City Hall Has Blood On Its Hands...

Good evening Regina,

UPDATE: According to this information, it would appear that, at the bare minimum, there should be an investigation done to determine if the City of Regina, including its Executive Leadership Team, should be held criminally responsible for Gross Negligence causing death.

In what has become an all too common occurence lately, the City of Regina has been found to be lying to the general public, once again. This time, the mainstream media are actually willing to report on it, and ask the tough questions. As you will see in various news reports, Mr. Brent Sjoberg, the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Regina (sadly, also a CMA), stated that "The brakes didn't fail" back on September 9, 2013. However, the Coroner's report suggests otherwise. What's more troubling? This was known as far back as the day of the accident. Meaning the City has known full well that the potential cause of the accident was faulty brakes, and has been lying about this for months.

Mr. Sjoberg is trying to play semantics about the situation, saying it was caused by an accident. Of course it was an "accident", but the CAUSE of the accident was faulty brakes, due to a lacklustre maintenance system. What Mr. Sjoberg suggests is akin to a drunk driver smashing into another car, killing someone, and claiming that it was just an accident, so he shouldn't be held responsible. For Mr. Sjoberg to try to justify this accident by anything other than admitting to criminal negligence leading to this poor woman's death is beyond reproach. What is the reason for the poor maintenance of our Regina Transit system? All signs point to severe underfunding of the Regina Transit system. Apparently, this matter is currently before the courts, and I sincerely hope that the courts hold Mr. Sjoberg, and the Executive Leadership Team, including the Mayor, personally and criminally responsible and negligible in this horrific - preventable - accident. Along with the previous Council and Mayor as well, as it's no secret that Transit has been suffering for many years at the helm of some questionably ethical individuals.

On a related note, it would appear that the City may have blatantly violated the Cities Act when they authorized sole negotiating power to Mr. Sjoberg for the Regina Revitalization Initiative. But - more on that in a future blog post.

Here are some of my initial thoughts after hearing this news today, that I shared on the Prairie Dog story:

I am both disgusted and pleased that this report came out.

Disgusted in that an innocent person was taken from this world far too soon, in a tragic circumstance that could have very easily be prevented.

Disgusted in that the City of Regina played dumb for months, claiming that the investigation was "ongoing" and they knew nothing as to what the possible cause was.

Disgusted in that Mr. Brent Sjoberg, CMA, our Chief Financial Officer - given sole deciding authority over two MAJOR projects in excess of over a half a billion TAX dollars - would dare to try to cover up something that he inevitably HAD to know would come out in the coroner's report.

Disgusted in that this poor family has been battling with the City for months now, just to get treated with respect and dignity.

Disgusted in that the City of Regina is far more concerned about their public image in ensuring we have "ample" buses on the streets - regardless of condition - than the safety of not only those that rely on this mode of transportation day in and day out, but also innocent pedestrians who would never have, in a million years, thought that the simple act of waiting for a bus, would cost them their lives.

Pleased, though, that this scathing report SHOULD finally open the door to the mainstream media finally starting to ask the TOUGH questions of those that are paid to represent our great City. Ask the TOUGH questions, and hold them accountable for their deplorable actions that cost people's livelihoods (affordable housing) and in the worst cases, their lives.

No matter how much you think we need to have a good "public image" to cover your mayor's ass, our safety should come before anything - anything - else!!! PUT OUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS City of Regina, and start giving the Transit Department the money they desperately need and have been asking for, for a long, long time. This is not the fault of the driver, not the fault of the inspectors, this falls squarely on those that choose to continue to funnel dirty money through City Hall to their friend's pocketbooks.