It’s a good thing that Prince Rupert’s Mayor Herb Pond once had a background in the airline industry, at least he’ll be able to make the right connections to the various functions that he is busy jetting off to these days.
Just prior to last weeks UBCM bunfest in Vancouver, the Mayor was busy traveling half way across the continent. As Mayor Pond took up his spot as an invited speaker to a convention of the Western Hemisphere's mayors in Chicago.
He presented his thoughts on the challenges facing municipalities in the face of growing globalization, and provided input on how Prince Rupert is preparing to take on the changes that will come with our container port about to begin operation.
The Northern View featured some background information on the Mayor’s visit to Chicago, buried rather deep in the weekly paper, it can be found on page 19 of the October 3rd edition or right below.
POND A SPEAKER AT MAYOR’S MEETING
By Brooke Ward
The Northern View
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Page 19
Prior to joining fellow British Columbian mayors and municipal government leaders in Vancouver for the annual Union of British Columbia Municipalities conference last week Prince Rupert mayor Herb Pond made the trek to Chicago, where he was invited to speak at the Western Hemisphere Mayors Conference on the topic of the effects of globalization.
Surrounded by big city leaders from as far as Rio de Janeiro and Miami and as close as Vancouver, Pond might have been a bit of a country mouse amongst the crowd, but he relished in the chance to talk about many of the issues he believes that Prince Rupert will be and already is facing is facing along with economic and social growth.
“It was just an inspirational time to be talking to world leaders who are facing all kinds of problems and see how they are dealing with some of them. All these big cities were there and so just to get a grasp on how they’re dealing with everything from addressing crime to education, it was a mind-expanding time,” said Pond.
“It was amazing, a real opportunity to talk about the role of globalization, the role of transportation in this different economy.” He added.
Pond also had the opportunity to spend a good chunk of time with Canada’s Constable General in Chicago and took advantage of the occasion to talk business.
“The prime purpose of their office is to facilitate trade, so there was a lot of discussion about how they might assist Prince Rupert and Prince Rupert businesses in terms of doing business down in Chicago and how they might access that market, but conversely about what might be the opportunities for investment in Prince Rupert.
With the majority of container traffic from Fairview terminal destined for Chicago, Pond sees the establishment of these types of links and relationships vitally important.
“Roughly 70 per cent of the containers from the Port of Prince Rupert will be destined for Chicago and another 20 per cent of them will be going beyond Chicago, so it’s a key market for us to reach,” he said.
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His time in Chicago provided the chance to sit down and discuss items of importance with an impressive list of participants for sure. Yet you wonder if somehow there might not be some local people back here in the other Windy city that might like some of the mayor’s time as well.
Of course with such a hectic schedule it’s no wonder that the Mayor hasn’t responded to the sign in the front window of the Data Boy computer store. It was put up after frustration boiled over regarding a recent vandalism incident at that store. It expresses a sense of disgruntlement when it comes to high taxes, services and ongoing vandalism in the city.
Still prominently in place there after a number of weeks now, it asks for the mayor to drop in for a visit to discuss some of the many issues that the small business community is concerned about. Only less than a block away, there hasn’t been much movement from City Hall for a trip down the street to gauge the pulse of the ever decreasing commercial sector in the city.
While it’s good to represent the city on the provincial and world stage for that matter, our city councilors and Mayor need to remember that in politics everything is, in the end local. There are no votes on election day in Vancouver, Alaska or Chicago, it’s how you are remembered by the folks that wander down to the Civic Centre in November every three (soon to be four) years that will count in the end.
With money miscounted at City Hall, a tax load that is heavier than elsewhere in the province, continuing financial woes and declining infrastructure everywhere, showing some interest in the plight of the locals might be a good idea for now.
They seem to have a few questions of their elected municipal leaders, and judging by some of the feedback around town these days, they’re not getting the answers that they require or deserve.
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