A Shameful Performance By The Chicken Manure Mayor

By Mike Archer. I heard Mayor Banman on CBC Radio on my way home from work this afternoon and I got lost somewhere between anger and sadness.

He just couldn’t bring himself to admit that a reprehensible thing has happened and that his administration, his staff, and his council are responsible for one of the saddest chapters in the short history of this City.

Listen To Mayor Banman Here

While he described the Abbotsford Chicken Manure Homeless Incident as a decision that was clearly unacceptable, he kept back-tracking and suggesting that the decision that was made was somehow understandable, and merely an attempt to do the right thing.

This is about more than their lack of a mortgage and a rental agreement isn’t it Bruce? They’re dirty, smelly, noisy and some of them are downright crazy. They urinate and defecate in public, they sleep outside for god’s sake, and they scare voters – like the granny you keep trotting out for political mileage who came to your office to tell you she was scared of the homeless people.

Why don’t you tell her that if you or the rest of the Chicken Manure Council had an ounce of character you would have done something about the homeless years ago.

Instead you use her as a prop to make hay with those who want to simply run them out of town.

Not all of us would dump chicken shit on our fellow citizens Bruce. That’s the kind of thing that separates good people from bad people.

Banman told the CBC the five separate departments, who consulted on the plan, asked the Sally Ann to make sure they agreed, and then went ahead with one of the most sickening examples of public policy I’ve ever had the displeasure of reporting on, had made a mistake because they were so focused on what they were doing they didn’t think of the consequences of their actions.

Bruce … that is exactly what we pay them so much money to do – consider the consequence of their actions!

Besides; they’ve been doing it for ten years. You’d think they would have had time to figure the consequences out by now.

This isn’t a PR exercise Bruce. This is a test of character. Remember that old word. Remember the meetings you go to with the police, the school board and all the other representatives of secular power in Abbotsford – The City of Character Council.

What the hell do you people discuss at these star chamber meetings? It can’t be anything remotely related to character if you look at the things being done to Abbotsford citizens by some the organizations around that big horseshoe-shaped table. What does it take to get kicked off the Character Council?

You’ve either forgotten why people voted for you or you never really knew. They wanted a change from this kind of dishonesty. Now it turns out, when you are finally tested, you’re one of them. You sing better than George Peary but you’re no different where it counts – your loyalty.

It sure ain’t to the little guy who voted for you. We can all see that now.

If you think the chain of office wrapped around your neck is a reward from your fellow citizens for being such a great guy … get over yourself. It isn’t. It’s there to remind you of a commitment you were supposed to have to do the right thing by your friends and neighbbours.

Lastly; in your CBC interview, while trying to brag about the great strides Abbotsford has made in dealing with the homeless, you gave away your position on the Abbotsford Community Services ACS Supportive Housing Project (while conveniently trying to take credit for it) by saying it was a great idea just maybe not the best place for it.

So on top of defending the management structure and the politicians who set in motion and sustained a decade’s worth of disgusting, inhumane and probably illegal treatment of Abbotsford citizens you are going to stand against the one thing that would help the ones the Sally Ann won’t help by opposing ACS’ project?

You just haven’t a clue what leadership is do you?

If we’re not going to find homes for them where they currently live then how are you gonna move them Bruce? Sic the cops on them or maybe just send the boys from the parks department over with a load of sewage. The bylaw guys got caught with their truckload of chicken crap. Maybe no one will notice the parks guys with a sludge truck …

Here’s a plan – since John Smith’s ‘Friendship Garden already only cost us $1,500,000.00 and nobody uses it, why not move the homeless people the Sally Ann refuses to help down there.

There’s a big fountain they could use to bathe. There are washrooms up on the 5th floor they could use. The library is right there so they can work on their job-seeking skills. The Reach Gallery is just across the parking lot (and nobody is ever in there).

Just in case anybody threatens them or attacks them the cops are right there too …

Oh … wait a minute … that last one may not be such a good idea.

Most of the homeless are pretty scared of Abbotsford cops.

Bruce Banman has turned Abbotsford back into the little hick town so many people were trying to grow out of. At least George Peary aspired for more.

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Something overheard on election night 2011 – “George Peary might not be a great mayor but Bruce Banman isn’t the man to lead us out of this mess,” – a man resembling former mayor George Ferguson