For the record I am not a believer in Conspiracy Theories BUT in conversation with a very well-known individual in the Township of Langley the other day he states, “The Township of Langley is the only place he knows of where Conspiracy Theories are True”. This Post will provide some interesting proof of what is really going on behind the scenes. I don’t want to insult anyone but “We get the government we deserve”!
I can only present the facts and hope people will start to listen and think for themselves. I welcome disagreement and debate but don’t bury your head in the sand.
Over the years, going through a wide ranging number of life experiences I started following my own philosophy very early on. In particular that was 1) I would trust everyone unless they give me reason not to and 2) I would do what was right for those I represented ie family, business and public service elected or appointed regardless of the fall out that may result. It has served me very well! Some are going to like you and some aren’t, it is what it is! Following this mind set, I have had many surprises over time. You go into business or public service with an idealistic view of things, wanting to believe the best in people and their intentions. Unfortunately there are far too many surprises and I have found through experience in business and politics when those come to light, it is only the tip of the ice-burg! These surprises, in most cases, lead to even bigger surprises. Welcome to the Township of Langley!
In political life there will always be tough decisions; the result is good or bad depending on your particular point-of-view – welcome to democracy. All of that is life in politics. Then there are those decisions that regardless of how hard you investigate to understand the reasons behind them, you conclude there is NO common sense rationale for them to have been made. You have to ask, in those cases, and there are many of them in the Township. Why? Who benefits? Where is the local media?
- The Mufford Crescent Overpass Diversion – Despite secrecy, no public process, negative affect on agriculture, 95% community opposition when we made it public; it took a community committee to make a presentation to ALC staff to point out the serious inaccuracies of the proponents report before it was rejected. NO objective local media.
- Langley Events Center – Despite a multitude of irresponsible decisions as outlined in an earlier LEC Post they had an opportunity to correct many of them. Unfortunately they chose to continue to move forward and leave the Township at risk and cost the Township taxpayer an unnecessary $8.6 million. NO objective local media.
- Soil Deposits on Agricultural Land – Despite ALR legislation designating responsibility to the TOL, our staff without resolution chose to ignore that legislation and mislead the ALC. I would ask at who’s cost? Who is responsible? No objective local media.
- Athenry / Forewest / Fort Langley / Bedford Landing and much much more – The underlying principles of community input and consultation in Township of Langley development are wide open to serious questions. NO objective local media.
This obviously leads to suspicion about what is really going on behind the scenes.
Unfortunately the problem today is everyone is too busy in their own lives. To meet day to day minimal obligations including housing and commuting costs the average family requires two incomes. The time left is devoted to family. This separation of attention to community is dramatically reflected in our very low municipal voter turnouts. Fact, municipal government affects your lives more than any other.
In my view, we have accepted very low standards of performance in our elected leaders. Speaking of low standards of performance; the electorate’s knowledge and attitudes have been driven by those same low standards of performance of our local media. Good journalism should be driven by facts, investigation, research and questions, all of which are absent in the Township of Langley. Why? Is it because certain local politicians intimidate or feed rumor, gossip and innuendo against their opponents? Is that what local media is accepting, buying into and being run by? Are they accepting this on face value? They should be far more challenging than they are! As of this moment they have been doing a complete disservice to residents.
So who is really running the Township of Langley?
I have had an incredible opportunity to be elected Mayor of the Township of Langley. This experience gave me an otherwise impossible insight into the inner workings at our Municipal Hall ie who is friends with who and who is inappropriately influential? Our MLA Rich Coleman made that abundantly clear to me in a conversation ten months before I was elected. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to get the message, but that was a message I chose to ignore and Rich Coleman received a message in return from me during that same conversation. (See the first Post in This BLOG) It would have been easy to stay in the Mayors Chair, just go with the flow. That was wrong then and it is wrong now! It is costing all of us in a serious way.
Now, here is some very interesting proof about connections and who is working for whom?
IMPORTANT / Caution – The following contains a little colorful language so I don’t want to offend anyone. For that reason I wanted to start with a slight caution. I have left the emails intact (exactly as written) to provide accuracy to what was being said and show the stated (by Mr. Schacter) interference by your Provincial MLA and senior management at the Hall. What could they have been afraid of, who at the Hall was involving themselves in the Municipal Election Campaign and to what extent? I could respond to all of Mr. Schacter’s comments and accusations, but from beginning to end he doesn’t know what he is talking about and is showing himself for what he is. Was this just to ensure that nothing changed at the Hall so he could retain his influence? Just asking the question? The comment attributed to Rich Coleman re all the Provincial money that had been going to Surrey because of me is interesting; now you get the picture – do as I say or else. There is that Bullying again! Is this the type of individual you can be proud of as your MLA? I would be interested in what money Rich Coleman sent to Surrey and not the Township? Talk about irresponsible representation!
Introduction to the following – The following are copies of emails that were extensively distributed to hundreds of Real Estate professionals and many others in the Township of Langley. It was started by Joel Schacter, a well-known Real Estate Agent friend of Rich Coleman and Mark Bakken with respect to the 2011 Township of Langley Municipal Election Campaign. It was distributed widely during the week prior to election-day. It speaks for itself. The second is a response email from a Real Estate Agent in that same office responding to Joel Schacter’s email. The third email is a further response to Joel Schacter’s email with additional thoughts. I have eliminated the name of the company, another individual, all of whom were named and who are immaterial to the story, as well as the distribution list of names and email addresses.
1st Email
Sent: Tues, 11/15 2011 3:00 PM (Election Day was November 19th, 2011)
Hi Fellow ___________,
I know that there was some questions at this morning’s meeting regarding the upcoming election and being as I and ________ have been personally involved, affected and have some grave concerns over our current Mayor I thought I would pass on some of my personal thoughts (these are my thoughts alone, not _____ I am hoping that if you haven’t taken the time to research out the different candidates yet, you will do so soon.
For those of you have do not have the time or desire to do the research I am happy to provide you with the names I have researched also knowing I have had personal conversations with each and every one of them
The Mayor’s position is the most contentious one and I will be voting for Mel Kositsky. He has 18 years of experience on council and has been very diplomatic during his terms. He is not one to sling mud quickly and takes a methodical approach to all his decisions and votes. He does not appear to be swayed by the vocal minority and attempts to make a decision that benefits all of us as residents and property owners. I also feel things will become a lot more respectful at the council table and it won’t be so embarrassing to read about our leaders in the local news for the next 3 years.
I do have a concern if we split the vote between Jack Froese and Mel as this could easily put Rick Green back in the Mayor’s seat. Jack is a good man but I was hoping he would have run for a council seat before jumping right for the chair of the Mayor. Unfortunately, it appears a vote for Jack looks like it will end up being a vote for Green in the long run.
I have had discussions with some of the senior management at the hall as well as our MLA Rich Coleman and 2 former mayors….they are all suggesting Mel has the best chance of taking Green out. Rich will be making an unprecedented press release endorsing Mel as well as several current members of council and 2 new prospective members in the next 24 -48 hours. He believes strongly in getting the right people locally who can work with them provincially. This will stop all provincial funds from being diverted to Surrey, as has been for the last while. This was mostly due to the antagonistic and adversarial posture the current Mayor took with them when funds were either requested or offered.
As for the rest of council, I believe the following people will work together well and provide a mixture of perspectives and balance to the counsel table.
For the Council seats
Bob Long (incumbent)
Charlie Fox (incumbent)
Bev Dornan (incumbent)
Grant Ward (incumbent)
Steve Ferguson (incumbent)
Michelle Sparrow
Misty van Popta
Dan Sheel
For School Board
Rod Ross (incumbent)
Alison McVeigh, (incumbent)
Kari Medos,
John Mckendry
Please feel free to either email or call me if you wish more detailed information or have further questions. I do ask that each one of you get out there and vote. There is an advance poll tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 16 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Township hall should you be unable to do so on this coming Saturday.
Best regards to you all!
Joel Schacter
2nd Email – The response
Joel
I for one, am truly embarrassed to be even closely associated with you and your bunch of urban cowboy idiots.
Perhaps you might be kind and courteous enough to keep your bent political bullshit to yourself and out of our office. It is bad enough that you have your Bible study sessions utilizing our office facilities.
Go rent a room some where else.
Sending this garbage email to everyone in the office….. creates the impression of Guilt by Association.
It is likely, that most of the people in the office are not aware of your behind the scenes smear campaign against what I consider to be ………..a very intelligent, honest and fair guy who is being slammed by a bunch of self-serving idiots that have their own hidden agendas…..just like you do.
If not, then why would you bother to spend so much of your time on this shit ?
Are you scared of losing your inside connections to all of the Township and School Board real estate deals ?
Pretty easy to prove my point.
Mel Kositsky may be a very nice guy, but heh……what other job has he had in his career ? He is in this deal for the pay cheque and pension, just like most of them.
You seem to feel some right to open your mouth and spew this garbage to everyone…..then I suppose I have the same right to retort.
Get a life.
Glenn Duff
3rd Email – Further response
Joel
Now that you have seriously got my attention, I would actually like to make a formal and public inquiry as to what really is your agenda here ?
Why is it, that you and Rich Coleman and Mark Backman all hang out together and scheme about how to “take out” Green ?? What is it really about Rick Green that has got your collected attention ?
I was told along time ago, to find the truth……..simply follow the money.
After my long days working in Real Estate, I am simply looking for the couch to hang out and relax.
It seems however, that you have a lot more energy than me……… as I see various political figures in your office at the end of the day………. You seem to be very popular, so you should try closing your office blinds when night time arrives.
I have often asked myself, why does this born again Jewish guy, (I only reference that because you never miss an opportunity to tell me) care to involve himself in politics when he could be out playing golf or even spending time with Seniors at the care homes or even lawn bowling ?
Personally, I rarely spend too much time doing things, that do not bring some form of benefit to either myself, my friends or my family. Charity work is the exception for me, but I somehow suspect that you are not doing any of this smear campaign for Charity.
You have now created a bit of a legacy within the Township of Langley….of course with all of your hard work on the School Board (right J) and lately with your behind the scenes work, ensuring the “right” people are elected.
What you actually do is create a bad smell and it is getting worse.
I am not speaking for ________ here………..only myself……..but for me, It would be really nice if your could find it in your heart to go and work at some other office……or heh !!! …….Run for office yourself !!!!
Joel Schacter for Mayor !! I will be your campaign manager.
That way, I would not be subjected to seeing you everyday with all of your political cronies pretending to be do-gooders. You are really far from that.
Do the right thing for a change and keep your biased opinions to your self.
Glenn Duff
Further Food for Thought (Previously undisclosed) – On the Sunday after election-day I contacted my assistant to schedule a meeting with her to go through my office ie desk, personal items, files and more which is part of the normal process. I was still the Mayor until December 1st, 2011. We scheduled a meeting for Monday night at 7:00 PM in my office. (Just less than 48 hours after the polls closed on election-day.) Well, surprise surprise – On arrival I found my office swept and wiped clean. Both front and back doors open with a small cart in the foyer with my personal belongings. Filing cabinet removed, book case removed with the office in a state as though it had just been constructed. My desk, credenza and cabinet were ready for a new occupant, not a phone call to ask about anything, just done without my approval. In answer to my question – where did everything go? I was told that everything was recycled! Talk about a rush to judgment!!!
Why? Who was responsible? I was still the Mayor for two weeks. Put it another way, this was my private office for two weeks! Wouldn’t it make sense that the new Mayor would want to review files on issues of significance that I would leave in detail for him? The incoming Mayor should have been asked the question. Now that would be the natural assumption that the incoming Mayor cared, which quite frankly (recent actions of the Mayor support this statement) I don’t believe he did.
Now I can assure you that my assistant did not do this without direction. I did not question my assistant as to who directed her because in fairness to her she was doing what she was told and I wasn’t about to cause her some serious aggravation.
So look back at those emails and you will clearly understand the movement behind the scenes to rid themselves of the problems I had caused them. Imagine, someone in the Mayor’s office who was committed to residents and taxpayers, wanting to see a transparent and responsive municipal government in place. What a unique concept!!!
RG
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My next Post later next week will be – Soil Deposit on Agricultural Land – A non-farm use “Out of Control”
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