FEATURED COMMENT – We need fresh faces on Kamloops City council
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
Re: Dear media: There’s another side to City council chaos
Trying to be as objective as possible as someone who finds serious faults with the councillors, this vote is a tough one. The easy part is “no incumbents”. This council has abdicated their duty to this community and has acted without integrity more times than Mel has mentioned here. Sometimes with egregious outcomes.
I feel Reid was legitimately wronged by council and particularly aided by some employees of the corporation. However, Reid seems to have completely lost the plot in recent months/weeks. The apparent repeated disclosures of private information, if accurate, are really getting into territory that I cannot support. Even if grievous harm was done to Reid, that doesn’t give a public servant carte blanche to ignore privacy laws. I am an absolutist when it comes to the right of privacy, and an elected official, of all people, must strive to uphold the legal frameworks surrounding the right to privacy. I wanted to see the underdog win, I wanted him to shake up the rot at city hall, but there comes a point where you need to stop giving your adversaries ammunition. Take the high road. There’s a great mayor in there, somewhere, but Reid simply can’t let it go. They didn’t make it easy, but he can’t let it go. He is Sisyphus – condemned to push a boulder of grievances up the mountain for all eternity, while the council and administration band together on the sidelines to ensure their own foibles and many shortcomings are papered over.
And showing up to someone’s place of business because that individual shared critical opinions of him on the internet, if true, is also an example of doing the most. It’s just unnecessary and if Reid’s version is accurate, just let it go man.
I voted no incumbents. They’re easy to spot because they have an (i) indicator on the ballot. I hope whomever wins their seat is prepared to focus on the issues plaguing the community, and will put the administration and corporation on notice that they’re not going to be pulling strings anymore.
We need fresh faces on council. This pathetic tenure will go down in history as one of the best examples of how not to run a city.
THESPIAN
So, no incumbents and lets possibly give RHJ another shot? Does anyone really believe that that wqih a brand new council, the leopard will change its spots. You will be back in the exact same position next year at this time. I question the idea of a brand new council. It would be a massive learning curve for them. I don’t know what the purpose of Mels column was. To try and shame the other media?. To throw support for RHJ? To try and sway voters against the incumbents?
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Curse the autocorrect.. it should read “legitimately wronged” instead of “legitimate”, and “uphold” instead of upload. I also want to address a comment on the main article (I think Ms. Bronwen said it) something to the effect that Reid has PTSD. I would not for a second discount how one’s mental health can be warped and destroyed by a toxic work environment. Looking from the outside in, it seemed most times that the entire institution (including a hostile media apparatus) was out to get him. Reid is a victim most certainly in many respects, but he isn’t innocent either from my view.
This four years has been an odyssey. I wouldn’t be mad to see Reid have another shot at mayor with a potential majority that aligned with his views. Let’s remember that Reid’s platform spoke to the voters and he was elected on it. It’s kind of crazy to now hear the likes of O’Reilly campaign on one of the first ideas Reid brought up (campus of care away from neighbourhoods). The vitriol directed toward Reid (and the absence of it for O’Reilly’s version) demonstrates to me that this council was never interested in ideas. Rather it was interested in turning the screws on Reid. O’Reilly, and any of the other councillors could have supported a campus of care as an idea and explored ways to make it happen. Instead we heard words like “concentration camps” and ‘not our jurisdiction’ while extending wet shelters and approving BC Housing leases for them. O’Reilly says Reid’s location wasn’t suitable. Well then what was stopping any of the council from finding another location? No, you were not willing to work with Reid despite claims to the contrary. But now you want to run on his idea?
I hope voters reflect on the question of what did any of these councillors do in the last four years to address the concerns of voters raised four years ago. What declined and what improved?
We get the politicians we deserve in the end.
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Thanks, I’ve fixed up the two words in the Featured Comment.
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this along with the letter was well stated
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If your main argument against a new slate is inexperience, and inversely, that experience in poorly serving the community over the last four years affords some kind of boost or privilege toward reelection, I would suggest that our community is never served by applying a bar so low
If the actions, conduct, and lack of improvement on the platform issues that incumbents ran on over the last four years means less to you that four years of a planted buttocks in a shoehorn chair, I hope that this community has a pool of voters that are harder to impress than you are.
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