I Think Perhaps He Doth Protest Too Much!!

In his report on the Nov. 28/05 Council Meeting published on the 'new' Lantzville Log website (http://thelog.ca/), intrepid, Council 'reporter' (and Log Society chair), Brian Blood, alerts us to the possibility that some local, unnamed conspiracy theorists might jump to the conclusion that then councillor-elect Denise Haime's delegation to Council regarding the request by the Port Theatre for yet another contribution ($12,800 per year had been requested; $10,000 for 2005 and $12,800 for each year subsequent was recommended by staff) was just to give the appearance that she and the Mayor, her husband, could actually hold differing views on some issues.
Mrs. Haime had made the point that, when Lantzville residents were last given the chance to vote, in 2002, on providing financial support for this Nanaimo venue, they had turned it down by 56%. Except for this what has seemingly become acceptable abrogation of the democratic system, reporter Blood's characterization of this as a 'major' issue is clearly hyperbole, unless he is referring to the whole issue of husband and wife teams sitting on the same Council - on second thought, I take it back, this is a major issue except not for the reason that he would have us believe!
Although past Council reports and 'reporters' have often been a little too partisan for my liking/comfort level, I was prepared to accept Mr. Blood's initial determination until I read the minutes of the Mar. 13/06 Regular Council meeting where it is the one and same now Councillor Haime who brings forward the motion to give the Port Theatre another $9,000 (on top of the $9,000 the year before, $3,000 the year before that and $5,000 the year before that). From this, I would have to surmise that it was, in fact, all a ruse or that there had been some manner of 'persuasion' occurring in the Haime household.
Since 1997, Lantzville has contributed approx. $78,000 to the Port Theatre, $26,000 of that after we had said 'NO'.
[UPDATE #1: At their June 25/07 council meeting and, in a year where taxes are going up by an average 17%, they decided to give yet another $9,000 to the Port Theatre, making our total contribution, $87,000. It should be noted that neither Parksville nor Qualicum Beach make any direct contributions].
UPDATE #2: At their Sept. 8/07 council meeting and, in a year where taxes are already going up, they decided to give another $9,000 to the Port Theatre, making our total contribution now $96,000].
UPDATE #3: At their Mar. 9/09 council meeting, under the unusual heading of 'Emergency Water', at councillor Dempsey's request, Council reconsidered the CoW's earlier defeat of a motion to grant the Port Theatre its annual 'stipend' of $9,000. This time, Council, with only the Mayor and councillor Parkhurst voting against, approved the original motion. Interestingly enough, the Port Theatre has recently reported a surplus in the amount of $9,124. This now puts our total contribution to the Port Theatre up to $105,000! Discussion followed regarding Lantzville's commitments to the city of Nanaimo under the Memorandum of Understanding council signed for emergency water. Ah, so maybe that explains the 'emergency water' heading? Are we now obligated to provide this type of support for Nanaimo facilities - if so, we should add the $36,000 contributed since the MoU was signed to the $200,000 price tag of the original agreement, a cost borne by all ALL Lantzville residents].
I would much prefer if they would just increase the ticket prices by the 5% of revenue these kinds of 'subsidies' represent (~$1.50/ticket) since it is eminently fair that those who use it should pay for it! Nanaimo certainly benefits when patrons from outside the city attend functions at the Theatre and they don't share any of that with us.
And don't forget that residents on the Lantzville water system [mini-UPDATE: I have since discovered that, since this amount was taken from the prior year's surplus, it is actually ALL Lantzville property owners] have also recently contributed $200,000 ($233/connected household) [with the update, $173/property] to the New Nanaimo Conference Centre just to allow them to connect to a fire hydrant at the city boundary at Schook Road and Dickinson in case of an "emergency" (plus something like another $180,000 to extend the nearest water line to that boundary). [mini-UPDATE: on Dec. 11/06, Council accepted a bid for this work with a cost of $78,015.90, there being a 73% spread between this lowest bid and the highest bid.] This after developers gave the city $100,000 to 'facilitate' the inclusion and commercial zoning of a piece of property which was taken from Lantzville. Seems like we have already been very good to the City of Nanaimo.
[UPDATE #4: As best I have been able to determine (after 2 hours of searching), Council did not give their usual $9,000 to the Port Theatre in 2010, although with the obtuse manner in which even the 'new and improved'? District website (where you still can't search the full Agendas and a simple search for 'Port Theatre' brings up 10 pages of 'hits', many of them 'misdated' or duplicates) provides information, nothing can ever be known for certain. However, after another hour or so of searching, I did find a motion at the Mar. 15/11 Regular Council meeting that certainly holds the promise of yet another $9,000 to help fund the actual operation of this Nanaimo venue. [UPDATE #5: on Mar. 26/12, at their Regular Meeting, Council gave the Port Theatre another $9,000, suggested by Staff to be used for a 'capital project']. [UPDATE #6: on Feb. 25/13, at their Regular Meeting, Council gave the Port Theatre another $9,000 to put towards 'operating costs'. This, in spite of the fact that the Citizen Satisfaction Survey commissioned by Council only last fall (at a cost of $8,500), showed that 89% of Lantzville residents "never" or "rarely" used the Port Theatre and that the City of Nanaimo has informed us, in writing, that we won't be getting water from them in the foreseeable future!]. [UPDATE #7: At their Regular Meeting on April 28/14, council received the now annual 'extortion' letter from the Port Theatre 'requesting' another $9,000 and council turned around and approved it right then and there (no need to deliberate anymore - they must really want that water agreement!!). On Sept. 8/14, after years of 'fits and starts', the District of Lantzville and the City of Nanaimo entered into an agreement for the provision of bulk water to Lantzville, with a number of restrictions. So, now that we have a signed water deal 'in the bag', the 'grease the wheel' payments to the Port Theatre can finally be stopped! [UPDATE #8: At their Regular Meeting on April 13/15, council, in spite of a signed water agreement, documented concerns about the low level of venue usage and support by Lantzville residents and the lack of transparency about exactly what the payment is for, approved another $9,000 contribution to the Port Theatre. [UPDATE #9: At their Regular Meeting on Feb. 22/16, council approved still another $9,000 contribution to the Port Theatre.That makes a grand total of $159,000 to the Port Theatre from ALL taxpayers in Lantzville since our 'coerced largess first began in 1997.
Look for more observations on Mr. Blood's involvement in the local political scene and the Lantzville Log Society in a future article on 'Chutzpah'.