Armchair Mayor

ROTHENBURGER – Artificial intelligence is with us, and we aren’t ready for it

January 28, 2023 // 0 Comments

ON A MID-DECEMBER DAY in 1903, a flying machine built by Orville and Wilbur Wright lifted into the air and stayed there for just under a minute. It took more than 20 years [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – Why mayor isn’t in a conflict of interest over 48 Victoria West

January 21, 2023 // 2 Comments

ANOTHER LIVELY WEEK in Mayor RHJ Nation. Back in the chair at City Hall after his vacation, the mayor didn’t fail to raise some hackles. At one point during the Tuesday [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – The city can’t afford four years of council playing silly bugger

January 14, 2023 // 2 Comments

THERE ARE THREE YEARS, eight months and three days until the next civic election. The way things are going with Kamloops City council, it’s going to feel like forever. The [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – There’s a proven option to warehousing the homeless

January 7, 2023 // 1 Comment

‘HOMELESSNESS IS CAUSED by poverty, so we have to tackle poverty by creating more housing. ‘Once we get everybody housed, the crime-addictions-mental illness [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – Frootloops council stars in its own sappy Christmas movie

December 24, 2022 // 3 Comments

FROOTLOOPS COUNCIL gathers around the horseshoe for a secret meeting on Christmas Eve to discuss matters of importance. Mayor Jackhammer is in the chair. MAYOR JACKHAMMER: [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – Thin red line leads, eventually, to emergency department

December 17, 2022 // 0 Comments

A THIN RED LINE runs from the front of Royal Inland Hospital all the way to the back. It has nothing to do with Rudyard Kipling or the Sean Penn movie. It’s a literal thin [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – Undaunted, the mayor carries on after a very busy week

December 10, 2022 // 1 Comment

IT’S BEEN A BUSY WEEK for Mayor RHJ, and not in a good way. But in the midst of the chaos, he found an hour for coffee with the Armchair Mayor to talk about it. He was [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – Back alleys could be people places if we gave them a chance

December 3, 2022 // 1 Comment

THE BACK ALLEYS of Kamloops aren’t anywhere you want to spend a lot of time in. They’re stark, grungy places with busted up concrete, graffiti vandalism everywhere, [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – Annual Black Friday frenzy just isn’t what it used to be

November 26, 2022 // 1 Comment

I WENT IN SEARCH of Black Friday yesterday. Couldn’t find it anywhere. There were lots of signs, just no people. Some announced simply, “Black Friday Sale Now On,” [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – Security guard lives in limbo long after Victoria Street West incident

November 19, 2022 // 3 Comments

‘IT HAS NOT BEEN an easy year,” says Rick Eldridge as we sit in a downtown coffee shop. He wears a Ronik Security ballcap and jacket; his hair and beard look longer and [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – What will you do when the mask mandates return?

November 12, 2022 // 6 Comments

WHEN MASK MANDATES RETURN, what will you do? Will you go along, maybe unwillingly, but follow the advice of the experts, or will you rebel, shouting “Freedom!” and [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – The hidden pain of all the candidates who run and lose

November 5, 2022 // 2 Comments

INAUGURAL MEETINGS are, in essence, a victory celebration for the winners. Throughout the province, City councils, regional district boards and school boards have been [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – Hamer-Jackson deserves a chance to test his ideas

October 22, 2022 // 3 Comments

AND NOW FOR something completely different. A week later, what happened on election day is starting to sink in. A guy few initially expected to win is the mayor-elect of [Continue]

ROTHENBURGER – When it comes to turnouts in civic elections, size matters

October 15, 2022 // 1 Comment

BIG DAY TODAY — the day we get to pick our new mayors and councils. When I say ‘we,’ I mean those of us who actually do vote. We are a mere one-third of those who are [Continue]