NEW TIDE?

Well here we go....and thank you for the over whelming support I received from the community on voting day. The number of people who cast their ballot my way tells me that people are trusting me to carry forward not only my concerns but theirs as well. Though I'm only "one voice" (get it?..ya ya I know) on council I will do my best to bring to light the things that need to. Please bring forward all the issues that are of a concern. I can promise you that you will not receive a "visit" from this municipality as a result of your ideas or effort that come forward.

Garth

Water?....what's a cubic?

Here's my water bill gang, for actual consumption I encourage you to break it down into per person per month of usage. I did and this is how it went.

72.3 cubic meters of water usage for the billing period
7 people
2 dogs

3 people are home full time
2 people are home 3 days out of the 5 day work week
1 works full time

my math worked out to 3.4 cubic meters of water per person per month, bathing, showers, laundry, cooking. I also tried to figure time at home and life style as well.

Is this a fair comparison of usage to any other "families" out there?
our bill was $330.00

Tsunami? surf's up!

When I was an active member of the Tofino Fire dept. in 2000 the discussion back then was to install some sort of alarm system for the town. Whelen siren systems was contacted and many options discussed, the sales rep visited the town and gave a demo and indicated that the more discs installed on the tower the further or louder the siren would be but at a higher cost. If I remember correctly this amount was around $50,000 - $80,000 thus a grant application went into the Province through our local emergency PEP representative that application was turned down. It was then a discussion in sued about alternatives the term "air raid siren" came to light, they to if stacked on top of each other on the same pole had a further reach but at a much less cost compared to the discs. We felt that for the same amount of monies involved this type of horn system could almost be installed throughout the town, the only drawback that was brought to our attention was this was going to be a siren and no audible voice sound would be possible. The idea was put forward and senior staff and I’m guessing council too (I was not involved at that level) don’t know if it was discussed (but again I was not involved at that level) I only heard about it once in awhile after that. I left the Fire dept. and joined Search / Rescue I’m sure most of you if not all can remember the search in Tofino for William the day before his 8^th birthday, I was in command and co-ordinated 13 different agencies and over 300 people it was one of the largest searches on the Island only compared to the Michael Dunahee search in Victoria. Some people have suggested going door to door or doing a phone around type of thing, again being a SAR manager the logistics for this type of system is a huge under taking and uses up valuable resources. If we did a phone around what if the person didn’t hear the phone? Or was out of the house at that time? Again as a manager I would still get people to do a house to house visit and knock on the door. Tofino needs to understand that the wave that is going to “get us” is only about 20 minutes away and our warning is quake. One has to survive the shake, crawl out of their house, help their family, run across the street or next door and help their neighbour and get to higher ground all in 20 minutes? ummm ok hold that thought. We have anywhere from 2-8 hours of warning before a wave that crosses the Pacific or travels up and down our coast actually reaches Tofino this is what the siren system was originally meant for. People hear the siren and take action to find out what’s going on. I can’t think of to many people who would hang out on the beach after hearing a siren go off that is located on the beach. Signage and public info for visitors can easily address and cultural issues, and every one walking this planet knows what an “air raid” siren sounds like and that it means danger. I feel the style of system we have now is a Cadillac system, thinking we could have gotten more coverage for the same amount spent. But like I said I was not involved with upper management or council at that time, well as you can see it was an audible voice and siren system that was preferred. Hope we get what was paid for.


Garth

vrummm vrummm where to park?

hot topic, every one has an opinion; even those who say their open minded. Me? I say no matter how the end result is in configuration it's free, wether RV's are here and long term there my vote is that its free. I'm tired of the term "more" our visitors pay enough, you pay enough and I pay enough. Council regardless of who it is needs to actually hear the community on this. I have had more people say to me no pay parking than those in favour of it. what do you think?, how would you like it set up? so at the end of the day we can look at it and agree that it works and makes sense too. 

candidates meeting

Well that was interesting...every time it was my turn to speak a rush of words can into my head; I had a hard time sticking to the questions and the notes in front of me. First time I was totally lost for words. At the end I wondered how much of what I said made any sense. I'm usually well spoken; I have had numerous cameras in my face regarding searches and such, but last night? I will endeavour to get my thought across in a more professional manner, and I do apologise to those who went...?...to what I was trying to convey...please ask me any questions or comment positive or negative.

losing Tofino?

I have lived in Tofino for close to 30 years, have been married for 22 and I’m in the mist of raising 4 children. I have owned my own contracting company and have worked for others as well. I have been involved with the Tofino Volunteer Fire Dept and now an active member of West Coast Search Rescue. I enjoy the outdoors and what it has to offer and find great joy in sharing what I do with family and friends.

When I moved here there were only 700 people in town and it grew to about 2000 in the summer months, now? I don’t need to tell you we all know what summer is like. Tofino exists year around, I have great fears that we are already losing the small town appeal that attracted us here, we need to start looking at getting “our own” house in order, it seems to me that money is flowing out of the district well beyond necessity and the core of the municipality is slowly rotting away, we need to look within the District for people who are willing to step up and get involved. Our infrastructure is not getting the maintenance it requires amongst other things as well, sirens? parking? Like all people it’s easy to point the finger and complain, but in the end my opinion is that we must have a council and mayor who will get directly involved with the community, welcome input,  encourage public involvement from all in order that we can be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

 I support local business and what they have to offer tourist and locals alike, I will be their voice at the government level for a fair and common sense approach to their business and making it more viable.

I’m sure you know or are aware that young families are leaving here because of lack of services. I’m tired of hearing the term “more” the government wants “more” and we are expected to give “more”

There are monies available to help this District with the issues we face and these monies need to spend on those issues. Fiscal responsibility is an absolute must, the money that council spends regardless of where it came from needs to be accounted for and spent like it belongs to someone else...because it does. It seems that common sense doesn’t play a role as it should. A friend of mine has taught me a phrase “pride in place” if mayor, council, staff and locals took this to heart Tofino would once again be a place people come to and marvel at the jewel we call home.

Vote for people who you feel care about this town not only where we came from but where we are headed, we all are in this together and the people you choose to lead are going to paint a picture of Tofino not only on a local level but on the national stage.


Garth Cameron