Re: “City council argues over agenda time,” News, March 7.
In reading an article about some councillors requesting/needing more time to review information, I was shocked at the response of Mr. McNulty and Mayor Brodie. “Things having been done this way for 25 years” is no excuse to shut down a valid discussion in this manner.
As a Richmond resident during that 25 years, we’ve seen farmland devoured by mansions, a casino in our neighbourhood become a hub of money laundering; we have birthing houses and make-shift hotels in residential neighbourhoods; we’ve seen shops set up to buy passports, driver’s licenses, etc.
So, maybe that 25 years of doing things their way should be open to review and possible change. Council should be welcoming and open to listening to all members, especially newcomers who wish to exercise due diligence and carefully review material. They should remember that they, too, had training wheels at one time and just because they now can fly through things with ease, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t allow extra time for those just settling in. It takes time to run a city and we don’t want councillors just rubber stamping things.
It seemed almost to be an “old gentleman’s club” response to a very valid request. Recent news has us understand how people (especially women) are no longer accepting bullying in the workplace, and I feel we have to be careful about using “this is how it’s done” language. When new councillors are voted in, it’s because their ideas were supported and longstanding councillors really have no right to shoot them down based on nothing more than “we don’t do it that way around here.”
These guys are senior members and may have more free time than others, but that doesn’t mean their schedule is everyone’s schedule or “the” schedule. We’re in 2019, not 1965 — people do balance, school, families, work, etc. and it’s perfectly reasonable to expect to be able to do so. It’s not about “managing time” but managing our city. And if that takes an extra day or two, please don’t rush the process. Because, over the past years, that may have been part of a problem, not a solution.
Debra Lynn
RICHMOND
