A New Council, Same Closed Doors
Former Councillor Shila Sharps put it this way in a social media comment in response to a comment made by Councillor Hellman: "The requirement isn't to go into Camera when it's minutia, and detailed and boring. The only reason you should be in camera is third-party reputational harm, etc. The exceptions are few."
Graffiti Trial Update, MLA BBQ, Democracy Dogs
A jurisdictional scan of other municipalities done by The Owl shows that they do not differentiate between permanent and non permanent graffiti mediums. Of course there is no way to scan for how many graffiti tickets were issued for chalk.
Task Force to Tackle Social Disorder Failure: 15 Months, 2 Accomplishments
The task force isn't designed for action. It's designed for representation. And representation without decision-making is just a talking shop. 20 people in a room doesn't give you 20 solutions. It gives you 20 reasons why something won't work. Done is better than perfect. But with 20 people, done never happens.
Winter is Coming
Summer Break, Closed Doors, and a Big Middle Finger to Transparency
Remember how well that worked August 19 2024 when the open meeting was cancelled, ostensibly for a lack of agenda items? That time it was after the summer break. The September 3 2024 meeting went into overtime - it was a marathon session at just over 5 hours that went until 11:32pm. Nobody makes good decisions that close to midnight.
3 Years, 2 Applications: Medicine Hat's TNR Clowder-F*ck
The first application took months to approve. By then you already have another batch of kittens that did not have to be born. Council may have had good intentions at the time they passed the bylaw, wanting all the boxes to be ticked…but they went too far. They created a barrier instead of a path forward.
