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In his Matemeut to the press on Sept. 19. 2003 ammuncing his candidacy fur regional council, Mr. (Lnunully stated that, "l just think it's the wrong time to say to the public. put me back into city council, "lhey've been so disillusioned". Justice Sills comments in the "Report of the Waterloo HIM Park inquiry" that "It is absolutely clear from the evidence of every member of council that none of them understood the transaction or had the details of the transaction ever put hefore them". Justice Sills goes on to comment. "Had the members of council directed its administrative staff to conduct appropriate due diligence. retain out- side independent legal and financial advice or required more comprehensive reporting about the steps being taken to complete the transaction. the problem now faced would never have arisen". During his testimony on the RIM Park inquiry, Mr. Connolly issued the following comment: "I've always said, of course. that we're elected officials and what ultimately happens within the city is the responsibility of council - after this commission har, made its findings that if it finds anything that the council should have done and did not do. or that I personally as a councillor did that lead to this heavy burden on the taxpayer. then I would apolo- gize . To me, an apology does not go far enough. Mr. Connolly was directly involved in the approval of the financing package as well as the decision to approve a $12 million yearly contribution by the taxpayers to fund the park - a number that has since soared above 52 million. Mr. Connolly has tried to downplay his role in this mess, but the truth of the matter is that the performance of all mem- bers of that council [including Chronicle columnist Sean Strickland and Mike Connolly), was a total failure in their sworn oath and responsibility to protect the interests of those they were elected to serve. Mike Connolly did not run for city council: he knew that ifhe ran for mayor or ward councillor his role in the RIM Park affair would be from and cen- tre and the residents of Waterloo would reject him. Instead Mr. Connolly -- spotting an opening at the regional level of government - scurried under the radar and. thanks in part to the fact that only 33 per cent of Waterloo residents bothered to vote. was narrowly elected to regional council. For Mr. Connolly to write an opinion on how to Crx a problem he helped to create at a level of gov- ernment he is not elected lo shows arrogance I per- sonally find insulting. and an ignorance to his responsibility in that RIM Park matter. That is scary. Mike Connolly has been elected to regional council. And while it sickens me that someone who has played a role in wasting millions of taxpayers' dollars is in public office at all. the least he should be doing is devoting all of his attention to the issues that fall under the domain of regional council. I am at a loss to understand how Mr. Connolly cannot understand that his opinions are not welcome at the municipal ievvi and that if he fools the need to “Tilt- an opinion utlttrtiti he should stick to preach- ing on n-gional mention and let the public know “hat if anything he is doing to improvr Walt-rloo lit‘giott lndayand in the future lhi- n-sidu-nts of Waterloo are going to "ctter tindt't stand tlw RIM Park tnt'ss yt-ar after year who" tltct rm our thvir proprrtv tax bills and so? lax ltllTl‘El‘si' after nu'rvass- and lows-r govvrnim-nl st'r m t", in return, Waterloo is fortunate Iodav to hau- snow outstanding tntnds on rite council Hill ilt‘spitt- Mr t onnollv‘s "Borrow from Prior to pay Paul" scht-tnr. tiw or“: rmuwil ts fared with the fart that tho hug" shortfall handed to them In; (lonnollv and lrivnds is going to row" Ill real fitoiuuaal pain for all rvsidottial propt-rlv and hrmua (twin-rs Ignorance is bliss t the risk of appearing to be a 1iore laser. I feel I must respond to Mike Connolly's Ian. 2l opinion piece "Where there's a will. there's d Duncan Mrlran \le EWP Ol "iNr"l"' A far cry from Sherlock Holmes l .'i',i,i, the weather has been cold. This winter has been so frigid even the wind has been howling about it. How cold? Well. the mercury dipped so low that hens were laying eggs from a stand- ing position. And a lot of men were wearing their toupees upside down. And tine night was so cold. our snowman was trying to get into the house. Way to Pay: Granted. I can't add up my tab at McDonald's without making a couple of goofs, but I think that former councillor John Shortreed is right on track for paying the debt arising from the RIM Park debacle. He's urging that council reject a key rec- ommendation of the judicial inquiry that could increase taxes 48 per cent to establish a $14-milliton fund for paying the RIM Park debt. last year the city increased taxes to meet payments under the renegotiated financing agreements which will repay the debt by Sep- tember 2031. While all of us know that Mayor Herb Epp would like to get the matter cleaned up as soon as pnssihle. it does sound as if Shi'mreed makes some good points. Sometimes a simple explana- tion provides the best answer. Take the great new rice diet that always works - you use only one chopstick. Idle Thought: if insurance rates get any higher. it'll he easier to pay cash for the car and finance the ipsyraryw premiums. Arm of the Law: of the fig headlines I never thought I'd read was one on a story which . said that the Wau'rlnn Region puliw fnrw ranked 147tit amung IS" in the ttimc-clear, Ellll‘l' rate CII gin- you an idva, of how rnmlundtlt-n our NW "vighhmrrhood Ix Ilu, other day I saw halfa mp Yup. theres, a factory that rnakes, burglar almnn lhe other day it was rohlwd. heriously. it was a shork to read that the Waterloo Ht-giun gtmdarmeriv aren't m-arlv tops in the Sin-dud Houmt, routine ITwy have vxplananmts. nfrnurw. Int 0m- thing. th" pohie drpanmom has had murdrr and anvmplm! murder invvstigations to pm V whirh moan! lee, n'mr for lhl'm to gran pll- with kids playing hm'lu-v un th" slrvms \\ Ili lil I H I (IHRUNICHx And, natrh. the ”Intention Is there jusl ,ijiiiiiiiiiEii_ lltlNiitl)Neflmti (_',), f Anus (hair? Ham ssii"' aren't enough policemen on the staff to give every crime its proper attention. They say (Hal [addition of 77 officers (an increase of 12 per cent) will help them solve more crimes. Still, it's better if you stay out of court Your fate might wind up in the hands of a dozen people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty. On the Blades: This should have been written a year ago. but better late than never. It is simply that Kitchener council did a thitnb thing in cancelling the skating at Victoria The excuse, you may recall, w that there wouldn't be enough cold weatheraio keep the lake frozen. But. wow. it turned chill and the lake was frozen. yea into the heart of summer. After the cancellation. it's amazing how many folks were heard talking nostalgically about the old days when there was skating at the park The big expanse of ice. the music which provided a beat. and (with -l chuckles) the time spent getting Ik) , R the lootsies thawed out. 19t On to Complexity: If the m safety pin wrre invented today. it would have three tranr,is,tors, a regulator. an nnrandvnf switch. and nerd a wrviu‘ rhm k l'wry four nmmhs. It's gnlng lo hr a rval rhargr this yvat btwa1is,e mm! of the ("mink (try Wan'rlnn and Kilrlwnrr‘l wvn' luring nu mast-s (In other items, All of which may add meaning m [hr sign in a Inanrrmnpany window: Now vnu can borrow l-nnugh mnm‘v In gm completely out ofdeht Frozen Assets: Hunu-nwm‘n an- raldr ing it in the nm‘k this, yum [bank In a rvnsst-ssnu-nl. the old homvsttod fan-x an awragt‘ tax Imus! ufSSi 'lhm's not a rash grab 1w runnth It's IIN that thv Impact on an .‘u'rmgv Imml- valued itt Sl83.00tl is $53. Again this year. the weather is cold enough to make an Eskimo shiver, and yet the lake was deserted. What a waste, what a waste. Ah well. the Kitchener council can't have any members who skated at Victoria Park. They must have been in Florida for all the winters. Or perhaps they spent their wingers watrhingTY