With Simon Yu’s swearing-in as Prince George’s new mayor Monday, the work starts now.
He’s the first mayor to win the chair without previous experience on city council since Harold Moffat, who held the position from 1970 to 1977. Like Moffat, Yu is a successful local businessman with deep connections across the city. But the city has changed a lot in the last five decades and Yu will face challenges Moffat could never have imagined.
The honeymoon period for Yu, as well as the three new city councillors – Trudy Klassen, Tim Bennett and Ron Polillo – will be brief. It’s disappointing that there was no business conducted on Monday night except for an inauguration ceremony and speeches. Yu and city council could have set a tone right off the bat by keeping the pomp and circumstance to a minimum, followed by a working meeting.
Instead, they won’t have their first public business meeting until Nov. 28, a week later than the previously scheduled Nov. 21, more than six weeks after the election and nearly two months since the last working city council meeting on Oct. 3. Hardly a sense of urgency to roll up the sleeves and get busy, it seems.
Same goes for the Prince George school board. The newly-elected School District 57 trustees voted to cancel their November meeting to give themselves more time for orientation.
Wait, weren’t they all elected three weeks ago? What have they been doing since they took down their campaign signs?
“We heard loud and clear from the community that they want us to get to work right away,” former school board trustee and new city councillor Tim Bennett said Monday night.
“My goal is simple: get things done,” Yu proclaimed.
Other than some formalities, appointments and scheduling, not one thing got done last night.
And now three more weeks before another meeting.
Talk about getting to work not getting to work.
