Problematic Properties Page Means Nothing

What is the problematic properties page?

Nothing.

Were it you or me, we’d probably be bothered by having our property designated PPP. We’d be embarrassed. We’d lose value in our home.

But the people who cause problems … they don’t care. That’s why they cause problems. Some of them are sociopathic or worse. They completely lack empathy. They have no concern about the PPP … might even consider it being on it a compliment.

And those drug houses that bylaw is so concerned about? The owners don’t really care. And if they do care about something, they are likely to end it by means perhaps not within the law.

So if Mr. Lawnmower on the corner doesn’t cut his grass enough, the PPP means something but not very much. But for most people who don’t care about their neighbours or their homes and are making lots of cash from whatever illegal means they are using… well … they’ll just laugh at the PPP.

Would Al Capone be scared of appearing on the PPP? Not likely. But that’s the kind of people bylaw is dealing with. And bylaw can’t win. These guys don’t scare easily. And they’re making lots of money. They like that money and they will keep it at all costs.

However, the PPP does something … pretty much useless. It gives bylaw and Ottawa City Hall the appearance of doing something. You know “on-time and on-budget” until the city couldn’t hide behind the façade of LRT public relations. And then in its own ham-handed way, the city told journalists they couldn’t take pictures on trains or around them. Except, stupidly, they forgot that almost everyone on the train had a camera on their phones and a Twitter account.

Twitter became the official source of LRT screwups. The information coming from Twitter was much, much more accurate than what Happy Town News was releasing. Residents count on HTN for reliable news from the city. Citizens pay for it. But they were discovered covering up by their own short-sightedness about new technology.

They keep doing it. Pathetic really.

Riders didn’t know the rules and if they did, they wouldn’t care. They took pictures and blew the facade of a good train out of the water.

So PPP is PR. It gives the impression of doing something when it doesn’t. And who’s to check on it?

And that’s how Ottawa City Hall likes it.

Ken Gray

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