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A Vote I am Not Especially Happy With... Mr Pavlovic and his 12plex.

Vito Pavlovic is a charming, good man who has been stubborn as all heck. Mr Pavlovic has illegally turned a 4plex in Dallas into a 12plex. He freely admits this. He says part of the reason he has increased the number of suite is so he can provide affordable rental housing  opportunities in a very low vacancy market. He also admits that his building contravenes building code provisions.

Now Mr Pavlovic has applied to get his 12plex legitimized. He says, if he is successful in getting a rezoning, he will bring the building into compliance with all the codes.

City staff recommended we turn down the request to take this matter to public hearing. They have tried to get Mr Pavlovic to bring his proposal down to 8 units, an amount they might be able to support. But, brazenly considering his situation, Mr Pavlovic refused to move.

Yesterday, Council voted. I really don't agree with how Mr Pavlovic has approached this, although I like him very much, and I really think we need more affordable housing. I think that the building codes and zoning bylaws are a product of a very important process and mindset - these things protect us.

My thought was that I would wait until all the other members of Council had indicated their support / non support, and if it was tied, I would vote not to send the matter to public hearing. I knew the vote would be close.

On the other hand, if it was clear by the time I spoke that Mr Pavlovic was going to get his public hearing, I would try to get some reassurances that the city would inform Mr Pavlovic tenants of the possible issues with the building...

....and then in the interests of Council solidarity or something like that, I would vote for the public hearing myself. Maybe I thought that way because I did not want to unnecessarily go against Mr Pavlovic at this point in the process. The matter has not been decided, the vote in question was just to send the matter to a public hearing and a decision at that point.

It is the latter that ultimately transpired.

Today, although its not the end of the world, seeing my name on the public hearing side in the paper, just is not sitting well.

I think I am more comfortable as a person just voting my principles and gut, as much as I can. You live and you learn.

It is a real challenge sifting through all the issues in any given matter, and figuring out what the best course of action. One that you can personally live with, one that is good for the community. The learning curve will always continue.

I will keep an open mind at the public hearing. After I hear much more input I am sure, I am not sure how I will vote. What I think I have learnt so far is that I have to be me.

Back from Holiday, Happy to Get Going...

Hello! Just got back from a 10 day holiday with my wife - sightseeing and meeting friends in New York City, and visiting with family in Albany NY, and Gibbsboro NJ (just outside Philadelphia).

I must say it was nice to be anonymous for a while. But, it was also great today when it took me about 45 minutes to walk a couple of blocks on Victoria Street.

Very soon, city committees start meeting again after a summer break. And council meetings don't skip too many weeks. Should be an exciting fall!

Taxi Cab Inspections 2007

The City of Kamloops runs a taxi cab inspection program. I recently received this report which I thought I would put online. Both local taxi companies have been cooperating fully with the program. And I caution that this information will go out of date pretty quick. Still, you have a right to know how the taxi companies have been faring in the inspections:

2007 Taxi Inspection Report

Inspected Yellow Cabs

25 Vehicles were inspected March 28^th     0 Vehicles were inspected Oct 4^th ,07

Re-inspected Yellow Cabs

9 cars were re-inspected for a variety of reasons ie: no smoking signs, locks not working, interior lights not working etc.

Yellow Cabs Taken off the Road

5 Cars were taken off the road as a result of the inspections for a number of various reasons.

Inspected Kami Cabs

21Vehicles inspected April 5^th   0 Vehicles were inspected  Oct.03,07

Re-inspected Kami Cabs

5 Cars had to be re-inspected for a variety of reasons

Kami Cabs Taken off the Road

1 Kami cab was taken off the road

Total Number of Vehicles inspected for March 2007

46 Vehicles inspected

Total number of Complaints regarding Both Company’s

For the year of 2007 we have received approximately 5 complaints for various issues’ from smoking in the cars to the vehicles pushing blue and not being kept clean.

Warnings Issued

In 2007 no written warnings were issued we spoke to the drivers of the vehicles and to the owner’s of both company’s or there managers when we received a complaint. They were very quick to deal with any complaints that were addressed to them.

Note:

In dealing with both of these Cab Company’s they have been extremely compliant working with the City of Kamloops this past year and we look forward in working with them again this year. 

Garbage and Bear Attractants

I have got a couple of questions about the garbage regulations that will now be enforced. I think these qualify for $100 fines. Here is the rundown, from an email I got from city staff:

There are two aspects to the solid waste bylaw that will be enforced (as of September 4th):
1. Residents cannot store bear attractants
2. Residents cannot place their containers at the curb for collection prior to 4am from April 1st until November 30th.

From what I can gather from the email you received, if the resident's neighbour is storing garbage on their property and bears do come onto the property and rifle through it, charges can be laid based on the "attractants" section of the bylaw.

Another item of note, if you work shift or cannot for reasons of health take the garbage after 4am, then call city public works,  828  3461, and  ask to apply for the program through which city waste collectors will roll your bin out to the curb for you, and then roll it back. This is a free service. You might be asked if you have neighbors or friends who would be willing to help you before being enrolled in the program.

The debate around the council table centred around whether these bylaws actually have a effect in reducing the number of bears who stay in the city. The consensus was to evaluate the bylaws again in a years time or so and to possibly get rid of them if they are not working well.
 

Great Comment Thread about Domtar...

I am going to say it again. I always learn a great deal from the comments people leave on posts here. And I thank everyone for taking the time.

My initial Domtar is up to 10 comments. I encourage you to read them. Forget all the "way to go Arjun" stuff (with respect and thanks to the folks who said that). It's not about me - its about you. I would like to highlight the one comment that argued the line I think that Council ultimately took - from Mark Crawford.

Also wanted to point to Chris' Kamloops geothermal blog and to my friend Utah State representative Steve Urquhart - a trail blazing elected official who leads the way in using the power of technology to represent folks better and someone who has helped humanize US republicans for me.

I should have phrased things better in the post below...

After I wrote the post about voting against Domtar's environmental permit extension, I got calls from all the local media, as well as from CBC in Kelowna. CBC chose not to interview me in the end, which I am actually pretty happy about.

I made an error in phrasing which understandably the media has been keying in on. I did say below that I thought "now or in the near future" would be the best time for the mill to close, if that were to happen. I should have made it clearer. Here is a letter to the editor to Kamloops This Week, who really ran with my below statement, that clarifies my position I hope:

Regarding your article "pulp friction", I want to first offer an apology for some sloppy phrasing on my blog - yourkamloops.com.

When I wrote that "now or in the near future" is probably the best time for a mill closure, I was not at all advocating for the mill to be shut down now or in the near future.

I should have said that a mill closure would be really painful for the community at any time. I don't advocate it happening, but if it did, I hope it happens in a good economy, so it is easier to weather the detrimental effects. Easier, but not easy at all.

My essential point is that the 7 years (2000 to 2007)the ministry of environment gave the mill to bring its emissions down was quite generous. And I think the mill should be paying financial penalties for non compliance. These penalties do not have to be so high that the mill goes out of business, but high enough so that Domtar management feel the pinch. Perhaps, the penalties can kick in and / or escalate if Domtar falls behind on its deployment schedule for the promised emissions reducing technologies.

If the Ministry of Environment accepts council and Interior Health's recommendation, I am concerned about the lack of measures to ensure Domtar's compliance.

I think most people no longer want or need to sacrifice our health and our environmment for short or even mid term economic gain.