Since I try to do my best to improve my little corner of the world, I like to keep abreast of what my wee burgh of P Dot undertakes to address upcoming challenges of livability, Climate Change (or Climate Weirding, if you prefer), and active modes of transportation.

I’m sure most of us have heard that many cities are promoting the use of bicycles, walking, and mass transit over single-occupant vehicles as a healthier way of getting around. (Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or in a cave, you should be aware of this. If not, go back from whence you came)

My wee burgh of P Dot, in a sudden moment of clarity, undertook a massive initiative to map out an Active Transportation Plan in 2014, with an aggressive completion timeline of 10 years (2024).

See link here: 

http://www.avtransitiontown.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2014-06-24_FINAL_Port_Alberni_Active_Transportation_Report.pdf

This is an extremely comprehensive report (some 89 pages long!), and, I’m certain, quite costly.

You will see, in the report, very detailed plans to promote both walking and cycling, with timelines to undertake closing gaps in the pedestrian networks (sidewalks, road crossings, and bridges); and creating cycling networks (protected bike lanes, and cross-town pathways). All Good, you say? Not so fast!

In 2017, a local group, Cycle Alberni, with the support of Alberni Valley Transition Town Society (AVTTS) took it upon themselves to complete a review of the Active Transportation Plan.

Here is the review:

http://www.avtransitiontown.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ATP_review_09.2017_Report.pdf

An equally long and comprehensive report (at 91 pages, it is longer than the document it is reviewing!)

As you can see, in 4 years P Dot has done the very minimum (and in most cases, less than the minimum)

This is distressing, and crazy-making for those of us who pay attention to such things; there seems to be a willful resistance by the PTB’s at P Dot’s “Ivory Tower”.

One stunning example of the “Ivory Tower’s” foot dragging:

On March 21, 2017 the City was awarded a $200,000+ grant from the Ministry of Transportation to build a Multi-Use Path along one of P Dot’s busiest (and most industrial) streets.

See here:

https://www.portalberni.ca/news/march-21-2017-701pm/news-release-–-city-awarded-grant-stamp-avenue-multi-use-path

To date, that path is nowhere to be seen, and the grant has been rescinded, as P Dot took too long to get their ducks in a row.

And now, in 2020, I see that the BC Government has just opened the grant application intake for its “B.C. Active Transportation Infrastructure Grants Program”

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/funding-engagement-permits/funding-grants/active-transportation-infrastructure-grants

Since I don’t trust P Dot PTB’s to act on anything unless pushed, I sent them a message on Facebook:

Me: “Has the City applied for any of these grants to further the City’s own Active Transportation Plan (which has a 10 year completion date of 2024)?”

City: 🙂

City: “That grant intake just opened up and we are all over it”

Me: “Good news. What part of the Active Transportation Plan, specifically, are you applying for funding for?”

City:

Me:

I’m hearing a Cricket Opera here, and it’s pretty tragic.

At this point, all one can do is keep pushing, but if P Dot doesn’t pull head out of hind end, the best thing one can do is move away.

The last person out, please remember to turn out the lights.

After a long absence from these very pages, it was time to come back and Ponder some more…..

Over the last few years, I have taken it upon myself to try my very best to improve my lot in my wee burgh of P Dot; I may be opening myself up to some humiliating lessons in how the “Real World” works.

One of the ideas I had (along with some support from some Fellow “Crazies” in the Alberni Valley Food Hub, and Alberni Valley Transition Town Society) was to try and develop some Community Gardens for the less fortunate; landless; and just Garden Happy folks.

One would think that was an easily accomplished task, since there’s vacant spots of land all over the place around these here parts…..HA!

Most vacant lots are privately owned, with the owners hoping/expecting to get a hefty mark-up on their investment (One lot was assessed at $85,000 and the owner has it for sale at $850,000 – yup yup yup). Totes ridic, as my Millenial step-kiddo would say.

I then sought a listing of vacant, City-owned land from the Fine Folks at P Dot City Hall (aka The Ivory Tower); that was a joke and a half, with some excuse that “we are currently undertaking an inventory of all of our lands; we expect that to take a few months.”

Being a Postie, I’ve walked every square inch of P Dot’s City Limits (and driven a few Rural Miles); there is no way that any inventory of vacant land owned by the City should take that long, but we mustn’t hurry the Fine Folks, y’know?

It wasn’t until I attended a Director’s Meeting on an unrelated topic that I learned that there was a map of potential Community Garden sites made available to a (now defunct) City Committee. Said Committee, of which certain members of the above-mentioned Groups, were sitting on and, if they had been paying attention, could have provided me with that map months ago. This still sits uneasily with me…but, onward!

Having gone over that map with a very fine-toothed comb, I am very disappointed to see that there is not one single available and immediately useful parcel of land anywhere in the limits of P Dot. Anything that is available needs logging, dredging, infrastructure (water lines), and building in order to be useful.

I am extremely disappointed, but not altogether surprised at this; it seems to be yet another setback in a long line of setbacks when dealing with the City of P Dot.

It may be that in order to create Community Gardens, purchasing a vacant lot or two may be the only feasible way to proceed; I will have to ponder on this further.

On this Earth Day (as most Earth Days) I’m given to a little pondering on the state of affairs in my little corner of the world.
The other day, on the front page of our local newspaper (or “gossip rag” to some) blared a headline about one of our city councillors railing against the increased level of illegal dumping of garbage in our ravines and wild places.

While I have seen a fair bit of garbage dumped in places when I have gone on a few little hikes in close proximity to my neighbourhood, I have yet to take garbage bags and litter “picker-uppers” with me (as a beginner, it’s enough that I carry a camera and a water bottle); as I get more used to hiking, I will carry the aforementioned with me.

The cynical side of me wonders what this councillor, with his jacked-up, heavily-customized, gas-guzzling, blacked out pick-up truck (not very Earth friendly, that) is trying to accomplish? I have never heard of him before our most recent election. He is an ex-cop, with a heavily accented French-Canadian accent, and wears enough cologne that one can taste it. Now, I am not trying to downplay his contributions to cleaning up our community; however, we do have city employees that can (and should) clean up illegal garbage dumps within our city limits as part of their duties.

I would also like to point out that not only do people dump garbage into our ravines and wild places, I have also seen divisions of people’s ornamental plants, grass clippings, leaf rakings, and fruit fall tossed into the bush as well.

None of these occur naturally in nature; your ornamental Day Lilies, Hostas, Peonies, what-have-you, do not belong in the wild. If you are blessed with an over-abundance of such plants, either knock on the door of that plant obsessed neighbour and ask if they would like a few free plants, pot them up and sell them for a few dollars, or place them curbside with a sign – “free plants help yourself”.

As for grass clippings and leaf rakings, I have seen in a small trailer park, a large compost box specifically created just for these offerings. For those gardeners that are keen to get as much free compostings as possible, but have limited room, this is a Gift. I would like to see at every ravine site and wild place within city limits that people discard their grass clippings and leaf rakings, large composting bins for this purpose. If they get over-full, the city can send out a truck and collect it to use for their own composting needs.

Fruit fall….Le Sigh. If you are going to have fruit trees or shrubs on your property, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO MAINTAIN AND HARVEST YOUR FRUIT. If you have far more fruit than you could ever possibly hope to consume, share your bounty with your neighbours, members of your extended family, or the local food bank. If you are unable to harvest your fruit at the appropriate time, look into giving a local gleaning group a call; they will be happy to take care of your “fruitful abundance”, and make quite a few people happy in the process. If however, you are a lazy, anti-social slug, do everyone (and the local wildlife) a favour and remove the damned tree and plant something else more suited to your tastes. (Cactus comes to mind).

For far too many years, this small town has had an “All Me, All The Time” attitude; it is time to grow up, realize the World really doesn’t care about you, and stop shitting in your own back yard.

As many of my regular readers will recall, I have posted on the shortcomings of past City Councils on these very pages; we have elected a mostly new council this past November.
(Only ONE of the newly elected actually garnered a vote from yours truly.)
So far, I am unimpressed with this council. Let me explain why:

Recently I came across this article: http://www.sseer.ca/community-economic-development/13-ways-to-kill-a-community/

I encourage you to read this article in its entirety and put on your thinking caps.

Let’s go through them one by one.

1. Water Quality:
Our main source of drinking water is in the McLaughlin Ridge/China Creek Watershed. This is privately owned by a logging company.

Yes, Dear Reader, you read that right: PRIVATELY OWNED.

Very recently, said logging company, the provincial pundits, and the local city council had what I will politely call a “Love In” during our most recent council meeting.

Save for one councillor who put forth a motion to stop all logging activities in this area, and perhaps pursue a land swap; the majority and Mayor lapped up the slightly pungent offerings of the logging company and provincial punditry as if they were the finest of pearls and diamonds.

Nary a thought of the fact that whilst the aforementioned stroking of egos ensued, logging activities continues at an ever-increasing frantic pace.

Hmmm…..I smell poo and it stinks.

2. Business Attraction:
One can take a leisurely jaunt around our “little burg” in whatever conveyance of choice and see a multitude of shuttered, vacant storefronts; multiple vacant lots with all manner of weeds and debris reaching for the heavens; the occasional “professional girl” plying her wares in broad daylight.

I’m sure many a potential business owner sees these signs and says “I MUST build my business here!”….. Not.

No amount of yammering by our Economic Development Officer is going to change my mind.

3. Youth Involvement:
This one gives me the giggles. Unless the youth come from a well-to-do family and are interested in hockey, the youth here are mostly regarded the same way that slightly demented family member is at any number of family gatherings. Slightly embarrassing, and the sooner out of the way, the better.

4. Assessing Community Needs and Assets:
Unless our community only consists of a couple dozen senior citizens in need of extended care, and they all happen to live within the confines of the City Hall building; the only Need and Asset that City Hall deems worth addressing is: Business As Usual.

Time and again, the Magic Bullet proposed to kick start this community into the next century is a regurgitated, perfumed, and lipsticked version of the same pigs that caused this community to fall in the toilet in the first place.

5. Shop Elsewhere:
This has been addressed in my blog posting “Customer Service, Eh Wot?” on April 21, 2014. It still applies.

6. Appearance of Businesses and the Community At Large:
At the main entrance of town, guests are blessed with the destruction caused by the very same logging company I spoke of at the beginning of this blog, followed by a lovely view of tattered billboards as far as the eye can see, an automobile junkyard on the right, a graveyard on the left, and: Hark! The Chamber Of Commerce/Tourism Building.

A lovely monstrosity of a building housing folks that spend much time doing much of nothing, as “Promoting Port Alberni to the World is not our mandate”. Uh huh…..

7.Cooperation:
Unless you are Jimmy Pattison, or heaven forbid, Jack Purdy, with plans of taking far more out of this community than you will ever put in, Tofino is down the road and to the right…..

8. Live In The Past:
“This is the way we’ve always done it” should be carved into the city letterhead.

Yes, I agree we should honour the past, but let’s live in the present and prepare for the future.

9. Ignore The Seniors:
Unless our seniors are currently in an Old Folks Home, on the way there, or on the way into the ground, there is little to no point in offering these folks anything more than a glorified “gossip centre”, maybe a little building where they can roll little balls around, or a corner of a coffee shop. They’re going to be dead soon, so why bother?

10. Nothing New:
Let’s see….in 40 years the newest, biggest Thing we’ve had is Walmart. Nuff said.

11. Ignore Immigrants and Newcomers:
These folks bring innovation and new ideas that might possibly be a Good Thing. We mustn’t have that! We’re quite comfortable living “In The Good Old Days” thanks.

12. Take No Risks:
With our low cost of housing and land, why would we want to take the risk of attracting knowledge industries here? Or encouraging a world class university to set up shop here? Piffle, if we took risks and it turned out positive, we might believe that we deserve more!

13. Don’t Take Responsibility:
Much like what our current Mayor promised when campaigning. If you promise nothing, you can be held liable for nothing.

As it stands now, I don’t anticipate much change for the next four years. For the one councillor who earned my vote: Bless You for stepping up. It is unfortunate the rest of council is not as forward minded.

With the Hallowe’en Season upon us, I thought this might send a few shivers down a few spines.  Enjoy.  Bwahahaha……

“Genetically Modified Organisms will save the world!”  If that’s true, one has to wonder why many of the companies that pioneer GMO seeds and crops spend so much time and money fighting against all efforts to label their products as either containing GMOs or are GMOs in their entirety.

(see: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/29/us-usa-gmo-labeling-idUSKBN0FY08W20140729 )

Like many consumers, I like to know what is in the products that I buy; I want to know what it is that I’m putting on my body, or in this case, in my body with the food I’m consuming.  I’m not too keen on eating a tomato that has had some genetic material from a fish that doesn’t freeze in the arctic inserted to enable said tomato withstand periods of cold temperatures, or eating an apple that has been modified to never go brown when cut open.

I also take issue with the idea of “Terminator Genes” engineered right into the seeds to make the plants sterile, so poor farmers are not able to save the seed and replant for the next year’s crop; necessitating expensive outlays of money every year to purchase new seed.

(see: http://www.globalresearch.ca/genetically-engineered-terminator-seeds-death-and-destruction-of-agriculture/5319797 )

In many parts of the world, suffering from extreme poverty, the idea of keeping the most vulnerable in crushing debt to satisfy the greed of a few biotechnology companies is offensive.

GMO technologies do offer some benefits.  In many cases, yields are higher in a smaller area; plants are engineered to be more drought tolerant (which will be more important as the world undergoes widespread water stresses); and quite often are able to give the farmer a higher income selling the increased yields of product.

(see: http://www.rff.org/Publications/WPC/Pages/The-Benefits-of-Genetically-Modified-Crops-and-the-Costs-of-Inefficient-Regulation… )

Many people wonder if we, as a global society, are on an unsustainable path. It certainly wouldn’t be surprising to think that we are heading straight for the brick wall with no brakes, when we read of increasing global temperatures, rising sea levels, melting polar ice caps, and the like.

I would like to suggest that we have the tools to change the tide; we are able to measure, with an accuracy that was unavailable to us in the past, ecological footprints of various kinds (water, carbon, energy). With these tools, we are able to identify embodied energy that goes into the making of an object; the life cycle assessments of most any object/product that we consume.

It is then up to us to demand that full, true cost accounting be added to the pricing of every product, service, or foodstuff that we consume. It is then that we will see, and fully understand, the true cost of shipping in a product, such as strawberries, from the other side of the world just so we can indulge in a strawberry in the middle of winter, whilst the snow be “ a blowin’ ‘gainst the side of the house”.

However, it is heartening to learn that we are fast approaching Peak Everything. (Jonathan Tomkin “Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation”) The reason I say that is because it means that the global society is fast approaching a level of financial sufficiency where one is not wholly concerned about their next meal, having a roof over their heads, or medical care for their loved ones. (Jeffery Sachs “The Age of Sustainable Development”) It is safe to say that when one’s main concern is to procure the necessities of survival, ecological footprints are the last thing on one’s mind.

I am hopeful that we are approaching that level where, as a global society, we have the necessities that we need, and we are able to make fully informed decisions on how our actions affect others and the planet we live on

As of late, I have been quite busy with a few free online courses (MOOCs: Massive Online Open Courses) that I would certainly advise anyone to look into, as it gives you the knowledge base that you can acquire from a university without the high costs.

Having said that, in one of my courses, “Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation” taught by one Professor Jonathan Tomkin from the University of Illinois, we were to write a discussion paper on renewable energy in our country of origin.

I was quite surprised, and a little shocked at how much investment we do have in Canada, and a little annoyed at how much investment is being stifled for the benefit of our fossil fuel industry.

Below is my submission; please enjoy.

Renewable Energy: The Future Of Possibilities.

As has been postulated on many a forum, the reliance on the oil and gas industry for all of our energy needs is becoming increasingly tenuous and costly; as well as being deleterious to our environment.

While the oil and gas industry has enjoyed many decades of prominence in supplying all of our energy needs, the time has come for us to consider moving away from those sources of energy and move into a new era of energy supply: renewable energy.

In Canada, there are many actual and potential sources of renewable energy, all with varying degrees of success in supplying energy needs to various communities. They are as follows:

Tidal Power:

Probably the best known source of potential tidal power is located at Minas Passage, in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia. ( http://www.fundyforce.ca )

With 160 billion tonnes of seawater; the highest tides in the world; incredibly fast currents (10 knots, 5.1 metres per second), there is potential for 300 megawatts of power. Enough power for 100,000 homes. As research continues, there is suggestion that there is more than 7000 megawatts of potential and 50,000 megawatts of energy in the entire Bay of Fundy.

Wind Power:

Canada’s current installed capacity for wind power is: 8,517 megawatts, which is 3% of Canada’s electricity demand with enough power to meet the needs of over 2 million homes.
( http://www.canwea.ca/wind-energy/installed-capacity/ )

Below is the list of installed wind power per province:

Yukon: 0.810 MW
British Columbia: 488.7 MW
Alberta: 1,419.10 MW
Northwest Territories: 9.2 MW
Saskatchewan: 198.4 MW
Manitoba: 258.4 MW
Ontario: 2,855.51 MW
Quebec: 2,398.3 MW
New Brunswick: 294 MW
Nova Scotia: 335.8 MW
Prince Edward Island: 203.56 MW
Newfoundland: 54.7 MW

Landfill Methane Gas Capture:

In 1999, 16 installations were utilizing landfill methane gas for energy production; of those, 8 installations produced a total of 85.3 MW of electrical power, sufficient to meet the annual demand for 57,000 homes.

Today, 300,000 tonnes of methane is recovered from 42 sites across the country annually; experts predict that the volume of methane captured from landfills could be doubled within 5 years.
( http://www.lfgindustry.org/Landfill.asp )

Biomass Energy:

In Canada, there is 1,700 MW of energy produced. 1.4% of annual renewable electricity production.
( https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/renewable-electricity/7295 )

Solar Power:

In Canada, solar power only accounts for 0.1% of total energy production, but potentially could increase to 5% of Canada’s energy needs by 2025.
( https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/statistics-facts/1239 )

However, in 2001, 12,000 residential solar hot water heating systems and 300 commercial/industrial solar hot water systems were in use.

In 2010, Ontario had the largest solar farm in the world: Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant which provided power to over 12,000 homes. Ontario is expected to reach 2,650 MW of solar PV by 2015.

Run-of-River Power:

As of 2011, 32 Run of River projects have been installed in British Columbia; and 3,400 MW of installed capacity in Canada.

In Run of River projects “running water is diverted from a river and guided down a channel, or penstock, which leads to a generating house. Here, the force of the moving water spins a turbine, which then drives a generator. Used water is fed back into the main river further downstream. The difference between run-of-river and large, conventional storage hydro, is the absence of a dam and reservoir. Run-of-river relies on coursing rivers to generate electricity, as opposed to stored water.”
( http://www.energybc.ca/profiles/runofriver.html )

Geothermal Power:

At this point, very little is being done to actively pursue geothermal power for the Canadian market. However, as of 2007, it was estimated that geothermal power could meet half of British Columbia’s electricity needs.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Canada )

The largest coventional resources for geothermal power are located in British Columbia, Yukon, and Alberta, with a potential 5,000 MW in traditional shallow geothermal resources with currently available technology.
( http://www.cangea.ca/where-are-canadian-geothermal-resources-found.html )

Nuclear Power:

Most of Canada’s nuclear power production is concentrated in Ontario, with 17 of 19 reactors producing 96.4 billion kiloWatt hours annually (15% of Canada’s electricity needs).
( http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/Canada–Nuclear-Power )
( http://www.aecl.ca )
It is interesting to note that all 19 reactors have shutdown dates ranging from 2014 to 2037.

As we can see, there are many sources of renewable energy. The challenges are mostly two-fold: political will and economic costs. Being that long distances tend to decrease the effectiveness of transportation of renewable energy, it may be better for communities of varying sizes to set up their own renewable energy sources, or join forces with nearby communities to share the costs of setting up localized renewable energy power plants.

It would also be wise to diversify the renewable energy inputs so that if one is not producing at maximum power (eg. Solar panels on a cloudy day) then another source is available (such as tidal power) to make up for the shortfall.

Just recently my grandfather passed away; through settling the  estate and sifting through his personal belongings, mementos, and a large collection of photographs and slides, has given me many opportunities to reflect on how we occupy the world today.

Through the relentless media onslaught to buy the “newest, biggest, shiniest……”(fill in the blank with a product of choice), we are driven to consume and discard an ever growing supply of “stuff”.  What happens when we discard this “stuff”?  Like most communities in North America, my trash is collected at the curb and trucked away.  The problem is that “away” is getting pretty full, so now we have to find another “away” to dispose of our trash.  What happens when there is no “away” left?  We would then, at current consumption levels, be piling trash ever higher and more precariously in our backyards and under our homes.  One can imagine the result of a carelessly applied misstep.

I have an old sofa that belonged to my grandparents that I’m currently storing for my mother.  The sofa is over 70 years old; solidly crafted, of a Danish Modern design, and has been recovered numerous times according to the decorating whims of my grandmother, but is still as solid as the day it was made.

If we, as a society, demanded an end to the planned obsolescence that pervades the whole of retail goods, we could return to the days of quality-built goods: items that are repairable and durable.  With such goods in hand, we will find that we need to consume less; with less consumption, less damage to our environments both personal and globally.

With less consumption of goods, and returning to a lifestyle of “just enough”, we could return to a more elegant way of living where the accumulation of goods and “keeping up with the Jones’s” takes a backseat to stronger ties with family, friends, and neighbours.

Some time ago, a dear friend lent me a book called “Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times” by Carolyn Baker. It details solutions for living graciously during, and after, the inevitable collapse of industrial society.

Now, lest anyone think that I’m becoming one of those “The End Is Nigh” sign-waving nutbars that we see standing on street corners spouting Doomsday epithets. Do I believe that the world is going to end as depicted in the Book of Revelations in the Holy Bible, “….struck by deadly plagues, famine, earthquakes; the sky will turn dark, and oceans will turn to blood.”, and suffer penance at the hands of the Four Horsemen: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death? In a word, No.

I do believe, however, that we are already experiencing a gradual erosion (some very gradual; some more pronounced) of many things that we take for granted such as infrastructure, food security, and cheap fuel. We already see the ever-increasing cost of fuel, for some, is necessitating the choice between gas for the family wagon or food on the table.

I do not believe that this means we need to become a society of “Doomsday Preppers”, as much as TLC’s television program of the same name seems to portray. What many of these “preppers” seem to overlook when amassing their stockpiles of weapons, ammunition, bottled water, and canned foods is that in the event of some cataclysmic event, all this will eventually run out, and Then What?

There is a more elegant way of preparing for the future.

First, I strongly suggest we stop accumulating so much “stuff”. Or as a good friend put it: CSMC (Cheap Shit Made in China). Start demanding, and buying quality made, long lasting, repairable goods.

Second, look to your property. How much of it is devoted solely to ornamental plants such as roses and lawn? Think about mixing all manner of food producing trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and vines into your existing landscape, or go full on permaculture Food Forest. (See my previous blog posting: “Food Forests, Permaculture, Bees, and a side order of children”) You will be surprised how edible landscaping complements your landscaping.

Third, learn to preserve and put by the bounty of your edible landscaping. Canning, dehydrating, and fermenting are just some of the ways to preserve the fruits (and veggies, roots, nuts, etc.) of your labours. Nothing is more satisfying than opening the door of your larder and seeing row upon row of canned jars of goodness winking like jewels in the sun.

Fourth, in my opinion, the most important. Cultivate relationships. Get to know your neighbours, their kids, and even their pets. Develop deep friendships with people of like minds. Cultivate spiritual leanings of whatever variety speaks to you. These deep ties with community will be what sustains us in the Next Age, whatever it may be.

Recently in my “wee burg”, the federal Port Authority locked up, in a 25 year lease, several acres next to a public waterfront park with the plan of sub-leasing said land to a local boat building business.

What many people seem to have overlooked is that the business in question could have, and should have, approached the city directly and worked out a lease agreement without the unnecessary involvement of the Port Authority;  another thing that seems to have been overlooked is that one of our city councillors is an employee for the aforementioned boat building business.  Hmm…I smell something funky, and it’s not the next door neighbour’s barbecue.

In this “wee burg”, heavy industry has taken over nearly 95% of all waterfront access; the Port Authority has over 100 leases on both sides of our inlet, and seems to have the feeling that “we know what’s best for you, so be quiet and go away”.

Since further expansion of the park has been curtailed by the short-sightedness of the majority of city council, the Port Authority should cough up a healthy budget for ameliorating the ugly viewscape that will dominate one side of the park.  Full height trees to block the view from the park, full curtailment of all industrial traffic through the park, improved parking areas, proper topsoil brought in for grass, proper washrooms, lighting, tables, seating areas, and a covered pavilion for people to sit under during our frequent spells of rain should be the very minimum the public should expect.

This speaks to an even larger problem that is rearing its ugly head in this town: the erosion of control over the public commons.  ALL federal entities; ALL Crown land are owned by the canadian public.  That means that you, Dear Reader,  OWN it!  To that end, I propose that you repeat after me: “It’s MINE; I own it!”, and keep repeating it until you believe it.

It is time that all levels of government learn (or re-learn, rather) to have a healthy amount of fear and respect for the public; the public also needs to reclaim their right to be the dictatorial shareholder in all matters Federal, Provincial, and Municipal.  The public needs to demand, and expect, that Big Business’s whims will not supersede the will of the public.

If Big Business is going to remove from the public commons anything that is going to be used for the express pleasure of the business, then that business should have to beg the public for the right to do so, and fully expect to handsomely compensate the public for their largesse.