The cart before the horse

Posted by Magda
I did a bit of a double-take yesterday at council during a discussion about the south-end recreation centre. The discussion had eerie echoes of another I've had recently.

South end residents came to the meeting to urge council to go ahead with a feasibility study for the proposed south-end recreation centre. Some councillors were opposed, because the city is also preparing to do a master planning process for all recreation facilities. Councillor Gloria Kovach argued the master plan needed to happen before the detailed planning for the rec centre.

"I can't support the motion (to go ahead with the study in 2008) as it stands because its counterproductive. It's putting the cart before the horse," she said.

Allow me to take you back less than two months.

"I'm concerned that it appears to me that they're getting the cart before the horse," former councillor David Birtwistle said regarding a discussion about composting technologies that could be used in Guelph. "There's a waste management study going on, so what is the big rush to have a look at these technologies?"

It's sometimes necessary to make sure a government isn't so mired in studies that nothing goes ahead. But it's also possible to forge ahead in a piecemeal way, without looking at the big picture. I'm not sure which is happening here, but the similarities are interesting.

(Incidentally, council approved the south-end rec centre study to go ahead before the master planning, and they seem to be on track to pick a compost technology before that master planning process is done.)