Stronger Kamloops

Places like the Effie Arts Collective, or in this case, BeTeased Food Truck in the Shuswap - are part of a long line of community arts spaces that we have celebrated collectively time immemorial. Each year that passes the regulatory climate they operate in becomes less and less able to do so - even though our parents and grandparents - rich and poor, participated meaningfully and inclusively in their communities this way for decades.  For this reason, one needs to write letters to support food trucks so that they can host a community dance - the type of event that they have been hosting successfully for ages. I decided to include my letter as the subject of this post. -------- The girls held their hands in front of them and squirmed their fingers. The boys tapped their feet restlessly. Around the floor the old folks sat, smiling slightly, holding the children back from the floor... And the girls were damp and flushed, and they danced with open mouths and serious reverent faces, and...

 Victoria Street is great. Its a great street. Wide walking lanes, short cross walks, lots of shops, restaurants and vibrancy. Its the logical choice for all sorts of public events, and the nicest street in our City. But it is hemmed in on both sides by high-speed, wide, loud and dusty Lansdowne and Seymour. These two streets were designed in a bygone era: of large chip trucks coming through Downtown, and based on ideas about traffic engineering in the 70s  and 80s that have proven ineffective - that is why big cities all over the place are replacing their large, high speed, one ways with slower speed two lane streets - with slower average car speeds, but overall higher capacities. And improved Commercial Vibrancy. In 2019, then Councillor Denis Walsh was asked "what single thing he would fix about downtown". Mel Rothenburger was surprised to hear Denis say - make Seymour a Two-Way Street again. As the article mentions, despite it being an idea 'on the books' for 20 y...

 The South Shore has a special privilege when it comes to park spaces. Nearly every neighbourhood has some level of Nature and Recreational Park area - Barnhartvale, to Valleyview, to Peterson Creek, Kenna Cartwright and Pineview/Iron Mask Trails. The South Shore supports vast mountain bike networks, dog walking trails, unique landscapes and trails for all weather. Importantly, those parks are connected to their communities in a way that folks can walk, bike, ride, walk the stroller, right from home, without having to get in a car. However on the North Shore, the area of the City with the most number of folks cycling, the flattest land, and the fewest drivers - North Shore residents have no convenient access to a nature park without significant amounts of driving - yet Lac du Bois Provincial Park (Colloquially "Batch") is extremely proximate to almost every part of the North Shore - yet one cannot access it on foot or bike from these very areas. I obviously am here to advocat...