Who oversees the City Manager of Vancouver?

You know its interesting, the media and the taxpayers of Vancouver often talk about whether our Mayor is doing a good job or not. No one ever asks how the City Manager, Judy Rogers, who makes a lot more money than the mayor is doing. Who oversees her performance? Who reviews her actions? It seems to me that no one does and thats very dangerous.

Is Vancouver the Taser Capital of Canada?

You have to wonder whats up with the VPD, taser incidents happening almost daily. I fault their employer, the City of Vancouver who seems to have fostered an us against them mentality in respect to the citizens of Vancouver.

You call someone in the city, they don't call you back. What were you thinking, that people who "work" for the city would actually call you back? They got better things to do, I'm sure.

What, no call from Judy Rogers?

As expected, Judy Rogers did not return my call. What was I thinking, a highly paid employee of the city would call a taxpayer? They however seem to think that it makes perfect sense for a taxpayer who had their door broken down by the police to just meekly walk away and not call or write them because they asked me not to.

Its no longer just about the money. Its very much about that you can't screw over a citizen and expect that they will just fold. Ms. Rogers and company, I have not yet begun to fight!

Why am I doing this?

Anyone reading this blog might wonder why I am doing this. Sure, its not fun to lose $1300+ but its not the end of the world, and there are people with much more pressing issues in Vancouver. The issue is no longer just about the money, but more importantly the rights of the citizen versus the police and City Hall.

It is not acceptable that City Employees and Managers cannot be accountable for their actions. It is not acceptable that they can be allowed to neglect and abuse proper due process. It is very dangerous when police can take destructive action against a citizen and their property and hide behind Risk Management at City Hall, their employer. Every citizen, if they have a negative encounter with employees of the City has a full right to a clear and unbiased investigation of their claim, and even more importantly, clear and documented evidence behind any decision. This has not been the case with Risk Management and the City of Vancouver.

In my case, I pointed out several very specific inconcistencies in the police actions, and to date City Hall has refused to address them. One of the people at Risk Management told me " I spoke to the Costables and they are upstanding officers" Oh, I guess in that case I should just ignore the evidence and thank them for breaking down my door!

Lets see if she calls.............

So I called Judy Rogers office, got the receptionist. She knew my name, got sent to voice mail. Imagine that, I a taxpayer in Vancouver daring to call the City Clerk, what was I thinking? Don't I know better than to just shut up and walk away?

I mean, why would someone who works for the City of Vancouver want to talk to a taxpayer? Oh sure, they will be sure to contact you if you are behind on any payments.

City of Vancouver employees don't read their own mission statements

It would be nice if they actually read their Mission Statements

http://vancouver.ca/policy_pdf/CG00102.pdf

Section 2 "We maintain an open and accessible government...." or "Through competent and responsive staff, we strive to administer our responsibilities in the most friendly, efficient and ethical manner possible."

In Vancouver, Police can break down your door and you are stuck with the costs

On October 20, 2007, I received a call from my then tenant in Yaletown that police had called her and advised that they had broken down the door of my unit due to a domestic dispute call to 911. My tenant was not there at the time of the police break-in.

This being a Saturday, I had to scramble to get a temporary door in place and to find a repairmen who was available on such short notice to do the work. I was lucky on both counts, but obviously there was a cost of $350.00 I had no complaints whatsoever with this tenant since she had moved in. I eventually had to pay another $990.15 to get the original door replaced.

I called the police to inquire what happened and they just stated that they got a call regarding a domestic dispute. They told me that I would have to contact Risk Management at City Hall to claim compensation.

I wrote a letter to Risk Management describing what I knew. It took over a month for them to contact me, and told me that they were declining my request. They never asked me for my input.

The initial police report I asked for contained almost no information, so I had to submit a Request for Information to get something with a bit more detail. This is when questions about what really happened began to arise. I wrote to Risk Management outlining some of my questions. They took a month each time they had to respond, and still refused to provide any answers to my questions, refused to provide any evidence or documentation behind their decision. I filed a Request for Information to get the documents. They sent me duplicates of all the documents I had sent them and they had sent me. They witheld all other documents "for legal reasons" They would not let me have access to any of the documents that backed their decision to deny my claim.

From day one, the City treated me not as a taxpayer and citizen, but as an adversary. They even had the nerve to tell me, "Take us to court, here is the address" They want to waste even more taxpayer monies than they already have and use my tax money to fight me!! They have already spent way more money on this matter than what is claimed, but they don't care, its not their money!

The Mayors office and all the city councillers were of no help whatsoever, Sullivan was too busy waving flags in Beijing! Joey Thompson of The Province was a great help, but Judy Rogers doesn't really care what anyone thinks. She doesn't work for you, the taxpayer.

I had a report from the security guard present at the building at that time, who indicated that he dealt with a domestic dispute at the same time with another person 3 floors down. The police had spoken with this person, but did not follow through. They also did not record any of this information in their report. As well, the police claimed that they obtained my number from the security guard and attempted to call me. I provided telephone reports indicating that no such call was made. The police did not record that number they were supposedly given.

The City has absolutley refused to address any of these concerns I noted about police actions on that day. Judy Rogers, the City Manager even has the gall to tell me to stop writing them. It is sheer arrogance that she feels that she can tell a citizen and taxpayer whether they can or cannot write to the city, or whether they can pursue their unresolved issue with the City.

Of course, given that the police are employed by the City, its not surprising that they cover for each other.

So, in Vancouver today, the police can break down your door, and then they can, through the City, deny your claim and provide no reason or evidence to back up that decision.