Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 23, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A14 Winnipeg free press wednesday june 23, 2004 Freedom of Trade comment editor Terence Moore 697-7044 Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorials or. Katz a High Hopes w Inni Eggers elected Sam Katz As mayor yesterday because he has Given them Rea son to believe their City can do great things. A Man with abundant Energy but no political experience the owner of the City a beloved Winnipeg Gold eyes baseball team stormed into office yester Day taking a convincing percentage of a High voter turnout. He did this largely because voters particularly the Young knew Sam Katz built a baseball stadium from a dream and they believed his pitch that under his leadership this City can do big things. Or. Katz deserves congratulation. Now the hard part starts. Sam Katz is a Guy with a lot of can do spirit. He is a business Man with notable Success and entertainment pro Moter full of the right kind of Jam ? big ideas backed up with a practicality that sees them to fruition. It was painfully Clear however from the first Day of his last minute entry into the race fully 20 Days into the 41-Day Campaign that Sam Katz also has a weak grasp of the Many elements to City business ? Waverley West what a that ? and the magnitude of the mayors Job. He faces a Steep learning curve and he comes into the Job mid Way because Glen Murray resigned the Job one and a half years into his term. In the two and a half years remaining to him or. Katz will need to Deal with weighty issues already on the mayors plate. Top of the Agenda for Winnipeg a new Leader is keeping alive the vision and Early Start of or. Mur rays so called new Deal for City financing. The deals push for new sources of municipal Revenue through sharing certain Federal and provincial taxes has won initial support from the National political leaders who say they will make Good on a pledge to deliver some piece of Federal Gas taxes to municipalities. Premier Gary doer however has been Cool to sharing provincial taxes or. Katz can not let the province off the Hook so easily. Or. Katz had Little to say about his plan to address the crushing infrastructure deficit in the City except that he believed Winnipeg had a Good claim to a fair share of taxes from the higher govern ments and that i believe both Levels of government will be there for the City. He should immediately Call upon or. Doer to remove the provincial Educa Tion Levy from property taxes and then push for capping the taxing authority of school boards whose rising taxes on property Are destructive. Or. Katz launched his Short Campaign with the belief that he could Appeal to the youth of Winnipeg to keep them from migrating to larger cities where career prospects Are brighter by making this City a place where things happen. He never clearly described what that would look like How it would happen. He believes he can bring developers to invest and people to live downtown. He said he would try to freeze property taxes but does to believe in charging service fees. He announced he would phase in the elimination of the business tax More aggressively for businesses in the Centre of the City something that is possible to Start in the Short term left to him. Before he moves ahead How Ever he should Tell Winni Eggers who ultimately would Bear the Brunt of any dramatic shortfall in municipal revenues where else he would raise Money. Throughout his Campaign or. Katz repeated he can broaden the tax base by telling entrepreneurs and investors Winnipeg is open for business but this is merely a Good slogan. The mayoral race had an excitement and car ried a feeling of new possibilities largely because Sam Katz jumped in. Peo ple overlooked his Lack of experience because or. Katz sold himself and his potential the Way he sold the Gutsy idea Winnipeg should have a first class baseball stadium and a Northern league professional team they could be proud of. He should get to work to do the same for Winnipeg a downtown. He should seek the advice of Dan Vandal the former City councillor who came second when the polls were All counted last night for advice on where to go next to address the needs of the City a aboriginal population. There Are other pressing items Many of Winnipeg a Community and recreation centres Are falling apart but a report on How to Deal with them remains secreted within the bureaucracy Winnipeg a youth Are wondering Why the Prospect of a Watermark at the old Arena seems to have no currency among councillors ? this months after the Clos ing deadline for bids on How to redevelop that property has passed. The mayors first task will be to find knowledge Able people to fill out his staff and to choose among the City councillors a new executive policy commit tee. There Are Many senior administrators at City Hall who can keep City business humming along while or. Katz finds his feet As mayor. What Council and Winni Eggers need most is to see the mayor capably in charge with a plan that will keep Winnipeg moving along the hopeful path on which or. Murray set it. Ballpark figures wont do it for the past six years Winnipeg has experienced dynamic even charismatic leadership at City Hall under former mayor Glen Murray. In the mayoral election yesterday Winnipeg showed that it wants More of the same. It rejected candidates of Long experience at City Hall and candidates with detailed understanding of How City Hall works in favour of entertainment impresario and baseball club owner Sam Katz. Or. Katz knows How to set up a Centre stage now we will see if he knows How to take one. A Good sign from the Campaign was that or. Katz showed he a a Quick study. He Learned for example that it in to enough to simply want to be mayor you have to also demonstrate Why. Its called a platform some thing he did to have at the beginning but some thing he managed to produce last Friday. Yes it was filled with spelling and grammatical mistakes and yes it ignored mention of the major gaps in his knowledge of civic issues that he showed to poor advantage at the out set. There was no mention for example of the Waverley West subdivision proposal an Indi cation perhaps that he now knows what it is but is not sure yet what he thinks about it. But these Are quibbles. What or. Katz splat form lacked was a Clear grasp of the Central problem facing the City of Winnipeg ? a Short fall of Revenue. It is All Well and Good that or. Katz wants to have More free buses circulating in the Down town but achieving that results in a loss of Rev Enue. Its Nice that he wants to introduce a 10-year tax Holiday for improvements to houses older than 25 years and Worth More than $175,000 ? it Likely will be popular in River Heights ? but it Means a loss of Revenue. Its a Good thing that he wants to reduce Busi Ness taxes in the City to make the City More competitive and to free up Money for reinvestment but it will not help the City a Revenue problem. The freeze on property taxes also is a Good thing but that eliminates a potential source of Revenue growth. It is a Fine thing to propose that the rates for such services As sewer and water be reviewed by the Public utilities Board to prevent them from becoming sources of Money that is diverted into Reserve funds. But again that Means a loss of Revenue. Its Nice that he wants to invest More in Community clubs. But More of what from where and its great that he devoted an entire Page of his platform to proposals for finding ways to attract More Hollywood film projects to Winnipeg but most Are already accomplished by Manitoba film and sound. But it is More than a bit disconcerting that in the entire 16 pages there Are Only five lines devoted to Winnipeg a most pressing problem ? a Lack of growth Revenue sources. There is no discussion of the $1-billion Infra Structure deficit a defect that is growing at a rate of $166 million a year because the City already lacks sufficient Revenue to tackle it. Instead there is the following at the Bottom of Page 10 ? almost an afterthought to a pledge to pursue partnerships with municipal governments in the capital Region ? to find Means by which our citizens can Benefit from our Mutual negotiate a fair Revenue sharing agreement with Ottawa and the province from existing sources such As the existing gasoline tax ? with out creating new tax burdens upon local citizens. Any such agreements with Ottawa and the province should dedicate the new Revenue to essential infrastructure and services ? with transparent fiscal reporting an entire and largely unnecessary Page on Hollywood films and Hollywood Friendly web Sites and including detailed analysis of the $4 million this might Cost the Treasury but Only five lines Are dedicated to a $1-billion problem and Revenue sources that could produce $123 million a year that the City must have to claw its Way out of the fiscal pothole into which it has fallen. No doubt in the next few Days or. Katz will be consumed with finding his Way around City Hall appointing councillors to his executive committee. In time he will find that accomplishing any of the Many things he has promised is not As easy As it might seem from his Ball Park. But sooner or later or. Katz will discover that the City a problem is not a spending prob Lem but rather a Revenue problem. Or. Katz has shown that he is a Quick study. Lets Hope that he learns quickly that the key to delivering most of the things he has promised is a new Deal for the City. And Don to get me wrong Here. I agree with or. Katz a Campaign signs. I like i expect i will like him As mayor of Winnipeg. Clinton helps and hinders Kerry by Marianne Means Hearst newspapers Washington ? democrats and republicans alike wonder what the publishing frenzy Over president Bill Clinton a autobiography my life Means for sen. John Kerry a presiden tial prospects. At a minimum it pulls Clinton into the race. Both the former president and his putative heir Are staying Cool about the new political dynamic at least in Public. But the re Emer gence of the Crocodile in the living room can not be ignored. No one can predict How voters will react but react they surely will. On a personal level Clinton and Kerry get along Well. They speak together often about Campaign details and appreciate each others Complex nature intellectual prowess and love of Public policy intricacies. Kerry insists Clinton pain alongside him. He says he a Happy to have Clinton out there reminding people of the administrations record balancing the Bud get and supporting progressive programs and not Clinton a troubling personal behaviour. For his part the former president enthusiastically embraces Kerry. According to guests Clinton noted at a private Washington dinner recently that i predict John Kerry will be one of the greatest presidents of the past 150 he also told time Magazine this week that it would insult the voters to worry that his Book would be a negative distraction from Kerry a Campaign. But politics at the Centre of the National Power vortex is Seldom so permanently straightforward. Their political interests at the moment neatly converge. Clinton wants to be rehabilitated returned to the democratic fold after his impeachment and vice president Al Gores painful snub four years ago. Kerry would Wise immediately and decisively shot Down by both the staffer and Kerry. Besides friends Tell me Teresa Heinz Kerry has observed More than once that if he was unfaithful to her shed kill him. Clinton has said he does to think his Book will help or Hurt Kerry either Way. He has Nice things to say about Kerry in the Book. Clinton writes he was one of the Senate a leading authorities on the environment and High technology. He had also devoted an extra Ordinary amount of time to youth violence. Caring about an Issue in which there Are no votes today but which will have a big Impact in the future is a very Good Quality in a Kerry seems to agree with Clinton that Vot ers Are capable of separating the two men in their minds. If not that a like saying the Vot ers can to walk and Chew gum at the same time Clinton told time. I Don to buy Clinton was conscious of the political need ;