With a boisterous debate on the prospect of a Roundabout at McBride and Second Avenue West making the rounds through the growing number of Social Media forums in Prince Rupert in the last week, Mayor Herb Pond went to the Whiteboard to try to sell the City's vision for the project to a somewhat skeptical collective.
Releasing his TED like Talk on Roudabouts through his own Social Media Portal, Mr. Pond provided a checklist of sorts as to why the Roundabout will be a valuable addition to the cityscape.
Most of it highlighting the delivery of provincial funding for the infrastructure that will be underneath the roadway and how it could also be the spur for development of more affordable housing for the community,
The Mayor also acknowledging that a portion of the Court House land and a few of its trees, will be taken out to provide for the Roundabout.
Something that my yet generate more debate before the first shovel hits the ground ...
And while the Rondabout Talk was useful in trying to put out the grassfire of public opinion percolating towards the project.
Considering events from earlier last week, it made for a curious priority list for public conversation, what with the City's Water system seemingly near collapse again on Tuesday evening, the Mayor having recounted for CBC Vancouver of the near Armageddon scenario that was presented to civic crews late into the evening on October 17th.
The local media was a little slower to picking up on the theme of Armageddon, both the weekly paper and TV7 noting of the apparently perilous situation later in the week.
While CFNR radio noted of the incident a few days earlier, but without the end is nigh approach of the other two media groups.
Prince Rupert still awaiting federal funds after major water main break
Prince Rupert Water System Collapsing (video)
Boil Water Notice issued in Prince Rupert as crews work tirelessly overnight to patch new water main breaks
Regardless of the approach to the story, it clearly was a concerning situation for the community and one perhaps more worthy of a TED talk than the roundabout was, the Whiteboard after all an instrument that was used for water issues in August.
So, with words like a threats of evacuation hovering over the city as the Northern View noted, or water system collapsing as CFTK TV observed: perhaps a return to the Whiteboard to explain just what happened on Tuesday night would have helped
First to provide details as to what exactly led to the emergency event, as well as to indicate if there isn't perhaps some kind of double safety procedure the city could implement to avoid the situation again.
After that, maybe a bit of an explanation as to what the City might have in mind when it comes to evacuating an entire community and where exactly everyone is going to be dispatched should the worst come to pass.
Finally, maybe some kind of idea as to what the City plans to do should the Federal government remain tied up in the bureaucratic ways of the flow of federal funding.
Fortunately for the residents of the community, there is an opportunity for a more fulsome review of the events of last Tuesday, that comes this evening with the last Public City Council Session for October tonight.
The Agenda for the evening offers a few spots during the session where more information sharing could take place.
Operations Director Richard Pucci is set to provide a Major Projects update, the Mayor or Council members could take advantage of that presentation to ask him the questions above.
Since infrastructure is on the Agenda, it could even make for a question from the Public in the Public comments portion of tonight's session.
Or, Mayor Pond could use the the Council Comment period at the end of the session for a community update on the near dire situation from Tuesday.
If he doesn't take up the opportunity for comment, the six members of Council could always bring up the topic.
Regardless of who takes the initiative, almost seven days since the event, there should be some form of public account of what happened and what steps are required to ensure that at least the most recent scenario doesn't happen again.
A look at the past work on Infrastructure can be reviewed here.
Our preview of tonight's Council Session can be explored here.
And this type of narrative is exactly why the mayor will always be damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
ReplyDeleteHe provides transparency, a more detailed explanation, actively and publicly confronted criticism with more detail, and yet is criticized for being transparent and explaining the wrong project
Not so much damned what he did, but rather, curious as to what hd didn't
DeleteSo, you would seem to be saying that there is no need for an explanation on the larger of the two issues of last week?
As for me anyways, what's going on up at Montreal Circle today, seems far more important to the community than a roundabout two years down the line or so. NCR
Talk about a bad faith straw man rebuttal!
DeleteLOL, what is "bad faith" or "straw induced" about it?
DeleteHonestly, the theme of the piece is the need for more information on the water issue of Tuesday ... NCR
I live in Prince Rupert and things here are in a dire situation. The amount of information we get on what is going on is no where near reality.
ReplyDeleteLook at the fires or any disasters down south and they learnt the lesson to get the truth out to the public as soon as practicable.
Whatever is going on at the reservoir should of been stabilized 6 months.
I am getting real tired of the city praising the engineering staff on their work in a difficult situation then having things blow up a bit later.
I totally agree with your last point, they need to move beyond the staff praising ritual. Some council members seem to have little or nothing to say so they praise staff as if something great is to be celebrated, instead of talking about next steps or how things fit into the bigger picture. I think that Mayor Pond is genuinely trying to elevate the level of council discussion.
DeleteWell as an observer I would say he is not having much success!
DeleteHe's trying though, and he is talking about immediate problems rather going on about visions and blue skies.
DeleteThey still are on about housing this that and the other thing. They have not done well on the very basics like line painting, pothole patching and Sidewalk repair.
DeleteTen years just basics then we can talk!