Visioning Penticton

Visioning for the sustainable economy

The sustainable economy is all about people. People will come and establish themselves in cities and neighborhoods that are livable. This brings me to a book that recently came across my desk. This fascinating book is entitled:

The leap: how to survive and thrive in

the sustainable economy

by Chris Turner (www.randomhouse.ca)

Printed and electronic format available.

Here's a couple of excerpts that pickup up where I left off in the opening lines of this post.

Making cities more livable

In the great quest for revitalization, people are sometimes struck by how another city has succeeded. The temptation to copy what was done is strong but needs to be avoided because while you can copy the principle of making the city more livable, you cannot necessarily copy the model itself (i.e.: it might not apply to your city).

Public space

People on foot use transit more often and play and work within walking distance of the places they live. There are plazas from Imperial Roman times that are as functional today as they were then, apartment blocks older than the internal combustion engine that still provide top-quality living space. The same has never been said (and never will be) for freeways and off-ramps. When the people come to the "reconquered" city, they may come for the livability, but they stay because the scene can sustain itself. They stay because there is public space to be in. To be continued soon - Thanks for reading our Blog.

Post-election thoughts by Alan Markin

As expected, Penticton's post-election rhetoric includes expressions

of concern about voter apathy. Once again, voter turnout was shamefully low.

I want to suggest that most of the blame for this unfortunate situation ought to placed squarely on the shoulders of our politicians. A long time ago, in a university sociology class, I studied the concept of powerlessness/normlessness. In simple (perhaps too simple) terms, this means that voters who feel powerless to change the "system" soon start to feel normless. The extreme of this is the belief that the norms and values of society no longer apply to them. This, I suggest, is one of the underlying causes of voter apathy, civil disobedience, and even revolution. Someone once wrote that the time top stop a revolution is before its starts.

Of course, it would be irresponsible to compare Penticton's voter apathy to the civil unrest and violence currently happening all over the world. Still, it is fair to suggest that our City Council has not been very good at listening to the concerns and ideas of residents. I have heard many Pentictonites opine that, no matter what happens in the election, nothing will change at city hall. For the record, I do not agree with this stand. As frustrating as it might be, it is always possible to do better.

Penticton's "new" City Council would be well advised to begin work immediately on an effective communications plan that, in time, would show residents that they can have a real voice in civic governance. Otherwise this old adage will continue to plague us: "It doesn't matter who you vote for because the government always gets in."

Final question folks :)

First off, apologies for the delay in posting this. Yesterday was particularly hectic at our end. We now have our last question: Penticton has some very nice parks but it could be better. What can we do about this and who has a plan?

QUESTION 7: Penticton's Parks and Recreation Master Plan and OCP have both identified shortages of park land. What are your ideas for addressing this problem?

(Remember to click 'Back' to return to the Blog):

(D.Ashton) (J.Bloomfield) (K.Robinson) Click these links to read the answers from the councilor candidates: (B.Black) (J.Cavallo) (J.Cox) (F.Conci) (W.Hopkin) (A.Jakubeit) (L.Kelsey) (R.Kirkoski) (H.Konanz) (D.Korinetz) (G.Leaman) (G.Litke) (K.Noonan) (M.Pearce) (J.Vassilaki)

Only candidates who provided answers are listed above.

There will be no posts this weekend out of respect for the voting process. We sincerely hope that our question have helped you and hope to see an increase in voters' participation for the 2011 election. Furthermore, we extend our Thanks all the candidates that responded to our questions.

Please note that Visioning Penticton will be around well after the elections. Please check back often and remember that:

Together, we can do better!

Question #6 - The Arts...

To what extent have candidates understood the importance of the arts in Penticton? The question posed was: There are identified deficiencies in the Arts and Culture in Penticton. What would you do to remedy this? (Remember to click 'Back' to return to the Blog): (D.Ashton) (J.Bloomfield) (K.Robinson) Click these links to read the answers from the councilor candidates: (B.Black) (J.Cavallo) (J.Cox) (F.Conci) (W.Hopkin) (A.Jakubeit) (L.Kelsey) (R.Kirkoski) (H.Konanz) (D.Korinetz) (G.Leaman) (G.Litke) (K.Noonan) (M.Pearce) (J.Vassilaki)

Only candidates who provided answers are listed above.

One more set of answers tomorrow. We will then have covered a fair bit of ground and hopefully have helped you choose candidates in the process.

Question #5 - Still an issue in Penticton

The question today is: Did you support the recent prison proposal? Do you continue to do so? Why or why not? Penticton clearly said "no prison" in the June poll, but City Council has since signed a servicing agreement with the Penticton Indian Band for one of the Band's proposed prison sites, the location of which is immediately adjacent to the "Cantex" site in Penticton. Also, the final decision by the Province is still pending. Interesting answers from all, incumbents in particular.

Click the links below to read the answers from the mayoral candidates

(Remember to click 'Back' to return to the Blog):

Only candidates who provided answers are listed above.

Thank you for reading the Visioning Penticton Blog.

Now half-way through the list with question #4

The question today is: What is your vision for Penticton's downtown core and what are your specific proposals?

Everyone talks about a vibrant downtown core. Who's got the vision here and might actually get this off the ground? Click the links below to read the answers from the mayoral candidates

(Remember to click 'Back' to return to the Blog):

Only candidates who provided answers are listed above.

Not sure who to vote for? You're not alone and it isn't too late. Come back tomorrow for more answers and in the meantime, I recommend the refreshing Blog found here.

Onward with Question #3

Keeping up with our commitment, here's the next question: What role do you see for the Official Community Plan (OCP) in the City's decision making? What adjustments, if any, would you propose? Is the OCP just wallpaper? Perhaps we should start using it to promote appropriate development! It is understandably hard to refuse development projects but long-term vision will "pay off" as the city stays "balanced" and a more desirable place be part of. Click the links below to read the answers from the mayoral candidates

(Remember to click 'Back' to return to the Blog):

(D.Ashton) (J.Bloomfield) (K.Robinson)

Click these links to read the answers from the councilor candidates:

(B.Black) (J.Cavallo) (J.Cox) (F.Conci) (W.Hopkin) (A.Jakubeit) (L.Kelsey) (R.Kirkoski) (H.Konanz) (D.Korinetz) (G.Leaman) (G.Litke) (K.Noonan) (M.Pearce) (J.Vassilaki)

Only candidates who provided answers are listed above.

We realize that civic elections can be overwhelming. Our Thanks to those who choose to get involved and plan to cast their vote on Saturday, Nov 19.

And now question #2

As initiated yesterday, we are publishing all responding candidates' answers to the seven questions posed by Visioning Penticton. Today's question is: What are your proposals for fostering economic development and urban revitalization in Penticton? What are your specific priorities? The recent strategy has led to a desperate "follow the shiny penny" approach, as evidenced by the number of stagnant, vacant lots in Penticton (rezoned for various highrise projects) and also this year's highly contentious prison proposal. Click the links below to read the answers from the mayoral candidates

(Remember to click 'Back' to return to the Blog):

(D.Ashton) (J.Bloomfield) (K.Robinson)

Click these links to read the answers from the councilor candidates:

(B.Black) (J.Cavallo) (J.Cox) (F.Conci) (W.Hopkin) (A.Jakubeit) (L.Kelsey) (R.Kirkoski) (H.Konanz) (D.Korinetz) (G.Leaman) (G.Litke) (K.Noonan) (M.Pearce) (J.Vassilaki)

Only candidates who provided answers are listed above.

Given that only one week remains before voting day, please consider sharing this Blog with your friends.

Let's talk about question #1

Today, we are looking at the first question posed to the candidates about their 10-20 year long range vision for Penticton. Long range vision is one of the keys to success and has been lacking for the city in recent years.

Click the links below to read the answers from the mayoral candidates

(Remember to click 'Back' to return to the Blog):

(D.Ashton) (J.Bloomfield) (K.Robinson)

Click these links to read the answers from the councilor candidates:

(B.Black) (J.Cavallo) (J.Cox) (F.Conci) (W.Hopkin) (A.Jakubeit) (L.Kelsey) (R.Kirkoski) (H.Konanz) (D.Korinetz) (G.Leaman) (G.Litke) (K.Noonan) (M.Pearce) (J.Vassilaki)

Please note that only candidates who provided answers are listed. Assuming that you find the question reasonable, did the candidates do a good job at responding?

On this special day

On this special day, one has to stop and remember the ultimate sacrifice made by thousands of troups in Word war I, World war II and other conflicts. My initial instinct was, despite all the material awaiting to be "Blogged", to abstain from posting anything else today, out of much deserved respect. On further thought however, democracy is very much what these folks fought for and it is their legacy. Since we agree that discussion and votes far outweight the use of bombs, I suggest to resume posting later today starting with none other than candidates' answers to questions submitted a couple of weeks ago. Thank you for reading the Visioning Penticton Blog.

Researcher helps rate candidates

A friend brought to my attention an interesting interview on CBC radio. In a nutshell; Sherril Guthrie, a research consultant, has been frustrated with the low bar set for municipal politicians and consequently, has developed an evaluation tool to help narrow down the right candidates. Talk about good timing! Her (interesting) rating guide is here for you to print and fill out. The complete CBC radio interview of Sherril Guthrie is here. Comments are naturally invited... I'd like to wish Rory, our Blog Master, a well deserved break.

Blog information

Please be informed the candidate’s responses have been received and we will shortly begin to post them on a daily basis. As a reminder the visioning group is not endorsing any candidate. However in saying that we are interested in candidates who are committed to long range planning and a commitment to do so. In the main, the questions were formulated to elicit their responses on that subject. The readers of course can draw their own conclusions from the candidate responses.

Further I would like to Introduce Benoit Robert who is filling in for me for a while I enjoy a few weeks in the Southern sun. I have already voted in the advance poll and would remind all the importance of casting your ballot on November 19th.

Commentary by Ben Amos

A recent editorial criticized the Visioning Penticton Group as a political party. The definition was given in a disparaging tone as a questionable departure in Municipal politics. Visioning Penticton is not a political party in any way. It is a group of concerned citizens who truly believe that Penticton can do better. It is not a group that devolved out of the resistance to the potential of a prison but was formed many months before. It is concerned about a much broader set of issues. These issues are outlined on their website.

Isn’t it strange that editorials will lament the apathy evidenced by low voter turnout then turn around and slag those who are openly interested?

Visioning by Gerry Karr

Why did we call our website Visioning Penticton? Because those of us who are convinced that We Can Do Better understand that “Better” must be defined, and we believe that can best be done through a visioning process. But first we must understand what a vision is. Many have written on this subject, but a good succinct definition can be found in Wikipedia under the heading Strategic Planning:

[One] approach to defining Vision and Mission is to pose two questions. Firstly, “What aspirations does the organization have for the world in which it operates and has some influence over?”, and following on from this, “What can (and/or does) the organization do or contribute to fulfill those aspirations?”. The succinct answer to the first question provides the basis of the Vision Statement. The answer to the second question determines the Mission Statement (purpose) and the Strategic plan (road map) to achieve the vision.

So, a vision needs to be brief, but it also must contain enough “meat” to guide the subsequent mission statement. To trigger discussion, let me posit that:

In 2030 Penticton will be a flourishing place where people of all ages and with diverse interests and talents will be able to find skilled jobs, affordable housing, and abundant leisure opportunities and amenities. Clean industries that are part of the creative and knowledge-based economy will prefer to locate their business here and as a result of industrial diversification our average income will meet or exceed the provincial average. Our built environment will conserve energy and minimize waste. As a result, our tax base will be sufficiently broad and deep to support the community services and infrastructure we expect from our City and to support the needy. People who live here say: “I enjoy working here and I love living here. I can’t think of a better place to make my home and raise my family”.

Now, if we can agree on something like this as reasonable characteristics of a flourishing City, the question is: how do we get there? One thing is certain: getting there will not happen through our present system of ad hoc planning where our OCP is routinely ignored and amended to accommodate shiny new pennies presented by developers interested only in their short-term gain. Once we agree on what a flourishing Penticton looks like, then we need to design a plan and a road map to get us there, and, most important, we need tenacious and continuous oversight to ensure we stick to our plan and our vision.

The only way we can have confidence that present and future Councils will adhere to such a plan is if it is developed through a process that engages community participation and ownership of the product, and that creates a monitoring process and structure – a kind of Auditor – that reports to but is independent of Council.

Last summer our City, with little fanfare, put together a small committee dominated by Councilors that crafted a Vision Statement. So far as I know it is on the shelf somewhere; I can’t find it on the City website. If it is to be of any value (other than wallpaper), it is critical that our new Council embark, as a matter of priority, on a process of community engagement to create public ownership in a Vision, Mission and Strategic Plan. Only this way can the plan have influence that survives beyond the 3-year life spans of our elected Council’s and their proclivity for short term planning. Wouldn’t this be a wonderful legacy for their tenure of office?

I don’t know about you, but in the coming election, my vote will go to those candidates that can show they understand the importance of a clear and publicly owned vision, mission and strategic plan for our City and will make its achievement a top priority.

City Finances by Rory McIvor

It's election time again. As usual, many statements will be made by well-intentioned individuals and candidates about the terrible state of Penticton's finances. Unfortunately, such comments often demonstrate an appalling lack of knowledge.

The overall City debt at the end 2010 stood at 80.6 million. No argument....a big figure! However, a look at the facts quickly puts this debt into context.

Within that figure is a remaining capital debt 22.0 million for the Event Centre. General accounting practices dictate that amount must stay on the books, but it is not really a debt as it will be retired in 2018 from ongoing committed casino revenues. That amount has zero impact on City taxes. There are those who argue that casino funding should not have been used. If Council of the day had followed that advice the Event Centre site today would be a vacant lot. To fund such a facility through conventional borrowing would have broken the back of Penticton taxpayers. Further, the Event Centre gained by referendum an approval rating of 80.3% in September, 2006 . The use of Casino funds was a landmark decision for the Province of BC simply because no municipality had done it this way before. Once the 40.0 million agreement had been reached with the Province, Penticton received many calls from municipal CEO’s and financial officers enquiring....”how did you do that?” That use of Casino funds has been reviewed and maintained by three successive Councils.

Further to these figures it should be understood that the overall debt figure includes 15.5 million for the sewage plant upgrade and 13.4 million for the water plant upgrade. Both were wise and very necessary environmental and capacity upgrades which speak to the health of our community. Both are funded by user fees which have no effect on general tax rates just as natural gas and electricity have no such impact. Before anyone jumps up and yells at me that user fees are a form of taxation my answer is....”I know that: but they still have no impact on tax rates. Water and sewer services are absolutely essential and non-discretional services.

To gain further perspective the current subsidy for the Event Centre operating costs is 1.66 million. Many who wave those costs about, either by design or ignorance, often fail to mention that a substantial portion of that bill goes to subsidize the operations of Memorial Arena and the Convention Centre. Prior to the Event Centre their annual subsidy was $750,000 thousand dollars. It should further be noted the current subsidy for the Community Centre, including the new pool is 3.0 million....which begs the question, at least for me, “why are people not attacking the Community Centre with the same enthusiasm they show towards their favourite whipping boy the Event Centre?

When you factor in the above figures you will find by any measure that Penticton is in reasonable financial shape and not anywhere near the critical financial situation that some will have you believe. In fact, in the Statement of Financial Position to December 31, 2010,the reserve fund stands at 12.1 million up from 10.5 million in 2009.

Using the latest assessment figures for 2011 the average assessed value of a Penticton home is is $346,420 and the average municipal tax was $1,334. That figure includes the school and hospital levies as well, levies over which the city has no control. So the average Penticton taxpayer pays $3.65 per day. That $3.65 gives you police and fire protection, roads, snow removal, library, recreation and convention facilities, a world class Event Centre and the list goes on and on.

The truth is I pay more for my cable TV and Internet services than I pay for municipal taxes.

In sum, when one examines Penticton's financial facts, one has to conclude that the City's finances are in much better shape than some would have us believe. The weather may be overcast and cloudy but the sky is not falling!

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