Vancouver & Taxpayers

Police gone wild

2009-04-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't posted in a long while even while all kinds of police shennanigans have been going on. I've exhausted the police self-investigation route, which is no surprise, they will of course protect themselves, and if the testimomy of the RCMP in the YVR is any indication, LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH to back up their story.

I have said this before and I will say this again. As a former military person and security services member (Israel Defence Forces) I was always a natural ally to the police. No more. I don't trust them at all, and its not just about my case. If not for the video of the taser incident at YVR, the lies and fabrications of the RCMP officers that tasered a man to death would never have come out.

We also have police attacking and robbing a news delivery person in downtown Vancouver, numerous incidents of drunk driving by officers. We have police attacking a Province photographer, and the list goes on.

At present, my case is being reviewed by the BC Ombudsman, but they don't investigate the police, just the city.

One can also state that the police aren't really managing their main job, which is handling violent crime, we are a laughing matter worldwide with all the gang murders here. Do I a citizen have confidence in our police department? Hell no!

The Hammer drops

2009-01-12T09:56:00.001-08:00

Never mind the shoe drop, this is much more like a hammer.

From the November 6th Press release:

November 6, 2008
City issues statement re: financing of Olympic Village
The financial and schedule risks assumed by the City with respect to the Olympic Village remain unchanged. The City is conducting business related to Southeast False Creek and the Olympic Village pursuant to a unanimous Council mandate.

From Former Mayor Sam Sullivan Open Letter

As Mayor, it is my duty to reinforce a number of facts. First, the Olympic Village will be delivered on time next year. Second, our city staff has been acting in the best interests of taxpayers

So, Judy Rogers walked away from all this with what we can all assume was a very hefty severance. Several Council members who were involved in this fiasco are still part of the current Council. The City is still paying Richard Peck an undisclosed sum at I am sure fairly hefty hourly rates to "investigate". No one has said how it is that Estelle Lo was "resigned" without Council knowing about it. Its fairly evident that as Director of Finance she had serious concerns about this whole fiasco.

No accountability whatsoever.

Hallelujah, Judy Rogers out

2008-12-12T10:57:00.001-08:00

Best news in a while yet.

Vancouver city manager Judy Rogers fired

Dr. Penny Ballem to take over position

By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS

Just five days after taking the oath of office, Mayor Gregor Robertson has rocked city hall with the firing of city manager Judy Rogers.

A news release issued at 10:19 a.m. Friday announced Dr. Penny Ballem would immediately take over the job held by Rogers since 1999.

"Judy Rogers has made an enormous contribution to the City of Vancouver over the course of her 20-year career here. She built a talented and dedicated professional team over the years and she has worked hard to help make Vancouver the great city it is today," Robertson said in the news release. "I wish her the best as she moves forward in her career."

Newcomer Ballem comes to city hall from her position as corporate director for Bentall Capital and senior advisor to RPO Management Consultants. The clinical hematologist was the B.C. government's Deputy Minister of Health from 2001 to 2006.

Opponents criticized Rogers for her handling of the lengthy 2007 civic workers' strike. Rogers sat on the board of directors for Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee, which met behind closed doors on Tuesday. Robertson was a special guest.

Robertson's Vision Vancouver dominated city council meets today behind closed-doors to discuss the previous NPA-majority council's controversial $100 million loan to Olympic Village developer Millennium. Leaked information about the bailout was the central issue of the civic election campaign. Rogers pledged to reveal the deal to citizens within 30 days of his inauguration.

More than a month has passed and no information from City Hall

2008-12-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

More than a month has passed since the lame news release by City Hall on
November 6th telling taxpayers that "The City will continue to make information publicly available when appropriate in order to continue to act in the taxpayers’ best interest."

So, when is appropriate? Next month, next year? How are they in a position to decide on "taxpayers best interest" when they kept this information from the taxpayers in the first place, and they have not been forthcoming in what happened with Estelle Lo, and how that action seems to be in conflict with the Vancouver Charter.

They certainly seem to be very decisive and eager to hire Richard Peck at an undetermined sum to investigate the source of the leak to cover themselves.

Vancouver City Council did not follow the Vancouver Charter

2008-12-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

The section below of the Vancouver Charter illustrates that it is City Council that appoints someone to the position of Director of Finance. So, how is it that Estelle Lo resigned but none of the City Council supposedly knew about it till November 17th?

As well, it states that "213. No money shall be disbursed by the city except on the warrant of the Director of Finance" so how was that $100 Million Loan approved?

Director of Finance
210. There shall be a Director of Finance appointed by the Council who shall have such duties and powers in addition to those provided by this Act as the Council may from time to time prescribe.
1953-55-210; 1965-68-29.
Duty to advise Council
211. The Director of Finance may, whenever he thinks fit, and shall, whenever required by the Council so to do, advise the Council on the financial position of the city or any phase thereof and make recommendations with respect to the administration, co-ordination, and efficiency of the city's affairs and the systems under which they are carried on.

213. No money shall be disbursed by the city except on the warrant of the Director of Finance, to be drawn upon the Treasurer, specifying the fund out of which payment is to be made. Such warrant need not be signed by the Director of Finance if it is initialled by him, or by some person authorized by him for the purpose.

Richard Peck, don't worry about the costs!

2008-12-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

A sentence every lawyer would love to hear! After all, its only taxpayer money. If the City Council can agree in secret to spend $100 Million and then get miffed that taxpayers find out about it, then whats a few hundred thousand dollars more. Times are tough, lawyers need to make money too, and it would be unseemly of City Council to place a budget limit on this fine lawyer doing this job for all of us. Look its well planned out with two, count 'em two phases!

Phase one. Review the processes for keeping secrets from taxpayers to make sure City Hall and Council can keep doing it. Make sure to write lengthy reports with lots of copies, gotta make those billable hours.

Phase two. Walk behind the policeman who are also investigating (who by the way work for the City) to discover that nefarious individual who leaked the notes from the secret "give our money away" meeting.

There is actually a Phase three though it has not been discussed. That is, based on your findings in Phase 2, go back and re-write the report for Phase one. What a bonanza.

The best part is that all this activity will help obscure why they kept this deal secret in the first place. Oh, I forgot, as Peter Ladner and Judy Rogers said, it was for our own good!

Update: This is the news release by the City of Vancouver on the hiring of Richard Peck. Notice that they refer to sections of the Vancouver Charter to justify this hiring but ignore the fact that the charter seems to have been violated in their dealings with Estelle Lo

December 3, 2008
City appoints barrister to investigate information leak
The City of Vancouver today appointed Richard Peck, Q.C. to conduct an independent investigation regarding the leak of confidential information relating to the Olympic Village in Southeast False Creek.

Council passed a motion calling for the appointment of a barrister pursuant to sections 176 and 177 of the Vancouver Charter at its final council meeting November 25, 2008.

In accepting the appointment, Mr. Peck has indicated he will complete his inquiry in two phases. Phase one will focus on: the adequacy of City policies and procedures relating to in- camera meetings; the treatment of sensitive documents, and the use of the confidential information. The second phase of the inquiry will, if necessary, be a fact-finding process to determine to a reasonable degree of certainty how and by whom confidential information was disclosed. The necessity of the second phase will be decided pending the outcome of the current Vancouver Police Department investigation.

Mr. Peck is scheduled to present written findings relating to the first phase of his inquiry to Council by mid-February 2009. At that time, a decision on whether to proceed with phase two will be made.

Vancouver Police investigate themselves, guess the outcome?

2008-12-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

Today I got the Police report on the complaint I filed with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner on June 1, 2008. As expected, its a whitewash.

Any normal person reading the case can see that the police not only erred in their actions on the morning of October 20, 2007 when they broke into my suite, but what is also galling is that they did not record key information.

To sum up, the security guard in the building filed a report on the incident where he describes talking to an agitated female resident of the building 3 floors down from my unit. She told him she fought with her boyfriend. He escorted her up to her suite and saw damage to the door.

The police had talked to this resident, but despite the fact that they were responding to a call from a resident one floor above this lady and 2 floors down from me about a domestic dispute, they left her and did not record any of this in their reports. I only found out about it from the Security Guards report. They instead went to my unit where no one was in and waited for an hour before breaking it down. They spoke to the Security Guard but never bothered to ask him about any problems in the building, which is the first thing an officer should have done.

Police also initially claimed that they got my number from the Assistant Manager but there was no response. When I proved via my phone bills that no call came in from them, they now state in the report that the number they were given was not the right one. They also did not record this number. More so, the Assistant Manager did not show up till after the breach of my unit, so who was this person that gave them this supposed telephone number?

So, the fight goes on. It proves that in the City of Vancouver, the police can do whatever they want as their employer, the City of Vancouver will cover for them.

Judy Rogers loves the Coalition debacle

2008-12-02T10:07:00.001-08:00

I am sure that Judy Rogers loves the current National Coalition Debacle taking place in Ottawa. It takes the fiasco at Vancouver City Hall of the front page, not that she would answer any questions the media or public might have.

Its very sad that here in Vancouver, you still see a few comments here and there about the $100 Million Loan and Estelle Lo fiasco, but for the most part, they got away with it. I guess we get the government we deserve. Haven't heard a peep on this matter lately from Mayor Elect Gregor Robertson, or the new City Council. (other than slimy requests to deny Estelle Lo her severance)

City Council & Judy Rogers throw Estelle Lo under the bus

2008-11-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

It seems that the current City Council, or at least some of its members will stop at nothing in order to deflect attention and blame for the $100 Million Loan fiasco. See David Cadmans comments below (Ed. I fully support the 2010 Olympics and would even have supported the $100 Million Loan if it was public and transparent)

On a separate matter, Cadman also said that he has written a letter to city manager Judy Rogers stating that he's assuming there has been no discussion of a severance package for Estelle Lo, who recently resigned as the city's chief financial officer. "When people resign, they don't get a severance package," Cadman said.

Did anyone ever think that she was forced out because she may have had issues with the $100 Million Loan? Judy Rogers withheld information on her resignation till after the election, with or without the knowledge of City Council. (I tend to beleive that it was with the knowledge of the Council who did not want anyone to rain on their parade with the Millenium Project)

How could the Director of Finance resign on October 17th and Council not know about it till after the election when it was released on November 6th? If Council did in fact not know of this resignation, then Judy Rogers should be taken to task for withholding this key information from Council and the Public.

City Council is acting against the interests of taxpayers by focusing on who leaked the information of the loan and who leaked the swipe card information instead of focusing on why the Director of Finance resigned and why it was supposedly withheld from Council and certainly withheld from the Public.

Estelle Lo served the City of Vancouver for 10 years and this is how she is treated? (Ed. I do not know Estelle and have no connection to her whatsoever)

As the recent Alan Garr article in the Vancouver Courier stated
"Managers say Rogers has created the "most toxic workplace" they've ever experienced." It seems that City Council is acting in the same manner.

Shameful

What $100 Million, Vancouver celebrates AC-DC Day

2008-11-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

While Vancouver taxpayers are rigthfully upset at the lack of information from the City on the $100 Million loan to the Olympic Village Developers, and the secrecy surrounding this action as well the the resignation of Estelle Lo, the Mayors office has more important things to do.

http://www.mayorsamsullivan.ca/vancouver-celebrates-ac-dc-day-november-28th.html

Change can't come soon enough. Trouble is, City Hall stays the same.

Van City Council to hire lawyer to waste our money

2008-11-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

This is turning into a fiasco on top of a disaster and we taxpayers just take this crap.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=cf5c7687-00b7-4d1c-96e1-987536c1d1a3

City Council is hiring legal counsel at a yet hefty unknown cost to determine why they all agreed to secretly loan taxpayer money to the Olympic Village Developer. They are not looking at why Estelle Lo, Director of Finance had some of her key duties stripped from her prior to the secret vote, which she did not attend. They are not looking at why she resigned and more importantly why Judy withheld that information from the public and supposedly from Council itself till after the election. They still haven't released any more information about this so-called loan despite the public outcry.

This is a disgrace.

Is Gregor Robertson, Vision Mayor-Elect backtracking already?

2008-11-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

I am very concerned that Gregor Robertson is backtracking on what to do with City Hall officials and the $100 Million loan fiasco, and the shameful way the Esther Lo situation was handled courtesy of Judy Rogers.

Here is a quote from http://www.irwinloy.com/blog/tag/gregor-robertson"I’m very concerned when a chief financial officer steps aside and resigns,” Robertson said. “I’d like to know why and what concerns exist around that.”But he acknowledged Judy Rogers, the city’s powerful top bureaucrat, would have the final say on the matter.“I’ll see what the city manager says about whether these concerns can be aired,” Robertson said.

Judy Rogers having the final say? Wondering whether concerns about the Chief Financial Officer having her responsibilities pulled and then she leaves under unknown circumstances prior to the election, and that information is withheld from the public and even over 3 weeks after she resigned, we still don't know what happened?

Is it time to dump Judy Rogers?

2008-11-21T10:08:00.000-08:00

Great article by Alan Garr at the Vancouver Courier

As I have long stated, my bad experience with her can't be unique, and we now see how this severly impacts all Vancouverites.

Are we Canadians too meek when dealing with Government?

2008-11-20T12:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes, yes. No matter what the scandal, we might grouse for a few days and move on.
Ferry fiasco to the tune of over $600 Million? Oh well.
$100 Million "loaned" to a developer in secret? Tsk Tsk.

Thats why Judy Rogers and the City of Vancouver can put up a lame notice like this on their web site back on November 6th and offer nothing since then.

The financial and schedule risks assumed by the City with respect to the Olympic Village remain unchanged. The City is conducting business related to Southeast False Creek and the Olympic Village pursuant to a unanimous Council mandate.
Staff has kept all Council members informed on developments since the beginning of the project, and will continue to report out as appropriate. The City will continue to make information publicly available when appropriate in order to continue to act in the taxpayers’ best interest.
The City is confident that the Olympic Village will be completed on schedule and turned over to VANOC as planned.

Who decides when it will be appropriate to let the taxpayers of Vancouver know what is going on with their money? Why, the same people who tried to give it away in secret?

You would think that the taxpayers of Vancouver would be demanding accountability and answers from Judy Rogers. Obviously not, and she knows it.

Why is Vancouver City Manager Office not being investigated?

2008-11-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

If Vancouver was a Public Corporation, which in a sense it is, and information about a resignation of the top Finance official was witheld from the shareholders/public prior to a major company event, there would be a criminal investigation. Yet, in this case, the City is using its employees, the police, to "investigate" the source of the leak of information that the public needed to know. This is what a police state does.

Since Judy Rogers is the City Manager and she is the one that announced the resignation of Estelle Lo, one can assume that she was also the one to whom the resignation was tendered. Yet, despite the fact that an election was coming up, and news of the $100 Million loan had already been made public, this information was witheld from the public till after the election. We are also led to beleive that it was witheld from City Council as Peter Ladner and others claimed to have no knowledge of her status. I wonder what was done to keep Estelle quiet about her resignation till after the election. When you are handing out $100 Million of taxpayer money in secret, whats a few dollars to keep it quiet. I assume Vancouverites will never know the details of the severance package.

Its surprising to me that her office is not being scrutinized closer in this whole affair, especially since she is also on the board of VANOC. I guess she knows too many secrets and where the skeletons are buried. Even the media has not cast any questions in this direction.

See a good article by Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail here: Globe

Estelle Lo "Resigns"

2008-11-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Did she resign or was she pushed to resign and by whom? This stinks, which is no surprise given what we see at City Hall. Of course they witheld this till after the election. Interesting that now Judy Rogers is sending out the email to Councillers and Staff but could not be bothered to face the public when the leak of the $100 Million loan came out, and instead sent Jody Andrews out to face the fire.

http://www.francesbula.com/?p=658

Update: Did anyone notice that the resignation email sent by Estelle was after the notice of her resignation sent by Judy Rogers?
Judy's email: Sent: Mon Nov 17 09:06:07 2008
Estelle's Email: Sent: Mon Nov 17 09:13:33 2008

I guess since we know that Estelle actually resigned on October 29th, these emails were just a charade.

Why Vote when Judy Rogers runs the city anyway?

2008-11-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

I am a strong believer in utilizing your vote in a democracy. This time, however, I am quite disillusioned about the municipal votes in Vancovuer.

Till recently, I thought that Peter Ladner would get my vote for the next Mayor. Aside from the fact that he never once bothered to respond to email I sent him, the shennigans with the $100 Million "loan" to Millenium bother me a lot. Not so much that they loaned the money, but that they not only tried to keep it secret, but talk about getting the police on whoever did the public a favor whether that was their intention or not. I just don't like Peters talk about how the negotiations had to be secret or we would be in a bad position. Everyone knew about the cost overruns on the project, it was public information. Everyone knew of the softening real estate market. The Developer needed the money, what kind of leverage would they have?

This attitude suggests that all of us taxpayers are idiots who don't understand whats going on.

Beyond all the people asking for our vote, what difference would it really make? They will still raise property taxes, and we will still have the same problems we have with the current administration. I can guarantee it. Worse, nothing changes in the real seat of power, the unelected City Managers office. This is the entity that Vancouverites deal with. I want to know what those running for office plan to do to ensure that City Hall is accountable to citizens of Vancouver.

No one is talking about the $100 Million

2008-11-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

Strange, this issue had some legs last week, now nothing. No one is asking exactly what kind of guarantees we have in Vancouver. No one is asking when this information would have been relayed to Vancouver residents if not for it being leaked. Would we only have found out about it if it turns out, as I think it will, that we are on the hook?

Meanwhile, our so-called leaders act like children. Peter Ladner says he forgot his secret "don't tell the taxpayers" document in the meeting room, and someone put it in someone else room. Is this a kindergarden? These people want to be our leaders?

Meanwhile, not a peep from Judy Rogers who surely had a hand in all this being that she is also on the Board of Vancouver 2010.

Judy, can you spare $100 Million?

2008-11-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

Taxpayers don't need to know, we just have to trust City Hall. Of course, Judy Rogers is not available for comment, she puts Jody Andrews out there on the firing line. No one knows for sure if the Director of Finance has resigned or not. As it says in The Province " Rogers is on the Board of Directors of the Olympic Organizing committee and would be intimately familiar with any deal on the project"

I have stated in my own small case that there is a lack of transparency, accountability and communication in City Hall. We are now seeing this on a much larger scale.

Vancouver Taxpayers pay City Lawyers to fight them

2008-11-03T10:01:00.001-08:00

Did you know that the Legal Department of the City of Vancouver has a budget of $4.5 Million, of which 90% is salaries and benefits? They have 7 litigators , 9 solicitors, 10 Legal Assistants, and about 12-13 others not including the Senior Managers. About 43 people total!!!!

So we the taxpayers, as in my case, pay to allow these people to fight us when we have an issue with a decision by they City that we feel is incorrect. Is that crazy? So, if a citizen has an issue with a $1000.00 claim from the city, given all these people and the above average salaries and benefits they would get, the costs to the taxpayers would spiral out of control very quickly. I am 100% positive that the costs in my case have probably been higher than 10 times as much as my claim.

Who reviews what this department does, and how they do it? Who makes sure that their budget is properly spent to the benefit of the Citizens of Vancouver? No one, it seems.

Elections, elections, elections, City Hall could care less

2008-11-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

I am very happy to have the opportunity to vote in my riding as well as provincially and federally. However, these days, I have a very cynical feeling about votes that impact Vancouver.

It seems clear to me that no matter who gets into office, nothing changes at City Hall unless the unelected Judy Rogers wants it to. No citizen can expect a clear, fair, unbiased process when dealing with the City.

Here is a quote from someone I wrote to who is running for office of some kind in Vancouver.

"The power that lies with Judy Rogers in her ability to manage city affairs does require a re-examination as this is not the first I've heard of her adversarial and antagonist approach."

Politicians and the City

2008-10-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

I wrote to some of the contestants in the Vancouver-Burrard byelection (Arthur Griffith, Spencer Herbert and Ian McLeod.) We shall see who responds. They want my vote, but can they or will they do anything for a citizen who has serious issues with the City?

The more I deal with this matter, the more I have come to realize that all these elections are almost worthless for us the taxpayers. We don't often come into contact with the Mayors office or the various councillers. However, we need to deal with City Hall, and thats where the problem lies. These people are not elected, they don't really have strong oversight and they are not accountable to anyone.

Update: The only one to respond was Spencer Herbert, so I thouugh I generally vote Conservative, he got my vote!

Vancouver Police

2008-10-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I filed to have the police investigate the actions of their officers on October 20th 2007 when they broke down the door to my unit in Yaletown. I met with an investigating officer. Though he was cordial, it seemed that he already considered their actions appropriate.

I am not expecting an unbiased and transparent investigation. I get a monthly report on the investigation, though this months report was exactly the same as last months. Are they holding on till the last minute of the 6 months deadline for completing this investigation?

I don't forget for a minute that the VPD is employed by the City of Vancouver, and that Judy Rogers runs that operation.

2008-10-23T11:37:00.001-07:00

This is taken from the Letter to Citizens by Judy Rogers in City of Vancovuer 2007 Annual Report. Obviously, this part is a load of crap!

She told me not to contact the city, and they refuse to provide me with evidence or documentation behind their decisions. So much for accessible and accountable!

Letter from the City Manager
The work we do everyday at the City of
Vancouver is focussed on common goals.
While we often talk generally about building
and maintaining a livable city, how we achieve
this depends on channelling our work through
our basic objectives. We work to: establish an
accessible and accountable city;

Judy Rogers
City Manager

In that same report, with the picture of the City Council, the Values are stated as follows:

Responsiveness: To listen to all the people
we work with and serve and to act in a timely
and sensitive way. (Nope)
Excellence: To strive for the best results.
Fairness: To apply unbiased judgement and
sensitivity. (Nope)
Integrity: To be open and honest and to
honour our commitments. (Nope)
Leadership: To set examples that others
will choose to follow.
Learning: To increase knowledge and
understanding in the workplace and in
the community and to grow through our
successes and our mistakes.

Other than Raymond Louie contacting me once regarding this matter, none of the other Council members have responded or taken any action.

So Peter Ladner is running for Mayor?

2008-10-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

I wrote to Peter Ladner a few days ago about my experiences with the city and the problems I had. I always thought highly of him, as I had seen what a great job he did with Business in Vancouver.

I never did get a response. I think I know why. If he is elected Mayor, he is going to have to kowtow to Judy Rogers, just like all the other Mayors do, so he does not want to get involved in anything that might upset her. If this means that a citizens rights get thrown under the bus, so be it.

Who oversees the City Manager of Vancouver?

2008-09-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-09-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-09-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-09-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

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.............

2008-09-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

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.