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Viewpoint: Residents elect councillors to lead

Peak contributor Murray Dobbin has a rather myopic attitude toward how local politics function.
City hall

Peak contributor Murray Dobbin has a rather myopic attitude toward how local politics function. His latest piece [Counterpoint: Progressive politics 101, March 21”] purports to offer the reader an insight as to how a newly elected progressive councillor should proceed. Beware city staff and senior bureaucrats, for they are by their nature “unsympathetic to change” he argues.

With such a sweeping generalization, Dobbin has condemned our city staff, despite, for example, the carriage house initiative in large part is now in place thanks to the enthusiastic support of our planning department.

Dobbin urged our progressive councillor to seek the wisdom of “progressive citizens,” when he declared in a previous article that the Inn at Westview will be an election issue, creating the erroneous impression that the owner can be made to pay for the removal.

Because councillor Russell Brewer does not agree with him, Dobbin falsely accused our progressive councillor of being a [Seaboard Hotels agent] Jack Barr supporter. The reality is there is reluctance on the part of many councillors, and a great many residents, to incur a debt of perhaps as much as $1 million to demolish a building with a property appraised at a tiny fraction of the cost of demolition.

As Brewer pointed out at a recent finance committee meeting, and repeated in a Peak interview, one of his frustrations is the way many residents don’t take the time to inform themselves before offering opinions on what council should do or not do.

Mr. Dobbin urges our progressive councillor to seek advice of “progressive citizens” who are “often very knowledgeable about the issue at hand.”

Unfortunately, they are often not that knowledgeable. Few ever take the time to show up for council meetings, or if they do, they typically troop out immediately after their spokesperson has made a presentation.

They do not stay to listen to further discussions on a variety of topics or for presentations by other residents and staff. They miss the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the meeting, which is always a respectful exchange and often extremely informative. They also forego the opportunity to carry on discussions with individual councillors and city staff, who often remain afterward for further unofficial discussions.

What might these progressive residents have learned had they made the effort? For one thing, they might learn there is already a sewage treatment plant located in Townsite in the same area where the new consolidated treatment plant is to be constructed. Some residents are unaware of this, or that we currently have four sewage treatment plants in our area (Westview, Townsite, Wildwood and Tla’amin), all of which are spewing non-compliant wastewater into the ocean.

Finally, although Dobbin fails to point this out, even progressive residents do not all agree among themselves. A progressive councillor does not deserve his wrath simply because the councillor does not toe the line for his particular agenda.

Residents elect councillors to lead. We delegate authority, and this often forces them to be their own counsel, surrounded by conflicting opinions and pressures. It is not as simple as Dobbin would have us believe.

He has been most unfair in several of his past columns.

Wayne Brewer is a Powell River resident who sits on several local boards and committees, and regularly attends regional district and city council meetings.