OPINION 7 Wednesday, July 7, 1999 | Peetrenbeeer tort { | : 4 | THEPENINSULA's COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER : Publisher: Jean Butterfield i i Editor: Judy Reimehe 4 ; a a i : Phone: 656-1151 / Fax: 656-5526 | i peta ee 4 A division of Island Publishers Ltd. iP i 9726 First St., Sidney, B.C. a : vee ~- VBL 3C9 : | “Vo 87 No. 27 / Circulation: 13,796 : Canadian Publications Mail Aereement #41815 4 i EDITORIAL ti ss Traffic debate wort A - go away soon. _idney council has-some serious planning de- cisions to make, none of which are going to. ~ a be easy and most of which are.guaranteed not to. please: everyone. Those include the Port Sidney. | - development question, the completion of the fevis, _ talization plan ...'and traffic. . ~ _- The traffic planning. decision is likely to be one of | » the toughest. Not only how: to route traffic through : ithe downtown, but how to direct traffic off and on. = Highway. 17. It’s a decision that should have. been» Narcan ser eren SLIT ONTO IOLA LONI ROVERS ee pleasure of ‘co-chaiting: with Coun: cillor Diane Moen. I beliéve this. ov Are you ‘running. « for ve-ciection in your. “current. municipality or. any Nonies "Thrve.tas bere cially. from the’ Mills Road-arez to, the ae ape fic through those neighborhoods. - . ~ The Beacon/Bevan option is just as digniptive, but in | i 7 { i I - the public.is the one showing.a cloverleaf that ex- | ‘#- rounds Sanscha Hall. Picture yourself sitting ina i i band, while trucks ‘and cars whiz around you in a (traffic loop:and airplanes buzz and roar overhead. loop at Sanscha, and at Bevan — there's simply too we're selling to tourists, 20 years; and ‘there is nothing saying the final con- struction will in any way muren the images in our minds, That's why the decision roa iadiay is so vitally important. Any planning ‘decisions, especially around the entrance to the town, made today must reflect whiat is anticipated to happen years from now, spac nine cn Hy ae = Boh ninepeeiacon cs: Saipan ae me to council (talk — not shout, name-call or simply cision. is ultimately | that of council, a sR W ha some hante cooked food delivered to youudloar °C ee sebetarumeentnas heenerenennenennren sterner : other municipality ir in the Novembe : made. 20: ‘or 30 years ago, before the. area: became so. 4 election? and myself the summer. to. con-. sider: whether:o not 1 will run, + you set outto achieve when you ran a Sor office this time? 2 When: asked: this. ‘Gugstion’n my. i> response. is generally that-I thin there are’ no. individual accom: -idents there point out: that too’ many. homeowners | would be ‘adversely’ affected by directing more traf- aa 3 the commercial and retail: side, ‘While council has. | stated str ongly. there has been.no: decision made, and that any road access'could take: any shape (clover- | _.. leaf, diamond, ete.), the image left in-the: minds of ~ tends into the downtown core:and.completely sur- ~~ new cultural centre, listening to the Parkland concert: ~ There are plans for accesses and exits from the; much going on in that scenario, The whole picture: hardly depicts that ‘small seaside town’ ‘image that — Council says: nothing will be done there for 15 to. ~ Fora good decision to be made, citizens must talk. | manage our. land, |. hoods, business community, infra: structure, and tax dollars wisely critici ize), and council must listen. But the final de- ‘ ted Program rary . ic: | * ‘Roast ‘ork. [have decided: ‘to. give my | fan ily Did jou accomplish those thing plishments -of . councillors but rather shared accomplishments of council. Early-on, this council com- . “mitted to work as a team and thus » “my accomplishments as a council-. lor. are the. shared accomplish-. - ik ments of «the: Central ‘Saanich. Council. 1996-1999. In this regard | am satisfied that I accomplished 1 many of the things. I-set. out to . | achieve three-years ago... 1, along with the rest of: council; , committed in our strategic plan to, “provide fair and responsive lead- ership and to leave a legacy.of strong community ties, financial He stability, managed growth, healthy business: and agriculture,:and.a predictable future.” This council «has made good progress towards _ achieving these goals, Council showed vital leadership and commitment throughout (he » process of updating the official - 1 community plan, The OCP plan- } ning team, members of Council, . % and hundreds of individuals from » the community worked diligently. 4 on this project for over ayear, Our * updated OCP sets a vision for Con- tral Saanich that will help us to neighbour: If eI PAL Aha call toll free 1-88 suse arene ws ena tematic eT Mh Bt hnRNA AR HAY nn HAA Wl HP : over the next 20 years. Council identified | and recog: fiiged the importance of business, including agriculture, and appro- priate economic development by | undertaking research and devel-. oping economic development poli- cies for the official community plan — a first for our community. This council worked extremely Central Saanich to maintain police, fire ‘and other. services as well as ~ the roads, utilities, and parks in the face of significant: and: ongoing downloading of expenses and grant cutbacks from the Provincial Government, - Council also committed to im- proving communications with the public, To this end.we established - aweb site, the quarterly commu- nity newsletter and numerous in- -dividual) public. | information - processes such as the budget sur: vey. What do you believe’ to be your Breatest ac complishment this term?. ‘In my opinion the most signifi- -cant accomplishment of this Coun: ellis the updating. of the official y aly plan which J. had ihe. A rf pe re c ‘omplote Dinners oF resh Sa mulches s Dreakfast ° Homemade Pies® ‘Individual Dinners and Snacks * Member of Deter Business Bureaw: be implementing the’official’com:- 4} munity plan. Sustained focus and). q effort willbe needed to realize the — “fruits of the official community | plan over. the next twenty years. i balance expectations for. services ‘clearly communicated that their “nay as you go municipality” t - should, future. councils will have to “hard to manage the tax dollars of :. continue to make, hard decisions _ ing. -to work hard to build partnerships “as park facilities and community ing a councillor looks like a simple _ job, in reality it is a time-consum- ‘ing and stressful responsibility. | “and professional commitments as ° ~ well as what | have to offer the [naioaae\ A enact emai tann it eH URL LN? course a ee Se OCP will’ produce:a prosperous, sustainable, and stable community 5 for: future generations in’ 1 Central f fy you “Gntend. to: yun : again; what °° AE are your goals for. another term? . The’ greatest, challenge. ture Central Saanich councils will A second challenge will be to. with the taxpayers’ ability to. pay.: Residents and businesses. have capacity to pay more taxes is lim- ited. If Central Saanich is to be : . avoid community debt, as I think it about priorities for ‘public spend- Finally, future councils will have with community - groups — to str engthen the community and to help provide those services such events that tax payers are unable to fund, If; you are not running again can you give us your reasons why not? Although from the outside be- will look closely at my personal community before | decide t torun for’ eto: