Winnipeg's new Planning Director

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by flatlander

^^ Why do you think he would keep his hands off the Exchange?

I don't. I didn't say that either mind you. I hope he does though and as long as that remains the case then he gets a free pass for the most part.

Intended or not, the mayor's comments did not go unnoticed at city hall, where morale is said to have plummeted to a new low in recent years. The "us-them" battle between mayors and civil servants has been a constant problem at city hall since former mayor Susan Thompson was elected in 1992, but it continued under Glen Murray and now under Katz.

Well yeah, now that some people who have been on council for the past twenty years have been given the boot , I guess morale would plummet.

Winnipeg mayors have tended to use their influence to ensure that key openings in the civic bureaucracy were filled by candidates of their choosing, or at least their approval. It's one thing, however, to hire someone with whom you've had a past professional relationship and who has all the qualifications for the job. Quite another to hire a close personal friend and occasional business partner whose qualifications are in doubt.
As the new director of the property and planning department, Sheegl is responsible for a variety of complex tasks and services, including land-use planning, heritage preservation, building permits, housing programs, zoning, parking, riverbank management, real estate sales, business development and more.

Fair enough. A pretty simplistic summary of what a planner does but okay,sure, the basic fact still stands. Of course, it doesn't explain why his predecessors who were so adept at urban planning managed to let sprawl go unchecked , put rapid transit on the back burner for the past half century, and allowed the core to deteriorate. Hell, about the only thing we can say in their defense is that thanks to their inability to properly control development, they allowed the Exchange to be forgotten and neglected until it was a novelty. This is pretty much what archeology is all about too. Funny how ignoring garbage for long enough makes it valuable. (And that's not to say that the Exchange is garbage but rather, it certainly was considered as such not so long ago)

As such, directors have tended to be people with professional credentials in public administration or urban planning, which is the study of healthy, secure and sustainable urban environments.

By all accounts, Sheegl knows nothing about any of those things. Councillors who questioned him at a private seminar after he was hired say he seemed out of his depth and displayed little knowledge about the complexity of large cities. In fact, some of his answers, including his view that unused heritage buildings in the downtown should be razed to make way for more surface parking, were alarming to those present.

Touche for the councillors.

Sheegl, an engineer by training, was a successful real estate salesman and deal maker who made his mark in Winnipeg and in Phoenix, Ariz.
In selecting Sheegl, the mayor is signalling that he wants the department and the city to be more entrepreneurial and more aggressive in encouraging development, selling surplus city land, and seeking better terms on leases.

Touche for the mayor

The fact is, the private sector knows very little about how to solve social problems or promote social harmony. The focus of business is on the bottom line, lowering costs and maximizing output and profits. Those are invaluable skills in business, but they don't go very far in addressing social questions.

Puhleeeeaze. Would the experts be the same people who figure that kids out past ten p.m. on a school night are just looking for a place to play basketball ? Besides that, since when were planning directors in charge of getting glue sniffers off the street and into detox ? He's not in charge of any of that. What's more, even if that was actually part of his mandate, it sure doesn't explain how the people who came before him did such a piss poor job (as though it actually was their job to handle this in the first place) Yeah, it's something he needs to consider but he's a planning director , not a camp counsellor.

So as I said, he may not be experienced (and frankly, he appears to be completely out to lunch on a number of issues) but he obviously wouldn't be the first guy in his position to be clueless about urban issues and what he does offer is definitely a departure from what we've seen so far. I'm not so sure that he isn't exactly what we need after all. Anyway, all I'm saying is that we should give him a chance and then we'll pass judgement.

[flatlander]

City property boss under fresh attack
By: Bartley Kives
Updated: April 25 at 06:48 AM CDT
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Winnipeg's new planning, property and development director is facing more flak inside and outside city hall for his opinions about surface parking lots and an appearance at a condominium hearing six years ago.

Phil Sheegl has not even started working for the city, but Winnipeg's newest senior bureaucrat has already endured more criticism than some politicians see over the course of entire careers.

On Thursday, Daniel McIntyre Coun. Harvey Smith said Sheegl -- a 25-year veteran real-estate salesman and property developer with a civil engineering degree -- is not qualified for the job, while a pair of River Heights residents claimed the new director misrepresented himself at a public hearing into a Grant Avenue condo development.
The crux of Smith's complaint with Sheegl lies with the new director's opinion about surface parking lots, which urbanists demonize as the scourge of downtown Winnipeg.

Surface parking lots may actually be preferable to downtown heritage buildings if the structures in question are abandoned and extremely unattractive, Sheegl said Thursday in an interview, elaborating upon statements first made during a closed-door city council seminar on Tuesday.
"If they're in lieu of buildings that have been abandoned and are derelict eyesores, then they could be cleaned up," said Sheegl, explaining the Florida city of Naples has experienced some success with this strategy. "Businesses have more parking and they can control the price of parking. It's a win-win for everybody."

Several left-leaning city councillors say they were disconcerted when they heard Sheegl's perspective, but only Smith said the new employee -- who has been praised by council property chairman Justin Swandel and new city chief administrator Glen Laubenstein -- is not suitable to run the planning, property and development department.

"He obviously doesn't have much of an interest in historical buildings. I'm sure he wants to take many of them down," Smith said. "I'm convinced he can't do this job. He doesn't have the experience and his outlook is frightening."

Meanwhile, two River Heights residents who opposed the creation of two condominium projects on Grant Avenue in 2002 called the Free Press to complain Sheegl spoke in favour of the condos at a public hearing, then later acted as a real estate-agent for the units.

Real-estate agent Winn Adair and logistics manager Brian Raymond claim Sheegl did not identify himself as a real-estate agent when he spoke in favour of the Camrose Gardens and Camrose Estates condo projects at a City Centre Community Committee meeting on April 20, 2002.
"He represented himself as a resident who was in favour of the development. Then his name was on the billboard in front of the property," Raymond said.

Minutes from that meeting confirm Sheegl told the committee, then led by former River Heights Coun. Garth Steek, that the Grant Avenue projects would enhance property values in the area.

On Thursday, Sheegl said he spoke at the meeting as an area resident and only later was recruited to do sales and marketing for the condominiums, which were built by Akman Management on the former site of Ramah Hebrew School.

"Nothing better could have happened in that area. That was a boarded-up abandoned building, covered with graffiti. People used to break in and have parties," Sheegl said.
"It was an eyesore and they created a beautiful complex there, not to mention a tax base of $300,000 to $400,000 a year."
The attacks on Sheegl came one day after Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi said Winnipeg needs an ethics commissioner in the wake of the decision to hire Sheegl, who is friends with Mayor Sam Katz.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Debate over appointment getting nasty

Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi said Winnipeg needs an ethics watchdog. Mayor Sam Katz said Winnipeg needs to be protected from Jenny Gerbasi.
Not since 2006 -- when former River Heights Coun. Donald Benham sparred constantly with Katz -- have relations been so nasty between the mayor's office and opposition councillors.

On Wednesday, Gerbasi raised Katz's ire by suggesting the hiring of Phil Sheegl -- a veteran real-estate salesman, entrepreneur and property developer who happens to be friends with the mayor -- has created a perception of impropriety within the City of Winnipeg.

Katz's response: "When it comes to ability, intelligence and integrity, Coun. Gerbasi wouldn't even qualify to be in the same building, let alone the same room, as Phil Sheegl."

The intensity of that exchange has led opposition councillors Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre) and Dan Vandal (St. Boniface) to ask Katz to apologize to Gerbasi.

"The mayor is completely out of line by attacking Coun. Gerbasi's integrity for bringing up some very legitimate questions about the hiring process," Vandal said on Thursday.

"I've never witnessed or read a mayor making such a personal attack on a councillor, and he's compared me to a diaper full of you-know-what. I don't understand the mean-spiritedness of Sam Katz."

But council speaker Harry Lazarenko, who's in charge of maintaining decorum, said it's Gerbasi who should apologize -- to Phil Sheegl, who does not begin working for the city until April 29.

"I've been here for 30 years and I've never seen anyone attack somebody who hasn't even started here," Lazarenko said. "She should know better than that. We don't discuss personnel issues on the floor of council, and we should let people do their jobs before we (dump) all over them."

[Boreal]

I certainly hope that these increasing attacks develop sharper teeth. I am in no way against Sheegl's appointment on the grounds of limited experience (although admittedly it is very strange, but you find talent in all sorts of places, so I won't pass judgement), but to have the head planner out-and-out lament that he believes razing whatever building isn't in use for business-controlled blacktop is absurd!

What is going on at City Hall? Why is the level of competency so frustratingly low?