Last night, after extensive questioning by Marty Gold of city staff at the Disraeli Bridge Open House asking who was responsible for the abysmal communication of the ever-changing project to the residents and taxpayers, the name Ed Shiller trickled out.
Yet he was not present at the Norquay CC meeting, nor was he at the first open house in Elmwood the night before.
The public was told by Councillor Lazarenko, go to the Open Houses, and your questions will be answered. Yet the man responsible for keeping the public informed of the $195 M project and the possible loss of people's homes and businesses, was NOT there to face the angry attendees.
That was not a total surprise, as at Bronx Park his non-attendance was explained as "he is on a leave of absence".That alone seemed unusual.
But last night we alone got the real story, when a spokesman finally broke down and told TGCTS: "Mr. Shiller is no longer with the City of Winnipeg."
Knowing we were going to break that exclusive story today at 4PM, the city Corporate Communications Branch just issued a news release:
"Mr. Ed Shiller is no longer employed with the City of Winnipeg."
This attempt at damage control will have the reverse effect.
People came and left the last 2 nights with the same attitude about the tactics of city politicians and administrators - "it stinks".
Less than 3 weeks ago, Shiller was point man in the desperate attempt to divert anger from 3 residents groups who were complaining publicly that they had been kept in the dark about the damage the Disraeli project would cause in their communities.
A participant at that meeting with city officials told TGCTS Shiller kept repeating bafflegab like "immutable parameters", "Call 311", and claimed "informational open houses" would answer everyone's concerns.
Tune in today at 4 PM and learn even more exclusive news that the mainstream media missed -- because NONE of the newsrooms thought it was worth going to the North End.
PS- WE GOT THIS FROM A LISTENER THIS AFTERNOON:
On today's City of Winnipeg web site at least 2 things are missing :
1. On the Disraeli Bridges Project main page, the link to the Disraeli Blog is gone.
2. Also under the Social Media button the Disraeli Blog link has vanished.
Public input was so valuable a couple weeks ago but now it's no longer necessary.
For now I'm using a bookmarked link to the Disraeli blog; it's still up until further notice.
On a side note---This is real cute; a slogan from the city's social media page:
" The more we hear from you, the better we will be able to serve you and your fellow Winnipeggers."
And to think we paid someone to rub this in our faces.
