposed 308%.
- Thinking about the Tax increases and the Franchise Fees I guess us Taxpayers should be thankful again, that the municipality as decided over the last two years to take less money out of our left pocket and more out of our right pocket.
- And now I will present the opportunity for anybody to comment on my points or to list for us all the good things that have been achieved.
- Being the
Christmas season every time I drive by the Blairmore shop I get to say
hoe, hoe hoe.
16 comments:
Dean, here a few thoughts regarding some of your points.
Point 3;"They have given a number of tickets to non-residents, so are our Peace Officers treating residents different to non-residents?"
Taking statistics from a couple of sources; http://www.tpr.alberta.ca/tourism/investment/regionalopportunities/pdfs/crowsnestpass.pdf @10,000 vehicles per day & http://www.rockies.ca/crossroads/files/Final_Highway3_WorkshopSummary_Web.pdf @ 6,000 - 9,000 vehicles per day, it is not surprising that the majority of tickets are for non residents. Talk about a major cash cow! There are only so many spots for the Mayor's Gestapo to hide & within days almost every resident knew about them. But you are right, just as Longview had their reputation, the Pass will get one too, "If you dare drive through the Crowsnest, you will get a ticket" even if it's only for 3 KPH over. Heard about that one the other day.
Point 6: "Lots of new homes and greatly increased property values I’m sure most home owners that are deciding to sell are doing well".
I hope this was tonque-in-cheek because most people I know, including myself have taken much less than we wanted on our house sales. The increasing municipality costs coupled with trying to find responsible renters were what made us decide to sell. Two people I know who wanted out of here basically gave their homes away after trying to sell them.
I feel that unless things turn around drastically, many people won't be able to afford to live here & as I have said before, it will become the community that used to be here.
Maybe that's the 21st century utopia that Bruce & Misty want.
Most in Crowsnest liked Thunder a lot...
But the Grinch,
Who had just moved to Blairmore,
DID NOT!
The Grinch hated Thunder! The hit of the season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, his reports weren't that bright.
But I think that the most likely reason of all,
May have been that his town understanding was small.
His policies faultered, he soon felt the pinch,
But, if the PC's could do it, then so could the Grinch.
He thought more than once, for a moment or two.
Then he stuck his out his finger at the fireplace crew.
Where the the firemaen's jackets all hung in a row.
"Their firechief," he grinned, "is the first one to go!"
Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole town, fleecing everyone present!
Allowed to spend wildly and push came to shove.
He soon got a petition that wasn't of love.
But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick,
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
"Why, my sweet people," the wanna be lied,
"There's a silent majority still on my side."
Are you telling a lie if you dont know the truth?
Then your job is to find the truth, and if the people that are suppose to give you the truth aren't then you deal with that issue. Yes I understand that people need time to learn a new job but that time has come and gone.
Peter Rosner said...
Are you telling a lie if you dont know the truth?
Perhaps not, but is it wrong to then righfully call such a person ignorant?
Anonymous Mon Dec 17, 05:07:00 PM 2012
Well done!! Love it!!
The Doomsayer person is quite long winded but not full of facts sometimes.
I do know a couple people who were transferred, no problem selling, and very close to asking.
I think he should change his name to "fear mongering".
Makes for good blog reading I guess.
Another fire call this morning that needed the fire chief to co-ordinate.A lady had a water leak in her apartment...didn't have the landlord's phone number and didn't know how to turn the water off...She called 911....fire dept. dispatched with 4...other stations on standby! Fire Dept turned the water off for her. How much does it cost per call...another one that Municipal Affairs can look at!
1- Volunteers No problem here. Just get your councilors wives and friends to go on the boards.
2- Fireman, No problem here. We did not force them to quit.No you never but you also did nothing to bring them back and actually stabbed them in the back and twisted the knife.Community spirit crushing moves.
3- Peace officers First off they are not a cash cow and are costing the taxpayer money.Gallant talks about the bylaws being enforced without any fines. They must be dealing with the petty stuff because I do not see any major clean up of the pig stie properties.
4- Municipal inspection - Council just does not get it.They could come out clean as a whistle and they still will be the worst council ever.
5- Bureaucratic monster- The numbers do not lie.
6- Tax increases- Simply going by there report we are running budgets of 4.6% compounded annually.Why lie?
On Emiles blog he does not understand why people are not coming out to budget meetings and yet when someone asks him on his blog for some numbers they do not get a reply.Why not?
So let me be BLUNT, this council is out of control and the worse thing is that it is going to get worse.Either taxes have to rise even more or services will have to be cut.10 more months!!!
Not quite sure what the 911 call from the woman with a water leak has to do with the Council, but whatever. I think some people are just angry and cannot see beyond their own noses.
With low inflation and decreasing municipal services the budget keeps rising. More people in the front office and less access to the decision makers. There is nothing wrong with having a big and efficient bureaucracy if you can afford it, but this is a small community which must function within its means. It is a pure nonsense to argue that all this is done in order to bring us up to speed with the 21st century. The provincial review will find nothing wrong with the municipal office, because they have done nothing wrong, other than being completely insensitive to how our community works. While it may look like a complete waste of time, the petition was important to show that the community does not appreciate how it is being treated. While they still can do a lot of damage in the next ten months, Crowsnest Pass, if anything, is a resilient survivor. Therefore, nothing to be upset too much about, and Merry Christmas everyone, including all the councillors.
You can whine all you want folks. I guarantee that at least bare minimum five of these members of council get back in next October.
That is when the silent majority will rise up. Putting an end to all your long term never change nothing attitudes.
Misty Schitz
Misty, I doubt that 5 of these guys even bother running.And I guarantee you that not 1 of these present councilors or the mare will get reelected.7 monkeys could beat these guys.
Misty just likes to be mischievous. The silent majority had their Christmas party in the Coleman phone booth and she is still pumped up from the event.
Would this be the "Municipal Christmas Party" referred to in
http://www.town.crowsnestpass.ab.ca/component/docman/doc_download/1797-unapproved-dec-18-2012
page 7
???
A person is very ignorant when stating something as a fact whitout serching the truth.We call this misleading the public.If you don t know and to leasy to serch KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
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