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Santa Claus parade highlights council dysfunction
07 December 2009
[indent]I participated in the annual Santa Claus parade through downtown Collingwood, yesterday. It was a good event this year - a huge number of floats, great weather, and the streets lined for block after block with people watching.
As usual, council had a place at the front of the parade. I thought afterwards that how council participated in the parade is really a microcosm of how council performs in local politics.
Last term, Mayor Geddes got us all together on a float or in the back of a pickup truck filled with straw bales. At least we had the public presentation of cohesiveness. And I recall we seemed to have collective fun participating.
This term, it's very different. This year, the mayor rode in a car by himself, chauffeured by Councillor Labelle. Appropriately, it was a two-seater with no room for anyone else to share the space with him.
The Deputy Mayor rode in another car, alone, driven by her son. I noted it was a much roomier vehicle.
Three members of council - myself, Councillors Jeffrey and Edwards - walked behind, but not together because we each walked along the crowd, distributing candy canes to kids and quickly became separated from the vehicles and one another. We were just a few of many participants who distributed toys and candies to the kids along the street. I don't know where the other three members of council were.
So the overall impression was not one of a council or even of a group, but rather of two VIPS riding in their own vehicles. Those who recognized members of council running along the street afterwards saw us merely as individuals, far separated from the cars (by the time I reached the end of the parade, the mayor and deputy mayor had long gone).
That pretty much sums up council this term.
I also thought that here's a council that has publicly claimed to support active transportation, walkability and green initiatives - and it has not one but TWO vehicles in a parade that takes maybe five blocks. That hardly shows commitment to those concepts. Quite the opposite: it's more do as I say, not as I do (a recurring theme this term).
I had hoped we would make a better impression on all counts for this, our last parade of the term. Maybe next term we'll all walk it together and show that we're not only a team, but that we mean what we say about our commitments to walkable, green communities.[/indent]
As usual, council had a place at the front of the parade. I thought afterwards that how council participated in the parade is really a microcosm of how council performs in local politics.
Last term, Mayor Geddes got us all together on a float or in the back of a pickup truck filled with straw bales. At least we had the public presentation of cohesiveness. And I recall we seemed to have collective fun participating.
This term, it's very different. This year, the mayor rode in a car by himself, chauffeured by Councillor Labelle. Appropriately, it was a two-seater with no room for anyone else to share the space with him.
The Deputy Mayor rode in another car, alone, driven by her son. I noted it was a much roomier vehicle.
Three members of council - myself, Councillors Jeffrey and Edwards - walked behind, but not together because we each walked along the crowd, distributing candy canes to kids and quickly became separated from the vehicles and one another. We were just a few of many participants who distributed toys and candies to the kids along the street. I don't know where the other three members of council were.
So the overall impression was not one of a council or even of a group, but rather of two VIPS riding in their own vehicles. Those who recognized members of council running along the street afterwards saw us merely as individuals, far separated from the cars (by the time I reached the end of the parade, the mayor and deputy mayor had long gone).
That pretty much sums up council this term.
I also thought that here's a council that has publicly claimed to support active transportation, walkability and green initiatives - and it has not one but TWO vehicles in a parade that takes maybe five blocks. That hardly shows commitment to those concepts. Quite the opposite: it's more do as I say, not as I do (a recurring theme this term).
I had hoped we would make a better impression on all counts for this, our last parade of the term. Maybe next term we'll all walk it together and show that we're not only a team, but that we mean what we say about our commitments to walkable, green communities.[/indent]
