Bryan Dycke recently wrote a letter where he referred to a gentleman running for city council with a petition regarding the Comprehensive Development Zone plan for the redevelopment of part of the downtown. That gentleman was me and I recall my conversation with Mr. Dycke and how I was trying to get away from him for over ten minutes as he persistently lectured me about how economics and not community character should be the determining factor in considering the merits of development proposals.
I probably should leave matters alone as Mr. Dycke has done enough damage to his credibility with his far-fetched and ridiculous comparison of me to the Taliban that it likely isn’t even necessary for me to say any more. But it behooves me to point out how individuals like Dycke are so weak in their logic and their knowledge of the facts that they always have to resort to extreme exaggeration and telling outright falsehoods to bolster their otherwise shabby arguments.
Dycke writes that the petition that I am collecting signatures for is “opposing the downtown redevelopment” and is “very negative, opposed to redevelopment, opposed to the helipad.” Well, it is obvious that Dycke was so busy pontificating on how Kelowna should emulate big city downtowns that he didn’t even bother to read the petition as it is none of those things.
The petition simply asks “Kelowna City Council to consult the electors of Kelowna through a public referendum on whether or not to enact the proposed comprehensive development zone in the downtown.” In other words, it requests that there be an opportunity for the voters of the city to directly decide the fate of this project which will reshape the character of our city for better or worse for the foreseeable future. What could be more democratic? What could be more fair?
I invite others to come and read the petition and to decide if it is the things that Dycke says it is or rather an attempt to involve the public more directly in the decision making on a massive character changing development proposal. I and other members of Citizens for a Livable Downtown will be at the Sails every weekend for the next few weeks (weather permitting) between 1 and 4 p.m. to collect signatures. Please come down and sign.
Tags: downtown redevelopment, Kelowna
