Winter’s perennial worries rise again
Winter is here with all of its attendant problems — snow to shovel, bundling up t beat the cold, cursing your heating bills and, of course, being terrified to walk down some city streets.
“I do not attempt to go for our walk between the hours of 8 am to 8:45 am and 2:15 pm to 3 pm because some parents who drive their children to and from school do not think to slow down to the posted speed or do not have the courtesy to move over when you are walking on the side of the road or they do not see the large puddles on the road, etc …,” Donna Bryck said in a letter to City Council.
“Now, we are in the snow season and Park Drive is definitely not ploughed wide enough to allow pedestrians and vehicles to use Park Drive safely. This has been the norm for several winter seasons and I think it is time that the City needs to be more aware that they need to plough the roads wider especially on busy streets with no sidewalks as the school children who use these streets to walk to and from school do not understand or aware of the fact that there are some people out there driving with tunnel vision and absolutely do not see them.”
But it’s not just drivers intent on speeding to Revelstoke Mountain Resort that concern the former City employee.
She says she won’t walk on Arrow Heights’ streets between 8 and 8:45 am and 2:15 and 3 pm because she says “some parents who drive their children to and from school do not think to slow down to the posted speed or do not have the courtesy to move over when you are walking on the side of the road or they do not see the large puddles on the road, etc…”
The width of the winter roads are also a worry for pedestrians.
“… Park Drive is definitely not ploughed wide enough to allow pedestrians and vehicles to use Park Drive safely. This has been the norm for several winter seasons and I think it is time that the City needs to be more aware that they need to plough the roads wider especially on busy streets with no sidewalks as the school children who use these streets to walk to and from school do not understand or aware of the fact that there are some people out there driving with tunnel vision and absolutely do not see them.”
Bryck’s letter, which is likely an accurate reflection of many Revelstokians’ winter anxieties, has been referred to the City’s new Infrastructure and Security Committee for consideration.
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Who’s who on the City’s Standing Committees
One of the routine appointments with every new Council involves the chairmanship of its various Standing Committees.
The following is a list of the committees chaired by the Mayor and City Councillors.
- Southern Interior Local Government Association Convention Organizing Committee: Chairman, Mayor David Raven; members, Councillors Steve Bender and Tony Scarcella. Staff: Manager Development Services, DDCA, Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture.
- Finance Committee: Chairman, Councillor Steve Bender; members, Councillors Gary Starling and Phil Welock. Staff: Director of Finance.
- Planning Committee: Chairwoman, Linda Nixon; members, Councillors Bender and Chris Johnston. Staff: Director of Planneingand Manager of Development Services.
- Infrastructure and Security Committee (this amalgamates the old Public Works and Public Safety Committees): Chairman, Welock; members, Bender and Johnston. Staff: Director of Engineering and Public Works.
- Parks, Recreation and Culture Committee: Chairman, Councillor Gary Starling; members, Nixon and Scarcella. Staff: Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture.
- Culture and Social Issues Committee: Chairman, Johnston; members, Nixon and Scarcella. Staff: Director of Community Economic Devel- opment.
- Economic Development Committee: Chairman, Scarcella; members, Starling and Welock. Staff: Director of Community Economic Devel- opment.
- Revelstoke and Area Emergency Management Program Executive Committee: Raven, Welock and representatives from the Columbia Shuswap Regional District. Staff: Chief Administrative Officer, Fire Chief, RCMP Staff Sergeant, Emergency Program Coordinator.
The Mayor is an ex-officio member of all committees. Each committee is responsible for the creation and study of policy and bylaws relating to their committee. City staff are assigned to each committee to assist with the organizational meetings and the efficient preparation and presentation of documents for committee recommendations and/or Council decisions.
In addition Steve Bender and Gary Starling were appointed to replace Chris Johnston and the now-retired Peter Frew as directors of the Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation, while Tony Scarcella, Linda Nixon and Chris Johnston replaced Frew, Antoinette Halberstadt and Phil Welock on the Revelstoke Community Energy Corporation board of directors.
Bender, Johnston, Scarcella and Welock were also appointed to the Revelstoke Community Housing Society.
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$10.8 million in borrowing
City Council has approved Bylaw 2007, a piece of legislation that permits it to borrow $10,838,106 in advance of the taxes it anticipates in 2012.
This is an annual procedure for Council, as it is for other municipal governments.
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November building permits up from 2010
The City issued permits for $713,000 in building in November, up from the $269,000 issued in that same month in 2010.
This brings the value of construction in Revelstoke so far this year to $23,951,000, down from $28,472,000 in 2010.
