LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Financial reporting

is key

The West Island Chronicle has recently reported on the financial crises of two important local charities, Resto-Vie (bankrupt) and the West Island Assistance Fund (in distress).

Both fiascos were avoidable if the board of directors had adhered to responsible financial management. Key elements are: have an affordable plan which is followed; ensure that income exceeds expenditures; aim to have a reserve equivalent to at least six months’ operating costs; have two signers for all cheques; review the balance sheet monthly to detect any irregularities or deviations from plan. It is also a good idea to make the charity’s annual financial report available to the public. These are principles that have been applied successfully by the five different West Island charitable boards that I have served on in the past 15 years.

A final sobering thought is that board members may be personally liable for financial misadventures if they do not have appropriate insurance.

Ken Wheeland

Dollard des Ormeaux

Resto-Vie

will be missed

It takes exceptional courage, perseverance and love to start something like Resto-Vie, our former community restaurant (‘Community restaurant to close doors,’ The Chronicle, April 4). Most people look to their borough, city or province to solve community problems. Nerina Lafrance took matters in hand, practically on her own, so that filling the vacuum left by Resto-Vie won’t be easy.

Pierrefonds became a smaller place last week when Resto-Vie closed. Size is not only numbers, but heart, and the borough has lost something of its heart and community spirit.

But it takes not only community spirit to run an enterprise like Resto-Vie, but also sound management and financial practices. Let’s hope that someone can unite the two before Resto-Vie’s assets are dispersed and the needy in Pierrefonds are forgotten.

George Boutilier

Pierrefonds

Police

accountability

I am airing my concerns regarding a few issues, mainly about your article on police ticketing (‘Police are doing their job, Lecompte says,’ The Chronicle, March 28). It is comforting for West Islanders to know that police are doing their job on the war on improper stops and people who get off Highway 20 at Dorval Circle at 51 km or greater.

In fact, the police are so concerned about this that they added 133 more traffic patrol officers to fight this scourge (who apparently must ticket at the rate of 16 tickets daily). Never mind that each day we find out that Vito Rizzuto / Hells Angels have their tentacles inside the police department, or that street gangs are taking over. Never mind the fact that in 2006, the Montreal police department made $63 million (from tickets) versus $40 million in 2005, never mind that radar detection has increased by 211 per cent, while motor vehicle death rate dropped an underwhelming 4 per cent.

Furthermore, I will say that as a medical student, doing volunteer work, in Mexico, I honestly am finding that the rate of ticketing here is surpassing the thievery that is performed by the Transito Policia (Mexican transit police), and those guys really look actively for gringos to wallet pinch. I believe that the public needs to be active in asking for more accountability. How much the police makes, what percentage is speeding/rolling stop/other, where does the money go and how is it distributed. As well, why is it that various police organizations do not ticket as a union dispute pressure tactic if they allege that this is for public safety?

I am sure that if the public starts asking their MNAs and city councilors these rather uncomfortable questions, we will surely find that these “crackdowns” will shift from the family of “Bob and Betty” of the West Island to Mafioso family where real crime takes place.

If more people ask questions, we can have public accountability.

Tony Shafir

(Formerly of Montreal)

Floridaꆱ