Kelowna Mayoral - General Discussion

[FunkyBunch]

I was going to run for City Councilor, but because my job is in flux at the moment, I can't commit to a full term on Council and it wouldn't be fair to the people of Kelowna if I ran, but had to move in 2 years.

As far as I can tell, it will be almost no opposition though for Sharon Shepherd.

[Queen K]

I have a feeling former Mayor Walter Grey is going to try to kick Shepard to the curb.

Is it just me or does anyone else see the man postering everywhere? The 30K club? Gimme a break. When he was mayor he let all of Kelowna know that the poor are no where, no how and of no consquence. When Kelowna had public hearings regarding the Beaufort (sp) land up on Knox mountain two things were clear:

1. If you looked lower class or spoke with a lower class accent SIR Grey was kicking your imput to the curb.

2. Everyone caught on and shortly began to introduce their PROFESSION directly after their name. That was so that Grey was not so quick to dismiss the speaker.

Look up at Knox mountain today, look at the disfigurement up there. Those ugly scars, no better than Dilworth Mountain. Who rubber stamped every developers wet dream anyway? Council under Grey.

Judging from seeing Walter Grey put himself so much into the public light, it'll be him.

[djkoz]

No-one who is in council now should be re-elected,mayor too.It's because of these peoples actions that the city of Kelowna is in such termoil.The feral rabbits an election item? give me a break, if they would have done something years ago to stop them no-one would care,except those idiots who are out there protesting for the right of animals,QUIT FEEDING THEM!Get to the real issues that plague our city, don't vote any of the incumbents in,time for fresh faces and ideas.

[I dunno]

Between rabbits, covenants, and high rise development, we have become the laughing stock of the western world. I'm really glad that there are 5 positions open on council and I hope we can do a better job of electing the right people.

[joeblow]

What I think is funny is our so called mayor coming out and not taking resonability for the things going on in this city. Just look at the rabbit story on castanet right now.

[Timi]

Between rabbits, covenants, and high rise development, we have become the laughing stock of the western world. I'm really glad that there are 5 positions open on council and I hope we can do a better job of electing the right people.

There are actually 8 positions available...just because 3 former councillors are running again does not mean they are destined to get in...your vote counts!

[Snarf]

If Sarah Palin still needs a job after the US elections maybe she would like to run for mayor here?

[nellietheelephant]

I think the battle will be one between Sharron Shepherd and Brian Given.
The other posibility is that someone is waiting in the wings and the circus will begin anew.
There will be a lot of candidates running and I suspect there will likely be more than two candidates and that would actually work in Shepherd's favor. I think if Given runs alone against her, he will win. Sharron lost her credibility with the public in the shell game over the Simpson affair.

Given for Mayor?

Here's another one.
There was an Englishman, Irishman and a Scotsman . . . .

Nellie

[Think About It!]

What and play duck,duck, goose!
Seriously! Think about it.
If this City that we call home are just going to give up because this is not a high profile election,
so what if Sharon Shepard has been in City Council for 12 years, does this mean she gets back in on default. Think about it! I would rather vote for someone that remembers the people that put them there. Is it because we are so afraid of change that we as Kelowna Citizens will go with a name that is known, or do we hide behind the safety net, or do learn to fly without one and move forward or do dig ourselves into a deeper hole:digging:
Seriously! Think About It!
Kim Ouellette is looking better every forum.

[damngrumpy]

At first I thought Given would go for it. Then came his temper outburst and even I would not vote for him period. The Mayor at present has to go in my opinion, and therefore I will be voting for the
only other candidate in the race, I have said before, I will not vote for anyone currently on council as I feel they have not served us well. I should say anyone except developers have not been served
well.

[marooned]

I have been watching how local politics has shaped Kelowna for the past two decades and can assure you that this council actually fares better in terms of shaping the development that does occur than their predecessors. Jim Stuart headed councils that removed extensive tracts of ALR land in order to build our fine walled communities; Walter Grey and company kept the party going by voting in huge amounts of development above Mission, including the farce called Kettle Valley.

Yes, there are some on Council who seem to only represent the interests of developers, but don't toss the good with the bad!

Before you oust a mayor and council on their poor record of managing growth and development, note the following:

> It takes years for development projects to commence; as such, we are witnessing the development decisions of the prior council today. So, you can hold them to account for something like the CD21 decision, but not for the South Slopes.
> New candidates bring their own baggage with them. Get to know their backgrounds before you mark the ballot.

My $0.02

[Piecemaker]

No council is going to make all the people happy all the time. Thinking that a totally new council will make the city better is like biting off your nose to spite your face. It's easy to think that you have all the answers when you don't know or understand the questions.

[damngrumpy]

I don't like the present council one bit, the Greenway, Kerry Park and the Milroy developement, the
CD Zone, Wakefest and the list goes on. I am looking at the new candidates carefully and the present onescan sit on the sidelines as far as I am conserned. I want debate on council, and some
serious discussion about issues. Face it the CD Zone was already decided before there was a public
hearing, and the backroom decision was to sit through a night of boring statements then do whatever they wanted at the next meeting.
The only thing they have backed away from is the Simpson Covenant, and that is because the
people are up in arms and they can't hang onto their little power base if an election gets in the way.
No I have had enough quite frankly.

[rekabis]

I for one will not be voting for Sharron Shepherd. She has flip-flopped on several issues I would have expected her to have more of a backbone over. As such, I find her too wishy-washy.

I mean, look at W.Gray and his “Gay Proclimation” fiasco. While I didn’t agree with what he did, I did admire him for sticking to his guns. He had backbone over that one.

Same with Trudeau -- my family disagreed with a lot of what he said and did, but my parents voted for him every time because he said what he meant and meant what he said. You could trust the guy because he wasn’t a compromiser or a redactavist.

Even if we don’t agree with their policies and actions, it would be nice to have someone with some backbone as our Mayor.

[Hombre]

Ugh. I think I'm just going to abstain from voting for a mayoral candidate. There isn't even a choice to pick between the lesser evil here, they are equally undesirable. Maybe better to stick with the devil you know....