Flood Fixes -- Vernon vs. Coldstream

It's the Olympics of Flood Mitigation in the adjacent communities of Coldstream and Vernon.

And Vernon leads the drainage race by more than a nose.

Coldstream's coffers contain more cobwebs than money, likely the justification Mayor Garlick and Council needed to decide that the District of Coldstream would charge homeowners for off-site drainage improvements.
It'd never occur to Coldstream to spend less money!

Vernon's flood mitigation work adjacent to Marshall Field begins this week, with completion slated for November.

So?

Well, the District of Coldstream has decided to charge homeowners $2,500, but there's a proviso that they don't have to do the work until a later date. 
So flooding couldn't be the priority.
Collecting money is.

While Vernon is working on solving acute flooding during the cool and rainy spring this year, the District of Coldstream is simply collecting money before any real work occurs. 

The City of Vernon has another leg up on Coldstream -- their civic project page states how the project is being funded.

Coldstream could also apply for grants-in-aid, with partial costs funded by capital costs (general taxation), but maybe last year's fudging of the bike path application has awarded Coldstream a C-minus rating among provincial bureaucrats who award grants.  You know...the bike path purportedly requested by 600 people that would eliminate greenhouse gases and have people cycling to shop...more than 6 kilometres.
Click on the Google satellite map to see.  (The link is found 2 paragraphs into that page's story). 

Any flooding that occurs next year will have been mitigated at Vernon's Marshall Field and Okanagan Landing Roads.

Coldstream's flooding next year will be...well, another flood.

"The Gold medal is awarded to Vernon", announces Kia, "for getting the job done."

Because Mayor Garlick's throwing shekels at Coldstream's cobwebs.
Oh...and he's violating private property rights with the mass rezoning of people's acreages with RU10/RU30.
Also detailed here.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."   Winston Churchill, referring to misplaced idealism.