Penticton Election

[livewire]

A very good point from another thread to consider. Mayoral candidates John V and Andrew J - who already are on council - are promising more transparency if elected.

The point is - why weren't they fighting for that as councillors and why should we believe that a bigger title will help?

They could have made change as councillors and didn't.

[southy]

How many more sleeps till Mr. Litke announces he will be running for mayor???

[pentona]

How many more sleeps till Mr. Litke announces he will be running for mayor???

I would be surprised if Litke runs. There was a rumor that he was not going to if Andrew J. ran; and he would throw his support behind him. Andrew will never beat out Vassalaki without an endorsement like that. Not that I would vote for either of them. Saw another rumor that Katie might run for mayor; that would really throw a curve into it. Seen too many split vote elections.

[ToddT]

At the end of the day we're going to end up with a mayor that 70% of the people don't care about or don't want. Yay democracy.

[southy]

Speaking of our mayor, did anyone else catch the following story in yesterday's Herald:

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/news/arti ... f6878.html

Wow - hope he has no intention of running because in my opinion this story just did him in.

[twobits]

Speaking of our mayor, did anyone else catch the following story in yesterday's Herald:

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/news/arti ... f6878.html

Wow - hope he has no intention of running because in my opinion this story just did him in.

No kidding. I especially liked the "still visibly angry" part. Partisan politics aside, what is wrong with anyone suggesting that civic wages, management specifically, need to be reigned in? Without going into whether our CAO is overpaid, it is clear that there are many in management at the civic level that are paid far in excess of market rates....and too many of them! It is out of control. For Litke to take it so personally, as if Christie was speaking directly to him was hilarious when he goes on to tout that she would be head hunted in a minute for her work on the core services review and fiscal prudence. What happened there? 30 managers gone and 6 union employees? I think that is what Christie might have been referring to as an example.....not a slight to Penticton.

[fluffy]

Partisan politics aside, what is wrong with anyone suggesting that civic wages, management specifically, need to be reigned in?

Nothing at all, there are plenty of areas in all levels of government where the purse strings are too loose, but I admit I snickered a bit to hear it coming from Christie give-my-staff-a-raise Clark.

[southy]

Well Fluffy if it wasn't Christie it would have been that dude named Adrian - take your pick. Just sayin'

[Midnite]

Just sayin'

Looks more like deflecting... just sayin' lol

[southy]

Deflecting?

[southy]

I'm sure this will come up during the candidates forum for this year's election.

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/opinion/a ... f6878.html

So the question is did Dan Ashton give these folks the green light to go ahead like they say or is there more to this story?
Also, why is this coming up now just before an election? And please don't anyone bring Mr. Miller into this one, the Herald is simply reporting a story that is real and has real legal and cost implications for those involved.

Everyday another horror show - wish television was this good.

[XT225]

Southy, from your link, the article stated: "Owners say they were given a green light by then mayor Dan Ashton to have the shutters grandfathered".
If that is so AND it was in writing, Mr. Ashton may find himself having to answer some serious questions. No question that it will become an election issue here, along with the Marina, etc etc.

[southy]

Stay tuned for "As the Council Turns and Guess Who's Running for Council". Judy Sentes says she will run for council and says she agrees with the stand the city's human resources department took against Penticton senior Elvena Slump ...". And watch as John Vassilaki stands up and says he'll be sure to recuse himself on October 6th when council votes to approve permissive tax exemptions on two his properties. As the Council Turns and Guess Who's Running for Council - watch it daily right here in Penticton. A place to live forever!

[DblDwn11]

Most of the posts in this forum highlight the problem with Penticton.

Penticton has serious issues. Extreme poverty & working poor, lack of skilled labour jobs which cause our young citizens to leave. Shrinking tax base and rising infrastructure cost. These are just a few.

Roll shutters, who operates the Skaha marina, Defamation/Elvena Slump are not real issues. They are distractions for old men to discuss at Tim Hortons.

Keep your eye on the ball folks and ask the candidates questions on how they plan to tackle the very serious and complex issues that matter.

Rant over.

[southy]

Though I somewhat agree with you, I don't believe these are all distractions for as you say old men to discuss at Tim Hortons.
I believe some of these issues that are discussed lead to back to the real problem that is causing some of the major issues you are talking about from not being addressed. We have had a mayor and council that could be addressing some of these major issues ... have they? No. The fact of the matter is the Elvena Slumps and those posters on Castanet who bring up issues at city hall at least see where the roadblocks are in getting to the real issue.

Yes .. there are real issues and I agree that we all need to look at what is really going on here and we need to ask candidates these difficult questions and see where they sit with regard to them.

Of course the other major issue is voter apathy. How do we change that?? There seems to be a movement from the younger demo, however, I'm not convinced ... yet anyways that they understand the real issues either. Then you have to look at the older demo and do they really care as long as there are minimal or no tax increases? That leaves the middle aged demo and I think if we were able to obtain demographic information from the last election/s, we would see that this voter just isn't there. A real problem.

We already know who some of the candidates are ... they are returning councillors - how have they performed with regard to the real issues you speak of DblDwn11? Judy Sentes, John Vassaliki, Andrew Jakeabite, Helena Konanz, perhaps Kate Robinson and even our present mayor Gary Litke???

Yes, lets ask the real questions but let's also ask those questions about issues that might be distractions from getting to these real issues.