EDITORIAL – The biggest issue in town right now: drones or fireworks?
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
BIGGEST ISSUE in town right now seems to be the Canada Day drone show. It was a great Canada Day at Riverside Park as always, and the weather even co-operated off and on, but never mind the dancing and the singing, the speeches and the beer garden, Art in the Park and the great food.
What about the drones? Did they measure up? Should they be a regular replacement for the fireworks? People really have their shirts in a knot over this.
Opinions vary, with verdicts including crap, dumb, amazing, lame, awesome, and worth a try. Some are willing to “give it a chance,” while others think the drone show just didn’t cut it.Some are happy for their pets. Some don’t think we should worry about dogs so much. Some are even skeptical about fireworks causing PTSD for war veterans.
A 10-minute fireworks display of any consequence costs around $20,000. Apparently the drone show might have cost a little more.
I remain with Team Fireworks, and think the City’s worries about drought and risk of fire were a little overblown. Certainly, backyard fireworks are too risky and cause too many problems but the professional shows on Canada Day and New Year’s Eve can be done with little to no risk.
I don’t believe, however, that cancelling the fireworks was a conspiracy to rob us of our annual Canada Day enjoyment, or that it was incompetence by City council. It was done for safety concerns, whether or not you believe it was necessary.
And, maybe drone shows will grow on us. So, let’s “give it a chance” for a few years and see if they become as popular and accepted as the big, noisy fireworks have been.
Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
City was reluctant to give out the cost so the questions as usual should be how much, to whom, and who did the people who received that payout know. The same questions which always need to be asked and published when it comes to this city and spending.
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jeepers, two days later and grown adults are still crying about this…c’mon you guys. Give it a damn rest already.
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At the end of the day … does it matter in the slightest what the average voting citizen thinks about this? Sure, its interesting to discover preferences and debate it … but will any of that whatsoever, change City Council or otherwise decision, to replace fireworks with drones?
No, of course not. It does not exactly rise to the point of being a voter issue, which means there is no controversy surrounding it, that will extend itself as an electoral fence to sit on and ask potential Council members about … I doubt come the next election, I will even remember I wrote this at all.
Which means in the end, they are going to do what they want to do, and they will swallow dumb justifications and reasonings to do so … like wild fire concerns … even though its over water, with fire personnel on hand, and miles and miles away from the nearest anything even remotely defined as ‘forest’?
And drought? How exactly does that work?
– Drought as in save the water one would use to put out an out of control firework show based fire in the brush off the point there? Like a garden hose amount for 15 minutes?
– Drought as in there is water shortage, so every kneejerk has to be to blame everything on drought, because its the new and fresh going PC lingo? The street paint isnt yet done on some streets in town: because drought.
– Or most likely, a Council internal edict that says that it is FAR more important to appear to be doing something, even if the thing you do is illogical and makes no sense … then actually doing something intelligent, or appearing not not do anytthing at all.
In other words, this is an opportunity to look good,
regarding a problem that didn’t actually exist,
regarding an issue that voters dont really care about.
… because … Council.
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This was an example of a solution in search of a problem. If there is a safety issue with fires then provide examples where fires have been caused from professional fireworks, none provided. PTSD excuse also doesn’t hold water as the number of war veterans this may trigger is minimal, so few that those affected could be provided with noise cancelling headphones by the city or simply go for a drive during the 15-20 minute event. Likewise, pet owners could go for a drive during the scheduled show, not to mention much if not most of the city live too far away to hear the sounds created.
Tens of thousands look forward to the fireworks whilst hundreds oppose them, this simply wasn’t a balanced solution in my mind.
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I was a tad underwhelmed by the drone show but I understand why council did it. There were lots of backyard fireworks in our neighborhood so I got a bit of both until about 2 am.
As an aside, how about doing a poll about the decision by council to budget for the new PAC and sports facility. By the way did anybody else notice there is nothing for the North shore? So how about a poll on what folks think?
Since the ability of the citizens of Kamloops to partake in their reverse referendum is limited and definitely skewed to their benefit, it may be a way of seeing if the citizens of Kamloops are willing to approve this amount of money.
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