What we have here is (deliberate?) failure to communicate
Ron Bolin: May 14, 2013
At 3:44 yesterday afternoon the Provincial Dam Safety Board sent a letter to the City which demanded some action this year to mitigate the possibility of any imminent catastrophic failure of the middle and lower Colliery Dams. Why this letter should be sent less than four hours before a Council meeting at which the issue of the dams was to be discussed remains an intriguing mystery. The letter itself neither recommended methods of mitigation which might be implemented this year, nor did it indicate that removal of the dams in 2013 was the only acceptable mitigation. The immense gap left between these two positions apparently went unnoticed by our Council, with the possible exception of Councillor Johnston who put forward the notion of reducing the water level behind the dams which would significantly mitigate the current risk. For whatever reason, this suggestion was allowed to get lost in the rush to see the dams destroyed as quickly as possible without a clear path to reconstruction.
The failure to communicate between the three major interested parties, i.e. the public, the City and the Dam Safety Branch, in any full and open manner since this issue was made public has not failed to draw attention to the increasing suspicion that all is not as it has been presented. Staff appears to have attempted to keep the other two parties divided by not providing a public forum where all could play on the same field at the same time. Instead they have positioned themselves as a mouthpiece for the Dam Safety Branch, interpreting DSBs position while overlooking the apparent lacunae in the logic of that position as they represented it. This has been further highlighted by repeatedly stated City projections for reconstruction costs which now turn out to be two to three times higher than those provided not only by citizen experts, but finally by the very experts hired by the City to study the alternatives for the dams. It has been difficult to sustain the pretense that there is nothing more at issue here than safety. Life is inherently dangerous and we all know how it ends. We just don’t know how or where. What we really need to know is that we are not being put at unreasonable risks for the gain of others. This case needs to be made to the satisfaction of all.
While the recommendation for action on the dams which was passed by Council last night emphasized the destruction of the dams, it did not totally abandon their reconstruction: it merely left the question in limbo by not providing a timetable. I believe that it should be possible to lean sufficiently on Council to ensure a design/build contract such that the package it tied together in the manner proposed by Lorne Gale and the public should make itself vocal on this matter.
At the same time it is important that there be a full discussion of scheduling with the Dam Safety Branch which should be encouraged to appear in public on the matter rather than leaving City Staff to interpret their intentions and demands. The last minute letter which some Councillors used to rush to judgement last night did not demand the immediate demolition of the dams but did demand some practical movement on the issue this year. I would opine that lowering the water levels would suffice. We have wasted nearly half a year on this matter which is still, in all its ramifications, not clear due to what I would consider serious breaches in the chain of understanding. For reasons of both safety and public recreation in all its manifestations, we need to be clear about our options and their consequences. We should not let a bad start lead to a bad end. What is really behind this botch?
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There is an important corollary to this decision.
And that is the removal of the dams will allow free flow of The Chase reducing, considerably, the possibility of down stream flooding. And for that matter thousands of other threatened acreages: Millstone, Cat Stream etc!
Ergo goodbye flood plains.
Ego no more down stream anxiety!
Ego, making realtors very happy, opening vast areas of Harewood, and much more acreages throughout the region, to development!
Welcome to Woodgrove South!
Once the dams are demolished, as for the recreational value of the lakes, well hell every one goes to Mexico anyway!
Realtors must be having a ball over this decision . . .
Is there method in my madness or am I just paranoid?
The word from the Dam Safety Branch is in and it refutes the assertion by five of our Councillors that removal cannot wait:
Dams could have remained intact
B.C. Dam Safety Section says province would have been ‘happy’ to keep dams for another year.
For the full article see:
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=9e4ce0a3-454f-412d-86c5-c16a2e0ac418&p=2
Now the race is on. A special Council meeting is needed before the RFP for removal is issued. The Community must demand that before any RFP is issued, talks with the Dam Safety Branch are undertaken to seek approval of mitigation efforts which could see a rational process for dam replacement be initiated.
It’s not the dams stupids. It’s the water behind the dams that poses the risk. Reduce the volume of water by reducing the water level or reduce the volume of water by filling the reservoir with rocks. We do not need to spend money demolishing the dams. How stupid do we have to be?
Talking of deliberate failures: DNBIA’s last Thursday’s gab-fest . . .
I live and walk, weather permitting, downtown and the promenade almost every day.
In my aerie I have a wonderful all round view of the town.
The view from my windows to the west is a wall-to-wall shamble of parking lots: magnificent Mount Benson in the distance. To the south I see an, essentially, unoccupied Pacifica and glimmers of Commercial Street’s flickering lights. Just below my window is an inexcusable eyesore: a, now, four-year old mud hole, left raw by Doug Bromage’s Insight Developments.
It is not the only mud hole. Behind VICC is yet another: the mayor’s pretentions for another hotel. A ridiculous pipedream unbecoming of the man.
One would expect an alert planning regime to have in place requirements for such exigencies (assuming they are contingencies and not permanent): to wit, seeding and planting at least.
Both these mud holes convey a message as to the economic status of the town: why is no one listening?
Yet a bloated, overpaid bureaucracy, a swarm of committees on disconnect twiddle their thumbs, talk-of-talk and exude on their own importance.
Ergo, these mud holes are sending urgent signals that no one is heeding!
DNBIA conducted a meeting to consider the future of downtown. (Note to seriously consider: Downtown is dead). Some years ago it was hoped to become a thriving arts Centre: today a sultry NAG displays Sunday painters viewed by few.
At the DNBIA Thursday meeting one facilitator, the tall blond with frizzy hair, opined how she like Diana Krall Plaza. Accordingly I have to conclude she does not work on the Plaza, does not live close by and, indeed, has no clue what it is on a winter or summer day: this is typical of the remote bureaucrat and perennial committee-ista making statements to bolster the status quo!
DKP is a disaster: bleak, uninviting, rarely occupied, an undefined place open to the vicissitudes of whichever way the wind blows. Occupy, two years ago gave it a fleeting life but they were shooed away by over zealous small minds conjuring up dreams of untidiness, litter and refuse one step away from criminality. My grandson was an Occupier: he is very tidy!
Insight Developments owns the strata property on the north east corner of the plaza: has done for four or five years. Why has not Insight developed its property? Is this yet another indicator?
Of course what I am writing will not resonate. The people to whom this is addressed are made of solid wood and the voters are too busy mowing the lawn and watching telly.
San José Costa Rica, is looking very attractive . . .
The holes in the ground & the empty buildings say more to potential investors than the glitzy LED sign on the Conference Centre.
Whilst the powers that be waste $millions on projects that will never provide as much as a penny to the taxpayer we ignore(at our peril) the true driver of Nanaimo & that is it’s own residents.
Destroying dams or creating a subdued waterfront park is no attraction for us to even go downtown or any other Nanaimo attraction.
When will Council and staff realise that our biggest asset is the Nanaimo resident?
Perhaps they never will & perhaps this is because they have other things on their minds such as the betterment of developers & the black hole of down town business!!