Bepple – ArmchairMayor.ca

BEPPLE – Strategic plans make a difference, even when things don’t go as planned

January 25, 2023 // 4 Comments

THIS WEEK, Kamloops City council sits down to make the strategic plan for the next four years. Myself and other council members will set down goals for what we want to [Continue]

BEPPLE – Things are good in Kamloops but not as good as they used to be

January 19, 2023 // 2 Comments

THINGS ARE NOT AS GOOD as they used to be in Kamloops. The Citizen Satisfaction Survey results for 2022 are out. Whereas the quality of life was rated good or very [Continue]

BEPPLE – Shifting issues mean City Hall must evolve

January 10, 2023 // 1 Comment

BACK IN OCTOBER and November 2022, City of Kamloops undertook a Citizen Satisfaction Survey. The survey, which is undertaken every few years, measures the mood of the city. [Continue]

BEPPLE – City needs more made-in-Kamloops housing solutions

January 3, 2023 // 1 Comment

BACK IN APRIL 2022, BC Housing and City of Kamloops signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for 369 affordable rental homes for families and seniors, approximately 133 [Continue]

BEPPLE – Coquihalla Highway can’t escape its past

December 28, 2022 // 0 Comments

WHEN THE COQUIHALLA Highway was opened in 1986, it followed the mountainous route of the doomed Kettle Valley Railway from Coldwater to Hope. And just as the KVR struggled to [Continue]

BEPPLE – Thank you to those who help get us home to family at Christmas

December 21, 2022 // 0 Comments

“Every mile is two in winter.” – George Herbert, 17th century poet. HERBERT MIGHT HAVE lived 400 years ago, but he might well have been speaking about travel for [Continue]

BEPPLE – Declaring conflicts of interest a normal part of the job on City council

December 7, 2022 // 1 Comment

DECLARING A CONFLICT OF INTEREST is a normal event during a B.C. city council meeting. In British Columbia, councils are governed by the Community Charter which was [Continue]

BEPPLE – Kelson Hall the beginning of a transformation in downtown Kamloops

November 30, 2022 // 2 Comments

THE DOWNTOWN of Kamloops is being transformed. On Monday, Kelson Hall was officially opened. What was a bunker style building for Telus equipment at 330 St. Paul Street [Continue]

BEPPLE – A sprawling city means higher taxes to maintain services

November 23, 2022 // 3 Comments

I’M NOT SURE who came up with the graphic to begin with, but I first saw it on a tweet by internationally recognized urban planner Brent Toderian of Vancouver. Simply put, [Continue]

BEPPLE – Kamloops needs more housing, not just more shelter beds

November 16, 2022 // 3 Comments

AND I’M BACK. My last column with the Armchair Mayor was April 6, 2022. That was the week before I declared I was running for a seat on Kamloops City [Continue]

BEPPLE – Mayor’s race already shaping up as an interesting one

April 6, 2022 // 4 Comments

AND THEN there were four. With current councillor Dieter Dudy throwing his hat in the ring for the mayor’s race in the upcoming October municipal election, Kamloops now has [Continue]

BEPPLE – It’s time Interior Health listened to calls for expansion of Car 40

March 30, 2022 // 5 Comments

THERE IS CONCERN in Kamloops that social issues such as drug addiction and mental illness are growing. There are daily calls that more be done. This week’s announcement [Continue]

BEPPLE – More data needed on Kamloops Fire Rescue medical calls

March 23, 2022 // 3 Comments

DATA IS A CORE to good policy for cities. We see it again and again from the simplest to the most complex. When cities want to make road changes, they measure [Continue]

BEPPLE – If we don’t have room for Ukrainian refugees, we must find it

March 16, 2022 // 2 Comments

ON MARCH 3, the Government of Canada issued a press release stating that Ukrainians fleeing the war could come to Canada temporarily under a new Canada-Ukrainian [Continue]