If at first you don't succeed...

The way the Mayor stacks it up, we could save a whole pile of money and just let him do all the talking.

The mayor earlier this year attempted to push through changes on the city’s communications services, but it was viewed by council as too costly to overhaul during the budget process and deferred.

“With any realignment there will be some upfront costs, but that will be offset by the savings,” Francis said Tuesday in convincing council.

If the Mayor and Administration can actually demonstrate savings over a reasonable period of time with "some" upfront costs, then the exercise is worthwhile. The previous plan did not demonstrate any sort of savings the way it was presented. While various City departments could benefit from centralized communications, that may not necessarily be the case for organizations like the Police and Fire Departments. Those two organizations specifically are very unique in their communications needs and should not be rushed into a reorganization for the sake of it.

On a related note, the Mayor certainly is bound and determined to "push through" his $900,000.00 dollar branding plan.

Councillors will also form a working group to quickly tackle the creation of branding districts across the city, such as a Chinatown in the west end or a Distillery District in Walkerville.

"Quickly" is the operative word as there is $100,000.00 in this years Capital Budget for branding. It's like that money is burning a hole in the Mayor's pocket.

I would hope that Council studies exactly what value we achieve out of the first $100,000.00 dollars before writing a blank cheque for the remaining $800,000.00 dollars.

BTW, how's the "21st Century fireside chat email" coming along? I realize without the $250,000.00 dollar communications department that an initiative such as this is difficult but some of us are hoping to begin receiving it before the end of the decade.

Blogger on the other hand is FREE. No IT or infrastructure overhead. No staffing costs. You can email posts directly using those fancy City Blackberries. Feeling adventurous? Try Blogger in Draft, featuring Video uploads and podcasts. We could have our own ETV!