By taking a stance, we realized that we might lose some votes.



he is gonna be o.k.

Originally Posted by Matt Wright

The website http://caseypark.com has some been updated and now features Your Promise: Open Communication and Your Promise: Convenient Transportation.

Check it!

Glad to see that Team Casey is completely ignoring students' legitimate concerns over his platform and professionalism. Blogging about the importance of open communication is way more important than actually following through and communicating with students.

...

Are the issues raised by myself, Huzaifa, AlienSummer, McIntyre, etc. really falling on deaf ears? This is getting ridiculous...

From Casey's website: "The MSU must also take a more aggressive approach in lobbying the City of Hamilton to improve HSR services. If you use HSR frequently, then I’m sure you’ve slowly grown to hate it. Buses are early when you’re on time, late when you need to be on time, and sometimes just decide to not show up altogether"

This is pretty insulting to people who take busses, because I don't think Casey has done proper research on this topic. I've been taking the bus every school day for 4 years, including summers, and it has only been early/late on four or five occasions, and they were under reasonable circumstances (ie. that huge traffic backup in downtown Hamilton this summer because of the closure on the highway). To say that busses are often early, late and don't show up is kind of ignorant in my opinion.

Maybe I've just had amazing luck with busses, who knows. I do have a list of problems with the HSR, but busses being late/early/not showing up is definately NOT on that list. The HSR busses tend to be amazingly on time. It's actually pretty impressive. I really don't know what Casey is talking about here..

Originally Posted by emtee10

Glad to see that Team Casey is completely ignoring students' legitimate concerns over his platform and professionalism. Blogging about the importance of open communication is way more important than actually following through and communicating with students.

...

Are the issues raised by myself, Huzaifa, AlienSummer, McIntyre, etc. really falling on deaf ears? This is getting ridiculous...

I'm beginning to think that Casey doesn't really care about our votes, which is really frustrating and disheartening.

Also, this issue makes me wonder about Casey's platform point where he says that he wants to spend 8 hours a week to just talk to students to make sure communication is open. So another question I now have is this: Casey, will you be willing to spend those 8 hours listening and dealing with criticism, or will you just ignore it like you are now?

Hey Everyone, Casey was just trying to finish up some schoolwork that was left on the backburner since last week (he is human after all). He is finalizing responses to the questions that are left unanswered and should have them posted by tomorrow morning.

I was going to post his responses myself, as he is currently sitting beside me, but feels it would be better to comment directly. He apologies for the delay!

Thank you Matt. I'm sorry if my last post seemed rude, but I am rather annoyed that my first question wasn't really answered, and then seeing that rather useless blog post being posted, but real questions being ignored... Yeah. Not cool. I'm looking forward to hearing his response!

Originally Posted by Kathy2

From Casey's website: "The MSU must also take a more aggressive approach in lobbying the City of Hamilton to improve HSR services. If you use HSR frequently, then I’m sure you’ve slowly grown to hate it. Buses are early when you’re on time, late when you need to be on time, and sometimes just decide to not show up altogether"

This is pretty insulting to people who take busses, because I don't think Casey has done proper research on this topic. I've been taking the bus every school day for 4 years, including summers, and it has only been early/late on four or five occasions, and they were under reasonable circumstances (ie. that huge traffic backup in downtown Hamilton this summer because of the closure on the highway). To say that busses are often early, late and don't show up is kind of ignorant in my opinion.

Maybe I've just had amazing luck with busses, who knows. I do have a list of problems with the HSR, but busses being late/early/not showing up is definately NOT on that list. The HSR busses tend to be amazingly on time. It's actually pretty impressive. I really don't know what Casey is talking about here..

I think you've had incredible luck. O_O
I can honestly say that I've only EVER had a bus show up on time maybe a handful of times. I can definitely count them on 2 hands. And I do take the frequently.

In fact, if you ever stand outside the Mr.Sub (main and haddon), almost right on the curb, the bus will STILL drive right by you.

It's almost unbelievable to me that you've never experienced any of these situations.

I HATE the HSR.

Side note: I met Casey (KAHsey, not Caysey, so I learned, rofl) and he's a pretty chill dude. XD I love that kid.

1) Why has the platform point of holding a fee referendum not been modified or abandoned, even though four days have passed since the idea was shown to be unviable?

A blog post will be released tomorrow regarding your promise of a fees review. We need to format the pictures that will accompany it on the website.

2) Why has your stance on Coca-Cola been removed from your platform (in response to student feedback), while your promise to hold a fee referendum has not (in response to its unviability)?

Same as above.

3) In the debate you mentioned communicating with students "at the student level." I was just wondering what you meant by this exactly. I'm familiar with some of your platform points regarding communication (such as the 8 hour commitment), but what specifically will set your communication methods apart from those of past and present MSU Executives

Personally, I think that students should not be expected to come at the beck-and-call of the MSU. The MSU President should be approaching students and making relationships with these students both where students are hanging out and at a student level. In my experience students will not be bothered to show up to a forum but would rather want to talk to a President who is relatable to them as a fellow 20-something year old.

4) The fact that a recall procedure was started is worrisome to me. You're running for President. What are you doing now to work on executing your Year Plan and your overall professionalism? How can I be sure, as a voter, that your professionalism isn't going to be a problem again next year?

Copy-pasted e-mail to the SRA regarding my YearPlan before my leave:

1. Open Air Office Hours - In progress. Let me know how the first week of official OAOH worked for you. As a reminder, this week your office hours are in MUSC 204. Also, the schedule has been posted on the windows of the SRA office.

2. Classroom visits - I asked Caucus Leaders for a list of classes they could visit in 2nd term and have heard from Assembly members they are going well. They are publicized here (https://www.msumcmaster.ca/studentGo...classsched.htm). Would talking points be beneficial?

3. House Leader Reports - I currently have a fairly "interesting" relationship with the Silhouette. I will write a piece for the President's Page after my Leave of Absence.

4. Commissioner Reports - We are going by the report schedule that Julianne and Andrew sent out at the beginning of the year.

5. Caucus Leader Reports - They are on the agenda for this meeting and the next as well as two year-end report periods.

6. Senate Reports - I sent an e-mail out to Ms. Ali asking for Undergraduate Senators to report at SRA 09N. There is a delegation from the floor that will be put on the agenda.

7. The Silhouette SRA Reporter - I contacted Mr. Green earlier in the year opening an invitation for the Sil to come to our meetings. Jeff has taken it upon himself to come when the Sil want a presence at meetings.

8. Caucus Leader Led Blog - As a reminder, this week is Engineering's week (Greg) to update. Twitter integration has happened thanks to Mr. Tenenbaum and Pauline.

9. The Sandwich Board - I am printing out materials from the Underground tomorrow. Also, the corkboard in the SRA office will have headings on it so people know exactly where to post materials.

10. Getting MSU Committee Members on the SRA Mailing List - I want some current feedback from SRA members. Earlier in the year, I heard that this was not the best idea due to sensitive information being passed onto Assembly members through the Home e-mail address. However, what is the opinion of the Assembly right now?

11. Ad-Hoc Committee - I'll be hosting focus groups after my Leave of Absence which will be beneficial as SRA Generals are right around the corner.

As for professionalism, I think my conduct under the light of constant attacks demonstrates my maturity and ability to handle the stress of the job of the Presidency with grace.

5) Why do you think that HSR buses are late/early/not showing up? List bad experiences.

I think that you just might be lucky with buses. Many people I know have problems with HSR buses being too early on low-density times and tremendously late at high-density usage hours. On several occasions on the weekend, I had to get from Emerson St. to the heart of Westdale and the buses were quite sporadic often being anywhere from 5 minutes early to 15 minutes late.

I am certain there are many students that have the same experience as me.

5 minute early busses are considered a problem? Anyone who rides the bus will tell you that you should be at the stop 10 minutes early. I think the HSR website even says that.
Maybe your watch is off, or there was traffic. Jeez, that's expecting a little much, in my opinion :/

I've also had bad experiences with the buses, I'm surprised that you guys haven't had them as well. I don't think I've ever had a bus come exactly on time, normally its 5-10 minutes away from the scheduled time- and if the bus is actually late it can be much higher. Obviously a bit of variability is normal, but for buses that run every 15 minutes its a bit disconcerting. I've also had troubles with buses just deciding not to show up.

However, I'm not sure how effective lobbying would be to fix this situation. I'm sure the city doesn't intentionally screw up this service, and if they had a solution to the problem I'm sure they would implement it right away. So my question is, what specifically would you be lobbying for? What do you want the city to do to fix this issue?

Originally Posted by Kathy2

5 minute early busses are considered a problem? Anyone who rides the bus will tell you that you should be at the stop 10 minutes early. I think the HSR website even says that.
Maybe your watch is off, or there was traffic. Jeez, that's expecting a little much, in my opinion :/

And when they don't show up at all, or better yet, they SEE YOU, LOOK AT YOU, but keep driving?

Seriously, stand at the bus stop at Main and Haddon in front of the Mr.Sub.

If my phone could save msn conversations, I could easily pull up my history of how many times I logged on just to rant to someone about the douchebags having a nice comfy job who can't even do it right.

Originally Posted by Kathy2

From Casey's website: "The MSU must also take a more aggressive approach in lobbying the City of Hamilton to improve HSR services. If you use HSR frequently, then I’m sure you’ve slowly grown to hate it. Buses are early when you’re on time, late when you need to be on time, and sometimes just decide to not show up altogether"

This is pretty insulting to people who take busses, because I don't think Casey has done proper research on this topic. I've been taking the bus every school day for 4 years, including summers, and it has only been early/late on four or five occasions, and they were under reasonable circumstances (ie. that huge traffic backup in downtown Hamilton this summer because of the closure on the highway). To say that busses are often early, late and don't show up is kind of ignorant in my opinion.

Maybe I've just had amazing luck with busses, who knows. I do have a list of problems with the HSR, but busses being late/early/not showing up is definately NOT on that list. The HSR busses tend to be amazingly on time. It's actually pretty impressive. I really don't know what Casey is talking about here..

I totally agree with you. I have been taking the bus for the last 3 years, and really haven't had a problem with them. My only problem with buses is over crowding, which I think is unsafe and unhealthy. Maybe Casey should focus on that issue more. I think he is focusing on this bus issue because so many students think the bus should run on their time.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

And when they don't show up at all, or better yet, they SEE YOU, LOOK AT YOU, but keep driving?

Seriously, stand at the bus stop at Main and Haddon in front of the Mr.Sub.

If my phone could save msn conversations, I could easily pull up my history of how many times I logged on just to rant to someone about the douchebags having a nice comfy job who can't even do it right.

Which bus drove by you (the route number and letter)?
I've never experienced this.

Originally Posted by Kathy2

Which bus drove by you (the route number and letter)?
I've never experienced this.

The 52s and the 5E's (and any other that comes down main, excluding the 10). I don't have a habit of looking at the bus number, I just take the first one that takes me to Fortinos or East Sides.

It's happened easily over 5 times and it's even more of a pisser when it's cold like it is now.

And as I said, it's not like I sit on those little bench things right along side the building... I stand ON the curb.