Michael's Musings

Cranbrook plunges on best place to live list but community conversation brings hope for future

By Michael J Morris

How appropriate it was that an interactive community conversation was taking place in Cranbrook just as MoneySense magazine revealed its 2014 list of Best Places to Live in Canada.

The conversation, or community engagement project sponsored by Association of Kootenay and Boundary Local Governments with funding from Columbia Basin Trust brought about 65 interested citizens together to discuss challenges facing the city. It was open to all citizens.

Leslie Taylor, a former councillor and mayor of Banff, facilitated the evening, and I extend kudos to her on  a job well done. Cranbrook can be a tough place to bring folks from all over the political and economic spectrum together in common cause but it worked out real well.

It showed that well intentioned people, can focus on things bringing them together rather than those dividing them, for the betterment of the community.

Given the MoneySense results showing that Cranbrook plunged from being the 53rd best place to live in 2013 to 141st out of 201 surveyed for 2014, the biggest drop of any city in Canada, the time has really arrived for those of us who live, work and play here to look at what ails us and address the issues openly and honestly to ensure a better place for all.

No need to spin the stats as I have already seen being done by some. If Cranbrook could make it to 53rd best place to live it can return. No need to weep and wail at all.

In fact, the community conversation provides a starting point once the report on the discussions is completed for a plan incorporating a vision and implementation plan to make Cranbrook the best place in Canada to live. 

This is also a municipal election year in Cranbrook, and according to Mayor Wayne Stetski, voter turnout was only 33% in the last one in 2011.

Here is background on the survey from a MoneySense news release:

"MoneySense's Best Places to Live in Canada" is a comprehensive data-driven snapshot of Canadian cities. The magazine looks at dozens of factors that contribute to the quality of life in 201 communities across the country, including unemployment rates, taxes, income and home prices. Beyond financial measures, the magazine also considers other key factors that contribute to community's livability, such as the weather, access to health care and crime. In total, MoneySense's Best Places to Live ranks every Canadian community with a population of 10,000 or more in 34 different categories. For full methodology visit: moneysense.ca/bestplaces.

As I was "Googling" for best places to live, Edmonton popped up which is working on a plan "The Way We Live" all of which was an interesting read, but I share one with you that I liked. It is called For the Love of Winter, and compared to Cranbrook its winters are brutal. Here is the blurb:

• Edmontonians were invited to contribute ideas to help embrace winter for the WinterCity Strategy, endorsed by City Council. With hundreds of ideas submitted from river valley warming huts, free skate and ski rentals, to outdoor patios with fire pits and heaters, For the Love of Winter was developed by Edmontonians for Edmontonians. An implementation plan is now being developed to make our City more livable, inviting and more fun during the winter months.

By the way, St. Albert, just outside of Edmonton was named the Best Place to Live in Canada. Edmonton is ranked number eight and Calgary second, being displaced by St. Albert.  Here is the ranking list  http://www.moneysense.ca/canadas-best-places-to-live-2014-full-ranking

Thanks for the invite to the discussion.. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Full disclosure: I am not now and never have been a member of the Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook Society; however, I did conduct a workshop for its members for which I was paid. 

A Message from the Wildhorse Cycling Club

Some of you may know that Ryan Hamilton, our fearless president of the Wildhorse Cycling Club, has been nominated as a deserving rider to win an entry into the sold out B.C. Bike Race. He was nominated by his fearless wife, Gemma. Many of us know that he is deserving of this based on all that he has done in the community for cycling. And that he is a teacher. Teachers are the best. 

He has been chosen in the top 6 of the contest. Please go here to vote and help him win:
Vote Ryan Hamilton!

On another note, riding season is nearly here! The trails are still super mucky, icy and snowy. Before taking your rig out there make sure the trail is dry enough so as to avoid leaving mud trenches on the trails. No one likes those.

Jason de Rijk

Vice President - Wildhorse Cycling Club

Lessons to Consider From Finland’s Top-Ranked Schools

From: http://onthecommons.org/magazine/lessons-learn-finland%E2%80%99s-top-ranked-schools

Value Teachers, Customize Learning for Students, Let Teachers Shape Curriculum & Policies

By Jay Walljasper

Teachers are given considerable freedom to shape curriculum and student assessment policies in their classrooms, which Sahlberg believes translates into better educated kids.

Educators and school reformers all over the world are descending on Finland to learn from the success of their educational system, which since 2001 has ranked #1 (or close to it) for the performance of 15 year olds on standardized tests in reading, math and science.  The irony is that Finland— a prosperous, technologically top-tier nation— doesn’t place much emphasis on standardized tests.

What they value most is teaching.  Surveys show that Finnish men name teachers as the most desirable profession for a spouse, while Finnish women rank only doctors and veterinarians higher as potential mates.  That’s according to Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Changes in Finland? by Pasi Sahlberg of the Finnish Education Ministry.  This kind of respect means that teachers are given considerable freedom to shape curriculum and student assessment policies in their classrooms, which Sahlberg believes translates into better educated kids. 

Another element of the Finnish success story is a focus on personalized learning: students work at their own pace based on particular abilities and interests.  “Personalization is not about having students work independently at computer terminals,” Sahlberg notes.  Indeed, Scholastic magazine notes that visitors to Finnish schools are surprised to find relatively little technology in classrooms, even in a country with a strong high-tech economy. 

“The Finnish Way is to tailor the needs of each child with flexible arrangements and different learning paths,” Sahlberg adds. “Technology is not a substitute but merely a tool to complement interaction with teachers and fellow students.”

Sahlberg’s conclusion: “Creative curricula, autonomous teachers, courageous leadership and high performance go together.”

Adapted from 27 Bright Ideas We Should Steal From the Rest of the World, a report on best practices by Jay Walljasper published by the McKnight Foundation of Minnesota

Water Advisory Rescinded

Urban Forestry in Halifax

Oh, Those Darn DCC's

Editorial

Development Cost Charges (DCCs)

Development Cost Charges are a form of levy which developers pay to a municipality to help fund major infrastructure projects which will provide benefit to the new development. The types of infrastructure for which DCCs can be collected, as well as guidance on how DCCs should be calculated, are largely prescribed by the Provincial Government.

Cranbrook's half a million dollar growth Management Study was a foundational document containing information, which would support new Development Cost Charge rates for the City. The proposed DCC rates have however apparently been turned down by the Province.

The initial budget for the City’s $500,000 Growth Management Study was set in 2007 with the work to be carried out in 2008.  The City received it in the summer of 2009 and it was given to Council in September 2010 but then it underwent a staff review to establish accuracy.  It was not presented to the public until 2011.  It took a change in Council and until 2012 to propose the recommended raise in Development Cost Charges.  Cranbrook’s Development Cost charges are very low compared to other municipalities of similar size in the Province and a review was in order.

The Province according to City staff, has not approved the proposed DCC rates which came about as a result of the GMS.  The rationale for the refusal is unclear as no letter of reason was presented at the Council meeting.  In the discussion following the motion to rescind the bylaw recommending the new rates, the City Engineer can be heard to say(City Council Meeting video, ( http://cranbrook.ca/our-city/mayor-and-council/city-council-meeting ) :

"What we ran into in terms of growth- related needs that were identified  ….. The document was a reflection of the times; modelling and analysis, was done in 2007-2008, so we had difficulty justifying some of the growth related needs based on changes in population, growth expectations and on the fact that two very large developments had either failed or were in some form of a limbo situation - but timing of growth related needs, associated with those developments have changed quite drastically.

Then we were asked for justification on some improvements that were being reflected in water and sewer systems and it turns out that quite a number of these water related needs that had been identified had in fact been corrected.  It became apparent that the information is dated.  It was correct at the time.  I don’t think there has been a letter but the indications were that there were problems substantiating the costs, there were problems trying to substantiate the need for some of the storm project costs. Some of the recommendations we don’t know where they came from.  I just couldn’t substantiate them. This just led me to believe the DCC Bylaw as submitted and the report that went with it were going to be rejected basically because the information it is based on, is dated and the information changed too radically.  We need to look our needs and go at it."

It was also stated that there was at the time of the GMS, an expectation by some that growth would be substantial.  The GMS however stated:

“At an average annual growth rate of 1.2%, it would take 57 years for the City to reach a population of 36,000.”

If the predicted growth rate is based on historical growth it is difficult to understand how that statistic could change.

Does staff have a letter of rationale or not?

Major waste-water improvements have been made but are not complete yet although close.

Major water delivery issues and storm projects have not been completed and have they gone away? 

If staff reviewed the document for accuracy why can the infrastructure costs not be substantiated?

Is another study to establish needs really necessary? 

Have the infrastructure needs identified by the Growth Management Study changed that much?

Will a new study also be too be outdated by the time another DCC review is in order?

This doesn’t bode well for taxpayers in the future when improved road construction standards must be met for new subdivisions.  It does not bode well for taxpayers when improved water delivery and storm drainage to new subdivisions is required.  Developers may benefit but these infrastructure needs must be paid for somehow and improved revenue from updated DCC’s was going mitigate that burden just a little.

As new major developments had been approved before any new DCC application was made to the Province and with little chance at this time of any major new development approval, Cranbrook seems destined to continue to have some of the lowest DCC rates in the Province.  

Five Year Financial Plan Review

It is now too late to make a written submission concerning the City's Five year Financial Plan but interested citizens may wish to listen to the:

Special Meeting - 2014-2018 Five Year Financial Plan Public Submissions Review
Written submissions will be considered by Council at a Special Meeting on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 from 4 to 6pm in Cranbrook Council Chambers at City Hall.

TuesDay MARCH 11, 2014 

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

City Council invited participation regarding the proposed Financial Plan before it is adopted.

Copies of the proposed 2014 – 2018 Five Year Financial Plan are available for pick up at City Hall or for download by clicking the link.

Winter to Spring Beginning

Thanks Stewart

RDEK- Run off in Region

click to enlarge

Celebrate International Women's Day