Friday, March 20, 2009

Economics 101


When your personal property tax bill arrives and it sis almost 8% higher than it was last year, all you need ask is, "Am I getting 8% more in services."

But you already know the answer.

I've had the distinct displeasure of driving across the Oak Street bridge several times in recent weeks. Pothole City. 'nuff said?

A student told me yesterday that it took an hour and a half to get by bus from Westminster Highway and #3 Road to 49th and Cambie. But VANOV urges you to take transit. Hm...

Councillor Louie has proposed spending $300,000 to hire someone to save money at City Hall. Nice.

How about this, Raymond?

How about City Hall slash and burn a dozen useless offices on its rolls? How about the City stop trying to be all things to all people? How about leave Health, for example, to the province and the federal government where it belongs? How about getting out of the drug business? How about ending the personal fiefdom that exists at City Hall in Arts and Culture?

No one that I know of at City Hall has come even remotely close to tightening the City belt in the same way that everyone world-wide has had to in this economic climate.

The 8% solution is no solution at all.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

David, all municipal politicians are mere thralls to the bureaucracy. In our autocratic form of government we are just expected to shut up and pay the freight.

Politicians are moral cowards because they do not have the "balls" to take on the bureaucrats. I would wager that 50% of the jobs at city halls are redundant, filled by friends and families of muni workers.

Senior bureaucrats are worse, somehow believing they are the equal of CEO's of major corporations. Ha, many are just incompetent, kept in a job by even more incompetent politicos.

Anonymous said...

F.Y.I . . . . Responsibility for the Oak street bridge lies with the provincial ministry of highways through its contractor Mainroad Contracting. It has very little to do with a Vancouver residents taxes.

Anonymous said...

Langley went up 6% - they say thats how much the current level of service increased in cost...

While the Federal government announces(lies) 1.4% rate of inflation?

... the real rate of inflation is 8-10%+ a year, look at your own bills, house insurance, gas, property tax...we all get "cost of living raises" based on what the feds say...but the bills go up...