Dear Editor:
I attended the Summerland mayoralty candidate’s forum last week at Centre Stage Theatre. I couldn’t help but notice a few things.
Coun. Toni Boot very proudly said she would vote “no” on any ALR exclusion that came forward. This is disturbing on a few levels.
First is the concern that any politician would suggest how they will vote on an issue before it is presented and the facts are in. This is way too close to the “don’t confuse me with the facts” axiom for a person charged with being fair and reasonable.
I am sure there could be some reasonable applications that would warrant support by any reasonable person.
Ms. Boot’s priority to study and amend the OCP along with the creation of neighbourhood plans is also of concern.
I am all for good planning, however anyone who has read the OCP would know that it is a very comprehensive document drafted with huge community input in 2008 and amended with huge public input in 2015. There are a ton of good policies and goals (probably 90 per cent) that have not yet been realized.
To suggest this needs to be studied yet again means that miring the community in more study and bureaucracy is a good thing.
Why can’t we just move forward on the myriad of great policies already in that document?
Then there is the fact that our failing infrastructure didn’t even make the top three priorities listed by Ms. Boot! I find that astounding given the asset management study that is almost complete and the obvious state of our roads and underground utilities.
Janet Peake on the other hand suggested she could vote yes on ALR exclusions under certain conditions.
She did not list further planning studies as a priority and noted that our failing infrastructure is in her top three priorities.
I will be supporting Ms. Peake for mayor.
Ian McIntosh
Summerland
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