Comments on: Mayor’s comments about departing bureaucrats rile many

By: gmgw

gmgw — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:56:28 +0000

“Health, even public health (sadly in the case of public health) is now the sole responsibility of the senior governments.”

Well, Mary, based on the recent (and deranged) court action brought by the Feds against Insite, I would say they at least agree with you. However, there is a good deal more to public health administration in a large city than making decisions on hospital funding and how pathetically few nurses with which the system can scrape by.
I know Ballem has a rep as a micromanager and a tough boss. Does that mean Judy Rogers remembered all her staff members’ birthdays, gave them lots of hugs, and took them to Maui every year? Why is it people get so exercised when a high-level public sector manager starts acting like she’s a private sector manager? Double standards?
gmgw

By: spartikus

spartikus — Sat, 02 May 2009 22:20:48 +0000

Specific examples of ideology and shoot from the hip are covered in Frances’ blog and the dailies I've seen the Mayor's penchant for the occasionally awkward quote covered, but I'm mystified, truly mystified, by what is meant by "ideology". Once again, could please go into specifics as to what this means? the constructive dismissal of Jody and James are 2 excellent ones These two were not dismissed, they resigned by choice. And in the latter's case, he specifically disputes your characterization: I’m a bit dismayed by some of the speculation about why I am leaving. I’ve worked for six mayors in the last six years, in three different municipalities, so I am very accustomed to change and transition. The reason I’m moving on is very simple: I have been offered an extremely challenging new job in a great university. Is Mr. Ridge lying? Why would he go to the effort to write to Francis? If he felt pushed out, he could have just kept his mouth shut. Instead he took a proactive choice to publicly deny the City Caucus spin. There are other examples of callous disrespect for hard working, dedicated City Hall professionals, but prvacy and job security concerns prohibit ‘outing’ the details. How convenient. I don't believe you.

By: OMC

OMC — Sat, 02 May 2009 21:32:27 +0000

I said it before and I will say it again, Robertson owes James Ridge and all city staff an apology. City hall is full of hard working people who do not deserve this kind of abuse.

Furthermore, Robertson is wrong – I have seen no evidence of his council achieving anything spectacular in the last few months. Certainly no more than past councils have done.

He may have a “big agenda” but as a resident, I don’t see it. What I see is my garbage being picked up, streets being cleaned and maintained, etc. It was like this before Robertson became the mayor and it will be long after he is gone. And it’s not because of his agenda but because of hard working staff at city hall.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:00:18 +0000

Health, even public health (sadly in the case of public health) is now the sole responsibility of the senior governments. To run this City one needs at least a generalist’s knowledge of municipal responsibilities. I’m not saying she isn’t smart, but she has the arrogance typical of medical specialists. She feels no need to listen, ask questions first, or respect the experience and perspective of others. Specific examples of ideology and shoot from the hip are covered in Frances’ blog and the dailies – the constructive dismissal of Jody and James are 2 excellent ones. There are other examples of callous disrespect for hard working, dedicated City Hall professionals, but prvacy and job security concerns prohibit ‘outing’ the details.

By: gmgw

gmgw — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:24:43 +0000

LP:
Something I didn’t have time to say in my hurriedly-written-on-coffee-break previous post: If you want to criticize Ballem, fine. But be straight-up about it. It irritates the hell out of me when people on the right *or* left attack a public figure by distorting, understating, or otherwise misrepresenting their CV or their professional accomplishments, which, in Ballem’s case, are considerable (both as physician and administrator), no matter how you feel about any perceived political overtones to her appointment . That’s just dishonest, and it reflects negatively on the accuser, far more than it does on their target. And by the way, public health is an absolutely crucial element of any city administration. In some ways it’s even more important than your beloved engineering. As you may have deduced if you’ve been monitoring the news this past week.
gmgw

By: gmgw

gmgw — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:57:37 +0000

LP:
Re your calculated dismissal of Penny Ballem (note correct spelling) as an “unemployed administrator…”: Save your faux-ignorant bullshit for the rubes, OK? Just to counter your clumsy attempts at distortion, here’s the woman’s actual record (and this is from a 3 year-old document):
“On August 27, 2001, Dr. Penny Ballem was appointed Deputy Minister of Health Services. Over the last 22 years, Dr. Ballem has been a health administrator, an advisor to health policy-makers, both provincially and nationally, and a practicing academic physician. She was previously the Vice-President of the Children’s and Women’s Health Centre of British Columbia, having responsibility for the largest maternity hospital in the country, and held a position of Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Previously, she held the position of Deputy Medical Director of the Canadian Red Cross, Blood Transfusion Service in British Columbia. Dr. Ballem currently holds an appointment on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Dr. Ballem received her medical degree in 1978, and her specialist fellowship in 1983, both from UBC. She is sought after as a speaker on health systems, health policy, and women’s health. She is known in British Columbia for her work in developing innovative interdisciplinary health services, especially in the area of women’s health and has received awards for her work in education, research and advocacy in women’s health.”
I know it must pain you, LP, but Ballem is one of the most respected figures in the country in the field of public health, and equally, is regarded as one of the most capable administrators in that field. Her departure from her deputy minister position was motivated by personal integrity, when she could no longer countenance the Campbell government’s determination to undercut health care funding in this province.
I may not agree with everything that Ballem or Robertson do, but she has my deepest admiration and repect for her abilities as an adminstrator and as an advocate for public health. (And where does it say, BTW, that the city manager has to be an engineer?)

By: LP

LP — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:50:35 +0000

gmgw,

Penny Ballum is a hematologist and was an unemployed administrator from the public health sector when hired by Gregor and co.

That pretty much qualifies her as inexperienced with respect to running a city. Please don’t try to suggest that her experience is transferable and applicable to the job she now holds.

Most cities hire or promote experienced engineers to the position of city manager to ensure the city is being run effectively.

I believe the last one or two city managers were also non-engineers, and considering the disdain I’ve heard from most of you on their running of city hall, why would you think a now third – inexperienced, non-engineer would do a better job?

Her performance so far is showing why she was unemployed at the time of her hire.

By: gmgw

gmgw — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:49:55 +0000

Just Plain Sad:
Since your use of the term “inexperienced” automatically disqualifies the considerably experienced Penny Ballem from inclusion in the potential list of female “egotistical miscreants” to whom you might be referring, would you care to enlighten us as to who it is that you’re speaking of? I have to admit, I’m curious as to who this shadowy power-broker might be. What do you know that the rest of us don’t?
gmgw

By: spartikus

spartikus — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:15:56 +0000

Just in case you missed it on the other thread, please give a specific example(s) of "ideology", "micro-management", and "shoot from the hip style". Otherwise, I find these charges meaningless.

By: Just Plain Sad

Just Plain Sad — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:41:26 +0000

For those who don’t really understand what’s going on at City Hall, the new regime is driving out all the good people, because good people won’t do bad things, tell lies, or take endless abuse from an inexperienced, egotistical miscreant and her pupeteers who have no place managing a massive public corporation. If you don’t know the people who are leaving, don’t write about them as if you do. More talent has left City Hall in the past 5 months than walked in after the election. And that is just plain sad for Vancouver taxpayers.