Lumby council has decided to pursue the idea of getting a provincial prison in the village. Mayor Kevin Acton says his council voted 4-1 in favour of moving ahead after getting 56 percent support from village residents in Saturday's referendum. "We're going to work on a presentation and send the minister (solicitor general) an email in the morning as well as our local MLA, and get a presentation together, and go down to Victoria to try and get a meeting." While 66 percent of nearby Area D residents voted against a prison, Acton says he felt it was more important to do what the residents that elected him wanted. "No matter how I crunched the numbers, or how I justified it in my head, it kept coming back to the people who voted to have me represent them in the village." Acton realizes council's move could lead to more division in the community. "I'm sure the potential is there. I'm hoping everybody stays professional, and as we go through negotiations with the province, we might be able to alleviate some of the concerns that came from people that weren't in favour of it." Councillor Tracy Williamson was the lone opponent. Acton says she doesn't agree with having a prison in the community, and was voting along with the 44 percent that said No. Acton says his council discussed the idea for maybe ten minutes before making its decision. The province wants to build a 360 cell minimum security prison in the Okanagan within five years. Penticton and Summerland are other communities that have expressed an interest.
3 comments:
Is there no time before sending that email to build some bridges???
Convene a community committee with membership from Village Council, and a handful of concerned Lumby and Area D residents, and have this committee place some demands on Lumby's prison bid: i.e. spell out under what conditions you would be willing to support the prison.
Yes, Lumby and Area D is MY backyard too! Is Village Council so desperate for this prison, that it must pursue development at any cost?
The right deal could make all the difference! E.g. fix our sewage treatment plant, deal with our garbage issues, upgrade Highway 6, make sure the prison is not visible from any major roadway through the area, etc.
These kinds of issues affect not only Lumby and Area D, they also impact our entire region.
It seems odd in this enlightened age that a tiny village should take it upon itself to decide the future for such a large area. For example, a Lumby prison would also impact the City of Vernon... perhaps positively, perhaps negatively in terms of traffic and transportation.
Rest assured, Lumby is not an island!
So a kneejerk e-mail, without apparently more than 10 minutes discussion or how to make this proposal more palatable to the whole community after such a mixed referendum result, well, it speaks volumes, doesn't it?
One of things I love about this region is the freedom women have to walk alone, explore nature, or go out at night in relative safety.
A few want to change the dymamics of this region without as much as a feasabiliy/sociological/environmental study.
We have a major institute of learning down the road. Has anyone asked the experts in the fields that pertain to the wide-raging implications of helicoptering a mega-institute at the door-step of a charming village?
Has anyone considered building size-appropriate satellite mental-health/drug rehab facilities closer to home, given that many who are incarcertated demonstrate anti-social/mental-health issues?
Let's fix the problems that emerge from our own region, be it social problems or infrastructure.
Our immediate community family needs attention. Bringing as many troubled members of our extended human community as has been proposed will invevitably cause conflict.
Thank you for letting us know what the elected officials are not saying to the people in Lumby
Mayor Acton said:
"as we go through negotiations with the province..."
It sounds like Mayor Acton has forgotton that other communities also made a submission of interest. Is it confidence or smoke and mirrors?
To find out what the Solicitor General's people had to say at the Lumby public meeting go to:
http://vimeo.com/22001057
To find out how someone from Surrey sees the Lumby issue go to:
http://lailayuile.com
I voted "No" - along with hundreds of Concerned Citizens who also voted "No".
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