Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Please Consider Supporting An Incredibly Important Program in Kamloops...

It was a tremendous honour to be asked by the good folks at Interior Community Services to participate in a really important fundraising effort. I've enrolled in a monthly donation program and am asking readers of YourKamloops.com if you will consider giving what you can - one time or monthly.

Over the past 18 months, the youth outreach workers in our community have assisted over 300 young people in accessing a whole range of services - housing, life skills, health care, and much more. The government funding for this program will run out in spring 2011 and I feel we can raise the requisite funds. We are looking to raise $100 000. Here is a short video and  PDFs you can download for more info:

Supporting Kamloops Youth Outreach Info Sheet ICS Pre-Authorized Debit - Donations Form 2010

Lovely to Walk, Crappy to Drive - Snowmageddon 2010!

Trashion Show at TRU...

Another missive from the good folks organizing TRU's sustainability week. I don't know how I would cope without facebook.

 

November 22-26th is Sustainability Week at TRU.

As part of the festivities, TRU ECO is hosting a "Trashion" show & live music from 3+ bands.

Date: Nov. 24 @ 8pm
Cover: FREE (you can bring donations for the bands if you like, though)
Alcohol: Yes, but everyone's welcome
Pizza: YESSSS

What is a "Trashion" Show? Basically it's a fashion show where the models wear used clothing (donated from Value Village). Our goal is to show that you can still look good (or at least 'interesting') in used clothing! Support thrift stores.

Music provided by:

Pablo Alto
Bluella
Van Damsel
+ more (?)

So come out for a laugh, drink, aural pleasure, to talk sustainability or just talk to that cutie from class.

TRU Sustainability Week Day 2 Events...

Got this facebook message today about tomorrow's (Tuesday, Nov 23, 2010) TRU sustainability week events. Thought these might of interest:

Speakers from 3pm-5pm at the Boardroom in the Independent center beside the TRUSU desk talking about a diverse range of topics. Everyone is welcome to attend and food/drinks will be served!

3:15pm-3:35pm - Tom Owen - What is TRU doing to promote sustainability? The challenges and Successes.

3:35pm-4:00pm - James Gordon - How do Canadian outdoor hockey playing fathers feel about the threat of losing the game they love to climate change?

4:00pm-4:20pm - Peter Tsigaris - An introduction to the economics of climate change.

4:20pm-5:00pm - Dale Parkes & Ben Giudici - The Kamloops green dream home: The architecture behind the project, methods of reducing energy consumption, and how renewable energy applies

The Document That Started the Current Parkade Debate in Kamloops...

The community debate on the proposed parkade in or on the edge of Riverside Park continues. Here is the powerpoint presentation from council workshop that sparked everything off publicly:

 

Workshop Handout 2010 Oct 26

A Love / Hate Relationship with Long City Council Meetings...

From my vantage point, by the end, very smart people started to babble on and forget their place. Taken as a whole, however, it was a very interesting Kamloops City Council meeting to watch live. I saw discussions today on:

• Pubs in residential buildings
• Parkades in or on the edge of (depending on your own often passionately held point of view) parks
• A community driven initiative to raise funds to create a statue of a pioneering Priest, Father LeJeunw.
• Gender Neutral Washrooms.

Quite an afternoon. And sometimes very hard to watch the nerves fray around the Council table.

Hopefully, will have more details in the days ahead. Have a strong feeling that, from this one meeting, there will be blog post material for months to come

A Pacifist's Rememberance: Lest We Forget...

Gratuitous Scuttlebutt on BC Liberal Leader's Contest...

Heard through my provincial grapevine that Stockwell Day is thinking about a run for leaders of the BC Liberals. And, on my facebook page, there was an ad for the Draft James Moore "movement".

It is sort of interesting, I guess, that no Federal Liberals have been mentioned yet in connection with this race.

Keeping a Kamloops Eye on - Nov 8, 2010 Edition....

• Had the chance to hear a very impressive presentation by the new artistic director of Western Canada Theatre, Daryl Cloran. Daryl exuded enthusiasm and good nature. WCT deserves some real goodness! An amazing group of people who have gone through some incredibly tough times. And they put on great performances as well!

 

• The discussion about a parkade on Lorne Street. Councillor Denis Walsh has come out strongly against the idea while Mayor Peter Milobar appears very much in favour. They were both interviewed by Radio NL's Jim Harrison. Audio available for the time being.

 

• Congratulations to the new local Chief of the Kamloops RCMP detachment, Yves Lacasse. Fond farewell to Jim Begley. Inspector Lacasse has a solid reputation as a go-getter. Look forward to his leadership.

The Magic Kamloops Mailbox....

It's a pretty uncomfortable feeling. Given my love and interest in Kamloops, I don't like feeling uninformed about what's happening around town. I've loved my MA in Professional Communications program. It has opened my eyes to many many things, given me such great learning opportunities, and allowed me to meet most wonderful people. My studies have, however, taken a lot of time and will continue to do so until spring 2011.

When I served on City Council, I had this magic mailbox in the Mayor's reception area. It would just fill up with all this interesting information and with many gracious invitations to all sorts of different events. These days, I have to work harder to keep on top of stuff.

I am trying to make sure I keep my eye out for the sort of stuff I got in that magic mailbox. As I go into my MA thesis writing phase, I thankfully have a little more flexibility in my schedule!