Erik BJORGAN for Parliament

The Province
http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/money/story.html?id=d15c8ab7-4e72-443c-a09f-5b0976a6a356

B.C. has enough underused capacity in its electrical grid to support almost 2.5 million plug-in vehicles, a new report says.

If recharging took place in off-peak-demand periods, the grid would have enough juice to replace nearly every registered gas-powered vehicle in B.C., the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (http://www.pics.uvic.ca/) said Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »

Two ships are finishing the first commercial navigation of the fabled North-east Passage. It is an epic moment – but also a vivid sign of climate change in the Arctic

by Tony Paterson in Berlin

It has been one of the elusive goals of seafaring nations almost since the beginnings of waterborne trade, but for nearly 500 years the idea has been dismissed as an impossible dream. Now, as a result of global warming, the dream is about to come true. Read the rest of this entry »

TO:  Mayor and Councilors of Vernon

Greetings

I recently heard that Vernon had removed a Transport Demand Management Coordinator from its budget. The purpose of this letter is to ask you to please do all in your power to reinstate this position since this is one of the better ways to reduce road space demand by influencing travel choices as well as the amount and timing of travel.

Vernon is already choking from too much road traffic and adding more roads will simply fill them with more cars. The proven short and long term solution to traffic problems is to encourage more walking, cycling, public transit use, car-pooling, and tele-commuting. Reducing traffic also improves the health of our children for Vernon schools are located along high traffic roads. One in five Canadian children now suffers from asthma.

Vernon council minutes of 2007 show that the city of Kelowna partners with the Regional District of Central Okanagan and the Westbank First Nations in their TDM program. Would this type of collaboration not be feasible for Vernon? Is there anything citizens can do to help council rethink this decision and help Vernon become a friendlier, healthier city?

Huguette Allen.

One of the fundamental principles of “Smart Growth” is to increase residential density by infill in existing areas, and by redeveloping existing residential areas more densely.  The claim is that this will somehow create livable cities, reduce energy requirements and emissions, save farmland, and protect green space. Or, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency puts it, “density is (an) integral component to the creation of neighborhoods that offer convenience, value and a high quality of life.” http://www.epa.gov/dced/density.htm

Portland, Oregon, is an icon for the smart growth social engineers. In a 2007 article about problems with the Portland harbor http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=118825124084524300, the Portland Tribune cites a recent study by the Portland Business Alliance and state agencies which shows that the number of goods passing through Oregon needs to double by 2030 to keep pace with population growth, globalization and expanding markets.  But the harbor and city infrastructure are lagging. Traffic congestion and delays on Portland roads are cited as hindrances to business efficiency, and as a significant factor in increasing business transportation costs. Read the rest of this entry »

How to shift the Okanagan Shuswap from a dependent underdeveloped economy to an autonomous developed economy.

I have been talking of rebuilding a local economy in the Okanagan Shuswap for many months now, and am finding that many are curious to know more about the kind of jobs this would give, and the kind of economy it would create.

You might have heard the Conservatives candidate, Colin Mayes, talk of an inland port last year. This of course would serve the global economy by encouraging more global imports of finished goods and more exports of our raw resources, clearly not to our advantage in the long-term. Instead I am proposing a vision of our economy that will protect our raw natural resources for future generations, give us more varied jobs, and keep our money within our own jurisdiction. It will give us autonomy over our economy while building safer, better communities. Read the rest of this entry »

To the City of Vernon

In light of the request to change the designation of the Eastside Ridge (Alexander property and Whitepoint), I wish to publicly state my strong opposition to any OCP amendment that does not conform to the guiding principles of the OCP, which are:

• Protect and preserve green spaces and sensitive areas
• Housing meets the needs of the whole community
• Create a culture of sustainability
• Protect agricultural land
• Create strong, compact and complete neighbourhoods
• Provide alternative transportation
• Downtown revitalization
• Development pays for itself
• Create a youth friendly cityI urge you as members of Council to courageously uphold these principles, knowing that those of us who are proud of the OCP fully support its guiding principles and fully support council’s courage in upholding them.

Huguette Allen