The Westcorp hotel....

[Mtn Biker]

I am pretty sure this development is in lue of endorsement moneys given to Basran to first get the seat he was neither qualified for, nor deserving of. And second, Basran now needs to keep his back room promises before the next election, of Melcor will finance another patsy to tilt council in their favor for their out of OCP endeavors. Not surprised at all.

[UncleChubs]

There was a lot of people standing for the first 3 hours or more, not sure where you were. Not like you could easily find a place to sit many could not. Plus no one could speak to it till at least the 4 hour mark.
And while they were displaying the names of the opposed letter writers (around 13) someone continued on out of turn.
Nice try though..
I have seen it worse but it was pretty packed.

Dirtybiker talked about people being blocked out. Not true. Now you're talking about standing. So, a very few people preferred to stand, despite the fact that there were empty chairs for the entirety of the meeting. As you say, 'Nice try though'.

Are you now suggesting an additional conspiracy that only the "no" crowd had to stand? (and I use the word 'crowd' loosely, since there were so few on the "no" side)

Nice try? Please - know when to quit.

[zerograv]

Well, nice to see Mayor Sugarplum and several councillors found the opportunity to pad their resumes by adding the title of knowitall city planner to their list of civic offences accomplishments during last night’s fore drawn conclusion council meeting. Their agenda is no clearer than has now been made evident in that they have zero concern with listening to their community, let alone civic staff that actually own the title of city planner. They simply will not listen to their constituent’s opinions, so let them know by way of the only means left - your vote - or lack thereof in the next civic election. Shame on you Mayor(spit)Basran and your like minded cronies for leaving your mark on this city’s future in exactly the same way a dog does a fire hydrant - the exceptions being councillors Hodge and Donn.

Lol the majority of feedback from constituents was positive. If the negative nancies wanted their opinion to be known they should have gotten off their *bleep*

[WalterWhite]

Well, nice to see Mayor Sugarplum and several councillors found the opportunity to pad their resumes by adding the title of knowitall city planner to their list of civic offences accomplishments during last night’s fore drawn conclusion council meeting. Their agenda is no clearer than has now been made evident in that they have zero concern with listening to their community, let alone civic staff that actually own the title of city planner. They simply will not listen to their constituent’s opinions, so let them know by way of the only means left - your vote - or lack thereof in the next civic election. Shame on you Mayor(spit)Basran and your like minded cronies for leaving your mark on this city’s future in exactly the same way a dog does a fire hydrant - the exceptions being councillors Hodge and Donn.

Lol the majority of feedback from constituents was positive. If the negative nancies wanted their opinion to be known they should have gotten off their *bleep*

I think the point is being missed. Some of those "negative Nancies" include their own planning staff. Ryan Donn made some of the most sensible comment of them all:

Coun. Ryan Donn, who admitted he's no planner, said he couldn't support the development.

"I don't think we have the capacity at council to negotiate this, or the next 10 towers," he said.

"I think we run the risk of these types of negotiations happening in the public realm or political realm for the next few developments downtown. I would rather have predictable policy supported by council."

[zerograv]

Lol the majority of feedback from constituents was positive. If the negative nancies wanted their opinion to be known they should have gotten off their *bleep*

I think the point is being missed. Some of those "negative Nancies" include their own planning staff. Ryan Donn made some of the most sensible comment of them all:

Coun. Ryan Donn, who admitted he's no planner, said he couldn't support the development.

"I don't think we have the capacity at council to negotiate this, or the next 10 towers," he said.

"I think we run the risk of these types of negotiations happening in the public realm or political realm for the next few developments downtown. I would rather have predictable policy supported by council."

Is that the same planning staff that worked side by side with Westcorp on the revision? Who cares what the city's staff says. they are paid to represent the people and judging by who showed up to the meeting, the people approved.

[WalterWhite]

Lol the majority of feedback from constituents was positive. If the negative nancies wanted their opinion to be known they should have gotten off their *bleep*

I think the point is being missed. Some of those "negative Nancies" include their own planning staff. Ryan Donn made some of the most sensible comment of them all:

Coun. Ryan Donn, who admitted he's no planner, said he couldn't support the development.

"I don't think we have the capacity at council to negotiate this, or the next 10 towers," he said.

"I think we run the risk of these types of negotiations happening in the public realm or political realm for the next few developments downtown. I would rather have predictable policy supported by council."

Is that the same planning staff that worked side by side with Westcorp on the revision? Who cares what the city's staff says. they are paid to represent the people and judging by who showed up to the meeting, the people approved.

Thanks for proving the point. :)

[fz6adventure]

I was there, and there was no reason for anyone to be "stuck out in the lobby". And there were several requests from the Mayor to ensure everyone who wanted to speak had the full opportunity to do so.

Nice try, dirtybiker. But sometimes facts get in the way of conspiracy theories.

There is no conspiracy theory at work here. Plain and simple the council meetings to attend for just 5 minutes voice to your position one way or the other are a charade. By design, having to wait until at least 10 PM on a work/school night for the opportunity to address council is insane and an obvious modus operandi to make it as difficult as possible to hear from the citizens. Any thoughtful council would know this was a hot button and should have been a sole agenda item to give people the chance to speak up. But then again it would not have mattered as the vote was pre-determined in any event.

[bob vernon]

This is what municipal politics in the Okanagan is ALWAYS about. Land use. And hiding behind phrases like "trying to make a vibrant and world class community." It's really about developers getting the "right" people elected to councils and then getting their zoning. Or having the taxpayer at large pay for a water or sewer line to a part of town that just happens to be near their property that gets rezoned.

Of course it smells really bad.

[lesliepaul]

I am in the belief that YES, Kelowna has to go UP. Is this the right place for Westcorp to build this, I would say no. I am willing to bet that in 3 years........there will still be no hotel and Westcorp will make up MANY more excuses as to why. Westcorp can rest assured that nobody from this city council will ever question their delays. This type of building activity occurs quite often in Kelowna..........lots of talkers with ideas and unwilling to use their own money. Look at SOPA.........where are we at there, close to 10 years for it to be almost ready in 2018.

[UncleChubs]

I was there, and there was no reason for anyone to be "stuck out in the lobby". And there were several requests from the Mayor to ensure everyone who wanted to speak had the full opportunity to do so.

Nice try, dirtybiker. But sometimes facts get in the way of conspiracy theories.

There is no conspiracy theory at work here. Plain and simple the council meetings to attend for just 5 minutes voice to your position one way or the other are a charade. By design, having to wait until at least 10 PM on a work/school night for the opportunity to address council is insane and an obvious modus operandi to make it as difficult as possible to hear from the citizens. Any thoughtful council would know this was a hot button and should have been a sole agenda item to give people the chance to speak up. But then again it would not have mattered as the vote was pre-determined in any event.

OMG. No conspiracy theory here, you say. And THEN you throw out yet ANOTHER conspiracy theory: do you really believe city council huddled together privately to plan a way to keep citizens from being heard? Really?

Oh wait, this system was set up decades ago. Then again, no reason not to believe Westcorp didn't figure this out with councillors years ago. Even before they knew they were going to be future council members. Right...

[GordonH]

Condo residents cheap like borscht, 1.5 million to 10 million. I will let you know after I win the 60 million on Lotto Max.....

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

There is no conspiracy theory at work here. Plain and simple the council meetings to attend for just 5 minutes voice to your position one way or the other are a charade. By design, having to wait until at least 10 PM on a work/school night for the opportunity to address council is insane and an obvious modus operandi to make it as difficult as possible to hear from the citizens. Any thoughtful council would know this was a hot button and should have been a sole agenda item to give people the chance to speak up. But then again it would not have mattered as the vote was pre-determined in any event.[/quote]

OMG. No conspiracy theory here, you say. And THEN you throw out yet ANOTHER conspiracy theory: do you really believe city council huddled together privately to plan a way to keep citizens from being heard? Really?

Oh wait, this system was set up decades ago. Then again, no reason not to believe Westcorp didn't figure this out with councillors years ago. Even before they knew they were going to be future council members. Right...[/quote]

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Here is what happened at the Tourism Kelowna meeting.
I arrived shortly before 6.
Was greeted at the door by the yes side, they offered me a large green button to wear , I declined.
I went in, most of the seating was empty, but reserved by objects eft on them or someone guarding them. One report said this had occurred at least 1/2 hour before start time.
When the submission time came the supporters were ready, they jumped up en masse to make their submissions first, before the no side. I am not saying dirty pool, but it was clearly an orchestrated rehearsed effort.
We had roughly either 50 or 100 submissions, one of the two. It was pretty evenly split in the end but the no side, mostly got their say after the yes side.

Could it be done different, Yes it could and they knew it, they even publicly announced that due to expected overload they considered using the Community Theatre. But it got nixed, and honestly I suspect the Yes side influenced that.
That is what happened last year.
Back to last night at the 2 hour mark there was around 25 people standing in the rear a few more on the north side, and yes some in the lobby. Was there the odd seat, yes a few but it's very disruptive to wiggle your way in there without disrupting the attendees.
That is what I clearly saw last night.

[fz6adventure]

Back to last night at the 2 hour mark there was around 25 people standing in the rear a few more on the north side, and yes some in the lobby. Was there the odd seat, yes a few but it's very disruptive to wiggle your way in there without disrupting the attendees.
That is what I clearly saw last night.

It is all about procedural fairness. The public must be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard and their input to be considered carefully in any vote by council. Clearly, expecting the public to have to wait until late into the night to speak is not reasonable. But again, this is done by design with this mayor to limit public participation.

[LANDM]

Back to last night at the 2 hour mark there was around 25 people standing in the rear a few more on the north side, and yes some in the lobby. Was there the odd seat, yes a few but it's very disruptive to wiggle your way in there without disrupting the attendees.
That is what I clearly saw last night.

It is all about procedural fairness. The public must be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard and their input to be considered carefully in any vote by council. Clearly, expecting the public to have to wait until late into the night to speak is not reasonable. But again, this is done by design with this mayor to limit public participation.

I can only assume that your lack of participation in past public hearings in virtually any and all B.C. municipalities is what is fuelling the irrational conspiracy theories.

[Jflem1983]

What brand will this hotel be. Does anyone think it will be built soon. Been a long wait. I miss the willow burgers .
Kelowna has changed so much. To quote Ian Tyson . Some call it progress.