The #ScraptheTaxCap petition program which launched September 9th, is closing in on the conclusion of its third week of social media messaging.
One of the more recent of the dispatches outlining the plans in motion to launch a one day blitz of the community on Sunday, that to generate more signatures for the original call for tax fairness for the municipality from the province and Port.
However, for Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain, who has become the official social media relay station for the project, the travels around the city will be much more than just a collection of names, but a chance for the community to rally to his call to Save the City.
The use of the phrase that has become one of the ongoing narratives to his Mayoralty in recent years was included in his Social Media post of Wednesday.
Which is where he outlines how those wanting to help Save Rupert should consider signing up for a petition door knocking shift for Sunday.
As part of the lead up to the city wide petition door knocking campaign, both the Scrap the Tax Cap petition proponents and the Mayor have continued with their daily updates to their work.
The rolling archive of messaging highlighting a range of the themes from their initiative that have stoked the conversation and served to consume a significant portion of the discussion time from Monday's Election forum.
You can review how the candidates for mayor and Council spoke the issue from our Election Forum pieces below:
Mayoralty candidate commentaries
Council candidate commentaries
Considering that all twelve of those seeking office on October 15th have signed on to the campaign, you may have an opportunity to ask some of them to expand on the topic with you.
So should they knock on your door as part of the army of volunteers summoned by the Mayor for Sunday, take the opportunity for a discussion of all the details and facts to the issue.
As well as to raise any questions you may have on the initiative before you sign or decline.
We've been following the #ScraptheTaxCap themes through our City Taxation and Fees archive page which features a number to stories to the theme of the last three weeks.
Where has the mayor been the last 8 years. I look at the state of the city since he took office and am offended that this is considered acceptable.
ReplyDeleteBluster doesn’t fix the fact the mayor has had pet projects but didn’t really seem to care about the condition on the city overall.
PRPA acknowledges a $1.6 million gap between port tax cap rates and the City's current mil rate for major industry (not counting the Provincial grant). If the caps are removed, how much does the outgoing mayor think major industry tax rates should be raised in order to plug a $600 million infrastructure deficit or even a meaningful part of that? Of course, he doesn't have to answer that because he's leaving office.
ReplyDeleteI respect that the petition organizers are anonymous and entirely focused on the issues rather than themselves and that they have done a lot of work.
The outgoing mayor, though, just cannot help putting himself at the centre of attention. He is becoming an embarrassment, and it really is time for him to leave the stage.
When it takes office, the new mayor and council will have to distance themselves from him and make a fresh start if it wants to be taken seriously on the tax cap issue by the Province and other stakeholders. Expressions like 'highway robbery' and 'save the city' do not play well in other places.
I think you will be in for a rude awakening
DeleteVery well said. I comment from the "peanut gallery"
DeleteA steep tax hike that's big enough to 'save the city' from its infrastructure deficit would be a rude awakening to a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteOther than a bullet point during annual budgets, and a couple of slides during the annual Mayor Ted Talk. The tax cap has been a backburner issue for eight years with this administration.
ReplyDeleteNow, after almost a decade. A hashtag will unleash public fury that will drive change and dismantle the institutions that imprison us.
Straight from the playbook of Lee Brain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqHFrz-RVac
It's interesting to look back at the 2011 playbook on how to organize "The Great Unleashing" of a process to "change the governing structure of the community". Some of the techniques have been used to make the elected government effectively synonymous with the Mayor. It's also unsettling because optimism and collaboration were replaced somewhere along the line with hostility and vitriol towards other institutions, and a somewhat apocalyptic view of the world. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete