Quote:
Originally Posted by jlousa
This has been an ongoing issue at Cityhall for the last decade. City staff aren't supposed to serve council, but are supposed to serve the public. In the past we've had staff battle council on some issues, staff these days seem to answer to council and not the public and that's a shame. Staff tend to last longer then administrations and should ultimately be party neutral and carry on doing the best for the city no matter who's in power. Not saying that's the case here but it is certainly obvious to cityhall obervsers that it's a growing problem.
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Ok we have 3 groups here:
1. Democratically elected council (who I realize have donors).
2. City staff
3. The general public
I see no problem with group 1 directing the activities and focus of group 2.
You can argue that group 3 should also be represented, but the reality is you get a handful of NIMBYs, idiots and shit disturbers who show up at council meetings and derail things.
Whatever decision the city makes, they are either "steamrolling the public and their consultation process is a sham" or "bowing to NIMBYs".
You can't win. But I'm ok with an elected government using their power to bring forward their agenda. Provided there were no surprises from the platform they ran on, that's the way things should work. So much of government at all levels is mired in process and takes decades to do anything.