The Editor,
The results of the ICBC staffing review were not unexpected, but they are an illustration of the bureaucratic tendency to multiply with no limit.
Now, I would suggest our lacklustre council appoint the same group of investigators to review Richmond's fecund mass of overpaid, under-worked bureaucrats.
From top to bottom, the main objective of this group, seems to be, "Raise my salary."
Just as an indication of this trend, look at the renovation of the old cop shop on Minoru Boulevard - $1.95 million to set it up for an unknown number of bureaucrats.
By the way, the original estimate was $900,000 for renovations.
Seems to me, when the Taj Mahal on No. 3 Road was built, it was with the view that it would meet Richmond's needs for the foreseeable future. What happened?
Easy, the council caved in on any and every request for "more," generated by their "big wheels." Anything from an expensive bathroom renovation for the Head Honcho ($60,000, wasn't it?) in the name of privacy, to the virtually unlimited hiring and salary structure that this same council has approved with grovelling acceptance.
We as taxpayers are all able to see the results in our skyrocketing tax bills. In my own case, a $500 increase in one year for a single family home nearly 50 years old.
Enough already. If these bureaucrats are so great at their job, let us encourage them to go elsewhere, and see if they can make even 75 per cent of what our clueless council is shovelling out to them.
This is my own opinion, and I owe nothing to any party or group, but I do believe in freedom of speech, and the right to express my indignation at the mess being generated at Richmond City Hall!
Terrence Murphy Richmond
