Re: “Vancouver city manager Ballem did not ask to resign,” online, Sept. 15.
Once again, this time at cost to you and I of over $500,000, Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver majority have missed the point.
There’s no disputing that Dr. Penny Ballem is an incredibly capable city manager, perhaps one of the most competent ever. When there were problems — and there were plenty — it was because she implemented Vision Vancouver policies that the public simply had no appetite for.
The point is the city manager takes direction from city council.
From the plan to massively densify Grandview-Woodlands to the park board’s Leisure Access Pass fiasco, the Vision team attempted to hide behind their city manager hoping she would shoulder the blame for decisions that weren’t hers.
The blowback from Vision’s unpopular policies was so fierce they nearly lost the 2014 election. All the Vision Vancouver city council candidates received fewer votes in total than the NPA city council candidates who ran. Once the election was over, the search was on for a scapegoat.
The cynical decision to make Penny Ballem the “fall gal” for its unpopular decisions costs us plenty. Let’s hope it’s one more bad decision on the part of Vision Vancouver that also costs them the next election.
Tim Louis, Co-Chair, Coalition of Progressive Electors, Vancouver
