Basran era soon over

Dear editor: Interesting news today wherein the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled invalid Kelowna’s current agritourism bylaw because the city did not sufficiently advertise proposed changes before a public hearing.

It also states that the judge in the case awarded costs to the defendants. How much of taxpayers’ dollars have been flushed down the drain in this debacle of failed mayor and council leadership?

I’m guessing the costs are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars considering staff time, bylaw enforcement time, litigation costs and of course, the award of costs to the defendants.

This latest example of the city’s ineptness of bylaw development is just the tip of the iceberg.

There are numerous bylaws in place that the city knows are in contravention of laws, but are kept on the books, primarily used as oppressive scare tactics against citizens.

Examples of these are; the sidewalk ban and the no camping ban targeted purely at the vulnerable sectors of society; dragnet surveillance, etc.

These, of course, are just examples. The issue is not whether the city will lose challenges against these and similar bylaws, but rather when, and how much will it cost taxpayers.

Council has an opportunity at this very moment to do well and fix the bylaw problems today (it is not like you have not been so advised prior) or they can watch when the next mayor and council does it when they take their seats in council chambers following the Oct. 20 election.

It is up to mayor and council to disclose the wasted taxpayer dollars now, or failing that, expect to see the next mayor disclose them ... attributed wholly to the brief preceding “Basran Era.”

Jim McMullan Kelowna