Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Too much of council's focus to date has been on southern practices as the best ways to wrestle the cost of running the dump under control.
We're not in the south. Their solutions do not fit. It's like trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.
Access fees and curbside charges are not the solution because there's no real recycling program - apart from scavenging - and council's support for that seems lukewarm at best.
The suggestion of moving the scavenging area to a new location outside the active area of the dump makes sense because it will reduce the amount of traffic through the working areas beyond.
However, barring people from getting into the dump altogether is no solution. The city must save money when people take their own trash to the dump, because it doesn't have to be picked up by the contractor or moved around by city staff.
Insurance concerns about close calls between heavy equipment and kids? Prove it. Show Yellowknifer the documentation and we'll print the details.
Perhaps the city should cancel Caribou Carnival or any event where hundreds of people gather, close the Frame Lake trail or bar snowmobiles from being used in the city, because there are liability issues there, too.
No, people do not have a "God-given right to muck around in the dump," but blocking access is not going to save anyone any money. In fact, it will cost money because there will be more trash at the curb, more illegal dumping and more city staff will be needed to move garbage around inside the dump.
It's time city council and administration realized that Yellowknife is not in Alberta, B.C. or Ontario. There, people can recycle half their household waste, compost organics and really reduce the amount of garbage they put out at the curb.
Hold some consultation sessions, invite proposals and talk to residents about ways to make the whole operation as efficient as possible.
People aren't the problem. They're part of the solution.
Let's come up with a Yellowknife remedy, not a cookie-cutter approach from the south.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The cold Kivalliq nights seem a little longer since commissioner Gary Bettman announced the cancellation of the 2004-05 NHL season this past week.
Kivallimmiut, like millions of other Canadians, were glued to their TV sets on Feb. 16, which, like it or not, was an historic day in Canada.
NHLPA director Bob Goodenow has managed to do what even two world wars could not -- cancel an entire NHL season.
Yes, we point the blame squarely at Goodenow and 700-plus NHL players who think they've become bigger than the game.
There are two good things to come from last week's announcement.
First, we won't have to listen to the insanity NHLers have been trying to pass off as fact during the past five months.
They can't agree to a salary cap because an average career only lasts five years.
Forget that during a five-year span they make more money than an average Canadian, their parents and grandparents (pro-rated, of course) make in their lifetimes combined. Poor guys.
Oh, don't forget the 24 per cent roll-back offer that had Philadelphia goaltender Sean Burke joking about feeding his family on a paltry $2.9 million per year.
We won't have to stare in disbelief for a while as Glen Healey looks into the TV camera and asks what other union ever offered to roll back 24 per cent of its salaries?
You know, like most unions have a membership with an average salary of $1.5 million per year.
They also like to point out how many different teams have made the semi-finals during the past six years, claiming that shows just how even the league's competitive balance is.
Of course, they don't point how many of those teams never made the playoffs the following year, or how long it had been (seven years in Calgary's case) since they were at the dance before their magical run.
And, finally, Chris Chelios may finally take his bobsled and slide ruefully into the sunset, never to be heard from again.
The other good thing to come from Bettman's announcement is that the owners didn't back down.
Hopefully, he has them united enough to see this through to its conclusion.
Don't forget, the players want to maintain a much-higher percentage of the league's revenues than the owners, even though they don't take on any of the risk.
When this began, Bettman promised NHL fans the league would get a deal that makes sense, no matter how long it takes.
If it does, the league will, eventually, return more competitive than ever. And, if that scenario includes a hard cap in the range of $30 to $35 million, hockey may be able to return to Winnipeg and Quebec City if non-traditional U.S. markets such as Raleigh, Phoenix and Nashville continue to flounder.
Just think, a few years from now the Tootoo Train could be parked in downtown Winnipeg.
Dare we dream?
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
When Inuvik residents hear the word youth, several images come to mind, some positive and others negative.
Each week, news about various youth activities appear in the pages of the Drum. Focusing on the positive, there's student of the week and stories from the elementary school's literacy lunches as well as coverage of extracurricular sports, in school and in the community.
And every once in a while, there's a negative story about youth. This week it's vandalism at the bank, perpetrated by a group of wandering teens, out way past their bedtimes. Last year about this time, it was the cab drivers who were fed up with youth pelting their cars with snowballs.
We haven't had any stories of youth stealing snowmobiles this winter, but then, there's a lot of winter left.
Unfortunately, it is these images of the town's youth that tend to overshadow all the positive contributions kids make to the community through their scholastic successes, sports accolades and volunteer work.
After witnessing the results of ongoing vandalism at the bank over the past several weeks, on many occasions I was forced to wipe a smirk from my face. Not because I found the vandalism itself particularly amusing but due mostly to my amazement at its relentless nature.
First there was the graffiti and the paint-job to cover it up. Then the smashed drywall that was barely replaced for a day before it was adorned, once again, in profanities. Imagine if these youth channelled their efforts into something productive.
Then keep imagining a Lennon-esque world where there's no wars and all that other sugarplums in fairyland nonsense. Now back to reality.
To the kids responsible their handi-work must have seemed a big joke, but nobody is going to be laughing 10 years down the line when the same youths, all grown up, are facing a judge for irresponsible adult behaviour.
Try to explain it in these terms to the perpetrators and one is sure to be the subject of ridicule.
Oh, the youthful exuberance...
Right about here should be the perfunctory paragraph about parental responsibility or lack thereof.
But what is the point of making mention of it again? It would be like preaching to the choir.
Speaking about the situation in terms of restitution to the bank, an Inuvik RCMP corporal said the Crown would most likely ask for it but whether or not the court would order such a thing was another matter altogether.
Not to mention the fact that if restitution was ordered, would the guilty actually comply?
Until somebody comes up with a solution to this problem of wayward youth and their wanton destruction of property, we'd all better keep a can of paint and a good supply of drywall handy.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh cho Drum
Without good communication, any relationship will fall apart.
That's not rocket science, but keeping the lines of communication open can be hard work.
The relationship in question today isn't one between two people, it's one between two entities: the Village of Fort Simpson and the Fort Simpson Volunteer Fire Department.
The parties had become estranged, drifting apart over the past few years. They met Monday to keep smouldering embers from sparking into a full-blown inferno.
Fire Chief Pat Rowe warned village council last November that the volunteer brigade's inadequate emergency equipment is at a critical stage. He said it would take a death to get council to act.
In April 2003, the volunteer firefighters showed up en masse at a council meeting to protest village council's idea of privatizing the ambulance service. The department had not been consulted first.
At the Feb. 7 council meeting, there was an agenda item regarding the absence of any billing statements for ambulance calls. Senior administrative officer Bernice Swanson noted that the fire chief had not submitted ambulance service work orders since February 2004. Mayor Raymond Michaud wondered aloud if Rowe was mad at council.
Coun. Norm Prevost said Rowe should be considered village personnel and the issue should therefore be discussed in camera, which it was. Then last Monday's meeting was arranged. It was undoubtedly held behind closed doors - council's decision - because there was potential for fireworks. Fortunately, it seems things went relatively smoothly.
Village council and the fire department both rely on dedicated individuals who, ideally, take on the role because they want to help others.
The fire department comprises men and women who spend countless hours training and responding to fire calls (often false alarms), even at ungodly hours.
Village council consists of elected men and women who earn a modest honorarium. They are bestowed with the trust of bettering the community.
With two groups that mean so well, what could go wrong? Basically they had lost touch. Their few face-to-face meetings were tinged with hostility.
Both sides have taken responsibility for the lengthy lapses in communication. They figuratively took an axe and broke down the door between them on Monday afternoon. Whether the issues they identified will be resolved to everyone's satisfaction remains to be seen - but it was most definitely a necessary meeting.
Mayor Michaud's words a day later inspire hope that things will improve:
"The fire department, we have to realize, are extremely important to the community," he said. "We have to improve the communication gap."
Hear! hear!
This emphasis on communication ought to be adopted by everyone. There are plenty of departments, elected officials, bureaucrats, band members and taxpayers who all fail to talk or sit down and draft a well-thought-out letter.
That would save a everyone involved a lot of grief.