The city of Winnipeg has just signed a towing contract with a company that they're suing, and being counter-sued by, for past performance/non-performance/jiggery-pokery. https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video/c2972746-towing-company-contract-under-microscope
What intrigues me more than the legal fiasco (?) is that the two other bids for this latest contract, both from established companies btw, were for less than $15 and more than $113,000. Is this just business as usual in the towing industry?
Edited by - Owen on 08/07/2024 08:29:28
Small town politics...someone on City Counsel is getting kickbacks from the Towing Company...somehow, in some way. If it walks like a duck....
In big cities, towing companies make alot of money, not just for towing but for storing also. And those towing companies who have gov't contracts make even more. It's a "do what you can to win the contract" or a "do what you can to not lose the contract".
There is no fair bidding on munisipple contracts..
Guess that makes it fair..fer..some...
Municipal corruption is endemic, and in smaller towns and cities, remarkably petty.
I live in a "purple" town so some times it's in one parties control and sometimes the other. The first thing they do when power changes is fire the solicitor and the engineer and replace them with their own handpicked person. The solicitor is the worst, like "hey, completely biased legal advice couldn't possibly be a bad idea". As far as towing goes, in Philly, Shapiro - who was the Ag at the time - had to sue Philly towing companies for being absurdly corrupt.
Edited by - South Jersey Mike on 08/07/2024 17:11:41
Purple??
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
By: Jenny Joseph.
The city of Vancouver once had its own towing company but they also contracted to private shopping centers. The had the contract for a nearby shopping center until they were exposed. Another larger contractor [ ImPark ] was cut nearby for the same reasons. The sign says that 3 hours is maximum. People were visiting twice or 3 times a day a day and getting a ticket as though they had been there for a full 5 hours. When questioned they would reply,, "tough luck". They tried this with my friend Dale who had to return the same day to pick up a prescription from the drug store. He referred the problem to a local consumer advocate at Global TV. He won and the Lynn Valley Mall had no choice but to show the front door to the towing contractor.
Business as usual in the towing industry? No.
Business as usual in government contracting? Yes.
What would/might the city administration have done to bring in bids of $15 and $113,000?
In and around Boston, such practices are called "hack-a-rama," or simply, "business as usual."
It's almost like corruption is intrinsic in giving public officials authority over our affairs. Who'd a thunkit?
Towing as an industry in general has always been a money laundering platform for organized crime
.... and in TO. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6487048
It ends with the assessment that,"Violence within Toronto's tow truck industry has long been a long-standing problem."
quote:
Originally posted by banjo bill-eIt's almost like corruption is intrinsic in giving public officials authority over our affairs. Who'd a thunkit?
Corruption is intrinsic in humanity.
^^ Evangelicals agree. I do not.
I'm no historian or theologian or ????, and maybe I'm nit-picking, but I suspect corruption was pretty widespread before there were Evangelicals.
Widespread enough to be "intrinsic"?
I dunno.
^^ They made it key to their theology, which became the foundations of Western Civilization, so not a minor impact. The point is not that there is corruption among humans; it is whether or not such corruption is intrinsic in all and unavoidable (without divine intervention).
It doesn't take much to be more knowledgeable than I am on such ^^ matters, but didn't our teachers, back in the day (?), tell us that things like ancient Greece, the Romans, and "1066 and all that" are the foundations of Western Civilizations?
.
From towing to purple to evangelicals to Aesop in less than one page. Well done.
Edited by - reubenstump on 08/21/2024 14:33:30
But, but, but Mr. Magnificent, it took us 2 weeks to do it! ... two weeks!! 
Well, you're the - ahem - "leader" of this thread, so it's up to you.
Okay ... as leader I say: "Let 'er drift." If a tangent (?) results in a reasoned exchange or it withers and dies on the vine .... both get yer leader's approval. Drift on my loyal lackeys. 
Edit: I was considering using "acolytes," but figured it could be better used in the "50 cent words" thread.... and anyhoo, the alliteration sounds better [Reminds me of a good (?) book we read to our kiddos: Lyle The Loyal Lackey, IIRC.]
Edited by - Owen on 08/21/2024 16:35:46
As long as you don't expect us to be sycophants.
Just wait till they unearth all the federal corruption. Those guys in Winnipeg are rank amateurs.
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