Cheers & Jeers
Jeers:
to poor communication. It’s not every day a city councillor has the city clerk’s office issue a media advisory explaining that he is withdrawing a proposal because he “feels that he has been unable to convey the concept clearly to the public…” In this case, it was St. John’s Coun. Sandy Hickman stepping back from an idea he had to have a feasibility study conducted into the possibility of a second access route to Signal Hill Road. Did Hickman really withdraw his proposal because he was unable to explain it properly or because it was largely ridiculed from the get-go? Talk about a road to nowhere…
Jeers:
to understaffing. Call the City of St. John’s 311 service line and you’ll hear a message telling you that a citizen service representative is available for your convenience to take your call 24 hours a day. Well, frustrated citizens can tell you that if you call repeatedly and are told all the service representatives are busy and the system is overburdened and unable to hold your call in sequence, then that’s no longer 24-hour service. Clearly, the city no longer has enough citizen service representatives available to make that claim. Time to hire more people or else change the message to something a little more accurate: “Call 311: you might get to talk to someone, or you might not.”
Jeers:
to a lack of repercussions. So, Fraser Paul, who was found by a judge to have faked his residency in order to meet the eligibility requirements to run for election in Witless Bay, can seek re-election in the town should he so choose. There is no municipal legislation that prevents someone who obtained municipal office under false pretenses from running again in the very next election. The Department of Municipal Affairs says it’s now reviewing the Municipalities Act, but that loophole should never have existed.
Jeers:
to sending bad messages. The start of a new school year is looming and how long do you think it will be before a girl is sent home for not adhering to school dress codes that often unfairly penalize females? Shoulder straps that are too narrow, skirts that are too short, bare shoulders, a hint of cleavage — how scandalous! As the Canadian Press reported Friday, “In one expert’s view, telling girls how to dress implies that it’s their job to make sure that boys aren’t distracted by their bodies, which is insulting to both sexes.” As noted by Shauna Pomerantz, author of “Girls, Style and School Identities: Dressing the Part” and an associate professor at Brock University, “Boys are basically represented as prisoners of their hormones. (They) just can’t help it and it’s not their fault. Girls, on the other hand, are seen as the gatekeepers of morality.”