This past Thursday - BC Conservative Kamloops area Director Alan Forseth reported on his blog that the BC Conservative Party Constituency Associations for the Richmond & Delta areas have now been formally recognized by Elections BC
Read that blog post here
Meanwhile - here in Cariboo-Chilcotin & Cariboo-North, there isn't a lot of activity from BC Conservative supporters in this area. At one point, the BC Conservatives' had a Cariboo-Chilcotin Riding Assocation President in Brad McRae (former City of WL Senior Bylaw Officer) while, to the best of my knowledge, no BC Conservative Party activity in Cariboo-North
If the plan for BC Conservatives' is to run 85 candidates in all 85 Constituencies, including Cariboo-North & Cariboo-Chilcotin, they need to very soon get active BC Conservative Constituency Associations in Cariboo-North & Cariboo-Chilcotin, otherwise they risk being seen as a "fringe party" and thus leaving Cariboo-Chilcotin to be fought between the BC NDP (Charlie Wyse) and BC Liberals (Donna Barnett) and in Cariboo-North, having next year's election fought between Bob Simpson, and the candidates for the BC Liberals and BC NDP
SBF
Showing posts with label Alan Forseth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alan Forseth. Show all posts
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Being Civil when discussing issues...
Over on his blog - BC Conservative Regional Director Alan Forseth writes a very thoughtful and useful blog post on how to politely discuss subjects without making it personal
View it here
View it here
Thursday, September 15, 2011
City of WL's "revamped" website (Updated)
Earlier today - the City of Williams Lake went "live" with their revamped website which you can view at http://www.williamslake.ca
While I believe the revamped website is a considerable improvement over its' predecessor and I'm very pleased that the City is finally on Twitter (City of Quesnel is not on Twitter/Facebook yet, but hopefully they'll do so soon)
The City of WL's "revamped" website has some flaws, in my opinion, that I'd like to see corrected over time:
a) Most websites (municipal) have a introductory message from the Mayor and this website should have one
b) The website should have "direct" links to Council, Committee of the Whole and Joint Committee Agendas, instead of making you "navigate" through the "CivicWeb" site. Either that or find some other model that makes digging through the City's Agenda System more user-friendly, including its' search function
c) Under "I Want to...Report a Problem" - there should be an option to complement City Staff and/or City Council on various initiatives or to recognize Staff for something they did for the public or.....
d) It seems, while Twitter was "road tested" and is live/working (City's Twitter address is @CityWL), the City's new Facebook is not "live" and one would think the City would ensure everything is working smoothly before it went "live" including going through beta testing stage(s) before taking it online for the public's perusal
e) Instead of allowing users to submit videos - the City should pull this option down in favour of the City publishing "YouTube" videos showing various public work initiatives or even why the City is doing what it doing (ie: why the need for a particular regulatory bylaw - Traffic Control, etc). This is similiar to what Prince George is doing
Overall - I would grade the website as a "B+" however if the suggested changes above were to be implemented - then I would change that to a "A+"
Finally - I believe that Williams Lake City Council should have taken the "website revamp" project, via a competition bid process, to ensure maximum value for the taxpayers'. While I have no beef with the current website provider, Interactive Broadcast Corporation (Disclosure Note - my Uncle, Alan Forseth, works for this company), I think it would have been a good exercise for taxpayers' to take a project of this nature to a competitive style bid to ensure that Interactive Broadcast Corp is giving Williams Lake taxpayers' the very best value for our tax dollar and as one taxpayer, I'm disappointed that this was not considered by Staff and not brought up by any member of WL City Council
SBF
Update at 12:11pm Friday, Sept 16th - After I sent an email to the administrator for the City of WL's website, the following changes have been made:
1) Facebook button now works
2) There are direct links to the Council, Committee of the Whole Council and Public Hearings Agendas - well done!!
3) Welcome Message from the Mayor of Williams Lake now visible
I'm still disappointed that there is no box of upcoming Council/Committee of the Whole Meeting on the Main website. And there's room to do it - for example, remove the link for "Access Williams Lake" and put "Upcoming Council Meeting Schedule" there instead
All in all - the website is much more improved then yesterday :)
While I believe the revamped website is a considerable improvement over its' predecessor and I'm very pleased that the City is finally on Twitter (City of Quesnel is not on Twitter/Facebook yet, but hopefully they'll do so soon)
The City of WL's "revamped" website has some flaws, in my opinion, that I'd like to see corrected over time:
a) Most websites (municipal) have a introductory message from the Mayor and this website should have one
b) The website should have "direct" links to Council, Committee of the Whole and Joint Committee Agendas, instead of making you "navigate" through the "CivicWeb" site. Either that or find some other model that makes digging through the City's Agenda System more user-friendly, including its' search function
c) Under "I Want to...Report a Problem" - there should be an option to complement City Staff and/or City Council on various initiatives or to recognize Staff for something they did for the public or.....
d) It seems, while Twitter was "road tested" and is live/working (City's Twitter address is @CityWL), the City's new Facebook is not "live" and one would think the City would ensure everything is working smoothly before it went "live" including going through beta testing stage(s) before taking it online for the public's perusal
e) Instead of allowing users to submit videos - the City should pull this option down in favour of the City publishing "YouTube" videos showing various public work initiatives or even why the City is doing what it doing (ie: why the need for a particular regulatory bylaw - Traffic Control, etc). This is similiar to what Prince George is doing
Overall - I would grade the website as a "B+" however if the suggested changes above were to be implemented - then I would change that to a "A+"
Finally - I believe that Williams Lake City Council should have taken the "website revamp" project, via a competition bid process, to ensure maximum value for the taxpayers'. While I have no beef with the current website provider, Interactive Broadcast Corporation (Disclosure Note - my Uncle, Alan Forseth, works for this company), I think it would have been a good exercise for taxpayers' to take a project of this nature to a competitive style bid to ensure that Interactive Broadcast Corp is giving Williams Lake taxpayers' the very best value for our tax dollar and as one taxpayer, I'm disappointed that this was not considered by Staff and not brought up by any member of WL City Council
SBF
Update at 12:11pm Friday, Sept 16th - After I sent an email to the administrator for the City of WL's website, the following changes have been made:
1) Facebook button now works
2) There are direct links to the Council, Committee of the Whole Council and Public Hearings Agendas - well done!!
3) Welcome Message from the Mayor of Williams Lake now visible
I'm still disappointed that there is no box of upcoming Council/Committee of the Whole Meeting on the Main website. And there's room to do it - for example, remove the link for "Access Williams Lake" and put "Upcoming Council Meeting Schedule" there instead
All in all - the website is much more improved then yesterday :)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Mid Week News - Sept 7th edition
In Quesnel:
The Rush reports that Quesnel Councillor Peter Couldwell calls it a day, after 21 years in office. I agree with George Henderson that the next Quesnel Council will not be the same without him. I want to extend my hope that Mr. Couldwell will rest easy, now he doesn't have the hectic meeting schedule after Nov 19th. But I'm sure he'll find ways to keep busy
In Williams Lake:
* Welcome to Williams Lake columnist Jasmine Hjelden has an interesting idea on graffiti artists in WL and community service - see here
* Local MLA's says review of Pacific Carbon Trust necessary - see here
* New Property Tax Exemption rules not to be in place until Sept 2012 - see here
* Peter Fassbender: "Cities not afraid to drop RCMP" - see here. Editor's Note - given BC municipalities would have to give 2 years notice to get out and the current contract expires next year, why hasn't there been an analysis (haven't seen one done yet throughout BC) of what a local or provincial police force would cost. Further - Rich Coleman (then Solicitor-General), in 2003 said that there would be no new municipal police forces established, other than the ones that exists in places like Vancouver, Abbotsford, Victoria, Nelson
* Tribune columnist Diana French reviews the shutdown of the Soutn Cariboo Labour Council and unions in general. See here. Editor's Note - I'm somewhat saddened that we won't see the direct involvement of the local labour council and their push for candidates that support their views and I fear that it is not good for our local democracy... :(
* Interesting take on no fall provincial vote - see here
* Update on Deni House renovations - see here
In 100 Mile House:
* New work on school bus stops - see here
* Carbon Neutrality rule for local governments relaxed - see here
* District of 100 Mile nomination forms (Mayor/Councillor) available Monday, Sept 12th - see here
In Kamloops:
* Kamloops Daily News Editor Mel Rothenburger has an interesting take on the municipal race in Kamloops - see here
* BC Conservative Regional Director Alan Forseth has a couple of interesting blog posts - one on Gov't of BC spending (see here) and one on health care issues in rural BC - see here
In Revelstoke:
* Local paper does "interesting" editorial on municipal race for Revelstoke City Council - see here
Editor's Note - the editorial summarizes the type of Councils Williams Lake has had in the past and makes for good "food for thought"
The Rush reports that Quesnel Councillor Peter Couldwell calls it a day, after 21 years in office. I agree with George Henderson that the next Quesnel Council will not be the same without him. I want to extend my hope that Mr. Couldwell will rest easy, now he doesn't have the hectic meeting schedule after Nov 19th. But I'm sure he'll find ways to keep busy
In Williams Lake:
* Welcome to Williams Lake columnist Jasmine Hjelden has an interesting idea on graffiti artists in WL and community service - see here
* Local MLA's says review of Pacific Carbon Trust necessary - see here
* New Property Tax Exemption rules not to be in place until Sept 2012 - see here
* Peter Fassbender: "Cities not afraid to drop RCMP" - see here. Editor's Note - given BC municipalities would have to give 2 years notice to get out and the current contract expires next year, why hasn't there been an analysis (haven't seen one done yet throughout BC) of what a local or provincial police force would cost. Further - Rich Coleman (then Solicitor-General), in 2003 said that there would be no new municipal police forces established, other than the ones that exists in places like Vancouver, Abbotsford, Victoria, Nelson
* Tribune columnist Diana French reviews the shutdown of the Soutn Cariboo Labour Council and unions in general. See here. Editor's Note - I'm somewhat saddened that we won't see the direct involvement of the local labour council and their push for candidates that support their views and I fear that it is not good for our local democracy... :(
* Interesting take on no fall provincial vote - see here
* Update on Deni House renovations - see here
In 100 Mile House:
* New work on school bus stops - see here
* Carbon Neutrality rule for local governments relaxed - see here
* District of 100 Mile nomination forms (Mayor/Councillor) available Monday, Sept 12th - see here
In Kamloops:
* Kamloops Daily News Editor Mel Rothenburger has an interesting take on the municipal race in Kamloops - see here
* BC Conservative Regional Director Alan Forseth has a couple of interesting blog posts - one on Gov't of BC spending (see here) and one on health care issues in rural BC - see here
In Revelstoke:
* Local paper does "interesting" editorial on municipal race for Revelstoke City Council - see here
Editor's Note - the editorial summarizes the type of Councils Williams Lake has had in the past and makes for good "food for thought"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)