Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Readers write -- Lavington Park Blues.

I hope that you appreciate being informed about our local park.
I live across the street from the park and take at least two daily walks in it.
In the last seven years I have fought to have this community site looked after properly.
There has been very little positive interest. I am usually told that funds are not available.

Then I read in the paper about stuff like this.

Both options call for twin ice sheets, a gymnastics facility, four fastball diamonds, soccer fields, a concession, a BMX/mountain bike course and an open area for farmers’ markets and outdoor concerts.

If additional arenas occur, the Vernon Speed Skating Club wants assurances that one of the sheets will meet its needs.

“We’re starving for 100-foot-wide ice,” said Pete Kapak, with the club.

Presently, the club has access to 85 feet and Kapak insists that is driving tournaments and their economic benefits out of town.

“We’re sending everything to Kamloops because we can’t do events,” he said.

The next step will be for NORD officials to look at the public comments and refine the plans further in an attempt to have one firm design.


There seems to lots of money available for projects such as Polson Park but for the Third World out in Lavington - NOTHING.

When do we, the older folks, who have spent a lifetime working in and for our communities, get public services.

Twin ice sheets, a gymnastics facility, four fastball diamonds, soccer fields, a BMX/mountain bike course are not what the largest portion of community wants or NEEDS.

AND IF THE SPEED SKATERS WANT A BIGGER ICE SURFACE, LET THEM BUY ONE!!!

We older folks are more than a little tired of funding what some hedonistic community groups expect to get for free.

Perhaps you've already read the following.


Published: May 29, 2010 12:00 PM

There’s a quiet revolution going on and Statistics Canada recently released the numbers to prove it – we’re not getting any younger folks.

Now, of course, we’re all getting older, no matter how young we are or how much age-defying product we apply to our bodies, so this is not considered a news flash on one level.

But what the good folks at Statistics Canada mean by this latest batch of numbers, and their projections, is that soon there will be more seniors than students, or more tea drinkers than teenagers, more people on pensions than people with pimples......

In other words, within two years in this province, according to new population projections from Statistics Canada, seniors will outnumber children. And this rate of growth of people who wear their pants too high to people who wear their pants too low is only going to get greater.

Or, in real numbers, the proportion of seniors in B.C. aged 65 and up will climb from 15 to 24 per cent by 2036.

That means where roughly one in seven of us is getting the seniors discount today, one in four of us will get it (honestly) in 2036.

Apparently, while the proportion of seniors in B.C. will surpass that of children under 15 in just two years from now, the same result isn’t supposed to be achieved nationally until 2021.

Hey, would you rather retire in Saskatchewan or B.C.?

Of course, according to the regional district, we have even more of the greying set with us in the Okanagan already, some 20 per cent, and by 2031 it will be 33 per cent.

Now at first I was quite shocked by this looming invasion of the old people. I mean I knew there was less enrolment at schools while coffee shop parking lots seem a lot more crowded than, say, your average playground. The playgrounds look better than when my kids were on them, just less busy.

But at second glance it dawned on me that I shouldn’t be that shocked.

After all they’re talking about me. Yikes.

I mean in 2021 I will be really close to what Statistics Canada says qualifies for senior status and I’ll already be enjoying the discount status at most eateries and special days at many retailers.

However by the aforementioned 2031 or 2036 I will legally and rightfully and easily qualify for senior status, if I’m still on the sunny side of the soil, that is.

And apparently, God willing, be part of a solid majority.

Although us baby boomers are used to having lots of others of similar vintage around, there are ramifications to all this number-crunching.

Like by 2036 there will only be 60 per cent of British Columbians of working age (as opposed to 70 per cent today), so opportunities abound career-wise for the younger set. However there will likely be a shortage of workers so some of the senior set will still be working, not to mention who knows about our RRSPs or the Canada Pension Plan at that point.

Apparently the Lower Mainland will get most of the new retirees and immigrants but we’ll get some of them, plus those who sell out in Vancouver and move to the Interior. So the real estate values should maintain themselves.

There will be plenty of other ramifications of this quiet revolution, actually many seniors I know are far from quiet so this may be a misnomer, but it will be gradual. However, take note of this all you entrepreneurial types, going green may be the marketplace buzzword these days, but the wise will start thinking about going grey, cause most of their customers will be. And sooner rather than later.

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I have been a resident of Coldstream since 1976. I have had 15 years of experience on Council, 3 years as Mayor. As a current Councillor I am working to achieve fair water and sewer rates and to ensure that taxpayers get fair treatment. The current direction regarding water supply is unsustainable and I am doing all I can to get the most cost effective water supply possible.