Big egos result in deficit and decline
AUSTERITY has an impact on both the private and public sectors – tightening of government funding to the council has meant cutbacks. One can sympathise, but what is galling to the Cardiff ratepayers is how the council has chosen to spend the monies they receive via council tax and government funding.
Cardiff Council has been hell bent on becoming involved in grandiose vanity projects – £15m on digging up Churchill Way for 25 metres of water strewn with litter; £55m on buying the Red Dragon centre in Cardiff Bay for an indoor arena redevelopment without an operator lined up to carry out the scheme, and goodness knows how much was spent on associated works with the cycleways that have caused total traffic gridlock in the city.
The majority of Cardiff ratepayers consider these schemes to be a total waste of money and of little benefit to the city. All these schemes are trumpeted as major success stories before they have even started but in the end are damp squibs.
The ratepayers of Cardiff want the council to provide services they are supposed to be providing. Leave these projects to the private sector who know what they are doing. Cardiff people want to be proud of their city and want all visitors to feel they are visiting a top UK city with an important history and heritage – we don’t want them to witness streets and pavements strewn with rubbish and leftover food. Our magnificent parks such as Bute and Roath parks are being allowed to become overgrown and unkempt, and being afraid to walk around our city centre due to increasing levels of antisocial behaviour.
A big support/advocate of these council projects is Councillor Dan De’ath – Cardiff cabinet member for Strategic Planning and Transport. Interestingly in his councillor profile he mentions that his main motivation for wanting to run for office was to improve the state of the streets of Cardiff, which were the dirtiest in Wales. Twelve years later there has unfortunately been no change. Well done Dan! Let’s hope your bigger grandiose schemes turn out to be more successful for you. Clifford Roger
Lakeside, Cardiff