On the liveblog, I suggested that 13 councillors had to vote to reconsider the U-Pass. I don't know why I used that number, but the real number was 16 (or three-quarters of council). Anyways, the vote count was 11-10 in favour, so the U-Pass was dropped from the agenda.
3 comments:
Wow, thank you for this!
For most this is an eye opener on the operation of Council.
Note how much control Staff have over Council deliberations and the outcomes.
It often seems that Council is completely lost if not for the "direction" provided by Staff.
And, ever wonder what makes the City Solicitor the authority on what does and what does not constitute "new" information?
We had at least 2 Councillors disagreeing with the City Solicitor on "his ruling".
So, who is in control?
Clearly, it is Staff and not Council. Staff did not want the U of Ottawa semester ID to also be a transit pass for an additional $125.
Why not? Because they claim it is not revenue neutral? The Students have a good point that this is to have been a pilot to see how much it actually did generate and what were the real benefits and costs.
And heaven help us, we need to get ridership levels back up and to give reasons for people to use transit.
This was such a great opportunity for the City to reach out - and now it is lost, and worse, it made people even more angry at the City and OC Transpo.
Way to go Alain Mercier and City Council!
And next time you see Alain Mercier, ask him again why he personally does not take transit, nor why most of Council nor Senior City Staff take transit.
The answer may not surprise you.
Which councillors voted which way?
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