Readers write -- More Boat launch debate.

Good morning Maria.

Thank you for putting your suggestions in writing to The Traffic & Safety Committee. Maybe, just maybe, the recipients will pay some attention to them. The suggestion to deploy students with transmitters both at the parking area and at the boat launch is obviously one which should be considered. This is not rocket science given that this is a mechanism which is utilized whenever traffic needs to be directed or controlled such as when streets are under construction, repaving etc.

I did not hear Mayor Corner's remarks as I did leave the council chamber once or twice.

The larger issue, of course, is the balkanization of accountability, responsibility and authority with respect to Coldstream owned facilities and Parks over which GVS has full control. Last year I made precisely the same point in a presentation to Council. Obviously the powers that be took no notice. I feel quite sure that any new council will have to address this issue effectively and hopefully as a matter of priority. I truly hope that a new council will put the interests of Coldstream and it's residents first in future. I trust you agree with me on this issue. Regional cooperation is a laudable objective but not if this can only be achieved at the expense of highly negative consequences for Coldstream residents /neighbourhoods.

I believe that my presentation was sufficiently measured and temperate so as not to cause umbrage on the part of the Council. As you are aware, however, the underlying concerns and frustrations of the majority of local residents are not quite as tempered and this issue will continue to bubble until such time as effective action is taken. As was so evident on the 15th of October at the "residents input meeting "the District administration" ( Traffic Committee in this instance) are quite contemptuous of meaningful input on the part of taxpayers and residents. If the chair of that particular meeting really wanted public input, he would not have structured that meeting in such an unproductive and offensive manner.

Given that it is now claimed that the original 8 recommendations published in the Traffic and Safety Committee's reports are now being claimed to have been "brainstorming, suggestions or ideas only", one wonders why they were published without prior public input in the first place and particularly from those who would be so obviously and negatively impacted. Why was such an illogical document published in the local press? If this is not dysfunctional governance, I do not know what is. I agree with James Cookson's comments in this respect. The backtracking by Councillor Malerby so evident at the Council meeting on the 27th. serves only to demonstrate how poorly the major original recommendations were thought through prior to their release ( to the press ) which was the first time that any residents became aware of them.

I can well understand that many citizens living at a distance from the center of the boat launch and related problems might wonder what the all the fuss is about. I believe, that were it not for the fact that a local election is near at hand, no action whatever would even be discussed never mind taken. This is at the core of the frustrations of local residents. and what is so objectionable. I feel sure that the residents of other areas having different problems and issues also receive such "short shrift" at the hands of the District administration and Council.

Having said all of this, I do believe that some progress has been made and there is some possibility of a satisfactory resolution if a more responsible and responsive council is elected. I would appreciate your feedback should you be so inclined.

Best regards, Norm

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