Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The Morning Rant

I'd like to thank Dorothy Baert for her post on the blog.I don't agree with some of her points but at least she's taking part in the discussion.This is more than I can say for most of the voters in Tofino.Only two or three letters and one delegation were put before council objecting to the District of Tofino getting involved with the Weeping Cedar Woman.
  In order for democracy to work we have to inform council by email or letter stating our position or concerns on any given issue.Please take the time to email mayor and council more often.The supporters of the Weeper are very vocal and very good at getting their message across to council.Critics of the Weeper must do the same.
  Many voters  have given up on this council after they fired Sally Mole at great expense to the taxpayer.The Town Hall was full of people objecting to this action but council refused to listen to the people.They were under the spell of the snake charmer.We now have a new mayor and a new CAO who are both willing to listen.Let your voice be heard. Posting on this blog is a great way to vent but it doesn't always get the message across to council.
  Many people say that they are scared to discuss issues because their businesses  will be boycotted or they won't get a rezoning or subdivision through.These are valid concerns.When the campaign against pay parking was going on I had routine visits from the bylaw officers. My signs were measured and remeasured and threats were made that I might not have my business licence renewed.We have to move beyond this and get to a point where we as citizens can take part in democracy.In the meantime the Firehall still needs painting and the railing around the deck on the apartment above it still needs replacing.
  Guest editorials are always welcome.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I am curious to Dorothy's comment about the user fee on travellers - what does this comment mean? I am from the Island, relocated to Alberta and every year, we travel to Tofino. We don't miss a trip. How does this affect travellers? If I may personally comment the costs in Tofino are already quite high, though we do understand and never mind contributing to the communities and that of Ucluelet as well. I'm just curious how changes like this could affect travellers.

Thank you!

Regards,

Tofino-Bound in 2 months

Ralph Tieleman said...

Dorothy is referring to the 2% tax that is put on hotel rooms.It has been in place for a few years as part of the Resort Municipality Initiative.The 2% goes to Tourism Tofino which acts as a marketing agent for Tofino.Thanks for reading the blog and safe travels.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that Bylaw will attack small shops over signs and parking but will ignore illegal vacation rentals ????
How much staff time has been spent on stupid sign bylaws ? Did anyone run for office with the promise of attacking signs ?
Even this blog is scared of writing a story on vacation rentals.Illegal signs advertising illegal vacation rentals are immune from prosecution.

Ralph Tieleman said...

@11:05 I did post a few articles on the illegal vacation rentals at The Shore.If you use the search option they will show up .If you are concerned about this topic I invite you to submit a guest editorial.This council seems to have no appetite to deal with this issue.

Anonymous said...

Hey we are a small town. It is sometimes politically incorrect to announce what you think is right or denounce something that you think is wrong. Everyone is now barking like a pack of hounds at the proposal to have the statue brought to town and worried about a few thousand $. That didn't seem to happen when the town was approached by an interest group to support a useless hockey rink at the airport that will cost a zillion $. Oh I'm sorry, some people liked the idea of the hockey rink. Oh I'm sorry some people liked the idea of the statue. Oh I'm sorry some people didn't like xyz person and they left town. Get over it all. Council is doing what it can for better or worse. At least some people are doing what they think is right for the community instead of just taking shots from the peanut gallery.
Should council be spending staff time on a statue or a hockey rink or deciding who etc.? You the voters put them there. If you didn't bother to vote then you have no right to complain. And what was the voter turn out last election? Yeah it doesn't always go the way you had hoped even after you've voted for them.

As for the vacation rentals, they are going to kill the town and I guess we'll all move on after the community here dies from absentee owners and a statue or a skating rink or who etc. won't matter any more.
Relax and go with the flow.

Ralph Tieleman said...

I would encourage you to write to council with your thoughts.Thank you for the comment.

Anonymous said...

yep Ralph, most of us understand that anonymous rants carry no force whatsoever other than being a vent for the frustration most of us feel about being disregarded like doodoo were we to stand up at a Council meeting and say blah blah.
none of us forget that in the reign of terror of braiden Smith when he and staff pursued and persecuted those of us who they had a problem with as if the town was their personal dictatorship.
the yew would lawsuit and the Rosie Bay lawsuit were, make no doubt about it, personal vendettas by district staff against taxpayers of this community.
so what does this tell us about the lengths council and staff will go to persecute taxpayers who, for one reason or another, piss them off.
fortunately for the victims of these vendettas they were able to defend themselves successfully in which case the district of toFino was on the hook for big bucks to pay for being wrong. pay with taxpayer money.
some of this council and present staff were part of the program and still are.
did anyone forget Sally mohl?
so really, given the track record of the district of tofino coucil and staff, is it any wonder that citizens speaking out prefer to remain anonymous lest they be punished for exercising their rights to free speech?

Anonymous said...



Mayor Osborne decided to post on Facebook links and documents that She has been reading about "Weeping Cedar Woman"

https://www.facebook.com/notes/tofino-mayor-josie-osborne/weeping-cedar-woman/428440907288942

She is Not linking to the Audio Recording from the Delegation against the Weeper !

Anonymous said...

What's the deal with council making arrangements with the WCW people before the meeting ? Scandal !!

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to see the editorial in the Westerly from the Multiplex Special Interest Group calling out what a f%&ing boondoggle this s%$t is...holy glass houses. I hope for the sake of the towns Eco Image that they get the sewage treatment issue dealt with before any steps towards an ice rink, because ice rinks require a tonne of chemicals and I have not heard this issue be brought up and I've been listening.

Anonymous said...

Reading yesterday's newspaper.
WOW....., did Council PUSH through all these motions before or after the presentation of the Delegation Against the Weeping Cedar Woman ?
Thank God, at least we have Garth for a Common Sense approach.

Anonymous said...

Quote from Ralph,
"The supporters of the Weeper are very vocal and very good at getting their message across to council.Critics of the Weeper must do the same"

Ralph, What do you mean with "very good at getting their message across" ??
The Supporters of the "Weeper" submitted Vague documents to our Government, littered with unclarity and Deceiving Misinformation !

Ralph Tieleman said...

They must be good at getting their message across as they certainly have council's attention !! Articulate ? Not so much !

Anonymous said...

This is an Emergency...... S.O.S. .....Save Our Sound !

Citizens of the Village of Tofino are trying to make a LIVING and keep their head above Water.
Thick Conflict....is NOT what Tofino Needs !!.... Hop on your Yacht and Sail Away and flush that sh*t away.....
Where does that Slick Sh*t Conflict go ?? ... Maybe the Salmon would know ?
Soooo Thick of the Conflict!

Make Wise choices...for the Better of our Community....it's all very Transparent.
DONT drive this village into the Ground....
Not all can drive away from this Conflict in a BMW.

"You can Fool some People sometimes, but You can't Fool All the People All the Time"
-Bob Marley

Anonymous said...

This is an Emergency...... S.O.S. .....Save Our Sound !

Citizens of the Village of Tofino are trying to make a LIVING and keep their head above Water.
Thick Conflict....is NOT what Tofino Needs !!.... Hop on your Yacht and Sail Away and flush that sh*t away.....
Where does that Slick Sh*t Conflict go ?? ... Maybe the Salmon would know ?
Soooo Thick of the Conflict!

Make Wise choices...for the Better of our Community....it's all very Transparent.
DONT drive this village into the Ground....
Not all can drive away from this Conflict in a BMW.

"You can Fool some People sometimes, but You can't Fool All the People All the Time"
-Bob Marley

Anonymous said...

when it comes right down to it, the issue here is fairness. when one group(some elected officials) arranges with another special interest group to carry out the wishes of the special interest group and the details of how that's to be carried out are decided before an official city Council meeting this is normally deemed collusion.
collusion in politics is illegal or at least the actions or results thereof are considered to be void by legal definition.
it would follow from there that, if revenue Canada were to scrutinize the process whereby receipts for taxable donations were arranged to be given to individuals and the arrangements were made at a city Council meeting that in fact was the result of collusion, well....... speaking of doodoo...............

Anonymous said...

getting back to fairness: I'm sure the eco-business people are just hopping mad about the conservatives lack of fairness in dealing with a number of environmentally sensitive issues.
fairness is not a basic concept reserved solely for one group or another as far as I can see.
fairness is the one concept that seems to escape the government of tofino year after year, council after council, and one stupid episode after another.
it appears that we all believe in fairness until elected to political office at which point one's moral compass is placed in a blind trust.
that seems to go hand-in-hand with basic honesty if in fact politicians are denying in public what was said on Facebook that implicates said politicians colluding to acquire Cedar woman.