School Trustees Coming And Going / An Emergency Call In A Park
Episode 17 begins with Spirited Kenny lamenting the Bombers bombing out in Hamilton and then the armchair versions turn to discussing the evolution of quarterbacks as athletes since the 50’s and 60’s.
5:30 – Two notes about local school trustees and the school board election. One, Kevin Freedman is a candidate in Ward 5, seeking to regain his seat. The other is a sitting trustee in St. James-Assiniboia, Craig Johnson, who is retiring. Marty tells about his connection to each of them.
12:00 – A brief review of the Mayoral registration verification to Sunday evening.
15:25 – Part 2 – Opens with a reminder of Marty’s coverage of the Laith Marouf federal funding scandal over at TheJ.ca.
20:00 – A Chris D. crime story about multiple crashes near the Mint with a stolen car, where a taxi was used for a getaway. Except then the thieves came back and the cops were there. Can you imagine what that cab ride was like.
23:30 – Police Chief Danny Smyth quantified how overwhelmed the police service is, in a report tabled on Friday. A Free Press story mentioned that Smyth told the Police Board that communciations centre turnover is “the canary in the coal mine”.
26:40 – Global News provided a light overview about ‘what candidates have pledged towards infrastructure so far.” We add some extra, heavier details including campaign planks that either admit to raising taxes if elected, or don’t explain how it won’t. Transit also comes up a lot in the discussion of the Mayoral announcements last week, as does the paramedics, the dissatisfaction with the overall emergency response capacity, and the concerns of the firefighters union. We’ve covered the paramedic’s issues with the city since KICK-FM days and still, they don’t seem to be heard…
40:30 – Marty tells the story of watching emergency response in action. A firetruck was attending to a prone person, in a park in a residential neighborhood. And it seemed at the end, about a half hour from the start, well… there’s gotta be a better way to deal with the kind of case that unfolded in St. Bonface.
We talk about whether any candidates have workable solutions for a case like this one – Because that was a lot of public dollars being spent, as four city responders stood there ‘knowing what was going to happen’, in Kenny’s estimation.
56:30 – The decline of a good neighborhood, in real time this summer, gets put under the microscope in a closing rant: “The Bus Shelters Are Filthy”
Area voters can’t help but notice how this is putting the neighborhood seniors, medical patients, and area workers at risk. Like Marty, they’re wondering whose responsibility it is to get the ball rolling on cleaning up overflowing trash cans and occupied bus shelters. This isn’t a grimy industrial area, it’s all around the St. Boniface Hospital.
And, as mentioned at the end of the episode,
Bonus Audio: Marty on THE START Mornings @680CJOB: Discussing his column about his family’s surprising collection about Queen Elizabeth II
(Go to Sept. 19, select 8-9 AM, and advance to 37.00 to hear the interview with Mackling, MeGarry and McNabb! Lots of fun was had.)
