To the Editor,
Governments are being busted left and right for corruption, graft, and incompetence (A great example was the Quebec water meter scandal).
But I guess it could never happen in the most rugged town in BC. Thank you Interior Roads and District of Lillooet for finally settling your five-year long debate about who should paint the lines down Main Street.
Great economic development action there. Great consensus building. Love how the bus tourists still don't have a crosswalk. I certainly place my faith in local governance to solve problems that matter in a timely and cost effective manner! How many district staff are there again? What do they get paid?
As the ex-mayor of Lytton, Chris O’Connor (who seems to think democratic involvement and all debate end at the ballot box like so many other District of Lillooet apologists) said, sewer, water, garbage, etc. are basically the main concerns of a town council and staff.
Given this, I wonder where the third of the voters on last week's poll about the water issue, who want to just "move on," plan to move on to? Do you think the District of Lillooet is on the verge of providing the entire town with great jobs or a kids water park? Or maybe you think they have a great new housing development or some other scheme like a pellet plant, prison, or maybe a garbage dump for Vancouver? If only we weren't distracting them from all these great projects with this annoying talk about a sustainable water plan and ultimately the scale and responsibility of town projects.
No economic development strategy or grant is going to do anything for this town compared to free flowing water to keep it a green, cool oasis where drought and fire are the last thing on our minds and abundant fruits, vegetables and livestock are the fuel for a true community identity that no visitor will forget. Kind of like every road coming into Lillooet.
Somehow all the properties outside of town manage to find water to create beautiful and productive properties down every dirt road in every direction. Has everyone now finally accepted that we do not in fact live in a "desert?" Mean temperature, humidity and precipitation figures are not all that matter -- the greatest lesson that District Creek has to teach us.
Rugged should also mean survivors and survivalists: Gravity-fed water, gardens, orchards, small farming, disaster planning (not running away to Kamloops for a week), not relying on the grid (septic systems trump defective sewage treatment plants,) low taxes to encourage subsistence living, oh, and not bending over when some overpaid, over-educated, megalomaniacal authority figures start cramping your style. As Dale Jones said, this is what we bought into, this is what you sold us, you can't change the deal now without harming the very people who have invested in this town in a real way, never mind your future schemes that won't benefit any of us.
In a community that has active groups such as churches, chambers, fraternities, service clubs, trades and unions, professional associations, medical people, quack medicine circles, teachers, government bureaucratic and field operatives, quilting clubs, role playing clubs, swingers, drug dealers, community theatre clubs, loggers, party animals and community radio, I guess the One group that some people simply cannot abide are the people that actually talk about something interesting when they hold meetings -- the "opposition party" at the municipal level. Tally up ratepayer costs indeed! Far darker path indeed! Play fair.
Daniel Jordi
