Each of the three mayoral candidates has a vision of what they want Fort St. John to be, in the future, under their leadership. I've been reading through their web pages, looking for their visions.
Let's start with the newbie, the political virgin, mayoral candidate Mike Murray (www.mikemurray.ca) According to his rather lengthy, auto-biographical essay, he's been a resident of Fort St. John since 1969, and worked in a variety of capacities at different long-time local companies. If you're looking for a long-term resident to lead the city, my guess is, he would be it. His vision of Fort St. John, which I found at the bottom of the issues page, is a bit disjointed. He wants to restore trust in local government, encourage citizen involvement to create a city to be proud of, and create an environment in which people want to come to Fort St. John, and stay. Succinct, so far. But then he ends his vision with a comment about a young person who wants a go-cart track in town. Maybe it's the latent editor in me, but he should've incorporated that vision - increased youth involvement - a bit earlier in his vision statement. To me, it looks like an after-thought, and if I were a new, young voter, I might not be encouraged by the sense that the needs of young people in the community are tacked on the end as an after-thought.
However, neither of the other two mayoral candidates has mentioned the young people of our city at all, on their websites.
Councillor Don Irwin, who has served on council for 6 years now, outlined his mayoral platform on his website also (www.irwinformayor.ca ). Councillor Irwin appears to be a man of few words, by reading his website this weekend, I have learned more about him than I knew in the previous two elections, including the fact the concept of a complete sentence is foreign to whoever compiled his website. However, he, like Mike Murray, is committed to open government. Councillor Irwin is also dedicated to being a mayor of integrity and trust, one who will work with the RCMP to reduce crime and increase community safety, all while promoting the City in order to bring new businesses and industry here. He too, wishes to encourage citizens to become involved in the business of the city, through town hall meetings and social media.
The third candidate, and first woman in my memory to run for mayor of Fort St. John, is Councillor Lori Ackerman (www.loriackerman.ca). Like Councillor Irwin, she has served on council for the past 6 years. While her website details her thoughts and proposed actions on the many, and varied issues affecting the residents of Fort St. John, I've had some trouble finding her vision for the city. Essentially, it seems she wants to see Fort St. John recognized for its' contribution to the province, and to become sustainable economically, socially and environmentally.
Of the three candidates for mayor of Fort St. John, Councillor Ackerman seems to have thought about the most issues affecting voters in the community, and has written down her opinions regarding how these issues can be addressed in the future. Mike Murray, also discusses a number of issues on his website, including Site C, downtown development, municipal boundary, citizen involvement and the Regional District. Councillor Irwin, has not posted his thoughts on any of the issues affecting voters in Fort St. John. I assume he has opinions, which he really should put on his website. How can one vote for a guy, if we don't know where he stands on the issues affecting our community?
I've been waiting patiently for the reporters at Energeticcity.ca to produce the profiles that were apparently coming, on the various candidates, both for mayor and council. But as yet, there's not a whole bunch of info. All the information I have discussed here, I gleaned from the candidates' websites alone. I assume there's something in the local newspapers, but I stopped reading those, when the quality of the writing (in my opinion) plunged into the toilet and remained there. I mean really, what's the point of buying something, that you cannot read, without being compelled to attack it with a red pen? But that is a rant for another day.
In the meantime, I look forward to the profiles Energeticcity.ca is putting together, to learn more about the people who have put themselves out there, looking to represent our city, and lead us into the future.
May the best candidates win, on November 19th!
(Note: this blog is open to comments. Just please, keep it civil, keep it clean or I won't post it! Thanks for reading!)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Clean up the City to encourage growth
I've been reading over the web pages of the three candidates for Mayor of Fort St. John -- and one thing that they all have in common, is their stated intention to promote the City to the rest of British Columbia, and perhaps even further afield, in the hopes of attracting more workers, residents and tax-payers to the City. For the good of the City, of course. But to do that, I've heard people say, one must dispel the impression that Fort St. John is cold and dirty, and who would want to live here anyhow?
The thing is, it is cold and dirty. Okay, there are a few months of the year, after the sandy residue has been cleaned off our streets, that it's not dirty. But as soon as it snows, back comes the sand. It's a safety thing - we need to put sand on our streets to help keep vehicles on the roads. That makes it dirty. Trying to tell potential residents otherwise would be misleading. And why is the snow such a problem? Well, because it's cold. I first moved here in 1981, and apart from a couple of years recently, I can't remember a Halloween without snow. Halloween is in October. And the reason gardeners of the area don't plant their gardens until the beginning of June, or at least until after the May long weekend? Because there's no guarantee that there won't be snow or frost until after then. So, during 8 months of the year, there is likely to be snow on the ground. Why does it snow? Because it's cold.
Who would want to live here? Despite the extremes of weather we experience, the Peace region is beautiful to behold. And it's fun to live here.What would encourage people to come to Fort St. John? What would make people want to stay?
We need a greater variety of businesses in Fort St. John. The intentions of the mayoral candidates to promote the City to attract workers are good. But make sure its businesses, not just oilfield workers. For example, I am sick to death of shopping at Wal-Mart, and having no choice of clothing for my children other than the cheap crap that Wal-Mart provides. Okay, there's SmartiPantz too, and I love some of their clothes, but the prices are exorbitant, in my opinion.
Who wants to come here from other centres and suffer from a lack of choice? The most variety we have in our local businesses, it seems to me, are the number of drinking establishments in town. Off the top of my head, I counted 10 establishments with bars (they may be restaurants and bars, but they have a BAR) . . . yet there are only 2 places to buy children's clothing. There is only one place for men to buy a suit. And two places for men's work clothes. That's 5 places to outfit people who make up probably more than half the City's population. Yet, there are at least 10 places where one can get plastered.
There is something wrong with this picture. Perhaps it could be addressed, both in the city's promotion campaigns, and through the downtown revitalization project. I gotta tell you, looking at downtown Fort St. John, particularly the blocks of 100 Avenue, between 100th Street and 104th Street, I sure as heck wouldn't want to come here and look at that every single day.
Face it. It's nasty.
Yet I live here. I've lived here for a long time. There are many good qualities to Fort St. John. But if our future leaders are truly committed to making it a better place - a fine, welcoming, prosperous, aesthetically pleasing city, that people will want to move to - you've gotta do more than just tell people we have a lot of jobs up here, and that our summers are beautiful. You've got to back it up with concrete improvements. And I don't mean a few flower pots and the odd tree on the main drag which miraculously survived snow-plows and vandals.
I'm talking about building standards. Standards of appearance. Sidewalks which were laid a little more recently than 1974. Perhaps put the homeless people to work, cleaning-up the streets that they live on, rather than leaving them to hang around our downtown core, no doubt wishing that they had something to do, other than standing around. Not only could they help, but it might give them back some pride, and a sense of accomplishment.
I know people will ask, where would the money for this come from? How about, instead of wasting taxpayer money on entering the City in the Communities in Bloom competition, we take that funding and use it to make our community a nicer place. Who, in Ontario, for example, really cares how many flower pots Fort St. John has? We have to live here - wouldn't that money be better spent on improving the appearance and services of the city for those who actually live here, not some anonymous pack of judges from Ontario? Really, I would've thought it was a no-brainer.
Yes, participating in the Communities in Bloom competition has been a point of pride for previous mayors and councils . . . but how proud can you be of something that's acting as a bandaid on a festering boil on the butt of our city? Make the City nice for everyone, 12 months of year, not just for a pack of judges in who come to town in June.
Whichever of the mayoral candidates who could come up with viable plan to do that, would have my vote on November 19th.
The thing is, it is cold and dirty. Okay, there are a few months of the year, after the sandy residue has been cleaned off our streets, that it's not dirty. But as soon as it snows, back comes the sand. It's a safety thing - we need to put sand on our streets to help keep vehicles on the roads. That makes it dirty. Trying to tell potential residents otherwise would be misleading. And why is the snow such a problem? Well, because it's cold. I first moved here in 1981, and apart from a couple of years recently, I can't remember a Halloween without snow. Halloween is in October. And the reason gardeners of the area don't plant their gardens until the beginning of June, or at least until after the May long weekend? Because there's no guarantee that there won't be snow or frost until after then. So, during 8 months of the year, there is likely to be snow on the ground. Why does it snow? Because it's cold.
Who would want to live here? Despite the extremes of weather we experience, the Peace region is beautiful to behold. And it's fun to live here.What would encourage people to come to Fort St. John? What would make people want to stay?
We need a greater variety of businesses in Fort St. John. The intentions of the mayoral candidates to promote the City to attract workers are good. But make sure its businesses, not just oilfield workers. For example, I am sick to death of shopping at Wal-Mart, and having no choice of clothing for my children other than the cheap crap that Wal-Mart provides. Okay, there's SmartiPantz too, and I love some of their clothes, but the prices are exorbitant, in my opinion.
Who wants to come here from other centres and suffer from a lack of choice? The most variety we have in our local businesses, it seems to me, are the number of drinking establishments in town. Off the top of my head, I counted 10 establishments with bars (they may be restaurants and bars, but they have a BAR) . . . yet there are only 2 places to buy children's clothing. There is only one place for men to buy a suit. And two places for men's work clothes. That's 5 places to outfit people who make up probably more than half the City's population. Yet, there are at least 10 places where one can get plastered.
There is something wrong with this picture. Perhaps it could be addressed, both in the city's promotion campaigns, and through the downtown revitalization project. I gotta tell you, looking at downtown Fort St. John, particularly the blocks of 100 Avenue, between 100th Street and 104th Street, I sure as heck wouldn't want to come here and look at that every single day.
Face it. It's nasty.
Yet I live here. I've lived here for a long time. There are many good qualities to Fort St. John. But if our future leaders are truly committed to making it a better place - a fine, welcoming, prosperous, aesthetically pleasing city, that people will want to move to - you've gotta do more than just tell people we have a lot of jobs up here, and that our summers are beautiful. You've got to back it up with concrete improvements. And I don't mean a few flower pots and the odd tree on the main drag which miraculously survived snow-plows and vandals.
I'm talking about building standards. Standards of appearance. Sidewalks which were laid a little more recently than 1974. Perhaps put the homeless people to work, cleaning-up the streets that they live on, rather than leaving them to hang around our downtown core, no doubt wishing that they had something to do, other than standing around. Not only could they help, but it might give them back some pride, and a sense of accomplishment.
I know people will ask, where would the money for this come from? How about, instead of wasting taxpayer money on entering the City in the Communities in Bloom competition, we take that funding and use it to make our community a nicer place. Who, in Ontario, for example, really cares how many flower pots Fort St. John has? We have to live here - wouldn't that money be better spent on improving the appearance and services of the city for those who actually live here, not some anonymous pack of judges from Ontario? Really, I would've thought it was a no-brainer.
Yes, participating in the Communities in Bloom competition has been a point of pride for previous mayors and councils . . . but how proud can you be of something that's acting as a bandaid on a festering boil on the butt of our city? Make the City nice for everyone, 12 months of year, not just for a pack of judges in who come to town in June.
Whichever of the mayoral candidates who could come up with viable plan to do that, would have my vote on November 19th.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Charlie Lake residents don't get to vote
In spite of the glorious opportunities for change in the city of Fort St. John, residents of Charlie Lake, Area C of the Peace River Regional District, and Zones 1, 2 and 3 of School District 60 will not get to vote on November 19th. Why? Because nobody new stepped up to the plate.
I'm not taking issue with the representation provided by the incumbent directors and trustees (well, except the Area C director, but that's another story), experience is good. I'm just disappointed that no one else put their name forward in these areas to provide the voters with a choice.
Those who live in the rural areas can run for City Council, for the Board of Trustees, for the Regional District, but cannot vote for City Council unless one owns property in the City. Yet, what goes on in Fort St. John, affects all those living outside the city, in its surrounding areas - it's bedroom communities. I know a lot of people who live in the Charlie Lake area and in Montney, for example, who work in Fort St. John. Their children go to school in Fort St. John. Yet, because nobody else stepped up they don't get a say in how the school system is run. If they don't own property in town, they don't get to vote for the people they believe will best represent their interests.
Of course, I understand that if one lives outside the boundaries of the city, one should only be voting in elections of those bodies which directly represent the place where you live . . . but we're all inter-connected here.
I've lost count of the number of articles I wrote for the papers and magazines in which the leaders of Fort St. John have said that although Fort St. John only had X number of people living in it, the city serves a region with a population of something like 50,000 people.
Fifty thousand people. Many of whom won't get a voice this election, because only in the city, have people decided they need to have a voice. And only the people in the city get to choose the people who will represent them, and the fifty thousand people in the surrounding area.
Democracy at it's best. But only if you live in the City.
Okay, sure. I could have run and challenged Arthur Hadland for the Area C directorship. Or I could have challenged Heather Hannaford for the Zone 2 trustee position. But, I know that I would probably not make a good leader. I am too outspoken. Liberal-minded and open to change, yes. But I really don't believe I have the qualities required to make a good leader. That's okay - my destiny is not to be a leader, merely a voice on this blog. And perhaps a member of the kids' school's PAC.
However, at least my area of the PRRD has representation. Area E, which includes Chetwynd, does not. When the deadline for nominations came yesterday, no one, not even the incumbent Director, had put their name forward. Not one, single person in Chetwynd stepped forward to say, "Hey. We need representation. Please elect me to represent you. I care about our area." And so, the deadline has been extended until Monday. But I wonder if that's long enough. How many people in the Chetwynd area know that they are no longer represented on Regional District? And do they care?
To the editor of the Chetwynd Echo - there's a story here! This lack of representation is worse than voter apathy. There are always people who make a point of going out to vote. But they can only exercise that right if there is someone to vote for.
To the residents of Area E - someone step up to represent your region! Give your friends and neighbours the opportunity to vote . . . and then, on November 19 - VOTE!!
I'm not taking issue with the representation provided by the incumbent directors and trustees (well, except the Area C director, but that's another story), experience is good. I'm just disappointed that no one else put their name forward in these areas to provide the voters with a choice.
Those who live in the rural areas can run for City Council, for the Board of Trustees, for the Regional District, but cannot vote for City Council unless one owns property in the City. Yet, what goes on in Fort St. John, affects all those living outside the city, in its surrounding areas - it's bedroom communities. I know a lot of people who live in the Charlie Lake area and in Montney, for example, who work in Fort St. John. Their children go to school in Fort St. John. Yet, because nobody else stepped up they don't get a say in how the school system is run. If they don't own property in town, they don't get to vote for the people they believe will best represent their interests.
Of course, I understand that if one lives outside the boundaries of the city, one should only be voting in elections of those bodies which directly represent the place where you live . . . but we're all inter-connected here.
I've lost count of the number of articles I wrote for the papers and magazines in which the leaders of Fort St. John have said that although Fort St. John only had X number of people living in it, the city serves a region with a population of something like 50,000 people.
Fifty thousand people. Many of whom won't get a voice this election, because only in the city, have people decided they need to have a voice. And only the people in the city get to choose the people who will represent them, and the fifty thousand people in the surrounding area.
Democracy at it's best. But only if you live in the City.
Okay, sure. I could have run and challenged Arthur Hadland for the Area C directorship. Or I could have challenged Heather Hannaford for the Zone 2 trustee position. But, I know that I would probably not make a good leader. I am too outspoken. Liberal-minded and open to change, yes. But I really don't believe I have the qualities required to make a good leader. That's okay - my destiny is not to be a leader, merely a voice on this blog. And perhaps a member of the kids' school's PAC.
However, at least my area of the PRRD has representation. Area E, which includes Chetwynd, does not. When the deadline for nominations came yesterday, no one, not even the incumbent Director, had put their name forward. Not one, single person in Chetwynd stepped forward to say, "Hey. We need representation. Please elect me to represent you. I care about our area." And so, the deadline has been extended until Monday. But I wonder if that's long enough. How many people in the Chetwynd area know that they are no longer represented on Regional District? And do they care?
To the editor of the Chetwynd Echo - there's a story here! This lack of representation is worse than voter apathy. There are always people who make a point of going out to vote. But they can only exercise that right if there is someone to vote for.
To the residents of Area E - someone step up to represent your region! Give your friends and neighbours the opportunity to vote . . . and then, on November 19 - VOTE!!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Political virginity abounds!
As I write this, the deadline for submitting candidacy papers for Fort St. John's municipal election is a mere 6 hours away. I'm pleased to note that for this election, there is a whole slew of political virgins, itching to get their hands dirty in the local political arena.
Virgins, you say? Why did I call them virgins? Simply because a large number of people running for Fort St. John City Council this year have never held public office before. Like the HGTV show, Property Virgins, about people who have never bought a property before - these people who want to run our city, who want to make it a better place for all residents, are Political Virgins.
This is a really good thing.
That's not to say there's anything wrong with long-time councillors running again. Because there isn't. I'm encouraged by the fact that there's going to be a good mix of old and new on council for the next 3 years, following this election. It's pretty much guaranteed.
Okay, on the news this morning, they said that there's enough candidates to completely replace the current council, but I really don't think that's going to happen. While political virginity is a good thing, a whole council of unproven, untried, inexperienced political virgins just might be a really bad idea. Obviously, those running for council care about the city, and how it's run, but to balance their enthusiasm and new ideas, we still need some voices of experience.
The area which really needs to have a large dose of political experience is the position of Mayor of Fort St. John. While I admire the guts of those who run for mayor without any prior political experience, I have to admit that I think its a bad idea. Maybe I'm old-fashioned or something, but I think one should work their way up to the position, get some experience on council first, and see if the political life is really the life one wants. And if they can handle the pressure.
Look what happened the last time a politically inexperienced mayor got elected. The people were unhappy. The city was embarrassed. No doubt, the mayor was also unhappy and embarrassed. I would've been. But, that's done. Come December, he can move on to something more enjoyable, something less potentially volatile perhaps.
At the moment, we have 3 candidates for mayor; and 11 candidates for council, 6 of whom have never held political office. This weekend, after the nominations have closed, I'll discuss my thoughts on the council and mayoral candidates. Hopefully, I will have plenty of encouraging news for the voters of Fort St. John.
Thanks for reading! And remember, on November 19 - go out and VOTE!!
Virgins, you say? Why did I call them virgins? Simply because a large number of people running for Fort St. John City Council this year have never held public office before. Like the HGTV show, Property Virgins, about people who have never bought a property before - these people who want to run our city, who want to make it a better place for all residents, are Political Virgins.
This is a really good thing.
That's not to say there's anything wrong with long-time councillors running again. Because there isn't. I'm encouraged by the fact that there's going to be a good mix of old and new on council for the next 3 years, following this election. It's pretty much guaranteed.
Okay, on the news this morning, they said that there's enough candidates to completely replace the current council, but I really don't think that's going to happen. While political virginity is a good thing, a whole council of unproven, untried, inexperienced political virgins just might be a really bad idea. Obviously, those running for council care about the city, and how it's run, but to balance their enthusiasm and new ideas, we still need some voices of experience.
The area which really needs to have a large dose of political experience is the position of Mayor of Fort St. John. While I admire the guts of those who run for mayor without any prior political experience, I have to admit that I think its a bad idea. Maybe I'm old-fashioned or something, but I think one should work their way up to the position, get some experience on council first, and see if the political life is really the life one wants. And if they can handle the pressure.
Look what happened the last time a politically inexperienced mayor got elected. The people were unhappy. The city was embarrassed. No doubt, the mayor was also unhappy and embarrassed. I would've been. But, that's done. Come December, he can move on to something more enjoyable, something less potentially volatile perhaps.
At the moment, we have 3 candidates for mayor; and 11 candidates for council, 6 of whom have never held political office. This weekend, after the nominations have closed, I'll discuss my thoughts on the council and mayoral candidates. Hopefully, I will have plenty of encouraging news for the voters of Fort St. John.
Thanks for reading! And remember, on November 19 - go out and VOTE!!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Fun Fall Photography
Fall is such an awesome time of year to go out and shoot. With all the tourists and camping families gone home for the season, the lake is peaceful once again, if a tad cold.
Yesterday morning, I went out to the lake (5 mins from our house!) and took advantage of the quiet, and absence of motor boats to sneak up on the ducks who have not left town yet. I've never seen so many ducks near the shores of Charlie Lake before - usually when I'm out there, it's hot and sunny and the ducks are hiding from the humans. Yesterday, however, it was a completely different story. While I was not able to get close enough to get any really good shots of ducks landing or taking flight, I did manage to catch several of them feeding along the shoreline, butts in the air.
They had no idea I was hiding behind a bush, a few metres away!
Not only does fall provide an opportunity to photograph wildlife without human intrusion - but the colours are fabulous! Up here in northern British Columbia, we don't have maple trees, so there's not a lot of red foliage - which I remember from my childhood in Ontario as being spectacular - we have varying shades of yellow, orange and brown, generally. But occasionally, one comes upon a splash of red leaves, as I did when walking around the wetland yesterday. As I mentioned in a previous post - I love how black & white images portray the subject without any distracting colour, to take your eye away from the essence of the photograph - but in this case, the photos I took yesterday would not have had the same impact without the colour.
Add in the reflections from the unusually calm lake, and fall photography in the Peace Country becomes even more fun!
Would you believe these were taken on an overcast, cold and rainy day? Yet the colours still pop.
Today, it's overcast again, and although not raining, it's very foggy out, even at noon. After lunch I'm off to shoot something around the farm . . . maybe I'll find some gorillas in the mist?
Yesterday morning, I went out to the lake (5 mins from our house!) and took advantage of the quiet, and absence of motor boats to sneak up on the ducks who have not left town yet. I've never seen so many ducks near the shores of Charlie Lake before - usually when I'm out there, it's hot and sunny and the ducks are hiding from the humans. Yesterday, however, it was a completely different story. While I was not able to get close enough to get any really good shots of ducks landing or taking flight, I did manage to catch several of them feeding along the shoreline, butts in the air.
They had no idea I was hiding behind a bush, a few metres away!
Not only does fall provide an opportunity to photograph wildlife without human intrusion - but the colours are fabulous! Up here in northern British Columbia, we don't have maple trees, so there's not a lot of red foliage - which I remember from my childhood in Ontario as being spectacular - we have varying shades of yellow, orange and brown, generally. But occasionally, one comes upon a splash of red leaves, as I did when walking around the wetland yesterday. As I mentioned in a previous post - I love how black & white images portray the subject without any distracting colour, to take your eye away from the essence of the photograph - but in this case, the photos I took yesterday would not have had the same impact without the colour.
Today, it's overcast again, and although not raining, it's very foggy out, even at noon. After lunch I'm off to shoot something around the farm . . . maybe I'll find some gorillas in the mist?
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