Safety, health and future vision.

I think most people in Kamloops see safety as number one and this is a broad area. Kamloops has changed in the past 4 years and it has not been for the better. People often tell me they don't feel safe in certain parts of our city and that list is growing. Business owners and employees tell me that they don't feel safe, at work, walking to and from work, during business hours or after hours. Seeing businesses shut down due to the safety of their employees or because they just can't handle the thefts, vandalism, or such is telling. When people tell me they are thinking of moving or won't be retiring in Kamloops, I know that we have a problem on safety.

Safety is also snow removal or the lack of. I think a simple solution is to put front plows back on city trucks, give the staff training and experience in that equipment and its use, plus a plan to follow would help a lot. Also I think if we implemented a simple even and odd day parking rule, where even numbered sides of the street are vacant on even numbered calendar days and vice versa for odd, we could have snow plowed to the curb and or removed so that snow does not build up on our streets. Removing this snow also should cut down on our pothole problem, because there would be less snow melting into cracks to cause potholes to form. Potholes need to be filled, but more importantly, we need to make sure that we have proper road paving so that potholes are less likely to form as well. Safety is knowing you won't wreck your vehicle, or bicycle hitting a pothole while commuting.

Safety is also having a truly connected trail system, hopefully the River Trail, so that non-vehicular traffic can move around our great city without being hit or killed. I have been hit twice on my bike while commuting to work and as such I now ride on the sidewalk on my commute from Brocklehurst to Aberdeen. Now is the time to finish this trail system. Safety in the air we breath because we have less people in combustion engine vehicles and more in clean air commuting or recreating.

Safety for businesses is also an issue. Businesses should know that the city will work with them to expand and succeed not put up road blocks or bureaucracy. Entrepreneurs need to know and feel safe that Kamloops is open for business and will encourage them to join our community. Builders need to have efficiencies in the the process to meet our housing needs for those needing safety in shelter.

Safety is knowing that ALL of Kamloops is safe from the flooding and fire risks that we may face. Alternate commuting/escape routes from Juniper also need to be there for Westsyde and Rayleigh (ie. a bridge link across the North Thompson). We need to finish the diking to reduce our already identified flood risks and in doing so would help us finish our River Trail. We need to accelerate our FireSmart Program in Kamloops to reduce our risk of an interface fire burning our community.

Safety is know we have ALL Kamloops protected by fully staffed fire halls. Currently Hall 4 in Westsyde has 2 FT staff, Heffley/Rayleigh hall 5 has no FT staff and Dallas/Barhartvale/campbell Creek hall 6 has no FT staff. With the construction of the new City Garden towers downtown we need more Kamloops Fire Rescue staff to be safe. 32 members to be exact. Let's build a fire training centre in Kamloops that can assist us with recruitment of future staff and training current members or surrounding fire rescue staff. This will also help us retain current fire rescue staff who could instruct. This should bring in income to offset our current and future fire staff costs.

On the health front, we need to lobby for more autonomy from IHA. Kamloops is not well served by the IHA and it is too top heavy with VPs. Kamloops and the areas we serve needs its long overdue cancer clinic and a cardiac clinic here. We also need health through community design of greenspaces, building designs, recreational amenities (trails, facilities, etc), and transit. We can only do some much at City Hall but we can come up with local solutions that we can lobby hard for.

On the future vision. I think we need one. Kamloops is not Kelowna and we should not try to compare ourselves to them. We need to find our future and make steps to see it happen. An Arts Centre, or a convention centre, the Rivers Trail, or ??? we need to define ourselves and show off just how great this city is. That said we need to be fiscally prudent and responsible and ensure that what we decide makes sense financially in either the short and or long term.