Mayor reflects on 2017
As 2017 comes to a close, The Herald sat down with Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit to review the past year and look to the future.
Public engagement
After public backlash about a proposed lease in Skaha Lake Park, the city has made public engagement a critical piece of just about every new proposal since then.
Jakubeit said running the public engagement processes may seem cumbersome, but in the long run they are saving time.
“It’s actually a faster way of exploring new initiatives than putting something through, because it looks great on paper and people getting flustered because people haven’t had time to absorb it, think about it or comment on it,” he said.
Also, the Shape Your City website is now being used as an example for other communities.
“Now, when (an issue) comes to council, we get that dashboard of how many people they’ve talked to in person, how many people went to the website, how many downloads of documents, how many surveys,” Jakubeit said.
“So you can see it’s not just one special interest group or organization, it’s a large gamut.”
Election next year
With the municipal election set for Oct. 20, the mayor said council is less likely as the months tick by to take on any landmark decisions, such as adoption of the updated Official Community Plan, which is currently out for public consultation and due to be complete in the fall.
“I think we will try to stay away from controversial issues where possible, but I think there will come a time where we still have to make difficult decisions, Jakubeit said, citing the planned legalization of marijuana in July as one example.
Homelessness and low-income housing
While the construction and real-estate sectors are reaching record heights, the city has been facing issues with its homeless population.
Jakubeit noted social issues often rest on the city’s shoulders, rather than those of senior governments where they belong.
“We’re trying to be proactive with the different levels of government, along with the social agencies, non-profits and faith-based groups to figure out some solutions,” Jakubeit said.
He noted many groups in town are aiming for similar goals, and combining resources, funding and ideas between those agencies could bring about solutions sooner.
“I’d like to see in 2018 a greater focus back to the working poor, young families. We have a lot of seniors here as well with fixed incomes that have a difficult time,” Jakubeit said.
Good-paying jobs
The mayor confirmed he hears anecdotally that there aren’t many good paying jobs in Penticton, but with around 600 new business licenses last year, it may be an unfair characterization.
He said people are often looking for a quick fix akin to bringing in a large corporation and 500 jobs overnight.
“That’s not reality, but we have a lot of success stories. Part of an economic strategy is sharing some of those successes,” Jakubeit said.
He points to stories of business growing locally and retaining employees.
“We don’t really tell those stories, so it’s anecdotal commentary that people think there’s no jobs or they’re all retail or $12-an-hour type jobs, when in reality there’s a lot of decent paying and high-paying jobs out there.”
He pointed to skilled and non-skilled labour jobs in construction, especially for the construction of the Penticton Regional Hospital tower, which he said will bring in even more employment when it opens in 2019.
“There should be a whole new health sciences market of entrepreneurs or business opportunities that should be generated by the hospital being there. That should spill over to good-paying jobs.”
Highlight of the year
The highlight of the year for Jakubeit came in just this month, with the planned YES Project youth centre securing a location and operational funding from the Foundry provincial program.
“It’s significant because there are not a lot of resources for youth struggling with different scenarios, different decisions, and it’s not all youth that are at-risk or highrisk youth. It’s the whole gamut of youth,” Jakubeit said.
He also noted the significant emphasis on arts and culture in Penticton this year, pointing to the Artrising festival and a public art exhibition.
Low point of the year
While the second half was better than the first for him, Jakubeit said the low point of his year was personalized attacks, whether on himself or others through the media, social media and in person.
“Whether it’s intentional or not, it can so easily suck the enthusiasm out of you,” Jakubeit said.
“People form opinions about you, what you think or what you can or cannot do, without ever having met you. That is always a bitter pill to swallow. That is always the difficult thing about being in public office.”