We Get Mail! Reader Guest Post From Johnny V!

  As a blogger,  I always love feedback on my posts.  Usually, the comments are by Anonymous users who hide behind the cloak of mom's basement to leave their scathing remarks, lol.  So when I get an email from a reader that is funny and has some excellent points, I think I need to share it! 

The email below is from a chap named Johnny V and he has never commented previously.  Check out his letter!

Hi Shane

First let me say I really enjoy your rants, and love Calgarians. They keep me hopeful the political climate will change for the better one day soon. My wife and I left Calgary last August because we had enough of Bronco's kinematic style. He was always whining about the city not having enough money, but oh what a surprise when they discovered millions of dollars in surplus cash. Still our property taxes went up. Absolute road apples. AND Stelmach giving MLAs a gargantuan pay raise shortly after taking office. Then feeding us baloney, and applesauce like we all had congenital myxedema. He's an embarrassment to Albertans every time he opens his mouth to speak. We love Calgary, and had mixed emotions about leaving Alberta, but it had to be done. The urban sprawl has destroyed the beautiful scenery, and the city's snow removal policy almost caused our home in Ranch lands to flood during the spring thaw of 2009 which was directly caused by a build up of 12 inches of ice on the city street. The frustrating part of it all is the city would have issued a fine had we removed it ourselves.

 

Council has sat on their collective asses for years under Dave's watch and did nothing to rectify the problem of side streets not being cleared. Reading about the 5 homes in Citadel burning to the ground just before Christmas because the fire trucks couldn't get up the hill due to the ice made me extremely angry, and we're glad to hear Davie Boy is crawling back to where ever it is creeps like him go. I firmly believe he would have been drawn and quartered by the locals in the next election. We're hopeful the new Mayor and council will be more in tune with the real needs of the people. Like a real public transportation system, oh wait they can't, the city planning department screwed that up approving the building of sprawling subdivisions all over hell's half acre.

It's well documented that city councils have been systematically influencing municipal property values for personal gain for centuries. This low-level of corruption in municipal politics is akin to a global pandemic. "Transparency", "Full Disclosure", "Responsibility", "The People's Representative" are words bantered throughout political arenas, but seldom, if ever, adhered to. Where's Toto when you need him to pull back the curtain so Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Lion can see the smoke and mirrors for what they are? A dog and pony show, with the occasional pancake breakfast thrown in to feed the plebes.

It was Calgary Mayor Rod Sykes who introduced the Real Estate Registry in 1972 with the intention of curbing the rampant corruption within city hall. The resolution stated: "That a Real Estate Registry be established in the City Clerk's office in which each Member of Council and each Commissioner and Department Head and all supervisory employees of the City shall be required to disclose any interest in real estate within The City of Calgary," and "That the Registry of Real Estate to be held by the City Clerk be made available for inspection only upon receipt of written application and further that this Registry not be printed and/or made available for sale to anyone." The ruling applied directly and indirectly to elected representatives along with middle and upper management, and if ethics could be factored into the equation, it would also apply to their families and friends.

 

Under Duerr's watch nine city aldermen voted to discontinue the Real Estate Registry. Bronconnier was one of them (as mentioned in your rants). The other eight who voted to end the registry were: Mayor Al Duerr, Diane Danielson, Sue Higgins, Bev Longstaff, Joanne Kerr, Dianne Colley-Urquhart, Bob Hawkesworth, and Joe Ceci.

 

Six have since left Calgary's political arena, leaving Bob Hawkesworth (Ward 4), Joe Ceci (Ward 9), and Dianne Colley-Urquhart (lucky 13). Three names I've been suspicious of since 2001. I recently heard a pretty credible rumour that Hawkesworth is going to run for Mayor, and Colley-Urquhart will run for alderman of Ward 13 (or maybe Mayor). Not sure about Ceci yet, but think he will run again.

 

I recently read your faint-hearted rant on Dianne Colley-Urquhart. The read left me scratching my head, especially when you failed to mention her participation in the Real Estate Registry vote, as you did for Bronco. Has she wooed you to the dark side? Where's that razor-sharp intellectual pundit I've come to enjoy reading? Your mandate is sarcasm, isn't it?

 

Will you be commenting on Hawkesworth's and Ceci's repugnant participation in the vote to discontinue the Real Estate Registry?

 

In closing I ask you please remember the honourable aldermen who voted against quashing the Real Estate Registry in 2001.

1. Ray Jones (Ward 5)

 

2. Dale Hodges (Ward 1)

 

3. John Schmal (Elected President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in 2002) These days Schmal and Steve Syms have launched their "Preston for Premier" initiative in Calgary.

 

4. Former Alderman and MLA Jon Lord (who is running for Mayor). My pick for honesty, ethics, and most likely to table the reinstatement of the Real Estate Registry. Why? Because like yourself, he, and his ancestors have deep roots in Calgary, and Alberta. Check out www.jonlord.ca

Thanks for the rants

Johnny V

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From the Vaults of Johnny V in Colchester South, Ontario, Canada

Website Last Updated January 2010

Webhouse: http://www.johnnyv.org

Great Stuff!

Happy Weekend....

Shane