Robson Square Renovations

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Vin

Why do you like whining about my comments then?

I do like it when you get triggered though. That shows someone is paying attention, and don't worry: I won't ask you to be an advocate in anything else.

I'm not triggered, I'm just here to dunk on you when I feel like I need an easy win.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Yup - looks the same.
I suppose they didn't want to spend any money on a new design or approval process.

Another example of things not improving for this City. This is a modern eyesore smack in the middle of architecture from a more gracious time.

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I'm not triggered, I'm just here to dunk on you when I feel like I need an easy win.

Sorry to hear you need that to lift the ego being on the losing end of the stick for far too long.

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

i wish it was made up. they were quite condescending and rude. this was before that incident with the weapons/threatening family thing. i didn't bother pushing them on anything. i could tell that no matter what, they were the bleeding heart type that thinks no vagrants can do wrong and they re all just victims of the system. though they did try hard to make me feel the the bad/guilty party for trying to keep the park from becoming the next ruined park downtown. i would say its a futile attempt.

that is sad to hear that happened... do you know if you ever made it into the queue for residential permit parking? i would encourage you not to give up on that. dont let terrible CoV (not all are) discourage you.

That's ridiculous! They City is protecting those that constantly break the law, forgetting the fact that those they irk are the ones paying their fat salaries: not the law-breaking riff-raffs.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Vin

That's ridiculous! They City is protecting those that constantly break the law, forgetting the fact that those they irk are the ones paying their fat salaries: not the law-breaking riff-raffs.

You think someone answering phones for the city is making a "fat salary"?

[TwoFace]

They have the waterfalls turned on ... very impressive

** and now they are off ... just "testing" I guess

[Vin]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

You think someone answering phones for the city is making a "fat salary"?

I bet it would be compared to the same job in the private sector.

[LeftCoaster]

Professionals make far FAR more in the private sector than the public. A lawyer at the city makes a fraction of what they make in house or in private practice, likewise for many other professionals like architects, accountants, comms professionals etc....

This is why the City, and any publicly funded and scrutinized entity, have such issues attracting and retaining talent.

Working for the city in a more entry level, union or commoditized role may be slightly more advantageous than private, but those are not the guys making fat salaries.

No one goes to work for any city to make big money.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Professionals make far FAR more in the private sector than the public. A lawyer at the city makes a fraction of what they make in house or in private practice, likewise for many other professionals like architects, accountants, comms professionals etc....

This is why the City, and any publicly funded and scrutinized entity, have such issues attracting and retaining talent.

Working for the city in a more entry level, union or commoditized role may be slightly more advantageous than private, but those are not the guys making fat salaries.

No one goes to work for any city to make big money.

We are talking about those who "answer phones", not professionals who require a good education and degrees. In the private sector, most of them get the amount of pay based on their contributions, and/or the amount of work they put in.

Please comment with something relevant.

[LeftCoaster]

You said fat salaries.... city workers answering phones don't make fat salaries.

Please comment with something intelligent.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Vin

We are talking about those who "answer phones", not professionals who require a good education and degrees. In the private sector, most of them get the amount of pay based on their contributions, and/or the amount of work they put in.

Please comment with something relevant.

If by "fat salaries" you mean city employees earn more compared to employees of call centres located in the Philippines which answer the phones for private companies, I guess you're right.

But paying someone $16 or $18 or even $20 per hour to do unskilled work isn't a big deal IMO, because if the CoV won't pay living wages to its employees why would we expect any private company to do so?

[Vin]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

You said fat salaries.... city workers answering phones don't make fat salaries.

Please comment with something intelligent.

Nice try, but that's not what I said: that's what FarmerHaight implied.
Please read before coming up with something ridiculous, and read before commenting.

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

You think someone answering phones for the city is making a "fat salary"?

[FarmerHaight]

Deleted

[Vin]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

It seems like you have issues remembering what you wrote.

When I said "the City", I was referring to the general staff of the City who do not take the disorderliness of the City seriously. As tax payers, we don't just pay people who answer phonecalls, but everyone else working for the City.

You were the one who implied otherwise.

[FarmerHaight]

Here's the full context of this discussion:

Originally Posted by Klazu

Please tell me you are making this up and they didn't actually tell you that? What does it even mean to keep an eye on them?? I hope you reminded the imbecile on the phone that you pay their salary.

In this post, Klazu is clearly saying that VancouverOfTheFuture should have reminded the person who answered the phone that VancouverOfTheFuture pays that city employee's salary.

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

i wish it was made up. they were quite condescending and rude. this was before that incident with the weapons/threatening family thing. i didn't bother pushing them on anything. i could tell that no matter what, they were the bleeding heart type that thinks no vagrants can do wrong and they re all just victims of the system. though they did try hard to make me feel the the bad/guilty party for trying to keep the park from becoming the next ruined park downtown. i would say its a futile attempt.

Here again, VancouverOfTheFuture is only speaking about the person who answered the phone. Not the mayor, nor any other member of council, nor anyone else with any decision-making power at City Hall.

Originally Posted by Vin

That's ridiculous! They City is protecting those that constantly break the law, forgetting the fact that those they irk are the ones paying their fat salaries: not the law-breaking riff-raffs.

And finally, continuing this same vein of conversation, you declared that the city's employees are making fat salaries. So either:

1. You misunderstood the entire conversation, and thought the discussion was about Stewart or one of his cronies, or
2. You didn't read carefully, which is what you are accusing LeftCoaster of, or
3. You joined the rage train and decided to post some nonsense before thinking about it.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Vin

That's ridiculous! They City is protecting those that constantly break the law, forgetting the fact that those they irk are the ones paying their fat salaries: not the law-breaking riff-raffs.

It's literally exactly what you said.

Can you even read?

[Vin]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

It's literally exactly what you said.

Can you even read?

Oh, gawd.

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

You said fat salaries.... city workers answering phones don't make fat salaries.

Please comment with something intelligent.

Never said that.

So you think the mayor, councillors, City planners and other managers make minuscule salaries? Come on....

[WarrenC12]

Work for the public sector! Same pay, more abuse!

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Vin

When I said "the City", I was referring to the general staff of the City who do not take the disorderliness of the City seriously. As tax payers, we don't just pay people who answer phonecalls, but everyone else working for the City.

You were the one who implied otherwise.

I would encourage you to take a sample of this list and tell us exactly who is making significantly more than they would on the private job market.

Now, $300k seems like a lot of compensation but there are plenty of people in the private market who earn $600k plus without a lot of differentiating skill sets. I would hazard a guess that if Paul Mochrie had gone into finance or management consulting after his Queen's MBA instead of working for various health regions of the CoV, he would easily be clearing $600k 20 years after graduation.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Vin

Never said that.

Then you were out to lunch and completely off topic.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Vin

Never said that.

So you think the mayor, councillors, City planners and other managers make minuscule salaries? Come on....

You literally said exactly that.

And yes compared to the private sector planners do not make good money, like not good money at all.

A development coordinator with a couple years experience is making low to mid 6 figures in the private sector, some of those planners have decades of experience and make less.

Go up the chain and it's even more pronounced. The City manager is essentially the COO of Vancouver and makes a few hundred K to manage a multi-billion dollar entity, that same job in the private sector would be well into the 7 figures.

[seamusmcduff]

^ Some people have no concept of what people can make in management/high level roles, especially in development. Most wages in the public sector are decent, but they absolutely do not compare to what you can make in the private sector, except for maybe some select entry level positions. A janitor at the City may make more than one at Walmart, but are we really going to complain that someone is make 20 bucks an hour instead of min. wage?

And the idea from Klazu that you can be demanding of someone at the City because "you pay their salary" is so obtuse. If that was the case, then they should give you all $0.01 worth of attention, since that would be all you deserve based on the amount of your taxes that end up actually going to them. City workers should provide good service because it's their job, but don't act like you own them