2012 grade: D
2011 grade: C+
2010 grade: C+
2009 grade: C+
2008 grade: C
2007 grade: C-
We’re cutting Karsten’s grade for several reasons. He voted to remove the Hydrostone from the north end BID and to sell the St. Pat’s-Alexandra site, both of which adversely affect a neighbourhood that needs help. And he voted to send Skye Halifax to public hearing, undermining HRM By Design.
The thing is, Karsten is smart enough and informed enough to know what he’s doing. This was evident in the stadium discussions, when he saw that the proposal would probably end in failure, but he voted to keep studying it anyway instead of simply calling it out.
That failure of will was especially evident when he voted against censuring Kelly. Karsten is a process guy—forever offering an opinion about how a meeting should be run—but he didn’t object when Kelly presided over the debate to censure the mayor. And then Karsten raised an absurd process objection that censuring Kelly would set the precedent for councillors censuring each other all the time—like every time one of them conspired to secretly loan millions of dollars from the public treasury to a connected businessperson.
This past year, Karsten’s intelligence ran right over to the sophistry column, leaving the ethical column void.
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Welcome to the 2012 City Council Report Card
This article appears in May 10-16, 2012.
TB, I think you were too easy on him. I’ll ignore the fact that he’s been accused of talking over female councillers during council sessions, because that’s tough to prove.
BUT….This guy voted to allow a cell phone tower to be erected within meters of two day care centres, a public swimming pool and several residences. So close that if the tower came down it would damage private property, not to mention the falling ice and snow, radiation, decreased property values, and the fact that it’s unsightly. Thankfully, the other councillors on the community council were sensible enough to vote against this ridiculous proposal.
I’ve heard that this guy was actually retired from a company that supplies the wireless industry. Don’t know if that’s true, but one would think that’s a conflict of interest.
Deserves an epic failure. A capital F!
I dont believe that Bill Karsten has ever “won” an election. Each Seat he attained was by acclamation. And last night He had some competition and He still has not won a Seat. Bye Bye Billie.