Nelson: Kiss & Tell

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Quickly:
Tell me the names of three City-related Boards! ..... Time's up! Now tell me the names of four members of the CDC! ..... Time's up! What does APC mean? ..... Time's up! Who's the chair of the CHC? ..... Time's up! What is the function of the Treaty Advisory Committee? ..... Time's up! How many members does the Police Board have? ..... Time's up! How do you contact a Committee? ..... Time's up! What is the difference between a Commission and a Committee? ..... Time's up! What is an Alternate? .....Time's up!

I don't want to play anymore! I want to go home!

Don't winge - you can't go home: you are at home! Nelson IS your home!
No cookie for you!

In her first Council Column, Nelson Star, Jan. 11, 2012, Councillor Kiss announced that she will hold regular, informal, coffee-house-type discussions and that she will make her political calendar public. She needs to be commended for directly opening herself and her work to those who are/should be interested!

It is to be hoped that this will signal a trend to nudge the blissfully ignorant public towards becoming more directly involved: on a permanent basis, instead of with the occasional indignant, short-term jumping-up-and-down by a few only. There has not been nearly enough of that in the past. And although both sides need to take responsibility for the overall disconnect: City Hall has not reached out nearly enough to make the Nelson citizenry feel part of the decision-making process. An active part!

Although it is possible - through one City-webpage - to determine on which Boards, Committees, Commissions the mayor and councillors serve and to connect with them - through another webpage - by phone or e-mail: their function in these groups is not known to the general public. Neither are the real-time parameters nor composition of these groups: all ostensibly building-blocks within the City-construct - our home!

So - for the sake of openness, direct accessibility and ultimately accountability - it seems appropriate to have listed - on a connected webpage - all City-related Boards, Committees, Commissions and all their members, as well as their chairs; plus contact-information for the groups as units, as opposed to for just one - possibly random - member!
All preceded by a brief introduction to these groups in simple-speak.

To illustrate my point:
When the Funky Monkey's colours catch the public's attention for a brief but relatively intense period, with the Community Heritage Commission's (CHC) role becoming an issue in the discussion - letters to the local paper raise the question: Who are these CHC-people anyway? Not necessarily accusing but simply wanting to know! Because they don't!

Personal experience - same point:
Some months ago I want to connect with the CHC through its chair - this example is coincidental, the CHC per se is not the topic here. So I call the catch-all phone-number at City Hall to ask for the chair's name/contact info. The switchboard doesn't know and suggests I connect with the Mayor's Office. Giving me a phone-number for it. Calling there seems reasonable: the CHC holds its meetings in Council Chambers, and the Office is a major conduit. I call: they don't know either but promise to call me back with this info. But don't! Then I call someone very much in the loop with the Cultural Development Commission (CDC) - seeing that there is an umbilical-cord CHC/CDC-connect. But again - nothing!
Most would probably give-up at this stage.
I need this info and eventually could surely get it through someone else at City Hall, but I have found that the best approach in many a Nelson-situation is not necessarily one that needs a game-plan involving several calls - thus people - and confidentiality at the same time. Awkward!
So I end-up getting this very basic City Hall info on the outside!

Approaching a Board, Committee, Commission as a whole through the mayor or councillors seems indirect, inefficient - actually inappropriate - if they are not in a designated decision-making position - including that of spokesperson - within that particular group.

Councillor Kiss is about to open a new door to the wonderful world of City Hall. It is up to the mayor and the rest of Council to pull it open wider from within. And to a concerned citizenry to push it open farther from without! Then enter and get comfy!


Once inside and talking and listening:                                  

                                                                             

                    

Cookies for everybody!!!

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Dragon Flight - Jan. 23

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This is a true story.

There is this huge and ugly ogre - Nian (knee-ann) - who goes around gobbling-up people in a big way - usually in winter, usually on the same day. Bummer! By-and-by those left over get tired of this and organize behind one old revolutionary who is ready and willing to stand-up to the tyrant: they beat gongs, set-off fireworks - crash! boom! bang! - and the fearless leader flashes his red knickers at Nian - no kidding! - when he comes down from the mountains for the free lunch he feels entitled to.

Because I am bigger than you are!

But what with all this racket and the scary sight of those audacious knickers, plus all that being-chased-around and no food - Nian gets exhausted, is caught and agrees to go into exile across the waves in Switzerland, where he keeps a big stash of delicacies in a cave to which only he has the combination.

All seems well now - superficially anyway - but people don't trust the arrangement, particularly as the wise old man has wisely moved along, and pushing and pulling among potential successors has taken-on a life of its own - that life not necessarily including the greater whole which feels: no, we can't! So the many are tense - in a holding-pattern - and the few ostensibly aiming to protect them support this tension with gusto and God on our side, by suggesting preemptively leveling Switzerland to ease it. The tension.

But the many can remember Nian's red- and noise-phobias. So they keep decorating their houses with much red once a year - always on the same day. Like with strips of red paper on and around entrances, with hopes and wishes written on them; red posters and red paper-cuts on windows. And making much noise!!!
And those who just have to get to the mall for something they absolutely can't be without - on this day which has become the first day of the year - wear something red to be safe out there: a piece of clothing, a belt, their Louboutins, even just a red thread around a wrist.

Predictably, Nian hasn't returned. Well, who would: Switzerland, with all that free money, reasonably priced cheese and superior chocolate!

But told to never ever trust Nian, protective measures for the many have become a custom on this first day of the New Year - called Guo Nian - The Passing of Nian. And the weeklong festival following it is called Chun Jie - The Spring Festival, because according to the lunar calendar this is the beginning of spring. I know, I know! And this coming year - following the Chinese zodiac - will be the Year of the Dragon: a good guy! But that's another story.

Anyway - back to the beginning of it all. To stimulate the military-industrial complex: their cottage-industry noise-makers - invented by them - have become an export-smash, in great demand for frightening the natives into submission else-and-anywhere. Flashbangs! Beads no more! And importers in more civilized countries have refined these flashbangs by adding an actual kill-component! Applied by merely flicking a switch and watched on screens in the comfort of their rectitude. Bang - you're definitively dead! Just for the hell of it - literally! Death-gamers! How cool is that!

The Chinese word for year is nian as well. So when people today wish each other
Xin nian kuai le! - Happy New Year!
they - at the same time - keep their fingers crossed when remembering the huge and ugly ogre out there somewhere!

Nian wants to be your friend. 

Whatever, on January 23rd - the first day of the Year of the Dragon - it'll be best to wear a little something red!




Just in case!








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Nelson: A Maybe-Economy

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Recently the Star ran a story on the City being in a bit of a tizzy over the proliferation of sandwich-boards per se on Baker and possible safety issues because of them.

These boards are placed on sidewalks to attract customers - obviously crucial for all businesses advertising - particularly those off-Baker: they inform those who don't know and remind those who may have forgotten. Increasing business is good for business - thus the local economy. With the local economy being less than robust wink-wink, it would seem basic that the City encourages instead of discourages its growth. Maybe.

I have never felt threatened by sandwich-boards, nor have I stumbled over or even just had to walk around one. Including at crosswalks. And I have never seen this happen to anyone else. Or heard anyone complain about them. And - not being a driver - I walk in the downtown-area almost every day.
I often don't feel safe though - what about the seriously elderly and infirm? - and I have stumbled and slipped and made often tricky detours for years when in winter there is absolutely no enforcement downtown of the sidewalk-snow-shoveling bylaw. And I have seen others of various ages slip and heard them complain. It is (un)safe to say that at least a third of all businesses/buildings in the general downtown-area don't shovel or dispense salt. They don't because they don't have to.
Meaning: often deep snow turns into deep slush turns into bumpy ice, while bylaw-enforcement folk - when a visible presence - are busy with non-confrontational parking-meters or chatting with non-confrontational acquaintances.

It would be reasonable to formalize a rule to generally keep boards close to curbs, away from parking-meters and from obstructing crosswalks and entrances - all this already common practice anyway.
Specifically - there is no reason why street-level/store-front businesses on Baker should have a sandwich-board: if pedestrians can look to the left - they can look to the right. And vice versa. These boards should be disallowed to avoid overwhelming clutter. At the same time - 2nd/3rd-floor businesses and those below street-level on Baker need to make their presence known somehow - thus should be allowed to have a board.
Businesses in the 1st block of streets crossing Baker should be allowed a sandwich-board at 2 street-corners on their side. For them also: if in a street-level store no - if on 2nd/3rd floors or below street-level yes. They may draw potential customers - who otherwise might not go there - into those blocks.
And that should be it - common sense!

Most of these sandwich-boards are quite attractive, and all add a splash of colour, some life and even a bit of flair to an otherwise very dingy downtown Nelson - like most of the year! 

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