Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Computers at UBCM convention restricting access to typepad?

I am not sure if this is a UBCM thing, but the internet / computer cafe set up by Shaw seems to restrict access to my blogging service, Typepad. I am at an Internet cafe on Davie St and, as you can see, it works fine.

Hmmmm.....

Did I bike to UBCM?

A couple of cheeky TNRD directors asked me if I biked to the UBCM convention.

Short answer: no

little longer answer: I was originally planning to take the greyhound to Vancouver. Then I had arranged to hitch a ride down with Jim Harker. Then, I spoke to my sister (who lives in Burnaby) who needed her car exchanged back for the family VW van. So, ultimately I was the only Kamloops councillor who did not carpool down here I think. In this specific case, family takes priority. My situation also illustrates the reality that sometimes you really need to drive  (especially if you want to eat your sister's mother's food again.)

UBCM - BC / Alberta Trade Agreement Raises Much Concern

Yesterday at the UBCM convention, we had a pretty intense workshop on a BC / Alberta trade agreement called TILMA. The stuff of trade agreements is admittedly pretty dry stuff, but this one is particularly important. The provincial government has basically extended this trade agreement to apply to the City of Kamloops and all other local governments in the province.  Many fear, including the UBCM executive, that the language in the agreement is vague and does not protect local government powers enough. For example, there is a provision in TILMA the requires reconciliation of measures between BC and Alberta communities. Does this mean that if we have a higher standard in what we expect from a private developer (for example, a higher contribution to funding parkland), that we would have to drop our standard to the lowest standard present in Alberta.

 

At the session yesterday,  Minister of Economic Development Colin Hansen assured us that TILMA would not effect civic measures or civic authority to plan land use. But, when pressed to make these commitments in writing in the actual text of the agreement, he sidestepped the issue. This made me wonder. Whats more, UBCM contracted lawyer Don Lidstone blew a lot of holes in the Minister's contentions. And a lot of questions followed from council members across the province.

 

I am all for increased trade and labour mobility, especially within the same country. Makes a lot of sense. But, I think TILMA could be much more than that. And the fact the province actually made municipalities subject to TILMA during a 2 year "transition period", without any meaningful education or consultation is simply bad form, in my humble opinion. We have been in fact subject to TILMA for the past 6 months, without really knowing what it all means.

Filipino Association puts on Great Show...

Congrats to the Kamloops Filipino Association for an incredibly engaging event last weekend. A Filipino Cultural Troup, I believe from Vancouver - I have got to find out the name of that group and post it. They were quite amazing. About 300 or so people joined together at the St Anns Academy Gym for this fundraiser. I am only sorry I had to leave half way through.

The Draft Social Plan...

Since the beginning of the year, the city's social planning council has been helping to shape a new social plan for Kamloops. This hopefully will be a roadmap to action. The social planning council met on Tuesday for a discussion of the progress to this point. So, where are we currently?

We have a sense of the major gaps in social supports in Kamloops, derived largely from a series of public workshops held in the spring. We have an inventory of current services, as well as a directory of sources of various information.

The next steps include an upcoming series of workshops to discuss community action on various social issues and a search for more hard data to give a better picture of the situation.

If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Council Meeting Sept 18 2007 - Recap

Mr Paul Hoot's application to rezone his Westsyde property to allow for a second dwelling got approved for public hearing. Council also approved the construction of a pool in the silt bluffs hazard zone in Barnhartvale, the exterior look of a mini storage at the bridge end of Tranquille Rd (should be quite attractive), and the non paving of a semi industrial parking lot in the gateway industrial park.

The city wide water main flushing program is ahead of schedule so we approved funds for this year's budget to continue the program. Len Hrycan, director of the Community and Corporate Affairs Department, summarized the activities of his department for the first half of 2007. Len's department takes care of bylaws, the fire department, the RCMP contract, and legislative services.

Council approved an extension of the security contract for the downtown transit exchange until October 31st.  We also strongly suggested the city's new contract gang violence prevention coordinator look into working proactively with youth at the exchange so to perhaps help get young people causing issues for themselves and others on a better life path.

We proclaimed Car Free Day for Sept 20, Square Dance Awareness Week for Sept 16 - 22, and Kamloops Cool to be Kind week for Oct 1 - 7.

We sent a letter of support to the local committee promoting the designation for Kamloops as Forestry and Range Capital of BC 2008, and received the final payment on the city loan to the Senior Citizens Railway Society who run the wonderful train rides at the BC Wildlife Park.

Council Meeting Sept 11 2007 - Recap

We started the meeting by closing a unused road in the city, located at 1418 Summit Drive.
CAO Randy Diehl then presented his reports. We approved the construction of a garage at a home located in what is known as the South Thompson Silt Bluffs Red Zone. Council has to approve many developments in this zone so as to ensure that landslide risks are mitigated to an acceptable degree. The appointment of Mr Robert Kelly and Mr Ken Lepin to the city's board of variance was authorized. 2008 to 2010 Permissive Tax Exemptions were granted to the premises of various places of worship and non profit organizations. Last, but not least, your council approved the users fees for the new Tournament Capital Centre beside TRU.

Council debated at length whether to sign on to a new climate action charter proposed by the provincial government and the Union of BC Municipalities. Ultimately, unanimously, we voted to sign. The charter commits us, in principle, to make city hall operations greenhouse gas neutral by 2012.

We proclaimed Community Living Week. And, in response to some developmentally delayed self advocates, we agreed to put up no skateboarding signs in the downtown transit exchange.

We heard a presentation on the BC Ambulance service in Kamloops from Bob Gallagher and Paul Swain.

Community Environmental Meeting - A Fabulous Start...

I am very thankful to all those who attended the community environmental meeting this past Monday. I was a little nervous as to how it would all turn out.  I would say the event exceeded my expectations!

About 20 people attended. It was a very diverse group -  well known local environmentalists, small business folk, managers from Domtar, and university students. We had a really good and respectful discussion on a whole host of different issues (see below). And the group decided that it would like to meet monthly to develop community based projects they could spearhead, and keep talking about local and regional environmental issues. 

I am really happy that my Council colleague, Tina Lange, also attended.

Next meeting will be held on Oct 15th at 6:30pm. All welcome! Location to be announced soon.

Here is a quick and dirty summary of the points raised at the meeting. (If anyone who attended wants to add or modify stuff here, please let me know)

Community Enviromental Group Mtg Minutes

- green rooftops, comunity gardens / rec space on roofs.
     - education and insurance issues

- compost
    - Ladysmith has a great program
    - red wiggler worms great for composting
    - "      "    "        "  also used in commercial settings
    - years ago, city did give out free composters

- Fraser Basin Council - would welcome input
  http://www.fraserbasin.bc.ca/

- Recycling
   - TRU student project
       - looking at commercial sector
       - Kelowna - good info package
       - no company to take recyclables - business oppportunity ! / ?
   
  - nothing is garbage attitude
  - expand city recycling depots, even with curbside
  - TRU project on internal recycling at university.
- drive to yard waste depot can be environmentally unfriendly - have to balance different costs and benfits of every "green" action.
  - recycling bins at shopping malls
  - use of "development permit areas" to encourage more enviromentally friendly practices
- e-waste recycling: we are paying extra fees but no Kamloops locations listed online, also not taking ewaste yet at one depot that is supposed to be taking.
      - deposits as opposed to fees
  - Non profits should run drop and shop   

Plastic Bags
  - should encourage alternatives and recycling of plastic bags at more grocery stores.

Tru-Eco volunteers

- disposition of crown land for wind monitoring towers, wind generators have detrimental environmental impact...better sited in the ocean. Again tradeoffs - wind may still be better than nuclear

- Anti Idling - Arjun commits to find out more about city progress

- Owl Rd dump - Arjun commits to pressing more to get it cleaned up or shut down.

- methane gas recapture
- green building
- Indian band should be given credit for geothermal at sunrivers
- downstream water quality


Next Meeting
- 6:30pm, October 15th 2007

Continued Discussion about the Pulp Mill and its Emissions Permit

I have been invited for lunch today by the manager of the Kamloops pulp mill, Eric Ashby. I'm looking forward to a good, wide ranging discussion.

My old friend Barry Baker goes after me a little bit in his blog post about my vote on the mill's emissions permit extension. I hope he had a chance to read my clarifications. His blog, "Right Up Your Alley", is shaping up to be an interesting place for a fresh Kamloops perspective.

I attended the labour council meeting on Tuesday evening and I got some pretty strong questions from members of the Communication Energy and Papersworker local that represent the workers at the mill.  Should have expected these, but was taken a little aback. I clarified again my position that I would not like to see the mill shut down. I simply want the mill to be held accountable for their environmental and health impacts and the commitments made to mitgate those.  I am not sure my clarifications resonated at all. There was a bit of emotion in the room.

You are Invited to a Community Meeting About the Environment...

One of the things I have been threatening to do for a long time now is hold a community meeting on environmental issues. I finally got my stuff together. Meeting date is set. This might become a regular thing. I hope you all can make it, even those who may be a little skeptical of all the attention the environment is getting these days.

At this meeting, I will make quite a short presentation on the major takeaways from various environment related conferences and seminars I attended. But, the most important thing, in my view, is to discuss some of the environmental issues locally and regionally and to motivate more action and cooperation.

Again, You are invited!

Details
Monday, September 10th
6pm to 8pm
Parkview Activity Centre, 500 McDonald Ave, bordering McDonald Park on the North Shore

Please RSVP by leaving a comment, emailing me, or by calling me at 377 1797.