Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Lessons from Prague for Kamloops...

I've been in the pretty incredible and very old city of Prague for the past few days. It's been a great holiday so far with lots of walking, site-seeing, and enjoying wonderful food and drink.

A lot of the buildings here date back at least seven hundred years. One witnesses amazing architecture on virtually every street. What my mind started to think about was why we don't build buildings with that kind of beauty and staying power anymore.

When the old Toyota Pagoda was torn down to make way for a Wendy's, how did that enrich our city?

I know we live an a very different world today and North America is not Europe, but this is very much on my mind today.

The Militarization of City Bylaw Officers?

I've been hearing a few concerns about the "militarization" of the city hall's bylaws department. At the very least, there is some feeling that we should not be replacing the RCMP with bylaw's officers. Bylaw officers currently sport bullet proof (knife proof?) vests emblazoned with the words PEACE OFFICER - and I have heard they may carry handcuffs.

Are these overkill? Are they necessary to do the job in today's times? Are bylaw officers trained in arresting and handcuffing folks? Do Rambo looking bylaw officers unnecessarily scare people or send a message that is too strong?Question to research and ponder. 

Changing Face of Poverty Meeting - Highlights

Last Wednesday, at the monthly Changing the Face of Poverty roundtable, many items of note were discussed, including:

• a new brochure created by a TRU social work student that provides a snapshot of "poverty at a glance" in Kamloops. It's a good accessible way to get a broad picture of the challenges low income people face.
• a public forum will be held on the homelessness action plan on April 11th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the United Church, downtown. (I should write a separate post on this)
• the TD bank offers banking services for low income people (without large fees, and lots of red tape, etc)
• income assistance will start to be cut off for people who have outstanding criminal warrants to deal with. Some exceptions might be made (eg. singles with children).

For more info on any of this stuff,

Call: 250.374.2119 ext. 200    Email: [email protected]

Early Warning Tweets and Facebook Updates...

When I saw people well outside the usual environmental activists starting to join the facebook group opposing the gasification of creosote railway ties in Kamloops, I knew proponents of this project were facing a huge challenge. 

screenshot from my hootsuite 'dashboard'

Similarly, I sometimes (not often, but sometimes) see twitter updates (tweets) that beat the local media in breaking news stories. I also get a sense of what people are saying about Kamloops.

On Facebook, if you are searching for something or somebody specific, you can now search updates from all facebook users. With twitter, using services like hootsuite and tweetdeck,   you can set up searches for search terms and have these services display them to you in a separate column.

Podcast: Talking to Grant Fraser...

 
Since I met Grant almost six years ago, I've been a great admirer of his mind and of his style. In other words, he is not only a forward thinker, he also has a knack for getting across his thoughts well. Grant is a former TNRD Director and Green Party candidate.

Here is the podcast:

In this conversation at Cowboy Coffee on the North Shore, we talk about:

00:45 - creosote gasification proposal

04:10 - airshed management plan

06:20 - Green Party / Green issues

08:45 - state of discussion on environmental issues in Canada

09:47 - impressions of the North Shore.

Sustainable Kamloops Planning Forum - April 17th 2010

On Saturday, April 17th 2010, the City of Kamloops will be hosting a public forum on planning for sustainability in the community. It will run from 9am to 5pm at the Interior Savings Centre. I hope many people will attend to share their thoughts and to converse with other citizens. More details as they become available.

Sustained Coverage of the Sustainable Kamloops Plan...

In early 2006, I was proud and privileged to have had a role in getting a community discussion going on about sustainability. At the 2006-2008 Council strategic planning session, I brought up the idea of incorporating sustainability into that Council's strategic plan. We had a great discussion, and I remember Tina Lange really championing the idea. Peter Milobar wisely stated that we needed to create a solid infrastructure underneath sustainability type activities lest we overpromise and underdeliver. And, then, Pat Wallace suggested in her calm and friendly style that we may want to undertake a sustainability planning process - and we all agreed this would be good. On the senior staff side, I remember City Public Works Director David Duckworth being very enthusiastic and encouraging of making a sustainability a priority.

I am more than likely missing some people's roles here, but this what I remember.

For the past couple of years, the Sustainable Kamloops Committee has been meeting, working out initial proposals (web site), and are now soon to hold a public forum.

I look forward to explaining and commenting on the process here.      

Open Gov West in Seattle Next Weekend...

The movement that this blog is so happily part of, that of open government and better citizenship, is coming together in Seattle next weekend at the Open Gov West conference. More info on my personal blog.

Despite Massive Effort, School District Still Short - Questions.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/atbaker/ / CC BY 2.0

I don't have children, but as a citizen and as an uncle, a high quality, well funded public education is of huge importance to me. As a citizen, I feel critical thinking skills so necessary in our society. The lowest common denominator, horse race paradigm of much community debate on issues quite disappointing.

So the news that the Kamloops School District, after undertaking a huge effort with the community to reconfigure facilities, still faces a $2 million dollar deficit is very troubling.

I wonder a couple of things:

1) How has the expenditure on nice to haves but not strictly necessary items (yes, such as the Olympics) taken away from education spending in our province?

2) Is there any measure of the comparative success of our K-12 system in terms of encouraging critical thinking and other competencies important for today's society?

3) Where will the School District find the money and what impact will those cuts have? Can extra revenue be raised?

ACC pullout: Green Tech Setback or Expensive Lesson in Public Engagement

Many people might be wondering about the fate of certain types of green technology, especially technology that helps deal with toxic substances.

I can see this concern but, based on past experience, feel that communities can accept such technology if there is early comprehensive public engagement. Public engagement skills need to be added to the skill set required for these types of projects.

I don't think gasifications projects in general have been setback by the ACC pullout. Kamloopsians, if respected, I believe, will remain open to new green technologies - on the whole.

More on this later when I'm not typing on my iPhone.

Blog posted here.