“Bread and circuses” comes to us from the Romans. Roman politicos used elaborate spectacles and free bread to divert the public’s attention away from the serious issues that were affecting them. Credit Edmonton’s city council and administration for doing the Romans one better. They have created a multitude of circuses without having to provide any free bread.
Edmonton’s politicos and their administrative henchmen are all about diversion. They give us public surveys, community consultations, master plans, neighbourhood plans, revitalization plans and the like. However, these initiatives do little more than keep us from asking really tough questions.
The downtown arena issue is a case in point. The issue of whether or not we put public money into it, keeps us from focusing on this year’s projected five per cent tax increase. And, therefore, no one has to answer why our tax increases are so out of sync with inflation. They keep us from asking why on Earth we would be looking to pour more money into the financial black hole that is the Indy when we are going to cut back on such simple things as painting lines on our soccer pitches.
In all likelihood, you and yours are also going to pay more to use the recreational facilities that we have already paid for. Transit fares are also likely to increase. For me, a fee increase is just a tax by a different name. Did any of the incumbents you were asked to vote for mention what was coming during the recent civic election?
The circus atmosphere created by all our city’s plans, studies and consultations also allows our civic champions of fiscal folly to avoid answering other pressing questions. Why has our civic payroll more than doubled in the last ten years? Why, if we are so committed to the sustainability of our city, do we continue to allow new subdivisions to be built far, far away from the city core? Maybe if we didn’t have to spend the money to provide the infrastructure for new neighbourhoods, we just might be able to fix the infrastructure in the older neighbourhoods where you and I live.
I doubt the city will ever change its ways when it comes to doing the really hard things it needs to do. But if it is going to continue to give us circuses, the least it could do is give us some bread.
