City Hall provides some amazing pay and benefits for staff, but the elected officials don't exactly enjoy the same standard.

A paltry pay increase to the Mayor and Council of Vancouver is long overdue, but as the article points out, our city is woeful when it comes to compensating out local representatives.

City Council is usually described as a half-time job, allowing for Councillors to maintain other employment.  The reality of the situation is a far different story, however.

Between Council meetings, appearances and events, constituent meetings, caucus meetings, reading and briefings and dealing with city staff, it is nearly impossible to be able to maintain any kind of professional normalcy away from City Hall.

I have never ascribed the act of seeking public office as a means to become rich, because aside from being a fallacy, it clearly involves more motivation than financial gain.  That being said, the new figure of $63,610 still seems a long way off from properly compensating Councillors for the 60+ hour weeks they put in for a “half-time” job.

If you’re on the Park Board, you’re even worse off.

Park Board Commissioners make approximately $12,000 a year for what I have been told can constitute working weeks of 20-30 hours – with no increase in sight any time soon.

A city of Vancouver’s size, particularly with an at large system, means that responsibilities are for more pronounced than the other cities listed in the above-linked article.

Now while I don’t think that municipal parties have had trouble attracting quality candidates, future generations of candidates are going to be heavily courted by a number of industries facing the crunch of demographics.

Public service is honourable and worthy of respect, yet as we have all seen over the past few years, the level of personal, professional and character attacks on elected officials has reached an all-time high – particularly in this city.

Couple this with the deep personal sacrifices one makes with regards to their relationships and families, and the fact that the wages do not in any way match up to the overall output of what is required in the job, and I feel as though the appeal of political office will continue to dwindle.  And if you don’t believe me, just talk to the NPA.

With the rate of increase that the Vancouver Mayor and Council are attached to, they will never catch up to their counterparts across Canada.  The kind of salary adjustment needed to be on par would require of an act of Council by way of a vote – a scenario that is unlikely to ever happen.

Like them or hate them, agree with them or not, your elected officials in Vancouver are working hard for their money.  They deserve our respect and our gratitude for the time that they put into representing our best interests.

• I have already posted my reaction to Michael Geller’s comments in the Globe last week – comments that have now inspired an opinion piece in Saturday’s Vancouver Sun by former Vision City Councillor and Mayoral candidate Jim Green, a rebuttal from Geller, and a number of follow-up reactions.  From my point of view, here is the key message that I want to get across to Mr. Geller:  While your history and personality do not seem of the character of someone who has a prejudice against the poor people, your choice of words to describe your position are offensive – plain and simple:  “If you think of the population as divided into five groups on a social and economic basis –As, Bs, Cs, Ds, Es, – when you start putting together the As and the Es, there is the potential for people to not get along.  If you’re going to mix people, it should be As, Bs and Cs together or Cs, Ds and Es.”  With all due respect Michael, no matter how you might have referred to people at CMHC at one time, the connotations of such classifications are very clear.  How does an “A” on a report card compare to an “E”?  It isn’t your theory that making all of the units market housing might have a positive impact on sales so much as it is how you referred to people – that is what has rubbed so many, including myself, the wrong way.  Furthermore, any of your assertions that the the Ds and Es will include the mentally ill and drug addicted clientele is false and misleading fear mongering, because you are very aware that this has never been a part of the plan for social housing, which has always been directed toward low income families and seniors.  I will be listening to CKNW at 9am this morning to hear Geller and Green have a debate…it should be very interesting.

• Over the weekend I received a call from a friend who said that he had been approached by several within the NPA fold to run for a spot on Council.  This young, South Asian gent has ample previous political experience (including putting his name on a ballot), and had been fed the line that it was important for the party to have some ethnic representation amongst the candidates that come forward.  I asked him if he knew who he was speaking to, and he said no because he hadn’t been following municipal politics that closely.  After explaining how the folks that approached him would likely enjoy stringing me up and lynching me, I also gave him context about the offer.  The NPA is desperate to attract a dynamic, diverse and fresh slate of candidates that hopefully will have a little star power thrown into the mix.  My friend fits the bill in a few respects, but ultimately I told him that as a South Asian male running for Council under the NPA banner, he was going to have a very steep political hill to climb to get elected (spoken from personal experience with my involvement in the last election).  It is funny that certain NPA sources tell me how people are approaching them everyday with regards to candidacy, while others outside of the party’s sphere of spin pass along stories of how they are beating the bushes trying to find those brave souls that are willing to compromise their livelihoods, reputations and sense of hope within politics to be associated with the moribund NPA.

• I found his insight on Suzanne Anton’s flip-flop useful, considering his links to the NPA are obviously far more pronounced than mine, and my sources withing that fold are few and far between.  But the man also detailed how he tried attacking a cyclist with a baseball bat, and how he and his children laughed about running that same cyclist off the road with his car a few days later.  Alex, I get your desire to protect your kids at all costs.  I also understand about being enraged that someone would scare your children and speak that way in front of them.  But I really think that you need help…professional help.  I strongly encourage you to look into it as soon as possible.

• Ian, I’m with you on Montreal being way ahead of us when it comes to biking infrastructure.  And, I also would LOVE to see a similar system to BIXI in this city.  In fact, it looks as though Toronto might be headed in the same direction (although with this wacko about to take the reins at the Mayor’s office, who knows what will happen).  But as someone who was in Montreal just last month, let me also point out that the cost of the program is also a source of controversy for Montreal City Hall (yes, I know that they have more than enough these days).  I am desperately looking for statistics to back this up, but I distinctly remember listening to a radio program which detailed how the BIXI program was millions of dollars in the red on an annual basis.  So, as much as I would love 5000 bikes to line our streets for people to use, I also want it to be cost effective and something that will not be a huge drain on the taxpayer.

• A nice theory about how taking a loss on the Olympic Village is just “business.”  But this isn’t about the city protecting its ass to cover up for politicians, as the Province is describing.  The City stepped in as the lender because it had to – the Olympics were on the way, and there was no room for some New York financier in trouble of its own to be the one who provided the necessary funds for completion.  Thus, if the city is going to give incentives like tax breaks and avoidance of maintenance fees, so be it.  This is about recovering our dollars, and that is the motivation.

• It’s the little label that could, which truly became a global phenomenon at many points over the past 25 years.  I raise a glass to Terry McBride, because Nettwerk is a Vancouver success story with some amazing musical triumphs (Lilith Fair being one).

• I have gone hard at these guys in the past, but I think that their response to the Mayor’s West End Advisory Committee is classy and encouraging.  Like WEN correctly points out, “Much misinformation has been circulating about rezonings in the West End. We hope this Committee will seek out all the key facts, and share everything openly with the public in a timely way.”  I couldn’t agree more.

OK, off to listen to Geller and Green go at it.  I might check back in after if there is anything of significance to comment on.

• I can’t say that I will ever support this type of behaviour from a reader, because it is unacceptable to take anger over a blog post to the level of a real-world threat of harm.  That being said, I cannot say that I am surprised that someone took issue with his post on the Pride Parade, which as I wrote last week is one of the more offensive things that I have read recently.  I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that it was one of the parents of the children he so flagrantly featured on his website for the purpose of ridicule.

• I clearly do not know the law well enough, nor do I get drunk often enough at a club to maximize my potential for a cash settlement.  But can someone please explain to me how falling over in a drunken state entitles you to $6 million?  And, how can I get a piece of that kind of action?  I am completely confused by this story.

• Here is Charlie Smith’s response to my scathing critique of his blog post over the weekend.  To which I say this:  Charlie, your premise is not something that is wrong in terms of its analysis, par se.  It is your timing and your lack of consideration for the fact that your piece was posted just days after the man had such a serious operation.  To speculate about what might happen if the man dies when it was clearly reported that he was recovering and in good spirits does not qualify as “shed[ding] light on certain areas that the other media are ignoring.”  It is a morbid speculation that does little to look at the circumstances surrounding a possible election (other than your brief mention of the polls).  I guess you and I will disagree on this one – you think you were doing your journalistic duty to examine such a premise, and I think it was a classless piece of “journalism” that looks at at “what if” at a time when a man was trying to emerge from a serious brain ailment.  And no, I don’t think I am particularly harsh on you…but I do “operate,” as you say, based on the premise that a writer should be held responsible for what they put into print.  This statement – “If Chrétien keeps “winning” on the health front, as Harper so cleverly put it, the Conservatives probably have a better chance of winning the next election” – about says it all for me in terms of the quality of the post.  And, even though I am hugely reluctant to ever be in agreement with this individual, I wasn’t the only one who thought that your piece was offensive.

• I am going to see if I can pop over to this later in the morning.  It should be interesting to see whether the crowd is hostile towards staff uniformly.  As we all area aware, people are always more inclined to come out to complain and protest than to offer support for an idea, so I am suspecting a pretty one-sided crowd at this session.  Although, there have been far more letters like this in the Vancouver Sun in the past few weeks than are contrary.  Should be interesting to see how many Councillors (if any) bother to show up.

• This is a nice story for the Whitecaps, although when Whitecaps director of soccer operations Tom Soehn says that Dunfield “brings a “wealth of experience” to the team, I wonder if he is referring to the player’s experiences as “a teenager in England with money, adulation and, sometimes, more than one girlfriend.”  Me thinks that the Vancovuer Soccer groupies over here might not be quite as rabid as back in England, however.

• It is funny how this story about the cash infusion from the feds and province to the Vancouver Aquarium was peppered with little to no coverage about the question of whales in captivity by the local media.  Oh wait, there is no political grandstanding which clearly goes against majority public opinion or contractual obligations to feed the machine, hence the silence.  Like I said before, this was a case of a politician always aching for attention capitalizing on an issue that was topical and timely, but certainly not pressing or reflective of a growing demand within the city.

• I have a fantastic idea for a potential City Council candidate.  This choice could break some barriers, and create history.  The pitch needs to be made very soon.  I will keep you posted, mostly through allusion and innuendo.  I hope she is interested.

That’s all for now folks in a lazy summer environment for local politics.  Enjoy your day.

Shameless political advertising or serving in the job that he was elected to?

There was once a time where famed blogger and potential future NPA City Council candidate Mike Klassen thought that promoting the Olympics and Paralympics, and more specifically the free activities and events that populated the city during those periods, was a top priority:

“The Vision Vancouver Council seem to have had an aversion to promoting the Games since they were elected, so as to not upset part of their base who oppose the event.” – August 18, 2009

“Dwindling public dollars needn’t be the stumbling block for BC and Vancouver to sell itself to the world. Any savvy marketer knows there are a million opportunities to generate international buzz, and we only have to exploit them — NOW!” – August 18, 2009

“It wasn’t rocket science to understand that most of us can’t afford to attend Olympic events, but want to enjoy the party. How come bloggers are the ones making things happen?” – Jan 26, 2010

“Perhaps the best way that we get good value for our investment is to partake of the dozens of free events being staged during the Games. Think of the message we’d send to the world when thousands of us show up to celebrate in our own cities.” – February 23, 2010

“Then, almost as if the light went on, Canadians fell in love with hosting the Olympic & Paralympic Games. The change in mood was so sudden and so ebullient, that it came as a complete surprise to Games veterans. Even Jacques Rogge described Vancouver’s enthusiastic embrace as unprecedented.

Many theories exist now on why it worked so well, but there is no doubt in our minds that the key ingredient was the numerous free activities.” April 13, 2010

Klassen was also a supporter and web designer for Mayor Sam Sullivan around the time that the former Mayor appeared in the ad pictured above, designed to promote businesses who were facing disruption due to the Canada Line construction.

Yet from that point until the present, Klassen has had some political setbacks.  First, Klassen witnessed his own brethren within the NPA turn on their former fearless leader, supporting an adversary who at the time claimed that “a lot of people have lost confidence in Sam” and that there was “concern within the party that Sam may have been taking money for one purpose and using it for another” with regards to fundraising.

And then of course came Vision Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson, whose emergence on the municipal political scene rankled Klassen to no end, turning him and his writing partner into the new Mayor’s “biggest critics.”

Along this bumpy political journey in recent years, Klassen has developed a condition where he often forgets what he once advocated for.  Mike’s Mother’s Day post (linked to in the last paragraph) is a perfect example of this unfortunate syndrome.

Klassen takes issue with a city expenditure of $16,025 on a “radio ad campaign across several stations that “welcomed” and “thanked” citizens for enjoying the Games” and “reminded everyone to take advantage of all the “FREE” activities.”

Klassen asserts that the Mayor’s “invisibility” during the Olympics prompted this campaign, which he also claims representeed a “highly unusual and costly decision to help build his profile.”

In what has to be considered the height of conceit, Klassen also argues that the fact that his website went “viral during the Games” provided another motivating factor to “spend precious tax dollars to remind people to ‘have fun’ and to ‘enjoy all the free events’.”

The ludicrous and self-absorbed nature of such declarations needs to be exposed, as Klassen’s possible political aspirations seem to be the sun that is eclipsing any hope of rational thought:

1. Vancouver hosted the largest event in Canadian history, with dozens and dozens of attractions and events available to experience for free.  Furthermore, the people in Vancouver were the main ambassadors to the world on behalf of the City, imbuing visitors with a sense of how friendly Canadians and Vancouverites truly are.  As such, how can an expenditure of $16,025 producing ads that informed and acknowledged these facts over a period of close to four weeks, across four different radio stations, “useless” and/or politically promotional?
2. In spite of Klassen’s claims about the Mayor being invisible, I have heard from many people that they saw Gregor everywhere.  Whether it was doing regular standups with NBC’s Today Show or any number of international media outlets, touring events and venues, or simply walking down the street where he was regularly mobbed by people simply wanting to say hello or congratulations, Robertson was one of the most prominent individuals in terms of exposure during the Games.  Then again, blogging and gushing over website traffic can lead to carpal and mental tunnel syndromes, disallowing accurate reflections of what is really happening in the real world, off of the internet.
3. Klassen is often critical of City Manager Penny Ballem hogging the spotlight when it comes to the dissmination of city-related information.  But when the Mayor gets on the horn to talk to residents of what is available to participate in, and how thankful and appreciative the city is for the unofficial hosting efforts delivered by the public, he continues to be critical.  So Mike, who else should have been featured in such ads?
4. And if Klassen is arguing that it is inappropriate for the Mayor to be engaging in such advertising at all, does that mean that Sam Sullivan’s appearance in an the above ad to spur business within Yaletown was also politically motivated and against protocol?  The City of Vancouver had to be a part of the mix in mitigating the damaging effects on business due to the Canada Line, in conjunction with the provincial and federal governments as well as VANOC.  The same goes for the City of Vancouver promoting free activities and encouraging good will by citizens within its geographic purview.  This kind of attack by Klassen is absolutely ridiculous – both Sullivan and Robertson were doing what should rightfully be expected of a Mayor…namely, to take responsibility and show leadership with regards to a pressing civic issue or event.
5. Mayors engage in promotion of their city all the time…just ask Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, or Richard Daley, Mayor of Chicago.  Why are these the chosen individuals chosen as the face that promotes their respective cities?  Because by virtue of their job, they are clearly the main spokespeople on behalf of the citizens.  Just because Klassen’s guy Sullivan was diminutive and relatively shy by nature, making such promotion a real difficulty for him, doesn’t mean that future successors should take the same approach.  By contrast, whether it is developing and subsequently selling a distinct brand for the city, or standing by large-scale visions for his term in office (ending street homelessness, creating the greenest municipal environment in the world), Robertson is using his business-background inspired skill set to keep Vancouver in the global consciousness.

It is understandable that Klassen has such trouble with the concept of marketing in light of his staunch support for a party whose best idea for maintaining relevance is to change its name.

But if my prediction is correct and Klassen is indeed pining to run for a spot on City Council, he would be well advised to take a page out of Gregor Robertson’s playbook when it comes to promoting his wares beyond the world of blogging.