Abbotsford City Councilor Christine Caldwell pulled the pin and tossed a live grenade on City's Plan A

Abbotsford City Councilor Christine Caldwell pulled the pin and tossed a live hand grenade, in the form of a letter, into Abbotsford City Hall on Plan A before jetting off to Europe. 

I do not want to get bogged down in arguments about political opportunism or of not having the courage to stand up and put it all on the line for what you believe rather than fleeing to the safety of. 

Instead I want to focus on what disturbs me and should have all citizens demanding that heads roll. Most disturbing is Caldwell’s stated concern over “many services being cut in many departments throughout the city”. In a city that is so poorly served by its local government the last thing we need is services being cut. Clearly senior staff and council have no sense of priorities on what is important to the Citizens of Abbotsford. 

Secondly, Caldwell cities the “Unforeseen Expenses” for Plan A which she believes have not yet come to light. Welcome to the club. Despite the slick sales job by City Hall, focused on selling the $85 million price tag, thoughtful citizens have been demanding to know all the actual costs. To date the total price tag stands at $108.6 and what the final cost will be is anybody’s guess. 

Finally she says “I feel I was led down the garden path …Some of the decisions … would appear different as time went along. Over weeks of manipulating, shifting and tweaking the projects seemed to morph into a different story.” Again, welcome to the club. Thoughtful citizens had called from the start for less smoke and mirrors more substance and detailed information on just what Abbotsford City Hall proposed to build.  

Clearly there is great need for major change at Abbotsford City Hall. It is time for spring cleaning, tossing out our inept senior management, replacing it with Management capable of open, citizens focused, business friendly, fiscally sound, solid planning and good business practices. Abbotsford pays superb management salaries; it is time Abbotsford's ratepayers got value for their money.