On the heals on the State of the City's address, in which Mayor Eisenberger made it a point to talk about how councillors are working together, it seems like the Mayor and Councillor Whitehead were unable to contain themselves as to who should be the front man (spokesperson) for the city's NHL pursuits.
Andrew Dreschel wrote an opinion piece on this in today's Spec entitled Feuds and Cross-Checking at City Hall. When it came time for councillors to talk about events in their wards, the Mayor took the unusual step of speaking first, choosing to address the Balsillie bid and how Hamilton is now better off in terms of its chances of landing a NHL team in the future, because of it. This, apparently set Clr. Whitehead off, drawing objections to the Mayor, seemingly stealing his thunder.
Andrew described the back and forth as "like a bickering old married couple".
Friday, October 2, 2009
5 comments:
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In this matter of definite city-wide importance, the question is, who is the mayor and who is a ward councillor? The mayor gave the councillor an opportunity to express what his concerns may have been as regards the timing of the information sharing regarding the failed NHL bid. The offer was not taken up.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the real story of this week's council meeting was the appalling poor job done by Councillor Ferguson as chair. His constant interruptions of, and debating with, the speakers who had the floor was out of line - Was it a matter of arrogance? incompetence? lack of knowledge of Robert's Rules of Order? Whatever ... kudos to Sam Merulla for, at one point, telling Ferguson that the question he was asking was not to him, but to someone who could answer it!
Thanks for reporting this Cal. Readers of theSpec
ReplyDeleteonline news no longer have access to Andrew Dreschel's
opinion pieces unless they pay $2.50 per month to download
the PDF. I haven't made that leap yet although I am considering.
Thanks for providing some details Brian. Personally, I don't care
if NHL hockey ever comes to Hamilton. None of the hoopla would
ever trickle down into my libido unless I could buy a ticket
for $22 like I can for a Cat's game.
What is once again important to note, is that city
council is dysfunctional, much like everything
else related to government in general. The
Mayor often appears frail (gutless) in
his leadership capacity, unlike
the Three Amigos which
are a force to be
reckoned with.
http://thespec.com/Opinions/article/588556
Has anyone seen the Hamilton Spectator's
Nine Tough Questions with Leo Gerard?
http://thespec.com/News/Business/article/646702
There's another guy with intestinal fortitude (guts)
Q: So you think Stelco would be better off in Canadian hands?
A: Listen, I think Canada would be better off in Canadian hands. Why just stick with Stelco?...
Q: How would we do that now?
A: I think it's going to take some discussion. There's a lot of angry people. They want change, they want security, they want jobs. In the long run we have to bring that message to Canadians. It's not in Canada's interest to have all of its resources and manufacturing capability in foreign hands. No other country does that. Only two: the United States and Canada.
If these two want to fight over bragging rights to a "Pipe-Dream" they can have at it.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to get an NHL Team here would be to expand the league and re-jig the territories to suit.
Meawhile, the Hamilton Bulldogs rule the house at Copps. These guys are in it for the love of the game, unlike so many other NHL players and their multi-million dollar contracts.
Cal, good afternoon...
ReplyDeleteFirst off Eisenberger is the Mayor and if he feels he should give councillor Whitehead a gag order then he should go right ahead and do so, he's done it once already. Where's the leadership here?
Secondly, the Mayor is delusional if he thinks Hamilton still has a shot at an NHL team. We've already had Ron Joyce tell everyone that he feels Hamilton has less than a 10% chance of landing an NHL team and we've seen Jim Balsillie's efforts fall to the wayside more than once too. The next question I would have to ask is what does the Mayor know that these two Gazillionaires, Joyce and Balsillie, don't know? NHL does not want anything at all to do with Hamilton so why does the city continue to waste it's time, money and energy on a FUTILE ENDEAVOR???
There are more pressing needs that Hamilton should be focusing more on like our infrastructure needs with roads, sewers, bridges, stuff like that. We also need to do more with luring and attracting new business to the city. We also need to do a lot more with the way we promote ourselves. In my humble opinion the city of Hamilton gets a failing grade when it comes to promoting itself. I guess the blame here primarily falls on Economic Development Department. Those guys not doing enough and the next time they decide to hold an Economic Summit in town I would hope they have the wisdom to include everyone else in the city that wants to participate in it cause you just never know where the next really good idea will be coming from.
Next election, let's hope the people of Hamilton come out and vote for people who know how to work together as team members and place Hamilton's needs ahead of their own personal needs.
Best Regards!
Rick Cordeiro
www.rickcordeiro.actorsite.com
They cant even agree when trying to make things look posiitve? Unbeleivable.
ReplyDeleteElvis P