Council Rejects New School

General Forums Prince Rupert Forum
1

Posted this on the Northern View place as well.

It’s not officially in the Cow Bay area.  Unlike the Hecate Strait school which is the first thing that tourists see when they get off the boat (well, after seeing the industrial area first).  No problem having those white students in Cow Bay, just not them non-white students.

Except for the Hecate Strait school, which is just fine.  Interesting that the head of that school didn’t even show up for the council meeting, lest someone ask why her school is ok in Cow Bay.  I wonder how she would have voted?

I loved that all those industrial guys were saying that they were so worried about the safety of students in Cow Bay.  I mean, it’s ok for thousands of tourists to walk by the industrial areas (how exciting!) but not students. 

This is classic NIMBY, with real racist overtones.  I’m ashamed to be a rupertite watching those guys and their straw men arguments, many which contradicted each other.  “We don’t want students in Cow Bay, it’s too dangerous!  We don’t want students in Cow Bay, they’ll scare the tourists!” 

“We have a petition, that I’ve asked all my employees to sign, against having Indians in Cow Bay.”

“We don’t want the school to go there, because it will be empty in the summer time, and tourists won’t like it!”  Yeah, like being vacant for 10 years, that’s much better.

Give me a fucking break. 

I’m glad Eccentric’s mother had the sense to vote against the school too.  Really shows her stripes.  Not that Eccentric and his mother share a brain or opinions, though.  I’m sure Eccentric has his own thoughts.

Where was Bedard anyway?

Glad to see that Throkelson and Kinney had some sense. 

The Mayor seemes almost embarrassed to vote against it. 

2

What really confuses me is how big ass welding shops and industrial uses are somehow a “good fit” for Cow Bay.

It’s supposed to be a tourist place, for God’s sake, not an industrial park.  If they’re saying that it’s so unsafe for students to be there, then I think the City needs to stop encouraging shoppers and tourists to go to Cow Bay!  It’s not safe!

3

I am pretty certain that most of the industrial shops have been in place in the area far before the shopping district or the cruise ship dock.

4

Yes, but the owners of a couple of these shops have said that their shops are dangerous.  So time to rezone them the hell out of there, or stop encouraging shoppers and tourists to visit Cow Bay.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too.  The argument is that a small school doesn’t fit “the character” of Cow Bay.  Well, neither does a self-identified dangerous industrial shop.

Two of the owners themselves stated, in a public forum (which was broadcast and recorded) that they felt that their shops were dangerous to the public.

So Cow Bay is a dangerous place!  Stay away!

5

I could say a lot about this, but I think the school district people have already said it well.  I’m actually employed by the school district, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment. 

But if you check what Eric Mercer and Steve Riley said in the public meeting as well as in the interviews on TV and the newspapers, you’ll get the other side of the story.

Link to the Northern View article: 

bclocalnews.com/bc_north/the … 30114.html

Anyway, let’s keep it clean if we are to discuss this here, ok?  I’m sure the Podunkian will post the Daily News article if it exists.

6

By the gist of the previous comments I take it the Mayor voted against the re zoning and Thorkleson and Kinney voted for it. Were the rest of them there and did any abstain?

7

It wasn’t about rezoning, as the zoning would stay the same.  It was to allow a school in the building.  Again, the building isn’t in the Cow Bay development area, it’s outside of it.

Thorkelson & Kinney voted in favour.

Gordon-Payne, Garon, and Mussalem voted against.

Ashley declared a conflict of interest and left.

Bedard didn’t even show up.  Probably didn’t want to answer any embarrassing questions, such as why her school is ok “within the character of Cow Bay” and why her students are not in any danger from falling cranes and rampaging welders.

8

Where exactly was the proposed school supposed to go?

9

So, you’re saying that only First Nations kids go to the alternate school??  Not when I went to school.  There was a pretty even mix of caucasion and First Nations kids.

10

That’s a pretty outdated attitude, and I find it offensive. Maybe you can’t look past skin colour, but most of us can.

I don’t know any of the specifics of this rezoning, but I assume it faced the same scrutiny that most rezoning bylaws face–if there people who already own property/live in an area show formal opposition to a potential rezoning, it’s much less likely Council will approve it.

11

I think you might have missed the point that nimby was making.

12

I have to admit this decision baffled me, considering Hecate Strait (Ms. Bedard’s operation) is located not more than a two minute walk from the proposed new school.

I won’t get into the flame bait racist stuff, more than enough of that in town from time to time. And this town needs cooler heads, when these things pop up…

But one wonders why there was no petition when the Hecate Strait folks put their building in, how come no one spoke up when the Superintendent and Mr. Riley made their first pitch months ago, how come city council of the day didn’t offer any guidance as to any potential problem with the site…

One wonders if they were given the go ahead back then, and if so, hell I’d go to court if I were the SD, probably wouldn’t win since the zoning is the zoning, but if all indications were that the project was good for the area and any kind of go ahead was approved by the city, then take all your expenses for any move, lost time and such and charge the city…  

Not quite sure why a touristy area (well as touristy as you get with welding and fabricating shops in the middle) with cafes, shops and such don’t want students to pay way too much for food,  drink and such.

Most importantly I’m baffled as to how the whole project could get to within two months of opening only to suddenly have folks realize that it’s going up.  This has not been a secret, hell they’ve been trumpeting the possibilities of the thing for the last six months, perhaps the Daily news and Northern View need to beef up the circulation there as clearly the merchants hadn’t heard of this before eh!  :wink:

One thing is certain, if there are hard feelings over this decision, it will actually be the Cow Bay Merchants who feel the heat in the way of lost sales and such.  

At any rate, it’s too bad that things took this turn, if there was a problem with the site it should have been kaiboshed from day one, allowing the School District to formulate another plan and without what will now be the use of race as a debating point, council wears that one…

Geez, meet the new bosses, same as the old bosses I guess.  If it’s true that Kathy Bedard missed council, (I’ll have to wait for the posting of the minutes on the city website) it’s not a good start for her, having led the league in missed attendance last council season.

As for the new crew, right out of the box controversy and a very apparent split (well those that voted anyways), doesn’t bode well for a year of stability or bridge building one thinks.

 

13

I recall an incident with a City employee, where it took 18 months for anyone to voice any concerns. I think it takes someone with the initiative to get the ball rolling–even if lots of people are of like mind regarding the rezoning.

Since this disappointing turn of events has happened–is the school itself scrapped, or will the SD start looking at alternative locations?

14

A new school is stupid…
They closed down 2 school in the community…
How much sense does a new school make?

15

At the school board meeting last night Eric Mercer said they would discuss options for a new location during the in-camera meeting, but that it is still going ahead and that he is still confident of a February opening.

16

I guess the last thing our new council wants, is to be seen as “Innovative.”

17

They closed 3 schools at the end of last year.  This replaces one of them, and saves money because it’s much cheaper to lease a space than to maintain the existing ones.

Eccentric - it wasn’t a re-zoning application.   Re: the racist stuff – it was apparently ok for one school to open in Cow Bay, but not this one.

The problem wasn’t the objections, nobody has an issue with people being able to express their opposition.  The problem was the reasons they gave for opposition.  They said that the area wasn’t safe.  Yet it’s safe for thousands of tourists and shoppers.  It’s safe for Kathy Bedard’s school.

18

Quoted directly from the first paragraph of the Northern View article.

However, we all could be mistaken–if it wasn’t a rezoning, what was Council voting on?

19

Zoning amendment is not a re-zoning.

20

Golly, this issue really gets my dander up.