germinator's blog

There has been quite a bit of talk in the community about our new message centres. I personally like the concept of the message centre signs. I mean, it is a far better solution for advertising municipal and community user group events than by plastering up a bunch of plywood signs all over the place. I think the signs tidy the joint up a little and the decision to build the signs shows a certain coming of age for our communities'.

People have been complaining that the messages are too tough to read and that you can't read them from certain angles etc. This may be true in some instances and I think there is some irony in the fact that the signs are not more visible because of the municipality's own by-laws on height restrictions for freestanding signs. Still, I see lots of potential for the signs. The main sign is capable of displaying photos and movies and although they are all meant to advertise municipal programs and community events I would hope that the same spirit of advancement that went in to giving the OK to the signs in the first place goes in to choosing what is actually displayed on them.

You know, I never thought I'd feel sorry for him, especially with the way he has been playing lately in Vancouver. But it is true, I do feel slightly sorry for big Burt.

He should just crack a smile and say what the hell! It would sure look better on him.

I cried in my corn flakes the other morning when I first read that the "Great One" could be involved in "Operation Slapshot". Wayne Gretzky has a way about him. Professional best describes his way. Soft spoken but powerful and his performance on the ice was miraculous.

When you are as famous as Wayne you have to watch yourself. All celebrities and media personalities do. The pressure of being in the spotlight, no matter the occassion, must be draining. I mean, this guy can't go anywhere without people looking pointing and asking him for some thing or favour.

Wayne has appeared to be no dummy, but sadly even icon's can fall. The very fact that his wife has apparently gambled 500k in the past 6 months is appalling. If Wayne new about this he should have told her to stop. I sure hope that they have seperate bank accounts!

A new Minority Government. This time, more than the last, the media, newly elected officials and pundits are touting the "C" word in a big way.

"Collaboration" amongst political parties in the hopes of providing effective governance for all of us? Too much of a Utopian concept I am afraid. We demand it from our Governments but we can't do it ourselves. What a bunch of hypocrites we are!

Why should we expect 3 or 4 federal political parties to collaborate when we can't get consensus on issues as citizens in our local communities? We have to set the example from the grassroots. We have to show politicians how to work together otherwise we will continue to run the treadmill like so many jaded hamsters.

Take Delta for example. One of the big issues in Delta that could use a collaborative effort is economic development. Despite polls that suggest a majority of Deltans' support economic development in our community, we continue to butt heads with each other and our elected officials instead of hashing out solutions. Believe it or not, we can all benefit from attentive economics when they are applied to environmental situations. It's been typical to see environmentalists recoil in horror at the mention of commerce but economics is evolving and new economists recognize that the environment has to be incorporated into fiscal modelling." Free Market Forces" are not the tried and true models they once were. There are lots of words and phrases that describe this realization; Smart Growth, sustainability, etc. A well respected economist recently wrote... "environmentalists can profit - if I dare link these words together - from the direction economics is moving".

I'm a little nervous, and it's not because I haven't finished my Christmas shopping. In her innagural speech as newly elected Mayor, Lois Jackson stated that one of the first orders of business would be to deal with the Fireworks bylaw. Excuse me? Worse, after citing the usual plethora of items that are still on the table and will be for an eternity if someone doesn't do something, our Mayor has expressed her concern for "Global Warming" and has refered to it as a "priority" for her Government for the next three years. Apparently our Mayor has decided to jump on the Kyoto bandwagon, an initiative that is almost dead before it really started. I don't need David Suzuki for my mayor. I want someone to deal with the damn highway traffic!

The pseudo- science around 'Global Warming" has got bigger faults in it than the San Andreas. Fashionable this stuff though! Lo-J wants to protect our trees and "plant more to mitigate temperature change". Nice thought I suppose, and I like trees...a lot. Some of them make excellent lumber, but seriously, "mitigate temperature change?"

The changes to the makeup at the council chambers and at school board are slight yet significant. It will be especially interesting to see how a couple of individuals perform in their fulcrum roles at both school board and council.

On the Provincial front the fulcrum collapsed and a deal went south. The recent salary thing with Bill 17 is a beauty. The conversation on this is not over, not by a long shot. I can hardly wait to watch it come up again when the BCGEU contracts come up for renewal in 2006. Do you think that the Carol James flip flop is going to do any good for the average health care worker or liquor store employee when its their time to bargain for a raise let alone a contract? I don't think so.

And, I don't think it fair to whine about 15% pay increases if it brings our community representatives up to a wage that they may benefit from in the private sector. Our MLA's don't have normal jobs. Anybody that tries to make a comparison to life in the real world is deluding themselves.

I already have the angst. I've been camping twice already this year and both times I have come home with a "mental' list of things I need to repair, upgrade or otherwise BUY! Now, a full ten days or so before I shall camp again, I am overrun with the sensation that I should buy more tarps or tuperware. Problem is, I don't want to take all the camping shit out of the shed to check which plastics I need.

I'll wing it again. Just to make sure, like every good camper, I will slide by Canadian Tire a couple of days prior and blow a quick 3HUN on stuff I already have 75% of. When you do the math I guess 75 bucks or so is a small price to pay for the peice of mind that camping affords (after day one and the last day of course).

There should be a resource where I can find that last tent pole, that extra bocci ball, that pair of plyers. Let's chat people.....Coleman! Can you hear me?