Will Anyone Lose Their Job Over Failed TAP Bylaw?
Editorial by Elvis Glazier - It's pretty rare that I wait so long to jump on a story as juicy as the failed Tsawwassen Area Plan debacle. It's taken me this long for the ramifications of “TAP Gate” to sink in and I really wanted to see the media reaction and political spin before weighing in. The bombshell announcement by Delta Mayor Lois Jackson to end the public hearing was like watching bugs scramble as the rock was lifted exposing them to the elements. Of course in this analogy the bugs are Delta's mayor, councilors, chief administrative officer, and planning staff.I freely admit that I have been quite critical of the planning process from the onset. Having attended almost every meeting open to the public I have watched this train wreck unfold into this complete failure that concluded with the mayor conceding defeat and stopping the bylaw dead in its tracks.
But now that it’s over the question that is on everyone's minds, especially in Tsawwassen is:
Will anyone lose their job for this waste of taxpayer time and money?
Let's examine the people involved:
Councilor Bruce McDonald, TAP Chairman?
Watching Councilor Bruce McDonald chair the TAP committee was every bit as entertaining as watching 'Mutiny on the Bounty'. His committee didn't really come to a consensus in the end and there were even threats of minority reports by factions with the committee. McDonald's Captain Bligh character played perfectly as he took every opportunity to push through Delta's agenda, even though there were definite concerns expressed by the committee and alarm bells raised by residents. It became very clear (to me) early on that this plan was being conceived in a vacuum without any semblance of public input. If I were a member of the TAP committee I would be calling for his resignation from council (or at least a promise not to run again) for allowing this to happen. Defiant to the bitter end, McDonald chastised "crusading citizen groups" for hi-jacking his committee by seeking nothing more than some public input in their community's area plan. I don't know how the man who fancied himself mayor is going to survive TAP-Gate unscathed. My prediction is this will be the end of McDonald's tenure. If it isn't then my faith in the electorate teeming with” crusading citizen groups” will hit an all time low.
Mayor Lois Jackson?
The Mayor espoused her epiphany and called an end to the public hearing curiously right before her former mayoral adversary Krista Englland was scheduled to speak. The real question is how did this bylaw get this far in the first place? Is the Mayor not familiar with a plan that has been almost two years in the making. How many terms does it take to gauge public sentiment? Perhaps the Mayor was more interested in selling softwood lumber to the tropics than dealing with an area plan in the city she's supposed to serve. Listening to the Mayor applaud herself for killing the flawed bylaw borders on the ridiculous. Perhaps the better question is, how many terms does it take before you become completely out of touch with your constituency? Terminating the public hearing robbed the public of finally giving this Mayor proper public input in a legal forum. Praising yourself for suppressing the public is a political skill-set that can only be honed over time. To then say publicly that the area plan is committee work and not council work just goes to show that this council doesn’t work. Jackson’s apparent lack of interest and leadership on this issue signals to me that it’s time for her to have a serious soul search before penning her name on any future nomination papers.
CAO George Harvie and Delta City Planning Staff?
Since it seems that Jackson has abdicated her responsibility as mayor because she's been too busy playing the head of Metro and it's far easier to just let the bureaucracy run the city, we need to examine what George Harvie’s role is in TAP Gate. What influence did Harvie have in hiring city planners Tom Leathem and Barry Konkin? They were brought in to Delta with a background of doing large development projects. It is no secret that there aren’t many spots that would be remotely suitable for Surrey type of developments. With the fight for the Southlands lost, they were really only left with the town center and the area under the power lines.
In fact, Leathem and Konkin are both on the record as saying that the plan was a staff driven document and all they wanted was some resident input. The problem for them, in retrospect, is they didn't know what to do once the citizens actually took over the process because that wasn't supposed to happen. For that fact alone the City of Delta needs to re-examine what our land use policy should look like and hire staff that reflects this vision.
Council?
I recently read a retraction in the Vancouver Province that read, "The Municipality of Delta has not endorsed a plan for multi-family properties under the controversial power lines." It may be true that the municipality didn't endorse the idea, but I don't believe the same can be said for Council. This area plan was almost two years in the making followed by first and second reading and still this council voted to send the bylaw to public hearing. That is an endorsement in my view. When ,during the first two readings, did someone speak up and denounce the bylaw for even suggesting the idea of building under the power lines? I heard Councilor Anne Pedersen make an attempt at discussing it but nothing with vigour and stature. No desk pounding, filibustering, or finger wagging. Pedersen and King were either powerless or unwilling to take on Mayor Jackson and her council of DIVA’s. They have the numbers and they run council with an iron fist. I will exclude newly anointed DIVA councilor Ian Paton Jr. from blame as he has just had the good fortune of joining council, but fellow DIVA members Robert Campbell and Scott Hamilton have run roughshod over this council with the help of McDonald.
I believe a good case could be made to get rid of any number of politicians and bureaucrats involved in TAP Gate. To see such an expensive process take so long and come up with a solution so far removed from the will of the people that the entire exercise is destroyed must not be allowed to go unpunished. Will TAP Gate be the rallying point for the electorate to demand drastic change with their municipal politicians? If the electorate decides to vote against wasteful spending and shutting out the public from civic process, then I believe Delta will follow the nationwide trend and demand change.
The only question now is who, besides the taxpayers of Delta, will pay?
AMEN !!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMayor Jackson & Councilors,
ReplyDeleteRemember recent elections in Calgary and Toronto! Delta citizens want you to hear them out and do the right thing. Less development all around!
A great analysis. However do not imagine that the forces that spurred this Council to this debacle have given up. Further moves will continue. The only way will be for the residents of Delta to produce willing and suitable candidates for the next municipal election. Unless this is done we will have more of the same. Have a look at the money behind Ian Paton's run to get elected.
ReplyDeleteObviously certain councillors are pushing their business agenda whilst pretending to be open to their constituents' input.
ReplyDeleteAny citizen who voted in the councillors mentioned in the above article cannot say "I didn't vote based on what these councillors said during their pre-election promises".
Politicians with pro-business agendas always need to be called to task before they force their agenda on the people.
It wasn't anti-business citizens groups which ruined the agenda, but the unprofessional and nearly dishonest way the TAP was presented.
Please continue to demand public accountability before the next municipal election.
With it, Tsawwassen's current greenness will remain, much to the benefit of all of Delta.
Thanks for the synopsis of the flawed process of revision of the Tsawwassen Area Plan. The bylaw did not reflect public input and was simply a plan to rezone large areas of Tsawwassen to high-density housing.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much money to be made by rezoning land that developers work very hard to influence municipal staff and Councils. They spew out jargon about "eco-density", "fair share", "needs for seniors and young families" and resort to name-calling such as "NIMBYS". These are ploys to make millions of dollars from rezoning. Powerful land developers now successfully influence Delta Council and staff who have swallowed this sales pitch. They have demonstrated disdain for the public and have tried to force a planning agenda on Tsawwassen. It is frightening that they almost succeeded in their plans to destroy Tsawwassen by over-densifying an environmentally- fragile peninsula.
Your article refers to political outfall from the botched TAP planning process. It would be great to elect a Delta Council that genuinely wants to protect the local environment. This would require candidates from North Delta and Ladner who share this view. Is this possible?
North Delta and Ladner are getting tired of towing the line for Tsawwassen. We are all Delta and should all share in what is necessary to keep our taxes down. If you don't increase the tax base, the taxes will go up. It's not rocket science. Why do Ladner and North Delta need to be the only communities willing to share this responibility?
ReplyDeletePeople of Tsawwassen....please get involved in the committee if you think there is an injustice. To simply spew out your words of disapproval does not help with the solution.
No one that reads this blog wants to be part of the solution. They simply use every opportunity to discredit mayor and council without fully understanding the process involved in municipal politics. Thankfully, they are in the minority which was proven in the last by-election with Ian Paton winning by a landslide.
ReplyDeleteWhining and complaining is what this blog is best known for.
Actually anonymous 1:17, Ladner elected Ian Paton. He lost in Tsawwassen and North Delta. Seems to me that should say something to us. People seem to vote for a local resident to represent them and maybe we should be considering the ward system. I would venture to say Ian Paton also was elected on his stated credentials as a farmer and because people are concerned with food security and the saving of farmland and they wanted that point of view on council. He ran on that platform after all. As I recall Mr. Paton said he was against development of the Southlands and was supportive of keeping all agriculture land in Delta in agriculture. That is where he garnered support. We'll see what he actually does when the rubber hits the road. I hope he walks the walk and proves his critics wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to address anonymous at 1:05. I think the people of Tsawwassen were very involved in the planning process and once they were allowed to express their opinion did so. Delta planners and even the councillors on the committee didn't even listen to members of the committee as they expressed serious concerns and reservations about the plan they were being presented with. When their concerns were given they were told by planners and Councillor McDonald at the end of the process that the plan was a Delta produced document with "input" from the committee and the community only considered. Those comments are in the minutes of those meetings if you care to look for yourself.
Quite a few people atended those committee meetings as observers and there was a lot of attempted input by the community. Just because Delta council decided to ignore that input - especially in regards to densification and expansion of the town center - should not illicit negative comments about the community or the committee. Yes, Delta listened to the residents about the Southlands but it took public initiative to get meetings going where they could really speak about what they wanted. I also recall that residents said they wanted limited densification in the Ipsos Reid survey. Too bad Delta didn't listen and it took 3 nights of unfinished comment for them to pay attention and retreat. Tsawwassen residents are clearly more than this blog, as the number of residents who turned out at the public hearing showed.
Please tell us how many committee meetings you attended and if you were at the public hearing to support the plan. I'd be interested in knowing. There were hundreds of people at the public hearing willing to be seen and give their names and opinions publically. Maybe you'd even consider sharing your name with us as well. You know, stand up and be counted.
I find this blog site pretty entertaining and am actually surprised at the passion you people have for this stuff. Just as a passing thought from someone who's lived all over the world and paid taxes everywhere too. Bigger doesn't mean less taxes, from my experiences bigger, means higher taxes. So for the person who wrote about taking more of their share, you should be happy these people aren't clamouring for bigger. It'll just suck more taxes out of you as you have to pay for more services like police and city services. Less people somewhere else means more for you.
ReplyDeleteAh Elvis, you never cease to entertain with your holier-than-thou attitude but, as a 10+ year resident of the community I was appalled at the rhetoric and nonesense your side fabricated to make your point. Yep, full blown lies that no one ever corrected despite piles of documentation to the contrary.
ReplyDeleteSadly you've ruined this community for so many of us.
No growth = no future and, as is so often the case in our capitalist society, you and your cronies have only considered what's in it for you.
Feel good in the knowledge that you have "preserved" your elitist society to fight another day. Those of us who see a bigger, more humanitarian picture, will move forward and try to make the world better for everyone, not just for our self-serving selves.
You've taught your children a fine lesson here; if you yell loud enough and make up enough stories eventually you can beat down the people that "don't belong" in your community.
Long live white Rhodesia!
Well said Anonymous Dec. 13.
ReplyDeleteAs a 20+ year resident, I completely agree with you!
Wow folks, especially the last 2 anonymous writers. I've been away working in New York for the last year and had heard there was a new online news source for Delta and I thought I'd check it out. I'm 31 years old and grew up in Tsawwassen. When I left 8 years ago I figured T Town was a hick town that needed to grow up. I've changed my mind after living and working in cities all over the world and I'm in the process of trying to get a job in the Lower Mainland so my wife and I can move back and raise our young family there. The bigger is better thinking is actually very last century thinking and I've got many friends who have moved back for the very reason that T Town is small, friendly and safe. In fact, small towns and villages all over the world are where people strive to live. The towns that have resisted big growth and unfettered development have created healthy and happy communities where people care about each other.
ReplyDeleteThe 20th century model of big city planning is proving not to be cost effective and actually creates larger costs to the tax payer both monetarily and socially.
The rhetoric expressed in the last 2 blogs made great use of name calling and did nothing to produce actual facts behind their arguments. If they can speak to facts they might make some sense. They don't.
When I visted this past Christmas it certainly didn't look like Tsawwassen was in the midst of turning into a slum town. It was busy and everywhere we looked were baby buggies and young children. Older homes and properties have been fixed up and the town center was vibrant and busy. No it's not Vancouver or South Surrey as far as population goes but neither is it possible to walk or bike from your single family home or condo to a town center with your kids like it is in Ladner or Tsawwassen.
Oh and just to quell the "more is cheaper" thinking of those who try to sell that concept... it doesn't prove itself out. If it did, a 800 sq ft apartment in Manhatten wouldn't be selling for 2 million dollars nor would there be desperate desire for so many of us who work there to get out so we can actually let our kids go for a bike ride on their own. My expectations of a glamourous life in the exciting big cities of the world has been tempered by actually living in them.
So while T Town isn't perfect, there's a reason so many of us who left in our 20's are returning and making sacrifices to do so. Look around with an open mind and ask yourself why you've stayed here for 20+ years. Let us return to older homes we can fix up and with yards that can have gardens and our kids have trees to climb. T Town living requires sacrifices to live in for sure but then so do other places all over the world. I've learned that it's okay for people to choose the small town life for themselves and their families.
And a final comment if I may about the Rhodesia statement; It's not true and before that old comparison about Tsawwassen is once again used, I challenge those who use it to go to Rhodesia. You can't because it no longer exists and using that old chestnut merely shows just how out of touch it's users are.
That being said it's great to see a blog of this kind for what is mostly civil discourse.