BC BREAKING NEWS:
North Vancouver civic candidates scramble for attention
Posted by Barry Forward - North Shore Outlook • September, 04 2008 2:17 PMJust when you thought the civic election campaign silly season was about to start Prime Minister Harper brings on the specter of a federal election. What that means for all our wannabe civic politicians is that the exposure window just got whole lot tighter and definitely way smaller.
Like it or not, name recognition drives voting decisions in a municipal campaign, and with our federal politicos cashed up and ready to hit the campaign trail the doors to paid and free publicity are quickly closing – at least in the September and mid-October time window.
If I’m a no-name Upper Delbrook citizen contemplating a run at a seat on council, I can practically say goodbye to any free publicity as the feds gear up their campaign machines. Even our local press is going to be far more discerning when it comes to handing out headlines for each candidate’s campaign launch, let alone giving some ink to that brilliantly penned press release decrying council’s lack of concern regarding “dog’s running amok off-leash in Upper Delbrook.”
Let’s face it, 90 per cent of us don’t care what happens in the November elections for a seat on District or City council. So when eco-candidate John Sharpe decides to enter the race will he have any chance of bonking us out of our slumber and getting us to pay attention to his campaign message? In the 2005 campaign, Sharpe, along with two-time mayoral candidate Dave Sadler, Wendy Qureshi and Ernie Crist pulled out all the stops and unfurled a 100-foot banner bemoaning the sorry state of the North Shore’s sewage treatment facilities. The local press barely raised an eyebrow, let alone put it on the front page.
No comments »The education of experience
Posted by Kirk Pedersen - BC Local News • September, 04 2008 9:32 AMFor hundreds of thousands of children and adults across the province of British Columbia, today marks the beginning of the 2008-09 school year.
And I'm proud to say for the first time in 18 years, I am not among them.
I finished high school in 2003, and (finally) got my Bachelor of Applied Journalism degree this spring, after five years of work.
So for the first time, I feel a sense of accomplishment educationally. It only took 18 years.
House-hunting over, finally
Posted by Kirk Pedersen - BC Local News • September, 03 2008 8:34 AMLast time I wrote about our search for a new home, we were disillusioned with our financial situation and depressed with the thought of ending up in another shoebox.
So, we made the decision to try and find a smaller unit, anywhere from 800-1,000 square feet in a building with plenty of amenities.
Our realtor set us up with some viewings in a cluster of buildings close to public transit, with plenty of amenities and nice views of the city.
All these units had the same floor plan and were 830 square feet with one bedroom, two bathrooms and a den in a pet-friendly, concrete building.
Would an integrated police force benefit the North Shore? Part 1
Posted by Richard Walton - North Shore Outlook • August, 28 2008 9:05 AMDo you think a single North Shore police force would benefit the residents of North and West Vancouver?
North Vancouver City and District share one RCMP detachment but have slightly differing levels of police resource allocation based on different budgeting and priorities. Having two councils and a regional district commander requires the local superintendent to be adept in delivering a responsive policing model.
West Vancouver, Port Moody, Delta, Abbotsford and Vancouver have their own local police and review boards. The advantages of civilian oversight of local policing are significant, especially in providing meaningful response to high profile and controversial incidents. The RCMP has formal processes for reviewing members’ conduct, but there is less direct local accountability to elected officials.
Would an integrated police force benefit the North Shore? Part 2
Posted by Pamela Goldsmith-Jones - North Shore Outlook • August, 28 2008 9:07 AMDo you think a single North Shore police force would benefit the residents of North and West Vancouver?
“A single North Shore police force” would be a major move away from the status quo on the North Shore, for which there is little public appetite, in my view. Communication and collaboration between police departments is critical, and could be better.
West Vancouverites dedicate more funding on a per capita basis than North Vancouverites and in return they receive a high level of service and accountability. We have a proactive, attentive, responsive department. Recent improvements to policing in West Vancouver demonstrate the ability of a local Police Board to respond to internal issues of recruitment, training, promotion and staff retention, as well as to external changes to patterns of crime through a relevant strategic plan.
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