Gordie Howe was the person that made "ELBOWS UP" famous. Ironically, he was a supporter of the Conservative Party and his wife ran as a Republican in the states. I know they call this bipartisanship, but this is blatantly a bunch of liberals gathering for a rally. Note Sheehan in one of the photos, not to mention our Liberal leaning Mayor and Frank O'Connor who is also a hardcore Liberal. Good to see people getting out, however, this term is now linked to the Liberals and is definitely not bipartisan.
How many companies does the PUC own stake in that ratepayers are on the hook for? We have a watermain relining company, an arborist company, and apparently they bought stake in a line company. Why are the ratepayers and majority owner not notified of the financials of all of these supposed revenue generating subsidiaries? When neighborhoods have lights flickering because there is not enough power or a lack of good power, why are we on the hook to fix it? How is evolutionary Smart Grid helping us? Has the EAF pulled more power than the PUC can supply them and now neighborhoods have flickering lights? Why are the higher ups driving unmarked electric vehicles home and why is the PUC paying to put charging stations in their homes? One employee lives approx 1km away and has an office job and a Lighting pickup truck paid for by PUC. It's unbelievable that us ratepayers are on the hook. It's hard to believe that the current president and CEO bankrupted the previous company he worked for.
100% over budget, another great job by city staff! Yes, the stairs needed attention, but did we need to build a new elevator outside when there’s literally an elevator on the ground level at the west entrance of the building that has worked for years. They could have reconfigured the hallways inside the building to deny access to the remainder of the building for the public who used the elevators rather than building the new one outside. They could have also restricted access to other floors with key fobs given to city staff for access. There were much more affordable way to do this. The new elevator was definitely a decision that designers and city staff should be on the hook for. Let’s start holding our engineers and architects accountable when projects go over budget due to poor planning or budgeting. They have insurance for a reason. Also, give the contractor bonuses for finding cost savings rather than rewarding them for going over budget.
Mr. Spina seems to have made himself look incompetent again. Failed businessman, failed police officer, failed politician in 2 levels of government. Let's hope we have some better options in the next municipal election. This is a great signal that maybe we need to increase the city policing budget. Maybe the 15+ million we've spent on repaving Queen Street and the building the Downtown Plaza are good examples of how not to spend money. Get the vagrants out of downtown and maybe people will actually visit.
"Commuters" lol. You live in Goulais River. Plan to leave earlier and get home later. Same people that complain about the condition of the highway are now complaining that they're fixing it. Get over it. You pay dismal taxes in Goulais River (or anywhere north of the city for that matter). You should thank the remainder of the province for paying for a new road for you. There are only 2 seasons here- Construction and winter. Get used to it. It keeps people working and the economy moving.
The neighborhood folk downtown are the exact reason why this location is moving. If it were your business, I think you would be tired of the shoplifting too. Better to be in a neighborhood where crime is lower. Maybe this will help their shoplifting stats.
Let's reward kids for having no responsibility, no respect, and no accountability for their actions. A true testament to parenting today. I can't wait to see all of these kids prosper in the NHL. Their parents sure think they're going to make it.
This will cost millions. I am on board when we are in a financially stable position. The boardwalk link is nice, but for an extra 2-3 minutes, I don't think spending millions on this would make any sense. Architects, engineers, and politicians love spending our money. Hopefully they can do this one responsibly.
@Nick NackI'm really hoping you're a troll because this is the most idiotic and ridiculous comment I've seen in a while. Private businesses support an event that actually draws people to the downtown core, locals and visitors drive their beautiful cars to visit this dump of a town, support our restaurants, hotels, and small businesses while taking their lives into their own hands driving down our roads and dodging potholes and vagrants, and you're worried about losing sleep. Get bent. I can't wait to step back in time for a couple nights and actually enjoy something downtown for once instead of watching people pee in bus shelters and j walk because they don't know what planet they're on.
I heard Costco is building it's first floating location on the St. Mary's River. That way they can float it to Toronto when the steel plant closes and this city is nothing but a ghost town. Got any styrofoam? Maybe we can float the mall down the river too.
The city sold an almost brand new line painting machine that was used for 1 season for about 40% of what they paid for it. All because the guy in charge didn't want to do his job. Our "competent" city workers also thought it was a good idea to clean the paint tanks into a catch basin at PWT on Sackville, causing an environmental investigation when Fort Creek was running bright yellow. Utter incompetence at the city as per usual.
Did you maybe consider that it's not possible or not economical for them to leave a lane open? We will be just fine with the extra drive to the store or work for 6 months.
Ponytail,The police board, association, and chiefs have told council that if their budget was increased to allow for more officers, we wouldn't need to pay our existing cops double time to come in for overtime. This would greatly reduce the cost overruns. Look at what they paid in overtime last year. The former chief has called for reform so we aren't arresting the same people daily, weekly, or monthly. This is also causing huge cost overruns. The police needed to install bodycams on all officers then hire civilians to oversee the systems. This caused and will continue to cause cost overruns. I don't know the exact figure, but ask a cop how many calls 100 specific people have caused in the last year. I think you might change your mind.
It's not ownership. There wasn't even speculation of poor ownership when this decision was made. Over 2 million in losses per year due to shoplifting. I'd be moving too.
Unlike other city departments, the building department is self sufficient and doesn't bleed like the others. They are revenue generating with building permits, fines, and fees. They run that department like a business, like it should be. Their salaries are in line and not outrageous for the work they do. The employees take BCIN courses to further their knowledge and careers and they are promoted reasonably based on that and experience. They could be faster for issuing permits, but they seem to be getting better. Congrats Freddie on your retirement and enjoy it as much as you can! Francois, you have big shoes to fill but you were brought up with good leaders such as Freddie and Don.
Typical response from someone who has no accountability at the City. Provincial Line Painting (name of the company) had our entire city done in less than 48 hours last year. Same weather we had been getting for the last 2 months. No reason why it's taking this long for a different contractor to firstly show up, and secondly, complete the project fast. Also, why are we paying the contractor to re paint lines on the roads that are getting torn up this year? McNabb- East of Black Rd, Great Northern Rd from 3rd Line to Wigle Street, Wallace Terrace from underpass to Korah Rd. Just to name a few. Kilometers of streets that are going to be torn up eventually. I'm sure someone at the city could have done their job and saved us some money.