POSTCARDS FROM LONDON
by Colin Nielsen
Postcard #1 from London
A few lessons we could learn
June 26, 2014
I’m currently enjoying London. Being here has tweaked my curiosity about how such a large city functions as well as it does, while retaining democratic principals and transparent governance. This got me wondering what a city like London could teach us about governance in our smaller urban region of Greater Victoria.
First, a general description of Greater London:
The GLA oversees the following functions:
The political makeup of Greater London is complex, hence I have oversimplified this overview. It does, however, show that there are better alternatives than the current Greater Victoria model. Perhaps, there is much to learn from an older city/region that has existed in one form or another for over 2,000 years. Lets just say that they’ve learned a thing or two about living together and managing one of the world’s great cities.
We travel to London annually and are always finding new neighbourhoods. In fact, it could be said that London is a city of villages -- villages that each have unique atmosphere to attract many long-stay residents, with small markets, small neighbourhood food, specialty stores, street markets and festivals. London tends to combine the advantages of the big city with the attractions of multiple small villages.
Here are a few takeaway lessons from London:
Two local government levels (tiers) can co-exist if the functions are clearly spelled out, but this is not the case in Greater Victoria.
Those who oversee the operations of each of the two tiers of government (councillors and mayors) should be directly elected. In Greater Victoria, municipal councils are directly elected, but at the CRD level the only directly elected representatives are the three Electoral Area directors. And while Saanich and Victoria do provide voters the opportunity to select specific councillors to the Board, these council members then serve in both tiers, which can be problematic when the same individuals wear two hats, with divided loyalties. One hat is as a local elected council member and the other is as a Regional District director.
A classic case of lack of accountability is the proposed McLoughlin Point sewage treatment site. Whatever opinion one may have on the use of that site, how is it democratic for members of Saanich and Victoria council to try and push a facility into Esquimalt when those directors have no accountability to the residents of Esquimalt?
On the other hand, if the CRD Directors were directly elected by residents of the region and could not hold dual positions as municipal councillor and CRD director, accountability would be achieved.
In London, elected representatives are either borough councillors/mayors or GLA Assembly members or Mayor. This gives both levels of government legitimacy and democratic accountability to the people they serve.
A single police force in Greater Victoria would provide excellent service across the region, maintaining sufficient resources in each community while deploying specialty units where they were most needed. Certainly, community based policing could be provided just as well, or better, via a single force. If having different police forces made sense, then surely a region such as that encompassed by the Greater London Authority would create 32 police forces, one for each borough. But they would consider this to be madness!. Likewise, firefighting and emergency planning would be far more effective and better coordinated on a unified Greater Victoria, as they are in Greater London.
Transportation is possibly the most important function requiring a region wide approach. Greater Victoria's current 7 member Transit Commission and the proposed Authority under the auspices of the CRD (which itself lacks accountability) is not the way to go.
Another thing that struck me about London was the 38% voter participation rate in the last GLA elections. The overall turnout for Greater Victoria in 2011 was 27.3%, although in Metchosin, Oak Bay and North Saanich the turnout was slightly better than 38%. The high GLA voter turnout discounts some academics' claims that small communities spawn higher voter participation. I think London’s voter turnout is quite high considering the rate at which the region it is growing and its cultural and ethnic diversity.
New York City and Paris are two of the other great world cities that have a single police force and excellent transportation systems that supports huge economic engines. We can learn from these large cities, but we need the attention of local politicians. Finding the best possible model of local governance for our region will require the expertise of the best minds together with input from the residents of the region. And above all, what the region needs at this point in time are candidates with OPEN MINDS.
Postcard #2 from London
June 27, 2014
Hello again.
While perusing the Greater London Authority website (talk about information! -- BC should have FOI like the UK!), some interesting salary data for the following executives emerged:
The Head of Paid Service (equivalent to a chief administrative officers or city manager) earns an annual salary of £165,000 (C$300,000) with £24,000 pension contribution(C$44,000)
The Executive Director Resources earns £134,172 (C$244,000)
Now consider the GLA 2013 budget is over £11 billion (C$20 billion). That’s 1/2 of the BC provincial budget, while the population of the GLA area is 8.3 million – almost twice the BC population of 4.6 million.
Let's compare those figures with a couple of senior municipal management staff in BC:
2012
Gail Stephens, former Victoria City Manager salary: $240,346.
City of Victoria expenditure budget: $163,690,000
Population: 80,017 (2011)
2013
Bob Moncur, Burnaby City Manager salary $235,028,
Burnaby expenditure budget $363,867,000
Population: 223,218 (2011)
2012
Murray Dinwoodie, City of Surrey CAO salary $329,760
Surrey expenditure budget $544,771,000
Population: 468,251 (2011)
2013
Penny Ballem, City of Vancouver Manager salary $324,310,
City of Vacouver expenditure budget: $1,283,951,000
Population: 603,502
2012
Carol Mason, Metro Vancouver CAO salary $273,634
Metro Vancouver Regional expenditure budget: $647,100,000
Population: 2.3 Million
Some argue that it is expensive to live in the Lower Mainland or lower Vancouver Island and that competition is stiff for qualified individuals. But how about the difference between the size of the organizations and their respective budgets? And remember, the cost of living in London is very high and London may also be hitting the apex of a housing bubble.
The UK came to terms with excessive government executive pay long ago. Meanwhile, BC municipal executive pay is completely out of whack and needs to be reined in. This is something the Union of British Columbia Municipalities could and should deal with as a high priority. It is a problem that requires a province-wide solution. How can someone managing an organization and budget of $163 million (City of Victoria) be worth 70% of Greater London Authority's chief administrative office, or at par with the GLA Finance (Resources Director), which has a budget many times larger than Victoria.
To put the above figures into perspective, the GLA Head of Paid Service manages a budget 122 times larger than of the City of Victoria, yet earns the equivalent of $100K more than the former Victoria city manager. Another way to look at it is to consider the population served. The GLA Head of Service manages an organization that provides services to 103 times as many people than Victoria’s city manager.
One must always use caution when comparing governments. However the GLA is responsible for all transportation systems, policing of the entire area (except the historic City of London), fire services to all regions, major roads and many other services. And be assured that GLA infrastructure appears to be generally well kept considering the age of the urban area.
Amalgamation might help to control high salaries -- salaries that ratepayers must pay regardless. Yes, professionals must be paid a decent wage. However current salaries have been bid up too high in British Columbia. And as there are 15 organizations in Greater Victoria (including the CRD and Greater Victoria Public Library), one wonders if we could do better by significantly reducing the number of local government organizations, which would in turn reduce the number of senior staff. Every additional dollar spent on senior management salaries is a dollar unavailable for services or infrastructure.
For more information on GLA – check out https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/gla/spending-money-wisely
By the way, GLA transparency is very evident. Information on government websites is easy to find and very detailed. And Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) are completed promptly and extensions are rarely granted. We have much to learn from the UK about democracy.
As an aside, I visited the Runnymede National Trust site last week, where the first baby step towards democracy took place in 1215, when King John put his stamp on the original Magna Carta. This country (the UK) has a long and proud tradition of democracy.
Food for thought.
Cheers from Jolly Ole London,
Colin Nielsen
Postcard #3 from London
July 3, 2014
Boris Johnson is the current elected Mayor of the Greater London Authority. His is elected at large across the GLA region – population over 8.3 million.
His duties (along with the 25 member elected Assembly) include setting the vision for London. The Mayor sets an overall vision for London and has a duty to create plans and policies for the capital covering:
The Mayor has a number of other duties relating to culture and tourism, including managing Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square. https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/mayor
He is paid £143,911, about C$262,000, (equal to the salaries of Barb Desjardins, Dean Fortin, Frank Leonard and Nils Jensen combined). To put this into perspective, the GLA budget is over £11 billion (C$20 billion). The 2013 combined expenditures for the 4 core municipalities was C$375,627,000 – that’s approximately 2% of the GLA budget. https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/mayor/boris-johnson
Now, talk about the cost of living – a typical 3 bedroom flat in East London (an up and coming area) is about £475,000 or C$866,000, so the cost of living is more expensive in London than in Victoria.
Mayor Boris Johnson’s detailed Expense Statement for fiscal year 2013/2014:
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/B%20Johnson%20Expenses%20to%209%20May%202014.pdf
Check out the detail in those expenses published versus the very limited disclosures by public officials in Canada.
Cheers
Colin
Postcard #4 from London
July 5, 2014
One of the reasons sometimes stated by those opposing amalgamation is that somehow a sense of their community will be lost. They seem to fear that not having their local council will cause unimaginable change in the municipality in which they live. I’ve heard people say that village centres might be lost, e.g. Cadboro Bay Village, Cook Street Village, Oak Bay Village and so on. Having spent more than a month in London (and I like to travel around when I visit other cities) I can safely say that Greater London (with its more than 8 million population), has a great many villages; in fact, London is a city of villages.
Typical of these is Broadway Village in Hackney. This village consists of virtually all mom and pop type businesses -- everything from local coffee houses (no Starbucks), organic vegetable markets, clothing and consignment stores, pubs, specialty stores and lots of places to sit and visit. Each Saturday for most of the year, a three-block street market is held, selling crafts, cheeses, various ethnic foods, dairy and bakery products. Many of the same folks seem to attend and merchants often extend credit to their regular customers. In other words, it’s like a small town in a large city. So, village centres and cities are not mutually exclusive.
The simple act of erasing invisible lines on maps does not translate to a loss of community and those who claim otherwise are just fear mongering.
Cheers
Colin
by Colin Nielsen
Postcard #1 from London
A few lessons we could learn
June 26, 2014
I’m currently enjoying London. Being here has tweaked my curiosity about how such a large city functions as well as it does, while retaining democratic principals and transparent governance. This got me wondering what a city like London could teach us about governance in our smaller urban region of Greater Victoria.
First, a general description of Greater London:
- The Greater London Authority (GLA) is the top tier of local government.
- It is approximately 610 square miles in area.
- The population at the last census (2012) was 8.3 million.
- The GLA was created by an act of Parliament in 1999.
- The City of London is the original community (the square mile), founded during the Roman Empire. The City is autonomous, and has its own police force.
- The GLA elected council (Assembly) consists of 25 members and the mayor (currently Boris Johnson).
- GLA elections are held every four years. The most recent on May 3, 2012 had a 38% voter turnout, and was an election was for GLA members only.
- The GLA consists of 32 Boroughs.
- 11 of the assembly members are elected at large (across all boroughs), while the other 14 are elected within wards (generally consisting of several boroughs).
- All councillors/mayors run under party banners: Conservative, LibDems, Labour, Green, etc (not sure how well that works).
The GLA oversees the following functions:
- Transport for London: the authority responsible for the Underground (subway), some overground rail services, bus services, major roads and the City of London Congestion Charge implemented in 2003 to reduce vehicular traffic in the City of London. The charge is currently 11.50 pounds sterling per day. The region has a very extensive commuter rail system throughout the south of England
- Metropolitan Police (aka Scotland Yard): the Met is responsible for policing all 32 Boroughs (and for some services throughout the UK). However, the City of London still maintains its own police force. There have been discussions about folding the duties into the Met, however it has not yet changed. The Met has over 31,000 sworn police personnel, plus a large contingent of non-sworn and part-time personnel.
- London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEMP): oversees the operations of the London Fire Brigade, which provides fire fighting and emergency planning for the GLA area.
The political makeup of Greater London is complex, hence I have oversimplified this overview. It does, however, show that there are better alternatives than the current Greater Victoria model. Perhaps, there is much to learn from an older city/region that has existed in one form or another for over 2,000 years. Lets just say that they’ve learned a thing or two about living together and managing one of the world’s great cities.
We travel to London annually and are always finding new neighbourhoods. In fact, it could be said that London is a city of villages -- villages that each have unique atmosphere to attract many long-stay residents, with small markets, small neighbourhood food, specialty stores, street markets and festivals. London tends to combine the advantages of the big city with the attractions of multiple small villages.
Here are a few takeaway lessons from London:
Two local government levels (tiers) can co-exist if the functions are clearly spelled out, but this is not the case in Greater Victoria.
Those who oversee the operations of each of the two tiers of government (councillors and mayors) should be directly elected. In Greater Victoria, municipal councils are directly elected, but at the CRD level the only directly elected representatives are the three Electoral Area directors. And while Saanich and Victoria do provide voters the opportunity to select specific councillors to the Board, these council members then serve in both tiers, which can be problematic when the same individuals wear two hats, with divided loyalties. One hat is as a local elected council member and the other is as a Regional District director.
A classic case of lack of accountability is the proposed McLoughlin Point sewage treatment site. Whatever opinion one may have on the use of that site, how is it democratic for members of Saanich and Victoria council to try and push a facility into Esquimalt when those directors have no accountability to the residents of Esquimalt?
On the other hand, if the CRD Directors were directly elected by residents of the region and could not hold dual positions as municipal councillor and CRD director, accountability would be achieved.
In London, elected representatives are either borough councillors/mayors or GLA Assembly members or Mayor. This gives both levels of government legitimacy and democratic accountability to the people they serve.
A single police force in Greater Victoria would provide excellent service across the region, maintaining sufficient resources in each community while deploying specialty units where they were most needed. Certainly, community based policing could be provided just as well, or better, via a single force. If having different police forces made sense, then surely a region such as that encompassed by the Greater London Authority would create 32 police forces, one for each borough. But they would consider this to be madness!. Likewise, firefighting and emergency planning would be far more effective and better coordinated on a unified Greater Victoria, as they are in Greater London.
Transportation is possibly the most important function requiring a region wide approach. Greater Victoria's current 7 member Transit Commission and the proposed Authority under the auspices of the CRD (which itself lacks accountability) is not the way to go.
Another thing that struck me about London was the 38% voter participation rate in the last GLA elections. The overall turnout for Greater Victoria in 2011 was 27.3%, although in Metchosin, Oak Bay and North Saanich the turnout was slightly better than 38%. The high GLA voter turnout discounts some academics' claims that small communities spawn higher voter participation. I think London’s voter turnout is quite high considering the rate at which the region it is growing and its cultural and ethnic diversity.
New York City and Paris are two of the other great world cities that have a single police force and excellent transportation systems that supports huge economic engines. We can learn from these large cities, but we need the attention of local politicians. Finding the best possible model of local governance for our region will require the expertise of the best minds together with input from the residents of the region. And above all, what the region needs at this point in time are candidates with OPEN MINDS.
Postcard #2 from London
June 27, 2014
Hello again.
While perusing the Greater London Authority website (talk about information! -- BC should have FOI like the UK!), some interesting salary data for the following executives emerged:
The Head of Paid Service (equivalent to a chief administrative officers or city manager) earns an annual salary of £165,000 (C$300,000) with £24,000 pension contribution(C$44,000)
The Executive Director Resources earns £134,172 (C$244,000)
Now consider the GLA 2013 budget is over £11 billion (C$20 billion). That’s 1/2 of the BC provincial budget, while the population of the GLA area is 8.3 million – almost twice the BC population of 4.6 million.
Let's compare those figures with a couple of senior municipal management staff in BC:
2012
Gail Stephens, former Victoria City Manager salary: $240,346.
City of Victoria expenditure budget: $163,690,000
Population: 80,017 (2011)
2013
Bob Moncur, Burnaby City Manager salary $235,028,
Burnaby expenditure budget $363,867,000
Population: 223,218 (2011)
2012
Murray Dinwoodie, City of Surrey CAO salary $329,760
Surrey expenditure budget $544,771,000
Population: 468,251 (2011)
2013
Penny Ballem, City of Vancouver Manager salary $324,310,
City of Vacouver expenditure budget: $1,283,951,000
Population: 603,502
2012
Carol Mason, Metro Vancouver CAO salary $273,634
Metro Vancouver Regional expenditure budget: $647,100,000
Population: 2.3 Million
Some argue that it is expensive to live in the Lower Mainland or lower Vancouver Island and that competition is stiff for qualified individuals. But how about the difference between the size of the organizations and their respective budgets? And remember, the cost of living in London is very high and London may also be hitting the apex of a housing bubble.
The UK came to terms with excessive government executive pay long ago. Meanwhile, BC municipal executive pay is completely out of whack and needs to be reined in. This is something the Union of British Columbia Municipalities could and should deal with as a high priority. It is a problem that requires a province-wide solution. How can someone managing an organization and budget of $163 million (City of Victoria) be worth 70% of Greater London Authority's chief administrative office, or at par with the GLA Finance (Resources Director), which has a budget many times larger than Victoria.
To put the above figures into perspective, the GLA Head of Paid Service manages a budget 122 times larger than of the City of Victoria, yet earns the equivalent of $100K more than the former Victoria city manager. Another way to look at it is to consider the population served. The GLA Head of Service manages an organization that provides services to 103 times as many people than Victoria’s city manager.
One must always use caution when comparing governments. However the GLA is responsible for all transportation systems, policing of the entire area (except the historic City of London), fire services to all regions, major roads and many other services. And be assured that GLA infrastructure appears to be generally well kept considering the age of the urban area.
Amalgamation might help to control high salaries -- salaries that ratepayers must pay regardless. Yes, professionals must be paid a decent wage. However current salaries have been bid up too high in British Columbia. And as there are 15 organizations in Greater Victoria (including the CRD and Greater Victoria Public Library), one wonders if we could do better by significantly reducing the number of local government organizations, which would in turn reduce the number of senior staff. Every additional dollar spent on senior management salaries is a dollar unavailable for services or infrastructure.
For more information on GLA – check out https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/gla/spending-money-wisely
By the way, GLA transparency is very evident. Information on government websites is easy to find and very detailed. And Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) are completed promptly and extensions are rarely granted. We have much to learn from the UK about democracy.
As an aside, I visited the Runnymede National Trust site last week, where the first baby step towards democracy took place in 1215, when King John put his stamp on the original Magna Carta. This country (the UK) has a long and proud tradition of democracy.
Food for thought.
Cheers from Jolly Ole London,
Colin Nielsen
Postcard #3 from London
July 3, 2014
Boris Johnson is the current elected Mayor of the Greater London Authority. His is elected at large across the GLA region – population over 8.3 million.
His duties (along with the 25 member elected Assembly) include setting the vision for London. The Mayor sets an overall vision for London and has a duty to create plans and policies for the capital covering:
- Transport
- Planning and development
- Housing
- Economic development and regeneration
- Culture
- Health inequalities
- Environmental issues including climate change, waste disposal and air quality..
The Mayor has a number of other duties relating to culture and tourism, including managing Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square. https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/mayor
He is paid £143,911, about C$262,000, (equal to the salaries of Barb Desjardins, Dean Fortin, Frank Leonard and Nils Jensen combined). To put this into perspective, the GLA budget is over £11 billion (C$20 billion). The 2013 combined expenditures for the 4 core municipalities was C$375,627,000 – that’s approximately 2% of the GLA budget. https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/mayor/boris-johnson
Now, talk about the cost of living – a typical 3 bedroom flat in East London (an up and coming area) is about £475,000 or C$866,000, so the cost of living is more expensive in London than in Victoria.
Mayor Boris Johnson’s detailed Expense Statement for fiscal year 2013/2014:
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/B%20Johnson%20Expenses%20to%209%20May%202014.pdf
Check out the detail in those expenses published versus the very limited disclosures by public officials in Canada.
Cheers
Colin
Postcard #4 from London
July 5, 2014
One of the reasons sometimes stated by those opposing amalgamation is that somehow a sense of their community will be lost. They seem to fear that not having their local council will cause unimaginable change in the municipality in which they live. I’ve heard people say that village centres might be lost, e.g. Cadboro Bay Village, Cook Street Village, Oak Bay Village and so on. Having spent more than a month in London (and I like to travel around when I visit other cities) I can safely say that Greater London (with its more than 8 million population), has a great many villages; in fact, London is a city of villages.
Typical of these is Broadway Village in Hackney. This village consists of virtually all mom and pop type businesses -- everything from local coffee houses (no Starbucks), organic vegetable markets, clothing and consignment stores, pubs, specialty stores and lots of places to sit and visit. Each Saturday for most of the year, a three-block street market is held, selling crafts, cheeses, various ethnic foods, dairy and bakery products. Many of the same folks seem to attend and merchants often extend credit to their regular customers. In other words, it’s like a small town in a large city. So, village centres and cities are not mutually exclusive.
The simple act of erasing invisible lines on maps does not translate to a loss of community and those who claim otherwise are just fear mongering.
Cheers
Colin