Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS READ AND CONTRIBUTED TO THIS BLOG!

Well, I made it through my third season of official holiday parties without gaining too much weight! Really enjoyed seeing a large diverse group of people in December.

I want to wish everyone reading a very happy, relaxing holiday season. By reading this blog, you are showing a real interest in what happens in our community and I thank you deeply for that. Kamloops is an amazing place, we are truly lucky to live here. We, of course, still have many areas where there are challenges. And, in the new year,  I look forward to working with you on building on our successes and addressing our challenges.

Wish I could talk to these people face to face...

I am really trying to see situations where I get harshly criticized as opportunities for conversation and dialogue. I have seen, in the past two years, people tone down the volume a lot when they understand there is a human being with pretty decent hearing on the other side of their email or phone call.

It would be a pretty boring world if we all agreed. But the problem begins when different views become a conflict as opposed to a conversation.

I thought it was pretty interesting, last Saturday, when Kamloops Daily News Editor Mel Rothenburger published email exchanges between an irate citizen and a few members of council.

And I want to add to what Mel wrote here.

The last couple of days, I have received some pretty strongly worded feedback. I am going to share 2 example with you, and also share with you my response. My hope is that my responses bring out converation. I have taken any personally identifiable information out.

Email:
"I usually dont take notice of politics but I am amazed at how each week you suprise me. Do you really think the goverment will increase funding if we put money into social spending. And putting water meters to referendum been there done that. Why don't you all buy a bag and grow some balls. We dont need to spend money on another referendum. And then hey lets build spirit centre on the north shore. Its meant for city centre look at the funding requirments. You had better figure out what your gonna do after this term because voters have had it with you. There is nothing wrong with new ideas just try thinking before opening your yap. And your not the only one this is directed at. This current counsel cant seem to say no to spending on silly shit. Run the city like a business if you dont have it dont borrow it. And if you support meters then just cast your vote like a man and dont hide behind an expensive scapegoat."

My Response:
Thanks for your email. I acknowledge that I say things that you find yourself shaking your head it. I do think that there may be a way to leverage municipal dollars for causes like ending homelessness that would not see any decrease (and perhaps an increase) in prov and federal funding. I am also pretty sure that the spirit square could be built on the North Shore. I am not sure what requirements you have seen, but would be happy to review anything you want to send my way.

I have gone back and forth in my head on a water meter referendum. For the past year or so, I have been thinking that a referendum is not the way to go, but in the past month or some, with the amount of debate and discussion, and with the split on council, I have been thinking it might be a way of respecting the earlier process.

I am happy you are voting in the next election, although you will not be voting for me if I choose to run again.

--------------------------

Blog Comment:
Arjun your constant desire to meddle in the affairs of your constituents is appalling. I for one will be completely ignoring any city bylaw prohibiting pesticide use. In addition I will be skateboarding on streets, safely burning fires in my backyard and generally giving this socialist city hall the middle finger.

My Response:
Ok, your choice I guess. I see you seem a bit angry / frustrated / pissed off.  I don't mean to cause these. We as council are elected to make decisions, so I guess in some sense, we are paid to "meddle in the affairs of... constituents". I wouldn't it phrase the way you have, but I will use your words. It would help me if you would tell me why you oppose restrictions on pesticide use, or on backyard burning, or on skateboarding?

I do value your opinion, but I only know you disagree, I have no idea why?
 

The Backyard Cooking Fire "Firestorm"

Forget water meters, the real hot council issue these days is the new bylaw banning outdoor cooking fires. On one side, I didn't expect it, but now I know the passion people have for their outdoor wood fueled cook outs (some people keep the fire going long past the food being ready). A couple of the email headers from the past few weeks:

"Bring Back...Back Yard Family Weiner Roasts"

and

"Welcome to Dictatorship Kamloops"

And there is also this online petition, which mirrors several paper ones going around our fair community. My friend, September Weir, has even started a Facebook Cause.

On the other side, folks are also contacting council members to say how much they appreciate a bylaw that protects their ability to preserve the air quality in their neighborhoods. They want the ability to prevent smoke from fires on neighboring properties drifting into their yard and affecting their own enjoyment.

I have to side with the "please protect my air quality folks". Yes, your private yard is your private yard, but you should not be able to enjoy it when your activities detrimentally effect others.

That seems reasonable to me.

Look, even with new bylaw, the reality is that if you have an outdoor cooking fire that does not bother your neighbors, there is little chance the bylaw will be enforced in your situation. City staff are far too taxed to run around on cooking fire patrol. So, if you are a good neighbor and responsibly monitor your outdoor cooking fire - fill your boots, light your logs, have at er.

This "turn an initial blind eye unless there is a complaint" approach is exactly the same as city hall's approach with illegal suites.

I'm Arjun Singh and that's one man's opinion.

 

Happy Climate Action Day Kamloops!

Warm and green congratulations!

Don't Want to Lose Density...

At this Tuesday evening's public hearing, we approved a new subdivision off Crestline Street in Brocklehurst. The developer proposed a swap of a single family area and a multifamily area in the overall development plan. The report from city staff suggested that there might be a net loss of 3 dwellings through this proposal. Now, this may sound pretty dry, but it actually may be extremely important.

One of the key elements, experts say, to building more sustainable cities that create much less green house gas emissions - one of the key elements to this goal is creating more compact neighborhoods with more compact housing. Added and no less important advantages could be greater neighborhood spirit, and more accessible amenities.

I really believe we are going to have make sure that we don't die a death of a thousand small cuts - we need to make sure we are always looking at getting more dwellings rather than less.

This new Brock development will come back to council for a development permit approval. I really hope the developer can make sure the 3 units stay. This would be a great service to the future of our community.

Thoughts on the Kamloops Daily News...

Back in April, I shared some thoughts on the Kamloops This Week coverage of city council. My intention then was to also write a bit about the other media outlets that cover your council. Today, I wanted to share some thoughts on the Kamloops Daily News.

• Michele Young, who regularly covers council for the daily news, is very well schooled on the issues having had the beat for a number of years. She and her family sometimes even become part of the debate on issues such as heritage conservation.  I think she works dutifully, but I sometimes wonder if she is getting a little bored with city hall. If I were to guess, I would say she is a centrist, neither right or left wing.
  
• The formidable Mel Rothenburger, long one of the deans of Kamloops journalism and also a 2 term former Mayor, knows even more than Michele about city hall. I respect him greatly, but also think he might be a little empathetic with local representatives. He knows what its like. I don't often find a lot of nuance in his stuff, but his breadth of knowledge and experience informs his pieces - they are important to read. Another Liberal centrist type voter, I would again guess.
• Cam Fortems is my favourite "green" reporter in Kamloops.
• The Daily News typically does not support council travel but have generally been supportive of innovative ideas and approaches to local government.
• I guess my real bugbear with all media these days, whats been going through my head quite a bit, is how conflict and bold statements (with or without substance) really are what get headlines. Life is a often painted with great swaths of grey, this black and white stuff which gets the top billing, often does not help move debates further.

Council Meeting December 4th 2007 - recap

I think we pretty near set a record for the council meeting today - done in a bit shy of half an hour (or thereabouts). With the marathons that were the previous 2 council meetings, it was kind of nice to have this rare happening. The Mayor will probably say that it helped that I was feeling a little tired today and did not ask too many questions!

We introduced the 2008-2012 five year financial plan for the city. We have a lot of discussions and debate yet before we come up with a final 2008 budget and tax rates. These discussions will happen early in the new year.

City finance director Sally Edwards also presented a report detailing how much money has been spent on the pine beetle problem by city hall in 2006-2007. Also included was the projected spending for 2008. The figures amount to 4 million dollars, with 1.6million dollars in grants. So city taxpayers are in for about 2.4 million dollars, so far.

We accepted a cash payment instead of the provision of parkland for a development in Juniper Heights. We approved funding the improvement of the orchestra pit at sagebrush theatre.

Council supported an application to the Union of BC Municipalities community health promotion fund for a proposed city parks and rec program to help with chronic disease issues.

We also clarified that council members can attend the meetings of council committees to which they are not appointed, but can only participate if the chair and members of the committee approve.