New Year's resolutions: Can city hall make them in 2012?

Posted Jan 5, 2012 By Bill Hutchins

EMC Editorial - Most of us have thought about New Year's resolutions. Whether we actually set life improvement goals, reveal them to others, or keep them is another story. However, there are a few resolutions I'd like to suggest for City Hall'ers in 2012.

For Mayor Mark Gerretsen: You have more humour than Harvey. But if you're going to get involved in debates, especially the emotionally charged one's, make sure to follow the same procedural rules that you enforce.

For authors of council motions: Stick to local issues and avoid tackling too many global problems. At the very least, it will save on the time and money it takes to mail long-winded 'Kingston wants' resolutions to far off places and organizations that don't give a hoot what you think.

For parks & recreation staff: Keep up the good job of maintaining and expanding services - from new waterfront pathways to splash pads - that contribute to the city's quality of life. The improvements have not gone unnoticed.

For honouring people & groups: Tragically Hip Way sounds like a great idea to celebrate the band's contributions to Kingston, yet whatever happened to a 15 year old council-backed motion to honour the late north end alderman Neil MacArthur? His family recently told me they're still waiting for a public street/park naming honour that must've been forgotten by the city bureaucracy. Don't approve it if you don't mean it.

For road work: Okay, we know you need to inconvenience motorists during much-need road work, but try not to choke off all main arteries and alternate routes at once. To limit traffic on Bath Road, Union Street and King Street (for KGH work) left very little east-west flexibility last year.

For tax increases: If 3.5 percent is the new norm for annual tax increases to feed the city hall budget machine, don't become complacent in thinking that homeowners can afford them year after year, especially when highly visible services like garbage bag collection are boldly cut in half.

For downtown parking: Make plans to create more of it, and not just through narrower parking stalls. Whatever happened to that once-urgent proposal to expand the Chown parking garage with a pedestrian skywalk to accommodate more patients and clinics at Hotel Dieu?

For the 7-6ers: No one expects councillors to be a unanimous lot, but more 7-6 votes seem to be cast out of spite between the left and right-leaning civic politicians determined to show who's in charge. For the record, it's the right. Right?

For Councillor Sandy Berg: Don't let them drag you into partisan debates that ignore your usual analytical style, even though all of council knows that you usually cast the deciding swing vote in 7-6 outcomes.

For Councillor Bill Glover: Your colleagues don't always side with your views, but your eloquent command of debates, not to mention the English language, is what keeps the rest of them grounded. (Please don't critique my grammar here.)

For Helen Finley: Keep watching and scrutinizing the policy makers, as only you can. Your watchdog role is proof that you don't need to be a councillor to make a difference.

For sustainability preachers: Yes, Kingston has its four pillars of promoting sound cultural, social, economic and environmental practices but don't wrap every single policy decision around the sustainability flag. It begins to sound flippant over time.

For us media types: Try not to tune out boring debates, criticize every little decision or pre-judge political outcomes. Well, maybe following two out of three ain't bad!

editorial@theheritageemc.ca