ward 6 - kapitza

8/8/2019 Ward 6 - Kapitza

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Edmonton Journal Civic Election

Candidate Questionnaire

Bryan Kapitza, 47Councillor, Ward 6

E-mail * [email protected]

Website * www.communitiesfirst.ca

Twitter@bryankapitza

Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001335103290

What are the three biggest issues in your campaign?

Your number one issue, and why?"Re-Investing in Mature Neighbourhoods

Council has vigorously pursued the development of distant suburbs and has forgotten about theneeds of mature neighbourhoods close to the downtown core. It is a model for growth that willlead to economic and social ruin. A city cannot prosper if its core communities are crumblingunder the feet of its residents. I believe that it is reasonable to expect that some of the taxes wepay for living in mature neighbourhoods stay in mature neighbourhoods to maintain and improveinfrastructure and services."

Number two issue, and why?

Community Engagement

Communities have been left out of the loop on many decisions that affect their livability. I amcommitted to developing a responsive process that involves communities at the conceptual

phase of planning and policy initiatives. Our present planning and development processes do

not allow for this. By bringing communities, city administrators, planners and developers

together at prior to the onset/approval of a project or policy change all parties will be in a better

position to express their positions, address concerns and realize acceptable outcomes. The City

needs to recognize that the residents of a community are the stewards of that community and

that their vision for their community needs to be taken into account when making decisions.

Number three issue, and why?

Re-organizing City Departments for Efficiency

Enterprise in the public and private sector is structured vertically. This is a historical

development. In times past power flowed from the head of state to ministers through various

levels of administrators to the workers. When corporations came into common existence in the

1600s they duplicated their control structures on the only model available that of government.

CEOs acted as the head of state, VPs as ministers, and various levels of managers

corresponded to the various levels of government administrators that directed the workers. As

corporations grew, and owners became richer, they became more and more concerned with


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being able to track their capital. That level of control is easiest to achieve in a vertical

organization where budgets can be assigned to individual divisions or departments and

managers held accountable for improving their productivity while staying within their allotted

financial limits. Our taxation and accounting systems are a response to the capital management

structure put in place by the robber barons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and have

reinforced that structure over the last 100 years.

The problems associated with a vertical organization are well known (and yet for some reason

tolerated by citizens and shareholders). Seldom is there reason not to spend your entire budget.

Doing so must often results in a budget cut for next year. There is no motivation for a manager

to seek efficiencies outside of his realm of influence - his focus is to run his department as

efficiently as possible. He doesnt care how his decisions affect the manager next to him. Nor

is there any reason to share information. Keeping information to yourself makes you more

valuable to the organization. This concentration of budgetary, operational and technical control

that grows out of a vertical capital control structure is the impediment to more efficient delivery

of services.

To improve the efficiency, i.e. the delivery of services and reduction of costs, of any

organization we need to reduce our focus on capital accounting. This is achieved by separating

budgetary, operational and technical control within the organization. Departments continue to

exist but department managers become technical experts in their particular area like roads or

water or waste management . Operation managers now manage a whole service process

looking for cost and service efficiencies between departments instead of just in departments.

Neither has any budget - that rests with a budgetary manager who must validate spending and

its implications along the whole process stream.

Immediate consequences on the operation of government is the diminished capacity for

government ministers to manipulate processes no more micro-managing. The separation of

authority makes this much more difficult. No line manager will act on a change that reduces hisproductivity and his bonus, and claims of efficiency now have to be verified by a separate

budget manager. A further consequence is a reduction in the size and vertical height of the

managerial core. Cross department operational control reduces the need for management that is

hired to deal with other management. A single budgetary office removes that responsibility

from all other offices. Furthermore, the cooperation that must now exist between various

departments in the same process stream speeds up service delivery. And capital costs fall

further because of the free flow of expertise and the common goal of achieving the best result

for the operation group instead of any particular department.

Which should be a higher spending priority for council, and why?

LRT construction. LRT is more cost effective, cleaner and faster in moving people.

City council has turned down a motion to hold a non-binding plebiscite on keeping the

City Centre Airport as a general aviation facility. Should the new council reopen the

airport issue?

No. The airport issue has been decided by the city clerk and our present council. The petitionfailed to meet statutory requirements - there is no legal recourse. That means councils'


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previous resolution to close the airport are in full force and affect. A motion to rescind bya new council is unlikely given that other agreements attached to airport closure arealready in place (Rules of Parliamentary Procedure - a motion to rescind can only occur ifthe previous decision is unencumbered). Operations at the CCA will be phased out andthe land will, over a period of decades, be redeveloped into a new urban community. Therole that I can play as a potential representative is to ensure that the contracts fordevelopment are properly let, existing business are given assistance in relocation, that

certain historical buildings remain in place (blachford hanger, home of the alberta aviationmuseum) and that the new development maintains space for the operation and servicing

of STARS and Police helicopters.

Do you live in the ward where you're running?

Yes

How important is social media to your campaign?

3 out of 5

What is your favourite blog?

None

What is the last book you read?

Don Quixote

What is the last piece of music you listened to?

None

What is your favourite beer? Answer this question to humour Mark Suits, Edmonton

Journal beer blogger

None

Favourite place in Edmonton, outside your home?

Paul Kane Park

Three fantasy guests you'd like to have dinner with, and why? Can be living, dead or

fictional

Rene Descartes - philosopher and mathematicianThomas Jefferson - american revolutionary/president

Amartya Sen - economist/philosopher

What type of car do you drive? Make, model and year

VW Van 1991

What is the best advice you ever receivedListen


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