Dear Editor:
Please have a look at the photo from March, 2024 of Anders Field in the Lakeview Heights neighbourhood of West sa国际传媒 with kids of various ages playing on it.
You won鈥檛 ever see this scene again.
Why?
Because the City of West sa国际传媒 has destroyed the park so they can build a firehall on it and the adjoining property.
Yes, the CWK needs a new firehall. But they didn鈥檛 need to destroy the park to do it as they had alternatives.
Why is this a big deal for Lakeview Heights? 听
Because, in all of this large fast-growing neighbourhood there were only three small, substandard, flat, active parks where kids could gather with their friends to play, kick or throw a ball, or parents and grandparents could do likewise with their kids.
These three parks were very small and wholly inadequate before for such a large population but now there are only two fields left near the periphery of the community.
In the meantime, there are 125 new housing units currently being built within 200 meters of this site with a further 300 in the active planning stage with all the additional demand for recreation facilities that those will bring.
We have researched and compiled figures showing that Lakeview Heights has the lowest active parks per capita in the City and CWK ranks close to the bottom in active parks per capita in similar sized cities in sa国际传媒
We have continually pointed this out to CWK during our unsuccessful lobbying for another active park since incorporation of the city in 2008.
They have neither replaced this active park nor promised to do so despite their apparent long term plan to build part of the firehall it.
The only reasonable conclusion I can draw is that the CWK is utterly adverse to buying land for active parks, particularly in Lakeview Heights.
What am I suggesting the residents do if they want to have an active park to use in the future?
听1. Contact all the elected representatives of CWK to demand a replacement for Anders Field. The contact information is on the CWK website. Be aware that the council members might give you reassuring comments that the latest Parks-and-Rec Master Plan is now being prepared.
But note that the last three 鈥淢aster Plans鈥 covering 18 years (yes, Eighteen Years!) have called for an active park of up to four hectares be built in Lakeview Heights.
The result?
Nothing built but now the loss of Anders Field, the only central park in the community.
The community needs active parks not hollow 鈥淢aster Plans鈥 and it seems that CWK will not provide parks without pressure from the public.
2. If you know capable, accomplished and dedicated individuals with energy who believe that Parks and Recreation are among the central pillars to a growing city and might want a career in local service, encourage them to stand for election.
The current council are dedicated public servants. Most, however, don鈥檛 appear to accept that Parks and Recreation are an essential priority for a growing city filled with young families.
This lack of priority seems to have hardened into a permanent trait hence the apparent need for a change that only new elected officials could bring.
Biographical note: I am a long-term resident of Lakeview Heights whose children grew up in the 1970s and 鈥80s enjoying the park and school playgrounds that have since been lost.
I am also a long-term member of the board of directors for the Lakeview Heights Community Association.
Stanley Dosman
West sa国际传媒
How Kevin Falcon dropped the ball
Dear Editor:
The trend of BC United MLAs defecting to the Conservatives, coupled with the abysmal polling numbers of the former, confirm that Kevin Falconsa国际传媒 strategy of playing the mushy middle is a failure.
Falconsa国际传媒 thwarted ambition is a harbinger of the shifting political landscape in British Columbia, where soon we will be able to stop referring to the BC United as the 鈥淥fficial Opposition.鈥
Jason Gibson
SaanichDear Editor:
Thank you Terry Brown (June 18). I also enjoy reading the Penticton Herald each day and recently renewed my subscription.
On Friday I look forward to James Millersa国际传媒 column and consider it a bonus if he mentions Milo.
Yes you can get information from Castanet, but the newspaper offers good articles from local writers plus many other articles. And I always enjoy the comics!
Keep up the good work so my paper continues to arrive at my door each morning.
Carol Trenn
Penticton
sa国际传媒 council summer mixtape
Dear Editor:
This year, the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere begins with the solstice on Thursday, June 20, when Earth arrives at the point in its orbit where the North Pole is at its maximum tilt toward the Sun.
With origins in the 1980s, a mixtape is a compilation of music recorded onto a cassette tape, CD, or digital playlist.
Combining the two, what follows is my summer mixtape for sa国际传媒 City Council:
1. Disco Inferno -- The Trammps
The song was inspired by the 1974 blockbuster film The Towering Inferno, in which a fire breaks out in The Glass Tower, a 138 storey building.
Peter Truch, who ran for sa国际传媒 city councillor in 2022, wrote: 鈥淣orth American (NFPA 1710) guidelines call for 42 firefighters to respond to a highrise fire (greater than seven storeys) in no more than 10 minutes and 10 seconds. KFD typically only has 24 firefighters on duty at any given time.鈥
2. Another Day In Paradise -- Phil Collins
鈥淵ou can tell from the lines on her face
You can see that shesa国际传媒 been there
Probably been moved on from every place
鈥楥ause she didn鈥檛 fit in there鈥
3. Courage 听-- Cowardly Lion
鈥淲hat makes a King out of a slave? Courage. 听
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.鈥
On April 8, sa国际传媒 Mayor Tom Dyas praised the councilsa国际传媒 鈥渃ourage鈥 for passing their large wage increases.
Bonus Track: If I Were King of the Forest -- Cowardly Lion
4. Money (Thatsa国际传媒 What I Want) -- The Flying Lizards
5. Taxman -- The Beatles
In May, sa国际传媒 city council finalized its budget with nearly a 5% tax increase.
6. Sue Me, Sue You Blues -- George Harrison
In May, the City of sa国际传媒 and UBC Properties Trust were named in a class action lawsuit over the excavation done at UBCOsa国际传媒 downtown tower site that damaged nearby buildings.
The two defendants are among 17 companies, architects and contractors in the suit filed by two representative tenants who lived at Hadgraft Wilson Place, and one representative company that rented co-work spaces in a nearby building.
7. Homeless -- Ladysmith Black Mambazo (with Paul Simon) from The Concert in Hyde Park (2012)
8. Grapevine Fires -- Death Cab for Cutie
鈥淭he firemen worked in double shifts 听
With prayers for rain on their lips 听
And they knew it was only a matter of time鈥
The songsa国际传媒 animated video won the Audience Choice Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2009.
9. Traffic Jam -- James Taylor
鈥淲ell I left my job about 5 o鈥檆lock
It took fifteen minutes to go three blocks鈥
Also in May, the Ministry of Transportation failed to alleviate traffic congestion on Harvey Avenue using new technology to time lights at cross streets. Many drivers were stuck with seemingly unending red lights.
10. All Along the Watchtower -- The Jimi Hendrix Experience
What follows is my lyric rewrite with sa国际传媒 in mind:
All Along the High Towers
鈥淭here must be some kind of way outta here鈥
Said the tourists in their grief
鈥淭heresa国际传媒 too much car gridlock
We can鈥檛 get no relief鈥
Businessmen, they drink the wine
Excavators dig the earth
Developers put up signs
The mayor offers some words, hey!
鈥淭heresa国际传媒 reason to get excited鈥
The Lorax, he kindly spoke
鈥淭here are many here among us
Who think climate change is but a joke
But you and I, we鈥檝e been through that
And this could be our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late,鈥 hey!
All along the high towers
Planners rezoned the view
While all the councillors came and went
Heat islands are new
Well, outside in the hot distance
A steel crane did prowl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind begin to howl, hey!
All along the high towers
All along the high towers
David Buckna
sa国际传媒
