Clive Doucet doesn't return Greenberg's calls - will he answer my e-mail?

It's starting to look, reading local newspapers, that Councillor Clive Doucet is developping a reputation for refusing to speak to or interact with people who sit on the "other side of the fence". With everything going on lately (Lansdowne, green bin, budget, etc.) I thought I would try again to introduce myself to my "new" councillor. I e-mailed his office last spring and got a quick response from an assistant, but I thought that in a time where the councillor who knows what's best for everyone, he might relish the opportunity to try and turn me around.

An e-mail was sent almost a week ago and with public consultations on Lansdowne having come and gone, I wonder if my thoughts sent prior to the meetings on Laurier have met deaf ears or not. Here's what I had to say... will I get a response? I hope so. If I do, an update will be posted. This Council seems to be getting out of hand - and nobody seems to be able to do anything about it.

Councillor Doucet,

I realize that I am not likely to get a sympathetic response from you but I have been around municipal politics for long enough that I know that I don’t want you to be able to say you “didn’t get any constituent response on this subject”.

Several years ago I e-mailed Council as a whole, irritated about the newly-discovered ‘tactic’ of moving things “out” of the property tax bill and “in” the new budget as a “user fee”. This shell game has been a favoured ploy of Council ever since. I really resent this new green bin program and further resent being forced to pay a “user fee” for a program I will not be using.

So many Councillors have been around for so many years I am shocked that I have not heard one member of Council stand up and remind newer members of the last attempt from the City to divert “organic waste” from our landfills. Do you not remember when the City handed out big brown compost bins to be used by citizens in their own yards? After that one time investment, the cost of that program to the City was ZERO. Most people I know still use that system. The City has been so keen on “educating” constituents since amalgamation, so I can’t help but wonder why it decided to spend so much money on something like this when it could have reminded people they could ‘recycle their organic waste’ in their own back yards. Oh, and at the same time that the City has been spending money on planning and implementing this green bin program it has also been working with Plasco, a far more effective way to divert waste from dumps. But I digress.

Can you assure me and every other resident of your ward that the other new “user fee” (for the blue and black boxes we’ve been paying for in property taxes for as long as I can remember the program being in place) will be offset by an equal reduction in the property tax bill? Somehow I doubt this, because this new “user fee” would then be revenue neutral, thereby likely negating the purpose of bringing this new “user fee” into place. Am I being too cynical on this subject? I’m just asking for honesty here.

Finally, on the subject of the revitalization of Lansdowne: while I do not support your position on the matter, I would ordinarily unconditionally support your decision to speak out on it. I do have to say, Councillor, that I would expect more from a man of your age, wisdom and experience. Using sandbox tactics and acting in a manner more becoming of a selfish teenager is not one that is likely to bring people onto your side. If you would use tact, maturity and logical arguments, I might come to understand your point of view and adopt it as my own. I once thought that the local media distorted their coverage of yourself and your office, but far too much time has gone by that I no longer can give them the benefit of the doubt.

I have listened to “anti-Lansdowne Live” arguments and I have listened to those from the Greenberg group. It is fascinating to listen to those opposed continually use the same arguments over and over again despite having their distorted view corrected with fact time after time after time. Consulting documents provided at consultations and at meetings make me wonder how it is that intelligent humans continue to mis-interpret and single out falsehoods in an attempt to use scare tactics in the hopes to have wide-spread support for their dissent.

Why do I support the redevelopment as it is? You may tell me that I am not a resident of the Glebe on Plymouth Street, but I do consider myself as being on the fringe. For groceries I currently travel to College Square, Richmond/Kirkwood or Vanier… the main reason for this is that the two grocery stores in the Glebe are very inaccessible for those who drive cars (it’s impossible to bring $300 of groceries home on your favoured bicycles or busses, Mr. Doucet) and the one on Isabella (not sure if it’s in your ward) is too small, doesn’t offer the variety other stores offer and, frankly, is too old.

I walk to the Home Hardware on Bank/2^nd Avenue regularly. I do not travel outside of my community for that kind of purchase. I would love to be able to go to Lansdowne and pick up groceries, watch a movie or a sporting event – all things available to me as a local resident if and when the current plan goes ahead. Those who have determined that the redevelopment will encourage more people to shop in their neighbourhood are correct. I know I will. However, until that happens, I will continue to spend thousands of dollars in Vanier, Westboro or near the old Nepean City Hall as they all are more convenient despite the somewhat significant time that must be spent getting to and from those locations.

Finally, I fail to understand how people seem so keen to cry wolf every time something new is around the corner. People said Westboro would die when Loblaws redeveloped the site at Richmond/Kirkwood – quite the contrary – it has flourished and is now an area that rivals Bank Street in atmosphere and diversity. Look at what the Palladium did for west Kanata!

You really want to be “progressive”, Councillor? Don’t stand in the way – work CONSTRUCTIVELY to shape progress into a way more acceptable for you (and in Lansdowne’s case, NOT AS A USELESS GREEN SPACE!) and the silent majority that always falls victim to a very small but very vocal miniority.

You are one of the most intelligent members of Council, Sir. Remember that the next time a camera is in front of you. One last thing… I see that you and your office has refused to meet with the very man who could make changes to Lansdowne plans that might be supported by yourself. Why is that?

I hope that you take the time to, at the least, send me a one-lined response to this correspondence from one of your constituents. It would be much more appreciated and show a sign of good faith outside of an election period than my being sent a “thanks for your views, they’ll be forwarded to the Councillor” from one of your assistants…

With great respect,

Michael Mason

[Edit - as of Christmas Eve, the last day mail was delivered as of right now, no response from Councillor Doucet by e-mail or Canada Post... so if my experience is at all similar to Mr. Greenberg's assertions ON THE RECORD that The Councillor was refusing to take his calls are any indication, Mr. Doucet is only likely to get back to people who support his position. Time will tell, but I fear that as has been the case with many who came before him, I may only hear from him if he declares his intentions to run again in 2010. I might have supported him if he gave the faintest of possibilities he was listening and acknowledging dissenting views from his constituents.]

"It becomes a separate tax... that can be raised..."

Thanks, Councillor Rick Chiarelli.

So our fine not-so-feathered friends at Ottawa City Hall are looking at raising property taxes by about 6% this year. I shouldn't single out Rick, as he was likely one of the few (aside from Alex Cullen, but maybe he's out of town) who would stick his neck out to get chopped off in front of local TV cameras... but I just did.

They want to "introduce" yet another annual user fee for recycling we've been paying for for years ($41) and another for the organic recycling ($68). Are any of us stupid enough to believe that tax bills will be lowered by $41 when this "new" user fee is added to the so-called utility bill? Yeah, and pigs fly.

I wrote in the past about this ridiculous shell game scam these politicians have been putting on at our expense, year after year after year. So the goal is 6% this year. Does this mean that net disbursements from residential taxpayers will be 6% higher than last year? Are you nuts? Of course not! They never are. Those "invisible" user fees keep getting jacked up, but we don't see that at budget time. When Council rises and toasts itself for another job "well done", settling for yet another tax hike, they quietly look the other way while the price of doing everything at the city goes up by 5, 10, 15, 20 or 50%... sometimes more.

After spending twelve years working for an autonomous organization operating in a city-owned building, watching as the price of everything went up while quality of service (anyone who has watched the quality of work contracted cleaning companies, for example, go down the tubes because of one reason or another - accountability to the signed contract be damned for one...) got worse and worse... I couldn't take it anymore. The problem? Neither elected officials, nor bureaucrats whose job it was to monitor the contractors ever seemed to care.

The bottom line seems to be, thanks to bad tax policy almost 20 years ago now, we keep paying more and keep getting less. If this organic recycling project is so expensive, turf the damn thing until we can afford to implement it. When times are tough, you don't set out to find new things to spend money on. I want to opt out of this latest fad, but a green box was dropped off last week. I have put it in the back - it won't see the light of day again. I still believe in the city's last attempt at dealing with yard waste - anyone remember the big brown compost bins the city gave out years and years ago?

City Council seems to spend more and more year after year... raising our taxes year after year... and we keep putting up with it, re-electing the same people election after election. We tried electing a new mayor last time around - but without electing new councillors, one person cannot turn things around on his own.

Will we ever learn? I don't think so.