Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Who's Hot and Who's not at City Council

Managing editor David Wylie and reporter Scott Neufeld EDITORIAL http://www.dailycourier.ca/

Coun. Juliette Cunningham is hot after saying what most people have likely been thinking about the Downtown Vernon Association’s continuous comments about the dangers of downtown. Cunningham said the DVA should look into hiring downtown ambassadors to make friends in the area, rather than the safety patrol. “I think what you’ve managed to create is a sense of hysteria,” she told council. We concur. Shouldn’t the DVA be talking about the positive side of our downtown?
Coun. Barry Beardsell is cold for inadvertently suggesting drivers be given a carte blanche to park in handicapped spaces late at night, as if respect for handicapped parking spaces be honoured only from nine to five. Beardsell said bylaw officers should be more lenient in their ticketing at night and used the example of a driver getting slapped with a ticket for parking in a handicapped space.

It’s a mystery whether Mayor Wayne Lippert is hot or cold because we don’t know for certain whether members of the former Vernon Land Corporation were fired, as one member has said, or whether they resigned. We’d like to give the mayor the benefit of the doubt. On a side note, we tried to reach him for two days and he did not return phone calls. We finally caught up
with him at a press conference Tuesday.

The beetles are coming and Coun. Buffy Baumbrough gets the hot seal of approval for encouraging council to give the insects some grief. The councillor/Liberal candidate has been at the forefront of making sure the city puts up some form of resistance in the battle against the pine beetle. If a handful of historic pines are saved, the money spent is worth it.
Coun. Patrick Nichol is hot for showing gratitude to the finance committee, finance staff and a member of the public for their dedication to the budget process. It’s nice to see a local politician giving credit where credit’s earned. More encouragement from council and perhaps a second member of the public will attend all 26 meetings next year.

Comedians often joke that politicians are full of hot air, but Coun. Jack Gilroy lands on the cold list for keeping his lips sealed. Gilroy frequently offers the silent treatment at council but when he does speak he often offers valuable insight. Other times he hits comedy gold. Either way a few more words from Gilroy should send him to warmer climes on the next list.

Coun. Pat Cochrane escapes our thermometer this week because he did not attend council and kept a low profile the past two weeks.

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