Wow, are there some sensitive folks here in blog land.
Amidst all this chatter about Ernie Crist's health we seem to have missed the point - Ernie wants to talk politics and he wants us all to talk politics - particularly the variety that impacts us here in North Vancouver.
Ernie made it very clear over a cup of tea I had with him last week that he wants us to stick to the matter at hand - talking about the issues affecting us here in North Van. So was he talking about his health last week - no! He was challenging our civic leaders to provide us with leadership and long-term vision. Crist says it's our own fault for letting our municipal governments pander to the short-term demands of individual residents and organized interest groups such as developers.
According to Crist, "We (residents) simply want to have our cake and eat it too!"
He points directly at Seymour residents who lobbied hard to get such amenities as the Parkgate Safeway store while burying their heads in the sand to the fact that with that development came more people and higher densities. "They broke the OCP to suit the short-term and can't figure out why their neighbourhood changed."
Crist says you either stick to a plan or you don't. And if you don't, well, you only have yourself to blame. He says residents have to realize that the power is really in their hands, but if they leave it up to a few folks to decide - they get what they deserve.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
It's About Leadership and Long-term Vision!: Ernie Crist
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
21 opinions/comments:
Barry, very well written and communicated and very appropriate.
Please remove the previous and very awkward, feeble attempt by Wendy to try to do what you have done much better.
Keep up the good work!
Well said Barry.
Bravo Barry, very well done!
Wendy, notice that this is how real communications professionals get it right.
The people who constantly attack Wendy personally are starting to sound a lot like Wendy...give it a break!
Look in the mirror !
I do not believe all of Ernie's political views and actions but I do believe he is correct in what he says about the residents. If he thinks they are apathetic in the District take a good look at the City.
Yesterday I walked home to the bottom of Lonsdale from London Drugs and could not believe how beautiful the view was. The sun was bright blue in the sky, and the ocean was just sparkling.
If Mussatto and his NDP gang get their way that view will soon be gone. All we will see are huge hideous sky scrapers boring and bleak. We can protest all we want, the NDP gang is going the same way the Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell is now = straight dictatorship.
Will we remember Ernie? The truth is how many of our leaders do we remember now from over 20 or even 10 years ago. How many even know how are leaders are now?
I think the most important thing to remember is that a life is a life. Ernie lived his I believe the way he wanted and followed through with his dreams the best he knew how.
I do not think death is a bad thing in fact I really look forward to mine as I do not like this "plane" at all. I once had a near death experience and it was the most beautiful, exquisite place that will never be here on earth. Allow Ernie to have this passing in peace and with respect.
Sue Cook
Sue, very well said.
You have class.
Sue, can you describe more about the near-death experience? It sounds intriguing. How long did it last? Where did you go and what did you encouter during the process?
Look forward to hearing more and thank you.
Very good post, Barry. Ernie was my mentor, and stood by me during the wild and woolly days of the DNV Alpine (w)Rec(k) "Plan".
Without him I would never have had the perseverance to stay in the fight for our forests. Too many people gave it up early on when the fire got too hot. Ernie took a lot of flack for his "unpopular" stance on this touchy forest-use issue, by both the particular self-interest group and Councilors, themselves.
The "fight" is still going on, though it sounds more like a "whimper", these days. Most of the key players have been nicely shut-up in a "reference group" process, while the Mad Hatter Tea Party concept for our temperate rain forests continues to plow its way through on two-wheeled "off-road" blinders.
I would like to see our civic leaders walk the talk about conservation of critical habitat, rather than giving it all away to the few wheeled renegades inside these woods. Don't they have enough places to ride, already?
Let's see if our civic leaders have a vision that goes beyond the destructive WANTS of a few free-wheeling wreckreationalists.
Thanks, Ernie, for your past support and help, trying to protect the "fragile, rain-soaked temperate rain forest slopes". Let's all reflect on the DNV motto:
"The Mountains and Their Streams are our Inspiration."
Like Ernie, I mince no words. This motto was surely not meant to be an inspiration for DNV to "rip" and "shred" our wild and natural places.
Like Ernie used to always tell me, and still does: "The Struggle continues!"
Godspeed, Ernie. Good man!
With all due respect this post is not about me it is about Ernie.
I only made the comments about my experience because it was so positive and I truly hope that is the journey that Ernie is about to take. I do not believe there should be a fear of dying, but rather the way in which a person dies, and the feelings that are left with those that you love.
Sue Cook
You have a nice way of putting things, Sue.
Sue, can you describe your near-death experience? What happens when you go through something like that?
Ernie Christ stated:
.............. Seymour residents who lobbied hard to get such amenities as the Parkgate Safeway store while burying their heads in the sand to the fact that with that development came more people and higher densities. "They broke the OCP to suit the short-term and can't figure out why their neighbourhood changed."
Bravo Ernie. How true! For the most part, Ernie put his money where his mouth is. He was instrumental in helping residents of North Dollarton (my neigbhorhood) scuttle a plan for a three story building at the Dollar Mall back in the seventies, a building that was absolutley contrary to the Seymour Plan. Ernie was not on council at the time but council of the day were quite happy to accede to the developers. But, Ernie was / is only one man and could not cover all bases. We need to a few more Ernie Christs in council for now and for the future if this community is going to protect it's own and remain a very desirable place to live. Ernie has ruffled a lot of feathers over the years but he has 2 rare traits. They are called accountability and integrity.
Bravo, Michael!
Wasn't it last week that Ernie announced in the North Shore Outlook that he had a week to live, and here it is a week later.
"The report of my death was an exaggeration."
Mark Twain
As to the writer who keeps harping about Sue Cook and her "near death experience", you must be the same joker that kept asking George Pringle what she did at the City of North Vancouver Council meeting that he attended, and you didn't.
Ernie, give us another prediction will you, but this time make it last at least another year.
Wow! There are some vicious, nasty people living in DNV. Pray you never get lung cancer friend!
Yes Michael and some bloggers say Wendy is horrible.
All I can say about anon's 8:52 PM comment is that it is of a sick mind.
Not to mention extremely insensitive and tastless in keeping with the situation.
"Not to mention extremely insensitive and tastless in keeping with the situation.
Thursday, January 24, 2008 11:15:00 PM"
Hmm, who does sound like?
Sounds to me that "8:52:00 PM" was actually wishing that Ernie Crist will be around, to be proven wrong (twice in one life time), in a year's time.
Whereas the rest of you, sound as if you want Ernie's passing to be speedily as can be mustered.
Anon 1:55 PM,
Perhaps he/she did mean it that way but I think they could have chosen better words.
Ernie is my friend. I wish him Godspeed.
IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRITY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Integrity is Important
"If you don't have integrity, you have nothing. You can't buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing."
- Henry Kravis
Integrity is Important
"Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity."
- W. Clement Stone
Importance of Integrity
"One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised."
- Chinua Achebe
Integrity is Important
"Integrity has no need of rules."
- Albert Camus
Importance of Integrity
"A little integrity is better than any career."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Integrity is Important
"The man who cannot endure to have his errors and shortcomings brought to the surface and made known, but tries to hide them, is unfit to walk the highway of truth."
- James Allen
Trigg, when are you going to declare your candidacy?
Post a Comment