Of all the departures from city hall since Vision Vancouver took charge, Carlene Robbins’ abrupt exit on Monday is the most puzzling.
A lot of reporters knew Carlene. She and her boss, Barb Windsor, rode herd on some of the city’s hardest and least glory-accruing problems. They pushed the landlords of slummy hotels and rooming houses to keep their property maintained, dealt with houses that were falling to pieces because of absentee or incompetent owners, and stickhandled every other problem that fell under “property use inspection.”
They were efficient, had reams of information in their files and were unfailingly straightforward about what they could and couldn’t release. And though neither was British, they always put me in mind of the pleasantly steely endurance of London residents during the German bombings: quiet but firm, and not likely to let the villains get them down.
Barb retired recently and now Carlene, who had been off work for a week for reasons that aren’t quite clear, quit abruptly on Monday, as every media outlet in town reported today, including me.
Carlene was in charge of monitoring all the inspections in the city for problem premises, so the house on Pandora Street, where a fire broke out and killed three men just before Christmas, would have been in her bailiwick.
There are allegations that she quit or was asked to quit because of something to do with the fire and the inspection process. But that’s all pure speculation so far. We don’t really know.
All most of us who knew Carlene can say for sure is that she was an asset to the city and things will be worse without her.
And you have to wonder about a work environment where she feels she has no place.
22 responses so far ↓
1 George // Jan 27, 2011 at 11:55 pm
Frances
Perhaps in all fairness to Ms. Robbins, the title of your article in the G&M is a little damning, since we don’t know the real reason she left.
To me it gives the implication of some type of responsibility. ..
I’d be willing to bet that Ms. Robbins will find it hurtful, and sensationalized…. just as I did.
2 The Fourth Horseman // Jan 28, 2011 at 12:30 am
George, that would probably be the editor’s choice, not hers.
Still, really wanna know what’s in the water at City hall these days…
3 Diderottoo // Jan 28, 2011 at 7:00 am
The story has been running through the Hall for 2 weeks – she is scaped-goated for the Pandora fire. So much for instilling confidence in leadership and fostering employee engagement. This Council and their henchwoman are redefining political expediency and opportunism.
4 Everyman // Jan 28, 2011 at 7:37 am
Sadly Vision Vancouver’s politicization of the bureaucracy at City Hall continues unabated. How much more damage can they do in the 10 months before the civic election?
5 Frances Bula // Jan 28, 2011 at 9:00 am
@George. I agree, not the best headline. They meant responsible for the inspection file on the house where the fire was, of course, but the shortening up makes it look like the other kind of responsible. In charge of might have been better. However, I’m always hesitant to throw stones. Turning out a book’s worth of print every day inevitably mean that occasionally there’s a word choice tha’s not the best.
6 George // Jan 28, 2011 at 9:44 am
Thanks Frances….
7 Mo // Jan 28, 2011 at 9:59 am
How to Spell SCAPEGOAT?
“Carlene Robbins”
As for Gregor. My prognosis.
Blurred Vision.
8 Max // Jan 28, 2011 at 10:06 am
I shudder to think how much more damage this Mayor and Vision can do before the next election.
9 Sean Bickerton // Jan 28, 2011 at 10:07 am
While I didn’t meet Carlene, Barb Windsor and her staff were extremely helpful when we were first working on cleaning up conditions in this neighbourhood and getting commercial tenants to comply with health and sanitation regulations.
Our residents literally breathe easier because of exactly the kind of pragmatic no-nonsense approach Frances mentions.
10 Max // Jan 28, 2011 at 11:43 am
This just up:
City inspector was not fired
VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980)
Mike Bothwell
1/28/2011
A Vancouver City inspector dealing with the tragic fire on Pandora Street was not fired. That from an official at City Hall.
The City says it was surprised when Carlene Robbins left her job as Deputy Chief Inspector. She’d worked for Vancouver for 38 years.
General Manager of Community Services, David McLellan, says Robbins was not fired and was not being blamed for the fire that killed three men, “She didn’t indicate Pandora had anything at all to do with her leaving yesterday when we spoke with her.”
McLellan says Robbins believes it was a case of constructive dismissal. He says the City doesn’t agree, her job had not changed and there was no plan to change it.
11 Michelle // Jan 28, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Oh, please.
No one would quit from a job like that. With only a few years remaining till retirement. Period. Unless they can’t take it anymore and/or they know they are hunted down. No one deserves to be bullied, threaten or intimidated at work. Ballem and her sidekicks, Robertson and Vision are the WORST low life bureaucrats/ politicians that ever step foot inside City Hall,in its entire history. They should go down as the biggest, most corrupt bunch of parasites. Speechless.
12 No Clue Council // Jan 28, 2011 at 9:58 pm
I wonder when the final straw will break and the house of cards (printed on 100% recycled paper) will come crashing down
I also wonder how long it will take before major leaks from staff start flowing from the Eco Hall
13 City Haller // Jan 29, 2011 at 8:59 am
Anyone want the facts? Or do we want to politisize this any more? She quit. The Hall is going through a re org and they shifted some of her duties to her managers, where they belong. She had a fit and walked out. Can we move on now. Not everyone at the Hall thinks this administration is that bad.
14 Bill McCreery // Jan 29, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Why the surprise Frances? Penny Ballem’s “lazy bureaucrats” comment regarding not charging slumlords for City staff time to the media a couple of weeks back is only the tip of the iceberg. Just imagine what she’s said behind closed doors.
The bureaucrats at the City I have worked with over the years are extremely dedicated to doing their jobs well and they work hard to do so. From what I understand Ms. Robbins and her staff are as well.
This whole slumlord flophouse thing has been out of the radar for many years. The City has also had a generally lenient attitude to charging citizens here there and every time (parking tickets excepted). Therefore, if this problem is now being finally recognized and Councillors and the City Manager wish to change these practices, the appropriate response is to instruct staff to rigorously enforce the by-laws and to bill the offending slumlords accordingly. It is not appropriate, nor is it good management practice to publicly rebuke your staff. It is also not good management practice to bully people behind closed doors, a practice which has been suggested by City Hall insiders is employed.
Under such circumstances is little wonder dedicated 38 year employees ‘quit’?
15 jesse // Jan 29, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Out of curiosity, is there any disclosure of severance to this official? There’s quitting and there’s quitting.
16 Jay C. // Jan 30, 2011 at 7:33 am
My question is this: Have Vancouver voters learned enough to throw these Vision clowns out at the next election?
17 Frances Bula // Jan 30, 2011 at 7:42 pm
@Jesse. We’ve all become experts on severance in the last few years. The standard procedure is we have to wait until there is some kind of agreement between the departed staffer and the city. Then we all FOI it. Then we all write about it.
18 Bobbie Bees // Jan 31, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Jay C. My question is this, who’s there to replace vision?
Surely you’re not suggesting the NPA.
I’m thinking with the trumping the NPA received in the last election that Vancouver voters have more than had enough of that party.
So who’s left?
19 Bill McCreery // Jan 31, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Bobbie, I am a NPA nominated Candidate for Council. I was not involved with the NPA prior to 2010 other than a brief peripheral involvement in the 80s. I was elected as a TEAM Park Commissioner in the 70s.
The NPA is not a “political party” in that it simply recommends candidates they think will make suitable elected representatives of Vancouverites. The principle reason I decided to run was because I believe the current Council, Park and School Boards are doing considerable harm to our City. Among many concerns I have, one of the more important is that the planning and neighbourhood consultation processes are broken.
I will work to fix those problems when I am elected next November. I suggest you and others look at the NPA and its recommended candidates including myself for who we are and what our positions and promises are in 2011 as individual candidates as well as those of the NPA caucus team. That ability to renew is one of the strengths of the NPA. Please keep an open mind and hold us accountable once we’re elected.
20 IanS // Feb 1, 2011 at 7:18 am
@Frances Bula #17:
Typically, a confidentiality agreement in a settlement will contain an exclusion for disclosure required by law. Does a FOI request constitute such disclosure?
21 Frances Bula // Feb 1, 2011 at 7:41 am
@IanS. In the past, we’ve been able to get the full severance agreement between the city and, for instance, Judy Rogers, in spite of presumed confidentiality requirements.
22 Al // Feb 1, 2011 at 7:06 pm
As a architect practicing in the City of Vancouver and one who spends many hours at the Hall, I can only state that Carlene Robbins was one of the hardest working, fairest to a fault people with whom I have had the pleasure to work with. Who, other than someone who enjoyed the work that she did, would stay employed beyond an adequate pension and retirement to deal with the day to day miscreants, all of whom were seeking delays in actions against them, complaining of hardship shown by the City in these same actions, and under the continual barrage of having to be the “messenger” notifying these same miscreants to attend to the charges at hand.
Carlene has been a very valuable, tireless, and capable member of the CoV staff who maintained a very professional attitude throughout her stints in various positions with the City of Vancouver, and we, the public, are very much the worse off for her leaving.
Pushed, asked to jump, or jump of her own avail we will hopefully find out. No joy in Mudville.
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