Entrepreneurship or Entitlement

[guxcon]

A recently published economic report ranked our Valley on the upper end of the scale of entrepreneurial spirit. Where do you think we would rank on a scale that measured the spirit of entitlement? Also which of the two will have a greater impact on the decisions of our electorate?

[Bestside]

A recently published economic report ranked our Valley on the upper end of the scale of entrepreneurial spirit. Where do you think we would rank on a scale that measured the spirit of entitlement? Also which of the two will have a greater impact on the decisions of our electorate?

Was the ranking and your question in relation to governance, or in relation to individuals?

In either case WFN is light years ahead of central Okanagan municipalities regarding both smarter governance and movers and shakers...

Of course WFN has a large share of their infrastructure paid for them by the Federal Government AND the Provincial Government.

It's a pity that elected officials of a bedroom community like West Kelowna have their egos in the clouds and their heads in the sand and think DWK can come close to WFN in building a business engine when WFN rides the senior governments QuickieCash gravy train.

West Kelowna builds a bloated bureaucracy with wasteful positions such as:
1. a high-cost glad-handing meet and greet development officer, John Perrott, who's expertise is promoting CofC's to local government, and
2. a high-cost letter writer / news release promoter of the mayor ... and
3. a high cost systems developer to build a mapping application so that people can find out where they live, when all that was needed was to provide a link to Canada Post where they already have had that application for years and,
4. on and on...

So Perrott has little to do so they take away the tourist office from the CofC... and the parks elite has nothing to do so they try and have RDCO parks moved to DWK jurisdiction... a media writer gives Findlater, Ophus and Winsby top marks and immediately gets a high paid job in the bloated bureaucracy as payment. Yep... that's the spirit... build a straw man district ...

The clincher would be the DWK response to the WFN trade for land and money so WFN can build a super service road to their new mall.. Findlater is to write a letter of complaint... He is quoted as saying the subject property is "nearby" and it is all about cost of the transaction... Since when has Findlater been concerned about money matters and costs of land exchanges? He blew-off a trade that could have resulted in the DWK getting a 6 to 1 monetary benefit for public coffers so his friend would not have to live beside a park.... "Nearby" my assets! The property is right within the DWK boundary... it's property that is supposed to be OUR District heritage going forward... property that we voted to incorporate to make the formation of our own municipality cost effective for ever. Land for development for our district, and for protection of our water. You can't put a cost to that in terms of money... that's the kind of people we elect...

There is not much use of voting any more...

[waterwings]

The above message could be construced as ONE for Entrepreneurship.

[guxcon]

Was the ranking and your question in relation to governance, or in relation to individuals?

In relation to the individual. Which characterization do you think is most evident in the electorate. Will that help us or hinder us in achieving our goals as a community.

[Urbane]

Was the ranking and your question in relation to governance, or in relation to individuals?

In either case WFN is light years ahead of central Okanagan municipalities regarding both smarter governance and movers and shakers...

Of course WFN has a large share of their infrastructure paid for them by the Federal Government AND the Provincial Government.

It's a pity that elected officials of a bedroom community like West Kelowna have their egos in the clouds and their heads in the sand and think DWK can come close to WFN in building a business engine when WFN rides the senior governments QuickieCash gravy train.

West Kelowna builds a bloated bureaucracy with wasteful positions such as:
1. a high-cost glad-handing meet and greet development officer, John Perrott, who's expertise is promoting CofC's to local government, and
2. a high-cost letter writer / news release promoter of the mayor ... and
3. a high cost systems developer to build a mapping application so that people can find out where they live, when all that was needed was to provide a link to Canada Post where they already have had that application for years and,
4. on and on...

So Perrott has little to do so they take away the tourist office from the CofC... and the parks elite has nothing to do so they try and have RDCO parks moved to DWK jurisdiction... a media writer gives Findlater, Ophus and Winsby top marks and immediately gets a high paid job in the bloated bureaucracy as payment. Yep... that's the spirit... build a straw man district ...

The clincher would be the DWK response to the WFN trade for land and money so WFN can build a super service road to their new mall.. Findlater is to write a letter of complaint... He is quoted as saying the subject property is "nearby" and it is all about cost of the transaction... Since when has Findlater been concerned about money matters and costs of land exchanges? He blew-off a trade that could have resulted in the DWK getting a 6 to 1 monetary benefit for public coffers so his friend would not have to live beside a park.... "Nearby" my assets! The property is right within the DWK boundary... it's property that is supposed to be OUR District heritage going forward... property that we voted to incorporate to make the formation of our own municipality cost effective for ever. Land for development for our district, and for protection of our water. You can't put a cost to that in terms of money... that's the kind of people we elect...

There is not much use of voting any more...

Just a few comments in no particular order:

1. Governments at all levels tend to naturally grow. Whether its the nation, the province, the municipality, the health region, or the school district bureaucracies tend to expand and that fact of life has caused many of our economic problems. So yes, we need to be wary of expanding governments at all levels.

2. Notwithstanding my comments in #1 I must say that we are in serious catch-up mode in DWK. Decades of neglect with developers allowed to come in and make their money without providing needed amenities and taxpayers not wanting to make needed improvements have caught up with us and now we're paying the price. We need enhancements to infrastructure and we require people to oversee those enhancements.

3. When we voted on our governance model many of us suggested that having our own municipality would be expensive and particularly so with the catch-up on infrastructure that faced us. Many residents realized that it would be expensive, more expensive than joining Kelowna, but the majority of those voting made the decision to be the masters of our domain and so be it. There is a price to be paid for having made that decision. I find it astounding that some people really thought that this exercise in forming a new municipality would come cheaply. I think it was Brydon Winsby who at one point asked the question (I paraphrase), "Why would we form a municipality if we just wanted the status quo?" Duh. Of course what has happened and is happening was always destined to occur once we made the decision to incorporate.

4. I don't know who the writer is that you refer to, Bestside, but somehow I think he does more than just promote the mayor. I have no idea what else the systems analyst does but I have a strong feeling he too does more than you suggest. And I also want to put in a good word for John Perrott. John is a very bright guy who does far more than you suggest. My wife and I had a long chat with him at the open house last spring and were impressed. Great guy and I'm glad DWK hired him.

5. I'm not against examining our local bureaucracy to see if all of those employed are needed (see my comments in #1) but given our catch-up needs I'm inclined to think that we're on the right path with the structure that we have. If you're really unhappy with what's been happening here I suggest that you should have listened to those of us who said it was going to be more costly than you believed and you should have voted the way we did. Having said that, I'm actually pleased with the way things have unfolded. More happy than you are and that, indeed, is ironic. Don't give up on DWK Bestside. We're on the right path, at the right pace, and our future is bright.