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At the UBCM Environment Conference in Richmond BC...

Just starting day 2 of the UBCM environment conference in Richmond BC. Highlights from yesterday include a talk from Jim Hoggan on talking to people about issues around the environment. He says Canadians are generally increasingly concerned about the environment but are mistrustful of elected officals to take meaningful action. His research demonstrated that people respond favourably to messages that revolve around the following themes:

• making things whole, making them right
• quest for greater meaning and fulfillment
• we are all in this together

Also of note yesterday was a presentation from Hadi Dowlatabadi on ground source heat pumps. If what Hadi spoke about actually proves out, the City of Kamloops could potentially make revenue and drastically reduce green house gases from local buildings by becoming its own utility. Sounds very appealing, so I know there has got to be a lot of challenges in implementation. Definitely worth looking into.

Today I will be going to sessions on water pollution prevention and bc climate change initiative. For the last session, I am still deciding between green infrastructure and product stewardship in BC.

Environmental Plan progress....

The last meeting of the city's enviromental performance committee was held on Thursday. The city will be creating a new environmental committee for the fall. On Thursday, we talked about the city's upcoming environmental plan. We are waiting on word from various different funding proposals that have been submitted - the city has 5 proposals pending. We should get at least some of these proposals approved. The plan should begin in earnest in September, whatever happens with the funding.

We also talked about the composition of the committee steering the environmental plan. We will definitely have members at large positions that people can apply for. We also talked about invited positions from different sectors - the business community, the environmental community, TRU - were the big ones. We talked about the possibility of asking 2 city council members to sit on the committee.

What do you folks think?

Turning the controversy into productive conversation...

This past 10 days, I have been lambasted and lauded. Arjun is an idiot. Arjun is an innovator. It sort of makes my head spin.

The worse possible thing would if the comments I have made about the street sex trade in Kamloops divide people. This is definately the risk in making controversial comments in public.

The best possible thing would be if the community could again come together, with open minds, with all the different opinions, to figure out better ways of approaching the street sex trade issue.I am more than willing to change my mind.

These discussions have already started. We, for example, had a great meeting with the RCMP, social and health agencies, crown counsel, the north shore business improvement association, and city hall reps  - we talked about possible ways to cooperate better in the future. The city's upcoming integrated community safety plan group looks like the most promising way right now.

I have been approached by a few different folks in the community, some who are not involved with the issue right now,  who want to dedicate energy and ideas to this.

Perhaps, the best thing to do is to organize a community forum on the sex trade. This would not be the first time this has happened in Kamloops. But, with all the conversations buzzing around the community, I would hate to lose the momentum and the information.

Conferences I am planning to attend in 2007 - your thoughts?

I promised at the end of last month to prepare a list of conferences I plan to attend in the rest of 2007. I would love people's input:

1) UBCM Environment Conference - June 27th and 28th
2) UBCM Annual Conference - Sept 24th to 28th
3) Canadian Community for Dialogue and Deliberation - Nov 12 to 14th

These are the events I am thinking of attending right now. Obviously, the list is subject to change depending on circumstances and input received.

The Real Council Meetings...

I had the great honour of being invited into a discussion among 5 or 6 seniors at the starbucks/a&w/sandwich tree food court downtown. Since being elected, I have become more aware of these regular informal gatherings around town - likely hundreds of them. I wonder how much influence these gatherings have on how the community starts as a whole to think or respond to issues. I would bet a great deal.

A Testy Emotional Council Meeting...

I left this week's Council meeting with my head spinning, a little annoyed. There were plenty of contentious issues discussed - the RCMP sting on sex trade workers, the save public waterfront update, parking at riverside park on fundraiser days, even supporting a rise to the minimum wage.

The Mayor and I butted heads a couple of times. And I made a couple of motions everyone else around the table voted against.  The emotion and "chippiness" flew off the walls in the Chamber like I have never seen it before in my time on Council.

Let me just say that this kind of a meeting can wear on you, if it happens often enough. I have never been too worried to be the sole vote supporting or opposing a motion, but when that happens a lot in one meeting and when you are battling folks, its not a lot of fun.

I really can't let this stop me though. Perhaps I could have phrased things differently, been more articulate in my words, but the issues I talked about in the meeting were ones I think are very important. I tried to save my energy to specifically talk about those, because its hard to fight for every hill.

How to really do something about the Sex Trade...

I have a lot of respect for the difficult work done by the Kamloops RCMP.  And I believe Corporal Scott Wilson (a great new addition to the detachment) when he says the decision to arrest sex trade workers and ban them from certain areas of the North Shore was based on complaints from the public. I understand the police, like other public bodies, should be responding to citizen concerns. So, I would like to suggest to those concerned about sex trade activity in Kamloops a different approach to trying to get their concerns addressed. I base my suggestions on many different discussions I have had with people involved with supporting some of the most vulnerable, most marginalized people in our community.

When you pick up the phone or fire up the email to get someone to do something about the sex trade,  consider contacting a city councillor, an MLA, or our MP. Many outreach workers tell me that people sell their bodies on the street as a last resort or because they are mentally incapable of understanding what they are doing. They are often trying to feed a ruthless addiction. What we should be offering them is a guaranteed spot in a peer support program, a detox program, in affordable housing, away from people who dragging them down.  By instigating the arrest of street level sex trade workers and the ban from certain areas of town, are we not making already desperate people even more desperate? What we need is more funding to remove any and all waitlists for people who want and need society's hand up.

This is the oldest profession in the world. There is a reason why. Even Kamloops' finest can't stop it for good. The police are limited in the tools they can use. Yes, they can enforce the laws against communication for the purpose of prostitution. But, wouldn't you rather have them focus resources on the pimps, the johns, the drug dealers? Instead of chasing sex trade workers from one area of town to another.

I am currently of the view that we should also lobby the federal government to legalize prostitution, regulate it, tax it, and keep the real criminals away.  In the interim, would it not make more sense to open up a section of Tranquille Rd and Victoria St in the wee hours for a sex trade "stroll", as the experts call it. Keep it away from people's homes, between 12pm and 6am (outside of business hours) or something along those lines?

Kudos to the Mayor for Showing Up...

Last week, at the Save Public Waterfront sponsored meeting to discuss development of the current parking lot between the Interior Savings Centre and the river, Mayor Terry Lake gave his point of view and welcomed questions. This, to my mind, is huge.  People wanted to see him there and I heard some people say he clarified issues that were previously confusing to them. He stood in the line of a bit of rhetorical fire. People gave him a large round of applause as he left.

Greg Droder on Water Meters...

Greg Droder is a fellow who writes me everyonce in a while to share his thoughts and concerns about our community. I always appreciate hearing from you Greg. Greg recently shared a number of thoughts on various issues. I thought I would pull out a quote from his email about water meters, since many people are still contacting me with their views. Here is Greg:

I thought to have the entire city limits within one single water and
sewer system. This way the city will not be responsible now or in the further for aging systems that communities such as Raleigh and other may one day choose to dump upon the Kamloops Government because they are within our boundaries. The possible savings would negate the need for water meters. I feel water meters will only further split the divide between the rich and the poor. The rich will not change their habits. The poor will no longer be able to afford to keep clean. Negative reinforcement will serve only to hurt the masses. A better long term and permanent solution would be education.
Further the water smart education program. Hire more Bylaw officers to enforce current bylaws. Give out positive reinforcement measure to people who try to save water such as grants for more water efficient devices. If not grants given, exceptions for certain bylaws for people purchasing more water efficient devices. I also think it is a joke that the city itself is allowed to water our streets for the entire night. The city is not the only “sinner” in the matter either. I have seen more business then I can remember watering our streets for the entire night. However if a residential user does that, they are made to feel they are horrible people, fined, then threated with water meters.

Kamloops Inside Out and Sound Kamloops

Some great Kamloops blogs that I check out almost daily. Really great news and views:

• Kamloops Inside Out
• Sound Kamloops