Another Memo to the Mayor

Dear Mayor:

I am sure you are busy today booking your trip to Calgary.  Yes, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are going to the Grey Cup.  Very exciting !!  I know you will be there because you are always there when there is something to celebrate.  Not so much, when times are not going well. 

I know it is tradition for the Mayors of the City to make a friendly wager.  If you haven't already made the wager, I am going to suggest that you and the Mayor of Hamilton  swap places for a day or a week.  You can go there and she or he can come here.  I don't know anything about the Mayor of Hamilton but I know they will do a better job than you. 

When you were first elected, I remember thinking that I was going to be amazed.  You weren't even on anyone's radar and all of a sudden you were Mayor !!  I thought you were going to be a great Mayor.  I also thought that if the election was just a few days longer, Robert-Falcon Oulette would be Mayor.  Regardless, in your first months in office, you said the same things that every new elected official says.  You said that you could never have imagined how poorly run City Hall was and it was going to take years to fix the damage.  I believed you. 

Then, you let your name stand for re-election.  You actually didn't run for re-election.  You kept a low profile and counted on the fact that an incumbent Mayor had not been defeated in 38 years.  The only thing I remember you saying was that Winnipeg was on track to reach 1,000,000,000 in population.  You also led us to believe that good times were coming. 

And, what has happened since you were re-elected.  The PPD scandal has revealed that City Hall has a serious morale problem.  It has to be poor morale that leads to public servants behaving so badly.  It takes leadership to solve morale problems.  What are your plans? 

The City is facing horrific crime levels and uncontrolled violence stemming from the opiod crisis.  Your response it to demand a meeting with you, Trudeau, and Pallister.  What do you think that will accomplish?  First of all, for some reason, you weren't work the Province.  For the good of the City, you might want to try. 

Last week, I went for a walk in my neighbourhood.  I don't live in a "desirable" neighbourhood but I do live in what is considered to be a "good" neighbourhood.  I happened to meet a retired man.  He had a sharps container.  He told me that he needed a purpose, something to keep him active.  He now collects discarded needles everyday.  He just wants to keep people safe.  He told me that he usually ends his walk everyday before he is ready but his container is full and he needs to get it to a safe disposal site.  I was so struck by this selfless man volunteering him time to the City everyday.  I wonder how many people are doing so in an effort to help with the drug crisis.  I feel the City needs to honour these people by listening to their feedback. 

Everyday I see some group making some comments or suggestions on how to improve our city.  No one seems to be collecting these ideas or seeing if any may work. 

I know there was a group called Millenial for All that objected to increased security measures at the library saying that this would lleave marginalized people with less options to connect positively.  They weren't listened to and increased security happened.  Now, there is talk of cuts to services in libraries.  This won't solve anything and likely will create more problems in the city. 

Libraries aren't the only item where cuts are necessary, apparently.  Even though crime is up and people are generally frightened, we learn that there will be cute to police services. 

Cuts to transit services are also coming.  This will make it difficult for those who depend on transit to get to employment  and other appointments. 

None of these cuts were forewarned.  Infact, we were led to believe that good times were coming. 

Now we hear that True North Square has been given approval to not provide some affordable housing. 

How do you think we are going to reach our million population?  Frankly, we are just not having enough babies so the pathway to a million people is through immigration.  They may come to our city but they won't stay if they can't find affordable housing or reliable public transportation.  Also, they won't be staying around in a city with rising crime.  Also, what is the plan for our infrastructure to accommodate our increased population. 

Believe me, people love our city and we are fully engaged and want to help any way we can.  That's all we ask of you.  Would you please engage?