Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Newish Local Media Blogs and Podcasts...CFJC and Radio NL

I've been a little remiss on noting the entrance of some promising new social media offerings from the local media.

First, Doug Collins and James Peters are now publishing the text of their One Man's Opinion CFJC TV new segments on a blog. With comments! - so much better than talking to the TV.

Second, Radio NL has posted a podcast page. My favourite podcast offers segments of the Jim Harrison show with extended discussions on various issues of the day. I am not such a big fan of NL Editorials - which don't often make a lot of sense to me in content or tone. No comments here either.

5 Things I Would Like to Offer on Your Kamloops...

As I live through what is one the most interesting and insanely busy times on my life (moving, starting a Masters Program, trying to start a viable business), I have spent a bit of time thinking about how this blog can be of more use to Kamloopsians and people interested in Kamloops. Here are 5 preliminary thoughts, I'd be interested in yours:

1. Crowdsourcing the Content:
   I would like to set up informal and formal mechanisms to allow many more people to input into what gets talked about here.
2. Explain more the why and how, and focus less on the who,what, where:
   I don't remember where I read it, but I thought this was just so bang on. The tradional media does a great job of giving people the basic facts of a story. A complementary effort, and one which I think helps people be better citizens, is to explain why a story / issue is important and also to explain how something happens / happened.  And to do these in an easily understandable fashion. A tall order, but a noble one in my view.
3. Celebrate Kamloops with some depth:
   I would like to focus on positive aspects of our community. I don't want the positive stuff to be "rah rah" press release style content but to be substantive highlighting of things that are going very right in Kamloops - there is a lot!
4. Be More Personal Again:
   After not getting re-elected to City Council, I took my picture of the sidebar of the site and have struggled with how much of my own interests I should inject into the articles I write here.  After attending Blogworld Expo, and hearing again and again about the importantance of the "personality of the blogger", I think you will see my mug and my editorial influence around here a lot more.  (Note: this may sometimes come into conflict with point 1, but I am happy to "hold the tension" between the two points)
   
5. A "member", "supporter", "subscriber" community:
   I have resisted calling my efforts here "citizen journalism", but that's actually a pretty accurate description of what I would like to be. I am incredibly interested in how media influences our lives, and I would like to offer something of real added value. This will take support, (including but not exclusively) financial support. I did offer something like this early this year, and I thank profusely the handful of people who became official subscribers. The subscribe buttons are still at the bottom of the sidebar, but I don't push the offer at all. I need to work harder to figure out compelling value, and renew my offering. Coming soon to a local Kamloops issues blog near you!

Playing around with Video Podcast Idea...

I've been playing around with the idea of doing a one minute video summary of what seems to me to be the most important news in Kamloops any given day. I've never really liked the idea of news "snacking", but maybe this will be a way for folks to get a quick sense of the news of the day, and will perhaps even motivate people to seek out more.

I'd be interested in feedback on this broad idea. Here is a sample of what I am thinking:

An Unexpected Trip to Victoria, Impressions....

This past sunday, my mother asked me to accompany her to Victoria so that we could help my sister move into a new house. I was planning a good week of blogging among a great variety of other activities, but family duty called. And I was happy I could answer.

Victoria is such an interesting place. I still believe that the best looking people in BC live there. Maybe its the ocean air, I'm not sure. There is also a certain common and quite distinctive style of development in the municipalities that make up Greater Victoria. Quaint, human size, and quite friendly to all types of people.

My sister lives in the Cadboro Bay neighbourhood. The "village" area seems small to the eye, but there actually is a great selection of shops and services. Coffee shops, pub, grocery store, pharmacy, gift and book shops. You see all sorts of different people - toddlers to very senior citizens. UVIC is a short walk away.

I took the bus one day to meet a friend downtown. Fare is $2.25. In Kamloops, I feel happy we only pay $2.

Looking forward to blogging more this next week, lots to point to and talk about.

A Video on Upcoming Plans on the Blog...

A Wait and See, More Information Required Attitude... Sedrics and the New Life Mission detox beds

Very excited to hear about the new Sedrics development proposed by well regarded builder Doug Wittal.

Very sad to hear about the  loss of detox beds run by the New Life Mission in Kamloops.

Before any more comment is warranted, however, I think I will need to a bit of homework. Sedrics is potentially one of the largest tourist oriented developments in Kamloops, but a lot of things can happen before shovels go into the ground. You gotta love Doug Wittal's vision and chutzpah! I really hope it works, but Doug would probably be the first to say its got a long way to go.

The loss of detox beds at the New Life Mission could be offset by another social agency being given the contract by Interior Health. In fact, I would bet that Carol Todd over at Interior Health is working double time to try to ensure no loss of services. I know Tim Larose and he does great work at New Life, there seems to be a legitimate disagreement about philosophies here, but there may well be other folks waiting to step in and work with Interior Health.

A Councillor's Dilemma...Nancy Bepple and the trains.

Members of city council hear about a lot of different issues and events. And a good council member will try to process all that they hear, and decide if they can add value to an event or issue.

It's tough, because there is very hard to be involved with everything in a meaningful way. But, on the other hand, a council member does have a platform, a stature, and a responsibility to bring things up.

This all came to mind, at a recent council meeting, as I watched Councillor Nancy Bepple bring up the speed of trains going through Kamloops. Nancy had been walking downtown with a friend who has many years of railroad experience. A train was passing by the crossing, and her friend remarked that the train was moving too fast.

Nancy had asked council to write a letter to CN, asking about the speed of the trains. A discussion ensued. Who should the letter be copied to? Should a meeting be requested first?

Council decided to write a letter to CN directly, without copying Transport Canada.

An editorial in the Kamloops Daily News criticized that decision, saying I believe something to the effect that council should have had someone just phone CN, before writing a letter.

The editorial was a bit harsher than I felt it needed to be. Generally speaking, however, I agree that a phone call should come before a letter in situations such as these.

Motions for letters of one type or the other are pretty common at council meetings. I think Nancy was probably searching for the best way to talk about a legitimate concern.

Perhaps, Council might want to discuss some sort of protocol for communication about concerns to organizations, companies etc.

Obervations to start the week....

• Agree with John O'Fee's assertion in his Council Comments column in yesterday's Kamloops Daily News. It is hard to balance privacy with security, but I think the barwatch id scanning program probably makes sense. Don't really know why it needs City Hall's good housekeeping seal of approval, but it does offer more credibility to the effort.
• The passing of David Ross and Dick Dickens are pretty incredible losses for our community. Arts community has had it pretty tough. In much happier news, Art Gallery Director Jann Bailey I understand is back to work after a bout with cancer.
• Robert Koopmans continues to pen some of the most intelligent, informative, interesting stuff on the courts and criminal justice in Kamloops. Watch for him, also in the Kamloops Daily News. His recent column on the political posturing behind the federal government's decision to scrap 2 for 1 credit for imprisonment before trial is a must read.

Echo Column - What the heck is anti-social behaviour?

First appearing in the Downtown and North Shore Echo:

I have a honest and legitimate disagreement with some folks within city hall. I guess that's the best way you can characterize it. I might be wrong about this, but hear me out here.

I get concerned when people within City Hall talk about combating "anti-social" behaviour.  This past week, the City announced the creation of a Coordinated Enforcement Task Force, which will combine bylaws and RCMP officers to target crime in key commercial areas  - and "anti-social behaviour that has led to the perception that these areas are unsafe".

I have no problem with the crime part. Target criminals, arrest and prosecute them - this makes total sense to me.

But, what is anti-social behaviour?? And why do we create this separate category?

I guess the trouble for me begins with the fact that I have never seen an exact definition of non-criminal "anti-social" behaviour. By leaving the meaning of the term so open ended, are we opening up the potential for abuses of authority?

If two homeless people, who haven't showered in days and look very shoddy, sit on a bench on Victoria Street peacefully chatting or playing cards, is this anti-social?

Don't people who "don't look right" have rights to use our public spaces?

Who's problem is it, really, if passerbys feel unsafe walking past these two homeless people?

I know there is a real problem here. The problem is that people are committing crimes downtown, and on Tranquille Rd, and in city parks. Let's spend all our time just on that, how does that sound?

The vast majority of RCMP and City Bylaws officers do an amazing job - the crime rate is plummeting. But, they are not going to solve deep rooted social problems. Their only real tool, with non criminal transients, is to say "move along" - and that leads us to truly fruitless displacement. The problems aren't addressed in any way whatsoever, they just become someone elses.