If White Rock council’s plan was to bring community involvement to city hall in early 2015, one can say without hesitation: mission accomplished.
Council’s decision – made at a behind-closed-doors meeting late last year – to privatize garbage and recycling collection for multifamily residences and businesses July 1 is not, in itself, completely unexpected or misguided. Other cities have privatized such services, ensuring, of course, that civic officials are still ultimately responsible for managing the process.
In White Rock, however, the word “privatization” seems to be interpreted as putting the onus totally on taxpayers.
When the city announced this new policy publicly in January, residents may have been under the impression that they would be assisted with the transition. City staff told Peace Arch News as much when we wondered how this would go down.
In subsequent days – most visibly last week at a city-hall protest attended by more than 100 strata residents – it’s become obvious people ultimately aren’t receiving this message.
Instead, we hear concerns over unfair costs, lack of transparency and traffic and organizational nightmares.
Elected leaders would be wise to take ownership of their decision – publicly and decisively. Certainly, this is one of those matters that can be discussed in-camera, as it involves city staffing and negotiations. But once their minds were made up, it’s incumbent on these public representatives to explain themselves and their rationale.
If it was the right decision, say so proudly. If it was the wrong one – or at least a poorly planned execution – admit misjudgment and give this entire procedure a proper and public rethink.
Instead, thus far, many perceive ostrich-like city councillors and a mayor on the defensive.
While it’s easy for city councillors and the mayor to dismiss naysayers as political opponents, it might be rewarding to take a closer look at those who are most frustrated. Certainly, there are the usual council critics among them, but there are also others, including some who have never before been politically active, perhaps even a few past supporters.
It’s still extremely early in this council’s four-year term; there’s time to set things right. But there’s also time enough to build an army of opposition leading them into the 2018 election.