Most likely their ears were burning over the last week and a bit, as the project that they’ve been working on over the last few years became the focus of two newspaper articles (here and here) and a letter to the editor (here) from the Mayor of the City.
So perhaps feeling a little left out of all the action, Bill Nicholson representing the Rotary Club offered up some background on the status of what has become the most discussed trail in recent history.
His thoughts were provided as the front page, headline story in the Thursday Daily News, who apparently took the editorial cue from the mayor and went out and got some comment from one of the super busy volunteers on the trail project.
The controversy also led Daily News staffer George T. Baker to cobble together a feature for the editorial page, taking a look at the issue after the Mayor’s rather blunt commentary about complainers in yesterday’s letter to the editor.
RUSHBROOK TRAIL UPGRADE WORK SET TO BE STEPPED UP
Rotarians direct their volunteer efforts at improving the popular waterfront walkway
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Thursday, October 2, 2006
Page one
Prince Rupert Rotary Club representative Bill Nicholls responded yesterday to concerns about the unfinished business over Rushbrook Olympic Interpretive Walkway.
Nicholls said that it was regrettable that the trail had not met the publicized deadline of June 2008 but he said that the club is working hard to get the project finished,
“Last September, we had expected the trail to be done around June 30 so when they produced the sign a long time ago, I had hoped to have it done by June 30 but just on thing after another, little niggling things, (have) just dragged things out,” said Nicholls.
He said he expects work on the trail to pick up soon and he is waiting for Department of Fisheries and Oceans approval so that work can commence.
“We have been working with fisheries for a while and we are just waiting for that last letter of approval saying that (we) can proceed. It’s also on us to push fisheries to give us this letter,” said Nicholls.
Last week, local hikers Dennis Deverson and Boyd Cook voiced their displeasure about the face that the trail was not complete, despite its advertised finish date of June 2008. They said it was high time the city, province and Rotary club got on with the work. Nicholls agreed and said the project will soon move forward.
“Some of our key Rotarians were working on the project and have been occupied by work-related issues so naturally the project has been on the corner of their desks as opposed to being able to being able to put somebody else there, We do need to obviously get going, “ said Nicholls.
When the trail is completed, there will be three new bridges, and the brush that currently blocks the view of the harbour will be cleared along with some trees and boulders.
The total funding for the project is $350,000 and the work is officially expected to be finished by March 31.
‘Complainers’ entitled to ask the questions
Editorial page column Tsunami Hazard
George T. Baker
The Daily News
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Page four
When I was a kid I used to watch a lot of Transformers. I don’t really know why but it might have possibly been because these were two sects of robots fighting over energy cubes from earth to take back to their home planet Cybertron. I liked conflict. I was a troubled child.
But the message I’ve always remembered most about that series was that a group could always solve a problem created by another group by blasting each other with laser guns. Yeah, the 80s were a great time for TV.
Sometimes when you work as a reporter you feel that is what you are doing. You feel like all you are doing is blasting away at people who may have created a problem of their own, even if it were done without evil intentions.
Which brings me to Rushbrook.
Super busy volunteers deserve our praise when they are doing valuable work in our communities. Justly, that is a good-natured policy for any person to go by.
But whether or not we can criticize volunteers when they have promised to deliver something on the public dime is another matter. Sometimes when we do that it seems like we are trying to solve the problem by shooting at it but this is not the case.
Our mayor has said why don’t we report on the good work done so far instead of reporting on a volunteer group that has fallen a little behind on their own self-imposed timeline?
“Big Deal” he said. Well not so fast.
As far as I am concerned $350,000 a big deal. Actually, as far as I am concerned, it is about 10 years of solid work. So yeah, it is a big deal.
Mayor Herb Pond is right in that we need a story to report on the good work done by our volunteers in this city, especially the Rushbrook trail. The question is what good work is there visibly to report on?
After speaking with Rotary Club of Prince Rupert President Bill Nicholls, I understand that all the trail work so far has been of the paper and pen variety and that the arms and legs portion (or the visible) is just waiting for final approvals before it progresses to the next stage.
However, no one held a laser gun to anyone’s head and said “put a sign up that says Completion June 2008”. It is October and the trail has yet to see the fruits of our dollars/
It is completely understandable that volunteers would fall behind because they are focused on their real jobs. No one in town will argue against our real jobs taking precedence. But to say that two citizens, who pay their taxes and walk our trails, are nothing but “complainers” seems to be a robot in disguise. The true nature of their complaint: they were promised an outcome for their tax dollars by June 2008 and have yet to receive full value from that payment.
So perhaps feeling a little left out of all the action, Bill Nicholson representing the Rotary Club offered up some background on the status of what has become the most discussed trail in recent history.
His thoughts were provided as the front page, headline story in the Thursday Daily News, who apparently took the editorial cue from the mayor and went out and got some comment from one of the super busy volunteers on the trail project.
The controversy also led Daily News staffer George T. Baker to cobble together a feature for the editorial page, taking a look at the issue after the Mayor’s rather blunt commentary about complainers in yesterday’s letter to the editor.
RUSHBROOK TRAIL UPGRADE WORK SET TO BE STEPPED UP
Rotarians direct their volunteer efforts at improving the popular waterfront walkway
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Thursday, October 2, 2006
Page one
Prince Rupert Rotary Club representative Bill Nicholls responded yesterday to concerns about the unfinished business over Rushbrook Olympic Interpretive Walkway.
Nicholls said that it was regrettable that the trail had not met the publicized deadline of June 2008 but he said that the club is working hard to get the project finished,
“Last September, we had expected the trail to be done around June 30 so when they produced the sign a long time ago, I had hoped to have it done by June 30 but just on thing after another, little niggling things, (have) just dragged things out,” said Nicholls.
He said he expects work on the trail to pick up soon and he is waiting for Department of Fisheries and Oceans approval so that work can commence.
“We have been working with fisheries for a while and we are just waiting for that last letter of approval saying that (we) can proceed. It’s also on us to push fisheries to give us this letter,” said Nicholls.
Last week, local hikers Dennis Deverson and Boyd Cook voiced their displeasure about the face that the trail was not complete, despite its advertised finish date of June 2008. They said it was high time the city, province and Rotary club got on with the work. Nicholls agreed and said the project will soon move forward.
“Some of our key Rotarians were working on the project and have been occupied by work-related issues so naturally the project has been on the corner of their desks as opposed to being able to being able to put somebody else there, We do need to obviously get going, “ said Nicholls.
When the trail is completed, there will be three new bridges, and the brush that currently blocks the view of the harbour will be cleared along with some trees and boulders.
The total funding for the project is $350,000 and the work is officially expected to be finished by March 31.
‘Complainers’ entitled to ask the questions
Editorial page column Tsunami Hazard
George T. Baker
The Daily News
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Page four
When I was a kid I used to watch a lot of Transformers. I don’t really know why but it might have possibly been because these were two sects of robots fighting over energy cubes from earth to take back to their home planet Cybertron. I liked conflict. I was a troubled child.
But the message I’ve always remembered most about that series was that a group could always solve a problem created by another group by blasting each other with laser guns. Yeah, the 80s were a great time for TV.
Sometimes when you work as a reporter you feel that is what you are doing. You feel like all you are doing is blasting away at people who may have created a problem of their own, even if it were done without evil intentions.
Which brings me to Rushbrook.
Super busy volunteers deserve our praise when they are doing valuable work in our communities. Justly, that is a good-natured policy for any person to go by.
But whether or not we can criticize volunteers when they have promised to deliver something on the public dime is another matter. Sometimes when we do that it seems like we are trying to solve the problem by shooting at it but this is not the case.
Our mayor has said why don’t we report on the good work done so far instead of reporting on a volunteer group that has fallen a little behind on their own self-imposed timeline?
“Big Deal” he said. Well not so fast.
As far as I am concerned $350,000 a big deal. Actually, as far as I am concerned, it is about 10 years of solid work. So yeah, it is a big deal.
Mayor Herb Pond is right in that we need a story to report on the good work done by our volunteers in this city, especially the Rushbrook trail. The question is what good work is there visibly to report on?
After speaking with Rotary Club of Prince Rupert President Bill Nicholls, I understand that all the trail work so far has been of the paper and pen variety and that the arms and legs portion (or the visible) is just waiting for final approvals before it progresses to the next stage.
However, no one held a laser gun to anyone’s head and said “put a sign up that says Completion June 2008”. It is October and the trail has yet to see the fruits of our dollars/
It is completely understandable that volunteers would fall behind because they are focused on their real jobs. No one in town will argue against our real jobs taking precedence. But to say that two citizens, who pay their taxes and walk our trails, are nothing but “complainers” seems to be a robot in disguise. The true nature of their complaint: they were promised an outcome for their tax dollars by June 2008 and have yet to receive full value from that payment.
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