02-02-2022, 11:13 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-02-2022, 11:14 AM by MidTowner.
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I think it's pretty straight forward. Councils which raise taxes get replaced. This is the belief (rightly, or wrong, and I think mostly rightly) that councillors have. Therefore, only when there is no choice or when they believe it is worth the risk will they do it.
Now I take a more nuanced view, that councils which wish to raise taxes to fund something, must inspire and lead the public into supporting it. This I think is increasingly difficult in our increasingly conservative anti-tax anti-government society, but it is still possible.
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I think it can be generalized to anything, they think the status quo on any given issue is a winning formula because it is. In the last election, the narrowest margin of victory for a Kitchener city councillor was over 7%. The median was almost 40%, and the widest margin was over 60%.
Maybe they think that this is because there is amazingly high satisfaction with the job that they are doing. With turnout south of 30%, though, I would say that they probably have a pretty good understanding that this is because of apathy. The last thing they want to do is rock the boat in any way that might attract attention and get people voting.
So they're willing to lie and say that the difference between a rate of 13% and a rate of 6% is 7% instead of accurately stating it is a more than 50% reduction in the number of uncleared sidewalks. It's not about "climate emergencies" or "active transportation" and definitely not "equity." Just about minimizing the attention paid to council so as to keep that voter turnout low.
I think it's pretty straight forward. Councils which raise taxes get replaced. This is the belief (rightly, or wrong, and I think mostly rightly) that councillors have. Therefore, only when there is no choice or when they believe it is worth the risk will they do it.
Now I take a more nuanced view, that councils which wish to raise taxes to fund something, must inspire and lead the public into supporting it. This I think is increasingly difficult in our increasingly conservative anti-tax anti-government society, but it is still possible.
[/quote]
I think it can be generalized to anything, they think the status quo on any given issue is a winning formula because it is. In the last election, the narrowest margin of victory for a Kitchener city councillor was over 7%. The median was almost 40%, and the widest margin was over 60%.
Maybe they think that this is because there is amazingly high satisfaction with the job that they are doing. With turnout south of 30%, though, I would say that they probably have a pretty good understanding that this is because of apathy. The last thing they want to do is rock the boat in any way that might attract attention and get people voting.
So they're willing to lie and say that the difference between a rate of 13% and a rate of 6% is 7% instead of accurately stating it is a more than 50% reduction in the number of uncleared sidewalks. It's not about "climate emergencies" or "active transportation" and definitely not "equity." Just about minimizing the attention paid to council so as to keep that voter turnout low.