It's my opinion that the DOT is involved in far more activities than a municipal government needs to be involved in. Maintainance of parks, gardens, lawns could be contracted out to a private firm. Daily pickup of litter and recycle bins could be contracted out to a private firm. This "babysitting" thing can be stopped, and replaced by private child care services. Do we really need all the things done that are being done by district staff? Council needs to realize that when they vote "refer to staff for study", that the taxpayers will end up paying for this! Gibson Bros. does a far better, and more efficient, job of major repairs than DOT can. Why are the taxpayers maintaining heavy equipment, and operators for it, when the same service is available locally at a far lower overall cost. Contract it out! This is only a few quick ideas. There's so much crap going on in the DOT office, that's costing a fortune, and no one really needs, that the list of possible cost cutting items is practically endless. A tree survey? C'mon. Now Aaron Rogers, on his own inititive without council's instruction, has started a count of houses for a new "housing survey". Who's paying for that? Mayor and council, in Tofino, for the past decade, have been terrible bosses. The office staff is running wild, no accountability, lack of responsibility, busy busy manufacturing work for themselves, and no one at the top has said "NO, Get to work!" Josie was just a political animal looking to advance her own agenda. Staff jumped onto her wagon, and they've had it great since. How many people were fired or released by DOT during Josie's seven years? None. That's amazing, almost unbelieveable that staff could be that perfect. Dan Law is too nice a guy. He's not going to put his foot down either.
I'll never forget about learning how the volunteer gardening ladies were chased out of the village green by the CUPE union, no longer allowed to look after the Betty Farmer Memorial Garden. That's "District Staff" territory. That's disgusting.
Dan Law "is too nice of a guy". He is a useful idiot and way over his head, but the problem is bigger. Who on council has ever run anything or produced any thing. Al Anderson? He buys his milk for resale from the COOP. There is no one with serious managerial success. Staff or council. The result.......Tofino ends up with its own version of the Joe Biden administration. Ideologues and wishful dreamers experimenting with your town. and your money.
Re; 9:12 Aaron Rodgers...started a count of houses....for new housing survey.
Didn't Tofino just pay some consultants $40,000 or was it $50,000 for a housing survey. Oh that's right. They got paid for their work, under Tofino supervision, Department of Community Sustainability Department er I mean Department of Redundancy Department (who would that be) which was touted as a "definitive study". Unfortunately, no one knew how many homes there actually were in Tofino? . Did I get that right?? Typical. And now the Tofino bureaucracy is counting houses as part of a new housing study???? You can't make this stuff up.
To 5:10 "no bylaw? no permits? no problem:) all I can add is no one "left behind". It's like a fucking evacuation is taking place. Just heard of another family, long time resident turfed, to make way for another illegal VCR.
Tofino should hire a consultant to compile and summarize all the studies that have been conducted and assemble them in a new report. A massive undertaking. It will allow council to postpone taking any serious action for several years while it is reviewed. By that time there will not be anyone left. So, no problem or problem solved.
Beautiful new cedar kiosk being built at the Tonquin Park parking lot, for the ticket dispenser. Shouldn't cost more than 12K-15K. I thought that we were going to use the income from parking to pay some of the sewage plant costs, and finally get the thing built. I guess not, "staff" or Tourism Tofino, or somebody, decided to spend your money on more hollow "beautification", instead.
I'll guess that if you ask at the district office, that no one will be able to tell you who actually authorized this spending. This stuff just "happens".
I don't blame the hourly staff for wanting a cost-of-living raise. The management got 5%. I was told they've been offered a one time $600 signing bonus. That won't buy much and is more of an insult than a bonus.
Having said that - Tourism should not cost tax payers of this town a nickel. I think that tourism costs - like how many extra staff are required because of it - should be covered by the taxes already raised or by shaking down tourism based operators - accommodation / food / leisure operators. Our town budget is more than 3 times larger than that of an equivalent sized town on the island. Those who directly benefit should be paying the bill.
to 9:12. Right on target. Good to hear from someone who sees the big picture.
Tofino local government acts(spends) like a town triple our size. Why is that? Got to fulfill the expectations of being a global tourist destination. Except people who live here are paying the price to keep up appearances. We need a tourism tax that directly goes to local government to support what it costs to run this place. Servicing the locals is not the cause of inflated levels of taxation.
They will tell you about all the free stuff from RMI money, but it affects the whole operation of Tofino. Maintenance, cleaning, more water more sewer more staff figuring out what to study next, more bylaw,more planning, signage, parking and management, and on and on.
Tourism Tofino - you should be picking up the slack here if there's a strike. take care of all the things that might suffer that affect the tourists. Since the late 90s tourism tofino has encouraged and worked really hard to get as many people to come here as possible… Even when we didn't have the services to handle them in good style, tourism Tofino was all for bringing as many as they could get here. And insisting that the RMI money was such a good thing because we could advertise for even more tourists to come here.....so yes use that RMI money to clean the beaches, empty the trash, keep the streets clean, chase off transient campers, drink coffee and eat donuts....keep the tourists happy.
It wasn't always like that - I remember Michael Tilitzky tring to get things like the "new" beach washroom at South Chesterman to be paid by RMI funds and being told that the RMI money was only to further propmote tourism and not for infrastucture or things that locals use. He had to explain to the BC Gov that tourists will have a better Tofino experience, and by extension more likely to return, if they don't have to shit in the woods. Since then it seems to be possible for RMI funds to be used for infrastructure if used by tourists. Now if only tourists used water, sewers, roads, street lights, garbage cans, child care, parking...
To find a budget as big as Tofino's, you can look at Williams Lake - a city of over 11,000 residents. They had a budget of 29 million - less than our $33 million budget - for 5 times the population. And get this - they have a POOL!
The Williams Lake comparison makes us look pretty bad. But it is hard to just compare total budget numbers as it doesn,t take into account moneys that have come to the town as grants or one off capital expenditures that won't be repeated any time soon.
How big is their staff? How much do the top managerial folk get paid?
These are question for valid comparison.
Oh Ya I imagine they pay quite a bit for snow removal and salting etc.
Still if you get through all that, I doubt there is a 2200 pop town in Canada with a budget as bloated as Tuff.
We can blame it on the unions, the staff, or the tourists, or the fiscally inept council. Ultimately it is the voters who are responsible...Throw the bums out. or better yet run for office. It won't take a lot of time just clarity of purpose and a thick skin.
Ratepayers Association has been collecting and sharing all this data for a few years now. Can't get people to listen. Can't get people to allow the $$$ to control their votes. Can't get people to join in and speak out and try to change things. It's still the Tofino popularity contest, not a real election. Don't matter. The DOT office is such a shithole that no one competent wants to run for office anyway. And if anyone decent ever should happen to get elected, then they gotta fight their way through or around "staff", and a mountain of "politically correct", before they can hope to accomplish anything. (Dan Law, incidentally, in my opinion, ain't doing too bad considering what he got to work with)
Why is Al Anderson still sitting there in the way?
"Considering what he got to work with" Are you referring to some form of mental deficiency? Thanks for the explanation. I always wondered what was going on there, or what may not be going on.
Yah, he's just doing his best, poor sod. Let's give him a chance.
Doing one's best when you don't have the leadership ability, knowledge and skill is not a recipe for success. He avoids controversial issues and lets Council make the decision. He is only steadfast on popular soft issues.He is like a little boy lost in the woods!
Ralph ran once, a long time ago, and almost winning scared the living ---- out of him. So they say. They say that is why he never ran again. Gave up jogging and started blogging.
The proposed sewer facility was sized to accommodate a lot of future growth. Where is the growth coming from. It sure as hell isn`t coming from the resident population but they are paying for the over build of sewage treatment to facilitate the growth of tourism
no bylaw? no permits? no problem :)
ReplyDeleteHopefully the feds move on with Universal Basic Income and then no one will have to work.
ReplyDeleteIt's my opinion that the DOT is involved in far more activities than a municipal government needs to be involved in.
ReplyDeleteMaintainance of parks, gardens, lawns could be contracted out to a private firm.
Daily pickup of litter and recycle bins could be contracted out to a private firm.
This "babysitting" thing can be stopped, and replaced by private child care services.
Do we really need all the things done that are being done by district staff? Council needs to realize that when they vote "refer to staff for study", that the taxpayers will end up paying for this!
Gibson Bros. does a far better, and more efficient, job of major repairs than DOT can. Why are the taxpayers maintaining heavy equipment, and operators for it, when the same service is available locally at a far lower overall cost. Contract it out!
This is only a few quick ideas. There's so much crap going on in the DOT office, that's costing a fortune, and no one really needs, that the list of possible cost cutting items is practically endless.
A tree survey? C'mon. Now Aaron Rogers, on his own inititive without council's instruction, has started a count of houses for a new "housing survey". Who's paying for that?
Mayor and council, in Tofino, for the past decade, have been terrible bosses. The office staff is running wild, no accountability, lack of responsibility, busy busy manufacturing work for themselves, and no one at the top has said "NO, Get to work!"
Josie was just a political animal looking to advance her own agenda. Staff jumped onto her wagon, and they've had it great since. How many people were fired or released by DOT during Josie's seven years? None. That's amazing, almost unbelieveable that staff could be that perfect. Dan Law is too nice a guy. He's not going to put his foot down either.
You cannot fire a snivelling servant for anything other than pedophellia, murder, using the wrong pronoun. You promote them.
DeleteI'll never forget about learning how the volunteer gardening ladies were chased out of the village green by the CUPE union, no longer allowed to look after the Betty Farmer Memorial Garden.
ReplyDeleteThat's "District Staff" territory.
That's disgusting.
Dan Law "is too nice of a guy". He is a useful idiot and way over his head, but the problem is bigger. Who on council has ever run anything or produced any thing. Al Anderson? He buys his milk for resale from the COOP. There is no one with serious managerial success. Staff or council. The result.......Tofino ends up with its own version of the Joe Biden administration. Ideologues and wishful dreamers experimenting with your town. and your money.
ReplyDeleteRe; 9:12 Aaron Rodgers...started a count of houses....for new housing survey.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Tofino just pay some consultants $40,000 or was it $50,000 for a housing survey. Oh that's right. They got paid for their work, under Tofino supervision, Department of Community Sustainability Department er I mean Department of Redundancy Department (who would that be) which was touted as a "definitive study". Unfortunately, no one knew how many homes there actually were in Tofino? . Did I get that right?? Typical. And now the Tofino bureaucracy is counting houses as part of a new housing study???? You can't make this stuff up.
To 5:10 "no bylaw? no permits? no problem:)
ReplyDeleteall I can add is no one "left behind". It's like a fucking evacuation is taking place. Just heard of another family, long time resident turfed, to make way for another illegal VCR.
Tofino should hire a consultant to compile and summarize all the studies that have been conducted and assemble them in a new report. A massive undertaking. It will allow council to postpone taking any serious action for several years while it is reviewed. By that time there will not be anyone left. So, no problem or problem solved.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful new cedar kiosk being built at the Tonquin Park parking lot, for the ticket dispenser. Shouldn't cost more than 12K-15K.
ReplyDeleteI thought that we were going to use the income from parking to pay some of the sewage plant costs, and finally get the thing built.
I guess not, "staff" or Tourism Tofino, or somebody, decided to spend your money on more hollow "beautification", instead.
I'll guess that if you ask at the district office, that no one will be able to tell you who actually authorized this spending. This stuff just "happens".
Does the strike mean that no one will clean the mould & green fung off of our road signs?
ReplyDelete@9:18AM.....No, they have to be at work full time to not clean the mould off the road signs.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame the hourly staff for wanting a cost-of-living raise. The management got 5%. I was told they've been offered a one time $600 signing bonus. That won't buy much and is more of an insult than a bonus.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that - Tourism should not cost tax payers of this town a nickel. I think that tourism costs - like how many extra staff are required because of it - should be covered by the taxes already raised or by shaking down tourism based operators - accommodation / food / leisure operators. Our town budget is more than 3 times larger than that of an equivalent sized town on the island. Those who directly benefit should be paying the bill.
to 9:12. Right on target. Good to hear from someone who sees the big picture.
ReplyDeleteTofino local government acts(spends) like a town triple our size. Why is that? Got to fulfill the expectations of being a global tourist destination. Except people who live here are paying the price to keep up appearances. We need a tourism tax that directly goes to local government to support what it costs to run this place. Servicing the locals is not the cause of inflated levels of taxation.
They will tell you about all the free stuff from RMI money, but it affects the whole operation of Tofino. Maintenance, cleaning, more water more sewer more staff figuring out what to study next, more bylaw,more planning, signage, parking and management, and on and on.
Tourism Tofino - you should be picking up the slack here if there's a strike. take care of all the things that might suffer that affect the tourists.
ReplyDeleteSince the late 90s tourism tofino has encouraged and worked really hard to get as many people to come here as possible… Even when we didn't have the services to handle them in good style, tourism Tofino was all for bringing as many as they could get here. And insisting that the RMI money was such a good thing because we could advertise for even more tourists to come here.....so yes use that RMI money to clean the beaches, empty the trash, keep the streets clean, chase off transient campers, drink coffee and eat donuts....keep the tourists happy.
It wasn't always like that - I remember Michael Tilitzky tring to get things like the "new" beach washroom at South Chesterman to be paid by RMI funds and being told that the RMI money was only to further propmote tourism and not for infrastucture or things that locals use. He had to explain to the BC Gov that tourists will have a better Tofino experience, and by extension more likely to return, if they don't have to shit in the woods. Since then it seems to be possible for RMI funds to be used for infrastructure if used by tourists.
ReplyDeleteNow if only tourists used water, sewers, roads, street lights, garbage cans, child care, parking...
To find a budget as big as Tofino's, you can look at Williams Lake - a city of over 11,000 residents. They had a budget of 29 million - less than our $33 million budget - for 5 times the population.
ReplyDeleteAnd get this - they have a POOL!
Sounds like some posters are confusing RMI funds with MRDT funds. Two different fish swimming in the same pond.
ReplyDeleteThe Williams Lake comparison makes us look pretty bad. But it is hard to just compare total budget numbers as it doesn,t take into account moneys that have come to the town as grants or one off capital expenditures that won't be repeated any time soon.
ReplyDeleteHow big is their staff?
How much do the top managerial folk get paid?
These are question for valid comparison.
Oh Ya I imagine they pay quite a bit for snow removal and salting etc.
Still if you get through all that, I doubt there is a 2200 pop town in Canada with a budget as bloated as Tuff.
We can blame it on the unions, the staff, or the tourists, or the fiscally inept council. Ultimately it is the voters who are responsible...Throw the bums out. or better yet run for office. It won't take a lot of time just clarity of purpose and a thick skin.
Ratepayers Association has been collecting and sharing all this data for a few years now. Can't get people to listen. Can't get people to allow the $$$ to control their votes. Can't get people to join in and speak out and try to change things. It's still the Tofino popularity contest, not a real election. Don't matter. The DOT office is such a shithole that no one competent wants to run for office anyway. And if anyone decent ever should happen to get elected, then they gotta fight their way through or around "staff", and a mountain of "politically correct", before they can hope to accomplish anything. (Dan Law, incidentally, in my opinion, ain't doing too bad considering what he got to work with)
ReplyDeleteWhy is Al Anderson still sitting there in the way?
He needs the money????? or his ass is glued to the chair.
ReplyDelete"Considering what he got to work with" Are you referring to some form of mental deficiency? Thanks for the explanation. I always wondered what was going on there, or what may not be going on.
ReplyDeleteYah, he's just doing his best, poor sod. Let's give him a chance.
Doing one's best when you don't have the leadership ability, knowledge and skill is not a recipe for success. He avoids controversial issues and lets Council make the decision. He is only steadfast on popular soft issues.He is like a little boy lost in the woods!
ReplyDeleteAt least he ran . I didn’t .
ReplyDeleteRalph ran once, a long time ago, and almost winning scared the living ---- out of him. So they say. They say that is why he never ran again. Gave up jogging and started blogging.
ReplyDeleteNo, I wasn’t scared.
ReplyDeleteThe proposed sewer facility was sized to accommodate a lot of future growth. Where is the growth coming from. It sure as hell isn`t coming from the resident population but they are paying for the over build of sewage treatment to facilitate the growth of tourism
ReplyDeleteAm I wrong