Why Re-elect Doug Findlater?

[Westbank4ever]

Nikonfan quote "In one meeting that I was in the WFN opted to go back to the RDCO to contract them for bylaw enforcement. Doug piped in in his usual gruff voice and said " well we just pulled out" and the WFN leader said "yes we know, that's why we are rejoining because you will not be there"

The Mayor is just not a good representative for us. I think the council should be focusing on getting rid of the terrible traffic situation in Westbank, Not feeding the mayors ego, building a city hall where it will just pull more traffic to the area.

[gpg]

Actually no I am not a writer, work for any local government nor If am on any comittiees. I am a political junkie , I love politics and have studied it for over 40 years and In my observation Findlater is NOT good for West Kelowna. I sit in meetings as a concerned citizen and I am totally appalled at the pittance of stuff the West Kelowna has accomplished in seven years compared to what the WFN a has accomplished in those 7 years. It is disgraceful! Findlater only had 2 council to council meetings with the WFN and those meetings were forced my his own staff after they were livid with him not getting together with them to at least get a dialog going. Look around the country and you will see where there are younger mayors who are team leaders and builder Things get done when you have an enthusiastic leader that engages, knows when he messes up and is not too proud to admit he was wrong and then carry on. These cities are striving, enthusiastic and positive.
West Kelowna is a dump! It is not much better than the slums of Detroit and we can do so much better but obviously Findlater CANT get it done, he has had 7 years and it is more empty and disgraceful now than ever.
I'm realize the mayor can't do anything on his own but he is the point man, captain of the team, the cheerleader and rah rah man. But like I said before he has the attitude, cheeriness and enthusiasm of a door knob and no people skills. PLEASE, don't take my word for it. Make some calls to the WFN, RDCO, Peachland, and the public works people upper management and ask them what kind of mood rubs off of Findlater and does he treat his staff? In one meeting that I was in the WFN opted to go back to the RDCO to contract them for bylaw enforcement. Doug piped in in his usual gruff voice and said " well we just pulled out" and the WFN leader said "yes we know, that's why we are rejoining because you will not be there. Westbank needs a go getter, an abbassotor that sells our cummuinity to whom ever he comes in contact with. We need a young man who can come up with ideas, incentives, red tape slashing amd tax structures to get people into the slums of downtown. I know some people are against giving big business tax breaks or other incentives but isn"t getting 10% better from a striving development than 50% of nothing? I am not saying Doug does not love West Kelowna, I know he does but a mayor must have a better ptersonananltiy than that of a rock.[/quote]


It seems you keep using the "young man""we need a young man" does that mean you don't think Mary Mandarino would be a suitable mayor. Could you tell me why you mention young man each time and not a different candidate.

[Steve-O]

"Personality of a rock" " build a city hall as his legacy"

These type of sentiments do not remotely resemble the Doug Findlater that I have dealt with on a personal level. He is a friendly out going fella and has never displayed the type of ego you all are describing. I can not say I've witnessed how he is in council but if it is as some are describing, it is a complete 180.

[playhard2010]

"Personality of a rock" " build a city hall as his legacy"

These type of sentiments do not remotely resemble the Doug Findlater that I have dealt with on a personal level. He is a friendly out going fella and has never displayed the type of ego you all are describing. I can not say I've witnessed how he is in council but if it is as some are describing, it is a complete 180.

I am unsure what meeting it was that you were at where he was not being the most difficult, grumpy and un co-operative person on the Council. I have witnessed many meetings over the years, the ones I have missed I have listened to the audio online and I can say from experience that having Mr.NEGATIVE in our council is not doing our beautiful community any favors. Look back at some of the quotes and honestly look into it a bit further, there is no one in the WFN, RDCO, Lake Country, Kelowna or Peachland that wants him around anymore! VOTE FOR A CHANGE!! We need a happy, positive fresh face representing our city :)

[occasional thoughts]

Unhappy, negative, et al, are not reasons to vote for or against someone for public office. Reducing the required attributes for public office to happy, positive, smiles a lot, et al, are why we get so many inappropriate people into public office. We have quite enough gladhanding types mishandling our affairs, thank you. What is an individual's attitude towards honesty, transparency, avoiding secrecy, proactive disclosure, financial prudence, etc., etc. are way more important. Now, give us two people who are the latter, one grumpy, one not, sure then maybe vote for the fresh happy face and not the old fart.

Mr. Findlater's problems for public office are not grumpiness, unhappiness, etc. He has come to love secrecy, he is not a leader in transparency of our administration, he is feeding his ego way too much (see, e.g., Mayor's Message in that silly West Kelowna News included with utility bills), and he is pushing through "city hall in Westbank" without democratic input, to name a few.

[inquisitive]

Well, he is reported to have said it himself! ( Westside Weekly November 4, 2014 Page 1).
If he is re-elected he will learn nothing in the four years of office.What arrogance/ignorance - you choose?

[inquisitive]

I think that Findlater, the man, felt (feels) intimidated by the successful leader (the man) of the Westbank First Nation. Hence, the people of West Kelowna have probably been deprived of some varied opportunities beneficial to both communities. Who knows.
In addition to other public bodies listed by another correspondent antagonized by`the man onè can conjecture from the local press that `the man has no friends within the local school board`either, not to mention his purported disdainful`(disrespectful, attitude) towards senior staff of DWK, also alleged by a subscriber to this thread)
So, what is left `
The sheeple of West Kelowna, who believe in the tripe reported so often by the local press and the self-promoting op-eds he cobbles together in the DWK Utilities newsletter - sad to say the sheeple are most probably in sufficient numbers to commit the good people at large to another four years of mediocrity.
Too bad that The Man is confused by many with The Mayor and that The Man too often comes through in his official capacity rather than The Mayor.
Kudos to the two competitors for the office of our Chief Magistrate.(and a modicum of luck for them in the polls).

[mystica]

No Reason to re-elect Doug at all.

We have gone through a tough teething stage as a municipality and tough times are still ahead with no more transition funding from the province.

There is lots for the upcoming council to get their teeth into.
We need to grow up and get on with the basics of turning this rural sprawl into a cohesive municipality.
This will not be achieved with White Elephant monuments to the second mayor of West Kelowna.
The third mayor of west Kelowna should be looking to the future of our municipality not in a mirror at themselves!!

West Kelowna needs a sensible forward looking council headed by a hard working mayor with a careful head on their shoulders.

In my mind, the field is narrowed down and Doug is lagging FAR behind.

[Randall T]

Regardless of what people think of Doug Findlater's personality, things have been getting done. I would like to see some kind of track record related to municipal politics, or proof of competency in related matters before I vote for an unknown. Voting against someone who has the experience, but who's attitude you don't like, may not be the in the best interest of the community over the next four years.

One issue that sticks in my mind over the past year is the forged letter presented to Building and Bylaws regarding a height variance on a new home. The variance was permitted but Findlater was the only one who voted against it. Findlater's response was an example should be made that this type of behaviour would set a bad example and should not be tolerated. I was impressed with him for standing up for the right action, even though he was voted down and the whole fiasco mysteriously faded away.

Every politician has a hate club. I just hope everyone gets off their duffs and votes so we can have a true indication of the feelings of the community. Not everyone is unhappy with the way things have been going to date. It may be an interesting election evening.

[3 B's]

At the forum tonight according to Findlater his greatest achievements were the new road structure on Boucherie, Brown and Elliott and he wants to continue "this type of development" God Help us if he thinks those 3 streets are any better after the amount of money they spent. Boucherie has ZERO increased capacity, Brown has ZERO increased capacity, Elliot has LESS capacity than before. Elliott and Brown lead to nothing but abandoned empty derelict buildings. He wants to develop the downtown core yet has done ZERO to offer any incentives for people to develop it in the past 7 years The big white elephant that nobody talked about was the WFN. Until the West Kelowna district offers the same incentives, less red tape, less DDC charges than the WFN nobody will do anything downtown. Why would they? Dealing with the town and all the red tape and rules, bylaws and restrictions if they can go 2 blocks west and have cheaper land, less red tape, new infrastructure, mass parking and not having to deal with crazy rules, bylaws and less taxes. This is not rocket science yet nobody even mentioned it at the forum. According to Findlater he has only had a few meetings with the WFN in 7 years and he admitted tonight that the relationship is not great. We have to work together with the WFN. Time for Findlater to go onto other things, we need some new and fresh ideas.

You have nailed the real problem here!! That is the fact that Findlater CANNOT and/or WILL NOT work cooperatively with other people. That is not a leader.

[occasional thoughts]

I think the foregoing is unfair. With no viable alternatives, I will probably hold my nose and vote for Doug. Hitler was a leader by the criteria being propounded here. Look where that got the world. The primary contender, Mr. Johnston, has not come clean to my knowledge on many things. Does he have a federal or provincial partisan affiliation? Nr, Findlater may have sold out his old hippie ideals, but he is not to my knowledge a member of a political party. Is Mr. Johnston the unadmitted mayoral candidate of Zanon-DeJong-et al? I've had enough of hidden moves by political parties in our civic politics. As it stands, Doug Findlater for (gulp) four more years.

And I hope Mayor Findlater continues to not work with WFN on such things as the widely-rumoured deletion of our access to Hwy. 97 at Boucherie so that all traffic is forced to drive by the new Safeway and white elephant shopping centre on Sneena Road on WFN land. I believe that fix is in with the province and MoTH. Thankfully Mr. Findlater made a real stand on the exorbitant land grab that the province was going to give WFN for their few acres for the Westside Road interchange. Etc., etc.

[oneh2obabe]

And I hope Mayor Findlater continues to not work with WFN on such things as the widely-rumoured deletion of our access to Hwy. 97 at Boucherie so that all traffic is forced to drive by the new Safeway and white elephant shopping centre on Sneena Road on WFN land. I believe that fix is in with the province and MoTH.

Haven't heard about access from Boucherie being deleted. What I heard was Skeena would be extended to Tomat which gives you a second access to Boucherie which would help alleviate traffic when Hwy. 97 was backed up.

[mystica]

Doug Findlater for (gulp) four more years.

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

The Churchill quote above just about sums it up!

I cannot believe that voting for Doug With a "GULP" is worth it. If we don't try the new guy, we will never know what the alternative would be.

REMEMBER - A new mayor does not have the power to veto the rest of the council ....It is not an autocracy....There are other votes that count.

[occasional thoughts]

The closure of Boucherie at Hwy. 97 except maybe by overpass over Hwy. 97 is widely known in Lakeview Heights. What does it prove that YOU (and you and you, whoever you might be) haven't heard it?

If the new guy doesn't want to divulge anything important, I'm going for non-partisan Doug. I haven't seen answers to what I want to know about him (challenger). And it is no consolation to me that the mayor is one vote if he is behind-the-scenes allied with the rest of or the majority of council. This challenger hasn't come clean to my satisfaction. He could, nothing stopping him. That people are so adamant for an unknown quantity says there is a behind-the-scenes thing going on. No thanks so far.

[oneh2obabe]

I don't live in Lakeview Heights so am not privy to the rumours floating around. All I did was let you know the scuttlebutt I had heard about Boucherie. You want to vote for Findlater, vote for him. If someone else wants to vote for Johnston, that's their decision.