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What sets me apart from the rest of the crowd is that I am an
intelligent, caring individual who puts the needs of the community above
his needs. I have an excellent track record advocating for people with
issues as varied as BC Ferries to disabilities and mental illness. Being
a divorced single person on permanent disability, I have way too much
time on my hands. I love to spend that time researching ideas and doing
problem analysis.
I work tirelessly on the projects entrusted to me and take great pride
in finding workable, cost effective solutions. What is the middle
ground? What are the thoughts of the average person? What will it take
to make solutions work for both sides? These are questions that I
continually ask myself!
This is not to say that the other candidates and those presently elected
to council don’t care, but rather the views of the average person seem
to get lost in the shuffle. In a weird kind of way the extremes seem
very well represented, but the middle isn’t.
I was at a committee recently when a bubbly councilor came in and
announced that GBS had received the new Bear Proof garbage cans, and
that they were $80 each. Now for most of council $80 is no big deal, but
for the average person in the town of Gibson’s it is a big deal! I can’t
afford a regular garbage can let alone an $80 one. Poverty is a major
reality in Gibson’s and must be part of any solution.
Now I want to protect the bears from humans a much as anyone, but a much
simpler idea and definitely more affordable one is to simply keep your
garbage in doors! Only put it out on the morning of garbage days. If
your garbage smells, freeze it!
Taking this thought one stop further, what if we were to add a garbage
drop off to our recycling bins at the mall?
It is a sad reality of these economic times, but paying for extra
garbage pickup is not an affordable option for many families. I think it
very obvious to most people that if some end up with too much garbage,
they have no choice but to dump it elsewhere.
Not everyone has a car and can drop off their garbage and recyclables,
so it is important that we maintain these services, but the savings in
door to door pickup should offset the cost of garbage bins at the
recycling depots.
Making recycling easier for everyone should greatly offset the extra
garbage that some people would drop off.
Even better then recycling is reuse. A very important project that I
look after is 2nd Byte. Authorized by Microsoft as a Computer
Refurbished, 2nd Byte takes in electronic goods, refurbishes them and
then installs legal copies of Microsoft software and operating systems.
The computers are then distributed to people who normally can't afford
them. When the funding for this project dried up, I moved it into my
condo until more permanent funding is reestablished.
In a little over 18 months we distributed 65 computers and disassembled
a further 135. The remains that we don’t use, we recycle responsibly and
only send a bare minimum to the e-waste program.
Interestingly, when we disassemble a computer, the e-waste people get
very upset. Could it be that their computers are ending up some where we
don’t know about?
60 minutes, the BBC and many other groups have routinely traced
container loads of e-waste, supposedly sent to a recycler in the US, to
China and one of the most toxic waste dumps on the planet. Picture
little children working over woks of molten lead separating parts from
circuit boards!
Next, consider the mess that Gibson’s Way has become. It was supposed to
be a traffic calming safety measure, but almost a million dollars later
it has become anything but a safe solution.
It is illegal to cross those painted yellow dividers and a number of
businesses are seeing a significant drop in their sales revenue. People
cannot get into or out of their driveways when the ferry unloads, and
the incidence of road rage is growing dangerously high.
The list of individuals and businesses opposed to the Gibson’s Way
redesign is long and loud. Yet it is strange to me that council doesn’t
seam to hear them. Council keeps saying talk to highways! But it was
council, in an almost unheard of request from Highways, who passed a
bylaw authorizing the changes. What is even more bizarre, I don’t think
council knows how to get us out of this mess.
The solution is actually very simple! Council has got to bit the bullet
and admit this solution isn’t working. Rescind the bylaw. Even if it is
provincial money and not town money, we have to stop spending good money
after bad!
Electing Bob Jones to council will a positive step to fix what is broken
and move forward in a business like manner! You have my word on that!
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