Blogs

Update 15 Nov 2015:

This seems to be a recurring problem. From time to time Peter Bros. needs additional capacity for paving and brings in a second mobile asphalt plant.  Last year when Peter Bros. was paving the airport runways in the middle of the night they struck a deal with the PIB to locate the second plant in the south west corner of the Westhills Aggregates pit.  This was a slightly improved situation for Area F residents because the smoke and noise were farther away from houses. 

I received a question a few days ago about Penticton's contribution to the RDOS.  The issue of Penticton pulling out of the RDOS has recently appeard on Dan Albas's blog with some questions about what Penticton gets from the RDOS. 

The following letter to the editor appeared in the October 5th edition of the Penticton Herald (link to letter):

The following letter was published in the Summerland Review (link to letter)
Published: August 11, 2010

Dear Editor:

Having chosen to live in various rural regions of B.C., I believed it was the responsibility of homeowners to provide their own water, either hand dig a well, have it extensively drilled or personally transport their water.

While living in Meadow Valley, I had to both filter and boil the drinking water. Never once did I think that others miles away should fill our water needs.

People have made their choice to live in the country, both enjoying all the benefits of rural living and also bearing responsibility for their own upkeep.

Upon moving to Summerland, I was shocked to discover the impurity of our local drinking water.

I recieved the following question recently from a concerned resident:

What is your position on the surcharging of children involved in sports when using Penticton facilities?  I understand that my children will now be subjected to a user fee to engage in Penticton Minor Hockey.  Are we not trying to encourage families to engage in healthy lifestyles with active bodies?  This measure seems to speak against the value of involvement in physical activity.  Children who live outside of the Penticton tax zone will be penalized and many will not engage as a result of being priced out of participating. This is a major step in the wrong direction.  Many families on the West Bench and outlying areas are having their ability to cover costs stretched far too far. This is another of those situations.

Background on the City of Penticton's two-tier scheme can be found here.

This Area F website is hosted by a "discount" web hosting service in Eastern Canada (www.hostpapa.ca).  So far, I have been pretty happy with the reliablity and responsiveness of the service.  But the day I send out two newsletters (one to rural Penticton, one to Faulder) pointing to this site, the hosting company starts to have all sorts of technical problems (especially April 6-7). Hopefully, if you are reading this, these problems have been resolved. I apologize for any inconvenience.  I guess this is what I get for going with an inexpensive provider...

As you may have heard, a proposal is currently floating around to hold a Targa Bambina race in and around Faulder on the May long weekend. Please see this announcement.  As fun as this event sounds, it will not be fun for those along Fish Lake Road who will lose access to their property during a long weekend.

The RDOS board took a bit of a blast from James Miller of the Penticton Herald regarding the board's decision not to contribute up to $2M to the new Okanagan College Centre of Excellence (see also the editorial by Dan Ebenal in the Penticton Western News).  I voted with the majority on this, so some explanation is perhaps in order: