Hark, How They Flounder: QUOTABLE
“This project smells like a fish market on a hot day.”
Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen, on the Tewin Project
With apologies to Shakespeare in the headline, the Tewin project has a bit of an image problem.
Deachman was the first traditional media person to touch the latest Tewin scandal. That’s very brave considering the editors, if there are more than one, develop a nervous tick every time a developer is cast in a dubious situation,
That’s because home advertisers make up much of the dwindling traditional media revenue.
Deachman gives a good history of the Tewin project, including the recent history only covered (until Deachman) in The Bulldog.
To read Deachman, click here.
– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
From the Deachman article talking about conflict of interest: “Royce Fu, the city’s manager of policy planning … said, “These are City of Ottawa positions that are a part of the City’s organization and report to City management. The code of conduct and professional opinions from these positions are the same as other City professional positions.””
Well then! I guess we can all sleep soundly in our beds tonight! Was he maybe talking tongue in cheek when he said that? Doesn’t he realise that the behaviour and ethics of City staff are not beyond reproach as he seems to be saying? Otherwise, maybe what he’s really saying is “You know what you get from City staff? Well, this is more of the same.”.
Aside from anything else, has Mr. Fu not read the LRT report with its damning comments on City staff? That would be a good starting point for his education. Some members of City staff appear to have looked only at the evidence given and have adopted parts of it as a ‘how-to’ manual while ignoring the findings. That’s not my suggestion for Mr. Fu.
There are a number of people at City Hall who are in desperate need of an in-depth course on conflict of interest. Far too many don’t even understand the basic concept let alone how it manifests itself. A mandatory course should be put in place for all city politicians and staff with a refresher every three or four years. It should be part of the training process for every new hire. The irony is that, with the current situation at City Hall, you’d have to bring someone in from the outside to teach it.
There seems to be at least one common person behind the recent mega-bucks projects like Lansdowne, LRT construction awards and now Tewin. Hint: the initials are Jim Watson.
Voter:
You stole my Whopper Watch. Shame on you.
It was going to go:
“These are City of Ottawa positions that are a part of the City’s organization and report to City management. The code of conduct and professional opinions from these positions are the same as other City professional positions.””
And I was only going to put one line below it.
Surely you can do better than that.
cheers
kgray
Oh no! So sorry, Ken! It just seems an endless string of nonsensical statements from people at city hall who ought to know better.
I’m dying to know how many of the things we’ve heard from various City officials over the last month or two were their own ideas and how many were things they’ve been told to give as responses. I know some of these people and not all of them need help opening a can of beans. Let’s hope a few of them decide (and soon) to spill those beans. Is this really the way you want your career to go?