It is the nature of bureaucracy to say that there are 'no simple answers' whereas simple answers are all we really have.
Take for example the debate over farmlands in the District of Maple Ridge. The simple answer is for staff to recommend to council that no further applications be accepted for exclusion from the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Another answer is for staff to recommend that all applications for exclusion from the Agricultural Land Reserve be submitted to the Agricultural Land Commission for consideration.
This is just too simple for any government to accept.
Without the presence of disagreement the role of government is severely lessened. The essence, therefore, of government sustainability is for government to perpetuate argument at every turn in the sure knowledge that disagreement is the lifeblood of government. For its part government will be quick to note that the genesis of all argument is located firmly in the community. It would be hard to disagree with that. Who then, is the bigger fool?
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Friday, June 23, 2006
Long term agricultural policy mistakes seem to have permanent effect
Civilization, fertilization and taxation
The heated debate over local agricultural lands in Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and now famously Barnston Island, a close neighbour to these two districts is far from being a 'local interest' story.
The heated debate over local agricultural lands in Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and now famously Barnston Island, a close neighbour to these two districts is far from being a 'local interest' story.
A forensic study of the agriculture versus urban sprawl debate would, one suggests, lead the detective down a long road to many other parts of the world, through a tormented and conflicted labyrinth involving so much human history and socio-economic turmoil that it may leave the investigator breathless and stooped over with exhaustion. His only question may be: 'what were we thinking?'
From the time when humans first set out to plant food and herd animals for food production and then slowly organize this activity to the point where it reshaped our natural environment through industrialization, colonialism, capitalism, socialism, terrorism (any war should be considered terrorism - exemplified by the behaviour of the USSR, the US and the UK. If you have a "U" in front of your name it is almost certain that you are a bad guy; take the United Nations for instance?); and now we have urbanism versus agriculturism.
Generally, we find it hard to accept past mistakes and the result is that we look to every solution other than those which appear to own up to a previous error. In the case of agriculture we as a global community are now questioning the benefits of farm subsidies. The drivers for farm subsidies in the early days seem to have come partially from the need of the farmer himself, partially from the demands of the consumer, but also, from all appearances, the need for the right to appease the left by demonstrating a charitable nature.
As is often the case, charity in the instance of agriculture policy has left a deep and gaping wound around the world. While it is understandable that Britain, the US, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Denmark are held up as the devils incarnate when it comes to aspirations of abusing the human and natural resources of the third world, they are clearly not alone. Being nasty to one's neighbour has a much longer history; we simply find it more convenient to point to recent history rather than ancient history.
Christianity, the Trojan Horse of Colonization
Recognized as an abysmal failure, the period of European thoughts of dominating Africa, the two easts and South America, had to be re-thought. Europeans, armed with guns, Christianity and an eye for a cheap deal, set back the natural livability of the host regions quite severely. Christianity with its all its mumbo-jumbo, as it were, stands out as the ever-present Trojan Horse of colonization.
None the less, and even though the attacks by Europe on the third world lasted many centuries, the onslaught ended in abject discord and disappointment for the colinizers. We are reminded daily of Europe's failed work as the tragedy of modern-day Africa unfolds before us in the pages of our press, on our monitors, on TV networks and over the airwaves 24 hours a day.
Who might pay for this mess?
Recognized as an abysmal failure, the period of European thoughts of dominating Africa, the two easts and South America, had to be re-thought. Europeans, armed with guns, Christianity and an eye for a cheap deal, set back the natural livability of the host regions quite severely. Christianity with its all its mumbo-jumbo, as it were, stands out as the ever-present Trojan Horse of colonization.
None the less, and even though the attacks by Europe on the third world lasted many centuries, the onslaught ended in abject discord and disappointment for the colinizers. We are reminded daily of Europe's failed work as the tragedy of modern-day Africa unfolds before us in the pages of our press, on our monitors, on TV networks and over the airwaves 24 hours a day.
Who might pay for this mess?
In a second and less hostile attack on the third world we in the west offered to pay for fixing what we had destroyed. The only catch was that repayment with interest would form part of the arrangement; a loan sharking scheme that even the Hells Angels or Mafia would balk at. Where physical colonization failed, fiscal colonization, in the form of international loans and subsidies, became the solution. And here we are in 2006, scratching our heads and wondering where it all went wrong. The effects are felt across the world, even on the fringes of the Greater Vancouver Regional District in a small town called Maple Ridge.
As a subject for a thesis the question ‘how has the policy of agricultural subsidization and its implementation by developed countries affected the ability for local farmers to survive?’ is only part one of a more serious question. More serious issues are those where such policies show up decades later in the form of urban sprawl, climate change and of course the effects on health, obesity among the young and the middle-aged being just the most obvious.
With a certain degree of cynicism politicians and government staff reach out to communities when the issues begin to look like reaching crisis points. Academics pile into the fray with celebrities not far behind. It is not always a waste of time. Charitable funds are established along with associations and community groups to fend off the pre-ceived or real threats.
As a subject for a thesis the question ‘how has the policy of agricultural subsidization and its implementation by developed countries affected the ability for local farmers to survive?’ is only part one of a more serious question. More serious issues are those where such policies show up decades later in the form of urban sprawl, climate change and of course the effects on health, obesity among the young and the middle-aged being just the most obvious.
With a certain degree of cynicism politicians and government staff reach out to communities when the issues begin to look like reaching crisis points. Academics pile into the fray with celebrities not far behind. It is not always a waste of time. Charitable funds are established along with associations and community groups to fend off the pre-ceived or real threats.
What might a ‘pre-ceived’ threat be? That would be the kind of threat that you think is coming, but which may never come. Then there are the conceived ones which we deliver on the populace in a hallelujahing crescendo of the benign chorus and devise quick fixes such as farm subsidies to protect old life styles and perhaps healthier ways of living, loving and leaving the planet intact.
Now, all these many years on, we have failed to protect agriculture through spending and will doubtless be asked to spend more in order to fix farming so that we can spend less in the future. As long as governments concern themselves with perpetuating the myths of their role in society and fail to do more than career build for themselves, it will be some time before planet's future looks any brighter than it does today.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Third World not good enough for the United Nations?
The United Nations Third World Forum is running in Vancouver at the moment.
Given that the United Nations is fighting a daily uphill battle for its credibility and efficacy, one has to question the choice of Vancouver as the venue for this event. Perhaps a location closer to where the need exists in Africa or Asia or one of the impoverished US neighbourhoods (New Orleans comes to mind), would have made more sense and would have been viewed by the public as a more sensitively thought out approach.
Vancouver has for many years rightly earned first spot in the world when it comes to the most livable city in the world. This, British Columbia and its largest city, is just too comfortable, smug and distant from the realities of actual poverty and urban distintegration to lend any meaning to this United Nations bunfest; yet another awful example of academic preening.
The next time the guilty urge arises to hold similar event why not place the attendees and participants closer to the action. Building a Hanitat for Humanity home on Vacouver's glorious waterfront in order to ship it to a needy family on the dismal waterfront of New Orleans is simply too much of an overt public relations exercise.
Next time hold the forum in Kinshasha, Darfur or Khandahar - even Cape Town. In fact why not tie the world forum event to the 2010 World Cup Soccer and score two goals in one - a fun time plus the opportunity for all gluttony of world concern to experience the grotesque truths surrounding poverty and socio-economic decay that still can be seen along the National Road between Somerset West and the City of Cape Town.
Vancouver simply bears no relationship to anything remotely reflective of a real problem.
Given that the United Nations is fighting a daily uphill battle for its credibility and efficacy, one has to question the choice of Vancouver as the venue for this event. Perhaps a location closer to where the need exists in Africa or Asia or one of the impoverished US neighbourhoods (New Orleans comes to mind), would have made more sense and would have been viewed by the public as a more sensitively thought out approach.
Vancouver has for many years rightly earned first spot in the world when it comes to the most livable city in the world. This, British Columbia and its largest city, is just too comfortable, smug and distant from the realities of actual poverty and urban distintegration to lend any meaning to this United Nations bunfest; yet another awful example of academic preening.
The next time the guilty urge arises to hold similar event why not place the attendees and participants closer to the action. Building a Hanitat for Humanity home on Vacouver's glorious waterfront in order to ship it to a needy family on the dismal waterfront of New Orleans is simply too much of an overt public relations exercise.
Next time hold the forum in Kinshasha, Darfur or Khandahar - even Cape Town. In fact why not tie the world forum event to the 2010 World Cup Soccer and score two goals in one - a fun time plus the opportunity for all gluttony of world concern to experience the grotesque truths surrounding poverty and socio-economic decay that still can be seen along the National Road between Somerset West and the City of Cape Town.
Vancouver simply bears no relationship to anything remotely reflective of a real problem.
Beyond the Maple Ridge 2006 OCP
Some Post-OCP Thoughts
1. Discontinue expansion of urban envelope
2. Disallow any further applications for exclusion from ALR for any purpose whatsoever
3. Allow the inventory of single family, small-lot residential homes to dry up in order to reduce availability of homes in Maple Ridge and slow down if not reverse population growth. Do not accept the notion that Maple Ridge is to become a receptacle for future population overflows in the GVRD (one could expand this theory to the province generally, though not to Canada as Canada generally is in desperate need of population through immigration programs)
4. Encourage the restoration of character housing in areas such as Hammond
5. Consider even the prospect of rezoning certain residential neighbourhoods to business districts or at least allow businesses operate in amongst residential areas
6. Encourage local food stores buy from local producers
7. Discourage through traffic by tightening roadways
8. Create a ‘central station’ as a hub for buses, light rail and shared rides
9. Reduce commercial sites and business parks to brownfield locations such as old mill sites or redevelop existing industrial parks
10. Scrap the North Connector scheme
11. Allow for a handful of high rise office towers (mixed office/residential) in the Maple Meadows station area
12. Allow for the liquidation world site to become a pseudo Newport Village and include moderate office space
13. Relocate the Caring Place to where its negative impacts don’t outweigh its positive impact (uncaring though it may sound I firmly believe that the decision to establish the Caring Place where it currently sits was the worst decision ever made by the District and that the serious impact it had on regenerating the downtown has cost the District dearly in terms of what it now has to spend in order to deal with the results)
14. Focus the District’s energies on culture and the arts, education, sports and recreation
15. Let Maple Ridge be the only town in the Fraser Valley to turn its back on past planning practices
Friday, June 16, 2006
Whither Maple Ridge or wither Maple Ridge?
A TALE OF TWO WORDS
'....to lose vigour from lack of animal moisture....or to fall into decay,' are two of the many offerings from The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as to the meaning of the word wither. With a reputation among foreigners for being cryptic, the English tongue in this case, does little to disappoint. Add a single 'h' to wither and produce its cousin, a somewhat different meaning to the same sounding word in the form of whither emerges. No doubt some sage from Oxford University could provide the history for both words and whether or not they are connected through some antiquity of the language. For its part the thus transformed whither is defined as meaning '...to what place......or to what conclusion, result or end, action or cause?' The temptation to take to put these two words under the blogger’s lens, in the context of Maple Ridge, is simply too strong. Whether 'tis wiser to whither or to wither is, of course, the question.
Nature's text book demonstrates more than adequately so many instances of withering and regeneration in the planets forests, oceans, deserts and rivers. The natural compost on a forest floor and how it feeds life’s process is easy for all to understand. Then there is the decaying salmon in sacrifice to the next generation; an easy example for Canadians to relate to. Salmon, in their tireless journey, whither up river to wither in order that they may whither back to where they once whithered from, before whithering on to wither once more.
Man, a species itself familiar with the withering and regenerative cycle learns from time to time the lessons of nature; and given the near-natural circumstances of homo-sapiens it is not surprising that we find succour and inspiration from so many other examples in the natural world around us.
Again, it is the whithering of Man which seems to be the base threat to his own future. Salmon may wither in order to promulgate. We, us humans that is, seem to whither in order to annihilate. Those who colonized Africa, the Americas and Asia are good examples of destructive whithering – no wonder now so many wither as a consequence.
In a few weeks the District of Maple Ridge will conclude the painfully long process known to most as the Official Community Plan. It is official, we are a community and, though some still argue its merits, it is a plan. We need it to help us deal with those people who whither in our direction on daily basis and who, by so doing, increase our numbers and the pressures normally experienced by communities suffering growth. Odd, that some communities suffer losses in population while others suffer gains. Suffering appears to be the common denominator, no matter which direction the population is whithering in.
Perched as we are in these boom times on the edge of the great circle of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and with house prices, land prices and the cost of doing business going up and up it is not surprising that along with the excitement of growth there is also a parallel sense of foreboding. And even in this anxiety there exists two -as they say- sides to the story. Some fear that growth will end; others fear that it will not.
We do not have a very large canvass, 64,000 acres in all. The picture we choose to paint on it can be no bigger than the canvass; thus shall it ever be. On the palette sits the dreams of many. On the palette we have zones, bylaws, covenants, rules, regulations, permits and licenses, all carefully filed away in the provincial and federal acts that have evolved over our short time as a sovereign state. We smoosh (a word not found in the Oxford Dictionary) all these elements around to make sense of our various communities. And everyone gets a chance to do some smooshing; particularly when elections roll around and we all get to do the big smoosh.
We talk so much about sustainability during elections these days, particularly now that it has become trendy to do so. In the context here it may be said that sustainability is the very opposite of withering. Withering, however, in the light of what nature teaches us, is very much a part of sustainability. Neglect and dereliction may be said to be foundations of sustainability; death becomes life; the dreary and the mundane are the simple formulas for imaginative and insightful outcomes; the future, a bi-product of the past.
No matter what we believe today, or who we are, nature in likelihood will proves us all wrong. Driven though we are to do the best for this larger canvass, planet earth, this is one painting that will complete itself. We may choose to whither but, wither we must.
'....to lose vigour from lack of animal moisture....or to fall into decay,' are two of the many offerings from The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as to the meaning of the word wither. With a reputation among foreigners for being cryptic, the English tongue in this case, does little to disappoint. Add a single 'h' to wither and produce its cousin, a somewhat different meaning to the same sounding word in the form of whither emerges. No doubt some sage from Oxford University could provide the history for both words and whether or not they are connected through some antiquity of the language. For its part the thus transformed whither is defined as meaning '...to what place......or to what conclusion, result or end, action or cause?' The temptation to take to put these two words under the blogger’s lens, in the context of Maple Ridge, is simply too strong. Whether 'tis wiser to whither or to wither is, of course, the question.
Nature's text book demonstrates more than adequately so many instances of withering and regeneration in the planets forests, oceans, deserts and rivers. The natural compost on a forest floor and how it feeds life’s process is easy for all to understand. Then there is the decaying salmon in sacrifice to the next generation; an easy example for Canadians to relate to. Salmon, in their tireless journey, whither up river to wither in order that they may whither back to where they once whithered from, before whithering on to wither once more.
Man, a species itself familiar with the withering and regenerative cycle learns from time to time the lessons of nature; and given the near-natural circumstances of homo-sapiens it is not surprising that we find succour and inspiration from so many other examples in the natural world around us.
Again, it is the whithering of Man which seems to be the base threat to his own future. Salmon may wither in order to promulgate. We, us humans that is, seem to whither in order to annihilate. Those who colonized Africa, the Americas and Asia are good examples of destructive whithering – no wonder now so many wither as a consequence.
In a few weeks the District of Maple Ridge will conclude the painfully long process known to most as the Official Community Plan. It is official, we are a community and, though some still argue its merits, it is a plan. We need it to help us deal with those people who whither in our direction on daily basis and who, by so doing, increase our numbers and the pressures normally experienced by communities suffering growth. Odd, that some communities suffer losses in population while others suffer gains. Suffering appears to be the common denominator, no matter which direction the population is whithering in.
Perched as we are in these boom times on the edge of the great circle of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and with house prices, land prices and the cost of doing business going up and up it is not surprising that along with the excitement of growth there is also a parallel sense of foreboding. And even in this anxiety there exists two -as they say- sides to the story. Some fear that growth will end; others fear that it will not.
We do not have a very large canvass, 64,000 acres in all. The picture we choose to paint on it can be no bigger than the canvass; thus shall it ever be. On the palette sits the dreams of many. On the palette we have zones, bylaws, covenants, rules, regulations, permits and licenses, all carefully filed away in the provincial and federal acts that have evolved over our short time as a sovereign state. We smoosh (a word not found in the Oxford Dictionary) all these elements around to make sense of our various communities. And everyone gets a chance to do some smooshing; particularly when elections roll around and we all get to do the big smoosh.
We talk so much about sustainability during elections these days, particularly now that it has become trendy to do so. In the context here it may be said that sustainability is the very opposite of withering. Withering, however, in the light of what nature teaches us, is very much a part of sustainability. Neglect and dereliction may be said to be foundations of sustainability; death becomes life; the dreary and the mundane are the simple formulas for imaginative and insightful outcomes; the future, a bi-product of the past.
No matter what we believe today, or who we are, nature in likelihood will proves us all wrong. Driven though we are to do the best for this larger canvass, planet earth, this is one painting that will complete itself. We may choose to whither but, wither we must.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
A message from Sir William F. Butler to George Bush
'The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man', Butler wrote,' is liable to find its fighting done by fools and thinking by cowards.'
McCourt, Edward; Remember Butler; Mclelland & Stewart, Toronto 1967
McCourt, Edward; Remember Butler; Mclelland & Stewart, Toronto 1967
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Homeless join the construction boom
Take a walk along River Road opposite the Billy Miner Pub and step on to historical Haney Wharf for one of Maple Ridge's curio-cities.
A fleet of things that float - they defy description - are tied up or busy being built up by one the the Fraser River's nomadic tribes.
Visitors come daily to gape at this phenomenon. District of Maple Ridge officials, both staff and council, say their hands are tied and are very happy to have the new city growing at the foot of 224th Street. They are happy too to provide electricity and water free of charge to the new community. The new community was established around the the time of the previous year's pink salmon run and also around the time when the only official tenant of the Distirct, a log salvage operator, used to occupy the water front now occupied by the waterborne vagrants.
To date there have been no fatalities of any kind, but with summer on our doorstep this could change. Authorities say that the Vancouver police department and other agencies are so effecient in driving the homeless out of East Hastings ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympics 'clean up' operation that we in the valley can expect our homeless population to soar.
There have been reports that a prostitution ring and a drug retail operation is based at the waterfront - the ton of garbage found daily on the wharf and in the general area seems to confirm the presence of a 24 hour substance abuse fest. It would be interesting to do a dive near the new floating city to study the amount of shopping trolleys anchored to the bed of the river. No doubt divers would find more than shopping trolleys.
This reflects and way the Fraser Valley is maturing. With population comes so many other things, housing being just one. Maple Ridge, unique as ever, has solved the probelm by allowing the development of its own Riviera just west of the Port Haney Wharf. A charming corner of the Fraser. Who knows, one day we might see our own version of the Cannes Film festival in Maple Ridge with a red carpet running down to the wharf and celebrities sipping Kokanees and rye on the patio of the Billy Miner - yummy. Now that would be something to crow about.
Friday, May 19, 2006
"American" is the official/national language of the US.
Do ya think George could sorta get the border straightened out, capture Old Sims Allah Bin Lay Low and extricate himself from Eye-Rack, stop calling Quatar "Cutter", win the war on "ter", fix medicare and fix the levees in New Orleans before being overcome with the need to retrain 300 million people in the art of the English language?
There must have been overt tittering and suppressed mirth in the halls of Oxford and Cambridge today when the world learned that the Whitehouse was to declare English an official or perhaps more racially, a national language.
Hey, buddy, you lost the war on English a long time ago. Just stick with the wars at hand. The US declaring English as its official language is like the pot calling the kettle ........well, maybe not. Now that would be racist.
There must have been overt tittering and suppressed mirth in the halls of Oxford and Cambridge today when the world learned that the Whitehouse was to declare English an official or perhaps more racially, a national language.
Hey, buddy, you lost the war on English a long time ago. Just stick with the wars at hand. The US declaring English as its official language is like the pot calling the kettle ........well, maybe not. Now that would be racist.
Huh?
"I saw this fellow standing around in only his underpants. He had no vested interest."
CA
May 19, 2006
CA
May 19, 2006
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Stephen Harper needs to stop. Think.
Canada's decision to re-commit to the insurance of a democratic Afghanistan is at once admirable and nerve wracking. Admirable in that certain characteristics seem common to the people of Canada and Afghanistan, nerve wracking in that one of the characteristics that we do not share with our Afghani brothers is perhaps the acceptance of death in battle. I say ‘perhaps’ because I do not truthfully know.
The history of conflict down the decades and centuries in Afghanistan is as tragic as it is heroic. Like so many countries in the mid-east it seems from this distant latte-filled latitude and languishing-longitude that there exists no hope at all for the warlords and their most humbled servants in states such as Afghanistan.
Is the decision to send our rag-tag troops to this country wise? The loud cry I heard from the Conservatives when campaigning was that Canada needed to beef up its military machine. Given the short time that we have had under a Conservative government it is hard to believe that Canada is already prepared for a role in Afghanistan. In addition, as a people, war is not in our nature. Nor should it be in anyone’s. Our meaning is no doubt Honourable, other than the political motivations of course, but can we achieve anything more than succour to the man in the street in Kabul?
The Liberals may have much to answer to in their financial shenanigans and total disdain for Canada in their arrogant behaviour, but declining the invitation to enjoin with the US in the Iraq fiasco was an act of true Canadesque. The Conservatives would have been well-advised to take at least this one leaf from the Liberal book when contemplating our country’s role in Afghanistan. Choosing not to do something can be quite as powerful an implement as choosing to engage. This is lost of course on our neighbour to south, but fortunately not lost on the majority of its peoples. Iraq will come eventually to a trundling halt as one of the biggest military mistakes ever. It is worrying therefore to see this newly-minted and largely inexperienced Conservative cabinet flirting, if ever so coyly, with a similar fate.
Stephen Harper, if the tales we hear in the press are even vaguely true, may already be displaying some of the autocratic dementia with which the United States has suffered these past two terms under bow-legged Bush. It is a fair bet -make that a sure bet- that Harper is way more intelligent than Bush. And if Harper can resist his natural tendencies for being a one-man show then as a side-bet it is probable that he will endure past the next US election and in all likelihood his new counterpart will be a Democrat; a woman perhaps. In the meantime Harper would be well-advised, even if it is he advising himself, to quit emulating George Bush behaviour patterns. It does not sit well with Canadians. And it does not sit well with the world.
The history of conflict down the decades and centuries in Afghanistan is as tragic as it is heroic. Like so many countries in the mid-east it seems from this distant latte-filled latitude and languishing-longitude that there exists no hope at all for the warlords and their most humbled servants in states such as Afghanistan.
Is the decision to send our rag-tag troops to this country wise? The loud cry I heard from the Conservatives when campaigning was that Canada needed to beef up its military machine. Given the short time that we have had under a Conservative government it is hard to believe that Canada is already prepared for a role in Afghanistan. In addition, as a people, war is not in our nature. Nor should it be in anyone’s. Our meaning is no doubt Honourable, other than the political motivations of course, but can we achieve anything more than succour to the man in the street in Kabul?
The Liberals may have much to answer to in their financial shenanigans and total disdain for Canada in their arrogant behaviour, but declining the invitation to enjoin with the US in the Iraq fiasco was an act of true Canadesque. The Conservatives would have been well-advised to take at least this one leaf from the Liberal book when contemplating our country’s role in Afghanistan. Choosing not to do something can be quite as powerful an implement as choosing to engage. This is lost of course on our neighbour to south, but fortunately not lost on the majority of its peoples. Iraq will come eventually to a trundling halt as one of the biggest military mistakes ever. It is worrying therefore to see this newly-minted and largely inexperienced Conservative cabinet flirting, if ever so coyly, with a similar fate.
Stephen Harper, if the tales we hear in the press are even vaguely true, may already be displaying some of the autocratic dementia with which the United States has suffered these past two terms under bow-legged Bush. It is a fair bet -make that a sure bet- that Harper is way more intelligent than Bush. And if Harper can resist his natural tendencies for being a one-man show then as a side-bet it is probable that he will endure past the next US election and in all likelihood his new counterpart will be a Democrat; a woman perhaps. In the meantime Harper would be well-advised, even if it is he advising himself, to quit emulating George Bush behaviour patterns. It does not sit well with Canadians. And it does not sit well with the world.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Farming is an industry that ruins the natural environment?
What an outrageous headline
There seems to me to exist a certain delicious irony in one or two interest groups proclaiming in so shrill a manner that industry and commerce threatens the rural life in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows when agriculture itself is a destroyer of the natural environment, both land and water bound. Frankly, if ruralists were honest with themselves (that is probably asking too much of them), those who wish to protect the farmlands of Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge would be better engaged fighting for the dismantling of the dykes so that nature can go about its business unhindered by the threat of artificially created farmlands. Sound crazy? Perhaps, but I suspect that the same groups who fight for farmlands of Maple Ridge would probably, if asked vehemently oppose, for instance, clearing forests in South America and Asia for the purposes of agriculture. When it comes to double standards
the environementalists seem to know no bounds and happily continue ripping pages from the books of the very people they abhor.
"Holland meets rural England in the Vancouver, B.C., suburbs of Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge, bedroom communities surrounded by three rivers, forested parks, coastal mountains and a 30-mile network of dikes built by Dutch settlers in the 1950s." That is what the brochures say.
Part of the Lower Fraser River Valley, this area is an easy day trip from Vancouver but budgeting extra time for an overnight yields some nice surprises. Among them: a riverside B&B, a British-style pub and a free, five-minute cruise across the Fraser.
Unique to the area are the dikes — long stretches of raised earthen mounds surrounded by the rural Pitt Polder, a 217-acre low-lying mix of farmland, marshes and mudflats.
Dutch dairy farmers settled in the area after World War II, reclaimed the land along the Pitt, Alouette and Fraser rivers and, using techniques perfected in the Netherlands, built the dikes as a method of flood control.
Today, locals use the embankments as hiking, biking and horse-riding trails.
Protect farmland or farmers?
Are we protecting the business of farming or farmland? "Both" I hear on my left. "Neither" I hear on my right.
Maple Ridge is commonly quoted as having some 230 farms. These farms are scattered throughout this small community located on the northeast fringe of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (“GVRD”) and operate under GVRD regulations and guidelines.
Of the many bodies that function within the GVRD to control socio-economic and environmental issues, the Agricultural Land Commission (“ALC”) which was set up as the custodian of the Agricultural Land Reserve, finds itself at the centre of an ongoing and contentious public debate. The arguments for and against vary little, yet the areas vary geographically within the confines of the GVRD, from municipality to municipality.
Naturally enough big arguments seem to attract big statements. Farming is a waste of land, one side argues. Farm land must be protected at all costs, the other side argues. It is tempting to leave those two statements in that pure form and simply take a vote them. Alas, there’s more.
Here is an example. Of the 230 farms operating in Maple Ridge how many did so profitably or could simply be said to have been of a community benefit, irrespective of viability? Someone out there will have an answer to that question.
Perhaps that same someone has the answer this question. Was the ALC formed to protect farm land or farms? If farm land is not being protected for farming then for what purpose is it being held in reserve?
Maple Ridge in its brief history since 1860 at the time of Proclamation of the Pre-Emption Act in January, allowing for the registration of land in British Columbia; the first pre-emptions are at Albion, Chilliwack and Sumas, has followed a path of subdividing itself into urban sprawl to the point where it now finds itself. With each subdivision the threat to agricultural accelerates.
Environmental purists argue for the protection of every centimeter that is green, including the farmland that was wrested from the natural environment by the imposition of dykes on the flood plain. What developers find troubling perhaps is that the environmentalists make no differentiation between a 5, 10, 15, 20 or 100 acre piece land that falls within the ALR. Put another way, how big is a farm? Or what constitutes a farm? Someone, someone in the Maple Ridge Planning Department, knows exactly how many sites exist within the ALR that will nary see a farm operating on them today, tomorrow or ever. A cynic may describe these marginal sites as “rural trinkets” maintained only for the pleasure of environmental purists. A landowner for his part may view them as a nest egg.
Of course, in a world where size does not count, any argument that would permit ALR land to be excluded simply because it is not now nor ever will be viable seems not to matter. Or does it? Would the lives of the politicians and bureaucrats (not to mention the many interest groups) not be simplified if it were possible to better define that land which is truly of agricultural value and that which is simply an adornment? Or would such a suggestion only deepen the complexities?
Old Macdonald had a farm - he owes he owes he owes
A key component to “how the community will look 20 and 50 years from now” within the framework of a “solid vision”.
Winning back the farmlands of Maple Ridge
Some initial thoughts and concepts
First three months of the next three years = devise a plan
Formula for success: Planned + Coordinated + Sustained = implement the plan
Definitions, glossary and terms of reference
During casual discussions between the Mayor, council, staff and the public we all use terms to describe the components. Nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs fly hot and heavy during, for instance, the debate over the OCP. The 2005 summer public hearing was an excellent example of broadly used terms that were meant as one thing spoken, but heard as another, often opposite meaning. Probably the best example of this is the use of the terms “agricultural”, “conservation”, “open space”, “park”, “community forest”, “research forest”, “forest reserve” and “greenway.”
The terms above are taken directly, and in order, from the Official Community Plan Schedule B dated revise April 29 2003 and one which the public and Planning Department currently use for reference when dealing with Zoning applications and other planning matters.
An obvious and glaring omission to the informed, will be the fact that nowhere on the OCP Schedule B, will the reader find the words “GREEN ZONE”. Considering the attention that these two words received during the OCP hearings and more recently at the all candidates meetings this omission seems odd. More odd yet is the fact that nowhere on what we refer to as our “Official” Community Plan is there any reference to the phrase “Agricultural Land Reserve” or for that matter “Agricultural Land Commission.” How is that the most important single document in the District fails to describe the most often referred to areas of contention in the community? It is understood that the OCP itself refers often and clearly to ALR, Green Zone and the ALC and the prescribed process for handling applications for exclusion, but no one casting and eye over the April 29 2003 map would be struck by any of the implications that underlie these issues.
Add to the above the fact that proponents and opponents in every debate use the various description terms to suit their own points of view and often transpose meanings with one another, it would be advisable to include in any future planning or attempts at visionary or long-term planning exercise terms of reference that are agreed by all members of the Planning Department, Council, Committees and Commissions.
Before leaving this subject of definitions, we need to clarify what is meant by GREEN ZONE and perhaps more important we need definitive legal opinion on who is the final arbiter of what is known as the GREEN ZONE. A basic question may be: “Is there a GREEN ZONE?” If the answer is “yes” should there not be a line notated as “GREEN ZONE” on the next OCP?
In his inaugural address Mayor Robson refers to the need to “re-examine the ALR and Green Zone” as, in his words, these tools are only ways of “delaying the inevitable”. Most significant is Mayor Robson’s idea that we, the community, must decide what the “end product must look like.” We should pause right there. One might, rather than use the words “end product” substitute the word destination. With a long term (20 to 50 year) destination in our collective mind, it becomes necessary to set out on this “visionary” journey with some navigational tools, way points and a map. The terms of reference and how they are defined are the only tools we have and so need to be commonly understood by all the players and stakeholders.
Sticking with the Mayor’s address we should immediately be aware of his reference to “public lands”. The Mayor will be looking for a plan that supports the “permanent retention” of public lands. Any committee, commission or work group involved in developing a scheme that will meet the Mayor’s expectations would be well-advised to seek clarity on the technical and legal meaning of “public lands” by today’s definition and any anticipated changes to the definition which may be required to meet the 2006-2009 council’s expectations. Public ownership comes with unique rules which need to be addressed separately from the OCP in the first instance and then re-introduced into the OCP context subsequently, once the rules are clear. EXAMPLE: Public Lands could for instance, mean Municipal acquisition and title to farmlands with the express goal of ALR protection. Just as an example the concepts below hint at some likely complexities and questions that need to be addressed in order to explore the realities of such an idea:
Primary Tasks
This is not an academic exercise – it is aimed at finding a practical solution to a planning issue.
Yet data and research are critical to its successful outcome
Gather the discrete facts (data) and create and information library by organizing the data into reports for the study of the “The Problem”
Research various methods that have proven successful in finding solutions to the conflicts arising from the effects of sprawl on agricultural land reserves.
The problem
Urban Sprawl
Extended thoughts
The solution
A 50-year plan to protect agricultural land
Make the ALR inviolate.
Alter the role/relationship of ALC/Maple Ridge Council
State goal
1000 Friends of Maple Ridge Example
“To preserve the rural character and community spirit that contributes to the quality of life in Maple Ridge” 1000 Friends of Maple Ridge (CA note: this message is not as strong as it could be )
Objectives
Protect the ALR
Establish a permanent urban boundary
Ensure all development contributes to quality of life
Preserve and celebrate environmental qualities
Acknowledge natural heritage
Insure direct resident involvement in planning process
Monitor performance
1000 Friends of Maple Ridge Draft
Define a process
Charrette, public information/hearing
Communications Committee
Who talks to GVRD, Province, Real Estate Board
Legal
Expect law suits from owners of ALR who want it excluded.
First Pro most likely the first to file a claim?
Compensation Plan Proposal
Establish land costs based on what – adjust tax base to make purchases fair and possible.
Assumptions
What is assumed about developers, farmers, the public, Victoria, Ottawa, taxes, transport etc?
How does one turn assumptions into discrete data and then assemble data into manageable information?
Taxes, subsidies and the agricultural economies
The emotional desire to protect farmland may not be matched to the systemic and political realities.
What are the founding
Principles?
Long-term sustainability
(maximum 6)
Implementation
Devise Plan
How?
Build list of proponents and opponents
Third party support
UBC (Patrick Condon) David Suzuki etc.
Look for models in other jurisdictions.
Philosophical and philanthropic support
James Pattison + Milton Wong
Political Support
Carole Taylor, David Emerson
Research
AGRICULTURAL LAND COMMISSION ACT
Community Charter
Legal mechanisms for excluding lands from the ALR are counterbalanced by legal mechanisms for protection of arable and grazing lands.
Assemble technical papers
Provincial, UBC, Golder, Envirowest, World Farming Organizations
Many farmers and economist agree that farming the soils of Maple Ridge is not viable. Were it not for the fact some of the land was staked (freely gifted) during the early days of settlement the land would today be built on.
Countering this argument is the notion that ALR must be protected no matter what the $ cost may be as the cost of losing the ALR is too high in terms of environmental and community.
Assemble economic data
Economic Development Department to gather financial data
Comparative studies need to be done that will show how the manner in which a farm comes into being (how it is paid for, for what its purpose is etc) will determine the attitude of the farmer towards exclusion.
Demographics and Psychographics
Age, marital status, number of children (mal/female), level of education, social standing, social mores play a combined role in determining a farmer’s reaction to the prospect of exclusion or protection.
Similarly the make-up of the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows community is constantly changing. Many people move to this area in the hope of cheaper housing, more green space and a better lifestyle for their children. Some of them are disappointed to find that Maple Ridge may soon be indistinguishable from Burnaby, New Westminster or Richmond. On the other hand some of these newly arrived residents are delighted to find the prospects of Maple Ridge growing to become a replica of these other communities (that is to say, all the amenities at a lower cost – Big Box shopping etc).
Why?
Why are we thinking of embarking on this journey?
Are we driven by the trend to environmental protection which may be traced back to larger issues such as Global Warming, Kyoto, Globalization, fossil fuel emissions, reduction in ice cap mass, famine in Africa, instability caused by US military presence in the Mid-East etc?
Or does Maple Ridge simply want to “be different”?
How?
How do we prepare and how to we make it happen?
First we find out if it is legal. If it is not legal we attempt to change the law. Law by definition is an amendable and flexible mechanism. It is only “law” until such time that it is changed by consensus within the democratic framework.
If it can be legally achieved, we need to ask the community if it is what the community wishes? Does the community want a 100% built out Maple Ridge – over time this would be the logical result of creeping loss.
Or does the community seek balance.
Or does the community feel that “creeping loss” can be replaced with “creeping gain” of the ALR.
Reversing a trend is what the real aim is
Loss by creep replaced by gain by creep.
The legacy Maple Ridge would leave on the Fraser Valley is that it reversed creeping loss by introducing creeping gain through the introduction of specific bylaws whose intention was for the sole purpose of protecting further depletion of the ALR.
Notes: from Livable Region Strategic Plan.
Review the plans in relation to OCP and Area Plans – look for conflicts.
The urban Reserve – does it meet with realities of 2005 as it was established in the 1980s.
Are any of these documents amendable or are they meant to be “for life”
Define the differences between Green Zone and Agricultural Reserve. Highlight the differences between conservation, park, open space, community forest, research forest, forest reserve, and the extension to forest reserve, agricultural reserve (how do these areas relate to the so-called Green Zone? What is the Green Zone?)
Prove the economic argument.
Alternatives to population increases
Alternatives to sprawl
Think of sprawl as an addiction.
Sprawl is the GM and the Ford of urban planning.
Protective development is the Honda and Toyota of future urban planning.
Bring the pro-agri/green groups together.
Certain groups who may not agree on many things will have to agree on at least one thing – farm lands must be protected forever.
To do this one must change the way we look at the OCP and get away from the simple routine of pigeon holing the zones into convenient slots. A wider view of the problem is required.
Advocate brown/gray/blue fields for future absorption of population.
Use alternatives to the subdivision to act as blotting paper in absorbing population growth.
Saturate infill before contemplating any expansion of urban boundary.
Leave the argument for the north/south or east/west urban expansion debate for future OCPs not the current one.
Forecast food costs for growing and transportation
Federal Studies for coast to coast food demands.
Study European examples.
Hanover.
Create a higher model for our children’s children.
Look beyond 5 or ten year plans to 50 and 100 year plans.
Encapsulate in a 3-month draft plan – make it part of OCP?
Broaden and deepen the chapters on ALR in the 2006 review of the OCP.
The amalgamation question
(CA wants to draft a blended OCP)
Public ownership of farmlands.
How is it paid for? DCCs etc. SEE DIAGRAMS
The “M” word.
Are we talking moratorium on ALR – the “M’ word
Perhaps the real reason is to disprove that a moratorium is impossible.
What power does Maple Ridge District have as the “primary gatekeeper”?
(see page 9, 2002 Annual Report of Livable Regions Strategic Plan)
“Farmland is an important part of the Greater Vancouver landscape. It is a significant contributor to the regional economy, provides the region with a supply of high-quality, local foods, and it provides considerable green space for the benefit of humans and wildlife.
“Since 1973, agricultural land in BC has been protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve Act. The administration of this act is the responsibility of the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC). HOWEVER, the primary “gatekeepers” of the Agricultural Land Reserve are individual municipalities.
APPLICATIONS TO REMOVE LAND FROM THE ALR TO SUBDIVIDE OR CARRY OUT A NON-FARM USE ARE FIRST RECEIVED BY MUNICIPALITIES.
MOST APPLICATIONS ARE TURNED DOWN BECAUSE THEY DO NOT CONFORM TO OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN AND ALT POLICIES.”
The plan (OCP) may be more forthright in stating the developers must infill before outflow.
The ALR amendment to the OCP
If the bold print above is true and accurate (published in the GVRD’s own report) then one has to recognize that mechanism for protecting land within the Maple Ridge ALR is contained in one document and one document alone; the Official Community Plan. It is only when the researcher understands this as an irrevocable fact that the significance of getting the OCP right become clear. A poorly written OCP can have long-term negative effects on the future of Maple Ridge. A well-defined and clearly written OCP can have a positive long-term effect the future of the community.
The OCP is the effective DNA of the community’s future.
Given that the OCP is the sole responsibility of the Planning Department and its passage into law is the sole responsibility of council, it is understandable that the public, both pro-development and pro-environment, become highly agitated and extremely vocal during the times when the OCP come up for amendment through the amendment process.
It s highly probable that the 2006 revision of the 2005 OCP review may well result in a 2007 review, in the event that the OCP is seen by the public as failing to establish a vision for the next 10, 20 and 50 years.
The public have become acutely aware of the implications of the OCP and this awareness is not limited to the NIMBY groups, special interests or academic meddlers. 145 speakers from every corner of the community spoke out against the draft contents of the OCP in 2005. Council and staff took note. How they respond under the guidance of the newly elected council will be telling.
Can tax on open inner city lots be amended to encourage sale/development of neglected inner city sites?
Measure the resistance to the concept.
Public good v. Individual Rights.
Tax department prepares ratio analysis of open lot tax returns compared to built lots of similar size – what is the loss in $ to the District.
This money (if it were converted to tax dollars) could go towards securing agricultural lands on “lease-back” basis for public benefit for instance.
These are complex propositions which go to the fundamentals of the tax system.
In the United Kingdom and Europe, communities have established numerous Public Trusts
(Claus has been talking to one in Somerset for three years now).
Agricultural and Green Zone should be treated as “heritage”
Our past supports our future.
What does Bob Parliament think? Get support form Province and Ottawa?
When holders of small agricultural lots wish to sell they should be purchased by the District at fair market value and aggregated with other contiguous properties where this is possible in order to “win back agricultural “assets for the District.
The long way round.
The purchase by Victoria of certain lands from the Laity family for the purpose of constructing the “North Connector” along 128th Avenue requires that a “fair market” price be paid for the land. What is the formula for fair market price per acre and how can this formula be utilized in determining the cost of land in the future in the even that the district were to acquire ALR lands for protection?
The plan could be cross-border and
Pitt Meadows shares similar concerns about its Agricultural Land Reserve.
Joint committee formed and announcements made between Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.
The District of Maple Ridge
The Community Charter
What are the District’s rights when it comes to placing moratoriums on specific zones?
Is the District entitled to make sweeping fundamental changes?
Winning back the farmlands of Maple Ridge
Some initial thoughts and concepts
First three months of the next three years = devise a plan
Formula for success: Planned + Coordinated + Sustained = implement the plan
Definitions, glossary and terms of reference
During casual discussions between the Mayor, council, staff and the public we all use terms to describe the components. Nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs fly hot and heavy during, for instance, the debate over the OCP. The 2005 summer public hearing was an excellent example of broadly used terms that were meant as one thing spoken, but heard as another, often opposite meaning. Probably the best example of this is the use of the terms “agricultural”, “conservation”, “open space”, “park”, “community forest”, “research forest”, “forest reserve” and “greenway.”
The terms above are taken directly, and in order, from the Official Community Plan Schedule B dated revise April 29 2003 and one which the public and Planning Department currently use for reference when dealing with Zoning applications and other planning matters.
An obvious and glaring omission to the informed, will be the fact that nowhere on the OCP Schedule B, will the reader find the words “GREEN ZONE”. Considering the attention that these two words received during the OCP hearings and more recently at the all candidates meetings this omission seems odd. More odd yet is the fact that nowhere on what we refer to as our “Official” Community Plan is there any reference to the phrase “Agricultural Land Reserve” or for that matter “Agricultural Land Commission.” How is that the most important single document in the District fails to describe the most often referred to areas of contention in the community? It is understood that the OCP itself refers often and clearly to ALR, Green Zone and the ALC and the prescribed process for handling applications for exclusion, but no one casting and eye over the April 29 2003 map would be struck by any of the implications that underlie these issues.
Add to the above the fact that proponents and opponents in every debate use the various description terms to suit their own points of view and often transpose meanings with one another, it would be advisable to include in any future planning or attempts at visionary or long-term planning exercise terms of reference that are agreed by all members of the Planning Department, Council, Committees and Commissions.
Before leaving this subject of definitions, we need to clarify what is meant by GREEN ZONE and perhaps more important we need definitive legal opinion on who is the final arbiter of what is known as the GREEN ZONE. A basic question may be: “Is there a GREEN ZONE?” If the answer is “yes” should there not be a line notated as “GREEN ZONE” on the next OCP?
In his inaugural address Mayor Robson refers to the need to “re-examine the ALR and Green Zone” as, in his words, these tools are only ways of “delaying the inevitable”. Most significant is Mayor Robson’s idea that we, the community, must decide what the “end product must look like.” We should pause right there. One might, rather than use the words “end product” substitute the word destination. With a long term (20 to 50 year) destination in our collective mind, it becomes necessary to set out on this “visionary” journey with some navigational tools, way points and a map. The terms of reference and how they are defined are the only tools we have and so need to be commonly understood by all the players and stakeholders.
Sticking with the Mayor’s address we should immediately be aware of his reference to “public lands”. The Mayor will be looking for a plan that supports the “permanent retention” of public lands. Any committee, commission or work group involved in developing a scheme that will meet the Mayor’s expectations would be well-advised to seek clarity on the technical and legal meaning of “public lands” by today’s definition and any anticipated changes to the definition which may be required to meet the 2006-2009 council’s expectations. Public ownership comes with unique rules which need to be addressed separately from the OCP in the first instance and then re-introduced into the OCP context subsequently, once the rules are clear. EXAMPLE: Public Lands could for instance, mean Municipal acquisition and title to farmlands with the express goal of ALR protection. Just as an example the concepts below hint at some likely complexities and questions that need to be addressed in order to explore the realities of such an idea:
Primary Tasks
This is not an academic exercise – it is aimed at finding a practical solution to a planning issue.
Yet data and research are critical to its successful outcome
Gather the discrete facts (data) and create and information library by organizing the data into reports for the study of the “The Problem”
Research various methods that have proven successful in finding solutions to the conflicts arising from the effects of sprawl on agricultural land reserves.
The problem
Urban Sprawl
Extended thoughts
The solution
A 50-year plan to protect agricultural land
Make the ALR inviolate.
Alter the role/relationship of ALC/Maple Ridge Council
State goal
1000 Friends of Maple Ridge Example
“To preserve the rural character and community spirit that contributes to the quality of life in Maple Ridge” 1000 Friends of Maple Ridge (CA note: this message is not as strong as it could be )
Objectives
Protect the ALR
Establish a permanent urban boundary
Ensure all development contributes to quality of life
Preserve and celebrate environmental qualities
Acknowledge natural heritage
Insure direct resident involvement in planning process
Monitor performance
1000 Friends of Maple Ridge Draft
Define a process
Charrette, public information/hearing
Communications Committee
Who talks to GVRD, Province, Real Estate Board
Legal
Expect law suits from owners of ALR who want it excluded.
First Pro most likely the first to file a claim?
Compensation Plan Proposal
Establish land costs based on what – adjust tax base to make purchases fair and possible.
Assumptions
What is assumed about developers, farmers, the public, Victoria, Ottawa, taxes, transport etc?
How does one turn assumptions into discrete data and then assemble data into manageable information?
Taxes, subsidies and the agricultural economies
The emotional desire to protect farmland may not be matched to the systemic and political realities.
What are the founding
Principles?
Long-term sustainability
(maximum 6)
Implementation
Devise Plan
How?
Build list of proponents and opponents
Third party support
UBC (Patrick Condon) David Suzuki etc.
Look for models in other jurisdictions.
Philosophical and philanthropic support
James Pattison + Milton Wong
Political Support
Carole Taylor, David Emerson
Research
AGRICULTURAL LAND COMMISSION ACT
Community Charter
Legal mechanisms for excluding lands from the ALR are counterbalanced by legal mechanisms for protection of arable and grazing lands.
Assemble technical papers
Provincial, UBC, Golder, Envirowest, World Farming Organizations
Many farmers and economist agree that farming the soils of Maple Ridge is not viable. Were it not for the fact some of the land was staked (freely gifted) during the early days of settlement the land would today be built on.
Countering this argument is the notion that ALR must be protected no matter what the $ cost may be as the cost of losing the ALR is too high in terms of environmental and community.
Assemble economic data
Economic Development Department to gather financial data
Comparative studies need to be done that will show how the manner in which a farm comes into being (how it is paid for, for what its purpose is etc) will determine the attitude of the farmer towards exclusion.
Demographics and Psychographics
Age, marital status, number of children (mal/female), level of education, social standing, social mores play a combined role in determining a farmer’s reaction to the prospect of exclusion or protection.
Similarly the make-up of the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows community is constantly changing. Many people move to this area in the hope of cheaper housing, more green space and a better lifestyle for their children. Some of them are disappointed to find that Maple Ridge may soon be indistinguishable from Burnaby, New Westminster or Richmond. On the other hand some of these newly arrived residents are delighted to find the prospects of Maple Ridge growing to become a replica of these other communities (that is to say, all the amenities at a lower cost – Big Box shopping etc).
Why?
Why are we thinking of embarking on this journey?
Are we driven by the trend to environmental protection which may be traced back to larger issues such as Global Warming, Kyoto, Globalization, fossil fuel emissions, reduction in ice cap mass, famine in Africa, instability caused by US military presence in the Mid-East etc?
Or does Maple Ridge simply want to “be different”?
How?
How do we prepare and how to we make it happen?
First we find out if it is legal. If it is not legal we attempt to change the law. Law by definition is an amendable and flexible mechanism. It is only “law” until such time that it is changed by consensus within the democratic framework.
If it can be legally achieved, we need to ask the community if it is what the community wishes? Does the community want a 100% built out Maple Ridge – over time this would be the logical result of creeping loss.
Or does the community seek balance.
Or does the community feel that “creeping loss” can be replaced with “creeping gain” of the ALR.
Reversing a trend is what the real aim is
Loss by creep replaced by gain by creep.
The legacy Maple Ridge would leave on the Fraser Valley is that it reversed creeping loss by introducing creeping gain through the introduction of specific bylaws whose intention was for the sole purpose of protecting further depletion of the ALR.
Notes: from Livable Region Strategic Plan.
Review the plans in relation to OCP and Area Plans – look for conflicts.
The urban Reserve – does it meet with realities of 2005 as it was established in the 1980s.
Are any of these documents amendable or are they meant to be “for life”
Define the differences between Green Zone and Agricultural Reserve. Highlight the differences between conservation, park, open space, community forest, research forest, forest reserve, and the extension to forest reserve, agricultural reserve (how do these areas relate to the so-called Green Zone? What is the Green Zone?)
Prove the economic argument.
Alternatives to population increases
Alternatives to sprawl
Think of sprawl as an addiction.
Sprawl is the GM and the Ford of urban planning.
Protective development is the Honda and Toyota of future urban planning.
Bring the pro-agri/green groups together.
Certain groups who may not agree on many things will have to agree on at least one thing – farm lands must be protected forever.
To do this one must change the way we look at the OCP and get away from the simple routine of pigeon holing the zones into convenient slots. A wider view of the problem is required.
Advocate brown/gray/blue fields for future absorption of population.
Use alternatives to the subdivision to act as blotting paper in absorbing population growth.
Saturate infill before contemplating any expansion of urban boundary.
Leave the argument for the north/south or east/west urban expansion debate for future OCPs not the current one.
Forecast food costs for growing and transportation
Federal Studies for coast to coast food demands.
Study European examples.
Hanover.
Create a higher model for our children’s children.
Look beyond 5 or ten year plans to 50 and 100 year plans.
Encapsulate in a 3-month draft plan – make it part of OCP?
Broaden and deepen the chapters on ALR in the 2006 review of the OCP.
The amalgamation question
(CA wants to draft a blended OCP)
Public ownership of farmlands.
How is it paid for? DCCs etc. SEE DIAGRAMS
The “M” word.
Are we talking moratorium on ALR – the “M’ word
Perhaps the real reason is to disprove that a moratorium is impossible.
What power does Maple Ridge District have as the “primary gatekeeper”?
(see page 9, 2002 Annual Report of Livable Regions Strategic Plan)
“Farmland is an important part of the Greater Vancouver landscape. It is a significant contributor to the regional economy, provides the region with a supply of high-quality, local foods, and it provides considerable green space for the benefit of humans and wildlife.
“Since 1973, agricultural land in BC has been protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve Act. The administration of this act is the responsibility of the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC). HOWEVER, the primary “gatekeepers” of the Agricultural Land Reserve are individual municipalities.
APPLICATIONS TO REMOVE LAND FROM THE ALR TO SUBDIVIDE OR CARRY OUT A NON-FARM USE ARE FIRST RECEIVED BY MUNICIPALITIES.
MOST APPLICATIONS ARE TURNED DOWN BECAUSE THEY DO NOT CONFORM TO OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN AND ALT POLICIES.”
The plan (OCP) may be more forthright in stating the developers must infill before outflow.
The ALR amendment to the OCP
If the bold print above is true and accurate (published in the GVRD’s own report) then one has to recognize that mechanism for protecting land within the Maple Ridge ALR is contained in one document and one document alone; the Official Community Plan. It is only when the researcher understands this as an irrevocable fact that the significance of getting the OCP right become clear. A poorly written OCP can have long-term negative effects on the future of Maple Ridge. A well-defined and clearly written OCP can have a positive long-term effect the future of the community.
The OCP is the effective DNA of the community’s future.
Given that the OCP is the sole responsibility of the Planning Department and its passage into law is the sole responsibility of council, it is understandable that the public, both pro-development and pro-environment, become highly agitated and extremely vocal during the times when the OCP come up for amendment through the amendment process.
It s highly probable that the 2006 revision of the 2005 OCP review may well result in a 2007 review, in the event that the OCP is seen by the public as failing to establish a vision for the next 10, 20 and 50 years.
The public have become acutely aware of the implications of the OCP and this awareness is not limited to the NIMBY groups, special interests or academic meddlers. 145 speakers from every corner of the community spoke out against the draft contents of the OCP in 2005. Council and staff took note. How they respond under the guidance of the newly elected council will be telling.
Can tax on open inner city lots be amended to encourage sale/development of neglected inner city sites?
Measure the resistance to the concept.
Public good v. Individual Rights.
Tax department prepares ratio analysis of open lot tax returns compared to built lots of similar size – what is the loss in $ to the District.
This money (if it were converted to tax dollars) could go towards securing agricultural lands on “lease-back” basis for public benefit for instance.
These are complex propositions which go to the fundamentals of the tax system.
In the United Kingdom and Europe, communities have established numerous Public Trusts
(Claus has been talking to one in Somerset for three years now).
Agricultural and Green Zone should be treated as “heritage”
Our past supports our future.
What does Bob Parliament think? Get support form Province and Ottawa?
When holders of small agricultural lots wish to sell they should be purchased by the District at fair market value and aggregated with other contiguous properties where this is possible in order to “win back agricultural “assets for the District.
The long way round.
The purchase by Victoria of certain lands from the Laity family for the purpose of constructing the “North Connector” along 128th Avenue requires that a “fair market” price be paid for the land. What is the formula for fair market price per acre and how can this formula be utilized in determining the cost of land in the future in the even that the district were to acquire ALR lands for protection?
The plan could be cross-border and
Pitt Meadows shares similar concerns about its Agricultural Land Reserve.
Joint committee formed and announcements made between Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.
The District of Maple Ridge
The Community Charter
What are the District’s rights when it comes to placing moratoriums on specific zones?
Is the District entitled to make sweeping fundamental changes?
Saturday, May 06, 2006
I object
"Ad exec Brault gets 2 1/2 years in jail"
That was the headline on Page 4 of the Vancouver Sun on Saturday May 6, 2006. Canadians spent months being treated through media to the spectacle of what was popularly referred to as the "Sponsorship Scandal" which, if we are to believe the accusations, involved the some $250 of government spending in an exercise to hold Canada together. We understand further that this was allegedly a top to bottom scheme which had its embryonic beginnings in the the office of the prime minister Jean Chretien, without the apparent knowledge of his then finance minister Paul Martin. In the gloom of numerous restaurants, board rooms and ministerial offices a plan evolved with collusion of a long list of ministers and bureaucrats, far too long to list here, to defraud the government and Canadian tax payers to the tune of $250 million. In order to make the plan work it would be necessary to enlist the help of outside agencies; advertising agencies to be precise.
The scheme came unglued, due in part to the bungling Liberal member of Patliament Alfonso Gagliano.
Outrage and fury filled the the public airwaves. How could this fraud have perpetrated? We all wanted to know. An inquiry was needed. Finger pointing and name calling ensued. Mr. Gomery walked us through the lengthy process, made his report and recommendations and now Jean Brault, not Jean Chretien, is on his way to jail. Chuck Guite, Paul Martin, Jean Pelletier and Alfonso Gagliano continue to ply their trade, in or out retirement. Gomery is content in the knowledge that justice has been done. One or two admen will be incarcerated to a few years.
A small price to pay for the loss of $250 million. The system and those who support can breath easily once more.
This has been as sinister a look at the inside workings of Ottawa as one could possibly wish for. The Conservative Party of Canada has been the benefactor of this scandal; some might argue that Canadians have benefitted in an odd and serendipitous way in that those mentioned above delivered the country to the more repsonsible management team under Stephen Harper. Be that as it may, the sentencing of one or two admen in this fraud should be regarded (though it clearly is not) as a failure of our judicial and criminal system.
That was the headline on Page 4 of the Vancouver Sun on Saturday May 6, 2006. Canadians spent months being treated through media to the spectacle of what was popularly referred to as the "Sponsorship Scandal" which, if we are to believe the accusations, involved the some $250 of government spending in an exercise to hold Canada together. We understand further that this was allegedly a top to bottom scheme which had its embryonic beginnings in the the office of the prime minister Jean Chretien, without the apparent knowledge of his then finance minister Paul Martin. In the gloom of numerous restaurants, board rooms and ministerial offices a plan evolved with collusion of a long list of ministers and bureaucrats, far too long to list here, to defraud the government and Canadian tax payers to the tune of $250 million. In order to make the plan work it would be necessary to enlist the help of outside agencies; advertising agencies to be precise.
The scheme came unglued, due in part to the bungling Liberal member of Patliament Alfonso Gagliano.
Outrage and fury filled the the public airwaves. How could this fraud have perpetrated? We all wanted to know. An inquiry was needed. Finger pointing and name calling ensued. Mr. Gomery walked us through the lengthy process, made his report and recommendations and now Jean Brault, not Jean Chretien, is on his way to jail. Chuck Guite, Paul Martin, Jean Pelletier and Alfonso Gagliano continue to ply their trade, in or out retirement. Gomery is content in the knowledge that justice has been done. One or two admen will be incarcerated to a few years.
A small price to pay for the loss of $250 million. The system and those who support can breath easily once more.
This has been as sinister a look at the inside workings of Ottawa as one could possibly wish for. The Conservative Party of Canada has been the benefactor of this scandal; some might argue that Canadians have benefitted in an odd and serendipitous way in that those mentioned above delivered the country to the more repsonsible management team under Stephen Harper. Be that as it may, the sentencing of one or two admen in this fraud should be regarded (though it clearly is not) as a failure of our judicial and criminal system.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Rumsfeld losing it on more than one count
"Rumsfeld heckled over war in Iraq
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was repeatedly interrupted and heckled by anti-war protesters during a speech.
One protester, retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, accused Mr Rumsfeld of lying to the American people about the presence of WMD in Iraq before the war.
Mr Rumsfeld rejected the accusation and said the Bush administration based its assertions on existing intelligence. "
If Donald Rumsfeld's doctors were watching TV when when CNN treated the world to this incident it may have crossed their minds that their patient is in the early stages of dimentia, though some might argure that the symptons go back quite a while, perhaps decades. This fellow simply has no idea of what he said when and is unable to recall the simplest statements made publicly in earlier interviews. Statements, one should note, that could be considered of some significance. Statments regarding where WMDs were hidden by the Iraqi military. Statments he made pintpointing locations prior to the invasion of Iraq by the US. Statements regarding the likely outcome of the war. And so on - we've heard it all before.
When a student lies to his teacher about why he has not completed his or her homework. Or when an employee lies about why he showed up late for work. Or a child denies stealing cookies from the cookie jar, or a murderer denies being a the scene of the crime, body language and facial expressions are fairly obvious telltales that one is being hoodwinked. How is it then that this old geezer is able to stand up on the world stage and babble on in his demented way (he should be called "Rambling Rumsfeld") ? Why doesn't someone take the mike away from him?
Could it be that the reason is Bumbling Bush?
Losing his mind and losing his war at the same time is obviously taking its toll on Rumsfeld. Interesting how one crazed lunatic, Saddam Hussein, begat another in a country far, far away.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was repeatedly interrupted and heckled by anti-war protesters during a speech.
One protester, retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, accused Mr Rumsfeld of lying to the American people about the presence of WMD in Iraq before the war.
Mr Rumsfeld rejected the accusation and said the Bush administration based its assertions on existing intelligence. "
If Donald Rumsfeld's doctors were watching TV when when CNN treated the world to this incident it may have crossed their minds that their patient is in the early stages of dimentia, though some might argure that the symptons go back quite a while, perhaps decades. This fellow simply has no idea of what he said when and is unable to recall the simplest statements made publicly in earlier interviews. Statements, one should note, that could be considered of some significance. Statments regarding where WMDs were hidden by the Iraqi military. Statments he made pintpointing locations prior to the invasion of Iraq by the US. Statements regarding the likely outcome of the war. And so on - we've heard it all before.
When a student lies to his teacher about why he has not completed his or her homework. Or when an employee lies about why he showed up late for work. Or a child denies stealing cookies from the cookie jar, or a murderer denies being a the scene of the crime, body language and facial expressions are fairly obvious telltales that one is being hoodwinked. How is it then that this old geezer is able to stand up on the world stage and babble on in his demented way (he should be called "Rambling Rumsfeld") ? Why doesn't someone take the mike away from him?
Could it be that the reason is Bumbling Bush?
Losing his mind and losing his war at the same time is obviously taking its toll on Rumsfeld. Interesting how one crazed lunatic, Saddam Hussein, begat another in a country far, far away.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Tomorrow's headlines
Washington recalls troops from Iraq to contain civil war in USA between illegal immigrants and US citizens
"How cool is that?" was all Saddam Hussein had to say.
"How cool is that?" was all Saddam Hussein had to say.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Community Consensus is required on agriculture in Maple Ridge
The current draft iteration of an Official Community Plan for the District of Maple Ridge will, or should, include clear language with respect to the Agricultural Land Reserve within the context of the GRVD designated green zone. This is no more true today than it might have been in 1900, 1925, 1950, 1976, 1990 or 2005 when the most recent attempt at an OCP was rejected for many reasons by the community in this District. Clear language, reflecting clear thinking appears to be the ever-present Achilles heel of all governments; so it was the 2005 draft of the OCP in Maple Ridge.
The argument? How is Maple Ridge to manage growing population pressures over which it has no control, short of declaring itself a Republic and surrounding itself with a barbed wire fence patrolled by Minutemen? Further, amidst strong protestations from the green lobby and equally forceful arguments from the supply-demand proponents (the latter being lead by the real estate community), the OCP threatens to become a document which attempts to balance and appease rather than a document which guides and directs.
Government is pressured to find a solution to the illusive OCP, but any attempt by the politicians and the bureaucrats seems destined to a rough passage by both the greens and their opponents; those who wish to turn what is green into green-backs.
Sidelined by all this action are the two groups most affected by the outcome of the argument? The largest group is the community itself, 73,000 residents at the last count. The second group; property owners representing private homes, businesses, business parks, farms and acres and acres of speculative land both within the current built environment and well beyond it.
Oddly, the 73,000 and the property owners among them remain ominously silent during the public consultation and then only come out when to protest or support those fractional elements of the OCP which affect them directly. Build a bridge, freeway or tower block within sight of someone and they soon transform from silent majority to salient majority, leaping as it were, into the urban planning fray, projecting vigorously points of view that reflect what may be good for them in the first instance, but which upon deeper study, may be of lesser benefit to the broader community and perhaps even communities beyond Maple Ridge. We are, after all, considered to be part of what is legally described as the Greater Vancouver Regional District. This seems to imply or perhaps aspires to imply that as a part of the GVRD whatever choices we may make are made partly with due respect to our neighbours and those beyond our borders who may be positively or negatively effected by our actions and decisions as a community.
Environmentalists and supporters of our natural and verdant planet see growth as a curse; and do so with every justification, given all the clear signs around us that the earth is well on its way to the cosmic grave at some point in the future. This planet is on life support. Speculators and the business minded agree. Governments agree. The difference is that they are willing to take the risk that it will all work out in the end; and they see growth as an opportunity.
Population growth and all its implications occupy therefore two worlds which often ignore one another. The community entrusts elected and appointed officials to bring these two worlds into a single world that can be safely occupied by all living things for as long as possible, or at least, until this planet becomes uninhabitable.
Can the politicians and staff of Maple Ridge achieve any semblance of Community Consensus with respect to our 5, 10, 20 year Official Community Plan and the role of agriculture? That of course is the job of the community and community leaders, in so far as they should be assisting as much as they can with process. Maple Ridge has a strong tradition of local leadership. Leaders bring the argument to the table. That is what leadership is about. Maple Ridge knows instinctively what it wants as a community. The leaders will define it, the community will decide it.
Last week 450 citizens signed a petition protesting the notion or concept of excluding 300 acres or so from the Agricultural Land Reserve for the purposes of establishing a business park. They were asked to complete the petition by community leaders who approached walkers on the nearby dykes and green paths in the vicinity of the imaginery or imagined business parks. Lets see now; I am strolling along on a pleasant nature walk and I am asked to sign a petition which will preserve the pleasantness of it all. Do I sign or not? While the 450 signatories to the petition were out enjoying their stroll, the rest of the population (say 72,500) were out on the roadways and highways commuting to jobs all over the Fraser Valley. The tactics embraced by organizers are oddly similar to those used by Wall-Mart when they wish to promote a BIG BOX in a particular community.
Of course the concept of work, capitalism, supply, demand and progress are abhorent to us all. Much preferred is the rural life and the gentle contemplation of all that is natural and wonderous. I'm all for chewing the cud and dozing in a farmer's field on a balmy sunny day; would it were that life were like that.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
George W. Bush and the English language
This week we heard from the CEO of the United States of America that immigrants to that great land should be required to speak English and sing the national anthem in English. This is a reasonable request and a laudable expectation.
The CEO, as the world knows, can put on a fine show of singing the anthem; it is, after all, scripted. Nonetheless, his progress with the spoken word in English has yet to reach a standard where English speakers in other countries can get the gyst of some of the points he tries to make from time to time.
George Bush expects others to speak English. Now that's rich.
The CEO, as the world knows, can put on a fine show of singing the anthem; it is, after all, scripted. Nonetheless, his progress with the spoken word in English has yet to reach a standard where English speakers in other countries can get the gyst of some of the points he tries to make from time to time.
George Bush expects others to speak English. Now that's rich.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Downtown Maple Ridge gets a makeover from private property owners
Certain property owners in the downtown retail district of Maple Ridge understand the value of a good makeover. While it is natural for tax payers to lean on the District for improvements to the community, the tax payers sometimes forget that, as a group, they far outgun the financial muscle of the District itself and that by combining their strenghts - as opposed to arguing and disagreeing over issues - they can get more done in a far shorter time than the politicians and bureaucrats ever will.
Here are two examples of what can be achieved by a property owner in a matter of weeks, and at a relatively low cost. It all boils down to pride of ownership and respect for one's surroundings.
Recycle, recycle, recycle, recyle
Earth Day was a well attended event on a a sunny Saturday in Maple Ridge's Memorial Park. The District of Maple Ridge is recognized as a leading community in the art and science of recyling. The recycling society presented a variety of helpful hints and tips for tipping.
Friday, April 14, 2006
The ebb and flow of humanity
Not known for sitting at home on the couch, the human race is forever, and has been since forever, on the go. It's just the way it is.
Water, heat to single cell. Single cell to swimming thing. Swimming thing leaves the water for land. Evolution. Movement.
Skip forward a tad and here we are in 2006; nothing has changed.
They tell me that the muslims are fleeing Europe in order to create a launch pad for their next goal, the United States of America. As a consequence the Europeans are headed for North America, following a tradition that started, well, a long time ago. In the meantime the Mexicans and wide variety of other Hispanics are lined up to enter the USA. They tell me its around 20 million souls so far. Should one be surprised? I think not. For the msot part the citizens of the USA remain at home, other than those who are part of the administration's war machine; some 200,000 of them are stationed in the heart of Arabia, Iraq. No one thought to keep them at home and put them to use guarding the Mexico-US border. Then again 'no one thought' to do a lot things, this being jsut an isolated example.
The Chinese and and other Pacific Rim inhabitants seem to have their eyes set on Canada. And eventually of course the Mexicans will seek a better place north of the USA and will trickle into Canada; their is strong evidence that this process is already well under way. Mass migration for whatever the reason is perhaps once of the most common activities on the earth, second only to procreation. It is foolish to think that it will ever stop, change, slow down or disappear. We are migrants physically, mentally and spiritually. Movement is, as I was once told, life.
Does it really matter if 50 million Mexicans eventually live in the USA? Or 30 million Asians make their home in Canada? Or 500 million Muslims settle in Europe? The fact that over time we have established our distinct societies may be comfoting to the patriot, but in the big picture the colour of your skin, the language you speak or the place of your birth are really quite irrelevant. Not in a bad way; it simply does not matter, because it will be different tomorrow. The landscape will change on this planet moment by moment as its people wander from quadrant to quadrant for no other reason than movement itself.
What intrugues me is who will fill the voids. Who will live in Africa, the two easts and South America in the future? Are we all going to land up sipping Lattes on Robson Street in Vancouver? What a party that will be.
Friday, March 24, 2006
More of a question really.
It seems that what we have come to call 'technology' has sort of run into a brickwall.
The thrill we experienced in the late 1980s and into the 1990s is just not quite as thrilling as it was back the. Windows, Apple, Microsoft Office, cell phones, laptops, downloads, uploads, application after application, flat screens, wide screens, remote access, this and that, on and on.
Technology is one of my favourite hobbies. Yet, with every new release or new promise of the next BIG THING all I get out of it is a BIG YAWN. I want to know why?
Is it my age? Is it my gender? Or is it because Gates and Jobs have finally run out of ideas?
The early days of a company called Mosaic were so exciting, then Netscape, then Yahoo - now Google, eBay and so on. Sadly, they have now all become the GMCs, Fords, Shells, Exxons and GEs of of todays world. Boring, staid, lackluster, bottom-lining trawlers. Alliances and dalliances trundling on in a dreary nanoplastic dance where we have all become the audience, consumers reliant on cyber content.
Technology is going through a fine-tuning period it seems. We are ironing out the bugs, a tiresome techno-edit which results in nothing more daily offerings of the same old products with the lame promise of "bigger, faster and the famous 'much much more' which never goes on to say exactly what 'much much more' may mean if it were asked udner oath. The collapsing prices of chips, hard drives and the computers they inhabit is very telling. Not even dual core technology has received any great 'yahoo' from user. Add to this the fact that the giant Microspft ahs not managed to fart out its latest rendering of an operating platfrom and one wonderswhat the hell is going on? Steve Jobs must be happy to note that Gates has stumbled yet again on the OS side of things, but the millions of PC users wonders must be getting the jitters. The technology highway was always going to be bumpy, but now it seems that we may have run out of road all together.
The chances of another gates or Steve Jobs coming along in the near future must be very slim indeed. Here's the problem. What on earth's planet do we need that we do not already have in the context of technology and information. Sure, we don't all have it, but that is only a matter of time.
We need to cure cancer, aids, poverty, housing, education, freedom of speach and religious choice. Let's not talk about democracy; that's a sore point right now.
The world as whole needs to give its head a shake and focus on the needy and a dying planet. Technology can wait.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Who is running this show?
With the world's population reaching 6.5 billion in 2006 our understanding of the United States of America is possibly lower than at any other stage in history. We 6.2 billion or so look on in dismay as this great transformer of a nation twists and turns in the winds of it own making, its flag flapping and fraying at the edges in a maelstrom of confusing aspirations and agendas.
If self-doubt ever attended the mass-consciousness of the citizens of the United States of America it is today. These are glib, sad and sadly obvious words with which few Americans, save for a handful of Bush-loyalists, would disagree. It is not is not the Civil War, the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, 9/11, Iraq One or Two, the Sandinistas, Castro, Chavez, Oil, Out-sourcing, Over-sourcing, Katrina, Nicole, Brittany, Bling, Bob or Bing that are the problem. It is much, much more. It is almost as though the problem could best be described as "everything and anything." That is why so many friends in the US simply say ‘don’t go there’ when anything even vaguely resembling ‘the question’ arises. How long can the US endure this uncertainty? More to the point and of greater significance, for how long can the US endure, period?Though we are but 6.2 Billion, sitting here in the audience there is little we can do to offer a helping hand for it is the helper who holds the answer, the US itself. We see a great country which has gone into debt, often on our behalf to save us from one horror or the other. We see a nation founded on well-meant ideals, on freedom, on liberty and equality. And now, in-equal in so many ways, we stand by while our mentor gasps and flounders, stricken with ineptitude and without good counsel.The United States Congress, the Senate, the Whitehouse, the media and the citizens of US need, in their own words, a 'time out.' To stop, take a breather, and look around you. Reassess the real situation; not the situation in Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room. Or the stunned self-righteousness that flows from Lou Dobbs or the simply stunned look on Larry King's face when an enlightened Jon Stewart makes a remark that leaves Larry's brain in park.
“70%” of the population of the US is against the Dubai Ports deal, according to Lou Dobbs. He sounds incredulous as he goes on to say, with utter resentment, that the CEO of the Dubai-company feels that the US needs to ‘educate itself in the deal.’ To think that anyone would suggest that the US needs educating; seems beyond belief to Dobbs. He is equally amazed that George Bush and his staff are in apparent agreement with the gentleman from Dubai.
So it has come down to this; the US is indeed a know it all. And if there is any doubt, just ask a CNN reporter. Is it any wonder that we 6.2 billion sometimes look at the 300 million with a little mistrust? Does the CBC run Canada? Does the BBC run the United Kingdom (They’d like to think so; but the British, who invented the media, would never let the BBC get away with such a thing.)
Which of that 70% who now oppose the Dubai deal voted for George Bush in two elections? Which of the 70% who now oppose the Dubai deal, agreed with the administration that Iraq hid weapons of mass destruction? Who among the 70% of those who now oppose the Dubai deal agreed with the decision to go against the United Nations and invade Iraq?
Perhaps the next time an important decision needs to be made on behalf of the citizens of the United States of America they should forego the tired and outmoded and democratic process and ‘go straight to the source’ as CNN would have it. Call Lou Dobbs; it seems he is educated, while the 6.2 billion are not.
If self-doubt ever attended the mass-consciousness of the citizens of the United States of America it is today. These are glib, sad and sadly obvious words with which few Americans, save for a handful of Bush-loyalists, would disagree. It is not is not the Civil War, the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, 9/11, Iraq One or Two, the Sandinistas, Castro, Chavez, Oil, Out-sourcing, Over-sourcing, Katrina, Nicole, Brittany, Bling, Bob or Bing that are the problem. It is much, much more. It is almost as though the problem could best be described as "everything and anything." That is why so many friends in the US simply say ‘don’t go there’ when anything even vaguely resembling ‘the question’ arises. How long can the US endure this uncertainty? More to the point and of greater significance, for how long can the US endure, period?Though we are but 6.2 Billion, sitting here in the audience there is little we can do to offer a helping hand for it is the helper who holds the answer, the US itself. We see a great country which has gone into debt, often on our behalf to save us from one horror or the other. We see a nation founded on well-meant ideals, on freedom, on liberty and equality. And now, in-equal in so many ways, we stand by while our mentor gasps and flounders, stricken with ineptitude and without good counsel.The United States Congress, the Senate, the Whitehouse, the media and the citizens of US need, in their own words, a 'time out.' To stop, take a breather, and look around you. Reassess the real situation; not the situation in Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room. Or the stunned self-righteousness that flows from Lou Dobbs or the simply stunned look on Larry King's face when an enlightened Jon Stewart makes a remark that leaves Larry's brain in park.
“70%” of the population of the US is against the Dubai Ports deal, according to Lou Dobbs. He sounds incredulous as he goes on to say, with utter resentment, that the CEO of the Dubai-company feels that the US needs to ‘educate itself in the deal.’ To think that anyone would suggest that the US needs educating; seems beyond belief to Dobbs. He is equally amazed that George Bush and his staff are in apparent agreement with the gentleman from Dubai.
So it has come down to this; the US is indeed a know it all. And if there is any doubt, just ask a CNN reporter. Is it any wonder that we 6.2 billion sometimes look at the 300 million with a little mistrust? Does the CBC run Canada? Does the BBC run the United Kingdom (They’d like to think so; but the British, who invented the media, would never let the BBC get away with such a thing.)
Which of that 70% who now oppose the Dubai deal voted for George Bush in two elections? Which of the 70% who now oppose the Dubai deal, agreed with the administration that Iraq hid weapons of mass destruction? Who among the 70% of those who now oppose the Dubai deal agreed with the decision to go against the United Nations and invade Iraq?
Perhaps the next time an important decision needs to be made on behalf of the citizens of the United States of America they should forego the tired and outmoded and democratic process and ‘go straight to the source’ as CNN would have it. Call Lou Dobbs; it seems he is educated, while the 6.2 billion are not.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Thursday, March 02, 2006
A second kick at the Official Community Plan can
Last summer critics of the proposed revision to the Maple Ridge Official Community Plan provided Council and Staff with a vigorous and pointed demonstration of what they disliked about the plan and where they thought the process lacked leading to the final draft. Council and staff have now responded responsibly and promptly by giving the community a chance at righting the perceived wrongs of the 2005 rendition of the OCP.
This may be a good time to thank both the previous council and the new council for their efforts to date; and to thank the staff which, by its presence, makes continuity of the process possible, notwithstanding the vagaries of municipal politics. This is also a good time to thank the 175 speakers or so who made their concerns known throughout the long and often heated hearings last summer; and to thank those who emailed and wrote some 1000 letters to the Hall, mostly critical of the OCP.
Even so, 175 speakers, 1000 letter writers, a handful of staff, one mayor and six councilors is nothing compared to the 64,247 acres which comprise Maple Ridge and the 73,000 souls who occupy this District. 64,247 acres is a number constant and 73,000 people which is number increasing at an unpredictable rate.
Wisely it has been decided to put to tender the job of coordinating this next attempt at putting to bed the community’s next five year plan. This is a good idea which follows more or less the principles of public consultation process as applied during the SmartGrowth on the ground project. Will it be as successful?
That is really up to the community. Having had the opportunity to act out their role as critics, the public are now being given the opportunity to reflect and innovate. My wish is that the most vociferous of the critics show up at all the workshops and every other opportunity they get to add their ideas to the next OCP. We already know that not every creative solution will fly, but we will also know that we have had our say and found, one hopes, consensus. The first people to show up the workshops should be the interest groups and the community associations and groups and the individuals and corporations who see themselves as part of the District’s future. If these people and groups and can reach consensus through the process facilitated by Stantec then it will make the hearings less of a battle ground and we can move forward with some degree of confidence first towards 2010 (of course) and then 2020 and on.
To my mind participation in helping to develop the plan is more or less a season ticket to attending the hearings when they come. It will not go unnoticed that at least two of the 2005 critics will be prevented from getting behind at the mike this summer’s hearings as they now find themselves on receiving end. Something about getting what you wish for.
Claus Andrup
Port Haney
This may be a good time to thank both the previous council and the new council for their efforts to date; and to thank the staff which, by its presence, makes continuity of the process possible, notwithstanding the vagaries of municipal politics. This is also a good time to thank the 175 speakers or so who made their concerns known throughout the long and often heated hearings last summer; and to thank those who emailed and wrote some 1000 letters to the Hall, mostly critical of the OCP.
Even so, 175 speakers, 1000 letter writers, a handful of staff, one mayor and six councilors is nothing compared to the 64,247 acres which comprise Maple Ridge and the 73,000 souls who occupy this District. 64,247 acres is a number constant and 73,000 people which is number increasing at an unpredictable rate.
Wisely it has been decided to put to tender the job of coordinating this next attempt at putting to bed the community’s next five year plan. This is a good idea which follows more or less the principles of public consultation process as applied during the SmartGrowth on the ground project. Will it be as successful?
That is really up to the community. Having had the opportunity to act out their role as critics, the public are now being given the opportunity to reflect and innovate. My wish is that the most vociferous of the critics show up at all the workshops and every other opportunity they get to add their ideas to the next OCP. We already know that not every creative solution will fly, but we will also know that we have had our say and found, one hopes, consensus. The first people to show up the workshops should be the interest groups and the community associations and groups and the individuals and corporations who see themselves as part of the District’s future. If these people and groups and can reach consensus through the process facilitated by Stantec then it will make the hearings less of a battle ground and we can move forward with some degree of confidence first towards 2010 (of course) and then 2020 and on.
To my mind participation in helping to develop the plan is more or less a season ticket to attending the hearings when they come. It will not go unnoticed that at least two of the 2005 critics will be prevented from getting behind at the mike this summer’s hearings as they now find themselves on receiving end. Something about getting what you wish for.
Claus Andrup
Port Haney
Monday, February 27, 2006
Is the middle east still relevant?
Amid the latest bombings in Amman, the civil war in Iraq, the permanent discord in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute and a host of perhaps lesser yet equally and seemlingly solutionless issues, does the middle east have any relevance in the gobal village? Has the daily menu of dead women, children and the elderly simply become as dull to TV and internet audiences as say a soap drama that has run on too long?
George Bush may be accused of many things, but foresight would not be one of them.
He foresaw that he could somehow save the world and enrich his supporters in the oil and gas industry in one move. Now he foresees that he needs to cozy up to the United Arab Emirates for reasons known only to himself' perhaps it is the simple fact that for all the chaos we see in the middle east it is also home to many businessmen who could run circles around any US business on any given day. For a man who acts out with such purpose on our TV monitors every day, it is clear now (to some it has always been clear) that he has no purpose at all. He is of little use to his own nation and is simply an irritation and an embarrasement to those nations who are forced to feign friendship out of legacy to the United States. Americans today must be counting the weeks and days to his departure from public life and the world stage.
Regretably, once he is gone, his own legacy will be that he spent $3 trillion dollars on removing a single man from power, Saddam Hussein. Economists and even humanists may find this price a trifle rich. And for all of that where exactly is Osama Bin Laden holed up. The safety of the six ports that the Dubai-owned company wishes to acquire is safer than congress thinks as it may well be that Bin Laden through the normal mechanisms available to international entrepreneurs, is a shareholder of P&O. Bush is surrounded by men and women who, one would have thought, have been trained to "think things through". While this may work for some, it is of no significance if the boss sees thinking as an impidement to "mission accomplished."
If Bush had been thinking from the outset he would have, for instance, been a promoter of fuel conservation rather than fuel invasion. The question is not; why did the US elect George Bush? The real question is; why did the Republican Party allow Bush the candidacy? Notwithstanding the difficulties the US has as a nation (now so more than ever) how is it that from battalions of highly educated and skilled men and women they cannot find an individual who can lead with confidence, not arrogance, and kindness, not patronage?
The US and Britain, along with a handful of smaller players, has left the middle east in disaray. The sooner they remove themselves from the middle east theater, the sooner calm will return. There can be little sense in fighting when the goal is pride. What would constitute a victory for the coalition? US style democracy? Just how democractic is democracy in the US? Should we believe that life in the US is somehow more enriching and fulfilling than life in say Europe, South America, Australia? What is it that makes regime after regime in the Whitehouse believe that we should all follow their lifestyle? And if Iraq is an example of the price for this privilege, I'd warrant that the price is simply too high.
The middle east is relevant as partner to the west, but it needs space to determine its own future. The lessons of the past have not been learned; Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine should never have been influenced by Europe, particularly the British. It is too late for the those who have died over the decades, but it will never be too late for the west to remove itself and its archaic ideas from the middle east.
George Bush may be accused of many things, but foresight would not be one of them.
He foresaw that he could somehow save the world and enrich his supporters in the oil and gas industry in one move. Now he foresees that he needs to cozy up to the United Arab Emirates for reasons known only to himself' perhaps it is the simple fact that for all the chaos we see in the middle east it is also home to many businessmen who could run circles around any US business on any given day. For a man who acts out with such purpose on our TV monitors every day, it is clear now (to some it has always been clear) that he has no purpose at all. He is of little use to his own nation and is simply an irritation and an embarrasement to those nations who are forced to feign friendship out of legacy to the United States. Americans today must be counting the weeks and days to his departure from public life and the world stage.
Regretably, once he is gone, his own legacy will be that he spent $3 trillion dollars on removing a single man from power, Saddam Hussein. Economists and even humanists may find this price a trifle rich. And for all of that where exactly is Osama Bin Laden holed up. The safety of the six ports that the Dubai-owned company wishes to acquire is safer than congress thinks as it may well be that Bin Laden through the normal mechanisms available to international entrepreneurs, is a shareholder of P&O. Bush is surrounded by men and women who, one would have thought, have been trained to "think things through". While this may work for some, it is of no significance if the boss sees thinking as an impidement to "mission accomplished."
If Bush had been thinking from the outset he would have, for instance, been a promoter of fuel conservation rather than fuel invasion. The question is not; why did the US elect George Bush? The real question is; why did the Republican Party allow Bush the candidacy? Notwithstanding the difficulties the US has as a nation (now so more than ever) how is it that from battalions of highly educated and skilled men and women they cannot find an individual who can lead with confidence, not arrogance, and kindness, not patronage?
The US and Britain, along with a handful of smaller players, has left the middle east in disaray. The sooner they remove themselves from the middle east theater, the sooner calm will return. There can be little sense in fighting when the goal is pride. What would constitute a victory for the coalition? US style democracy? Just how democractic is democracy in the US? Should we believe that life in the US is somehow more enriching and fulfilling than life in say Europe, South America, Australia? What is it that makes regime after regime in the Whitehouse believe that we should all follow their lifestyle? And if Iraq is an example of the price for this privilege, I'd warrant that the price is simply too high.
The middle east is relevant as partner to the west, but it needs space to determine its own future. The lessons of the past have not been learned; Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine should never have been influenced by Europe, particularly the British. It is too late for the those who have died over the decades, but it will never be too late for the west to remove itself and its archaic ideas from the middle east.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
A BETTER MAPLE RIDGE 2010? And other musings.
A BETTER MAPLE RIDGE 2010?
Public Areas
1 All overhead wiring needs to go below grade (Hydro, Telephone, Cable and ancillary).
2 All street lighting needs to be upgraded throughout the District – current lighting standards are hazardous to old and young as the many deaths on our streets testify. There is not enough light on the street, making it easy for crime and hazardous for foot traffic (given that the district is part of a campaign to make Maple Ridge ‘walkable’ one would think that it would pay more attention to detail such as lighting).
3 Crosswalks need to be properly lit and signposted – this is obvious – it is only a matter of time before the next person is killed on a crosswalk – blame will be put on the driver or the pedestrian whereas the real blame lies with the District for poorly designed crosswalks.
4 General road repairs need to be undertaken all over, and while this being done to some extent, the program needs to be accelerated for the town to be up to snuff for 2010.
5 Shop keepers and landlords on the niche retail strip on the Lougheed need to add hanging baskets, awnings and similar devices to make the downtown shopping area more attractive.
6 Permanent task force hired by the District employed to do nothing more than remove shopping trolleys and sundry unsightly garbage from the streets.
7 The District urgently needs to change its attitude towards financing sidewalks. Over the years a policy of coercing developers into carrying the financial burden of sidewalks has become part of the District’s culture. This needs to change so that public sidewalks and services are constructed in a planned, consistent and contiguous manner and that the financial burden is born by the District/Tax payer.
The Development Community
1 Construction standards in Maple Ridge meet the allowable standards under Building Code in BC and generally comply with Canadian standards. As result new home buyers are not receiving value for their money. “Adequate” simply won’t do in the future. Far above adequate is where architects, developers and builders should be aiming. The current construction boom is having a negative impact on standards in BC – Maple Ridge seems content to follow the herd on this. It is unlikely anything is going change and home buyers should be prepared for lower standards as time progresses. We are seeing smaller livable areas, poorly built (if not hazardously built), using cheaper materials and sold at higher prices. Home buyers are being taken to the cleaners.
2 It may be tempting to think that homes are improving – dollar for dollar we are worse off than ever – overpaying for below standard homes. At the same time neither developers nor builders are making much more than net 10-15% on a home, so there do not appear to be any winners – excluding the lenders of course.
3 The age (beginning in the pioneering era) of combustible construction should be drawing to an end, but on the contrary is accelerating – this needs urgent attention. On a similar note – in the UK for instance, certain groups are trying to encourage similar construction that practiced in Canada. Presumably this is because timber-frame is quick and cheap, thereby reinforcing that buyers are indeed not getting value for money. If developers prefer ‘quick and cheap’ then that is what the buyer is getting; a product that is quick and cheap. This holds little promise for the neighbourhoods built in this way. Local government has to ask itself what these neighbourhoods will look like in 50 years. Interesting that we plan for the future through such devices as the livable regions plan, OCP and so on, but we never ask ourselves ‘how will what I am doing today (as opposed to planning) look in decades to come. Our perspective is narrowed and limited by the fact that we find it hard to extract ourselves from the present when we plan. We respond to our present instinctively. Land owners, developers, realtors, builders, consultants are interested in today’s profits as much as local government is focused on fiscal health. Government competes with companies and individuals for the same pot – often the community suffers as a result.
Public Areas
1 All overhead wiring needs to go below grade (Hydro, Telephone, Cable and ancillary).
2 All street lighting needs to be upgraded throughout the District – current lighting standards are hazardous to old and young as the many deaths on our streets testify. There is not enough light on the street, making it easy for crime and hazardous for foot traffic (given that the district is part of a campaign to make Maple Ridge ‘walkable’ one would think that it would pay more attention to detail such as lighting).
3 Crosswalks need to be properly lit and signposted – this is obvious – it is only a matter of time before the next person is killed on a crosswalk – blame will be put on the driver or the pedestrian whereas the real blame lies with the District for poorly designed crosswalks.
4 General road repairs need to be undertaken all over, and while this being done to some extent, the program needs to be accelerated for the town to be up to snuff for 2010.
5 Shop keepers and landlords on the niche retail strip on the Lougheed need to add hanging baskets, awnings and similar devices to make the downtown shopping area more attractive.
6 Permanent task force hired by the District employed to do nothing more than remove shopping trolleys and sundry unsightly garbage from the streets.
7 The District urgently needs to change its attitude towards financing sidewalks. Over the years a policy of coercing developers into carrying the financial burden of sidewalks has become part of the District’s culture. This needs to change so that public sidewalks and services are constructed in a planned, consistent and contiguous manner and that the financial burden is born by the District/Tax payer.
The Development Community
1 Construction standards in Maple Ridge meet the allowable standards under Building Code in BC and generally comply with Canadian standards. As result new home buyers are not receiving value for their money. “Adequate” simply won’t do in the future. Far above adequate is where architects, developers and builders should be aiming. The current construction boom is having a negative impact on standards in BC – Maple Ridge seems content to follow the herd on this. It is unlikely anything is going change and home buyers should be prepared for lower standards as time progresses. We are seeing smaller livable areas, poorly built (if not hazardously built), using cheaper materials and sold at higher prices. Home buyers are being taken to the cleaners.
2 It may be tempting to think that homes are improving – dollar for dollar we are worse off than ever – overpaying for below standard homes. At the same time neither developers nor builders are making much more than net 10-15% on a home, so there do not appear to be any winners – excluding the lenders of course.
3 The age (beginning in the pioneering era) of combustible construction should be drawing to an end, but on the contrary is accelerating – this needs urgent attention. On a similar note – in the UK for instance, certain groups are trying to encourage similar construction that practiced in Canada. Presumably this is because timber-frame is quick and cheap, thereby reinforcing that buyers are indeed not getting value for money. If developers prefer ‘quick and cheap’ then that is what the buyer is getting; a product that is quick and cheap. This holds little promise for the neighbourhoods built in this way. Local government has to ask itself what these neighbourhoods will look like in 50 years. Interesting that we plan for the future through such devices as the livable regions plan, OCP and so on, but we never ask ourselves ‘how will what I am doing today (as opposed to planning) look in decades to come. Our perspective is narrowed and limited by the fact that we find it hard to extract ourselves from the present when we plan. We respond to our present instinctively. Land owners, developers, realtors, builders, consultants are interested in today’s profits as much as local government is focused on fiscal health. Government competes with companies and individuals for the same pot – often the community suffers as a result.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Radio Haney in South Africa
Radio Haney is currently on assignment (see "having a good time on the beach"). Your correspondent will be back in Haney on January 17 2006 with tales straight out of Africa.
All that we can report to date for sure is that travellers to Cape Town should avoid Frankfurt Airport at all costs - this is not a good place.
Friday, December 09, 2005
The children of Azania
2006 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the saddest days in South Africa’s history. In June and July 1976 the African children of SOWETO, the now well-known township that sprawls south west of Johannesburg, rose up against the Apartheid regime in protest at being forced to learn the Dutch tongue of Afrikaans, a language associated with the repression of the indigenous peoples of South Africa. What followed was the whole-sale slaughter of some the country’s most important treasures, its children.
30 years on, and the slaughter of our children continues unabated; Baghdad, Darfur, Palestine, India, Pakistan, China, the United States, Canada, Europe, the world; no corner of the planet offers safe haven to our children.
Looking back now it seems that moment in SOWETO somehow defined all that is wrong with our species. At the same time that event, carried out in the bleak streets of SOWETO exposed once again the courage which we as humankind are capable of.
“Azania is the name that is used by a broad section of African revolutionaries and progressive forces who support the Azanian Revolution and are working for the overthrow of racist South Africa. Azania means a blackman’s country. ‘South Africa’ on the contrary is the name that was given by white settlers to the southern tip of Africa to consolidate their political, economic and military suppression of the indigenous black population –the owners of the country– Azania.” David Dube, THE RISE OF AZANIA The Fall of South Africa, Daystar Publications Ltd., Lusaka, Zambia 1983
In today’s so-called ‘post-apartheid’ era the majority of South Africans would in all likelihood disagree with David Dube’s reasoning for a name change; and for many practical and economic reasons this probably just as well. Anyone who has changed the something as simple as a company name, will no what it takes, in terms of time and money. Doing the same for a country would be challenging indeed. None the less, to have named a country based simply on its geographical location was a somewhat lazy way out. On study, the name South Africa also reflects uncertainty as to ownership. None of the early settlers thought to call it New Lisbon, or New Rotterdam, New England or New Holland in the way that we see in for instance New Zealand. There is no country known as South America, it is a continent, not a country. Azania therefore, it seems to me, may not be found to have an actual or traceable reason for the being the legitimate name for South Africa, but is a name which impacted sufficiently for me to refer always in the poetic sense to South Africa as ‘Azania’.
So it was that in October 26th in 1976 that the horror of the SOWETO children’s uprising that I decided to for once and for all my Azania. It had become too much for me. Reflecting now on those times it seems that my decision to leave Azania in 1976 may have been the action of a coward or worse, a witness to an unspeakable crime –apartheid– who fled the scene rather than remain to help the victims. Coward, frightened witness or perhaps just an act of protest, I fled nonetheless. With my bags packed I wrote my farewell to Azania, before leaving for Johannesburg airport.
Azania the poem is a reflection, a snap shot of my feelings on the October 26th, 1976. It expresses disappointment and fear, but mostly disappointment. The author could be accused of being under the influence of any one of the mind-bending drugs available at the time; the images are a composite of reality and fantasy and pay no heed to form or sequence. To some readers the poem may be meaningless, to others pointless; a few will get the drift.
AZANIA
Soon to leave blood sobbing shores in sad failure's disgrace
Where the feet of a million virgins` dispair slowly stamps out
The black face staring down from the stars in Shaka's grave
Looking on with stones for eyes and rich deep soil for thought.
Fingers of lethal sweetness curl about the bravery
Strangling by greenfields, murder in full sight by day.
Soon to cast a one last look at gravel paths to heaven
Where the overseer's home above Wynberg's crippled camp hovers
In lonely sacrifice to Humanity for Mankind's sake once more.
See how cities vanish when tears cover them in sin
How nations slide beneath the quicksand of lust.
Waving from the light that takes me away blind with fear
Yet knowing fully all-aware
With thoughts of Azania still roughly hewn in my future.
Azania's arena, where bold as granite faces turn from the reality
Rotting in this country's streets smelling only of faint hope
Like excreta disguised in rose's faces held up to the white goddess.
Filled with departure like bursting pigs we flee to innocence and security,
The illusion no human fails to possess in yet his mildest dreams
We go Azania
We stay Azania
We pray with mouths of seeds that
Never sought the chance to sprout
Nor ever will in this barren debate.
Soon to leave the green and undulating blue sea-sweet mountain
All along a vacuum filled only with the coming of Azania
Racing down through history like an eagle on the prey.
Africa wears its soul in Azania, a man hanged upside down
And loudly tortured by knives, he spills a threatened truth
All over the history hazard and our silly misconceptions.
Though we were doubtless happy landlords in this land a while
It crumbles now in ghetto neglect as we with trembling guilt
Face the committee of black black suffering now breathing in our skin.
Mumbling schoolboy excuses we call out like fading waterfalls for help
Saying 'but I thought, sir` to Azania
In vain, pleading naivety
Soon to leave the shaded drives of ambition's crumbling greedy road
Where our friends like paper thieves hang dead from the silent gallows,
Happy once in ignorance, relieved now of oppressions load.
CA 26/10/76
30 years on, and the slaughter of our children continues unabated; Baghdad, Darfur, Palestine, India, Pakistan, China, the United States, Canada, Europe, the world; no corner of the planet offers safe haven to our children.
Looking back now it seems that moment in SOWETO somehow defined all that is wrong with our species. At the same time that event, carried out in the bleak streets of SOWETO exposed once again the courage which we as humankind are capable of.
“Azania is the name that is used by a broad section of African revolutionaries and progressive forces who support the Azanian Revolution and are working for the overthrow of racist South Africa. Azania means a blackman’s country. ‘South Africa’ on the contrary is the name that was given by white settlers to the southern tip of Africa to consolidate their political, economic and military suppression of the indigenous black population –the owners of the country– Azania.” David Dube, THE RISE OF AZANIA The Fall of South Africa, Daystar Publications Ltd., Lusaka, Zambia 1983
In today’s so-called ‘post-apartheid’ era the majority of South Africans would in all likelihood disagree with David Dube’s reasoning for a name change; and for many practical and economic reasons this probably just as well. Anyone who has changed the something as simple as a company name, will no what it takes, in terms of time and money. Doing the same for a country would be challenging indeed. None the less, to have named a country based simply on its geographical location was a somewhat lazy way out. On study, the name South Africa also reflects uncertainty as to ownership. None of the early settlers thought to call it New Lisbon, or New Rotterdam, New England or New Holland in the way that we see in for instance New Zealand. There is no country known as South America, it is a continent, not a country. Azania therefore, it seems to me, may not be found to have an actual or traceable reason for the being the legitimate name for South Africa, but is a name which impacted sufficiently for me to refer always in the poetic sense to South Africa as ‘Azania’.
So it was that in October 26th in 1976 that the horror of the SOWETO children’s uprising that I decided to for once and for all my Azania. It had become too much for me. Reflecting now on those times it seems that my decision to leave Azania in 1976 may have been the action of a coward or worse, a witness to an unspeakable crime –apartheid– who fled the scene rather than remain to help the victims. Coward, frightened witness or perhaps just an act of protest, I fled nonetheless. With my bags packed I wrote my farewell to Azania, before leaving for Johannesburg airport.
Azania the poem is a reflection, a snap shot of my feelings on the October 26th, 1976. It expresses disappointment and fear, but mostly disappointment. The author could be accused of being under the influence of any one of the mind-bending drugs available at the time; the images are a composite of reality and fantasy and pay no heed to form or sequence. To some readers the poem may be meaningless, to others pointless; a few will get the drift.
AZANIA
Soon to leave blood sobbing shores in sad failure's disgrace
Where the feet of a million virgins` dispair slowly stamps out
The black face staring down from the stars in Shaka's grave
Looking on with stones for eyes and rich deep soil for thought.
Fingers of lethal sweetness curl about the bravery
Strangling by greenfields, murder in full sight by day.
Soon to cast a one last look at gravel paths to heaven
Where the overseer's home above Wynberg's crippled camp hovers
In lonely sacrifice to Humanity for Mankind's sake once more.
See how cities vanish when tears cover them in sin
How nations slide beneath the quicksand of lust.
Waving from the light that takes me away blind with fear
Yet knowing fully all-aware
With thoughts of Azania still roughly hewn in my future.
Azania's arena, where bold as granite faces turn from the reality
Rotting in this country's streets smelling only of faint hope
Like excreta disguised in rose's faces held up to the white goddess.
Filled with departure like bursting pigs we flee to innocence and security,
The illusion no human fails to possess in yet his mildest dreams
We go Azania
We stay Azania
We pray with mouths of seeds that
Never sought the chance to sprout
Nor ever will in this barren debate.
Soon to leave the green and undulating blue sea-sweet mountain
All along a vacuum filled only with the coming of Azania
Racing down through history like an eagle on the prey.
Africa wears its soul in Azania, a man hanged upside down
And loudly tortured by knives, he spills a threatened truth
All over the history hazard and our silly misconceptions.
Though we were doubtless happy landlords in this land a while
It crumbles now in ghetto neglect as we with trembling guilt
Face the committee of black black suffering now breathing in our skin.
Mumbling schoolboy excuses we call out like fading waterfalls for help
Saying 'but I thought, sir` to Azania
In vain, pleading naivety
Soon to leave the shaded drives of ambition's crumbling greedy road
Where our friends like paper thieves hang dead from the silent gallows,
Happy once in ignorance, relieved now of oppressions load.
CA 26/10/76
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Freshly baked one-liners
Somwhere in Maple Ridge, British Columbia
"There once was a girl from Ibiza
Who said that sex
was beneath her."
"Money is the loot of all evil."
"The pun is mightier than the pen."
"Art is the inventory of the soul."
"So, I met this fisherman. I said.......I said, what's your net worth?"
"I had this rabbit. I called him Anthony Hopkins."
"Pantaloon" def. Canadian trouser-wearing duck.
The Houdini Union for Escape Artists - "Untied we Stand."
"It is not slaves who should be abolished, it is their masters."
"Panhandlers are a catalyst for change."
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Canada's Problem is that it has no problems
Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Bloc or Green?
Which of these parties shall I vote for?
And why?
Is there something I don't have that they can provide?
Do I need a home? Nope, got one of those? How about a car? Nope. What about a bigger car? Well, frankly I'd prefer a smaller one; smaller gas bills, lower insurance costs and less maintenance. What about food and clothing then? Well, not really. In fact I had to get rid of some of the clothing that's being cluttering up my home. Food,? No thanks. Anyway, last week the doctor told me to loose weight. How about medicare? As I said, the doctor told me to loose weight. Do you need a job then? Are you kidding me, I'm trying to cut back on work.
So, is there anything I can do for you at all, Mr. Voter? Do your kids need education? No, I think we've got that covered for the moment. Nothing at all then? No. Are you sure?
Well, there is one thing. What's that? Could you just leave me alone for a year or two. That would be nice. Let's have some political quiet time. In fact, go to your room. And don't come out until you can think of something useful to say and, who knows, perhaps even do.
Which of these parties shall I vote for?
And why?
Is there something I don't have that they can provide?
Do I need a home? Nope, got one of those? How about a car? Nope. What about a bigger car? Well, frankly I'd prefer a smaller one; smaller gas bills, lower insurance costs and less maintenance. What about food and clothing then? Well, not really. In fact I had to get rid of some of the clothing that's being cluttering up my home. Food,? No thanks. Anyway, last week the doctor told me to loose weight. How about medicare? As I said, the doctor told me to loose weight. Do you need a job then? Are you kidding me, I'm trying to cut back on work.
So, is there anything I can do for you at all, Mr. Voter? Do your kids need education? No, I think we've got that covered for the moment. Nothing at all then? No. Are you sure?
Well, there is one thing. What's that? Could you just leave me alone for a year or two. That would be nice. Let's have some political quiet time. In fact, go to your room. And don't come out until you can think of something useful to say and, who knows, perhaps even do.
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