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Information on Wildfire Safety for your Home and Neighbourhood...

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We're all over the provincial and national news websites today. Residents in Barnhartvale have been allowed back to their mobile homes, but the area remains on evacuation alert. Thought it might be a good time to point to some really important locally put together information.

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. 

How to End Homelessness - Create Economic Activity, Reduce Crime, and Save Taxes at the Same Time.

Ending homelessness in Kamloops makes sense for so many different reasons - morally, fiscally, and in terms of crime and community safety. Whether someone voted conservative, liberal, ndp, or green in the federal election - we will all find significant common ground in ending homelessness.

Ending homelessness is not a left wing issue. It is not a right wing issue. It is a community issue, and we all can benefit. So many of us feel that having people in our community without a home is morally just not right. And added to that:

Businesses benefit when people are not eating, sleeping, and defecating in this alley. Victims of crime benefit as less people get caught up in breaking the law on a habitual or occasional basis.

Significantly, and I have had this number confirmed by BC's Minister of Housing and Social Development, providing services to people living on the street costs taxpayers (round numbers) $55000. Housing the same person, and supporting them in housing costs (round numbers) $37000.

Ending Homelessness in fiscally responsible.

So again, there are many good reasons to end homelessness. To right a moral wrong. To help businesses grow. To reduce crime. And, in fact, to be more efficient and accountable with our tax dollars.

So how exactly do we end homelessness in Kamloops?

Let me say, first of all, we have great social agencies  working to house people and support them in housing. We have great and growing community involvement from faith based organizations, the business community, and from concerned citizens from all walks of life. What I will propose today, I have learnt from all these great people.

1. We need to adopt a "housing first" approach. This approach emphasizes providing people housing before helping them beat an addiction issue or helping address mental health issues.
   
   
2. We need to stop doing homeless counts, and start doing needs assessments for homeless people. And then we have to find resources for social service professionals to find housing and provide supports that meet their needs.
   
   
3. We need a coordinated effort. And I believe city hall needs to coordinate and facilitate this effort. We need to state that one of our official community goals is to end homelessness in Kamloops. We should consider a council committee whose goal it would be to coordinate community action to end homelessness.
   
   
4. We need to monitor our progress carefully and publicly report on our progress. We need to make sure everything we do is moving towards zero homelessness in Kamloops.
   
   
5. We need to continue to work closely with our primary funding partners, the provincial and federal governments, so that they understand our needs and requirements to achieve our goal.  We should find out how much city bylaw officers, fire department and RCMP spend on issues involving homeless people.

Many communities across North America are adopting these approaches and are starting to have great success.

Lastly, let me say how proud I am to have been of part of our current city council that has, I think, worked very hard to assist the creation of supportive housing in Kamloops. I would like the next council to build on this success.

Thoughts on regulating boating on the Thompson River?

I would be most interested in hearing from people who use the river for boating, tubing, water skiing or other water based activities. Your council is considering restricting some water based activities - specifically banning boat tows between the vicinity of Hong Kong beach in Valleyview and the CN rail bridge and posting signs notifyng people of that ban..

Is there enough of a safety issue on the river to justify the increased costs and potential costs to the community if we regulate uses of the river?

Here is a bit of background on how this issue came to council's attention. About a year ago, a Transport Canada representative came to present to council and indicated that he had been approached by users of the river who were becoming increasingly concerned with safety.  I don't know how many people had approached him. He asked council to consider regulating some of the uses of the river. Right now, city hall does not take responsibility to regulate any river activities. If we did, we would assume liability if someone got hurt on the river and thought we did not exercise responsibility in our regulation -eg, if we did not ensure signs notifying people of the rules were maintained properly, etc. Right now, the city assumes no liability.

A committee of council, staff, RCMP, the Kamloops Indian Band and other agencies are working on a proposal that would recommend the posting of signs, and the ban on boat tows.

What do you think? Is there a safety issue on the river? Should we take on the potential liability risk of regulation?

UBCM - BC / Alberta Trade Agreement Raises Much Concern

Yesterday at the UBCM convention, we had a pretty intense workshop on a BC / Alberta trade agreement called TILMA. The stuff of trade agreements is admittedly pretty dry stuff, but this one is particularly important. The provincial government has basically extended this trade agreement to apply to the City of Kamloops and all other local governments in the province.  Many fear, including the UBCM executive, that the language in the agreement is vague and does not protect local government powers enough. For example, there is a provision in TILMA the requires reconciliation of measures between BC and Alberta communities. Does this mean that if we have a higher standard in what we expect from a private developer (for example, a higher contribution to funding parkland), that we would have to drop our standard to the lowest standard present in Alberta.

 

At the session yesterday,  Minister of Economic Development Colin Hansen assured us that TILMA would not effect civic measures or civic authority to plan land use. But, when pressed to make these commitments in writing in the actual text of the agreement, he sidestepped the issue. This made me wonder. Whats more, UBCM contracted lawyer Don Lidstone blew a lot of holes in the Minister's contentions. And a lot of questions followed from council members across the province.

 

I am all for increased trade and labour mobility, especially within the same country. Makes a lot of sense. But, I think TILMA could be much more than that. And the fact the province actually made municipalities subject to TILMA during a 2 year "transition period", without any meaningful education or consultation is simply bad form, in my humble opinion. We have been in fact subject to TILMA for the past 6 months, without really knowing what it all means.

Taxi Cab Inspections 2007

The City of Kamloops runs a taxi cab inspection program. I recently received this report which I thought I would put online. Both local taxi companies have been cooperating fully with the program. And I caution that this information will go out of date pretty quick. Still, you have a right to know how the taxi companies have been faring in the inspections:

2007 Taxi Inspection Report

Inspected Yellow Cabs

25 Vehicles were inspected March 28^th     0 Vehicles were inspected Oct 4^th ,07

Re-inspected Yellow Cabs

9 cars were re-inspected for a variety of reasons ie: no smoking signs, locks not working, interior lights not working etc.

Yellow Cabs Taken off the Road

5 Cars were taken off the road as a result of the inspections for a number of various reasons.

Inspected Kami Cabs

21Vehicles inspected April 5^th   0 Vehicles were inspected  Oct.03,07

Re-inspected Kami Cabs

5 Cars had to be re-inspected for a variety of reasons

Kami Cabs Taken off the Road

1 Kami cab was taken off the road

Total Number of Vehicles inspected for March 2007

46 Vehicles inspected

Total number of Complaints regarding Both Company’s

For the year of 2007 we have received approximately 5 complaints for various issues’ from smoking in the cars to the vehicles pushing blue and not being kept clean.

Warnings Issued

In 2007 no written warnings were issued we spoke to the drivers of the vehicles and to the owner’s of both company’s or there managers when we received a complaint. They were very quick to deal with any complaints that were addressed to them.

Note:

In dealing with both of these Cab Company’s they have been extremely compliant working with the City of Kamloops this past year and we look forward in working with them again this year. 

Dog Kennels - Between a Rock and a Hard Place

This past Council meeting, another challenging canine issue arose. A couple looking for a place to start a dog kennel operation went looking for a suitable piece of land for a home and to set up a kennel. The only reason they needed to get our approval was to allow them to build part of the kennel operations closer to their property line than normally allowed. When their neighbors were notified to get their input on this, they organized hugely against it. I am totally glad that we heard from them. We denied the approval to reduce the space from the property line.

But, now, here is the rub. The neighbors want no kennel operation whatsoever. The applicants can still build a kennel somewhere on their property, according to the current zone. In the evening session on Tuesday, we passed a motion that would effectively put any new kennel applications on hold until we figure this out further. We will likely make a decision on the issues arising on Nov 28th.

I do feel quite bad for the applicants, who have worked on good faith with the city, it seems to me. And I am not sure how we can avoid that situation for applicants in the future. Maybe we need to better flag potentially explosive neighborhood conflicts.

Taxi Cab Inspection Program

The City of Kamloops runs a taxi cab inspection program. I recently received this report which I thought I would put online. Both local taxi companies have been cooperating fully with the program. And I caution that this information will go out of date pretty quick. Still, you have a right to know how the taxi companies have been faring in the inspections:

2006 Taxi Inspection Report

Inspected Yellow Cabs
29 cabs inspected April 11 and 13 2006

Re-inspected Yellow Cabs
16 cabs were re-inspected for a variety of reasons ie:no smoking signs, locks not working, interior lights not working, etc

Yellow Cabs Taken off the Road
5 cars were taken off the road as a result of the inspections for a number of various reasons.

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

Inspected Kami Cabs
22 vehicles inspected April 5, 2006

Re-inspected Kami Cabs
13 cars had to be re-inspected for a variety of reasons.

Kami Cabs Taken off the Road
No Kami Cabs were taken off the road

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

Total Number of Vehicles Inspected for 2006
51 cabs inspected

Total number of Complains regarding both companies
Since April 13, 2006, we have received only one complaint.

Warnings Issued
Since April 13 2006, we have issued one verbal warning.

Note:
In dealing with both of these cab companies, they have been extremely compliant working with the City of Kamloops this past year and we look forward to working with them again this year.

2005 Taxi Inspection Report

Inspected Yellow Cabs
38 Vehicles inspected throughout the year

Re-inspected Yellow Cabs
18 cabs were reinspected for a variety of reasons, ie: no smoking signs, locks not workng, interior lights not working, etc.

Yellow Cabs Taken off the Road
7 Cars were taken off the road as a result of the inspections for a number of various reasons.

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

Inspected Kami Cabs
28 Vehicles inspected throughout the year

Re-inspected Kami Cabs
6 Cars had to be re-inspected for a variety of reasons

Kami Cabs Taken off the Road
No Kami cabs were taken off the road

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

Total Number of Vehicles Inspected for 2005
66 cabs inspected

Total number of Complains regarding both companies
For the year 2005, we have received approximately 20 complaints for various issues from smoking in the cars to the vehicles pushing blue and not being kept clean.

Warnings Issued
In 2005, no written warnings were issued we spoke to the drivers of the vehicles and to owners of both companies or their managers when we received a complaint. They were quick to deal with any complaints that wre addressed to them.

Note:
In dealing with both of these cab companies, they have been extremely compliant working with the City of Kamloops this past year and we look forward to working with them again this year