I got a chance to speak a little truth to power today in voicing a summary disappointment at how unmotivated Halifax Transit was in their proposed budget ask, for all the things they didn’t do, the shenanigans they engaged in, and the horrible “goal setting” that was intended to be easy targets for them to meet and look good next year, without people remembering how easy the targets were. The targets were a drop from the status quo when it should be an increase, basically. Since I wrote out what I was going to say, and that it’s part of the public record now, I figured I might as well share it for a post.
budget
My Food Budget Resolution
In 2009, I was in a good full time job working downtown, near where all kinds of food establishments were. That included a food court accessible by a tunnel from the building in which I worked, being in cold and stormy Canada during winter, to give me easy access to work lunch year round. It made it all too easy to buy lunch every day and never having to think about making lunch the evening before. After all, what was I earning a decent living for if not to enjoy life? And this was no splurge. There was a lot of fast food from that food court, I regret to admit. It was just the free time from cooking that motivated me not to cook for lunch, though the fact that a regular meal also got me two fast food meals, and not one that seemed much healthier. That perception, though, was probably a misperception, in part, from my choice not to go for vegan salads or other healthier meals that didn’t provide caloric needs for my marathon training.
My Halifax Regional Municipality Budget 2018, with Explanations, from its Budget Allocator
Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) did an innovative and democratic thing this year to have an interactive online Budget Allocator to let people try their hands at creating a municipality budget for the area, and submit it for City Council’s consideration. How much consideration each, or all the submissions might get, is another story, but I won’t be cynical here. I want to share my example of a cohesive budget that’s more than just the numbers, with rationale behind the choices, although the numbers are critical to make things work, of course. We’ll see when HRM presents its final budget, if it will do something similar to explain its choices in a way understandable to the general public.
Digital Citizen 