Collecting 2,700 names

Dear Editor: I hate to sound like a broken record but after the hockey dorm, the Skaha Lake Park and the Kinney Avenue projects, we the electorate are a little leery about a developer’s plans for yet another development.

Public consultation did not make a difference as city hall went ahead anyway. The Skaha Bluffs area is too important a matter to be decided by alternate approval. Should the city’s boundaries be expanded what will be the cost to the taxpayers?

The 180 homes will bring in substantial property taxes but there is also a substantial cost up front. Will the city be responsible for fire protection, bus service, policing, and schooling for children moving in.

If you have any concerns, please state your objection through an elector response form, obtainable through City Hall or your computer and printer. We need approximately 2,700 objections to make City Hall call a referendum. If the majority wants to go ahead, so be it. That’s the democratic way and no use complaining afterwards. If you’re concerned you have till Oct. 31 to make it known. Joan Eschbach

Penticton were dead set against borrowing and it failed dramatically with the City refusing to say why they decided to cancel the process.

Boundary extensions require the approval of the public and it will be up to the people to decide whether they want this process to go through or whether they want to end the use of this flawed process once and for all.

The process has no oversight on the ballot count. (This summer Helen Trevors and I made a presentation to council requesting we be allowed to set up a group of trained scrutineers to oversee the municipal election process. The City refused this request claiming there were ample provisions for candidates to appoint (untrained) scrutineers. Candidates rarely appoint scrutineers and when they do it is usually limited to attending the ballot count not ensuring an honest process.)

The extension of Skaha Bluffs is a good idea and I am sure many of us would like to see this happen. The question here is whether the public has the stomach or whether council retains the trust to let this pass without rejection.

Unfortunately by activating the AAP the City has limited their time to produce a satisfactory set of financials or answer the many questions that a now distrustful public has on this project. Elvena Slump

Penticton