How I see it!
In 1998 a 62 year old retired Peter DeSmedt was running for city council. He criticized the current councilor for not keeping the ward informed about important issues. The most important issue is having a representative at city hall to keep abreast of developments and to relay that information back to residents in time for them to have input in the decision-making process, DeSmedt was quoted as saying.
I have had first hand experience with this hollow vision. I have emailed Mr. DeSmedt on a number of occasions with concerns that I have had. I have only had a reply once and this occurred only after I had to make a follow up phone call asking why he never responds to his email.
The email in question was regarding the True North Arena. I was interested in finding out why he seemed to have no interest in saving that magnificent historical building. The reply I received was appalling. Mr. DeSmedt remarked that he could not support me because I didn?t support city council. Go figure! I thought that he was there to represent the ward?s interest.
The second question was how much more will this cost me in taxes. He said that he would send me the information that city council received. I received a package outlining all the freebies that True North will be receiving, however, there was no mention of the total costs to tax payers. In fact, there are many items pertaining to this deal that many people are not informed about. I did email Mr. DeSmedt requesting the information on the 8th of November. You guessed it, no reply as of yet.
I guess I will have to draw my own conclusions regarding the True North Project. Two that are apparent are Mr. DeSmedt was not raised in Winnipeg and has no connection with Winnipeg?s history, so to him, there are no historical buildings. The second is that the unneeded downtown arena will not only have a significantly negative impact on the downtown area, it will hit us hard in the pocket book.
I know what I will be looking for in 2002, a councilor that keeps the ward abreast of developments and to relay that information back to residents in time for them to have input in the decision-making process.
RA,
Winnipeg
