Elected officials sometimes can’t get a break from attacks
By Lethbridge Herald on July 28, 2023.
OUR OPINION
Sometimes city council – or any elected officials – can’t win. Other times, well, they can’t win.
Members of the public will blame city council if there are potholes on city streets in the spring, if drifts are piling up on their blocks during a winter blizzard and if parks aren’t being watered enough in summer. In fall, council may be blamed for closing the yard waste stations too early.
Some say council isn’t doing enough to provide housing for the unsheltered, oblivious to or refusing to accept that this is a provincial jurisdiction, not a municipal one which has been reiterated time and again by council.
Council comes under fire – so to speak – for downtown crime even though it has given the police department in the 2023-26 budget money to recruit new officers, a process that doesn’t just happen overnight. But some will blame council for those police not being hired quickly enough.
Council isn’t Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy – it doesn’t appear in the middle of night bearing gifts for those who want them.
It is charged with governance of the community, it doesn’t run the daily operations of the city. That’s what administration and the myriad of departments who work under the umbrella of the City of Lethbridge corporation do.
Your water seems a little smelly sometimes? There’s trash at your favourite park?
Every elected official, when they apply to voters for the job of council, MLA or MP, know they’re in for potential criticism with every decision they make, for every vote they participate in. They willingly brace for that criticism because they have a desire to serve the public and that service sometimes can be absolutely thankless.
That service can – and does – regularly prompt vicious attacks in letters to the editor, and especially on social media where keyboard warriors can hide behind the cloak of anonymity. That cloak, in some cases, isn’t hiding the attacker because several members of the community leave clear indications of their identity behind in the way they conduct themselves.
Being a politician is not a job for the faint of heart. This council has faced some serious challenges since it was elected including dealing with homelessness and public safety, the latter which necessitated increasing the police budget so more boots could be put on the ground to battle crime here.
Council raised taxes – like many councils across the province – out of necessity. Nobody likes to pay more taxes but nobody arguably wants fewer services, either. So there has to be a balance and it’s the job of elected officials, acting on the recommendations of experts in administration, to find it.
Council is taking a huge hit on a couple of issues here lately, one being the playground at Galt Gardens which was funded mostly by the federal government for that purpose.
Should council have refused the money because of public perception that Galt Gardens isn’t safe? Or did it make the right decision in approving that money? Time will tell but it’s hard for a municipal government to turn down an offer of funding from another level of government. What would the optics look like? Would that impact the City’s ability to get other funding?
But was there another location that might have been more suitable that still would have been eligible for federal funding?
Yes, the optics of a playground in Galt Gardens on the surface don’t look good. And neither did the optics of considering a fence around the entire park.
Galt Gardens has a massive stigma attached to it due to the numbers of homeless who spend time there. Is the park actually unsafe?
How many people have been assaulted or harmed there?
Are people harassed there, do people have legitimate fears about children being poked by discarded needles? Are there health risks with public defecation in the park? Are drug deals and drug use being done in view of the public? These being behaviours that some seem to be trying to normalize.
It was stated at Tuesday’s council meeting that fences create psychological barriers but so can the perception politicians don’t give the public an opportunity to have input about issues that matter to them. And Tuesday’s vote was partially about getting that input. Does that vote suggest council is only listening to one segment of the community? Perhaps the optics of that need to be considered, as well. But like an iceberg, does the general – and often detached unless a matter personally affects them – public only see small parts of issues that impact our city?
Elected officials at any level of government, from their vantage point, may have a better view than others on issues of importance. And sometimes maybe we need to give them a bit of credit for the decisions they make. If we don’t trust them, then why did we elect any of them in the first place? Think about the optics of that, too.
22-21
So the federal government money was giving specifically for building a fence around Galt Gardens and would be withheld if the funds weren’t used to build a fence?? Need to be better in the investigative reporting department.
So they should perhaps stop making stupid decisions and start using some common sense. And ask the taxpayer what we would like, for a change.
Perhaps, what we should ‘like,’ are governments and politicians who would support creating a more equal society which, in the big picture, would deal effectively with decreasing the gap between the rich and the poor….thus, less homelessness, less poverty, less poverty-driven crime…..Folks who have a roof over their heads, have good nutrition, have better health, are well educated, have gainful employment….are less likely to get into trouble. Sometimes, folks need a ‘hand up,’ to achieve these things and become independent. Sadly, this is interpreted by some right wing politics as ‘handouts.’ Smart countries do ‘hand ups’ because it’s ‘money in the bank,’ by particularly adequately funding education, and providing educational opportunities for everyone, rich or poor.
Federally, for years, neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives have promoted this mentality, let alone years of similar right wing politics in Alberta. As always, the ‘Mouseland’ story prevails, and we continue to bemoan issues such as the homeless occupying Galt Gardens.