You can’t manage BC’s soon-to-be biggest city or its $2 billion budget with a ready, fire, aim approach: Linda Annis
Surrey First Councillor and candidate for mayor Linda Annis says Doug McCallum’s decision to run for mayor should stress every city taxpayer.
Annis said McCallum has a “ready-fire-aim” approach to running the city, resulting in decisions that are never fully costed, or completely thought out.
“Doug McCallum campaigned on getting rid of the RCMP and creating a local police service,” said Annis. “He wouldn’t let Surrey voters have a say, so he pushed ahead and said he could do it quickly and for just 10 per cent more than the cost of having the RCMP. We’re now in year eight of the police transition, and while I definitely support our SPS, the fact is the cost of local policing is not 10 per cent more than the RCMP, and this transition has been anything but quick. Frankly, he and Brenda Locke mismanaged the whole process because details are just not important to them.”
Annis said the SkyTrain line from Surrey to Langley is another example of McCallum’s failure to drill down and look at the details.
“SkyTrain does a terrific job of connecting cities, but it does not do a good job of connecting neighbourhoods,” said Annis. “The 16 km SkyTrain project to Langley is behind schedule and at least $2 billion over budget. It’s costing $375 million per km. Meanwhile, the $1.65 billion LRT line that Doug McCallum cancelled was going to cost $165 million per km, and would have connected our neighbourhoods, and been open by now.”
McCallum’s decision to stop, then re-start the construction of the Cloverdale Ice Complex which former mayor Linda Hepner championed, meant the project was delayed and ultimately cost more, added Annis.
“When you don’t think things through, mistakes are made, projects are delayed, and costs go up,” added Annis. “I want more parks, pools, rinks, and playing fields, but I want them as part of a credible and costed 20 year plan that is less about politics and more about neighbourhoods and families.”
Annis also said she is skeptical of McCallum’s campaign promise of no tax increases for four years.
“When Doug McCallum was mayor, he boasted about his 2.9 percent tax increases, which was total fiction,” noted Annis. “You only had to look at your tax bill to see that all of his extra charges, such as increasing the flat rate parcel tax from $100 to $300, meant people were seeing their taxes go up by as much as 20 percent, something he didn’t want to talk about.”..
Source:Media contact:
Trevor Pancoust
