coldstreamer@shaw.ca******* Issues related to the District of Coldstream, local government issues, political commentary, local area photos,oddities in the news etc....
Showing posts with label Sports News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sports News. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2016
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Ground Breaking Set For Sports Venue - Kiss FM News
Ground Breaking Set For Sports Venue
Written by Peter McIntyre
Tuesday, 22 October 2013 12:00
Work on the new sports facility next to Okanagan College in Coldstream is ready to proceed.
The Regional District of North Okanagan will hold a ground breaking ceremony Wednesday at 3:30 at the site.
Voters approved borrowing up to 7.5 million dollars for an Olympic
sized running track, and natural turf and synthetic turf sports fields,
back in April, by a margin of 52%.
Since then, contracts for design and project management have been
awarded and studies to check for military ordinances and archeological
items have been conducted on the site.
The facility will also be lighted and include change rooms and washrooms.
The college is leasing the land to the regional district for one dollar a year in a 40 year deal.
RDNO officials say the facility should be completed by the fall of 2014.
The Agricultural Land Commission has mandated construction be done by
November 2014 as a condition of using farm land for the venue.
*******************************************************
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
******************************Voting Day today!!!******************************
********************************************************
Monday, March 25, 2013
Advanced voting on the sportfields referendum commences on Wednesday, March 27.
*****************************************************
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
New Vernon sports facility!
by Castanet Staff - Story: 85583
Jan 8, 2013 / 5:00 pm
Jan 8, 2013 / 5:00 pm
Voters in Vernon and Coldstream will be asked to approve borrowing up to $7.53M for a sports facility complex adjacent to Okanagan College in Coldstream.
The proposed facility will include a synthetic turf field, a second soil based grass field and a rubberized track.
It will also feature stands for about 400 spectators as well as changerooms, officials rooms, washrooms and mechanical/electrical rooms.
Originally, the cost came in at just under $8.5M, however, those costs were trimmed by nearly $1M at a recent Regional District meeting.
RDNO Parks Planner, Keith Pinkoski, says the budget was trimmed in three areas.
He says the cost of off site upgrades to College Way (street lighting, curbs and sidewalks) was trimmed from $1m to about $390,000, covered seating was eliminated saving approximately $200,000 while a decision was made to go with a soil based second field opposed to sand based, saving about $145,000.
Pinkoski says he believes the figures will hold up.
"These are all numbers that have been used on previous projects so we are pretty confident in the numbers we're using," says Pinkoski.
"They are numbers that include some contingencies. We're confident we have enough buffering in there to account for any weird fluctuations in the construction."
Pinkoski says if the project comes under the $7.53M figure that would affect the tax impact downwardly.
The current figure would add about $15 a year to the tax bill over the next 20 years.
If given the go ahead by the electorate, Pinkoski believes the facility could be operational by the spring of 2014.
"If we get approval April 6 we would have a bout six weeks of design and four weeks of tendering so we would be looking at awarding the contract at the end of June and starting in late 2013," says Pinkoski.
"It looks like we would be completing the project, if it goes ahead, in spring of 2014."
If the project gets turned down, Pinkoski says it would have to be significantly changed in order to go back to the people a second time.
As for public reaction, Pinkoski says he is receiving a lot of positive feedback.
"At a lot of the public appearances we have received a lot of good support but unfortunately the ones against it are the ones that are the loudest."
Exact wording of the referendum still has to be adopted with the new numbers in place.
January 8, 2013 - 300 votes
Do you support borrowing $7.5M for a new sports facility in the Vernon/Coldstream area?
Yes: 129
No: 171
************************************************
Friday, May 4, 2012
Referendum on track for sports facility.
The report above refers to a potential site for the sports facility at the race track site. My understanding always was that this facility would be at the College site and I supported to have the proposal taken to taxpayers for adjudication through a referendum. All taxpayers would have an opportunity to express your wishes through the referendum and not an alternate approval process. Results of the referendum will be binding on my vote for the facility provided it will be on the College site! If you wish to register how you would vote on the pending referendum I will set up a poll on this blog for your perusal.
********************************************************
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Sad news for Vancouver Canucks' fans!
The Vancouver Canucks have lost their game against the Los Angeles Kings tonight in overtime. The final score was 2:1.
The bright side of the story: there likely won't be a riot in Vancouver.
Read the Vancouver Sun story for further info.
The bright side of the story: there likely won't be a riot in Vancouver.
Read the Vancouver Sun story for further info.
****************************************************************
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Pospisil powers Canada into World Group!
Hard-serving B.C. native does it all against IsraelVasek Pospisil carried Canada into the World Group of the Davis Cup on Sunday.
Pospisil was part of all three of Canada's victories in a 3-2 win over Israel in the World Group playoffs at Ramat Hasharon, Israel. The power hitter from Vernon, B.C., clinched the tie with a 6-2, 7-6, 6-4 win over Amir Weintraub in Sunday's fifth rubber.
"This is the happiest moment of my life and my tennis career," Pospisil said in a news release. "This is something you dream about as a kid, to play for your country and get a win like this.
"I was feeling pretty tired this morning and I just tried not to let it get to my head. You never think matches like this are going to end, and so, when you win match point, it is shock, relief and a lot of emotion that just knocks you to the ground."
Pospisil recorded 27 aces in his second singles victory of the weekend. He and Toronto's Daniel Nestor also beat Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in doubles on Saturday.
Pospisil had just two double faults. His serve was broken once, but he broke Weintraub four times.
"Vasek beat the state of Israel this weekend," Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau said. "It wasn't just a quality team. It was the opponent and the heat and the crowd. It was just a gutsy effort from our horse.
"Our team has been working to get back to the World Group for seven years now, and we are all so happy and so excited to have reached our goal this year. It wasn't easy."
Canada won all three of its Davis Cup ties on the road this year, and the victory over Israel qualifies the Canadians for the 16-country World Group for the first time since 2004.
It came without the help of Canada's top-ranked player, Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont. In his first action since injuring his hip at Wimbledon in June, the Canadian ace lost his first singles match on Friday and then withdrew from a reverse singles match on Sunday.
Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., stepped in for Raonic, but lost 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to Dudi Sela.
"It was tough (Sunday)," Polansky said. "I came up short on some of the bigger points. I fought hard, but it was just really tough conditions. It was my first live match in a while at Davis Cup, and I did my best."
The Czech Republic, Russia, Croatia, Italy, India and Austria all won their World Group playoffs and moved into the final 16 for next year. Australia and Switzerland never finished their tie, with Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka leading Australia's Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, 5-3 in the decisive fifth set before the match was suspended because of darkness.
Spain beat France in one World Group semifinal, while Argentina outlasted Serbia in the other. Argentina led 2-1 heading into Sunday's matches and clinched it when Novak Djokovic retired in the second set of his match against Juan Martin Del Potro.
***********************************************************************
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Octopus picks Canada in Women's World Cup opener.
APAP – Fri, Jun 24, 2011
BERLIN (AP) — A German aquarium's new octopus oracle has gone out on one of her eight limbs by choosing underdog Canada to beat Germany in the opening match of the Women's World Cup on Sunday.
Konstanz Sea Life Aquarium's octopus Paula, an heir apparent to Paul, gave defending champion Germany no thought on Friday. She shot quickly into a tube marked with Canada's flag to grab a morsel of food in an event broadcast live on national television.
Paul, who died in October at Sea Life's Oberhausen aquarium, gained fame by predicting eight matches correctly at last year's World Cup, including Germany's run to the semifinal and Spain's victory over the Netherlands in the final.
Octopi at Sea Life's seven other German aquaria were divided in their picks for Sunday's match: Three chose Germany, one other took Canada and three made no choice at all.
The octopus with the most correct choices at the end of the nearly monthlong tournament will be anointed the next "official" oracle.
The cheeky octopus
*************************************************************************
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Prime Minister Stephen Harper attends Game 4 of Stanley Cup final
Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press
Wed, 8 Jun, 2011
OTTAWA - In the NHL season of the head shot, Prime Minister Stephen Harper should have seen this one coming.
The Conservative leader was at TD Garden on Wednesday night as the Bruins tried to even their best-of-seven series with the Vancouver Canucks in Boston.
But word of Harper's flight to Bean Town with his daughter Rachel and Heritage Minister James Moore on a government jet had opposition critics stepping up to the Tory blue-line to lower the boom.
Opposition MPs were incensed that Harper — who used to rail about government abuse of its executive jets — is flying to Boston on the taxpayers' dime for a hockey game even as his government is on a mission to slash some $4 billion per year in "fat" from federal programs and services.
"Excuse me, aren't we in a time of tightening our belts? Aren't we in a time of making sure that we use our money wisely?" fumed Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis.
New Democrat Charlie Angus noted "how important it is politically" for Harper to associate himself with the Stanley Cup and Canada's remaining team.
"The whole world would love to be in his shoes, but we are not and he is the man saying again and again ... we are going to do things differently," said Angus. "Well, there's two rules, there is one for Mr. Harper and his gang and one rule for everyone else."
"Expenditures of tax dollars and increasing his enormous carbon footprint is a bad idea," chirped Elizabeth May, the Green party leader.
Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas said the prime minister is buying his own game tickets and paying the equivalent of a commercial airline ticket for himself and Rachel on the Defence Department Challenger jet. The PMO said later Harper paid $1,000 for two game tickets.
"The Prime Minister is not allowed to fly commercially if he wanted to," added Soudas.
But as a politician who's dished out his own world of hurt on the use of Challenger jets in years past, Harper was not going to be allowed to enter the Boston zone cleanly.
Liberal Leader Bob Rae has often groused that Harper leads a government that "throws the ball at your head every time."
Just before he became prime minister in 2006, Harper ripped Liberal ministers for traversing the country, looking "out the windows of their $11,000 per hour Challenger jet flights .... They just don't get what real life is like for ordinary Canadians."
Turnabout being fair play, Rae stepped up Wednesday.
"I've got nothing against people going to watch a hockey game but ... I don't think you can hardly say that's an official visit by the prime minister of Canada to the United States."
Harper showed up to TD Garden with a significant security detail of eight to 10 people. Wearing suit jacket and collared shirt, he sat 12 rows back of the ice near the blue-line. He chatted with fans near his seats and posed for pictures, smiling and waving.
Harper, a huge fan who has claimed for almost a decade to be writing a book on the game's history, was a fixture at Canada's games during the Vancouver Olympics.
Environment Minister Peter Kent maintained the trip to Boston is more than just a personal junket for the hockey-obsessed prime minister.
"He's representing Canada," Kent said.
"It is a major sporting event. Certainly, for many Canadians it's the equivalent to the final hockey game in Olympic competition and the prime minister has made the commitment that he's paying his own way."
Given the oft-cited Conservative figure of $11,000 per hour to fly the Challenger, Harper's commercial airfare won't begin to cover the cost.
Defence department officials could not immediately provide the current per-hour operating cost of the Challenger.
Military documents, obtained in 2007 through Access to Information, suggested at the time the cost of operating the jets range from $9,124 to $11,541 per hour.
However, most of the money is a fixed cost that accrues whether the jet is flying or not.
Tory MP David Tilson chided reporters for making a mountain out of a molehill, maintaining that Harper has been "very rigid" about paying his own way to hockey games, even when they're in Ottawa.
"He's a rabid hockey fan and I know that every ticket that he buys to go to hockey games, no matter where they are, is paid out of his own pocket."
NDP Leader Jack Layton basically ignored the cost factor, sniffing that Harper will "have to defend that, won't he? I won't be on the plane."
Layton was more interested in expounding on the NDP's call for "a royal commission on the whole issue of head injuries in hockey."
"It was something that had widespread support prior to the election and we would call on the government to embrace our proposal there," Layton said.
Boston's Nathan Horton was knocked out of the final with a severe concussion after taking a late hit from Vancouver's Aaron Rome in Game 3. Rome was suspended for the rest of the final.
The Canucks are looking to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since Montreal won it back in 1993.
Vancouver took the first two games on home ice and hosts Game 5 on Friday.
— With files from Gregory Strong in Boston.
Wed, 8 Jun, 2011
OTTAWA - In the NHL season of the head shot, Prime Minister Stephen Harper should have seen this one coming.
The Conservative leader was at TD Garden on Wednesday night as the Bruins tried to even their best-of-seven series with the Vancouver Canucks in Boston.
But word of Harper's flight to Bean Town with his daughter Rachel and Heritage Minister James Moore on a government jet had opposition critics stepping up to the Tory blue-line to lower the boom.
Opposition MPs were incensed that Harper — who used to rail about government abuse of its executive jets — is flying to Boston on the taxpayers' dime for a hockey game even as his government is on a mission to slash some $4 billion per year in "fat" from federal programs and services.
"Excuse me, aren't we in a time of tightening our belts? Aren't we in a time of making sure that we use our money wisely?" fumed Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis.
New Democrat Charlie Angus noted "how important it is politically" for Harper to associate himself with the Stanley Cup and Canada's remaining team.
"The whole world would love to be in his shoes, but we are not and he is the man saying again and again ... we are going to do things differently," said Angus. "Well, there's two rules, there is one for Mr. Harper and his gang and one rule for everyone else."
"Expenditures of tax dollars and increasing his enormous carbon footprint is a bad idea," chirped Elizabeth May, the Green party leader.
Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas said the prime minister is buying his own game tickets and paying the equivalent of a commercial airline ticket for himself and Rachel on the Defence Department Challenger jet. The PMO said later Harper paid $1,000 for two game tickets.
"The Prime Minister is not allowed to fly commercially if he wanted to," added Soudas.
But as a politician who's dished out his own world of hurt on the use of Challenger jets in years past, Harper was not going to be allowed to enter the Boston zone cleanly.
Liberal Leader Bob Rae has often groused that Harper leads a government that "throws the ball at your head every time."
Just before he became prime minister in 2006, Harper ripped Liberal ministers for traversing the country, looking "out the windows of their $11,000 per hour Challenger jet flights .... They just don't get what real life is like for ordinary Canadians."
Turnabout being fair play, Rae stepped up Wednesday.
"I've got nothing against people going to watch a hockey game but ... I don't think you can hardly say that's an official visit by the prime minister of Canada to the United States."
Harper showed up to TD Garden with a significant security detail of eight to 10 people. Wearing suit jacket and collared shirt, he sat 12 rows back of the ice near the blue-line. He chatted with fans near his seats and posed for pictures, smiling and waving.
Harper, a huge fan who has claimed for almost a decade to be writing a book on the game's history, was a fixture at Canada's games during the Vancouver Olympics.
Environment Minister Peter Kent maintained the trip to Boston is more than just a personal junket for the hockey-obsessed prime minister.
"He's representing Canada," Kent said.
"It is a major sporting event. Certainly, for many Canadians it's the equivalent to the final hockey game in Olympic competition and the prime minister has made the commitment that he's paying his own way."
Given the oft-cited Conservative figure of $11,000 per hour to fly the Challenger, Harper's commercial airfare won't begin to cover the cost.
Defence department officials could not immediately provide the current per-hour operating cost of the Challenger.
Military documents, obtained in 2007 through Access to Information, suggested at the time the cost of operating the jets range from $9,124 to $11,541 per hour.
However, most of the money is a fixed cost that accrues whether the jet is flying or not.
Tory MP David Tilson chided reporters for making a mountain out of a molehill, maintaining that Harper has been "very rigid" about paying his own way to hockey games, even when they're in Ottawa.
"He's a rabid hockey fan and I know that every ticket that he buys to go to hockey games, no matter where they are, is paid out of his own pocket."
NDP Leader Jack Layton basically ignored the cost factor, sniffing that Harper will "have to defend that, won't he? I won't be on the plane."
Layton was more interested in expounding on the NDP's call for "a royal commission on the whole issue of head injuries in hockey."
"It was something that had widespread support prior to the election and we would call on the government to embrace our proposal there," Layton said.
Boston's Nathan Horton was knocked out of the final with a severe concussion after taking a late hit from Vancouver's Aaron Rome in Game 3. Rome was suspended for the rest of the final.
The Canucks are looking to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since Montreal won it back in 1993.
Vancouver took the first two games on home ice and hosts Game 5 on Friday.
— With files from Gregory Strong in Boston.
*************************************************************************************
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Burrows does it again! 11 seconds into overtime and it's a wrap!
Alex Burrows scored his second goal in the game to beat the Boston Bruins 3:2. The Canucks now lead the bruins 2 games to 0.
****************************************************
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Globe and Mail Update -- Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg
STEPHEN BRUNT
Last updated Friday, May. 20, 2011 12:40AM EDT
An agreement to sell the National Hockey League’s Atlanta Thrashers to a Winnipeg group which plans to relocate the franchise to the Manitoba capital is done.
Sources confirmed tonight that preparations are being made for an announcement Tuesday, confirming the sale and transfer of the Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns and operates the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League and the MTS Centre arena, which would become the NHL team’s new home.
More related to this story
Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the National Hockey League, is expected to travel to Winnipeg to make the news official.
The announcement would end months of speculation about whether one of the NHL’s financially-troubled American sunbelt teams might move north, filling the void left when the Winnipeg Jets packed up and left for Phoenix in 1996, where they became the Coyotes.
Much of the talk this spring had centred on that failing franchise, which was bought by the league after being placed in bankruptcy by its former owner Jerry Moyes in 2009.
But sources in Winnipeg suggest that the Thrashers had in fact been the primary target of potential owners Mark Chipman and David Thomson all along, and that some months back, the NHL board of governors quietly approved the sale and transfer of the team, pending the negotiation of a purchase agreement between Atlanta Spirit LLC, the Thrashers’ owners, and True North.
In the meantime, no potential owner materialized who was prepared to keep the team in Georgia, and local governments there showed no interest in propping up the Thrashers.
“There seems to be a consensus there is going to be a team in Winnpeg,” former major league pitcher Tom Glavine, who had tried unsuccessfully to find new ownership for the hockey team in Atlanta, acknowledged last week. ““The question is who, and unfortunately the bullseye seems to be on the Thrashers’ back.”
When it appeared this spring that the Coyotes might also be in play, after a deal to sell the team to Matthew Hulsizer underwritten by a municipal bond issue fell apart in the face of political opposition from the Goldwater Institute, the Winnipeg group sought to take advantage of what suddenly seemed a buyers’ market, with two teams available and no other potential owners or relocations sites on the horizon.
After the City of Glendale agreed to cover $25-million of the Coyotes losses for the 2011-2012 season, and the NHL opted to operate the club in Arizona for at least one more year, True North’s full focus returned to Atlanta, and a deal was hammered out this week.
Even before those final negotiations took place, the potential Winnipeg owners concluded an agreement with the Manitoba government which will allow revenues from a sports bar with slot machine to be used for improvements to the arena, and to be used towards the debt service on the building.
That’s consistent with what Manitoba premier Greg Selinger told reporters earlier this week, when he said that the provincial government had no interest in subsidizing an NHL team, but that the province had financially supported the renovation of the MTS Centre in the past, and would continue to be willing to do so.
Last updated Friday, May. 20, 2011 12:40AM EDT
An agreement to sell the National Hockey League’s Atlanta Thrashers to a Winnipeg group which plans to relocate the franchise to the Manitoba capital is done.
Sources confirmed tonight that preparations are being made for an announcement Tuesday, confirming the sale and transfer of the Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns and operates the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League and the MTS Centre arena, which would become the NHL team’s new home.
More related to this story
Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the National Hockey League, is expected to travel to Winnipeg to make the news official.
The announcement would end months of speculation about whether one of the NHL’s financially-troubled American sunbelt teams might move north, filling the void left when the Winnipeg Jets packed up and left for Phoenix in 1996, where they became the Coyotes.
Much of the talk this spring had centred on that failing franchise, which was bought by the league after being placed in bankruptcy by its former owner Jerry Moyes in 2009.
But sources in Winnipeg suggest that the Thrashers had in fact been the primary target of potential owners Mark Chipman and David Thomson all along, and that some months back, the NHL board of governors quietly approved the sale and transfer of the team, pending the negotiation of a purchase agreement between Atlanta Spirit LLC, the Thrashers’ owners, and True North.
In the meantime, no potential owner materialized who was prepared to keep the team in Georgia, and local governments there showed no interest in propping up the Thrashers.
“There seems to be a consensus there is going to be a team in Winnpeg,” former major league pitcher Tom Glavine, who had tried unsuccessfully to find new ownership for the hockey team in Atlanta, acknowledged last week. ““The question is who, and unfortunately the bullseye seems to be on the Thrashers’ back.”
When it appeared this spring that the Coyotes might also be in play, after a deal to sell the team to Matthew Hulsizer underwritten by a municipal bond issue fell apart in the face of political opposition from the Goldwater Institute, the Winnipeg group sought to take advantage of what suddenly seemed a buyers’ market, with two teams available and no other potential owners or relocations sites on the horizon.
After the City of Glendale agreed to cover $25-million of the Coyotes losses for the 2011-2012 season, and the NHL opted to operate the club in Arizona for at least one more year, True North’s full focus returned to Atlanta, and a deal was hammered out this week.
Even before those final negotiations took place, the potential Winnipeg owners concluded an agreement with the Manitoba government which will allow revenues from a sports bar with slot machine to be used for improvements to the arena, and to be used towards the debt service on the building.
That’s consistent with what Manitoba premier Greg Selinger told reporters earlier this week, when he said that the provincial government had no interest in subsidizing an NHL team, but that the province had financially supported the renovation of the MTS Centre in the past, and would continue to be willing to do so.
***********************************************************************
Friday, April 1, 2011
ALC shoots down Greater Vernon sports facility plans
CHBC report on Greater Vernon Sports Facility....
......and the College's Press release.
***********************************************************
......and the College's Press release.
***********************************************************
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Mayor Explains Vernon No Show at Facility Launch
Peter McIntyre Wednesday, 01 December 2010 17:19
Vernon council will discuss support for the proposed sports facility near Okanagan College, at its next meeting.
The 7.8 million dollar track and field venue is planned for a ten acre ALR site in Coldstream.
Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert thinks his council will support taking the matter to referendum, to let the public decide.
No one from Vernon council attended Tuesday's announcement which Lippert says was due to getting the invite last Thursday, too late to fit council's deadlines.
"The fact there was no one representing at this announcement doesn't mean there's no support for it. It just means we have our protocols to follow and council has to come up with a formal resolution, and we didn't get enough notification to come up with that kind of support but we will discuss it at our next meeting December 13th."
Lippert calls the site in Coldstream "okay" and "decent", but admits there's school district concerns about extra costs to bus students to it.
Coldstream Mayor Jim Garlick doesn't think the non-Vernon location will be an issue.
"I would be surprised if that happens again. If it does, it would be disappointing for everybody. I think it would be a poor reflection on the community, and I don't think that it's such a remote site from the city of Vernon that people should have those concerns."
Garlick says the location has a lot of benefits, including providing a great entrance into the city, a buffer to nearby homes, and close access to Highway 97.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Surprising comments by Mayor Lippert. The negotiations have been going on for about two years both at the NORD Board and at GVSC. Six Council members from Vernon have been involved through the two organizations. It is a surprise that Vernon Council never got around discussing this issue. However......
NORD Board members were informed of the announcement well before the official invite. Let's just leave it at that.
Back in 2007 there were claims that we needed a facility in the neighbourhood. There was a major push to have the Spicer Block purchased for about $4 to $5 million. On top of that would have been the cost of the development of the facilities. This land is basically free and only the facilities will require borrowing. Obviously, after all the procedures are complete it will be the will of the taxpayers to decide if they wish to have the facilities developed. Politics are fun!
NORD Board members were informed of the announcement well before the official invite. Let's just leave it at that.
Back in 2007 there were claims that we needed a facility in the neighbourhood. There was a major push to have the Spicer Block purchased for about $4 to $5 million. On top of that would have been the cost of the development of the facilities. This land is basically free and only the facilities will require borrowing. Obviously, after all the procedures are complete it will be the will of the taxpayers to decide if they wish to have the facilities developed. Politics are fun!
***********************************************************
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Video of the Track Facility announcement at Okanagan College. Courtesy: Councillor Besso.
**************************************************
Track Facility Planned for Okanagan College Land - Referendum needed to borrow 7.8-million dollars
Okanagan College and North Okanagan Regional District officials are touting plans for a big track and field facility on ten acres of college land north of the Vernon campus car park. The $7.8-million facility would include an artificial turf football field, bleachers, and a 400-metre running track. During a news conference Tuesday, Okanagan College President Jim Hamilton said the facility could allow the college to add sporting programs to its curriculum and hold coaching and athlete development clinics. Vernon campus dean, John Lent, listed a host of groups in the region which support the plan, including the Vernon Amateur Athletic Association. Coach Ian Cameron said the city's only track, at Polson Park, was finished. ``Polson Park has outlived its life, it's done. To have kids practising long jump on a paved run up is like practising soccer in a Safeway parking lot,'' said Cameron. Coldstream council is expected to give its approval to the plan as early as next Monday. It will then move on to the Agricultural Land Commission for permission to remove the land from the Reserve. Mayor Jim Garlick says supporters will have to sell it to the public ahead of a borrowing referendum. ``What would be the reasons for you to support it and have these discussions in the community because this is going to really be needed,'' Garlick said. The mayor said property taxes per average household works out to about ``17 dollars a year for 20 years.'' No date has been set for a referendum. Garlick says it may take place during municipal elections next November but possibly earlier.
Local politicians have big plans for a vacant piece of farm land next to Okanagan College in Coldstream. The regional district and the College --which owns the land--have reached a lease agreement to develop the ten acre site just north of the college's parking lot into a 7.8 million dollar multi use sports facility. The plan still needs approval from Coldstream council, the agricultural land commission, and from the public in a referendum. O-C's regional dean John Lent told a news conference, says the venue will have a number of facilities.
"It will have a community use Olympic sized 400 metre running track.It will allow Vernon to have things like the Summer Games and would allow different football meets to be held that couldn't be held normally. It's a lighted playing field with an artificial turf surface that can be used for football, soccer, rugby and field lacrosse. It will also have track and field facilities, covered seating for 400 spectators, a field house, washrooms and a community meeting room. Coldstream Mayor Jim Garlick feels it's a perfect site. "When you drive into the city, it will be there and it'll look great.The other thing is it's buffered from surrounding residential by the Ministry of Forests seed orchard, the college building and the highway, so again that's another reason to look at this site." No date has been set for a referendum, but if it's approved, the average Greater Vernon homeowner would have to pay an extra 17 dollars a year, for 20 years, to pay the 7.8 million dollar cost.
---------------
Local politicians have big plans for a vacant piece of farm land next to Okanagan College in Coldstream. The regional district and the College --which owns the land--have reached a lease agreement to develop the ten acre site just north of the college's parking lot into a 7.8 million dollar multi use sports facility. The plan still needs approval from Coldstream council, the agricultural land commission, and from the public in a referendum. O-C's regional dean John Lent told a news conference, says the venue will have a number of facilities.
"It will have a community use Olympic sized 400 metre running track.It will allow Vernon to have things like the Summer Games and would allow different football meets to be held that couldn't be held normally. It's a lighted playing field with an artificial turf surface that can be used for football, soccer, rugby and field lacrosse. It will also have track and field facilities, covered seating for 400 spectators, a field house, washrooms and a community meeting room. Coldstream Mayor Jim Garlick feels it's a perfect site. "When you drive into the city, it will be there and it'll look great.The other thing is it's buffered from surrounding residential by the Ministry of Forests seed orchard, the college building and the highway, so again that's another reason to look at this site." No date has been set for a referendum, but if it's approved, the average Greater Vernon homeowner would have to pay an extra 17 dollars a year, for 20 years, to pay the 7.8 million dollar cost.Friday, August 6, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saints bring first Super Bowl title to New Orleans
It was over when ...
Drew Brees was the Super Bowl MVP with a 114.5 passer rating.
(Ben Liebenberg /NFL.com)
(Ben Liebenberg /NFL.com)
****************************************************
Friday, June 12, 2009
Penguins in seventh heaven with Cup win over Wings -- By Steve Keating, Reuters
DETROIT (Reuters) – The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed revenge and their first Stanley Cup since 1992 after closing out a nail-biting 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in Game Seven on Friday.
Maxime Talbot scored a pair of second period goals, while goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury answered his critics with a solid 23-save effort as the Penguins celebrated with their third Stanley Cup triumph.
The Penguins, who lost the Cup to the Red Wings in six games a year ago, join the 1971 Montreal Canadiens as the only team to drop the opening two games of a final on the road then claw their way back to win the title.
Trailing 2-0 and seemingly down and out, Detroit revived their bid for back-to-back trophies through rookie Jonathan Ericsson, who blasted a shot from the point past Fleury with just over six minutes remaining to set up a dramatic finish.
At 2-1 with two minutes to play, the Red Wings' Niklas Kronwall rattled a shot off the crossbar before a last-gasp chance from captain Nicklas Lidstrom was denied by Fleury, who dived across the crease in the final seconds to make a spectacular save.
FLEURY UNFLAPPABLE
Fleury, chased from Game Five after surrendering four second period goals in a 5-0 blowout, was unflappable early, as the Red Wings flew out of the blocks, drawing energy from a raucous capacity crowd at the Joe Louis Arena.
But it was the Penguins who landed the first blow just 73 seconds into the second period when Talbot intercepted a clearing pass and snapped the puck past Chris Osgood.
Talbot doubled Pittsburgh's advantage midway through the period, breaking in on a two-on-one then crushing a slap shot that whizzed by Osgood's out-stretched glove into the top corner.
Having denied themselves a playoff spot as late as February, the march of the Penguins began in earnest with an 18-3-4 run to close out the regular season and storm into Stanley Cup contention.
They then survived four cliff-hanging best-of-seven series to clasp the Cup that slipped through their fingers last season.
Maxime Talbot scored a pair of second period goals, while goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury answered his critics with a solid 23-save effort as the Penguins celebrated with their third Stanley Cup triumph.
The Penguins, who lost the Cup to the Red Wings in six games a year ago, join the 1971 Montreal Canadiens as the only team to drop the opening two games of a final on the road then claw their way back to win the title.
Trailing 2-0 and seemingly down and out, Detroit revived their bid for back-to-back trophies through rookie Jonathan Ericsson, who blasted a shot from the point past Fleury with just over six minutes remaining to set up a dramatic finish.
At 2-1 with two minutes to play, the Red Wings' Niklas Kronwall rattled a shot off the crossbar before a last-gasp chance from captain Nicklas Lidstrom was denied by Fleury, who dived across the crease in the final seconds to make a spectacular save.
FLEURY UNFLAPPABLE
Fleury, chased from Game Five after surrendering four second period goals in a 5-0 blowout, was unflappable early, as the Red Wings flew out of the blocks, drawing energy from a raucous capacity crowd at the Joe Louis Arena.
But it was the Penguins who landed the first blow just 73 seconds into the second period when Talbot intercepted a clearing pass and snapped the puck past Chris Osgood.
Talbot doubled Pittsburgh's advantage midway through the period, breaking in on a two-on-one then crushing a slap shot that whizzed by Osgood's out-stretched glove into the top corner.
Having denied themselves a playoff spot as late as February, the march of the Penguins began in earnest with an 18-3-4 run to close out the regular season and storm into Stanley Cup contention.
They then survived four cliff-hanging best-of-seven series to clasp the Cup that slipped through their fingers last season.
***************************************************************************
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
***Coldstreamernews***
We must protect our rights and freedom! (Photo courtesy of D. Gibson) Click on eagle to watch EAGLECAMS
About Me
- Coldstreamer
- 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.