Navel Gazing?

Coldstream Councillor Richard Enns calls it "economic focus".
I'd refer to the idea as useless redundancy, or put simply, myopia.

The idea of Community Futures North Okanagan being able to offer Coldstream specific economic development benefits if economic development were to become part of their mandate is ludicrous.

Flat out ludicrous.

It's navel gazing...the inability to see that regional--yes, the entire area--does benefit from what currently exists.  Or not (and if that's the case, then the navel gazer needs to use a magnifying glass to see what he and his Council have implemented that keeps business away.

The City of Vernon--a five to 10 minute drive distant--has an Economic Development Officer, Kevin Poole as well as an experienced long-time bureaucrat, Craig Broderick (whose partner happens to be a realtor) working on Vernon's economic development.  Craig himself held a commercial realtor's licence.

Does anyone really believe that a business owner--looking to locate a subsidiary operation or a branch office to the Okanagan--would look only at Vernon during the search?
With Google maps--and streetview--as a resource, readily available at the business owner's fingertips, is that a likelihood?
And if the business owner visits the Okanagan, doesn't it make sense that the individual would actually drive 10 minutes east, west, north and south to see adjacent areas and what else might be available?

Does anyone really believe that giving Community Futures North Okanagan a new mandate wouldn't make Kevin Poole's job--and Craig Broderick's--redundant?  Unnecessary?

Are there so many new businesses locating in Greater Vernon that more and more people are needed in the Economic Development function?
Doubt it.

"Maybe Coun. Enns has a personal mandate to increase the bureaucratic payroll," Kia would've said.


It's Coldstream's bureaucratic payroll--in itself--the may keep a business owner from looking at Coldstream in the first place!

Focus indeed!
Considering there's probably already a Community Futures South Okanagan!

Salary Too High for Economic Development Manager

That's gotta be it.
He must earn too much money as a bureaucrat.

Vernon's ECM, Kevin Poole, stated in The Morning Star today--of MoneySense magazine's Vernon rating at 125 of 201 communities--"They are putting a lot of weight on the average income.  If that's how you establish quality of life, we'll never compete."

Duh!
Ya think?

For many people, it's tough slogging to appreciate the nearby lakes and ski hills when there's simply nothing left for discretionary spending, and bill payments are frequently late.  When they worry about how much property taxes--or the hydro bill--will increase this year.  When their adult children worry about job security in a town where For Lease and For Rent and For Sale signs outnumber welcome signs from new business.

The full ranking is here.

Vernon's unemployment rate is given at 9.2 per cent, and most of the winning communities are oil and gas communities in Alberta:  St. Albert, first place; Calgary, second; and Strathcona, Alberta, at third place.

The average household income in Vernon is $70,229, a far cry from St. Albert's $128,270.
Discretionary income in Vernon is $35,054.90.  Compare that to St. Albert's at $64,865.86.

"How they select the items for quality of life is beyond me," moans Poole.
Yet he does feel there's sufficient disparity that Vernon needs a renewed focus on economic development.

Yup, it sure is beyond him.
And his salary--as a Vernon bureaucrat--is no doubt beyond that of the vast majority of Vernon's residents.

"It's an interesting analysis but I don't put a lot of emphasis on it," states Poole.

"Of course not," says Kia, "that would be akin to a performance review."

So, we'll never compete, according to Poole.

"Hate bureaucracy, and the bureaucrats that practise it."

Jack Welch, former Chairman, GM