Letters to the Editor: November 5, 2014

Choice of site

Firstly, I agree that Powell River requires a larger space for its public library but was a bit surprised at the sudden decision to choose the Crossroads Village site [“Library referendum question will be on civic ballot,” September 24].

While this may be an appropriate site, why would council choose this site when it has capacity in the underused Powell River Recreation Complex—a building that we own and pay to heat, and that could use an injection of life (not to mention updating)?

It is unfortunate that the referendum question will be so narrow in scope, for I feel if I vote no to a library at Crossroads Village I am saying no to a new library, which is not the case. I am also a little leery about the pending referendum question.

The last referendum question put to voters asked if we were in support of purchasing Millennium Park for approximately $1 million. I am quite certain that the majority of voters who answered that referendum question were not aware of the fact that the purchase price did not include the timber rights. The true cost to purchase Millennium Park was revealed recently when we learned that it will actually cost an additional $1.125 million to purchase the timber rights.

Leilah Tate

Yew Kwum Place

In several days, electors will decide the makeup of a new City of Powell River Council for a four-year term [“Formosa will return as mayor by acclamation,” October 15].

What has the majority of the present city council left us with as we consider who to vote for?

First: As a percentage of all property taxes collected by the city, industrial property taxes were lowered by 55 per cent while residential property taxes were increased by over 35 per cent. Russell Brewer was the only councillor seeking tax fairness for the residential taxpayers and who did vote against extending the industrial property tax exemption for 2015 to 2017.

Second: In 2014, over 500 of our neighbours could not or did not pay their property taxes on time and were charged a late penalty of 10 per cent. When asked, councillors would not accept the notion that there was any correlation between high residential taxes and the late payments.

Third: City council has accepted that its asset management plan has an annual financial shortfall of $4,573,622 in each of the next 20 years to provide public services in a sustainable way. These services include the operation maintenance, replacement of existing and construction of new assets.

Fourth: Council has resolved to provide a new public library potentially adding $3,500,000 to the city’s debt and increasing the city’s building asset class annual funding shortfall by $78,000 to $1,687,160 per year in each of the next 20 years.

Fifth: Eight years after city council was advised to renew its main water supply line from Haslam Lake, due to its age, the old water line remains in service, putting the city at risk.

Sixth: Due to council’s unwillingness to maintain the Westview wastewater treatment plant, the city risks being charged with violating the Environmental Management Act.

Seventh: Against the backdrop of residential property tax increases, this city council approved increasing total annual spending on senior city staff from $1,345,243 in 2012 to $1,867,264 in 2014, a whopping 39 per cent increase.

On November 15, it’s your choice.

George Orchiston

Joyce Avenue

It was very disappointing to hear council candidate Jim Palm at the all-candidates meeting say that the old incinerator site was being considered as a recycling dump [“Idea smells like roses,” May 14].

This seems such a retrograde use for this property as well as being a bit of a blight to Willingdon Beach especially in light of the wonderful plan Powell River Botanic Society has been researching for that site.

The society wants to create a beautiful botanical garden which would incorporate research by universities into reclamation and remediation of contaminated soil. This project could be a wonderful tourist attraction for Powell River. As it is, there are very few tourist activities for visitors who are elderly or have mobility challenges. A beautiful and precedent-setting research garden would be a year-round attraction.

Surely the society’s vision would be of greater benefit to the community.

Kay Bremner

Skeena Street

Election promises are so interesting. They sound so just, so reasonable and so possible.

In an “Open Letter to Powell River Residents” in the Peak, November 18, 2011, councillors pledged that on the ballot we face this year in 2014 that they are “each publicly committed to support a binding referendum question for residents to vote on co-treatment”. So, they promised we would be able to vote this month on liquid waste treatment. This was signed by councillors now running for re-election Debbie Dee, Jim Palm, Maggie Hathaway, and the acclamed mayor Dave Formosa.

There will be no such opportunity to vote on this in the election November 15. For whatever reason, this not going to be a Referendum question on the ballot [“Opposition to wastewater co-treatment surfaces,” October 8]. A signed open letter pledging something is quite a strong promise to break.

My concern is that the current promises of this incumbent mayor and councillors seeking re-election may also be fragile. Great ideas that don’t happen aren’t often very helpful in the long run.

Now we are promised an aquaculture project near Catalyst Paper Corporation, a medical marijuana venture, the Sino Bright School, and an aviation industry project at the airport. These are all fantastic ideas and have great job creation potential. None of them are facts. These are ideas in the works, and even qualify as promises.

As we have seen in the past, not all promises made before an election are kept. But, as they say, “timing is everything.”  Making promises just before an election is considered to be excellent timing.

Lyla Smith

Roberts Road

We reside in the peaceful area of Manson MacGregor.  Two portions of our agriculturally zoned land are surrounded by electric fence where we raise rabbits and vegetables. We have two large outdoor dogs in a fenced-in area that announce visitors and discourage vermin.

Our normally peaceful bliss was transformed this Halloween into a terror-filled war zone of fireworks sounding for six solid hours with the final barrage after midnight [“Halloween safety,” October 29]. During this time, two mother rabbits were sufficiently stressed to kill all their babies and we had an additional dead rabbit the morning after. Our dogs are completely traumatized by fireworks and had to be kennelled. During the course of the fireworks we heard a terrible screaming sound, which we concluded was the sound of a lost and traumatized pet which, while trying to escape the terrifying sound of the fireworks, got caught in our electric fence.

We’re all for fun, but could you please be a little more considerate of your neighbours when planning these types of events that can inflict such misery for pets and livestock and their owners. How about a fireworks party down at Willingdon Beach, or somewhere else away from pets and livestock? I’m sure the food banks would have been very grateful for the money that was spent on all those fireworks.

Virginia Fisher

MacGregor Avenue

Powell River Literacy Council urges citizens to vote “yes” in the upcoming library referendum [“Library referendum question will be on civic ballot,” September 24].

We understand that there have been concerns about the cost and location of a new Powell River Public Library. It has been a thoughtful and invigorating discussion. We believe the current option for voters on the ballot November 15 addresses these concerns and we support this as an opportunity to seize. The bottom line in this story is to create a library which is cost-effective and benefits everyone.

Why? Because the library plays a pivotal role in ensuring a healthy, thriving community: economically, socially and culturally. The library offers services and products that level the intellectual playing field. That means that they allow people of any income level, age or background to access high-quality information, to use computers, or to borrow a variety of resources from books to magazines to films. The existence of libraries ensures that knowledge and technology are available to everyone, not just to those who can afford their own and helps raise the education levels of society as a whole.

Libraries today are more than just a place to get books, they are a place for the community to meet, to interact, to learn together. The library opens new doors of possibilities to all—if it has the room and space. The reality is that the existing library cannot provide the needed resources and programs to support the community’s growing needs for navigating today’s ever-changing world. Powell River deserves better.

Voting yes for a library at Crossroads Village Shopping Centre is an opportunity for the community to come together. Let’s move forward. Investing in a new library is investing in a vibrant viable future for all who live here and will come to live here.

Ilona Beiks

Literacy Outreach Coordinator

Powell River Literacy Council

Gordon Wilson becomes the province’s head cheerleader for the climate change accelerating liquefied natural gas industry [“Advocate presses jobs,” October 29]. Meanwhile, life-partner Judi Tyabji Wilson recently co-led a local contingent in the Global March on Climate Change Action.

Now, that is one seriously fascinating public couple dynamic. It goes to prove the old adage that yes, indeed, love conquers all.

Steve Perkins

Blair Road, Texada Island

While I admire Powell River Voices (PRV) for their commitment to increasing voter turnout in the civic election, their attempt to present the Community Values Survey and Candidate Report as being neutral and free of bias is troubling [“Residents speak about municipal concerns,” October 29].

PRV maintains they are a citizen group with no political agenda—they simply wish to pass along useful information to help fill the information gap that a lot of voters experience prior to civic elections. They would have us believe their handling of the community survey, from design through dissemination of the results, was free of political bias.

However, a quick read of the PRV website reveals an organization that clearly leans to one side of the political spectrum and as such is inherently biased. This is not a bad thing in and of itself—groups of like-minded citizens band together to make their voices heard all the time. But for PRV to imply their handling of the survey was neutral and unbiased is disingenuous.

One does not have to look far to find PRV’s political bias in their handling of the survey. Their lack of objectivity is evident from the outset when they chose the sustainability charter as the foundation for their survey. Why the sustainability charter? Because it is a credible document that just happens to parallel the vision of PRV. Unfortunately this is not a balanced nor representative take on community values. Many residents mistrust the sustainability charter, not because they reject the notion of sustainability, but because they know the definition of sustainability is so fluid it is often manipulated to serve political ends.

So what’s the problem? Even after limited scrutiny, it is obvious the Candidate Report is an evaluation of new candidates based on how closely their views match the vision of PRV and is therefore an endorsement of those who answered the survey questions “correctly.” There is nothing untoward about PRV endorsing candidates in local elections as long as that is made clear. That approach would have been more honest and more in line with one of the cornerstones of PRV’s vision: transparency.

John Wilkinson

Taku Street

On November 15 voters in Powell River will have an extraordinary opportunity to add to the amenities of our city. To those who see no need for a bigger space or believe a new library only benefits an elite few, we ask you to rethink your idea of a library [“Library site doors open,” October 22].

What if it feels like a cross between a Turkish bazaar, Disney World, a social services drop-in centre and a primary school?

What if reading help, learning new skills, starting a business, expressing your creative side and health information are all in the mix?

What if the people in it find areas where they can sit and relax, study, chat with friends, use a laptop, get advice, access all forms of media, watch a performance, view local art or simply curl up with a book?

What if there is a ‘youth space’ that young people can take ownership of and feel at home in?

The location and space offered at Crossroads Village Shopping Centre allows for all these things and more. It is central to routes we regularly use. It is a handy spot to drop in and catch up on the news, relax for a while, meet and make friends.

Think on this also: a library such as described signals to the rest of the world that Powell River is a forward-thinking community and not a dying backwater. It shows initiative and resourcefulness. Above all it demonstrates confidence in the future and a collective willingness to invest in our community. Please think carefully before denying your community these obvious benefits for the sake of saving $1.70 a month.

We invite you to drop in to the Friends of the Library Information Centre, at Crossroads Village, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 am to 2 pm until the election. We are open for good conversation, refreshments, collage and stories. We have buttons, lawn signs, and fact cards to help you get the message out. On November 15, please vote yes for Powell River’s future.

Susan Clark

Friends of the Library