Mike Farwell

Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran was in New York last week congratulating the 2008 Intelligent Community of the Year and officially marking the end of Waterloo’s status as smartest city in the world. And the end of the reign comes not a moment too soon.

It’s a tough title to live up to for the best of cities, but two recent decisions have really made me wonder how much intelligence there was — or is — in the city in the first place. The first decision, you’ll remember, was the one that would have seen a monument to intelligence erected in Heritage Park, at the corner of King and William. Council would eventually realize the error of its ways, thanks in no small part to the public, as we let them know how silly (not to mention egocentric) it was to construct a permanent memorial to this one-time designation.

We learned of the second decision on Monday night, as council voted 5-2 in favour of placing advertisements on nature trails in Waterloo. From the beginning of June to the end of August as you travel the Laurel, RIM Park, or Walter Bean trails you will see the ads painted on the pavement. If you thought the RIM Park financing fiasco was the last time a Waterloo council had the wool pulled over its eyes, think again.

The city stands to make 25-hundred dollars from the campaign but the agency behind it is getting far more than its money’s worth. The story has already received national attention and was the subject of a front page picture in the local paper. How much money would you say that’s worth, even at the most conservative of estimates? Salivating at the prospect of cashing in for a mere 25-hundred dollars, Waterloo has now given the marketer tens of thousands of dollars in free advertising.

I will not fall into the marketer’s trap and tell you here egg-zactly what the ads are for, lest they be given even more free plugs. But really, if new revenue is the reason behind this madness, what does it say about the city if council is so desperate for even 25-hundred dollars? Over the course of a 90-day pilot project it translates to less than 28-dollars a day. Heck, if that’s all the city thinks its greenspace is worth, I’m going to take up a collection and buy my own ad space. I’ll use it to create a series of ads reminding Waterloo residents when the next municipal election falls because by the time the votes are counted in November of 2010, there should be at least five members of Waterloo council….with egg on their faces.