Wary of city track record
To borrow a page from The Wizard of Oz seems to be in order. “Ding dong! The witch is dead. Which old witch? The wicked witch! Ding wrong! The wicked Trio witch is dead!”
This we have been told by the City of Penticton. The mayor has issued his statement of “mea culpa” verbally and in print through the media. He would have us think that because this has been said that it is in print, that all is well — again. Some questions, from my perspective, that need to be answered might be: Will we see written proof positive that in fact, the Trio issue is done? What other clandestine schemes are in the works in COP’s remaining term? Has the city really learned from this experience such that they really plan to include input from taxpayers on an open and honest basis in future? Will this be the last time that the city tries to prostitute public parkland for private development and profit? Is lease transferability to someone else an option now that Trio is said to be gone?
Unless there are some definitive answers to these questions, we just have the mayor and the City of Penticton’s word. Another question here is, will that be good enough based on past experience? You be the judge. Track record is all-important here.
Hindsight has been, and will continue to be, 20/20 vision. This is common knowledge. The announcement of the $200,000 (plus or minus) payout supposedly puts the Trio issue to bed. However, the fact that the mayor stated that the decision was made so much earlier and was slated to be announced when the time was right, so-to-speak. That brings up the question why was one time more suitable than any other? The time for that issue to be resolved was at the onset of the somewhat secretive, closed door discussions that were held with Trio in the first place.
If answers to the above mentioned questions aren’t forthcoming from the city, I suggest that as taxpayers, we utilize Freedom Of Information (requests) to get the wanted information. Verbage is one thing; proof positive is another. Remember, it is our taxpayer money. We are entitled to see it spent wisely!
Ron Barillaro
Penticton