Castlegar

It’s been a good weekend here in the Kootenays. Hot. Castlegar opened the new Spirit Square and City Hall with a fine celebration, I picked a bunch of super juicy apples from random abandoned orchards around town, then I took a ride down the Slocan River in a tube as the sun set over the mountains. Today I had a traditional Doukhabor lunch at a friend’s parents house in Shoreacres as we discussed the old days of growing wheat in this valley, and the lost art of self sustaining gardening/farming.

Summer is truly about getting out and enjoying wherever you live. Out on the water, on a farm, or in the community, these interactions and activities give clarity to the region and community we live in. If things are going to change due to Climate Change or Peak Oil, these bonds and the great moments we can have in community will strengthen as life becomes simpler by necessity, and possibly harsher, if technology can’t provide the answers to replace the massive amounts of energy that support our diet and lifestyles.

After a good week’s holiday, it’s back to the real world of Engineering.

The holiday was productive from a sustainability perspective with nearly 40 jars of fruit packed, ready for the winter. We’ve still got about 10 pounds of peaches on our tree, and we picked (gleaned) about 15 pounds of plums and apricots out at Selkirk College this morning.

The City of Castlegar recently installed a device called the Mosquito. Its purpose: to deter youths from loitering by emitting an annoying sound apparently only audible to people under the age of about 26. This device was approved and installed with no public input, Council made the decision and it was done before the news even hit the press. From the news paper reports, at this stage it appears that the device is only going to be activated during the early hours of the morning.

On hearing this, (sorry for the pun), I expressed my concern to one of the councillors, stating that this device has the potential to breach civil rights, and that the effect may be to offset the problem to another location anyway. It is interesting that the device has been installed near the nightclub that was so controversial when first approved a few years ago. I wasn’t around back then, but I’m sure the citizens and business owners were pacified with claims that the police will ensure the security and safety of all people. Now it seems the problem is at the point where a controversial device needs to be installed.

Update: After writing this post, I realized that there are a few questions that I'd like answered.

• Was this item in the annual budget? If not, what part of the budget was cut to purchase and install this device?
• Were community stakeholders given an opportunity to discuss and search for alternate solutions prior to the installation of the Mosquito?
• Did the City undertake a review of problems with the technology, or was the sales brochure the only literature examined?
• Why did the installation in Castlegar cost nearly 6 times that of an installation in the UK (quoted in a London newspaper)? ( I know the Kootenays are expensive, but that's ridiculous!)
• Does Council have a plan to deal with complaints from people affected from outside the target group?
• Could this device be offsetting the problem to other areas of the City?
• Is it within the City's rights under the Community Charter and/or Local Government Act to prevent an age group of people (in an intentionally discriminatory manner) from any public area? If not, how is the City justifying the use of the device?

Don't get me wrong - I think something needs to be done about anti-social behaviour, however, there has to be a better method than this.

Now let it be made entirely clear that I do not believe that anyone has the right to engage in anti-social behaviour that threatens or damages any person or property, and in arguing about the Mosquito device I am not supporting anyone’s right to engage in such activities. However, there is another side to the story… (as there usually is), and it's one that hasn't been told in Castlegar... yet.

International Opposition

Privacy International (PI), the London-based organization intent on protecting personal privacy states the following about the use of the Mosquito in situations such as the one in Casltegar…  read more »

We’re heading to Spokane for some city time.

Living in the Kootenays is fun and beautiful, but sometimes you just need to hang out in a City. I know, Spokane barely rates as a City on a global scale, but it’s fun none the less.

I’ve got another blog project coming up, the details are still in very preliminary stages, but all things point to another niche, (both geographic and topical), to be better informed on the web.

Postings for this project will more likely be weekly, rather than the almost daily posting here, so I’m not expecting much conflict with UrbanWorkbench’s schedule.

Chickens and Goats

With the letter in last week’s paper, conversation around town has been interesting. People who didn’t realize that we had written the letter were asking me what I thought of the idea, people who knew told me of friends and family who are totally in support.

Now if I could just have a few days off to revive…

"Maybe they just don't like goats?"

This was our first impression following the last council meeting, it seems that some of the elected representatives of the City of Castlegar have a different perspective on food security and sustainability than many people in this City and region.  When presented with an opportunity to review the current animal control and zoning bylaws to permit small-scale "urban agriculture", as is permitted in cities such as Seattle, it seems our Council, rather than having a rational discussion, opted instead to poke fun at the suggestion that urban hens and miniature goats may be a step closer to a sustainable Castlegar.  read more »