Reduce cost, boost service Saturday Mar.7/09

In yet another editorial meant to criticize unionized workers in Saint John and make residents feel like thier getting ripped off, the editor of the TJ is suggesting 10-15% cost reduction to city services. They surmise that by cutting the city's biggest departments, (Police, Fire and Municipal Operations ) the city could deliver better services to the residents.

Deputy Mayor Chase, always a big proponent of cutting unionized city staff, suggests that you can improve service by cutting costs. the question we have for the TJ and like minded councillors like Deputy Chase is : How do you do that?. City leaders like Chase and the paper often play the same tune when it comes to this issue but it offers no real evidence of how these cuts could boost service.

We have more questions for the editor of the TJ:
TJ:"The proponents of a larger workforce argue that Saint John needs more bodies to provide better service"
Who are these the proponents the city eludes to?. Department heads?. When the Department heads submitted their budget requests for 2009 none of them asked for extra funding for more staff for their respective departments.

TJ:"And employees candidly admit that there are times when operations are conducted inefficiently, to avoid leaving workers idle."
To our knowledge the paper has never quoted an employee of this city stating this. If they candidly admitted this then the paper should be able to provide some proof to that end.

The editor suggests cutting costs 10-15%. Why do they suggest that?. Do they have examples or proof that this will in fact boost services for the city. Do they know for a fact wheather or not it will have a negative effect on city residents. These kinds of suggestions are reckless in our opinion. A 10% cut would result in at least $2 Million less for each department.

Not to long ago this same editor supported the proposed caps to departments in this budget and the next three. Not long after that it suggested the head of Municipal Operations go to council to ask for more money for resources now they suggest cuts. Inconsistent to say the least.

Lastly the editor suggests contracting out services in an effort to save money. Well garbage collection is already contracted out in parts of this city. If it was such a huge savings wouldn't they have extended that program. The city also contracted out some snow plow routes this winter only to be constantly complained about by city residents.

Although we don't expect the TJ to print fair articles anytime soon it would be nice of them to provide some evidence supporting their point of views and what the real impacts would be of their cost cutting suggestions.

Schools must make up for snow days Feb 26/2009

Well it seems the Telegraph Journal has someone new to pick on. The teachers of this province. I couldn't imagine how a teacher in this province would feel after reading an article like this. Statements like: "Teachers will be expected to provide a full year of instruction with one week less classroom time. If teachers can do it, it's a sign classroom time isn't being used very efficiently on a day-to-day basis. If they can't do it, their students will pay the price."

What is the paper suggesting here? Teachers are wasting precious teaching time or slacking off at school. Do they actually know how much time a teacher puts into a curriculum for our children. I doubt it.

What about this statement: "When it comes to the school calendar, though, schools seem to be run for the convenience of adults." No examples given as to why they would say this.

In this statement : "The minister has also stressed the benefits of a well-rounded education, returning subjects such as physical education, art and music to provincial schools. If diverse experiences matter, Mr. Lamrock must see that cancelling special activities is not a good way to make up for lost time". The editor is obviously confusing physical education and art with special activities like field trips, plays, concerts and events like winter carnival.

The editors tone in this whole article, we feel, is very disrespectful to teachers. Maybe the paper should remember who is coaching our kids sports teams or directing the school musicial. Last time we checked teachers were not paid for this extra curricular activities that enrich our kids lives

Poll Results

Our last poll asked if you expected council to try and alter City Manager Terry Totten's retirement package. 70% of you who voted said council would do nothing.

Blame management, not the public. Feb 20/2009

For months now the opinions of Telegraph Journal have been that the city is as mis-managed as it could possibly be. Many articles and opinions have been printed in favour of capping spending in departments and making managers more accountable. The underlying accusations of beefed up budgets always present. Well at least they were consistent. In today's opinion piece the papers editor finished of with a recommendation to Mr. Paul Groody (Head of Municipal Operations) "The department of municipal operations is responsible for snow removal. It should have an effective strategy. If city crews need more resources, another salt shed, or bylaws banning on-street winter parking, the commissioner for municipal operations needs to bring these requests to council."

A few months ago this paper was clear in it's position with statments like "So now begins the hard work, and management has been put on notice. They have the next 10 months to show improvements before the next budget session.Council should no longer tolerate managers who can only think of ways to spend rather than save money. There's no reason Saint John cannot be competitive and get closer to the average tax rate of New Brunswick's other seven cities, which is nearly 17 cents lower.Then, the managers will simply be doing their jobs."(see links below) They endorsed managers in this city be held accountable and not spend beyond their means and they were very much in favour of the proposed caps over the next 3 years not to mention the fact that councillors like Deputy Mayor Chase feel that The number of employees in Municipal Operations needs to be reduced.

I guess the real questions for the Telegraph Journal is: "What exactly is your opinion?". "Are you in favour of capped budgets for departments and making managers accountable or spending more money on resources and salt sheds?"

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/551083
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/553586

You can help.

If anyone knows of an instance that the Telegraph Journal has printed inaccurate information either in past issues or anytime in the future please send us the article and highlight what parts you feel are inaccurate or if the reporter or editor has printed an unfair piece based on their own bias. We will then do as much research as we can to uncover the inaccurate information and present it to the paper. Send any information to SJC4EJ@gmail.com. We don't want your name or any other information your not comfortable sharing.

Herb Duncan "confessions of a wannabe journalist" Feb18,2008

Mr.Duncan's corrections to his article "It's never to late to learn from others"
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/576120

Herb Duncan's article published Feb.14/09 "It's never to late to learn from others"

In the course of comparing the Saint John Fire Department to the Charlottetown Fire Department Mr.Duncan published what we feel to be inaccurate information.

1.He reported information from Charlottetown's 2009 budget. We were unable to find Charlottetowns 2009 budget. According to PEI's municipalities act budgets aren't due until the end of March each calendar year.

2.Mr.Duncan also reported that the Fire Department's budget was a little less than 2 million dollars. He then continued to present other dollar amounts based on this inaccurate dollar amount. According to Charlottetowns 2008 operational budget the estimated cost for Fire was 2,831,922.

The following links contain the information presented here.
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/572274
http://66.51.169.37/cityofcharlottetownfiles/City_of_Charlottetown_2008_Budget.pdf
http://www.gov.pe.ca/law/statutes/pdf/m-13.pdf