November Elections Mark End of Silly Season

At the least, the end of silly season may extend the months-long yawning produced by frivolous media "stories" that run the gamut from ensuring your smoke detectors are functional to pages-long features on which car(s) your family can no longer afford to purchase (not necessarily a bad thing given the profusion of manufacturer recalls scant months later).

At best, local elections could offer a resurgence to stories of substance.
They should.
It depends on the hopefuls, both nominees and voters.  

Hopeful voters?
Yes indeed.

And a renewed fervor to feel our votes ensure that democracy is alive and well in our personal hamlets.  We somehow missed Democracy Week--observed at Okanagan College by then-nominee Mel Arnold for member of parliament (Conservative)--fueling a subconscious twinge of a time when a functional democracy wasn't relegated to one week a year. 

First a message to the one percenters:  
Despite the likelihood they're exercising their snowbird option in mid-November, they most assuredly own property in an adjacent community.  Do they remember they can vote in a municipal election wherever they own property?  (see pages 3 and 4 of 10 here).   I know...I know...a bit of a pain all that driving around with the requisite B.C. Assessment appraisal(s) in hand as proof of ownership (here is Coldstream's Non-Resident Property Elector Consent Form) just so one can vote for--or more accurately, against--candidates whose election can affect what you own.  Think Greater Vernon Advisory Committee.  Or, if you live in Vernon, the effect RU10/RU30--still on the books in Coldstream's edited Official Community Plan--has on your East Coldstream acreage(s).

Back to this year's election in our personal hamlets.
Belying the 5 kilometre proximity between the City of Vernon and District of Coldstream, Vernon's hopefuls for mayor number five candidates to Coldstream's unchallenged two-timer and "pragmatic socialist" Jim Garlick.  For Council, Vernon has 14 vying, to Coldstream's seven, for 6 councillor seats in each jurisdiction.  (Here is Vernon's official list of candidates, with the list for that bastion of NIMBY-ism--Coldstream--list here.)


Shame on the Morning Star newspaper for excluding a "getting to know you" story on Shane Hillman, the only new candidate for Coldstream council about whom nothing appears to be known by the electorate.  Hopefully the publication will step up and do a story on Mr. Hillman toute de suite.   (Glen Taylor--another candidate for council--previously served). 

Reporter Rolke--in an editorial mid-September--sought to provide the pros and cons of numerous--versus few--candidates, but he omitted one factor that is widely discussed among residents:  unelected bureaucrats run our communities (and elected officials, mostly around in circles like mules at a gristmill, think Greater Vernon Advisory Committee...again). 

Perhaps that's the reason Coldstream Mayor Garlick was acclaimed mayor; residents know that the regional district's unelected officials have imposed a decidedly-socialist Growth Management Strategy (verbatim text originated from Victoria's socialist bureaucrats).  Despite Garlick's claims of "progress" having been made on various projects, including the unbelievably misleading phrase of "OCP housekeeping", maybe it really doesn't matter who is elected as mayor. 

Housekeeping?
Truth be known, two re-writes of Coldstream's Official Community Plan (see Sept. 19th story here) which--despite vehement opposition by the Coldstream Acreage Owners' Association--maintains its push to enact RU10/RU30.

Two rewrites?  Yup.  Read the Sept 19th blog entry about the waste of our money, then remind yourself incumbent Garlick "takes pride in completing tasks, no matter how big or small."

Back to bureaucrats running things.
And their wages.

Legislative reporter Tom Fletcher's recent Black Press (owner of Vernon's Morning Star newspaper) article entitled "Does CUPE (and here) run city hall?" provides some insight to burgeoning wages of bureaucrats, with Coldstream's Mayor Garlick in a media release dated October 7th bringing the topic home.  "The new agreement will see incremental wage increases of 8.5 per cent over the term of the five-year agreement...plus small adjustments to existing benefits..." gushed the mayor over the "hard work of both negotiating teams in reaching the settlement."

"As local election turnout has gone from bad to worse, municipal employees themselves have become an

increasingly dominant voting bloc." Tom Fletcher

Fletcher's article says "Things have been going pretty well for the main municipal union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, for the last couple of decades.  As local election turnout has gone from bad to worse, municipal employees themselves have become an increasingly dominant voting bloc."

He continued that Ernst and Young numbers show pay increases for municipal union staff of 38 per cent between 2001 and 2012, compared to 19 per cent for unionized provincial staff.  Plus what municipalities are spending generally!  A Globe and Mail story highlights the disparity among reports.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark chastised politicians attending the September UBCM meeting at Whistler, saying in effect that municipal bureaucrats were, in some cases, earning more than deputy ministers in Victoria.  A 2011 story by Farrell's excellent blog Northern Insights on Executive Compensation--even at just B.C. Ferries and B.C. Hydro--proves that municipal leaders shouldn't flinch from the shadow cast by Premier Clark's executives.

Seems municipal politicians have learned from the best.
And we're stuck paying for the rest.

Sour grapes as we enter election season in the North Okanagan?
Nope, not at all.

I'm simply envious that Taxpayers First hasn't made a sojourn northward about 40 km.

Will I vote?
Damn right I will.

You'll know me by my lapel pin: 

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)

"I'm unfortunately unable to vote," muses Kia, adding "but as Alan Wilson said in a recent letter to the editor, 'give us something to vote for'."

Any business owner out there who had a 38 per cent wage increase in 10 years?

Or even 19 per cent?

Didn't think so.

Me neither.

A future blog story will feature the most wonderful mayor in the world...nope, it's nobody from this area, as you likely guessed.

Garlick Offers Faint Hope

"We'll look at those items again," offers Coldstream Mayor Garlick, his quote referred to in the July 1st Morning Star (Jennifer Smith), entitled "Land Changes Harvest Criticism".

The Mayor's response followed a presentation by Coldstream Acreage Owner Association member Joel Allen, who added his voice to the growing opposition to the forced rezoning of acreages in the Coldstream Valley, many of which have been zoned RU2 for 39 years, the inception of the Agricultural Land Reserve.

While hope exists that Coldstream Council may indeed be swayed by the rezoning's opposition, confusion arises when the mayor states everything's on hold until a new planner--replacing Craig Broderick--is on board.

So what is it?  the opposition?  or the lack of a planner?

The mayor stated public input will again be sought after summer.

Again?  (The public comment period closed on March 28th of this year).
Joel and Rita Allen asked to be a delegation to present their opposition because they had been out of country during the Agriculture Plan's open house and the March 28th deadline for comments.

These comments from the public were insufficient? 
Or maybe they weren't favourable enough to Council, so a new comments period will be opened?

In the interim, the North Okanagan Regional District has issued the 75-page Growth Management Strategy, to which Coldstream and surrounding municipalities are signatories.  The eye-opener is a must read for every acreage owner here. 


Then there's Councillor Besso's oft-repeated comment "824 Coldstream parcels are in the Agricultural Land Reserve, of which 640 are under 4 hectares (approximately 9.9 acres)...we want to maintain the larger parcels."  Some confusion arises when she adds (as quoted in the newspaper) "There's a perception that there are a lot of small parcels out there.  They're actually many small parcels being farmed as one."

Huh?  Perception by whom?
Acreage owners?  or Council?
Councillor Besso is obviously talking about the Coldstream Ranch, whose myriad land titles were created ~100 years ago. Of course they're farming "as one"...it's a one-owner operation!

Faint hope nevertheless exists, all while new people are joining the Acreage Owners' Association.

"Maybe parole is what we can hope for," offers Kia.

Vernon's Council has Free-Thinking Councillors

"Accusations of anti-development policies are coming from within Vernon city hall," begins a Morning Star story titled Application spurs development debate (Rolke June 27/12).

Ya think?

Some councillors, O'Keefe, Nicol, and Quiring deserve credit for not buying into the new bureaucratic strategy that stymies development. 

Councillor Mary-Jo O'Keefe wonders why council is attempting to interfere in what has previously always been a market-driven process.
Councillor Patrick Nicol is concerned that accepting staff's recommendation to deny the development application creates artificial boundaries for developers.
Even Mayor Sawatzky sees the merits of recognizing that investors/landowners already considered the official community plan when they made their land purchases.

But haven't we all seen Official Community Plans change?
It's just a matter of when you bought your land.
And what successive elected officials have done to your family's investment plans with their "laws".

Coldstream is a prime example:  previous elected officials, over many terms, determined future growth would occur on the hillsides, protecting the valley bottom for agriculture.
Made sense to everyone.

Along come Mayor Garlick et al and suddenly there are tweaks to bylaws and official community plans, underscored by "no mile long subdivisions" (quote attributed to Councillor Besso).   They even want to create their own Town Center!  With the exception of Councillor Peter McClean, Coldstream's elected officials--buoyed by the urban vote--are now lockstep with any document created by the bureaucrats of the Union of BC Municipalities.

Obviously staff in both Coldstream and Vernon have fully adopted the North Okanagan Regional District's Growth Management Strategy, to which surrounding communities are signatories.  Hence they now only recommend approving new development in the city center and designated neighbourhood centres in which infrastructure already exists.


Staff philosophical similarities aside, Vernon's elected council actually considered WHO they serve--taxpayers--and defeated the staff recommendation that sought to stymie development to all but the newly-acceptable "Infill" corridors. 

Coldstream?
Nope...they've long since lost sight of serving their taxpayers.
Mayor Garlick et al are busy vying for the municipal poster-child position in Victoria.


"The opposite of a Wanted Poster," affirms Kia.

Regional Growth Strategy to blame for CAO woes?

Maybe.
Since the results are the same, it doesn`t matter which came first.

The Regional District of North Okanagan began a Growth Management Strategy five years ago which, last year, led to a Memorandum of Understanding among the adjacent communities of City of Armstrong, District of Coldstream, City of Enderby, Lumby, and Spallumcheen Township.

Managing growth...hmmm.


That's something the Coldstream Acreage Owners has felt, with the District of Coldstream's plan to "protect" agricultural lands with the proposed rezoning of Coldstream acreages to RU10/RU30.

Apart from proving there are way too many bureaucrats on resident-funded payrolls, you'll fall off your chair when you read the memo from regional growth strategy coordinator, Anthony Kittel, in which other communities got to have a say:  Regional District of Central Okanagan, Columbia Shuswap Regional District, Thompson Nicola Regional District, Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, Regional District of Central Kootenay. 

Huh...the Kootenays...

Before your eyes glaze over, look at the 12-page "One Region, One Future", especially maps beginning on page 3, which brings to mind a saying:  `the problem`s bigger than all of us.``
 
The RDNO website states the North Okanagan had: 

• Eight growth issues
• 830 residents commented
• 135 working group members
• 200 policy recommendations
• 1,400 municipal council comments
• 1 Regional Growth Strategy

Were you--as a resident of Coldstream--one of the 830 residents, or one of the 135 working group members?  I thought not.  Neither was I.

The 75-page Growth Strategy Bylaw is here: 
Have a good look at the map on page 21 for where growth will be allowed to occur.

Coldstream residents will be wondering what came first:  the Rural Protection Boundary, supported by the growth strategy, or the RU10/RU30 "protection of agriculture".  Either way, growth or change is dead.

So what`s a Rural Protection Area anyway...

``RURAL PROTECTION AREAS: are areas that will not have access to water and sewer infrastructure, consist of large lot sizes and are associated with rural uses. Rural Protection Areas are intended to provide for a variety of rural land uses, including low density rural residential development, natural resources, and agricultural and existing small scale neigbourhood commercial uses. Rural Protection Areas help protect rural landscapes and agricultural lands, prevent unsuitable urban development and densities, limit water and sewer infrastructure extensions beyond the Rural Protection Boundary and maintain rural lifestyle
options.  Natural lands, open spaces, agricultural lands and environmentally sensitive lands that are unsuitable for residential development are included within the Rural Protection Areas,
including: the Agricultural Land Reserve, watersheds,  conservation areas, natural habitats, grasslands, forests, wetlands, major parks and recreation areas. Rural developments around drinking water sources and reservoirs should be restricted to protect water quality and quantity.  The Rural Protection Area is complementary to the Okanagan Shuswap Land and Resource
Management Plan (OSLRMP) and does not discourage appropriate designated Crown land uses, as represented in the OSLRMP, UC‐2.8 and UC‐2.9.``

Whichever came first, this growth management strategy is all about control, control, control of a population whose freedoms no longer include choice and self-determination on land we have bought and paid for.
The phrase ``...will not have access to water`` made one resident this morning state: ` `those are fightin`words.``

"These plans are turning the acreage owners into a Distinct Society," suggests Kia.

Just think...all this BEFORE an NDP government takes the reigns in Victoria.