EDITORIAL – Kill weeds, grow flowers, make Kamloops beautiful again

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

MAYBE IT’S TIME to bring back Communities in Bloom, and maybe even Beautify Kamloops. These two programs go back many years, and both have long since been terminated.

That’s unfortunate, because in those days no weed would dare to rear its ugly head in anyone’s yard or in back alleys or parking lots or boulevards.

Beautify Kamloops came first, with a core of hardy volunteers and local judges organizing categories, getting sponsors, and viewing home gardens around the city, divided into zones. Each year they handed out trophies for the best front yard, best back yard, best veggie patch, best xeriscape and — the big one — best street.

The latter became a source of real pride for neighbourhoods, with residents gathering as a Best Street sign was posted. It was a majorl achievement to win that award because it wasn’t a case of being nominated — every single street in the city was considered an entrant.

The object was to encourage Kamloopsians to brighten up and clean up their properties and create a city to be proud of. It lasted for many years until it died from lack of new blood, as so many community efforts do.

Then along came Communities in Bloom, a national competition in which cities pitted themselves against each other in various levels. The day the national judges came to town was a big deal, with much joshing among mayors and civic leaders about trying to bribe them into picking Kamloops.

And, while there are no recorded incidents of real bribes, they certainly did frequently pick Kamloops as a stand-out for its immaculate public spaces. Eventually, our city ran out of Communities in Bloom categories to win.  Remember the “Marigold Mile”? There were two of them, one on Columbia Street and one on Tranquille Road, brightening up a stretch of those two streets with plantings of the City’s official flower. The “Miles” were actually only a block long each but “Marigold Mile” had more of a ring to it than “Marigold Block.”

There’s been nothing like either Beautify Kamloops or Communities in Bloom since. Obviously, though, we could use them right now. Coun. Margot Middleton was in City Council on Tuesday asking her fellow councillors to direct staff to come up with a new plan for combatting weeds.

She wants staff to look at enforcing against “non-compliance,” possibly increasing service levels and maybe coming up with some sort of education campaign. It might seem a little trivial in view of all the others problems facing the city right now, but it’s actually quite important.

Just as the City council of 20-plus years ago established the Graffiti Task Force to keep the town looking as unblemished as possible, eradicating weeds is important to our self image and the impression we make on visitors.

The City does have a weed eradication program, carried out twice a year. Its effectiveness depends in large part on the vagaries of Mother Nature — whether in a given year the weather favours weed growth.

But Middleton suggested treating “vegetation management” as she calls it, similar to snow clearing. In a year of heavy snow, the snow-plowing budget needs to be increased. Instead of setting a static dollar figure for weeds in the annual budget, there needs to be some flexibility so the City can be more nimble.

That makes some sense but here’s the thing: The City can fill its boots on weed management on properties it controls, but homeowners have a responsibility, too. It’s up to them to keep the weeds down on boulevards in front of their homes and in alleyways behind them, and to generally get into the spirit of once again focusing on the beautification of Kamloops. Likewise, businesses have a big role to play on their own properties.

A beautiful city is a safe, livable city. An education program of some sort might help, but a new iteration of Beautify Kamloops, or linking up once again with Communities in Bloom, would raise anew the importance of nice yards and public spaces in our community consciousness.

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, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. 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.