Delta has great potential to really set an example to the rest of the lower
mainland, and beyond. Delta covers a large area with a comparatively small
population and large reserves of natural habitat and viable farmland. If
elected to council I will work hard to make Delta the most environmentally
sound city in Metro Vancouver, setting us as a benchmark that all other
cities will compare themselves to, and truly make Delta the jewel of the
lower mainland.
Incentive programs for markets to carry Delta produced goods and produce
will work to both strengthen the local economy and lower the carbon
footprint of the consumer. Redevelopment rather than new development will
work to both increase existing property values as well as preserve the
undeveloped land that surrounds us. Embracing new technologies and building
infrastructure to support it will make choosing these options a viable
alternative for Deltans as well visitors. Technologies like 100% electric
cars (that have just recently been introduced to the Canadian market) aim to
take advantage of the comparatively clean electricity that BC produces, but
need some investment from cities to really take off. I would encourage
looking into public charging stations in town centers, where people can
charge while shopping, as well as support for residents in installing
charging terminals in their homes. Permeable paving solutions would aim to
improve esthetics of town centers, allow rain water to enter into the
ground, and reduce demands put on our sewage and pump stations by taking
rain water out of the sewage system.
Together, we can move Delta forward for the next generation, without taking
steps backwards that can never be undone. But it starts with electing
people who are
willing to examine the problems that stem from following the status
quo and it takes a
Council that is eager to look outside the box for solutions to these
problems that will make Delta truly the best place to live.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Outside the box Pt. 1
I like to daydream. It's healthy for the mind, I think. Sometimes an idea will slip into my mind, and linger just below the surface for days on end. I will slip in and out of thought on this topic, turning it over, and coming up with all kinds of conclusions. Sometimes these ideas get away on me and get carried on to such extremes that their implementation or scope is simply beyond reason. But there is always merit in them, even when the final product may seem outlandish, there are good and usable ideas, even if not taken to such extremes. I am going to share some of these 'daydreams' with you...
The first of these ideas I'm going to share is about paving. It isn't a topic that crosses many people mind, aside from when they are cursing at the pothole they didn't see and spilled coffee on their pants. But when you consider the amount of pavement in our lives (estimates range from 50% in small towns to over 90% in large urban centers) it is a huge part of our lives. It also has a large effect on our environment and our infrastructure. Imagine the downpours that we experience. All that water has to go somewhere, and that is either into a storm sewer system (which leads to places like the pump station in Boundary Bay and into the ocean, or into the river) or into a combined sewer system, joining the effluent we flush down the drain and processed though our sewage plants. Urban runoff has been identified as a leading cause of water quality degradation. There has to be a better way!
The first solution is to use permeable paving techniques. The oldest example of this is the paving stone. It allows water to pass between the bricks, and get absorbed into the ground and dissipate over a large area. There is also permeable asphalt. But the bricks have added benefit as well. They look great. They are reusable. And those potholes that spill coffee on you, they don't exist either. Not for long anyway, it is relatively cheap and easy to replace a dozen or so bricks. Same with roadworks. The bricks that are lifted when working under the road surface are replaced right back where they came from and blend perfectly, hiding any evidence of their removal.
The downsides are manageable. There is increased noise associated with stone roads, but in town centers this problem shouldn't be a deal breaker. The initial investment is higher, but over the life of the road it more than pays itself back. Go to any old-world city, and you will walk and drive on stone roads that are a hundred years old. What would our asphalt roads look like after that long!?
Another fantastic example of permeable paving is porous turf. Take a look at this beautiful park in the picture below.
Wait! That's not a park. That's a parking lot at a JC Penny in Connecticut. Porous turf is created with a structural base to support the weight of vehicles, and then planted with grass the grows between it. It is ideally suited to parking lots. Imagine dropping the kids off at the soccer or baseball game, and not seeing any pavement at all. The parking lot would become part of the park (no playing around there though!) Reports estimate that the costs between grass paving and asphalt to be even at five years, with a decided advantage to the turf paving after that. How special would Delta be if all our public buildings had green parking lots like this?
As usual, I hope to get some feedback from you on these ideas or anything else on your mind!
The first of these ideas I'm going to share is about paving. It isn't a topic that crosses many people mind, aside from when they are cursing at the pothole they didn't see and spilled coffee on their pants. But when you consider the amount of pavement in our lives (estimates range from 50% in small towns to over 90% in large urban centers) it is a huge part of our lives. It also has a large effect on our environment and our infrastructure. Imagine the downpours that we experience. All that water has to go somewhere, and that is either into a storm sewer system (which leads to places like the pump station in Boundary Bay and into the ocean, or into the river) or into a combined sewer system, joining the effluent we flush down the drain and processed though our sewage plants. Urban runoff has been identified as a leading cause of water quality degradation. There has to be a better way!
The first solution is to use permeable paving techniques. The oldest example of this is the paving stone. It allows water to pass between the bricks, and get absorbed into the ground and dissipate over a large area. There is also permeable asphalt. But the bricks have added benefit as well. They look great. They are reusable. And those potholes that spill coffee on you, they don't exist either. Not for long anyway, it is relatively cheap and easy to replace a dozen or so bricks. Same with roadworks. The bricks that are lifted when working under the road surface are replaced right back where they came from and blend perfectly, hiding any evidence of their removal.
The downsides are manageable. There is increased noise associated with stone roads, but in town centers this problem shouldn't be a deal breaker. The initial investment is higher, but over the life of the road it more than pays itself back. Go to any old-world city, and you will walk and drive on stone roads that are a hundred years old. What would our asphalt roads look like after that long!?
Another fantastic example of permeable paving is porous turf. Take a look at this beautiful park in the picture below.
As usual, I hope to get some feedback from you on these ideas or anything else on your mind!
Sunday, 16 October 2011
From where I stand
It's obviously important for me to get my stance on the issues facing Delta into the public's hands so that people can form their opinion on my and, ideally, like what they hear and then vote for me on November 19th.
But before I delve too deep into the more tangible topics effecting our community, I want to say a few things about what my philosophy as part of a governing body in Delta would look like. From looking at how the current administration has been running things, and from the accounts I have heard from other people trying to deal with council, I would like to be able to move city hall towards being a much more responsive and open place. I would limit the amount of in-camera meetings, and make as many decisions and hearings in public. It is important that people can see their government working. I think it is ridiculous to be refusing corporation owned and operated buildings to people wanting to hold political/town hall meetings. It is just as important for the public to be able to get information out of city hall, be it directly from the mayor or councilors or from their assistants and other office workers. I do not intend to hide behind closed doors and ignored phone calls.
Now, on to the real meat and potatoes.
When looking down Scott road in North Delta, there is no missing the disparity between the Delta and Surrey side of the road. This part of town has to be among the top priorities for the new council when it is formed. If our local economy is to keep moving forward, we need to attract quality business, and also encourage our own residents as entrepreneurs to invest in their own future. Council has to take a leading role in getting Delta to match our neighbouring city. Infrastructure improvements, zoning adjustments, business and/or improvement grants, or tax scheme changes are just some of the tools we could use. We need to get this area performing up to it's potential.
Then there is the issue of the Southlands in Tsawwassen. But I think that rather than comment directly on this single specific issue, as important and heated an issue as it is, I will lump it in with a couple other issues around Delta that I have similar opinions on for similar reasons. The SFPR, specifically the areas around Burns Bog and through the agricultural area in Ladner and Tsawwassen and Deltaport expansion. Moving forward, and keeping our city as clean and sustainable as possible, means not giving up our agricultural land, or our environmentally sensitive areas, to commercial enterprise. These are lands that have been used for generations to put food on not just Delta plates, but also into grocery stores around the lower mainland and beyond. Developing these lands means more traffic, more noise, more light pollution at night and more air pollution.
Now, that's not to say that I am a zero-growth stalwart, but the growth needs to be done smartly and for the right reasons. There is some other great potential for some of these lands as well. I would love to see Delta attract some post secondary education into our city, and maybe one of those locations would be appropriate. As a councilor, I would aim to increase our city's park area. If this could be done in a way that may also generate some revenue such as campgrounds, I think that could be a great way to get more utility out of our green spaces, or the lands that are under controversy right now.
But before I delve too deep into the more tangible topics effecting our community, I want to say a few things about what my philosophy as part of a governing body in Delta would look like. From looking at how the current administration has been running things, and from the accounts I have heard from other people trying to deal with council, I would like to be able to move city hall towards being a much more responsive and open place. I would limit the amount of in-camera meetings, and make as many decisions and hearings in public. It is important that people can see their government working. I think it is ridiculous to be refusing corporation owned and operated buildings to people wanting to hold political/town hall meetings. It is just as important for the public to be able to get information out of city hall, be it directly from the mayor or councilors or from their assistants and other office workers. I do not intend to hide behind closed doors and ignored phone calls.
Now, on to the real meat and potatoes.
When looking down Scott road in North Delta, there is no missing the disparity between the Delta and Surrey side of the road. This part of town has to be among the top priorities for the new council when it is formed. If our local economy is to keep moving forward, we need to attract quality business, and also encourage our own residents as entrepreneurs to invest in their own future. Council has to take a leading role in getting Delta to match our neighbouring city. Infrastructure improvements, zoning adjustments, business and/or improvement grants, or tax scheme changes are just some of the tools we could use. We need to get this area performing up to it's potential.
Then there is the issue of the Southlands in Tsawwassen. But I think that rather than comment directly on this single specific issue, as important and heated an issue as it is, I will lump it in with a couple other issues around Delta that I have similar opinions on for similar reasons. The SFPR, specifically the areas around Burns Bog and through the agricultural area in Ladner and Tsawwassen and Deltaport expansion. Moving forward, and keeping our city as clean and sustainable as possible, means not giving up our agricultural land, or our environmentally sensitive areas, to commercial enterprise. These are lands that have been used for generations to put food on not just Delta plates, but also into grocery stores around the lower mainland and beyond. Developing these lands means more traffic, more noise, more light pollution at night and more air pollution.
Now, that's not to say that I am a zero-growth stalwart, but the growth needs to be done smartly and for the right reasons. There is some other great potential for some of these lands as well. I would love to see Delta attract some post secondary education into our city, and maybe one of those locations would be appropriate. As a councilor, I would aim to increase our city's park area. If this could be done in a way that may also generate some revenue such as campgrounds, I think that could be a great way to get more utility out of our green spaces, or the lands that are under controversy right now.
Friday, 14 October 2011
The big picture
It's been a few weeks now, and I think it's time I get on the blog and see if I can spark up some dialog. So, here goes, my first post.
I would like to start with telling you a little bit about my family history. Where I came from, I think, speaks volumes about where my outlook on Delta comes from. My parents, Bruce and Carol, moved here from Ontario nearly 40 years ago. We have lived in Boundary Bay ever since. My dad was a P.E teacher in North Delta at Richardson Elementary, and over the years became a much respected Principal in numerous Tsawwassen elementary schools. My mother is a life long nurse, and spent most of her working life at Children's Hospital in Vancouver. After 'retiring' early from Children's, mum began her second working life at the Kinsmen Retirement Home in Tsawwassen. She served for many years as a shop steward and a mentor for the nurses and care aides there.
I have two older sisters and an older brother, and all of us are still living in Tsawwassen. My two sisters both followed dad into the teaching profession. Pamela Selig, my eldest sister, is a special education teacher at Cliff Drive. My other sister, Ryanne Woolford, moved back to Tsawwassen with her husband and two children 3 years ago and just recently bought their first Canadian house in Tsawwassen. My Brother, Ward, was a self employed owner/operator of a mobile staging company and did jobs from the Yukon to Oregon, from Victoria to Manitoba. He also had a specialized metal fabricating shop. A few years ago he sold that company and now works as a project manager for a sound system company.
Three year ago, I met my wonderful and supportive girlfriend while working together at B.C. Ferries. (see also; beautiful, smart, fun-loving, outgoing, and family oriented) Alexandra also grew up in Tsawwassen. She was a university student in the States, at home for the summer and working like mad to save up for the next years food and pocket money. We shared an immediate connection, and despite the thousands of kilometers between us we were inseperable. Let me just say that skype was the most used program on my computer for those two long years. For the bulk of those two years we were apart, connected only by the internet and as many trips for me to see her as I could afford (not easy to save while still being a recent homeowner and paying the mortgage myself) and Christmas and summer breaks. She has since graduated, we now live together and I love her to bits. She has been my number one supporter, and has been pushing me all the way through my campaign. I don't know if I would be here without her.
Growing up in The Bay was a pretty special place to be as a kid. I had acres upon acres of land to explore on bike and on foot. The cow fields, as they are known colloquially, because they used to actually have cows in them, were a source of endless entertainment. The large blackberry bushes and stands of trees were ideal for building forts with scrap wood a lot of creativity. A short walk and I was at Boundary Bay Elementary, where I went to school until grade 3. The boat ramp at the beach, and the beach itself, was a popular spot on the hot summer days.
But times have changed. The cows no longer roam the fields, occasionally breaking out and wandering down the street, sparking frenzied phone calls to the Spetifore farm to come shoo them back in. The fields themselves have been put out of reach, but for a portion attached to the school. The school that was closed down a couple years back.....
I am of course a product of my environment. This is the life I know, and I like it. I'm not blind to the world, I have traveled more than many people, and have seen a lot of different ways people live. I like the life we have here. I believe that one of our most valuable assets in our natural world. I have a boundless appreciation for nature, and our connection to it. With our available farmland, existing parkland and so many great citizens working tirelessly all over our community (BC Waterfowl Society @ Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Burns Bog Conservation Society, Earthwise society, Delta Agricultural Society and more) I am hopeful for a future where Delta supports these ideals as a priority. Delta could become a very green community if we choose to be. A model community for the rest of the lower mainland and Canada to be jealous of.
I was also fortunate enough to play many sports growing up, and was an active member of the Scouting movement as a member of the Sea Scouts. Delta has great park, recreation and sporting infastructure. Each community has at least one ice rink, at least one artificial turf field, with more in the works. Delta Gymnastics has expanded facilities now, the fields for baseball and softball are great in each neighbourhood. And the list goes on. These are the investments that pay off in the long run, and it's important to continue to expand on these facilities. Healthy youth grow into healthy adults, and good citizens.
So, I think that's a good start. You know more about me, and have an idea of where I am coming from and what is important to me. In the coming days, I look forward to discussing some of the issues a bit more specifically and talking about other things that come up during my campaign in the next month or so. If you have any questions or comments or anything at all, I of course encourage you to bring them forward to myself!
Bye for now.
I would like to start with telling you a little bit about my family history. Where I came from, I think, speaks volumes about where my outlook on Delta comes from. My parents, Bruce and Carol, moved here from Ontario nearly 40 years ago. We have lived in Boundary Bay ever since. My dad was a P.E teacher in North Delta at Richardson Elementary, and over the years became a much respected Principal in numerous Tsawwassen elementary schools. My mother is a life long nurse, and spent most of her working life at Children's Hospital in Vancouver. After 'retiring' early from Children's, mum began her second working life at the Kinsmen Retirement Home in Tsawwassen. She served for many years as a shop steward and a mentor for the nurses and care aides there.
I have two older sisters and an older brother, and all of us are still living in Tsawwassen. My two sisters both followed dad into the teaching profession. Pamela Selig, my eldest sister, is a special education teacher at Cliff Drive. My other sister, Ryanne Woolford, moved back to Tsawwassen with her husband and two children 3 years ago and just recently bought their first Canadian house in Tsawwassen. My Brother, Ward, was a self employed owner/operator of a mobile staging company and did jobs from the Yukon to Oregon, from Victoria to Manitoba. He also had a specialized metal fabricating shop. A few years ago he sold that company and now works as a project manager for a sound system company.
Three year ago, I met my wonderful and supportive girlfriend while working together at B.C. Ferries. (see also; beautiful, smart, fun-loving, outgoing, and family oriented) Alexandra also grew up in Tsawwassen. She was a university student in the States, at home for the summer and working like mad to save up for the next years food and pocket money. We shared an immediate connection, and despite the thousands of kilometers between us we were inseperable. Let me just say that skype was the most used program on my computer for those two long years. For the bulk of those two years we were apart, connected only by the internet and as many trips for me to see her as I could afford (not easy to save while still being a recent homeowner and paying the mortgage myself) and Christmas and summer breaks. She has since graduated, we now live together and I love her to bits. She has been my number one supporter, and has been pushing me all the way through my campaign. I don't know if I would be here without her.
Growing up in The Bay was a pretty special place to be as a kid. I had acres upon acres of land to explore on bike and on foot. The cow fields, as they are known colloquially, because they used to actually have cows in them, were a source of endless entertainment. The large blackberry bushes and stands of trees were ideal for building forts with scrap wood a lot of creativity. A short walk and I was at Boundary Bay Elementary, where I went to school until grade 3. The boat ramp at the beach, and the beach itself, was a popular spot on the hot summer days.
But times have changed. The cows no longer roam the fields, occasionally breaking out and wandering down the street, sparking frenzied phone calls to the Spetifore farm to come shoo them back in. The fields themselves have been put out of reach, but for a portion attached to the school. The school that was closed down a couple years back.....
I am of course a product of my environment. This is the life I know, and I like it. I'm not blind to the world, I have traveled more than many people, and have seen a lot of different ways people live. I like the life we have here. I believe that one of our most valuable assets in our natural world. I have a boundless appreciation for nature, and our connection to it. With our available farmland, existing parkland and so many great citizens working tirelessly all over our community (BC Waterfowl Society @ Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Burns Bog Conservation Society, Earthwise society, Delta Agricultural Society and more) I am hopeful for a future where Delta supports these ideals as a priority. Delta could become a very green community if we choose to be. A model community for the rest of the lower mainland and Canada to be jealous of.
I was also fortunate enough to play many sports growing up, and was an active member of the Scouting movement as a member of the Sea Scouts. Delta has great park, recreation and sporting infastructure. Each community has at least one ice rink, at least one artificial turf field, with more in the works. Delta Gymnastics has expanded facilities now, the fields for baseball and softball are great in each neighbourhood. And the list goes on. These are the investments that pay off in the long run, and it's important to continue to expand on these facilities. Healthy youth grow into healthy adults, and good citizens.
So, I think that's a good start. You know more about me, and have an idea of where I am coming from and what is important to me. In the coming days, I look forward to discussing some of the issues a bit more specifically and talking about other things that come up during my campaign in the next month or so. If you have any questions or comments or anything at all, I of course encourage you to bring them forward to myself!
Bye for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)