Pointing fingers and shifting blame

Why is it always someone else’s responsibility, and not the City of Winnipeg’s problem?

More often than not, it seems the city is willing to pass the buck upwards to the provincial government — while also being equally willing to download it onto individual home and business owners.

Some cases in point, in just the past week:

A West Broadway landlord was told by the city to clear away the mess left by a homeless encampment at the rear of his riverside apartment building, or have the city use its staff to do the work, adding the cost to his property tax bill.

Meanwhile, homeowners in Bridgwater were told that the city’s hands are tied when trying to deal with a large overgrown plot of land, dotted with garbage, because the property is owned by Manitoba Housing and bylaw officers are unable to intervene.

So, a problem a landlord didn’t create is his own city-ordered cleanup problem, while a property abandoned by its provincial government owner is … something neighbours just have to live with. Shrug. (A provincial government spokesperson later told the Free Press the property would be cleaned up within 48 hours.)

A resident of Spence Street writes to Mayor Scott Gillingham about open drug use, crime and displaced people using yards as bathrooms, and talks about the mayor “shirking” his responsibilities as conditions in the neighbourhood go downhill.

“Part of choosing to be representative of a city is representing all of its citizens, not just wealthy neighbourhoods and suburbs,” the resident wrote.

The mayor’s response? Well, it included that housing, homelessness mental health and addictions are provincial government responsibilities — and also encouraged the resident to contact the local MLA.

Writing your MLA, of course, is a little like asking someone in a helicopter to spot the ring you dropped — they’re so far above specific municipal concerns that the best you can expect is a letter in response. A city spokesperson later told the Free Press that the mayor was not suggesting that residents shouldn’t contact the city about safety, problem properties or a host of other local concerns.

Sorry to be so blunt about it, but the city motto “Winnipeg — made from what’s real” seems more like it should read “Winnipeg — it’s actually somebody’s else’s responsibility.” (Or maybe the slightly more catchy “Winnipeg — the city of excuses.”)

We get it. Times are tough, money is scarce and the problems the city is facing with things such as encampments, drug use and homelessness are massive — and growing.

We get it that belt-tightening flows downhill, and that federal and municipal governments don’t carry the blame — or the calls and emails — from people trying to deal directly with huge problems in their neighbourhoods.

We understand that the level of government responsible for all of the powers that most directly affect our personal lives — water, sewer, firefighting and fire prevention, police services, ambulances and paramedics, garbage collection, municipal bylaw administration and noise complaints — fall under the city’s purview, while higher levels of government sit back and call the superseding legislative shots.

That’s a legitimate concern for municipalities everywhere.

But passing the buck — whether by making individual home and business owners responsible for addressing the on-the-ground effects of major societal projects, or by explaining in detail why the issues at hand belong to the provincial government — doesn’t build confidence that the city has the ability to or even an interest in dealing with the actual problems residents face.

To put it in terms that should have been learned in grade school: we don’t care about the reasons why your city homework isn’t being done.

We just care that your city homework isn’t being done.