Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Congratulations Terry Lake on 6 years of service on Council...

So, the Mayor is making the jump to the provincial scene. Today, wanted to take the chance to congratulate Terry Lake and thank him for all his service to our community. We don't always see eye to eye, especially when it comes to our styles, but we believe in a lot of the same things. For the past two and half years, I have had a pretty good vantage point to see how hard this man works for Kamloops, and how much passion he has for the issues. Honestly, I think it is city hall's loss, and a gain for the BC Liberal party. Congrats Terry, may you have the wind at your back as you take this next step.

Here is a video of the Mayor's announcement today:

Should we close off Victoria St to cars more often...

There was a surprisingly large number of people browsing on a Wednesday afternoon, at the farmers market on Victoria Street. The 400 block was completely closed to traffic, creating a pretty vibrant pedestrian scene. A A lot of folks were asking why we don't do this more often. Good idea?

Council Meeting May 27th 2008 - Recap

Your council approved a public hearing for a proposal to change the zoning at 1593 Springhill Drive from single family to low density multi family. A development permit for the houses in a new single family subdivision in Juniper (3100 Kicking Horse Dr) was approved.

We also okayed an addition to a home in the silt bluff hazard zone (5177 Dallas Drive) and the construction of an up/down duplex at 652 Nicola St. We accepted a cash payment into the parks reserve fund in lieu of dedicated parkland at a development at 2042 Westsyde Rd.

The proposed North Shore plan was sent to public hearing.

On the transit front, council approved the updated communication and marketing plan, and also significantly, approved the creation of an transit "pro-pass" for businesses to offer their employees (minimum 10 employees).

Councillor Pat Wallace asked that council consider a review of park amenities in downtown at an upcoming council workshop. This was unanimously approved.

Council also approved $500 start up funds for the new Aberdeen community association and $2000 matching fund for playgroun equipment at the Beattie School of the Arts on McGill Rd.

Working through the priorities...

A blog post on anonymous commenters get over 15 comments and much media coverage, while this Feb 17th post on my 3 top personal priorities as a member of Council in 2008 gets no comments and scant media coverage.

An interesting fact to chew over. 

On one of those priorities is:

Helping the Business Community Engage in Social Issues in Our Community: That's a long title, but its an important issue. If we are really going to house the homeless, or even help people who are housed but not to their satisfaction, we are going to have find more ways of bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the table. Business and professional people want to help on the root cause social issues because they know it is the right thing to do from almost any standpoint - moral, financial, for community wellness.

Tomorrow, I am helping facilitate a meeting that will hopefully help more business people learn about the social issues in the community, and learn how they can add their positive entrepreneurial mindset.

I am looking forward to it.

Taking the Post about the Anonymous Comments Down...

Every time I have done something that has been controversial, I have either felt it was totally the right thing to do or that I handled the fallout with honour.

I have thought long and hard the past couple of days about how open or how closed this blog should be. It is really important that people feel comfortable posting comments here, but people should also think long and hard before posting blather anonymously.  I will moderate comments now, started doing that with the post about the anonymous commenter. I will most likely still post all anonymous comments, and will continue to welcome critical comments here as well. I just ask people to always consider identifying themselves and joining in a respectful conversation.

I have said my piece. Enough is enough. The blog post about the anonymous commenter has been taken down.

I am closing with a well considered, critical comment from an identified commenter that has informed my  thinking on this issue. Not that I agree with everything, but some good food for thought here:

Arjun, I find your approach to this situation very strange.

Your comments are moderated, which means nothing appears unless you approve it. So, even though you call some of this person's posts inappropriate, you still published them.

In each of the examples you posted, you did not say anything to the person about their comments possibly being inappropriate or in any way violating some standard that you have set for your site. In order to claim a standard you have to demonstrate it, it both action and words.

Now you have published information that will damage the reputation of a respected firm and quite possibly cost someone their job or other serious sanctions - all because this person is critical?

Blogging, forums and other electronic mediums can be a powerful tool for politicians to interact with their constituents. Your arbitrary application of non-existent rules and standards will do more damage to the potential for these tools than a legion of naysayers ever could.

- BBS www.muniblogs.com

 

Just Announced...Council Candidates...

Want to congratulate Nancy Bepple, Peter Sharp, and Adam Lupasko for putting their names forward to run for council this year.

I know Nancy and Peter pretty well. Peter was a member of council, and lost by only a couple of hundred votes last time. Nancy also ran last time and also came quite close to the cutoff, compared to the other candidates who did not secure a seat.

I don't think I have met Adam yet, but he seems like a very strong candidate as well. I am really excited about his plans to encourage more young people to get involved. I will be trying to do the same.

More from the Kamloops Daily News:

“I’m young, I’m blue collar, but I still have the education behind me.”

He has been to a couple of City council meetings already and feels he has some idea of what he’d be getting into.

“I believe there are four elements to any community: economic, social, cultural and family,” he said. “Any elected official has a duty to make sure those four are in balance.”

Lupasko said he sees too much construction going on and not enough community supports, like the programs offered through the Boys and Girls Club.

He said there’s too much single-family housing being built in comparison with multi-family — a ratio he believes council should be debating or controlling better.

He is also keen on alternative energy sources, and thinks the City should be exploring those more, especially solar.

Even higher on his list of goals is to generate interest in voting, particularly among the younger set. Lupasko said he even hopes to host a session at Thompson Rivers University this fall aimed at stressing the importance of youth in politics.

Voter turnout was at 48 per cent in 2005, and Lupasko said he hopes to do something to boost that percentage this year.

“I’m doing it for the experience. If I get in, great.”