Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Travelling to the Inauguration of Barack Obama....

Consolation prize for not having to be at a city council meeting this coming tuesday. I am blogging the trip a purpose built blog. Hope people will find it interesting!

Homeless Overnights, Snow Removal, and Dealing with the Anxious Public - Yesterday's Council Mtg

From yesterday (Jan 13 meeting) , three interesting takeaways which highlight council's perpetual balancing act:

1. Homeless allowed to erect overnight shelters on certain public lands: Prompted by a BC Supreme Court ruling, Council adopted a policy that will allow homeless individuals to erect overnight shelters in non landscaped public lands. I understand there was a lot of negative public feedback when the public perception was that the policy would be more permissive. I'm not exactly sure what non landscaped public lands entail (not parks obviously), but Council and city staff have so far navigated these waters well.
2. Snow Removal Response Times: With the incredible snow fall in Kamloops as of late, phone lines at the public works department have been lighting up with concerns about snow removal response times. Council has to balance these concerns with the added costs of providing better response times or a higher level of service offered in other BC communities. Bus stops fall at the bottom of the local snow removal priority list for example, and rough public works figures indicate a $120 000 added cost to move bus stops up the list.
3. Westsyde Resident's Flood Erosion Concerns: Council heard a delegation from a very anxious group of Westsyde residents with homes on the North Thompson river. This group wants city assistance in applying for funds from the provincial and federal government. These homes face significant riverbank erosion bank issues. Mayor Milobar handled this well. The residents wanted action now, but city hall needs to put this in context of other flood erosion risks in the city, and also has to set expectations in terms of timelines for responses. Frustrating from the folks from Westsyde, but good public process. I can very much see a positive answer for the delegation, and hopefully soon, but it would have been imprudent to give them an answer either way at the meeting yesterday.

Back at Council Meeting Yesterday...

Can't say it was a little strange sitting in the public gallery again. But, actually, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed so much of being on council, but to have the chance to not be on those hot seats, and to try to process things in a bit more relaxed manner, I welcomed those opportunities.

Only problem was trying to remember to keep my arm down when Mayor Milobar called for a vote.

It might be a little strange for Council members, staff, and assorted media to see my in the gallery. But, I am committed to attending as much as I can. You know, I am not sure if I will ever run for council again, but being involved in this community and trying to do good work is very very important to me.

I'm writing a column in the echo papers, as a first step back into publicly talking about community issues. My hope there is to try to inform, to be bold but not divisive, and hopefully be part of some interesting conversations.

Is Westjet arrival the story of 2008 in Kamloops?

Well, Mel Rothenburger leans towards picking it, as well as few other airport improvement stories. 

While the airport improvements and  Westjet's "sniff" was certainly long in coming and is welcome for travelling people like me, I would like to suggest another story as the story of the year. Actually, its a combination of  stories.

2008 saw two game changing neighbourhood plans approved - one for the North Shore and one for Aberdeen. These plans offer incredible opportunities for developers to remake our city for better for worse. The Aberdeen plan might be the last of a relic - a plan that will undoubtedly increase sprawl development - although the Aberdeen plan designs this sprawl in the most sustainable way sprawl could likely be designed. It remains to be seen if economic and environmental factors in the next 5 -10 years will allow the plan to stand  as it is written now.

The North Shore plan offers a pretty solid blueprint for what many think will be development of the future - building up and not out, prioritizing pedestrian access to great amenities, and allowing people to live in one neighbourhood comfortably for their whole lives. The issue here will be selling this kind of development, not only on the North Shore, but downtown, and in our neighbourhood hubs across the city. The other question is who will champion the selling.

The tension and interaction between these two plans will determine what kind of community we have in Kamloops in the coming years. A tad more impactful, methinks, than the arrival of Canada's favourite airline.

Thoughts for Kamloops in 2009 (part 1?)...

What are going to be the main issues, opportunities, and challenges in Kamloops this year? What follows are some of my thoughts, from my own biased perspective. There may be subsequent posts, with more thoughts.

There is always a danger that such posts come across like pontification. Remember, I didn't get re-elected. I have still have a whole lot to learn from my fellow citizens.

Hopefully these may spark some thinking among others. Even better, thinking that people are willing to share:

Wrestling with Sustainability
We've come a long way, in the past few years, in our community understanding and application of solid sustainability principles. But, it seems to me, we still wrestle with sustainability.The last update of our official guiding document for development, Kamplan, was conducted before climate change became a top of mind issue. City hall's new sustainable Kamloops committee has a gargantuan scope of work - really smart, piece by piece, community focused implementation will be a key success factor in the work.

Helping Create a Strong Economy
I don't think government generally fare wells when it tries to pick economic winners and losers. But, there is some fertile ground on which to help nurture significant, long term economic success. Targeting green businesses, technology businesses, tourism businesses, global businesses, value added businesses makes a great deal of sense. I think we need to be choosy with limited resources, and keep the long term viability of our tax base top of mind. Especially, in the face of the huge global economic restructuring we will see in 2009.

Taking Real Leadership on Ending Homelessness
I have been amazed by what the new Vancouver Mayor and Council have been able to do to help homeless people in such a short time. Yes, Vancouver has different governing legislation than the rest of the municipalities in BC, but they still have to look to the provincial government for much of the funds. But, the power of taking a strong stance, of taking on the facilitation and coordination on this issue, is pretty evident.

Police / Social Agency Interaction in Summer 2009
It's hard to imagine this now, when we are still in sub zero temperatures. But, as the weather warms, a lot of unhappy, undesirable activity will again appear on our streets. I am hopeful that the Kamloops RCMP and the various social service agencies will find a way to communicate consistently and to work together. One cannot work well without the other. The RCMP spends a lot of time dealing with low level stuff, essentially stealing resources from the big time crimes where they can be most effective. The social service agencies need to understand the pressure put on the RCMP by the community to "do something" when neighbourhood undesirable activity ramps up.

 I recently spoke to a RCMP officer who told me about the new downtown team. Great, I said, and then tried to gently broach the topic of this new team's liason with social service outreach workers. That will come later, he said. I don't see why that liason was not happening right up front. Social agencies need to work more closely together so that the RCMP can be confident that they are talking to that community in the most effective, efficient way possible.

The city has tried to facilitate communication, but I think its still at a very beginning stage. One possible city staff resource: newly created position of social development coordinator.

Summer 2009 might be an initial, but this communication should continue as a standing protocol.

Community Buy-In
Trust. That should be the key concept at any level of government. If big difficult decisions are needed, perhaps many of them, those who represent the people need to have the people's deep trust. And citizens should be asking their representatives to make sure that consultation and engagement is always improving. City hall is more trusted than most levels of government, when you examine the issue in the abstract. However, the real test is when a difficult issue arises - whether it be backyard burning, or putting new transit stops in front of houses without notification. These are difficult issues - dealing with them in way that inspires trust, rather than fosters doubt, should be top of mind going forward.

Happy 2009 Kamloops!

Well, I have the past six weeks thinking, relaxing, grieving a bit, and really enjoying the company of my family and friends.

Regular readers here might have been wondering what was going to come of YourKamloops. I have so valued this space to write about what is happening in our incredible community and I have learned a lot from the interactions with people in the comments, etc.

I hope others have found of it value as well! That's why I called the blog YourKamloops and not MyKamloops.

I am happy to say I am going to continue to keep this blog active , probably more active, and to make it better and more useful.

What would you like to see here in 2009?