I recognize how Calgary’s exciting and expansive Chinatown adds value to our city and am pleased to support their Centennial Celebrations. First, as a cherished culture whose people and traditions we treasure. But in addition to the warmth of the Chinese people, Chinatown itself also brings our city economic impact, tourism product, and new residents.
I have the honour of enjoying Chinatown myself 15 – 20 times per year and I appreciate every person, every experience, every time.
While I struggled with the initial ask of $500,000 to celebrate, I am convinced that the requirements City Council imposed on the funding today will satisfy my doubts. Initially the city appeared to be thrusting the idea of a centennial celebration onto the Chinese community as we were clearly “leading the charge”.
I do find $500,000 to be a significant amount of taxpayer funds to put towards one celebration, but as mentioned, Council has put safeguards in for the spending which I was happy to see.
In the future, I would be looking for similar financial requests coming to City Hall to be accompanied with a very detailed plan. It just is not smart business sense by the City to offer funds without a plan attached. That type of approach reminds me of a “ready, fire, aim” type of strategy.
A process exists that the city insists on for groups requesting funds. It is important to stick to process so we manage the many requests and establish a fair playing field using established channels and procedures.
I am not adverse to giving dollars for the right ideas, or deviating from established processes in cases where an unexpected opportunity lands on our doorstep, such as Chinatown’s Centennial. This city is built on people capitalizing on opportunity and I don’t want to stand in the way of that.
However, my initial concern was that the scope of the project went well beyond a birthday celebration to include redevelopment plans. This approach can muddy the waters of our budget allocation – and sets a dangerous precedent. I believe in transparent government and want to ensure Calgarians that Council calls a spade a spade. In this case, that we do not hide re-development costs in celebration costs.
It is incumbent upon all of us as Aldermen to focus on strategic policy for the city. Not on serving as members of advisory committees in an event planning capacity, regardless of the inherent value. Calgary is the number one city in Canada for volunteerism – let’s leave the planning side to those who do it best. And let us focus on the priorities and policies that are supposed to guide us in exactly these kinds of discussions and decisions.
I am pleased with the outcome of today’s decision to support Chinatown’s Centennial, and look forward to the final report that shares the measurement of success on how this taxpayer money is spent.
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on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 1:36 am and is filed under Survey Comments.
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Chinatown Centennial Positive
I recognize how Calgary’s exciting and expansive Chinatown adds value to our city and am pleased to support their Centennial Celebrations. First, as a cherished culture whose people and traditions we treasure. But in addition to the warmth of the Chinese people, Chinatown itself also brings our city economic impact, tourism product, and new residents.
I have the honour of enjoying Chinatown myself 15 – 20 times per year and I appreciate every person, every experience, every time.
While I struggled with the initial ask of $500,000 to celebrate, I am convinced that the requirements City Council imposed on the funding today will satisfy my doubts. Initially the city appeared to be thrusting the idea of a centennial celebration onto the Chinese community as we were clearly “leading the charge”.
I do find $500,000 to be a significant amount of taxpayer funds to put towards one celebration, but as mentioned, Council has put safeguards in for the spending which I was happy to see.
In the future, I would be looking for similar financial requests coming to City Hall to be accompanied with a very detailed plan. It just is not smart business sense by the City to offer funds without a plan attached. That type of approach reminds me of a “ready, fire, aim” type of strategy.
A process exists that the city insists on for groups requesting funds. It is important to stick to process so we manage the many requests and establish a fair playing field using established channels and procedures.
I am not adverse to giving dollars for the right ideas, or deviating from established processes in cases where an unexpected opportunity lands on our doorstep, such as Chinatown’s Centennial. This city is built on people capitalizing on opportunity and I don’t want to stand in the way of that.
However, my initial concern was that the scope of the project went well beyond a birthday celebration to include redevelopment plans. This approach can muddy the waters of our budget allocation – and sets a dangerous precedent. I believe in transparent government and want to ensure Calgarians that Council calls a spade a spade. In this case, that we do not hide re-development costs in celebration costs.
It is incumbent upon all of us as Aldermen to focus on strategic policy for the city. Not on serving as members of advisory committees in an event planning capacity, regardless of the inherent value. Calgary is the number one city in Canada for volunteerism – let’s leave the planning side to those who do it best. And let us focus on the priorities and policies that are supposed to guide us in exactly these kinds of discussions and decisions.
I am pleased with the outcome of today’s decision to support Chinatown’s Centennial, and look forward to the final report that shares the measurement of success on how this taxpayer money is spent.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 1:36 am and is filed under Survey Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.