Sunday, July 31, 2022

Blog Watching: Week ending July 31, 2022

Municipal politics once again dominated much of the news for the week, with a range of themes coming out of the only Council session for the month of July.

The topic of property variances and what appears to be the growing tendency for some property owners to build now and seek variances later, made for some extensive discussion on the evening.

The themes of parking and bylaw enforcement also providing for some wide ranging conversations and revelations for residents to take in.

Council also received a report from Fire Chief Jeff Beckwith which details the ongoing shortage of ambulance service personnel in the city and how it its impacting on the Fire Department and its primary role of fire fighting.

Councillor Blair Mirau added his voice to the ongoing debate over the Port Tax Cap situation, submitting his commentary to the local paper and relaying them as well through his social media feed.

And the Mayoralty race became at least a two person race, with Chrystopher Thompson adding his name to the list of candidates, joining Herb Pond on the campaign trail towards the October municipal election.

The top item of the week however was the routine process of Council approvals for variance and how a few Council members are raising questions towards them.

"Are things getting out of control?" -- Councillor Cunningham notes of growing number of property variance requests coming to Council  --  The growing number of variance requests for properties in the community made for a lively discussion at Monday's Council Session towards how City Council is approaching the topic.   (posted  July 27, 2022)

That article was followed by: 
 
Second Candidate steps forward for Prince Rupert Mayoralty contest, as Chrystopher Thompson heads for the campaign trail  -- Local educator Chrystopher Thompson has announced his plans to contest the Mayor's race, making for the second contestant for the top elected civic post.   (posted  July  25, 2022)

Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue raises alarm over BC Ambulance staffing shortages and impact on Fire Department -- What has apparently been a long running problem of late when it comes to ambulance staffing was brought to the attention of the public at Monday's Prince Rupert City Council Session. With the Fire Chief outlining the challenges that are being found for the Fire Department as they provide services normally delivered by the Ambulance Service. posted July 26, 2022)

The Mirau Manifesto: Councillor expands on Mayor's State of the City Presentation on PRPA related financial themes  --  Prince Rupert Councillor Blair Mirau became the latest contributor to the discussion on the Port Property Tax Caps issue, penning a letter to the editor of the weekly newspaper and posting his themes to his own social media stream.   (posted July 25, 2022) .
 
Bylaw scofflaws in Prince Rupert take note, change is on the way towards enforcement measures  --  City Council members hosted some lengthy discussions on parking themes and bylaw enforcement as part of Monday's Council session, with Council now set to move to a new adjudication based process towards bylaw infractions and the collection of fines that are assessed. ( posted July 28, 2022)

You can find our weekly Blog watching feature posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, making for a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.

You can also review the full listings of the week just past, from our Blog Archive index page found on the right hand side of the page.

A note for those that previously used our email alert delivery option, Blogger has discontinued that feature, so we direct you to our CharlesMHays Twitter feed, where we post updates to the blog as we post them.

Our archive of weekly Blog Watching can be found here.    

To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

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