Local · 1st December 2008
Mayor Fred Bates
Now that we have been through the election process, it will be good to get to work on the issues that are important to the Village of Cumberland. I feel growth is not only inevitable, it is essential to our long term survival. But we need to continue to be very careful about how we grow to make sure that we keep the Village life style, the downtown core, and the valued heritage sites. We cannot simply let our infrastructure continue to fail or we will go the way of many old mining towns in our country, extinction.
Now that we have finished the campaign of issues, we need to come together to try to deal with all issues as much as possible with good, respectful debate, and compromise to come to a " best possible" decision for the future of this exciting community.
I intend to set a time to be available in my office for drop ins to simply discuss what is on their mind..would appreciate some feedback on this concept.
growth
Comment by ron hansen on 5th December 2008
Fred:
The notion that 'growth is inevitable' seems to be held as sacred in our world. But our world may soon find that unmanaged growth will strangle us (really our children and future generations!) all.
You say ' growth is essential' for Cumberland.
But you place no qualifications on any of this growth. Many in the community believe that growth MUST be managed and consistent with the needs of the citizens, and the resources available, and not the automatic capitulation of the elected officials to the desires of the greedy developers.
thanks
Ron
Process
Comment by carol on 1st December 2008
One way to start to get feedback from the citizens would be to put their letters to council back on the agendas. Letters regarding bylaw enforcement on specific issues are not put on the agenda but where are the other letters? How can citizens highlight issues which they feel are important if their letters are just sent to a council read file?
Thanks.
Feedback!?
Comment by Citizen for Democracy on 1st December 2008
Curious that you seek feedback now. You have had no shortage of it and have chosen to ignore it -and even attempt to silence your critics and now councillors (story likely to be out in the Echo shortly).We will be keeping a close eye on your man-date, that is your relationship with developer Scott Harrison.