Rosalind Neis - Council Candidate

[CountryAtHeart]

It really is to bad that she won't be running as mayor again, I think some people would be surprised at just how many people who may not have voted for her before would have this time.

[Bestside]

We need people like Rosalind Neis on council.
As Mayor she proved herself to be prudent and hard working for all of Westside.

She does not pander to the crowds... and does not advocate back-room politics...
She is very transparent, a number one requirement for good honest government.

In addition, without a Ward system we need representation from all areas of Westside.

Hopefully the northern part of the Municipality will not be shut-out of representation.

[hereiamagain]

bestside, we had someone in there, two I think - Ophus and Milsom, (correct me if I am wrong), who live in the north end... but who, in my opinion, did not represent the best interests of the north end.

I now have hopes of Joe Strocen, the fellow associated with the Fire Department. I met him once, and he struck me as being very up front and vocal and won't take a lot of sh*t.

I will be voting for him for sure.

[Bestside]

bestside, we had someone in there, two I think - Ophus and Milsom, (correct me if I am wrong), who live in the north end... but who, in my opinion, did not represent the best interests of the north end.

I now have hopes of Joe Strocen, the fellow associated with the Fire Department. I met him once, and he struck me as being very up front and vocal and won't take a lot of sh*t.

I will be voting for him for sure.

Ophus and Milsom both live in Lakeview Heights on streets between Boucherie and Thacker... however their bread and butter is earned in Westbank and that trumps where they reside in my opinion. Ophus owns the UPS Store by Save-on_Foods and Milsom owns Investment Planning Council in Acorn Plaza.

When both Ophus and Milsom opted to dismiss the Naming Committee fair ballot in favour of the "Findlater Screw the North End Ballot", Ophus said he had heard from the residents loud and clear that this is what they wanted. Obviously he heard from those where his business is located, and that is where his loyalty is. So I pretty much write those two off as doing much to represent the folk in the North End.

I think Joe Strocen will at least have a sense of where community boundaries are, and will admit to those boundaries. Thats more than can be said for some other candidates. I think a pretty slim field of candidates all-in-all. Very hard to choose six...

[hereiamagain]

I wonder why Doug Findlater is shown as being incumbent mayor on the westside page of castanet?

He isn't. Last time I checked, Rosalind Neis was.

[hereiamagain]

[When both Ophus and Milsom opted to dismiss the Naming Committee fair ballot in favour of the "Findlater Screw the North End Ballot", Ophus said he had heard from the residents loud and clear that this is what they wanted. Obviously he heard from those where his business is located, and that is where his loyalty is.

Well that makes a great deal of sense. If you only listen to a select few, then of course, your decisions will be narrowminded.

[Nebula]

I wonder why Doug Findlater is shown as being incumbent mayor on the westside page of castanet?

He isn't. Last time I checked, Rosalind Neis was.

Technically it does not show he is the incumbent mayor. It shows he is a mayoral candidate and it shows he is an incumbent. Both are true.

Might be a bit misleading but that's one of those quirky things you have to put up with. About the only way to make it clearer would be to denote him as Incumbent (councillor).

[Bestside]

I wonder why Doug Findlater is shown as being incumbent mayor on the westside page of castanet?

He isn't. Last time I checked, Rosalind Neis was.

Technically it does not show he is the incumbent mayor. It shows he is a mayoral candidate and it shows he is an incumbent. Both are true.

Might be a bit misleading but that's one of those quirky things you have to put up with. About the only way to make it clearer would be to denote him as Incumbent (councillor).

It shows Findlater is an incumbent Mayor and that is not true.
He has no experience as Mayor and the incumbent designation indicates he has that experience.
That is putting Findlater's opponent at a disadvantage.

It is false advertising. That is not something we have to put up with.
People can go to his bio for his history.
There should be no designation at all under "Mayor". Castanet should change it.

[JVD3741]

All these negative, spiteful remarks pretty much sum up the mentality of "a lot of people" on the Westside, and PLEASE no more of this BS about bringing this community together. You people are your own worst enemy.

Thank goodness we have an alternate mayoral candiate

Good Luck to Rosalind

[brightstar]

Congratulations Rosalind....I heard that you were fantastic last night! What a shame you aren't running for Mayor again!

[HeatherLF]

This community needs to vote in a majority of councillors and a mayor who wants whats best for this community and who will promote togetherness of this community. Rosalind is one of these people. Are there enough others running ?
discouraged in Glenrosa

[GlenCanyon]

At last night's all candidate's meeting you took a cheap parting shot at your fellow councilors. Why? Can you not accept decisions of majorities?

Sure you speak well and directly but your words, concerns and ideas last night did not match your passion. I wish it had been different or you had the courage to run again for the mayor's position and face the divisions you have caused.

But you saved your worst to your reply on policing which was and is very bigoted and ignorant to the facts of society. As a retired police officer I can tell you that every city, rural area or village have good areas and bad areas. But I can tell you that they move and terrible crime can occur anywhere and do. To blame the Westbank Indian band is to ignore the terrible facts of crime. As a cop I hated seeing the youth of our first nations lost to drugs in the downtown eastside. What have you done to improve the situation? Nothing. All you did last night was stir the pot of bigots. Sure you got applause, but all you did was make the situation worst and weakened our community. You should be ashamed. You should know better. I can only hope we know better.

[rosalind neis]

To Glen Canyon:

I would like to reply to your post. I can only guess that my comments about the type of councilor I would be is what you call a "cheap shot". So be it - If you would like to come to my office anytime I would be happy to share with you e-mails and comments that I recieved from my "fellow councilors" over that past year in order that you can get a sense of what has transpired, and I certainly did not bring that up at the forum, nor will I.

As for as decision of majorities - I always accepted the decisions of council majority and immediately moved on!

As to policing - you must have heard what you wanted to hear. My comments were that municipalities over 5000 pay 90% of RCMP policing cost. WFN and anyone living on WFN land (natives and non natives) do not pay in the same way. Do you think that tax payers in the District of Westside should pay 90% of any serivice, be it policing or anything else, and not recieve 90% of the return? Should District of Westside taxpayers pay for police services to Peachland, Big White, Lake Country, WFN commercial and residential lands? It is no different in my opinion. Non of those areas just listed comtribute to the huge financial cost of policing in the same porportion that we do. Would I like more police - yes, can we afford to pay more taxes? Can we even get more police (i.e. are there any to hire)? Does crime hurt everyone - yes, does it cross boarders - yes.

What have I done - I have tried over and over to ensure that all areas of our community have adequate police resourses. I have suggested that all neighborhoods have local community policing stations. I have tried to build up police numbers in our community, but I am only one vote on council. I have met with all levels of RCMP to find out what we as a community can do to help make their job better. I have tried to meet with WFN, but they have not been able to meet as a council, and I have meet twice with Cheif Louis on many matters.

If, as a retired officer you have some constructive advice that would be helpful I would gladly hear what you have to say that would be helpful. I hope that you bring forward positive suggestions. As for my comments at the Forum - I answered the question which as I recall was "What would you do to ensure we have adequate policing and how would you get additional officers?" We can have anything we want - all we have to do is pay for it and I would pay for more police, but if I am paying, I want them to service my taxation area - not other areas. It that so unreasonable?

I will not get into further bantering on this issue, but if you have a question, I invite you to City Hall at any time.

[rosalind neis]

If I may - I would like to clarify one more point on the policing comments at the forum. I said that in my RCMP ride the officer told me 40% of his calls are on WFN LAND. What that means is exactly that - not that 40% of his calls are due because of First Nations PEOPLES. WFN has a lot of commercial land that requires police calls and also a number of beautiful homes that have B&E calls, etc. My statement had nothing to do with WFN people as was assumed by GLen Canyon. I hope that clears up my comment for you. In fact the calls that I went to with the officer on WFN land was for non-native people that had warrents - they just happen to live on WFN land, the other was to a home with an alarm ringing. The District of Westside stills pays more for those RCMP offices to attend calls on WFN LAND and we are not recieving any financial assistance for policing those areas.

[parachute]

I wish it had been different or you had the courage to run again for the mayor's position and face the divisions you have caused.

Hi Glencanyon, you accuse Neis of a cheap shot but that quote of yours is certainly a cheap shot since it is only your opinion that any "divisions" (what are they, I wonder?) were caused by Neis.

I look forward to hearing from you as to what you learn from your visit to Neis in her office.