Wednesday, June 03, 1998
The fate of the Kam Lake industrial park rests on the ability of
council to alter the course set by administration.
The industrial park has been ignored by the city for so long it is in
danger of acquiring a ghetto status, which, if allowed to continue, will
depress area property values further and discourage quality industrial
development. The present pressure to open up airport lands for development
renders the Kam Lake situation even more critical.
At last week's council meeting, city hall staff answered
objections raised at public hearing on the airport rezoning. Yellowknifers
warned the city that Kam Lake property values would suffer if the airport
development goes ahead.
The city shot back during council session, stating the
general plan called growth the "societal goal" of the city and if council
opposed the airport rezoning, they had better "close the doors on progress."
Fortunately, aldermen Peggy Near, Dave Ramsay, Robert
Slaven and Ben McDonald rejected the city's apoplectic response, chastising
staff for not taking the public's concerns seriously.
The challenge now facing council is to accommodate the
immediate needs of the diamond companies. This will also appease the
territorial government, which has worked so hard to attract the diamond
industry to Yellowknife.
At the same time there must be a commitment made to upgrade
Kam Lake to a level that lets it compete with the airport lands as a
desirable place to set up shop.
Considering that state of Kam lake, council must set a new
course for city staff. If council doesn't do it, who will?
It is appropriate that Finance Minister John Todd should agree to
review the Northern Living Allowance given to GNWT employees. While the
program was instituted with the best of intentions, the guidelines have
gone off the rails.
As Yellowknife South MLA Seamus Henry points out, the allowance should
accurately reflect the cost of living in a community. As it stands now,
there are inequities.
Compensating for the wide range of living expenses is a
necessary cost of doing business in the North. Anything less makes it
difficult to keep good workers, as the school boards are finding out.
Even the most enthusiastic student will concede that school can
be dull, at least some of time. Lectures and even videos can be dry and
uninspired, and taking notes is often a poor substitute for first-hand
experience.
The Sir John students who decided to fast for a couple of days now know how
important getting beyond the classroom can be. Instead of just reading and
talking about the poverty and deprivation that passes for normal in much of
the world, they now have a little taste (so to speak) of the real thing.
Thirty hours of hunger is hardly the same as living an
undernourished life, but it just might be enough to make them think long
and hard about a world far beyond theirs. Food for thought.