http://www.spiritsquares.gov.bc.ca/
B.C. Spirit Squares are the legacy program of BC2008 and will help ensure our public gathering places reflect each community’s unique character, heritage and cultural diversity – as we move towards celebrating BC2008 events and activities and many other celebrations in the future.
The province is providing $20 million to create or improve outdoor public meeting and celebration spaces, such as traditional town squares or community commons. Generally projects will be outdoors, accessible to the community and near other public sites, such as parks.
Project criteria include:
spaces with flexible and multiple uses;
accessibility for persons with disabilities;
multi-cultural linkages;
community partnerships; and
artistic and structural design attributes.
Municipalities and regional districts can apply for B.C. Spirit Squares, based on a 50/50 provincial/local government cost-sharing basis with a maximum provincial contribution of $500,000. Registered non-profit societies can also apply with an endorsement from their local government council or board.
To be considered for project approval, B.C. Spirit Squares applications are expected to be submitted by February 16, 2007. Successful projects will be announced in Spring 2007.
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Beware the dreaded “W” word. By CHRISTOPHER FOULDSJan 21 2007 http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/ (FULL ARTICLE)
The last time a politician uttered “wriggle,” British Columbian taxpayers were left with a fudged budget, two super-ferries worth hundreds of millions of dollars that couldn’t do the job for which they were intended and an economy about as lively as Interior Savings Centre before they opened the taps. Yes, we all remember the dark 1990s, when then-premier Glen Clark was challenged on an alleged balanced budget. “We’re going to need a little wriggle room,” is what Clark said in 1996 as his career, and the status of his B.C. New Democratic Party, began its political swoon.
The infamous “W” word cropped up again this past week at city hall. Granted, we shouldn’t expect any financial malfeasance to emerge. But when Mayor Terry Lake uttered that chilling word, it lent an air of foreboding to a project — the People’s Fountain — that should include nary a penny of taxpayers’ money, be it a nickel from the pocket of a Lotus Lander or a dime from the waders of a Newfoundlander. “Maybe,” Lake mused at this past week’s council meeting, “we just need to do a little more homework on this to find out how much wriggle room we have in terms of the first application and how broad that application can be.”
Lake was referring to an application to Victoria, which has a pool of $20 million set aside to help cities and towns across B.C. establish town squares. Kamloops could be eligible for up to $500,000, which is why the proposed People’s Fountain — a polished stainless-steel sphere five feet in diameter supposed to represent an earth without physical and political boundaries, despite the fact an earth without physical and political boundaries would immediately degenerate into a mass of anarchy not unlike a George Romero flick — has all but been added to the city’s city-square project.
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