20 September 2005

What, me worry?


[<--- Not Andy Wells]

Our beloved mayor believes that everyone else running for city council doesn't know what he or she is talking about.

Here's a little blurb on the NTV website about the Duckworth Street geyser. It's from the story by Michael Connors that ran on the 19th.

The mayor's view of the problem is highlighted.

"A broken water valve in downtown St. John's burst into a small geyser Monday morning, spraying water 10 to 15 feet in the air for most of the day. Candidates running in the municipal election quickly picked up on the incident to call for more spending to fix the water system.

The valve on the corner of Duckworth and Temperance streets broke more than a week ago. It was part of an 80-year-old pipe that feeds all of downtown. The city hasn't cut off the pipe because that would mean shutting down water service to the entire area. A replacement valve is on order, but the water will continue to run until it arrives.

Councillor-at-Large candidate Simon Lono accused the council of wasting money on Mile One Stadium and mainland hockey teams at the expense of basic infrastructure. Deputy Mayoral candidate Fred Winsor agreed more money needs to be spent on the water system. But Mayor Andy Wells said the city already has a plan in effect to replace its older pipes. He said council has not been negligent about the water system and accused the other candidates of not knowing what they're talking about."

Of course, Andy's comments don't give any indication why this really old water main in the east end of St. John's hasn't been replaced yet, especially if, as Andy said, this section of the system is the oldest in the city.

Andy sure as heck isn't trumpeting the capital works plan as part of his re-election campaign.

Maybe that's why he is busily slagging the heck out of every other candidate, especially ones he doesn't like.

Of course, when you've been on council since 1977 and been the mayor for the past eight years and water mains start blowing up in the middle of the campaign, of course you'd claim that everything is fine and council is running perfectly and no one else knows what they are talking about.

Sometimes it seems like Alfred E. Neuman is the mayor of St. John's.

At least that what it seems like when Andy starts his "What, me worry?" routine.